The Herding Specialist
Without Cob, There Is No Herding Group!
The birth of Cob Kennels was December, 1995 from its very first litter. Named after "Cobi", a Chinese Shar-Pei, Corazon's 1st CSP. After having established the Chinese Shar-Pei Enthusiasts, Inc., the official breed club in Philippines, and realizing that the breed suffers much in hereditary genetic flaws, she shifted her breeding interests to the Belgian Groenendael. In 1997, with the Belgian Invasion heralded by the APEC summit's bomb-sniffing Malinois, Corazon again lost interest in breeding Groenendaels for the sake of the breed's for-seen possibility of being ruined by more business-minded individuals.
The Herding Breeds were still shown under the Working Group. Not that the Cob Belgians did not place in group competitions, Corazon just felt that large breeds competing in such a small ring was not the proper way to show dogs. Movements of agile dogs such as the Belgian was restricted for there were around 10 large breeds going around in small circles. Corazon wrote a request to the PCCI Board for separation of the Herding Breeds from the Working Group. PCCI replied with a condition that it would adhere to the request if it was meritorious on the grounds that there are at least 4 breeds shown constantly for a span of one year.
Corazon called Herding Breed owners and begged them to show their dogs. One breed would show up for a couple shows, then would be gone from the ring while another one would take its place. Of course, the owners lost interest since there wasn't much of a motivating factor if one does not win. The fact that the Herding Breeds were shown in the Working Group is a losing proposition already. How can one possible be Best in Working Group when it is a Herding Breed? Without much further ado, she then decided to import not one but two Herding Breeds herself to comply with PCCI's condition. It would spare her the trouble of calling up owners of Herding breeds. The breeder of her Belgian Groenendael had a friend breeder who was breeding Australian Shepherds and Shetland Sheepdogs, referred Corazon's dilemma to Two-J's. And the rest is history for the PCCI groupings. It now poses a problem though that when the Cob kennels Gang do not show up, there is no Herding Group. The group suddenly becomes a Landsgruppen show with just the German Shepherd in the ring. Not that GSD fanciers mind, it was to their advantage. The GSD sure-footed for Best-In-Show fronts by winning over the Cob Kennels, local-bred German Shepherds now have more chances of finishing their championships too.
Presently, Cob has five Herding Breeds in its roster: Australian Shepherds, Belgian Groenendaels, a Rough Collie, a pair of Shelties with 1 offspring and a pair of Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Breeding wise, Cob is concentrating presently on Australian Shepherds. The Rough Collie was given to Cob to show but unfortunately, Corazon decided not to since he is not up to a Cob dog's standards with the dog's erect ears. For a time, she was considering bringing in a pair of Border Collies to add to the roster of Herding Group line-up but decided against when she went to check it personally during the 2001 Westminster Show and saw first-hand the requirements for such an hyper-active breed when she visited a number of kennels in the US. The Corgi is Care Bear's second breed that Cob co-owns with the former.
Instead of establishing breed clubs for each of the breeds that Cob has, Corazon opted to just establish the Herding Enthusiasts & Agility Ring of Dogs, Inc. or HEARD. The club's goal is mainly to set dog activities that would involve working a dog in agility rings, owner-handling their own dogs or simply having fun with the dogs! And possibly, in the future ... the ABCD which stands for Association of Breeders for Canine Development!!! Dream on!!!
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