Nine Pekingese in a motorhome? (4 photos)

Over the past four decades they’ve owned somewhere close to 100 Pekingese dogs.

Last weekend Micheline and Don Pigeon were in town from Sudbury with their current crop of nine Pekingese to attend the Sault Ste. Marie Kennel Club’s 2016 Dog Show.

Micheline is actually the big dog fanatic of the two.

“The women always are. Don’s more of the gopher who carries stuff,” she said.

Micheline started getting interested in dog breeding and showing in the late 1960s.

“From the time I was a child I loved Pekingese but I could never find one in Sudbury. Once I was a teacher I had some spare time during my students' library hour. I looked at the French paper Le Droit and I saw Pekingese puppies for sale. I wanted one so badly we drove in a snowstorm to pick one up," she said.

Shortly after her first Pekingese she got into training the dogs and became a registered dog exhibitor in 1972.

Right from then she included her then four-year-old daughter Roxanne in the kennel, which she named ‘Romiche’ - a mix of both their names.

The family has been showing Pekingese dogs ever since, going anywhere from 10-30 shows every year.

“I like them because they’re independent dogs. If you want to fuss with them they’re happy with it but if you’re busy they can get along on their own as well,” she said.

Micheline and Don estimate they have gone through 24 litters of Pekingese with about two to five dogs per litter, though they don’t keep all of them.

One year they travelled with 17 of them from show to show.

Over the years Roxanne seemed to develop a real knack for dog shows and eventually became the expert in the family, often showing her mother’s dogs for her across North America.

Tragedy hit in 2007 when Roxanne, at the age of 39, was in a fatal car accident.

The Pekingese dog community joined Micheline and Don in mourning for their daughter.

The Pekingese Club of America devoted a whole edition of their quarterly journal ‘The Lion Dog News’ to Roxanne.

"When the accident happened the tributes just poured in. She was very knowledgeable and even well-known people in the community said when she passed away it was a great loss for the breed,” said Micheline.

The next year, Micheline and Roxanne were supposed to have travelled to Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the top dog show in the United States, together.

“I ended up going by myself. It was not a good idea; it was very difficult,” she said.

These days Micheline and Don soldier on continuing to go to dogs shows across Canada in their big motorhome with a poster of Roxanne posted on the door.

They said the dogs are like their children now.

On Sunday they crammed their nine Pekingese ‘children’ — Holly, Sweetie, Misha, Guildy, Rupert, Belle, Stormy Weather, Winter Gale, and Bill — in their big motorhome.

Winter Gale won Best Baby Puppy in Show on the weekend and the couple walked home with several awards and ribbon.

“I do okay but if my daughter was around she’d be winning a lot more than I would,” said Micheline.