IT'S the first time ever that a Davao City-born show dog earns the distinction as No. 1 Top Philippine-Born Dog in the Philippine Canine Club (PCC) show circuit.
The top dog for 2020 is beagle Huck, who goes by the registered name of Chaucer Scandalous Byte owned by Leilani Ayala-Villorente and Lester L. Tiu from Ayala-Villorente's Chaucer Kennels Philippines, which breeds champion beagles.
The distinction didn't come as a surprise since Huck has been grabbing show judges' eyes in international circuits, becoming not just a Philippine champion but also Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and International champion. He's from a champion bloodline, sired by Let It Be De BR Maiorca and dam Chaucer Savage Tryst. Let's not go into why show dogs are named that way. That will take another full article to explain.
Huck has been impressing judges wherever he's shown such that a judge from the UK who saw him in the Philippine Circuit and at that time was judging the Jakarta Show described Huck as the star of the show.
"I understand that he is in the lead for top dog in Indonesia which is no surprise," the international judge wrote. "This dog would definitely turn a few heads if he suddenly turned up at the British dog scene.”
At number 2 rank in Philippine-born dogs is a Pomeranian from Manila.
How does a dog earn top ranks? By consistently winning in the show circuit, with each win earning the dog allotted points.
Ayala-Villorente started with Golden Retrievers in 1994 with Philippine Grand Champion Milo as her foundation bitch. But when her favorite TK died, she went on a four-year hiatus until Sherry "Tata'' Martinez of erstwhile SlySam Kennel encouraged her to support Cheryll Limso, who was organizing dog shows at Victoria Plaza towards the end of the 1990s.
Her love for show dogs was revived but she no longer wanted to carry Golden Retrievers.
"I looked into French Bulldog, eventually I knew it was not the breed for me," Ayala-Villorente said.
She considered Labradors but knew that if she was going to show full time, it would be heavy and expensive to fly around all the way from Davao City.
She decided on Beagles by 2012 and she purchased her first male beagle, Philippine Champion Lanbur Holy Betlog. Soon after, she got her first brood bitch American Champion Lanbur Ruby Tuesday, who arrived pregnant with Ayala-Villorente's First Generation Chaucer Beagles. This champion bitch gave birth to two bi-color lemon Beagle Philippine Grand Champion Chaucer Savage Obsession aka Gigolo and Philippine Hall of Fame, Dam of Merit Chaucer Savage Tryst aka Querida.
From that line of champions came Huck and Ayala-Villorente couldn't help but be full of pride and love.