That can
have a downside though. A 2001 post from Pat Szymanski, Akasta Japanese
Akitas, sums it up. Pat said “…dedicated breeders seem to be forgotten and
lost in the quest by all the new EXPERTS. AKC and the National Clubs had better
wake up and take a stand instead of just worrying about giving a show. People
that have never bred and don't intend to should not have a say in the future of
a breed, ANY BREED.
"Let them enjoy their dogs.
I, along with other good breeders, appreciate and depend on these people
to provide a good home for my pet dogs, but I certainly don't want them telling
me how to breed simply because they are a member of a National Club. How can a
big mouth and paying yearly dues replace sitting up with a bitch in whelp, nursing a weak puppy,
traveling all night to a show, the hours of conditioning and training, the
responsibility of proper placements, and worst of all watching your old show dog
age and wonder if it's time to part with them?
These things can only be felt and learned by experience, and not by
someone with a spayed or neutered pet.
It just makes no sense to me. I certainly wouldn't pilot a plane just because I
flew in one…."
Pat’s point is raised every time a
national breed
club becomes saturated with pet owners and novices, tipping the balance from a
breeders club to an owner’s club. This
happens when board members want to insure re-election by easily-led followers.
Bill Andrews, a guy whose comments are always succinct and piercing
except when I’m watching the end of a movie, said “only in dogs can a person go
out and buy a female dog and instantly be a breeder with the same rights and
privileges as those who have been working hard at it for ten years."
As always,
Bill was right. So what is the solution? Dog clubs were created to
hold dog shows. Many fail to hold the interest of people interested in
dogs! Judges were approved to judge dog shows. But just like
stacking club membership rosters, AKC uses
the judging approval process as a political tool. Nowadays knowing dogs has
little to do with becoming a judge.
It is more about who you know and how easily you are kept in line and how
successfully
you can “network” for assignments.
This
results in an uncomfortable number of upwardly mobile people who stand
center ring selecting dogs even though they were never able to purchase a top
winner, much less breed one! By what right do they take money and dreams from trusting exhibitors?
By what decree do they judge the life’s work of breeders like Pat Craige-Trotter?
We need
the influx of novices, new breeders, and new judges but we don’t need a system that allows
them to turn shows into an
ego trip instead of a quest for excellence in breeding stock.
We don’t need unsuccessful breeders or handlers passing judgment
on the work of experts. We don’t need a game show that attracts mercenaries instead
of dog people.
We have become little more
than a multi-billion dollar industry feeding on dogs.
Where are the
rewards for excellence in genetic selection and careful rearing and
conditioning? If dedication and excellence fails to be rewarded, we will
lose new people and exhibiting dogs will no longer be a hobby for the average family.
Novices may be attracted
by the glitzy world of dog shows but those who could contribute to sport
soon realize it is less about dogs and more about games, money, and egos.
How long
can the
organization we have spent a lifetime supporting get by with breaking its own rules and purpose for existence.
How many remember what dog shows are for?
This is open book so the answer is: To compare breeding stock in a
social atmosphere affordable to all who want to learn or improve their kennels.
Why do we anxiously
await the first sign of estrus in our bitch, having planned a breeding down to
the inth detail when for
a small fee, AKC lets any slipshod breeder register “accidental”
breedings?
AKC cannot serve two
masters. When it panders to politics and goes into merchandising products and “expanded”
services, is it serving the sport of dogs?
I flunked history but wasn’t there a
governing body that once said “Let Them Eat Cake.” What ever happened to that monarch?
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