|
|
ShowShots
OWNER HANDLERS EAT CAKE
by
Sue
McClure
Entries plummet as costs climb, bad dogs shown by good handlers win,
but good judges still award owner-handled dogs.
When I first started showing my wolfhounds, another exhibitor, who used
a handler, told me if I wanted to win majors I was going to have to hire
a handler. I replied, “If that’s true, I’ll quit, as there would be no
point in showing.”
 Since
that first wolfhound, I’ve bred and shown my own dogs and others to
their AKC championships and to placements in specialties. I’ve trained
others to show their own dogs and they have gone on to win group, BIS
and specialty wins. The pleasure of owner-handling involves more than
just winning. For most in the dog show world, it is a social event, a
hobby that involves family members. It is a love affair with a breed, an
outlet for stress and a way to enjoy doing things with your dog. Do you
remember when you met friends at the show, put your x-pens together for
the dogs to play and you had a tailgate party? That’s what more and more
of us are saying…”Do you remember when?”
AKC has put out a moratorium on approving shows while they figure out
why the big drops in entries. That’s closing the barn door a little
late. Breeder/owner handlers have been lamenting the situation for
years, as more and more people dropped out, but no one “upstairs” has
been listening. Sure animal rights movements, restrictive laws, and high
license fees are hurting responsible breeders and the economy is taking
its toll, but AKC is doing its part to discourage participation as well.
If you live in New York City or large urban areas, you may have “too
many shows” but if you live in an area like the panhandle of Florida,
you will be driving over 3 hours to most shows and 8 hours to find a
major! True, adding more shows hurts entries for long established shows
but let’s remember people who live in Hattisburg, MS will never have as
many shows near them as people in Chicago do, and AKC should take that
into account.
AKC needs to do more to get dog shows back into the realm of family
sport instead of such a professional sport. Magazine features and
televised shows seem to be all about who the handlers and long time
breeder/handlers are… This year the Westminster newscaster (not the
experienced judge-commentator) said, “…so it’s all about the handlers in
this (BIS) competition…” What does that project to novice handlers?
AKC has encouraged big money shows; they have allowed shows go to the
middle of the week in clusters, great for professionals but not for what
used to be the backbone of dog breeding – the smaller
“dedicated-to-their-breed breeders” and owner handlers who have
40-hr-a-week jobs. When I tried to discuss this with an AKC rep at our
show, pointing out that the people showing their own dogs couldn’t make
the middle of the week shows, she gave me a cavalier, “Well, it’s not a
family sport” answer that reminded me of the alleged “Let them eat cake”
remark by an oblivious queen that lost her head. She was pushing our
club to move our show to a cluster farther south. How does that fall
into serving our own community? What happened to “you must give a show
within 25 miles of your club’s location”? Who does it benefit having 4
shows in one location? First guess – those who don’t have to move their
set ups, not those living in the area.
When someone wanted our club to offer $1000 for BIS to bring in more
handlers, I turned to our catalog to prove to the board that the
majority of dogs at our show were being shown by their owners. Over 56%
of the entry had been shown by their owners or breeders. The board
agreed to try it one time with the cash award and we got a total of 4
more dogs…the handlers were surprised when they got the checks… they
didn’t read the premiums and it wasn’t why they had entered our show.
It’s the judging panel people are looking at when they check the
premium.
In our area, 8 of the shows I used to attend are no longer held on
weekends, cutting my showing and ability to find majors by more than
half while doubling my expenses. And at the rate show giving clubs are
bleeding money, this trend will continue. Those dog clubs giving
independent shows will go under and as more of the smaller weekend shows
disappear, the less the average exhibitor is able to continue going to
all breed shows. Many influential breeders now just go to specialties.
 While
people like to think it is a myth that handlers can finish anything,
many of us with enough years in our breed to know a good dog, know it
isn’t a myth. I’ve seen multiple specialty winners get beat by generic
dogs under handlers. I recently attended a seminar where two judges said
the advertising in show magazines have no effect. I work in marketing.
Millions are spent on advertising and it isn’t because it has no effect.
If for no other reason than looking at the same winning dog in
publication after publication fixes one’s eye to that dog as what is
correct, it is effective. Dogs that win in one area may not win in
another area because the dogs they are up against look different, or the
judge was mentored where different kennels with a different look are
predominant. I once had someone ask me what was wrong with an Irish
Wolfhound’s topline because he was the odd man out in the line up – the
only one with a slight curve over the loin. The onlooker thought it must
be incorrect.
The same principle comes into play with weeklong clusters. Judges are
seeing the same dogs with handlers constantly. The weekend warrior may
have a dog that has won a specialty but he isn’t out there constantly,
and he is overlooked by judges that aren’t totally up on that breed.
When earnest breeders of good dogs begin to feel it doesn’t matter how
nice a dog they have when they are showing against heavily campaigned
dogs or under judges not strong enough to put a decidedly better dog
over a professionally handled dog, they leave the sport.
Remember that catalog accounting of owner-handled dogs? I don’t think it
is any coincidence that entries are down about 50%.
AKC Pay attention, please! Owner handlers don’t want cake, we just want
a fair shake.
Sue McClure
Hounds of Legacy & Animal Art by McClure
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32962&id=1679494196&l=8ae6b95c5e
http://www.thedogpress.com/ShowShots/OwnerHandlers-EatCake_McClure-1112.asp
|
Send To A
Friend!
automatically from names you select from your mailing or
contacts list! Our
Mail Puppy
is
DoodleDog's son so he knows all about mail.
He's purpose-bred
to do mail so command him or copy the complete URL just above and drop it in to
an email to friends who should, like you, be in the know. |
ShowShots Reporter - Opportunity!
If you have digital camera and know Who's Who at the shows,
contact@thedogpress.com
|
|
