The story behind the stamp:
Monaco Alaskan Malamute, 1983
Storm Kloud kennels from Wisconsin, USA, are very well known to every Alaskan
Malamute breeder in the world. Nancy Russell has been breeding them for over 35
years.
Nancy’s best known dog, Ch. Glacier’s Storm Kloud, was known to his friends as
“Bear”. In 1972, Nancy read in a magazine that a fellow breeder was organizing a
group to go to three shows on the Mediterranean Rivera. Bear, who was already
American, Mexican and International champion was eight years old at the time, but
still looked great, so she decided to join the group.
At the first of the three shows, Bear won “best in show” in San Remo, Italy. He was
the first malamute to be shown in Italy, and the Italians loved him. The next show was
in Monte Carlo and the show chairman was princess Antoinette, sister of Prince
Rainier. Bear was the first to win the group, and was led to the winner’s area. Each
group winner sat or stood on his own white circle while the rest of the groups were
judged. When the winner of the next group was applauded, Bear jumped up and went
“woo, woo, woo” – he thought he had won again. He kept doing that for every one of
the other group winners. By the time the groups were over with, he had convinced the
crowd that he should be the winner of the whole show, and when he gaited for best in
show he was definitely the favorite. When the judge pointed at him as the winner, the
crowd went crazy.
Prince Rainier presented Nancy and Bear with the trophy. His picture was in every
newspaper in San Remo the next morning. Bear made such a lasting impression in
Monaco, that when a malamute specialty show was held in Monaco in 1983, a stamp
was issued to commemorate it, depicting a picture of his grandson – Ch. Storm Kloud
Ffollow My Dream.
Nancy Russell, who changed her kennel name to “Storm Kloud” after Bear, sent a
picture of Bear’s grandson to Monaco, for the designer to design the stamp. As far as I
know, this is the only stamp designed to commemorate a specific dog.
Needless to mention, Bear won the third show, in Nice, France, where he was
awarded the judges cup…