Ms. Rosemary Green - Conformation Judge

(Chilolo)

I commenced my involvement with the world of purebred dogs in 1974 with the purchase of a young Rhodesian Ridgeback female. At that time I was competing at horse events such as One Day Events, dressage and showjumping and I wanted a dog who was suitable to come with me when I was pleasure riding. My mother spent her childhood in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and her family always had ridgebacks so she suggested I purchase one. In those days, pre mobile phones and Facebook, communication was not so easy and ridgebacks were almost unheard of in Australia so it took me a few months before I eventually found a 5-month-old bitch for sale. This was a life-changing decision and my passion for this breed has taken me all over the world.

My first litter in 1976 produced Aust Ch Chilolo Karoo who was awarded Best Puppy, Challenge Bitch and Runner Up Best in Show at the 1977 RR Specialty Show in Sydney. Together with my daughter, Emma Marshall, we have since bred over 90 champions in Australia, USA, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Europe. I have also been involved with Pharaoh Hounds, English Springer Spaniels, Welsh Springer Spaniels, American Cockers, Salukis and Whippets.

Our most successful homebred ridgeback, and by far the most successful Australian ridgeback, was Trio – Am Ch/Aust Supreme Ch Chilolo EB Show No Mercy (AI) who was awarded 27 Best In Show awards at All Breeds, Hound and Specialty shows. This is equal to the record set by MBIS/BISS Am Ch Filmaker’s Never Surrender FM JC ROM in the 1990s.

Moving from breeding/exhibiting to judging was a natural progression. I qualified as a judge of Rhodesian Ridgebacks in 1999 and became an ANKC All Breeds Judge in 2016. I have judged all groups throughout Australia and have completed international judging assignments in New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Russia, USA (including Best In Hound Group at Palm Springs), South Africa, Japan, Thailand, China, Russia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden.

I consider the RRCUS National the most prestigious RR show in the world and it has long been a dream of mine to be invited to judge this show. I am so looking forward to it and particularly as 2024 marks 50 years of breed involvement for me.

Ms. Dawn Garbett - Sweepstakes, Stud Dog, Brood Bitch, Brace
(Celtic Lore)

I can not even begin to describe what an honor it is to be judging Sweeps at the 2024 National Specialty. I fell in love with this breed as a young teenager. I immediately fell in love with these powerful, elegant dogs. I was hooked. I was the barn girl that tried to bring home every stray I came across. My dad loves to remind me that earlier that same week, I tried to bring home a dog with three legs. I was determined to bring a Ridgeback puppy home and earned the money for my first puppy. Lady Guinevere came home and solidified my love of this breed.

In 2009, I brought my special liver girl, Bella (Ch Tam Lyn’s Sweet Celtic Siren, CGC TDI HIC TT ROM) home. She became my first show dog and my foundation. There are no words to thank Karla and Craig Boreiko enough for trusting me with their line and a little part of their legacy.

I bred my first litter in 2012. My keeper was the sassy, chubby puppy that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. Luna grew up to be MBIS MBISS RBIS NBVISS GCHG Celtic Lore’ s Moonlight and Magic CGC TDI JC ROM. Luna was the Number One RIdgeback, all systems,  People’s Choice Winner and the Best of Breed Winner at Eukanuba in 2015. Luna was a breeder’s dream come true.

Since then I have produced multiple Top 5 dogs, including RBIS BISS GCHG Celtic Lore’s Perfect Storm JC ROM and GCHG Quest’s Straight From the Heart of Celtic Lore, multiple group winners, and multiple group placers. I have bred over 40 champions, the majority of them being owner handled.

I am currently a member of the RRCUS Board, the Junior Coordinator for RRCUS, and am also the Editor of the Ridgeback Magazine.

Mary Lynne Elliot - 4 - 6month Baby Puppy, 

Mary Lynne received her first Ridgeback in 1987 and bred her first litter in 1999. Along with several Champions she produced her first multiple group winning dog and has been hooked ever since.

She was appointed to the BOD for RRCUS in 1994. She took over the job of Judges Education Coordinator. From there she was appointed 1st Vice President where she served for many years as the board’s voice on how to run specialties. She was the show-chair for two specialties - Winter Park, CO and Rapid City, SD. She served as President twice. She served as 2nd VP in charge of Education. She now is RRCUS’s Delegate to AKC where she acts as the liaison between RRCUS and the AKC.

She is involved in several dog clubs. She is the VP of the Colorado Rhodesian Ridgeback Club where she has overseen the Regional Specialty since 1992. She is the secretary for the Evergreen Colorado Kennel Club, she is a working member of the Rocky Mountain Hound Association, the Flatirons Kennel Club, and the Morrison and Essex Kennel Club.

She now has a Ridgeback that is close to 13 and a seven year old Border Terrier. She co-owns a young Ridgeback bitch. She is an AKC judge licensed to judge the Hound Group.

She is thrilled to have this assignment and looks forward to judging the puppies!

Mike Van Tassel - Junior Showmanship

I would like to thank the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of America for the honor to judge Junior Showmanship at your National Specialty. Junior Showmanship is very important to me as a Judge and Breeder, these young Men and Women are the future of the Breed. I always try and give each Junior a very enjoyable experience in the ring. We need to make this a fun and educational experience for them.

My Breed are Collies, I have served the Collie Club of America & local clubs in many positions, including CCA President, CCA 1st VP, 2nd VP, DD, 2002 Assistant Show Chairman, 2006 National Show Treasurer and Assistant National Show Chairman. I have also been President and Show Chairman of the Intermountain Kennel Club in SLC, Utah for the last 20 plus years; Utah Beehive Cluster Chairman; and President & Show Chairman of the Utah Collie Club. I am also an AKC Judge for Collies, Shelties, Juniors, Aussies, Alaskan Malamutes, I am currently the AKC Delegate for my all-breed club. I am presently the National Show Chair for the Collie Club of America.

I have the honor of Judging Best of Breed at next years Collie Club of America National Specialty to be help in New York.

Liz Demry - Tri-Conformation

I saw my first ridgeback in 1969. It took more than 20 years to be in a good place to have the dog of my dreams and it happened to coincide with my marriage to Chris.

Like many we fell into conformation by first searching for a pet. We met Carlee Davies (Aslan) and purchased our first RR, Pierce. Pierce finished in record time, and went on to high accolades including multiple best in shows, resulting in him being the number 1 in conformation.

We have bred less than 20 litters, our last approximately 10 years ago. While we stepped back from breeding for awhile, we have remained active members of RRCUS. While we had few litters, we have had tremendous success with over 40 champions, all breeder owner or amateur owner handled. We had many impressive wins including being breeder of the year, and No brood bitch. We have been awarded Over 30 RRCUS medallions from supported shows and regional specialties. We have bred National Specialty Winners Dog, Winners Bitch, 2 Best of Winners, both Best and Opposite in Puppy Sweeps, Best of Opp in Veterans Sweeps, Best Vet, AOM’s, and Top 25 winner, we have won a class at nearly every specialty we’ve attended. Our stud dogs have produced both winners and reserves at Nationals. We’ve had many group winning and placing dogs.

I look forward to the opportunity to judge particularly the performance dogs since my philosophy has always been form follows function.

Suzanne Mayborne - Obedience & Rally

I started with Golden Retriever’s and showing in AKC licensed field trials. Then started showing my Goldens in AKC obedience trials where my Dog won top obedience dog of the year for all breeds in 1989. This special dog I bred, owned and handled myself, and his name was OTCH Shorelands Big Harry Deal***. As a young dog Harry also won 1st place at the Golden Retriever Nationals in the Derby division. Still at 10 years of age Harry had a ton of drive, and he was always a challenge and made things interesting. I also finished OTCHs on 4 other Goldens and a border collie named OTCH Shorelands Macho Man TD. After judging a lot I also decided to show in conformation and bred my great Best In Show Border Collie BIS, BISS Ch Shorelands Rock Me “Betty”. Betty also won two national specialties. I’ve bred some great dogs through the years that I’m very proud of. I still enjoy judging Obedience and Rally.

 - Agility 

Coming Soon

Mr. Eddie Kominek  - Lure Coursing

I and my wife, Selma, started in Afghan Hounds in 2002 with our first as only a pet which we of course tried to show for a while. We enjoyed the competition and hobby, and a year later bought our first show dog which we finished completely owner-handled by me. On our third Afghan Hound, we discovered lure coursing, another facet of sighthounds, and they revealed to us what they are capable of beyond a show ring. It was our fourth which was our first Dual Champion and became the foundation of our kennel, Kominek Afghan Hounds. In all of our breeding decisions, we strive for functional ability, structural and temperamental soundness and adherence to the standard while looking back to the early imports and native hounds. We try to take an annual trip out West for Open Field Coursing, gauging our stock on live game.

We’re 22 years into what will be a lifetime journey, but proud of our accomplishments thus far including Best in Event for the last nine years at the AHCA National and multiple Best of Breeds at the II and AKC NLCC over the last few years, including breeding the 2022 AKC National Field Champion and first Afghan Hounds to earn the “NFC” title. Since our first few trials in lure coursing, we were almost immediately involved with working the field including hunt mastering, lure operating, field trial secretarying, chairing and judging. As part of our desire to promote functional sighthounds, once Selma finished her residency, we move to and bought acreage in Tennessee with the intention of running lure coursing trials, even allowing us to host the 2017 & 2019 AKC National Lure Coursing Championships on our fields.

I believe competing in lure coursing is another crucial tool in the evaluation of breeding stock, and take my role as either a lure operator or judge very seriously. Thank you for these opportunities; I look forward to my participation in your national. Good luck and safe runs to all the hounds.

 - Lure Coursing

Ms. Carol Chase - Scentwork

I have been training dogs since 1978 and have enjoyed many titles and have very special memories with each one. I am a Science and Special Education teacher with the Washoe County School district and have Parson Russell Terriers and Dalmatians. I train and compete in Conformation, Scent Work, Obedience, Rally, Agility, Barn Hunt, Dock Diving, Trailing and Locating, Lure Coursing, Fast CAT, Farm Dog, and CGC/A/U/Trick Dog. My favorite, of course, is Scent Work, which I began in 2014, and then started judging when AKC added this sport in 2017, it truly is a sport all dogs can enjoy.

Thanks for inviting me to judge your National!

Linda D'Antonio - CGC / Trick Dog

My journey with Rhodesian Ridgebacks began in 1990 when my first Rhodesian Ridgeback came into my life. Within a year I had two more and the great adventure began. But it wasn’t until 2006, when my first show dog, Kanzu came into my life, that I began to understand all the performance events that ridgebacks could participate in. I was hooked! There is a proverb that says, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. I never dreamed when I began playing, training and competing with Kanzu that our “baby steps” would result in a triple championship for him, (Conformation, Lure Coursing and Agility) and a RRCUS VC and VCX among many other titles. But, our very first step in that thousand mile journey was Kanzu’s CGC. I recall how nervous I was for this initial performance test and how mortified I was when my 12-month-old male Ridgeback greeted the evaluator with an enthusiastic jump-up and face lick. I remember how horrified I was when the evaluator sternly warned, “the assessment begins outside the ring”. But, I also remember the sense of pride I felt in my boy when he passed. I believe the CGC title is an important and tangible way for us, as owners and as a national club, to demonstrate the wonderful characteristics of our breed. So, after achieving many more titles and CGCs with my later ridgebacks over the years, it made sense that I would enjoy helping others experience this special partnership between a hound and handler. I became a CGC evaluator in 2018 and in 2019 I was delighted to conduct CGC evaluations at the National RRCUS specialty in Ohio. At that specialty, 64 Ridgebacks earned their CGC titles. It was such a pleasure to help handlers achieve this important partnership with their Rhodesian Ridgebacks and I enjoyed lots of gregarious greetings and kisses from happy Ridgebacks we evaluated. I am excited to do CGC evaluations again at our 2024 specialty and to help more Ridgebacks and their handlers earn their CGC titles.

Julie Garrahan - CGC / Trick Dog

For as far back as I can remember, animals have been my passion-first exotics, then horses and dogs.  From a career managing elephants, training service dogs for a Veterans organization, evaluating Therapy dogs, private training then a 30 year stint as a Cardiac ICU RN which payed the bills!

I have had Ridgebacks for 30 plus years and started with obedience, putting a UD on my first dog because I didn’t know any better.  Then lure coursing, conformation, and finally breeding.  I currently share my home with 5 Ridgebacks, 4 home-bred under the kennel name “Sarival”.  

Finding ways to communicate your desires to another species can be a challenge, but is always rewarding.  The CGC is a great place to launch and hone the skills that hopefully spark an interest to pursue even more disciplines.  I am looking forward to meeting the teams that have taken this on!

 - Best Ridge Overall Judge

 - Best Ridge Dog Judge