IT'S JUST A MATTER OF LUCK

by BJ Andrews, Akitas O'BJ

We first met Luck back when we had Dobermans. By the time we got our first Akita, well before the breed was recognized, we had learned how to stay lucky for the next four decades.  Our biggest break was what I wish for every novice. The world's greatest mentors.  It was through them that a life-long passion for dogs found a path.  It was through dogs that we met other significant people in our lives, developed an interest in nutrition, then medicine, and ultimately in why and how Nature works.  But I digress.  This is about Luck.

It was surely "luck" that we met Wayne and Dorothy Gooch, Skyraider Dobermans. When we met them, they were at a downturn in circumstances. He was a recovering alcoholic who had recently lost a considerable fortune for the second time. At one point, we took in 20 of their 27 Dobermans. Caring for the dogs, and for two wonderful people and come to love was surely a marvelous opportunity.  A stroke of luck. 

Through Dorothy, I re-lived the moment when Ch. Skyraider's The Caravel went WB at the Garden.  Back in the fifties when a ribbon there was the height of achievement.  I relished the success of Ch. Skyraider's Top Flight even as I sat on the floor at Dorothy's feet with Topper's head in my lap. I came to know George Rood as a great dog man, not just as a "famous handler."  I learned about Peggy Adamson (Damasyn) and Tess Hensler (Artal), both of whome were already legends, and other breeders who were yet to become legends.

Dorothy taught me how to actually "read" a pedigree.  Wayne (former DPCA Delegate to the AKC) taught Bill how to get a difficult bitch bred, and why sometimes, it shouldn't happen. We had both grown up with dogs, hunted over them or behind them, but we so sooooo lucky to realize how little we knew about dogs!  We had just bred our first litter, sired by a Warlock son.  I shudder to think where that litter would have led us had it not been for Dorothy's wise and patient counsel.

There were other mentors. Some of them still don't know how I studied them and learned from them. Since this is about dogs, I won't name them except to say my "other" mother was Lina Basquette and if there was anything Dorothy left out of our education, Lina filled in the blanks.

Okay, so you are wondering what this has to do with luck?  I thought you'd never ask.  People make their own luck.  Luck is having opportunity and recognizing it as such.  Luck is keeping your mouth shut so that your ears can work and your brain can function. Luck is about applying the lessons you learned, even when it would be more convenient to do otherwise. Luck is about burning the midnight oil and phone lines, not just asking to be asking, but to learn.  Luck is shipping a Rottie bitch from Florida to Washington state at a time when very few people flew!  The multi-champion litter wasn't "luck" it was the result of putting into play that which we had learned about genetics.  It was not a gamble.

Luck could have been a phone call to Sam Rivkin (Silver State Kennel Club) that resulted in our first Akita. Or maybe the lucky part was realizing that she wasn't what we wanted to breed and consequently finding Bob Campbell.  Luck must have driven our vehicles on all those trips to Georgia!! It was probably sheer luck that we were able to pay all those phone bills!

There are moments when each of us encounters Opportunity and Obstacles. It may take a stroke of luck to understand which is which. Sometimes they are the same thing.  Good luck is the ability to learn from the bad luck.  But the greatest good fortune of all is in knowing that not much in our lives is only happenstance.

The incredible film work above was a surprise gift from Moretto Film Company, Santiago, Chile, So. America.  It was before anyone knew what "digital" was.  Maurizio Moretto is a lucky breeder who overcame distance and language barriers to achieve the highest levels of success for his Akitas ACE. 

The dogs in the composite are Ch. Okii Yubi's Sachmo Of Makoto, ROMXP, sire of 101 AKC Chs. (breeder Bob Campbell) Ch. O'BJ BigSon Of Sachmo, ROMPX, sire of 48 AKC Chs. and Ch. The Widow-Maker O'BJ, ROMPX, sire of 76 AKC Chs.  All sired many ROM progeny and produced foundation champions on four continents.

Luck.  Fate.  Destiny.  Call it what you will but always recognize, welcome, and respect it.

reprint permission    2001 SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE

Copyright © 2001 Barbara J. Andrews.  All rights reserved.  Except for brief quotations with source provided, no portions thereof may be stored or reprinted in any form, electronic or otherwise, without prior express written consent of Barbara J. Andrews OBJ@OBJdogs.com or contact@thedogplace.org

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