Bergamasco Dog Names

Most people were introduced to the Bergamasco in 2016 when they were first seen at the Westminster Kennel Club’s annual dog show held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 2018, fans of the annual dog show saw AKC Bronze Grand Champion Alp Angel’s Faggia Dell’Albera, or Faggia for short, strut her stuff around the ring. Faggia was the number one Bergamasco in 2017 and earned an invitation to the Westminster dog show. Faggia is owned by Jeanine and Joe Dell’Orfano and is handled by professional handler Amanda Shea. Faggie made history earlier in 2017 when she became the first Bergamasco to win the herding group at an AKC sanctioned show. She went on to compete in the Best in Show ring, but unfortunately was not chosen. Faggia also competed at the National Dog Show held in Philadelphia in 2017. At the 2018 Westminster dog show, Faggia earned best of breed under Judge Peter Green. Faggia is currently being trained to herd sheep at Nutmeg Farm located in Portland, Connecticut.

The Dell’Orfanos have become advocates of the Bergamasco Sheepdog since falling in love with the breed several years ago. Even though the Bergamasco is an ancient breed, it took a long time for the AKC to accept the breed into its Foundation Stock Service. Then, because there are so few Bergamascos within the United States, it was difficult for the breed to become fully recognized. But in January 2015, the AKC board of directors voted to fully recognize the Bergamasco. The Dell’Orfanos have begun educating the public about the Bergamasco and they work within the AKC community to promote the breed. It is important to them that breeders work together for the temperament, health, and overall conformation of the Bergamasco. It is their belief by bringing their Bergamascos to dog shows they are helping to educate the general public about the breed. Jeanine and Joe have both become AKC judge educators for the Bergamasco. They host seminars and tutoring as well as provide mentoring to judges learning about the breed. Since the breed is newly recognized, the Dell’Orfanos’ older Bergamascos never were given the chance to compete in AKC sanctioned events, however, these dogs are the foundation of their breeding program and they were careful when choosing dogs for their kennel. From these dogs came Faggia and her mother Amira, or AKC Grand Champion Bergishe Bergamasker Amira. Amira was the very first Bergamasco compete and win an Owner Handled Best in Show award.