Today's Breeder - Issue 107 - 4

Show Spotlight
WILLORUNN'S
THIRD GENERATION
A
loyalist at heart, Ania Romano Kelly is true to
the Vizsla breed of her mother and grandmother
and to the English Cocker Spaniel breed she showed to win
Best Junior Handler in 2012 at the Westminster Kennel Club.
These days, Ania, of Dunkirk, Maryland, is a professional
all-breed dog hander. Her Willorunn pro handling business
is named after the Willorunn Vizsla breeding program
begun in the 1980s by her grandmother, the late Dorothea
" Dot " Romano, and continued by Ania and her mother,
Rachel Romano Kelly. " Willorunn is in the background of
many top Vizslas, " Ania says.
Gifted with her grandmother's and mother's love for
showing beautiful dogs, Ania at 8 years old won the field
trial class at the Winter Garden Specialties with a Vizsla
bitch owned by her grandmother, topping a well-known
handler. " It was my first dog show in the ring, " she says.
" I knew then showing dogs would be a major part of my
life and that I wanted to turn my passion for the sport
and love of dogs into my profession. "
The stamp of her grandmother's accomplishments with
Vizslas, her mother's guidance during her early years in
junior handling, and 12 years of apprenticeships with
professional handlers has shaped Ania. Since turning
pro in 2019, Ania has shown top-ranked dogs to multiple
Bests in Show and Bests in Specialty Show, won National
Specialties, and taken Group placements at Westminster
and the AKC National Championship.
Her grandmother, Dot, fell in love with Vizslas after
rescuing a young male named " Flashman " in the 1970s.
Dot appreciated the quality of her second Vizsla that
she bought from reputable breeders Leslie Romaine
and Sandy Kempton. The Vizsla bitch, named " Dory "
(CH Kinghill's Just Hunky Dory), sparked Dot's beginning
as a dog fancier as she handled Dory to Best of Winners
at the Vizsla Club of Greater New York Specialty in 1981
at the Westchester Kennel Club.
On Dot's 100-acre Willorunn Farm in Glasgow, Virginia,
she cultivated an enjoyment for developing her Hungarian
Ania Romano Kelly, right, and her mother, Rachel Romano Kelly, are shown with three generations of their Willorunn Vizslas. The Vizslas are,
from left: " Reva " (CH Willorunn's Revvin' Her Engine); " Pyxie " (GCHB Willorunn's Rock'A-By Daisy JH); " Beamer " (CH Willorunn's Revvin' the
Beamer Full Throttle); and " Rosie " (Willorunn's Full Speed to Boomtown). Pyxie is the dam of Reva, who is the dam of Beamer and Rosie.
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Today's Breeder - Issue 107

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Today's Breeder - Issue 107