2025 Annual Meeting, Breed Show & Chukar Challenge

Written by Max Lenhard

On February 8th, 2025 the GLC hosted their annual chapter meeting which included a fundraising auction, dinner and a well attended breed show. 

This year’s event was held at The Woods Catering and Banquet Hall in Mt. Gilead, OH.

Breed Show & Scores

The day started with the breed show that was well attended by 10 dogs and handlers.  ZR’s Nancy Bohs and Jason Abbas returned for a second year in a row and Brian Cuperus from Iowa rounded out the judging cadre. The GLC members in attendance received high praise from the judges for their attentive behavior after all of the dogs evaluations.  Following each dog there was always a large group listening to the explanations given as to why a dog received a higher score and the desirable coat / confirmation trait or conversely why the dog was given a lower score.  Nancy Bohs feels this is excellent attention to give because it helps handlers, breeders and owners develop a more discerning eye for the dogs.

Breed Show Scores

The Annual Meeting, Dinner & Fund Raiser

Download the 2025 Annual Meeting Minutes

At the conclusion of the breed show a great buffet dinner was served complete with homemade desserts.  One of last year’s Silver Hegewald Needle recipients, Dan Crusey graced the party with a keg of local pilsner. The GLC board made the chapter aware of a motion on the national level to combine the Armbruster and annual national meeting into one event.  This topic which received some opinions from both the pro and con side was well received and thoughtfully discussed.  At the chapter level a vote was cast with the favor to leave them as two separate events. 

The next topic of note was that the chapter chair Kathleen Gannon, vice chair Ivan Berkenstock and business manager Dan Carlisle announce they did not intend to run for re-election in  2026 with encouragement for anyone interested to seek out the current position holder for job descriptions and commitments.  This was done to foster a smooth transition at the end of the respective terms.  This time frame ties into the final issue of note from the meeting which is the 2026 International Armbruster.

The Great Lakes Chapter is the host for the 2026 Armbruster.  For anyone that doesn’t know this is an invitational multi day, international HZP / breed show, with qualifying dogs coming from all over the United States, Canada and even Germany on occasion.  This is a large undertaking but the board feels our chapter is up to the task, especially after the huge success of Drahtfest in 2022.  As of now an Armbruster committee has been formed, a test coordinator has been named and a tentative location in Ohio is being scouted as a test site. 

This is a call to action to anyone not yet involved, all help is welcome.  Again, the site in Ohio is only tentative and we are trying to act early to find the best venue possible.  If anyone wants to get involved, has donation ideas or knows of a great location reach out to a board member.  GLC has not hosted an Armbruster in over 20 years, let’s show the club that the wait was worth it. 

The auction was a success with fishing charters, Boss ammunition, Filson bags, dog gear, custom Drahthaar artwork, European mounts and of course some booze being auctioned off. 

On Sunday, there was a Chukar Challenge at Lone Oak Farm with Matt Cebula taking home 1st place. 

Matt Cebula with Dora vom Langen-See, 2025 Chukar Challenge Winner

Showing appreciation to those who donate their time

This meeting would not have been possible without a lot of help across the board and of course the ZR’s coming in from out of state. Scott and Marina Lover did a great job finding the location for a second year with new member Tristan Spiegel volunteering to take the reins for 2026’s annual GLC meeting and breed show.