I try to stay quiet on the list, but I have to address this. In my own
experience, my dog went to his maturity with his unknown owner, his unknown
breeder and his excellent, young but still unknown handler. He walked into
the ring as the next to last dog in line and there he stayed. The judge
never really even looked at him. The next day at the specialty show he
was winners dog for his second 5 point major over most of those same dogs
and earned his championship at the same time (4 specialty majors). It was
the last time I entered any of my puppies or encouraged my puppy owners to
enter a futurity. Waste of time, waste of money, waste of energy. I think
it would be interesting if you asked the "little people" in the sport --
the ones who show their own dogs or get friends to show them, the ones who
breed infrequently, the ones who have a limited number of dogs because the
dogs are house pets as well as show animals -- I think they would
overwhelmingly say that the system is broken.
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Judging is subjective. As for me, I would rather try for the points. I
need a handler, therefore showing in a glorified match is not for me (any
more.) I don't need to feed my ego. I have good dogs; they compete in
breed and herding. I have used a number of handlers and ALL have been
wonderful.
PK
Penny in NC
The Farm Dog Forever
CH Steve, HT, PT, CH Joy, HT, PT
RMB The Ghost, HT, PT, CH Hank
www.landsendkennels.com
