Patricia C. Trotter
A Short Biography

Patricia Craige Trotter has been in dogs since she was a child living in Virginia. Her Vin-Melca Norwegian Elkhounds are internationally famous as both show dogs and producers. Their honors include having the Top Sire and Dam in the breed’s history and winning an incredible 10 group firsts at Westminster, all owner-breeder-handled.

When Ch. Vin-Melca’s Vagabond became Top Dog All Breeds in 1970, he was the first amateur handled-dog to achieve that honor. Pat handled her own dogs to Top Ten All Breeds status on 10 different occasions while holding down a full-time teaching job. Amongst the current stars of the breeding program in the new century are Ch. Vin-Melca’s Silver Shadow, the #1 Hound in the U.S. in 2002 with 25 BISs; BIS Ch. Vin-Melca’s Bright Image and BIS Ch. Vin-Melca’s Margretta, #1 in the breed in 2006. The latter two bitches are both dams of young winners.

Pat’s achievements in dogs began early with the Gaines Research Center bestowing Girl Show Dog Fancier of the Year honors on her in 1953. She has been Breeder of the Year and Owner-Handler of the Year a number of times with the Kennel Review Winkie Awards. She is a member of the Quaker Oats Hall of Fame (now Nature’s Recipe) and has won two Fido Awards. -as Dog Woman of the Year and recently as Dog Writer of the Year for 1998.

A graduate of the College and William and Mary with a Masters from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Pat spent 34 years in the classroom teaching 8^th grade American History in Carmel, California. Following her marriage to Charles Trotter and relocation to Nashville, Tennessee Pat wrote* /Born To Win/*/,/ a book dedicated to the concept of better breeding. Her retirement from teaching also allows her time to present various seminars on breeding to breed clubs across the country. As an AKC Gazette Better Breeding columnist, she won the Dog Writers’ Award for a regular column in an All Breed magazine in 1997.

As a judge Pat focuses on the belief that the true purpose of the dog show is to select breeding stock. She believes that the breeder is judging dogs every time he or she selects a sire and dam or grades a litter of puppies; and the judge is participating in the breeding process every time he or she walks into the ring. By working in concert with each other, breeders and judges can cooperate to contribute to the continued improvement of the breed. The Trotters have recently moved back to the Monterey Peninsula.