Boris Panovski became a national champion and a national outcast in two months in 2005.

He led an English setter to the U.S. Open Shooting Dog championship, in Alabama in February, a rare feat in the world of gun dogs.

But a month earlier, unknown to the judges at the dog trials, Panovski had been arrested for lewd behaviour in a Georgia restaurant parking lot.

His life began to spiral down soon after, culminating Friday in an accusation he had killed fellow shooting dog handler Don Frigo of Caledon.

Linking them in the beginning was a puppy named Silver.

When the small pointer was born in 1999, Panovski could not know how famous the dog would become.

Panovski sold the dog, named Panovski Silver, to Frigo a year later.

As a “puppy man,” Panovski sold a lot of dogs to a lot of breeders throughout Canada and the United States.

He was also a “handler,” the person who runs the dogs through hunting trials at open and amateur contests.

By 2005, Panovski was working with Gabe Magnotta, the Niagara wine magnate. The pair reached the top of the dog trial world with Magnotta’s Red Icewine, a setter Panovski handled to victory in the National Open Shooting Dog Championship in 2005.

But Panovski’s fortune was shortlived.

On Jan. 20, 2005, he was arrested in Waynesboro, Ga., that bills itself as the bird dog capital of the world. He was charged with public indecency and pandering, said Sgt. Dedric Smith with the Waynesboro sheriff’s department.

While in a restaurant, Panovski told a server that he’d been away from his family and needed help, asking the woman if she’d be willing to exchange sex for money, Smith said.

Panovski later saw the woman and a friend in a parking lot and began “fondling himself in front of them,” Smith said. The women called the sheriff.

The charge is widely known in the field dog community and led to a sanction from the sport’s governing association.

Sources say Panovski was banned from competition.

Breeders from as far away as Oklahoma and the Deep South told The Free Press Friday they still remember the rumours and stories about Panovski’s “lewd behaviour.”

Because of the Waynesboro incident, Don Frigo changed the name of the championship dog that he’d bought from Panovski years earlier. Panovski Silver became Belfield Silver, after the name of the road where Frigo’s Etobicoke company, Hady Construction, is located.

“Don changed the name of the dog after Boris got into trouble because he didn’t want that name to be associated with his dog,” said Mike Hester, a well-regarded dog handler from North Carolina.

Hester met Don Frigo 20 years ago, when Frigo sought out the dog handler to run his dogs.

“Don was a true gentleman. He was more generous than anyone, with everyone he came into contact with. I can’t say anything bad about him,” Hester said.

Belfield Silver became a wildly successful pointer, with 41 trial wins and seven championships. He died in 2012 after siring 72 trial dogs, including seven male and female pups that eventually won championships.

“He was one of the nicest dogs I’ve ever handled,” Hester said.

Silver “was very intelligent, had a super nose and burning desire to find birds,” wrote Larry Earls, a South Carolina kennel owner when nominating the dog for the American Field Trial Hall of Fame in 2013.

In the shooting trial world, breeders and sellers still desire dogs with the moniker Silver and the lineage back to what one affectionately called Old Silver.

“Belfield Silver kickstarted my career,” said Tony King of Wild Covey Kennels in Missouri. King bred a daughter of Belfield Silver with another dog, producing two dogs that have won him multiple championships.

“Don Frigo’s influence was pretty critical to a lot of kennels,” King said.

Panovski’s influence never reached the same level, and at some point, he began to handle dogs exclusively for Magnotta.

In 2006, while at a field trial, Magnotta was bitten by a tick and developed Lyme disease.

Magnotta died in late 2009 from the disease, leaving Panovski without a job and unable to do what he loved.

“Boris’ lifestyle changed in the last few years,” Hester said. “He really enjoyed what he did, and after Gabe Magnotta died he was not able to do that anymore.” ?

Magnotta’s family couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Panovski had lost contact with other breeders and potential buyers.

“I think Gabe Magnotta was his last big friend and owner,” said one U.S. dog breeder, who last worked with Panovski several years ago.

“Boris was a great dog trainer, but he couldn’t fulfil his potential. He could have been a fantastic puppy man but I think Boris had a lot of ideas that didn’t work well with other people.”

Despite his one championship, he wasn’t as successful as a handler, the breeder said.

“He didn’t have the flash of other handlers.”

About the same time Panovski’s career as a dog handler was declining, his personal life was crumbling.

Two weeks shy of their 41st anniversary, on March 17, 2008, his divorce from Dragica Panovski was finalized.

A year later, the part-time dog handler and part-time barber filed for bankruptcy.

Court documents show Panovski was collecting a monthly disability check of $1,481 with a net self-employment income of $350 for a total monthly income of $1,831.

He was paying rent of $718 and repair/maintenance and gas totalling $250 each month.

Panovski’s WSIB cheques stopped in June 2009 when he turned 65, and he lived on a pension of $775.55 and self-employed earnings of $300 a month.

His bankruptcy was completed in March 2013.

But Panovski’s Facebook page updates from the past year show a youthful and happy 70-year-old man with a new love and still proud of his 2005 championship.

The night before Don Frigo was shot near Clinton, Panovski posted an older photograph of a licence plate commemorating his past wins.

He wasn’t invited to the shooting dog field trials at Hullett Wildlife Conservation Area near Clinton, other handlers and breeders said.

Nor is anyone supposed to show up with a loaded firearm. The long guns used in trials are loaded with blanks.

“We have not seen Boris for a long long time. Boris disappeared from the scene a couple of years ago and nobody had seen him for years,” said one breeder.

Frigo was shot about 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13.

About seven hours later, Panovski changed his Facebook profile to a photograph showing him with Premier Kathleen Wynne at the St. Clements Macedonia Community Fest in Toronto from early August.

On Sunday, he made two final posts. One a painting of Jesus Christ, the other of him smiling and dancing with a woman.

The cover photo remains the setter he affectionately called Red, who won him a championship.

randy.richmond@sunmedia.ca

kate.dubinski@sunmedia.ca

with files from Sam Pazzano, QMI

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