MORGANTOWN. W.Va. – Adrianne Dering, a Morgantown resident, will be taking part in this year’s National Dog Show Presented by Purina and exhibiting the Biewer Terrier (pronounced beaver, like the dam-building animal) for the first time ever.

Dering, among other exhibitors, will be allowed to show the new American Kennel Club-sanctioned breed on the NBC TV special Thanksgiving Day. Dering has 15 years of experience breeding and exhibiting dogs. She will be competing with two sisters: Hopecrest’s Courtly Check, or “CC” and Hopecrest’s Singing in the Rain, or “Rain”.

  • National Dog Show Portrait Shoot, 14th September, 2021. Philadelphia, PA. Credit: Simon Bruty
  • Welcome to the Biewer Terrier who will be competing for the first time at The National Dog Show in 2021. ©The National Dog Show; Photographer: Simon Bruty

“CC has three points to go for her AKC Championship,” Dering said. “And she has been showing in a special class called “Bred By Exhibitor”, which means that the person who is handling her in the ring is, in fact, her breeder. We’ve got three points to go. We have four shows over the course of this coming week. And we’re hoping that those three points will be gained and we will come home to Morgantown with a new champion.”

CC is 14 months old, and Rain, Dering said, is six months old and just beginning her career in the 6-9 month puppy class.

“She will be in the ring for practice and experience and to start to learn the ropes so that she too can be a big show dog one day,” Dering said.

  • Rain with her sister CC at a press conference. Credit: Adrianne Dering
  • CC AND RAIN at a press conference. Credit: Adrianne Dering

She described her dogs as being “very happy” and “quite sturdy despite their size”. Dering added that they hold their own and are active at home with her other dogs that are three times their size.

“They have a lovely disposition,” Derin said. “They are not quite as hyper and barky as some of the other tiny toy dogs. Although they are small, they’re between four and eight pounds. And mine are just little happy, playful parts of my pack at the house.”

Dering said she’s “excited” to represent the Mountain State and her breed club, the Biewer Terrier Club of America, and to be involved in the very first showing of the Biewer Terriers at The National Dog Show.

“Because they start out kind of all over the place and the way they look and their styles,” Dering said. “And over time, they become more typical of what you would expect. And to be part of developing that and so bringing it to fruition is very, very rewarding.”

  • Tilly ready to head out to Philadelphia. Credit: Adrianne Dering
  • Buff at his first show this month. Credit: Adrianne Dering

Biewer Terriers are not the only dogs Dering will be showing at this year’s competition. She said this will be the fourth generation of her animals to be shown at the national contest in Philadelphia. In total, she will have four dogs. The two others are Hope Crest’s ‘Til There Was You, or “Tilly”, and Hopecrest’s Make It A Double, or “Buff”. They are both young Coton de Tulears.

“Both of those little babies will be shown and also in the “Bred By Exhibitor” classes where we like to show off what we have up and coming in our breeding lines,” Dering said.

 The Biewer Terrier will be among the breeds featured for a total audience of over 20 million on NBC’s national two-hour special following the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.