~ JUDGE’S RESUME ~
STEPHANIE SEABROOK HEDGEPATH – (USA)
My involvement with the world of showing dogs began in 1968 with the purchase of my first show dog, a German Shepherd. In the mid-seventies I began breeding and showing Pembroke Welsh Corgis and have finished a championship on a Pembroke Welsh Corgi on the average of one a year for the last 35+ years - almost all were breeder/owner handled to their titles. I have also finished championships on dogs in several other breeds.
Most people associate me as a breederof Pembroke Welsh Corgis, with which I have had the most success. I am simply a breeder who loved to show my own dogs and the dogs of a few friends. I was never a professional handler. Over the years I have owned and shown dogs mostly from the Herding and Sporting Groups. I started out showing dogs from the Herding Group, but as a hunter, I always had a “bird dog” and thus also showed Brittanys, Pointers, Golden Retrievers and Irish Setters over the years. I havebred Brittanys, Pointers, German Shepherds as well as Shetland Sheepdogs, but am best known as a Pembroke and Cardigan Welsh Corgi breeder.
I started my judging career in 1988 when I was approved by the AKC to judge my first three breeds: German Shepherds, Pembroke and Cardigan Welsh Corgis. In 1995, I was approved to judge Best in Show. In 2006 I was approved to judge the Sporting Group and several toy breeds. I have been fortunate enough to have judged dogs all over the US and Canada and also inFinland, Norway, Sweden, Jamaica, New Zealand,Australia, Ireland, China and the United Kingdom.I have also been accorded the supreme honor of being asked to judge the national specialty for my breed, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, in its country of origin, the United Kingdom, in 2011. I am only the fourth American to be given this honor since the founding of the Welsh Corgi League in 1939. I have also had the high honor of having judged many National and Regional Specialties for breeds I did not breed, own or show. Some of the highlights of my judging career were judging at Westminster Kennel Club in 2006, doing the Herding Group at the Rose City Classic in Portland which was shown on Animal Planet and the national specialties for Field Spaniels and Australian Shepherds as well as both the Cardigan and Pembroke nationals.
I have been an active member of the Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of America, Inc. since 1986 and have served as chair of the Illustrated Standard Revision Committee, on the Judge’s Education Committee and the Rescue Committees, on the Board of Directors and as VP. I currently serve as the webmaster of the PWCCA website and Chair of the Electronic Media Committee. I am a charter member of the Palmetto Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club and a lifetime member of the all-breed Columbia Kennel Club and the Greater Columbia Obedience Club. I am also a member of several judging associations in the US.
I make my living as an artist, mostly through the design of counted cross-stitch and needlepoint but also as a painter and sculptress. I am also involved in the design and development of web sites and have begun authoring and producing DVDs on the canine, mostly dealing with structure and movement.
Last but certainly not least, I’ve been married to Jim Hedgepath since 1972 and am the mother of two (Patrick and Leah) and the grandmother of four (Kaitlyn, Ethan, Rachel and Chase).