2009 Sweepstakes Judge

Lisa Pruka
Czechmate Border Collies, Illinois

I have been involved with Border Collies since I got my first one 12 years ago. In all that time, I have done mostly performance events with my dogs. My dogs have earned advanced titles in tracking, agility and herding. I have also showed all of my dogs in the conformation ring. I have bred 2 dogs that have finished their CH. I have also finished the CH on 2 more. This past year, I qualified a dog for the AKC Eukanuba Invitational because he earned all of his points from the Bred By Exhibitor class.

I judged a sweepstakes in California in 2007, it was my first real experience with judging and I was hooked. Since then I have judged working and sporting breeds at 2 sanctioned matches. I also have an assignment to judge a schipperke sweepstakes in April 2009.

I am now in the process of fulfilling the rest of the requirements to apply for a license to judge Border Collies in the conformation ring. I feel that it is very important that we continue to breed dogs that are capable of doing the job for which the Border Collie was originally developed. Border Collies have excelled not only in herding but also in agility and obedience because of careful stewardship of the breed. It is important to maintain that vigilance. That does not mean that a successful working dog cannot also be successful in the breed ring, however, we need to remember that diversity is also a hallmark of the Border Collie and we must never lose sight of that as well.