[ SHOWGSD-L ] Recruiting new fanciers
- From: RihadinK9@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2005 12:54:22 EST
I have always been intrigued by how certain topics seem to come up
simultaniously on completely unrelated lists (well, exept they are all dog
lists)....
this subject has been running concurrently on several lists I am on.... the
following is crossposted with permission... more food for thought...
------------------------------------
By all accounts, dog showing is, if not a dying sport, a floundering one.
We are not attracting new fanciers at the rate we are losing them through
burnout and old age/death. I'm not whether that's true across the board, in
all
breeds, but it certainly is in many and I believe the overall picture is not
good. I'd love to see a discussion about this.
Why are novices not joining and sticking with showing? I don't buy that
"People nowdays just want instant gratification. They don't have the
patience,
they don't listen to mentors, they just want to win" and yada yada yada. I
don't believe people now are much different from 20-30-40 years ago. There
have always been people who wanted instant gratification, etc etc. They've
never stuck with the sport. But where are the ones who a few decades ago
*would* have stayed? I think they're still out there, but we're running them
off
in droves.
The dog show scene has indeed changed, but I don't think the fault lies in
the quality of our newcomers. I think it's in the way we do or don't welcome
and encourage them. There's a lot of "venting" on other show lists about how
veteran breeders have been done wrong by novices and they're tired of
"wasting their time" and "no one wants to listen," etc. But you don't hear a
lot
about what we can do to change that and you seldom hear anyone take
responsibility. It's always "their" fault.
For every mentor I've known who has been let down by a novice, I've known
four or five novices who have been completely put off showing by so-called
mentors taking advantage, treating them badly, and putting them off showing
and
breeding entirely.
I think it's time we admitted that we have some serious problems with our
recruiting program and figured out what to do about it.
We've all seen the rudeness, the brush-offs, the snobbery at shows. It's
there. And I think we've all heard examples of incredibly unfair puppy
contracts presented to novices (who are often told they are "standard" and
"this is
what it takes to get a nice show puppy.")
One I saw this week involved an eight-week-old bitch puppy -- the deal was a
cash purchase price with two puppies back from the first litter, an option
on two puppies back from the second litter (if the seller wasn't "happy" with
the first two), and the option to take an *entire* litter if the seller
"paid expenses." In other words, the buyer would pay a minimum of three times
the puppy's price, possibly five times the price, and possibly eight to ten
times the price (this was a working breed that has fairly large litters).
Would
you take that deal? And this is not uncommon, folks.
And I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who showed their dogs
once or twice, were treated horribly -- or totally ignored -- by people at
ringside, and will never show again. Don't tell me they have to be "tough" to
show. We have a habit in this hobby of blaming the victim. "If you can't
take
the heat, get out of the kitchen."
The more serious problem is that these same people who come away from dog
shows believing we are all a bunch of condescending, rude elitists are not
going to be eager to help us defeat anti-breeding legislation. In fact, a lot
of them will be happy to support it. They won't realize these laws will
eventually make it impossible to find a healthy pet; they're just going to
hear
the word "breeder" and shudder at the memory of their brief excursion into the
dog show world.
Questions: How did dog showing become such a wasp nest? What can we do to
encourage new fanciers? Can our parent clubs/all-breed clubs help? How
about AKC and UKC?
UKC has always been family-oriented and in my limited experience with them,
I've found their shows to be extremely friendly at all levels -- exhibitors
at ringside, judges, club members, and even at UKC itself. What's the
difference here? Why aren't AKC shows perceived as "fun" any more? And can
we turn
this around?
--
Sharyn
Timbreblue Whippets ~ www.timbreblue.com
Sharyn & Walt Hutchens
--------------------------------------
Ginger Cleary, Rome, GA
a rumor flies around the world while the truth is still putting it's shoes
on..
_http://www.rihadin.com_ (http://www.rihadin.com/)
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