American Kennel Club

John A. Lafore Jr., 87, a former congressman and American Kennel Club president, died Sunday at Lankenau Hospital. Mr. Lafore, of Villanova, bred and trained championship dogs nearly all his adult life. He was president of the American Kennel Club from 1971 to 1978. He had been active as a club delegate and was on the board of directors from 1963 until 1987. A native of Penn Valley, Mr. Lafore and his wife, Margaret Read Lafore, were prominent in area dog competitions, especially in the showing of collies and keeshonden.

Samuel Evans Ewing 3d, 74, of Chester Springs, a retired lawyer and internationally renowned breeder of award-winning Irish wolfhounds, died of pneumonia Sunday at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Mr. Ewing's first pets were cairn terriers and a Gordon setter when he was a boy, but he later made the switch to what he called "the big fellows. " The Irish wolfhounds bred by Mr. Ewing's Eagle Farms Kennels in Chester Springs were award-winning show dogs that amassed hundreds of championship titles.

Dog-day afternoons were the spice of H. Kenneth Stine's life. For 52 years, he served as a judge for the American Kennel Club. Stine, of Clifton Heights, Delaware County, died last Thursday at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital in Darby. He was 84. "He had to give that (involvement with dog shows) up when he went into the hospital this year," said his widow, Marie Rockwell Stine. "Every Saturday after that, he said, 'We should be going here' . . . to the dog shows. " Mrs. Stine said her husband had a few dogs of his own - chows and "those big, ugly English bulldogs were his favorites" - but none in recent years.

Charles A.T. O'Neill, 74, of Chestnut Hill, a retired warehouse executive and owner of champion show dogs, died Sunday at Bishop White Lodge at Cathedral Village. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. O'Neill graduated from West Philadelphia High School and attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. O'Neill was president of Pennsylvania Refrigerated Terminals Inc. and of Portside Refrigerated Terminals. He was a former board chairman of Industrial Cold Storage Co. and a vice president and director of National Refrigerated Terminals Inc. Mr. O'Neill became interested in dogs in 1956 when he and his wife, Marie D. O'Neill, became the owners of a Doberman pinscher.

Marion Aubrey Cooney, 84, of Penn Valley, died April 2 at Lankenau Hospital in Lower Merion Township. She was a homemaker for most of her life. She was born in the Torresdale section of Philadelphia in 1904. She graduated from John W. Hallahan Catholic High School in 1920 and later that year married Francis E. Cooney, who also was from Torresdale. A resident of the Main Line since 1950, Mrs. Cooney was a member of the American Kennel Club and was known for her expertise in obedience training for dogs.

At least one corner of cyberspace is going to the dogs. On Saturday, Maxie the miniature schnauzer from Malvern and 783 other pooches from around the world, from Singapore to South Africa, will compete in the Idyll Mountain Virtual Dog Show. In the dog-eat-dog world of online offerings, this one has a bit more bite - or is that byte? - than most. Organized by Liz and Kynn Bartlett of Covina, Calif., the show on the Internet's World Wide Web features pictures of all sorts of dogs, from froufrou French poodles to mundane mutts.

In a move to frustrate unethical mass breeders, who often use illegally acquired registration papers as false credentials for pups of questionable backgrounds, the American Kennel Club (AKC) has announced that, as of July 1, there will be strict limits on how long owners can wait before registering litters or individual purebred dogs. If you own a dog from an AKC litter, you should have been given an application (known as a "blue slip") to send to the AKC in order to register the dog in your name.

There are many fascinating legends about the St. Bernard, the giant canine that has experienced wild swings in popularity since its arrival in America in the 19th century. Once in the top 10 among breeds in the United States, Saints now are the 44th-most-popular purebred dog, with 4,099 registered by the American Kennel Club last year. Dogs kept by monks at the Swiss hospice founded by St. Bernard of Menthon in the 10th century are credited with saving the lives of more than 2,500 Alpine travelers.

Several readers have asked for an explanation of the differences between the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the United Kennel Club (UKC). It should be stressed that registration by either of these organizations is no guarantee of the quality of a dog or even of its being purebred. In some countries, committees inspect all dogs before pure breeding or quality is confirmed and registration accepted. This is not done in America. The American Kennel Club is a nonprofit organization established 103 years ago. Because its stud book incorporates several previous breeding histories, AKC registration provides the longest continuous history of a U.S. dog's ancestry.

Dognappers have struck again in Delaware County, this time swiping a high-priced Chihuahua from a Springfield pet shop. Police reported that a man in his 20s stole the light-gray dog Saturday morning from We Love Pets, on Baltimore Pike, then climbed into his getaway driver's silver Ford pickup truck. The purloined pup - valued at $1,400 - is the third dog stolen from that store this year. In January, a pair of brazen dog-snatchers grabbed a black pug and a maltipom and escaped in a Cadillac Escalade waiting out back.

Their conversations are one-way, but Debra Evalds knows Scarlett is looking forward to her big weekend. "If she didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't show her," Evalds says, confident she knows Scarlett's feelings as she prepares the 4-year-old vizsla for this year's Kennel Club of Philadelphia dog shows. On Saturday and Sunday, Scarlett and about 1,400 other canine contestants will compete for top-dog honors at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Montgomery County. Bill Burland, the shows' director, hopes that the venue, with its plentiful parking and spacious layout, will become a permanent home for the event, which has been staged at various locations in the area in recent years.

DELAWARE COUNTY can be a dangerous place for a defenseless dog. A Ridley Township man is to be sentenced today for killing his wife's bulldog with a samurai-style sword, and a Southwest Philly man is facing charges in Upper Darby of drowning his ex-boyfriend's Pomeranian in a bathtub. Now, Springfield Township police are on the hunt for the puppy-bandits who hit a Baltimore Pike pet shop Tuesday night. Two unidentified men walked into We Love Pets shortly before 7 p.m., grabbed a black pug and a maltipom out of their pens, then hopped into a white Cadillac Escalade that was waiting out back, according to police Lt. William Clark.

IN THE WAKE of President-elect Obama's calls for sacrifice and personal responsibility, I'm inspired to offer myself up to public service. For that reason, I hereby declare, openly and publicly and without a moment's hesitation, that I'm willing - no, determined - to serve as White House Puppy Adviser (WHPA). I have a lifetime of experience on this front, and in the interest of transparency, allow me to catalog it for you. First there was Rosie the Doberman, who by all accounts was a sweet dog, but she ate my pacifier and choked to death.

A lot of well-behaved, well-groomed folks were being led around by dogs here yesterday, dogs that seemed to have no doubt who was in charge. There were 1,216 of them. Dogs. From Canada and 35 states, Maine to Hawaii. The Kennel Club of Philadelphia Dog Shows wind up today at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets. Daisy Okas, spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club, said that last year 3,744 such shows "were held by our licensed and member clubs," this one among them.

It's no secret that Pennsylvania's moniker is "puppy mill capital of the East. " I want to change this, and revisions to the state's dog law are absolutely necessary if we are to protect dogs being bred in terrible conditions. Five months into the two-year project of dog-law reform, wildly divergent - and mostly false - accounts of the progress are rocketing around the state. Despite the anti-regulatory propaganda, the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement is intent on following its plan to alleviate the suffering of breeder dogs in high-volume breeding kennels.

Bellagio was born with a silver bone in his mouth. He is the grandson of an international champion show dog, and if he wants to be a champion, too, all he has to do is suck up to (but not slobber on) the judges and display the superior attitude that comes naturally to him. If he does, he's practically guaranteed a ribbon at the Kennel Club of Philadelphia Dog Shows, being held Saturday and Sunday at the Fort Washington Expo Center. Bellagio was actually born Mafioso, but his owner changed his name.

In the dog world, pure breeding used to be everything. For an increasing number of dog fanciers, though, it's all about the mix: Poodles mixed with spaniels. Pugs crossed with beagles. Yorkies mated with schnauzers. The growing market for "designer dogs" has given birth, so to speak, to the spoodle, the schnoodle and the puggle; the cockapoo, Pekeapoo and Maltipoo; the puginese, cockalier and snorkie. But of all the high-priced hybrids with silly names, none is hotter than the Labradoodle.

Samuel Evans Ewing 3d, 74, of Chester Springs, a retired lawyer and internationally renowned breeder of award-winning Irish wolfhounds, died of pneumonia Sunday at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Mr. Ewing's first pets were cairn terriers and a Gordon setter when he was a boy, but he later made the switch to what he called "the big fellows. " The Irish wolfhounds bred by Mr. Ewing's Eagle Farms Kennels in Chester Springs were award-winning show dogs that amassed hundreds of championship titles.

The owners of Puppy Love Kennel, a troubled Lancaster County dog-selling operation, have again been sued by the state for allegedly selling sick, diseased and genetically flawed dogs. The suit filed yesterday by state Attorney General Mike Fisher also seeks to ban Puppy Love's owners, Joyce and Raymond Stoltzfus of Peach Bottom, Pa., from selling dogs. The suit alleges violations of Pennsylvania's Consumer Protection Law, the "Puppy Lemon Law," and a 2000 consent agreement with Fisher's office.