Lorraine Shore and her husband Howard moved to Sequim in 2008 from Anchorage, Alaska, both retiring from positions with the Anchorage Police Department. “We were lucky to find Sequim when our good friends Bill and Susie retired here a couple of years earlier,” she says.

Retirement is great, Shore says, but soon became a bit boring, so she took a part-time job working for Sheriff Bill Benedict in 2009. That turned into a full-time job as the administrative and community policing coordinator for the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office. “I enjoy my job immensely and am fortunate to be able to continue working in law enforcement and still have the time to travel the country and the world showing my dogs,” Shore says.

The Shores have been involved in the world of dog showing for the past 25 years and moving to the “Lower 48” gave them an opportunity to more easily travel around the country to dog shows. The couple started in German Pinschers in 2007 after their beloved Airedale died, and when they bred their first litter of German Pinschers, they decided on the kennel name “Immer Treu,” meaning “always faithful” in German.

Lorraine and Howard joined the local Hurricane Ridge Kennel Club almost as soon as they moved to Sequim. Lorraine has had the honor of serving in several board positions, including president of HRKC, for several years. The club hosts two dogs shows in Sequim each year that bring hundreds of exhibitors to the area. Exhibitors stay at local hotels, frequent local restaurants, shops and gas stations and help the local economy, Shore says, “which shows how a small group of residents can help their community thrive.”

In a year of firsts, Shore this summer attended her first World Dog Show — held, for the first time, in Moscow, Russia.

“My World Dog Show Adventure started in January when talking to some dog show friends who asked if I would be going to Russia for the WDS in June. I was born and raised in Alaska, which is as close to Russia as I ever thought I would get, but decided to ask my good friend and travel agent Susan Parr what it would take to get there. She booked a ticket for me on Lufthansa and reserved the crate which was the easy part and the beginning of a great adventure!

I wanted to enter Luna in the Champion Class; however, by March, Luna only had shows in Arizona that held the promise of her much needed last major and her last chance to finish before flying home.

I flew down to Arizona with Luna’s sister, Lilly, in March. Luna was being handled by Valerie Stanert and the first day, Lilly beat Luna for the major. Luckily, Valerie and Luna showed beautifully and won the next two days finishing off the final day with a Best of Breed and a Working Group Win. Now she would be eligible for the championship class at the World Dog Show.

Traveling with Luna and my friend Chris, our trio was instantly enamored and amazed with Moscow! It was bright, colorful, filled with music and completely different than anything I expected. We found a fabulous restaurant just down the street from our hotel. The food was fantastic with the best desserts and crepes I’ve ever had. The best part was the price as the exchange rate was excellent! I bought two entrées, a dessert and drink for $2.60. It took a couple of days to get the exchange rate done in my head but the Russian people are very honest and made sure I didn’t overpay. The drivers even refused a tip if they thought it was too much!

One of the most amazing things was how safe we felt in Russia. I heard from many people how careful I had to be, to watch for everything from pickpockets to kidnappers. During our early morning walks at 1 or 4 a.m., not once did I feel unsafe as it was beautifully lit, there were no ‘scary’ people anywhere to be seen and not once did I ever feel threatened or worried during my entire stay in Russia.

Chris and I found the fabulous Flea Market and Wooden Kremlin and bought a bunch of Nesting Dolls and other tourist stuff. The Wooden Kremlin reminded me of Disneyland and was amazing! The Metro stations were gorgeous, clean and filled with beautiful statues. One of the most interesting was a soldier and his dog, a Doberman Pinscher that had his muzzle polished. As I watched, everyone that passed the statue rubbed the dog’s muzzle. I found out later that it started years ago with school children who declared it good luck to rub the muzzle and the tradition took off.

Saturday (June 26) was the start of dog showing where I entered Luna in the Russian National Specialty show. It was a great practice run for the World Dog Show as I was able to get a good feel for the venue, ring procedure and meet some of the other German Pinscher exhibitors. The day finally arrived to show Luna at the World Dog Show on Sunday (June 27). There were 18 halls with 67 rings going and the Expo Center was several football fields long. There were 74 German Pinschers entered in the World Dog Show and almost every exhibitor was from Russia. Most did not speak any English but they were very friendly.

Our judge was a German lady who had two assistants in the ring with her. She was very nice and had a no-nonsense attitude. She did not like it when exhibitors did not follow her instructions carefully! The funniest thing that she did was walk up to me after most of the exhibitors in my class had been excused from the ring and said to me, “People are stupid!” I just smiled and agreed with her which made her smile and she directed me around the ring.

As she decided to excuse an exhibitor, one of her assistants would go up and shake their hand which meant “Too bad, it’s time to leave.” I was so happy to be in the ring when the class was whittled down to four dogs as I knew I would place at that point. The judge pointed at a handler in a green coat showing a black/tan bitch and gave her first place then pointed to me and Luna for second place! I was so excited and happy that we placed second in that large class!

Just as in the AKC classes, the winners of each class go in to select Best Dog and Best Female (Winners Dog and Winners Bitch). The bitch who beat Luna won for Best Female so Luna and I went in to compete for Second Best Female or Reserve Winners Bitch. I knew the judge really liked Luna but when she won I was so excited I couldn’t believe it!

With that win, Luna became a Vice World Winner and earned a CAC (Challenge Certificate) as the Winners Bitch was already a Russian Champion.

This was one of the best vacations and most amazing experiences of my life. As president of the German Pinscher Club of America, I was very honored to represent our club and the United States at this year’s World Dog Show.”

Everyone has a story and now they have a place to tell it. Verbatim is a first-person column that introduces you to your neighbors as they relate in their own words some of the difficult, humorous, moving or just plain fun moments in their lives. It’s all part of the Gazette’s commitment as your community newspaper. If you have a story for Verbatim, contact editor Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.