Adobe Dobe 2026 DPCA Nationals Edition

The Doberman Pinscher Club of America celebrated their 100th National this year in Topeka, Kansas. As always, the club did a wonderful job putting on all the venues. The catalog stated there were 310 dogs entered in conformation. Over 90 dogs entered in each of the obedience/rally events for the week. There were 93 dogs competing in AKC Owner Handled Competition.

This year saw a record number of scent work entries with over 500 searches in levels Novice to Detective, all done in one day.

There are always a few glitches and a few headaches, but for those of us not behind the scenes, all events were lovely and well handled.

The sign below welcomes you to the hotel. And no, Rick wasn’t the official greeter! LOL

Heavy rain during the first few days of this year’s events kept us close to our trailer some evenings. I missed the Top Twenty Agility but was able to attend the other Top Twenty events.

This is a picture of the conformation ring this year.

Monday night was the Top 20 Conformation event. Beautiful dogs and their handlers showing them to perfection!

The winner of the Top 20 Conformation event was:

GCHG Masterrock N’ Kalora Reddington
Breeders: Silvia Tojo, Miguel Alonso, Estelle Corr
Owners: Silvia Tojo, Miguel Alonso, Dr Trevor Gerardi Miller, J Deluna. Handler Dylan Kipp

The agility Top 20 winner was Kathy Ingram and Nikora, Protea’s Timed it Perfectly, breeder Helia Driscott

Wednesday night was the Top 20 Obedience. This event was chaired by our very own Lois Whitmire. It was a very well run and beautiful event showcasing the talented dogs in the Top 20. As always kudos to these handlers. The hours these teams put into working toward perfection are unreal.

The winning team was Trudalu’s Pink Lady, handler Herron Duke.

I hope you noticed the garlands on each of the Top 20 winners. Those were donated by our very own club members. They were beautiful!!

Interesting educational seminars were provided and will be available on You Tube later for viewing. The seminars included: Cardio and Diet, ROM 50th Anniversary, Dog Safety – A new paradigm, and Advances in Sports Medicine & Canine Rehab/Basic Conditioning. Check the DPCA web site for more information as to when these videos will be available.

I attended two scent work seminars that were very informative. There was also an obedience seminar and a handling seminar. Judging seminars are also available for interested members.

The ROM presentation board had pictures of all the dogs receiving their ROM this year, including our very own Kristine Berg and her dog Crush.

Big congratulations to Kristine and Crush!!

A memorial vigil for dogs, as well as members who have passed was held. Always beautifully presented.

Our very own Bob Allen.

Other highlights included the welcome BBQ and the Health/Rescue Banquet with the parade of rescues.

At the banquet, Andy Liton received a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.

With all these activities, yes, they do find time to show and trial all the dogs who have entered. As usual it is a whirlwind of a week but a chance to reconnect with Doberman friends you only get to see once a year. It is total emersion into Dobermans!

Thank you to club members who attended for their remarks on the Nationals.

Lois Whitmire’s Reflections

Always lots to do at a National from competing to watching to just hanging out. 2026 marked an interesting National for me in that I was fully in charge of something, and the experience left me saying that I think I will put my energy into my local chapter. I have resigned from the Top Twenty Obedience Chair after helping with fund raising from 2023 to present; co-chairing the event for 2024 and 2025 and handling it solo for 2026 (though my side kick Lynn Hamilton stayed by my side and kept me sane). Why? Unlike our club, too many hats in one position.

With our DVDPC, if you volunteer to do something, we have support and openness to new ideas. For example, I volunteered to handle our Rally and Obedience if we brought it back to indoors at the Fairgrounds. Organizing matches was welcomed (a new idea!) and the rest of the job had support. Mimi had already hired judges. Judie took care of awards. Morning hospitality was made available. The question went out to our members about who could bring a cooler and water and Gatorade. We worked entirely as a club sharing 'putting on our show' with raffle over in breed which also consisted of many helpers.

Back to DPCA – let's just say it is very departmentalized. Obedience/Rally Regional and National are one department while Top Twenty Obedience is another Department. The chair has to raise funds to cover the costs of their department (in other words, they are competing against each other.) The Chair makes all arrangements for stewards and judges, etc. As Chairs, it is possible to maybe grow one's own department by getting someone to hire the judges, or make a steward schedule, but the fundraising has reached a point of too many small islands and a hand reaching out at every event.

The DPCA is equal to a medium-sized company in the U.S. The idea that the receptionist in a company must raise funds to decorate the front reception area and add coffee for clients is ludicrous. There is a marketing department specifically tasked with making money on the income side of things.

There are SO MANY volunteers that make a National a memorable event. Do volunteer at the surface level – helping to put together welcome bags, help with the WAE, steward a ring for half a day, help with set-up or tear down, etc. But going much deeper, beware: The DPCA is not your DVDPC. Lesson learned.

I thank member Deb Castro for spending her Regional Friday helping the Top Twenty Obedience do a Rally Challenge (fundraiser) for the 100 year celebration. I thank Tucson club member Lynn Hamilton for volunteering to be the Judge for the event. And I applaud myself for thinking this idea up and surviving the months of negotiation it took to do 'something new'. It was well received and maybe someone will consider doing something again for the Rally folks to get their mat-time prior to Regional.

Back to TT Obedience: One of our club members asked me, when I took this over, if I could do something to make it "less boring." I did have 'hopes and dreams' for something new. My dream: Have the competition on Wednesday during the day with the two judges and two rings. Run it like the National Obedience Competition: Do 4 exercises under each judge in each ring. Then in the evening … have qualifiers go in and do a mandatory exercise – such as the retrieve over the high jump. Once it is scored, the exhibitor, to the music they selected, could go into training and demonstration mode doing any two or three exercises they wanted to demo with their dog (audience could clap along even). Then they would leave the ring … next person would come in and do the mandatory followed by the exercises they chose to demo. This would certainly mix up watching the same routine 14 times. I love obedience, but OMG on that. At the end of the event, the winner would be announced as usual. DPCA is not ready for my wildness! Did I mention my drill team idea? In my next life.

Thinking I will take 2027 off from National to regroup and gear up for Wichita TX in 2028. Meanwhile, appreciate DVDPC – maybe we are just spoiled.

Bunny Primacio’s Reflections

Wingate’s Katherine Hepburn CDX RM FDC NJP FCAT SWN SIA SEA RATS CZ8B CGCU STR TKA ATT FITG FTR

Over the 8 days we were at the National, Katharine and I participated in 18 trials covering 4 performance events. (She is such a smart girl.) Katharine received 10 qualifying scores consisting of 3 second places, 1 third place, and 2 fourth places. We left the National with 3 new titles – Rally Master (RM), Scent Work Advanced Exterior (SEN), and Novice A Jumpers With Weaves Agility (NJP).

Mimi Brown’s Reflections

100th DPCA National Specialty Show

I had a wonderful adventure attending the 2026 DPCA national specialty show. It was the 100th show. The first national was in 1924 in Philadelphia, PA. There have been three years since then when the national show was not held, 1942 & 1945 due to WWll and 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

My friend, Sonya Sloan, flew over from New Zealand. We traveled to Kansas City on American Airlines and drove to Topeka. The drive was full of colorful fall foliage, roiling hills, and farms. Quite a contrast to our Arizona desert landscapes.

We checked into the hotel and hurried to the exposition center. It was beautifully decorated in 1920’s Art Deco style with gold and black filagreed arches and gold and black fabric garlands woven into the ring gates. The 100th show merchandise was stunning. Great logo wear for the event.

The Sunday welcome party had a local barbeque company that provided some of the best barbeque I have ever had. I went to bed in a meat coma 😊.

The next three evenings were for the 3 top twenty events. Conformation was on Monday and had a new format that sped up the judging but still allowed for a good look at all the contenders. It was a festival of gorgeous dogs, all of them worthy of consideration. Tuesday was Agility. It was in an indoor ring and very entertaining. Again, an impressive exhibition of Doberman prowess on the courses. Wednesday’s Top 20 obedience, chaired by Lois Whitmire, was crisply run and entertaining. I enjoyed it and was impressed by the Dobermans and their handlers.

The weather was rainy for most of the week, but because of the remodeled venue, there was elevator access to the event center without going outdoors. One of the best things about the Topeka site is the opportunity to have all of events except the WAE indoors. The scent work trials were held in the many conference rooms. 533 runs were done on Friday. Very impressive organization and a ton of dedicated volunteers. There were 5 judges and they were busy all day. Tons of new titles and lots of happy exhibitors. Deb Castro & JJ earned High in Trial Advance at the PM event. They had the best time for all 4 elements combined: interior, exterior, buried, and container.

Bunny Primacio and Katharine earn 3 new titles. You go Grrrls!

The Friday night Fundraiser for Rescue and Health Research was successful. Our DVDPC club raffle crate with Arizona items went for $380.00. The 2026 awardee for Lifetime Achievement was Andy Linton. It was a great celebration of a great year.

Saturday Sonya and I watched Vicki Seiler-Cushman judge the100th National show. It was absolutely fabulous, with so many gorgeous Dobermans. The BOB winner was GCH MASTERROCK N’KALORA MR BRAINWASH handled by Dylan Kipp-Keith.

We drove to the Kansas City airport and headed home to Phoenix on Sunday October 4th. It was a once-in-a-lifetime show. Sonya traveled back to New Zealand on Wednesday and arrived safely. What a wonderful Week! Thanks to Deb & Rick Castro for driving our raffle crate and AZ stuff and my chairs to the show. Congratulations to Bunny & Katharine and Deb & JJ for their great performances.

Brags… No Cries at the Nationals

Rick and Debby Castro

CH Gallant’s I Found That Girl V Ciden D’Tales, BN, CD, RE, SWA, TKN, CGC, FTN, completed her scent work advanced title at the Nationals. She also achieved a High in Trial Advanced for the four searches, interior, exterior, container and buried.

It was so fun watching JJ play show girl again at the Nationals. She came in Fourth in her Veterans Bitch Class 9-11. She was a trooper!

GCH CH RACH2 Aquarius Legend Of The West V Alcher UD PCDX BN GN GO RM6 RAE4 RC2 WAC CGC TKA

(Ruger) owned and trained by Lois Whitmire finished another title and shows that 8.5 can be great for a Senior Doberman!!!!

Well, that about covers another National Newsletter! Again, if you haven’t gone to one, please put that on your bucket list if you love your breed. It never disappoints in highlighting all the beautiful and talented dogs.