[ SHOWGSD-L ] Not sure what it was... but this is what I think
- From: "Kathaleen Strong" <inflight2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 10:07:03 -0800
When I was a young handler, a much respected man in our breed once said to
me, "Only take into the ring dogs you can win with."
Of course, I took it to mean that I should only take dogs into the ring that
would likely be a winner because of their excellent quality based upon the
standard, not just what I thought I could get away with because someone was
paying me. At the time and the way it was said, I took it to mean that
don't settle for mediocre, always strive to show an above average quality
animal, because the dog at the end of the lead reflects your knowledge of
the breed, and respect and integrity not only hold for yourself, but for
your partner in the game, the client.
In these past few years, I have to say I am saddened in the way that the
advice given to me has been used by the man who uttered it, Mr. Moses.
Let's be realistic, Jimmy is very good at what he does. He is a
professional and he is successful because when he takes these animals to the
ring, his ducks are in a row. I was at a futurity where he flew in with the
crew, and although he didn't handle all the animals on the string, he was
definitely obvious with the doubling. He proceeded to win the dog side.
People were griping. When he proceeded to win the bitch side too; there was
a lot more griping. However, when you look at it from the perspective of
the judge; what did he have to choose from? Mr. Moses' animals were
perfectly groomed, they were trained to the 9's, they performed flawlessly
and while they may not have been the best quality I've ever seen, they were
pretty decent examples of the breed. On the other hand, the competition had
serious training flaws, either non-existent or certainly not to the level of
competing at a futurity and expecting to win or had serious faults of motion
or breed type or both. At the time, I said to those griping around me -
"wake up, what do you expect the judge to do - dump Jimmy because he's Jimmy
and put up faultier animals than what Jimmy's showing? Or should the judge
forgive these poorly trained animals who he can't really evaluate because
they don't gait, or have misbehaved?"
That being said, since that particular show, Mr. Moses has been reported to
have done some things I find less than savory when it comes to the sport of
dogs. I am very disappointed in a lot of choices he's made, and while I'm
sure he could give a rats-*** about what I think, there are a lot of people
who have in the past respected and looked up to him. The choices he has
made in the past few years about what to show, promote and leave behind for
the breed, IMO have done serious harm to the breed in general.
The mediocrity he has allowed to go on the end of his lead says to me that
what he uses the line he told me with the very bare minimum of its
definition - "take only those dogs into the ring that you feel you can win
with" - shouldn't mean "anything" that you can finish. I mean, let's be
realistic, at some point, when someone has achieved great success, one would
hope that their success would mean that their honor would only allow them to
promote better and better animals. Or in other words one would think their
hard work, good coaching, good luck and some savvy; that when they came to a
crossroad of choices -- the option between what is likely to be an easy,
successful venture by virtue of starting with overwhelming, outstanding,
quality better than the previous venture or successful venture by virtue of
the extra effort required to engineer, promote, and finagle, that option one
would be the obvious alternative but perhaps there is a certain level of
narcissism where someone would find more satisfaction in option 2.
When it's all said and done; I would have hoped that some of the choices
made would have been to the benefit of the breed; the integrity would have
been such that there would not need to be orchestration of careers for
historical result because the careers would have been made themselves
without all the extra "stuff" that we all know happened.
Eventually, the numbers will tell the real truth and while history is being
written as we speak, those of us with the knowledge gained by our own hard
work, good luck and innate talent know that a charlatan has been foisted
upon us and those that do not will continue to be sheeples anyway, and
nothing said on this list will change that anyway.
Kathaleen
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Kathaleen Strong - Inflight Kennels Reg'd - Breeders of:
1995 US GV, AOE-1996 US GVx, Jubilee ROM
http://inflight.cnc.net http://www.inflightcoatformula.com
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