History of The Willamette Toy Dog
Fanciers....  

By: Joy Thoms


This all-toy dog club came into being in 1970,
long before the AKC was allowing toy clubs to
give point shows and was known simply as
Group V.  It was the “brain child” of many of
the top toy breeders in the Greater Portland
area and I think it is worthy to list the Charter
members:  Ronald Preston, David and Sharon
Krogh, Charmalee Cookingham, Jari Bobillot,
Joy Strickler (Thoms), John Isherwood, Janice
Mansfield, Jacques Perkins, Bess Pickens,
Yvonne Sayres, Keith Tucker, Dr. & Irene
Heisley, Connie Alber and Doris Pomeroy.  Many
of these are still active either as breeders,
exhibitors or judges.  

Back in the ‘70’s most clubs put on Matches,
usually on a Sunday since there were not as
many point shows at that time.  Entries would
run in the several 100’s for all breed clubs and
our Group V would draw entries of upwards to
100.   Our Club was known for the quality of
their matches and the wonderful ribbons and
trophies we awarded.  

We continued to work hard toward the day we
would be allowed to give point shows and with
this in  mind our first Sanction B Match was
approved by AKC and held on November 14,
1993, with a total entry of 85.  It was during this
approval process with AKC that we had to
change our name, as AKC felt that “Group V”
would not be understood by the public.  
Willamette Toy Dog Fanciers, Inc. officially
came into being.  

In February of 1996 we received a letter from  
AKC informing us that we had been approved to
hold licensed championship point events.  What
a red-letter day!!  We immediately began
working toward that goal and our first point
show was held on December 1, 1996 dedicated
to the memory of one of our charter members,
Charm (Cookingham) Preston.  Our judges were
Mrs. Joan Brazier from Canada and Mr.
Leonard Reppond from California.  Entries were
$18.00, with puppy and BBE kept at $13.00.  
After getting our feet wet with one show at a
time we soon went to back-to-back specialties
and have continued this every year since.  

We have always held our shows in the fall of the
year and continued to have stand-alone
specialties until 2007 when we held our shows
in conjunction with an all-breed club.  This
moved our specialties to Thursday and Friday,

but it hasn’t seemed to affect our entries, which
are running well over 300.  This move was
necessary since available hotels allowing clubs
to hold dog shows have been decreasing every
year.  To have a space large enough for an entry
of 300 is getting harder and harder to find.   We
hope to be able to continue to put on quality Toy
Group shows in the Northwest for many years to
come.  
Please click on images to enlarge....