MYERSVILLE — The day was cold and rainy, but inside Marge Goodenough's house, Tank the Samoyed was fluffy and white, putting on his dog-show look.
MYERSVILLE — The day was cold and rainy, but inside Marge Goodenough's house, Tank the Samoyed was fluffy and white, putting on his dog-show look.
Tank, who was ranked fifth in top Samoyeds on the show-dog circuit last year, will compete in this weekend's American Kennel Club/Eukanuba National Championship in Tampa, Fla.
"That's part of the challenge," Ms. Goodenough said as she introduced Tank, who moved happily about a large room that Ms. Goodenough and her husband devote to their dogs.
The room is lined with wooden dog crates, a washtub and a grooming stand. Dog-grooming equipment and treats are organized neatly on counters. The ceramic-tiled floor is spotless.
It's not always that way, Ms. Goodenough said. Tank and the other Samoyeds love to run through the fields and woods at her home, a horse farm on Crow Rock Road.
She keeps the mud brushed out of their silky white coats as much as she can. "Right now he's in his casual clothes," she said. "He's not dressed up."
In Tampa, Ms. Goodenough plans to have him bathed and combed before his appearance in the show ring. When properly combed, Samoyeds appear to have silver tips on their white coats.
"They're a double-coated breed," she said. "They have an undercoat."
She keeps some of the clumps of hair brushed out of her dogs' fur. "I have a coat made of it," she said.
Samoyeds needed the heavy coat to herd reindeer in Siberia. Nomadic tribespeople kept the dogs in their tents at night to keep them warm. Because of this, Samoyeds developed a genuine affection for people. "They're not a guard dog," Ms. Goodenough said.
She first fell in love with Samoyeds at age 16 when she saw pictures of the dogs. Ten years later, she was a married woman living in Chicago when she heard about the Chicago International Dog Show. She went and met some breeders, and got her first show-quality dog. That started her 40-year love affair with Samoyeds.
Ms. Goodenough didn't show her dogs at first. She raised show horses and, later, thoroughbreds, and her dogs were her pets. "You go through cycles, and there were some things on the backstretch I didn't like," she said.
At the same time, she had a friend who had hoped to get a female show-quality dog. The friend decided she couldn't take the dog, and Ms. Goodenough adopted the animal. She had come from top bloodlines, so Ms. Goodenough decided to try showing her. The dog became one of the top brood bitches in the country.
"It's sort of a bug that bites," she said. "That's how I got into showing."
That dog, known as Cuddles, became Tank's grandmother. Her registered name was Champion Polar Mist Champagne On Ice. She is tied for the title of producing the most AKC champions from a single litter. Since then, Ms. Goodenough has carried on the champagne theme in her dogs' names. "Even though I don't drink, I started playing with alcoholic names," she said.
Tank is 3 years old. His registered name, Champion Cot'n Pic'n Dbl Shot O' Shadowood recognizes her kennel name, Cot'n Pic'n, and his lineage to Polar Mist Champagne On Ice. Such names help identify each dog in the show world, she said.
Dog shows are a combination of a beauty pageant and an athletic contest, Ms. Goodenough said. Looking at Tank, she said "He's an athlete, not just a pretty dog."
Dog shows were initially about evaluating breeds for reproducing. "Of course, anything people have anything to do with, there's a lot of ego," she said.
What the judges will look for when they see Tank are proper proportions, good teeth, the right color, correct ear set, a quality coat and tail set. It also takes something else, she said, and that's a crowd-pleasing disposition. A dog that walks happily before the crowd will often get high marks from the judges.
Ms. Goodenough also breeds her dogs, but she's picky about who buys the puppies.
"They're high maintenance because of their coat care," she said. "They get dirty so easily. They dig holes. They like to bark. They're very independent. They won't necessarily come when called. They like to chew. That's what I need to get through to people before they get that puppy."
Samoyeds, known affectionately as Sammies, are also sweet and loving to their owners. At one point, Tank nuzzled up against Ms. Goodenough with a relaxed, contented expression.
She has prospective dog owners come and see the dogs in action, and she watches how they interact with the dogs.
Tank has another talent, and that's as lead sled dog for Ms. Goodenough's sled team. She has taken her dogs to upstate New York to compete, and she's a big fan of the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska.
"If I were 20 again that would be what I'd want to do," she said. "That would be my dream, to run the Iditarod with purebred Sammies.
"Most Iditarod dogs are mixed breeds, often Siberian Huskies crossed with hounds to give them endurance.
When there's snow, Ms. Goodenough hooks her dogs up to purple harnesses, straps the sled on and sets off. The dogs love it. "You don't have much control," she said. The sleds do have a brake, but the dogs have a lot of say in where they go.
With more than a half dozen Samoyeds in her house, and a litter of puppies in a gigantic box, Ms. Goodenough spends a lot of time with her dogs.
"They are each individuals," she said. "They have certain characteristics they share, but they are as different as brothers and sisters are in a family. When you lose one, you never replace it. You make a place for a new one."
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