Member Spotlight: Delita Rosenbaum
Delita and Cleo
Q: 2025 was a big year for you in dog world! Before we get into that, tell your friends in SCOA about how you first got into the breed and what brought you to your VC run with Cleo.
A: The Spinone came into our lives after watching an episode of Breed All About It on Animal Planet in 2002. My husband Tarn had expressed an interest in an upland bird dog and the personality felt right.
Q: How has the Club supported or influenced your engagement with our breed?
A: We joined SCOA so we could get the newsletter and stay involved until we were ready for a puppy. We went to our first Nationals in 2006, where we met great people and dogs. We connected with Jeff and Sue Rhodes and that led us to Fort, our first Spinone in 2008. They asked us to run NA through NAVHDA and that was the beginning of testing.
Not long after we discovered that two Spinoni are indeed better than one and added Fort's half brother Gonzo to our pack. We tested NA again, but at that time we lived in a NAVHDA dead zone so didn’t do any additional testing. Fort was a great hunter and my heart still aches for that boy, he died at 11 of hemangiosarcoma having peed in 26 states. About six months after losing Fort I started looking for my next spinone. Thyme, a niece of my boys owned and loved by Jeff Lemmenes was having a litter and it seemed like fate. So in 2020 just after the world shut down I brought Cleopatra home.
Q: Who supported your training efforts and what other clubs, groups and resources did you engage with as you prepared?
A: NC is home to a few really strong NAVHDA chapters so we started training for the Natural Ability test. I lucked into meeting Stacy Horst and her husband, Blake. Stacy is a can-do person who loves dogs and believes in empowering women. So I started working with her in addition to our regular training days. Cleo and I would get up, drive an hour to train with Stacy and Blake, go home and do our homework until we were ready for the next step. Cleo and I are not fast but we put in the time, conditioning, bonding and working with birds. She finished NA with a prize II with cooperation and obedience needing work. I was happy as she showed her drive for birds and desire to work.
In 2023 Cleo got a UT prize 1 on a rainy day in October with Karen Beyer as one of her judges. So now it was on to the Invitational. Little did we know that the travel and training were going to go up a notch. You CANNOT train for the invitational in a vacuum, everything takes equipment, dogs to run braces with, people to walk as a gallery, plant birds, gun…. It truly takes a village, Cleo and I were lucky to have one with support of chapters and members all over the east coast and south.
Congratulations on Cleo’s 2025 Versatile Champion title! So you also ran the test in 2024?
In 2024 we ran the test and had one of the best hours of my life in the field. Our work at the blind went great. Last up was the double mark. The wind had picked up, the decoys were bouncing, something you don’t see in North Carolina, and Cleo was tired. We missed passing and I was pretty sad. Cleo says any day in the field with me and her friends is a good day so she was fine.
But I know you also had a litter of puppies in 2024 - so busy! What influenced your choice to breed her and what did you learn through that process?
When we returned Stacy and Blake both supported me and said Cleo has what it takes. They set up a duck search, she remembered the drill and we ran a second UT test. She got a perfect score and we had some decisions to make…
Cleo was now four and I had been thinking about breeding her. She has strong hunting lines and some show champs in her pedigree. She is an easy going Spinone, calm and steady under all kinds of conditions. I reached out to a variety of breeders and asked Dana Graff who I had met over the years at our Nationals if she would mentor me. Holly [Forbes] and Tricia [McNamara-Vannoni] of Stella d Nord, Jill [Krebs] at Pawley’s Island Gun Dog, and of course Cleo’s breeder Jeff [Lemmenes] at Lumpy’s Kennel all shared advice, supported me in thinking that Cleo had something to add to the breed and not just because I think she is awesome.
Because we planned to run in the Invitational this year and knowing that Cleo knew the tasks, we decided that she needed to be in training June 1. Lucky for me she listens when I whisper in her ear and we got pregnant and had ten puppies on March 26 this year. Again, Spinone people stepped up to help and Cleo delivered puppies with our doula, Tina [Glengary Cordes] only hours after her arrival from Portland Oregan.
It was an amazing experience, emotional and exhausting. I learned that breeding is not for the faint of heart. It is a full time job, with sleepless nights and worry about health, temperament and giving new owners the best possible companion for their family. I had my daughter with little preparation… these 10 puppies were planned, prepped and pampered way more than she ever was.
Back to training - every dog is unique, so how is it starting "over" with a new puppy and balancing that with advanced training?
With all the puppies but Hero, our fifth Spinone, off to awesome homes, I went into puppy training and Invite training mode. As always, I got a puppy refresher with a pro trainer, helping me revisit the clicker and set expectations for Hero.
For Cleo it was largely about conditioning. Finding a place where she could run, swim and practice listening in the field. I think that our Spinone are family members first and are perfectly happy to just hang out with us. When preparing for most tests they will be fine with short bursts of energy, however the Invitational is a long game and being in condition makes all the difference. Spinone are slow to mature and they are often running the event at 4-5 years old or older. So preparation beyond the bird work is critical.
The Invitational is really special from the opening ceremony to the reading of the scores, it is emotional. You want to pass and for all the people you have met throughout your training to do well. I was struggling to keep it together as the day arrived. Cleo however, looked at the day as another opportunity for us to do what she loves together. When the scores were read we had done it and she is now VC Lumpy’s Cleoptra Queen of the Nile, CGC, MH.
Tell us some more about the Puppy Club idea and how you hope to engage with puppy families?
After we returned from Iowa we had a play date with Luna, a Penny Lane Spinone. This was a truely amazing connection with an old friend from years ago discovering her and asking if her family knew us. We didn’t know a puppy was living 10 miles away. After our play time, Tarn and I were discussing that new Spinoni could be close together and never know so we should do something about it. The Puppy Club was created out of this chance event. We are hoping that with the support from SCOA Breeders we can offer a forum to connect and support puppy owners. I want to introduce them to SCOA and hope they will find regional support and discover new friends and activities.