Pictured winning one of his many Best Puppy in Show wins.
This one at the Temiskaming Kennel Club. Judge - Betty Peterson,
Handler - Shirley Bell
Bred by Anne Lucas
Sired by: Can/Am Ch Bellcrest Just Watch Me SOM
Dam: Can Ch Lounsbury's Divinity
As designer of the Rupik website, I am taking
this opportunity to include my 'Tribute to Filmore".
I had the priviledge and pleasure of having a hand in the
creation of this great dog! Lounsbury Kennels Reg'd was
located on the outskits of North Bay, Ontario, Canada. I
live East of North Bay, so Anne and I became good friends.
We liked the same type of boxer so breeding back and forth
and talking about what we liked was such fun.
Filmore's mother Can Ch Lounsbury's Divinity
"Binnie" was an extemely pretty bitch. Anne and
I used to travel together to the shows when I was showing
Texas (Can/Am Ch Bellcrest Just Watch Me SOM) and she was
showing Binnie. We talked about breeding the two of them
together when they grew up.
Well, the time came, the breeding between
Binnie and Texas came about. The result, 2 puppies. One
plain girl and a flashy boy. Anne never wanted to keep a
male, but decided that until the right home came along,
she would show him.
Filmore was quite a handful in the show ring.
He thought it was all fun and games and took quite some
time to figure out that this was serious business and we
do not jump on the Bernese Mountain dogs as they come out
of the ring!! Anne decided Filmore was too much for her,
and asked me to handle him. I was very pleased to do so.
So began a fun and exciting puppy career.
Filmore won many Best Puppy in Groups and 4 Best Puppy in
Shows. He was handled later in his career by professional
handler, Scott McNair. Under Scott's guidance he did some
super winning, including an All Breed Best in Show at the
Leamington Kennel Club.
I received a letter from a person in the UK
inquiring if Bellcrest Boxers Reg'd had any Texas sons available
for sale. I talked to Anne Lucas and she gave me the go
ahead to discuss his going to the UK with Sheila Bowman.
You can read more about the results of the discussion on
Filmore's page. When it became
more apparent that Filmore was indeed going to go live in
the UK and that his prospective owner was going to make
a trip over to the Boxer Club of Canada Specialty to see
him, Anne and I invited her to stay with us and drive down
to the Specialty with us. We laugh now, looking back, because
here we were sharing accomodations with this English person,
who, we did not know. What if she had been a crotchety old
lady and hard to be with? It would have spoiled our whole
weekend at the Specialty!! But, that tuned out not to be
the case!!
Life is a very funny thing. Had it not been
for Filmore, I would never have met Sheila Bowman, who I
consider to be one of my very best friends.
The rest, as they say, is history!!
Written by: Shirley Bell
