France Godbout - Specialty Judge
Born and raised in Quebec, France has been involved in the sport of purebred dogs since 1987 when she purchased her first show dog, a Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier. Shortly after, she acquired her very first Kerry Blue Terrier and has been involved in the breed ever since, breeding and showing under the Symphonie prefix. France was also active as a professional handler for many years, successfully showing in Canada and in the US. In the 30 years of her passion for purebred dogs, she showed 7 different Kerry Blues to over 70 BIS and BISS in Canada and in the US, 5 as a breeder/owner/handler. She has produced champions in 5 different countries, many of which are multiple specialty and BIS winners. France owned and showed one of her Kerries to #1 KBT all-system in the US in 2006, winning 3 US all-breed BIS's along the way and several specialties; including winning the breed at the US National (Montgomery County KC). Two of her most memorable assignments were the KBT Club of Chicago 60th Anniversary Specialty and the Nordic Terrier Club specialty in Sweden last summer. She was privileged to judge the finals from a group of over 450 terriers entered and was honoured to be on the same panel with renowned judges Martin Phillips, Ross Delmar and Falk Siewert. Her favorite pastimes include reading, gardening and training in agility, to name a few. In her professional life, France is self-employed, running a home-based grooming business. It's all about dogs!
Lory Ross - Sweeps Judge
My connection with Wheatens was not intentional. In the beginning, friends that I started to make, asked me to take their dog to a show, when they couldn’t. One of those dogs was a Wheaten. That’s how my handling career started. After that dog, in my 40 plus years of handling, I was seldom without a Wheaten to show, either in Canada or the U.S. I have won many Specialties with a variety of dogs, had one of the first Wheatens to win a Best In Show, and was one of the very few to win the Terrier group at the Show of Shows. I stopped showing after my husband, John, passed away (he was an all breed judge). I now run a small kennel and continue grooming. Wheatens are a good percentage of my clients. I am honoured to have been asked to judge your sweepstakes.