Richard Eichhorn (USA)

Richard Eichhorn, USA

AKC judge and international breed specialist. Breeder, handler, author, lecturer and mentor.

In 1978, I founded my signature line of Tibetan Mastiffs under the DRAKYI prefix.  My love of this ancient working breed propelled me to devote decades of time and energy towards its' preservation and development.  I co-founded and served the national breed club as President, Director, Registrar, Breed Standard Committee Chairman and Newsletter Editor.  I was also the AKC Liaison for breed recognition in 2005.  I have bred, owned, judged and handled a variety of other breeds from the AKC Working, Hound, Herding, Toy and Non-Sporting Groups, and FCI Groups 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9.

My first judging assignment in was in 1989 as an AKC Best in Match judge.  I became a Best in Show judge for the American Rare Breed Association in 1995.  I had the honor to be the first westerner to judge any breed in mainland China at their first all-breed show in 1999 in Shenyang, China.  I have served as an AKC judge since 2007.  As a breed specialist, I have judged record entries of Tibetan Mastiffs at national club shows held in Taiwan (1992, 1993 & 1997), in Holland (1994), in Germany (1994/KTR & 2007 Tibet Dog Europe), in China (1999, 2007, 2011 with 600 entries! & 2013), in the Czech Republic (2009), in Estonia (2012) and in Russia (2012/Yekaterinburg & 2014/Nizhny Novgorod). 

I look forward to joining and celebrating with the international community of purebred dog lovers and enthusiasts at the great FCI World Dog Show event in June, 2016 in Moscow, Russia!