Interview with James (Jim) Moses

by D.D. Ardoin

When and how did you get into dogs?

My father bought my frst German Shepherd Dog for me when I was nine. I named him “Nageeb” which is my name in Arabic. My father was Lebanese and my mother was French Canadian. I fnished my frst German Shepherd Dog champion in 1958, when I was 13 years old. My mother bred Miniature Poodles and I won my frst all-breed Best in Show with a black Mini Poodle when I was 15 years old. I won my frst all-breed Best in Show with a GSD bitch when I was 16 years old.

When you became a handler, what dogs were popular & what was handling like?

When I became a handler, some of the bet-ter dogs were GV Troll von Richterbach, GV Bill von Kleiswig and GV Brix Grafencrone. I handled GV Lance of Fran-Jo early in my career and he was by far the most popular dog of that time. He crossed well with Ernest Loeb’s Bernd daughters. When I started handling dogs they were judged at a much more moderate speed and they had to have been trained. A good dog could and often did win owner-handled. Tey weren’t shown 20 feet in front of you racing like mad. I believe that early in my career we had a larger percentage of judges that knew the anatomical structure of the GSD and put more emphasis on smooth, coordinated, correct movement. Today the double handler has a more important part of showing our breed than the person actually handling the dog.

Read More ...