The Mary Wild flutter was surpassed by Westminster flaps over Hulick’s French Bulldog, Uno the Beagle ownership, and PHA President Michael Scott’s conveniently delayed suspension.
3|6|10 - I went to Brazil for the winter but knowing people would be full of chatter after your big show in New York, I flew up to the states to snatch a few choice tidbits.
The Mary Wild case has been cleverly delayed over and over. My bluebird friend in Missouri said subpoenas were served, with one deputy being served twice. Two attempts to serve the vet, Laura Ivan, were logged as “Return Serv-Subpoena Non-Est” which means either they made no contact or the vet refused to hear the reading or accept the subpoena.
Here’s a coincidence; my feathered friend in Missouri reminded me that the bluebird is also the state bird of New York so I contacted her. The first thing she told me is that people were gossiping about PHA President Michael Scott showing at Westminster because Atlantic City blizzard caused a lot more problems than were reported about Saturday’s Boardwalk show.
According to her, Scott got into a problem when the Superbird cancelled the Boardwalk KC show without proper permission of the club. That was straightened out and the shows started late but in the process, a bench committee was held against Michael Scott for losing his temper and cursing. She said the AKC Representative told the committee, which apparently found against Scott, that the AKC staff has 10 days to act on their recommendation. She said it used to be a show committee could suspend then and there but in “special cases” like Scott’s, the AKC reviews it and then decides.
So the point is, the “10 days” the AKC Rep stipulated delayed any possible suspension of Michael Scott until after Westminster. My lovely bluebird friend then fluffed her feathers and said “but that’s not all!”
It seems the club held some phone hearings which resulted in Scott volunteering to take a 30 day suspension to begin after the four Louisville shows in March! She said “Talk about a pecking order! Guess that guy is a flock boss for sure.”
And then she said the big flutter at Westminster was the backstory on the French Bulldog, the first one to win the Group there. The owner, Marion Hulick, is the former horse trainer who arranged for a “hit man” named Tommy Burns, to kill a horse owned by her boss, George Lindemann, Jr. I couldn’t believe it but she said that there are professionals who kill other people, and sometimes animals. We talked about eagles and hawks for a minute but I finally got her back to the French Bulldog’s owner.
Laughing, she said “Unlike us bird-brains, dog people have long memories. This happened 20 years ago but Hulick was convicted for paying Burns $35,000 of the quarter million dollars insurance coverage to kill the show horse. She served time in a federal prison but a lot of people think she should have stayed there!” Bluebird then explained the gruesome electrocution of the horse in detail I’d rather not go into.
The NY state bird said they interviewed Hulick like she was some sort of celebrity but “it sure didn’t go over well to the public… that dog people could cheer for anyone who deliberately killed an animal.” I tried to explain that the Frenchie must be a really “good dog” and surely that is what the people were happy about but she just cocked her head and looked at me like I’d lost my tail feathers.
Another thing I heard also relates to Westminster. There is a dispute regarding ownership of the fabulous Westminster Best In Show winner, Uno the Beagle. It seems there was an “unauthorized, illegal transfer of ownership.” The registration transfer dated 2/15/08 and showed Caroline Dowell as the sole owner instead of her and Dowell, Woodring, and Weichert. I think a complaint has been filed with AKC because the way I understand it, as of February 12, 2008, Uno was owned by Caroline Dowell, Eddie Dziuk, Jon Woodring and Kathy Weichert and only Eddie’s name was supposed to come off during the transfer.
This Little Bird will be heading back to the states in the Spring but my instinct and your weather people tell me that may be delayed. I like to perch on the phone wires, that’s how I hear a lot of stuff but really! Have you ever tried to wrap your feet around a wire covered in ice? There was an act where a parrot spun around and around the perch. Me too but it wasn’t planned and it is not one bit funny when it happens.
So I will tweet you dog people some more news when I get back to a nice dog wood or cherry tree branch all covered in blossoms.
https://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Wild-Scott-Frenchie-Beagle_LittleBird-103.asp
