Page 118 - ShowSight - February 2020

R-E-S-P-E-C-T and Common Sense BY WALTER SOMMERFELT continued
“ON THE POSITIVE SIDE OUR SPORT IS
TRULY INTERNATIONAL, AND WE HAVE DOG LOVERS ALL OVER THE WORLD EXHIBITING.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT SOME DAY IN THE FUTURE WE WILL ALL COMPETE UNDER ONE SYSTEM? WHO KNOWS?”
Also, like America I think that as a sport we may also be heading down a destructive path. A path that without some changes may lead to an end of the sport as we know it. Let’s look at some of those areas:
1. If we don’t change how we respect our venues and hotels we may no longer have anyplace to even hold a show
or a hotel that will accept us with
our dogs. I just came back from the Orlando cluster and could not believe how many people did not clean up after their dogs. People allowed males to lift their legs on everything and even those that did clean up would leave their bags of poop everywhere for someone else to collect. At our show this year we put in the front of our judging program that failure to clean up after your dog would result in a $25.00 on the spot fine and would subject you to a bench hearing. We further made it known that all club members as well as the facility people were aware of it and would be enforcing it. Much to my surprise it seemed to work as we did not have
to fine anyone and only had one or two piles to clean up from people that were obviously not observed leaving the piles.
2. Respect for fellow exhibitors. There
is absolutely no reason to berate or humiliate another exhibitor because they made a mistake on an entry or
in the ring. There is a proper and civil way to talk to people without cursing or throwing a tantrum. Just remember the Golden Rule.
3. Judges are human and even if you
do not like them or agree with them public outbursts or tearing them apart on social media is just not acceptable. If you don’t like their judging just don’t enter under them no one forces, you to enter.
4. Judges need to be kind to exhibitors and occasionally remember that this may be these exhibitors first show and a bad experience may prevent them
from coming back. Remember many of us that have become successful in our sport did not always start with a good dog or polished skills.
5. Our sport has always prided itself on a certain type of class. Men with Shirts, Ties and Coats, Ladies with nice dresses or outfits that present them in a professional light. Whether you are a judge or an exhibitor you need to show our sport the respect it deserves by dressing appropriately in clothes that fit you and show you as a profes- sional not a Wal Mart shopper in the middle of night.
6. The American Kennel Club needs to show respect to the exhibitors by making sure that judges are quali- fied and have a proven record before advancing them. Going from one breed to 13 in one application is depriving the exhibitor. We have many good judges that came up in a system that although was slow and took many of us 8-10 years to be approved for a whole group made us all better judges.
7. The AKC must also learn to stop giv- ing special treatment to certain indi- viduals and they must also maintain the integrity of the sport by punish- ing and suspending those that don’t follow the rules. There are numerous rumors about falsified applications and special treatments in the past and in the present that don’t play well to the other judges and exhibitors. Scan- dals happen and people must be held accountable for their actions.
8. If we are going to continue, we need to be a positive influence in our com- munities and on a national scale. We need to get back to that time when being an AKC registered dog had real meaning.
9. Breeders need to be mindful of how they talk with potential puppy buyers. New people need to be educated and encouraged not dismissed and treated rudely just because they may not
understand why you are asking the questions you do before selling your puppies.
10. Participants need to be respectful
of those that choose to compete in venues other than those that you
may prefer. One of the great things about our competitions today is that there are so many things a person can compete in that anyone can enjoy competition with their dog in the area they enjoy.
11. The AKC needs to review their poli- cies and stop making the kennel club the place where those handlers that want to retire go to work, with the AKC making them instant Experts evaluating judges and, on some occa- sions, bringing their personal Bias with them. There are many people with great backgrounds in our sport that should be considered.
These are just a small sample of the issues we face. You may or may not agree with a few of them or maybe all of them but as a nearly 50-year participant in the sport they are just this writers’ observations.
As a country, might we be headed toward another civil war. Is the world we live in headed toward destruction? What about our sport? Will it still exist in 5-10- 20 years?
On the positive side our sport is truly international, and we have dog lovers all over the world exhibiting. Is it possible that some day in the future we will all compete under one system? Who knows?
I admit I miss the golden age of dog shows the early 70’s and 80’s where we were a truly family sport where the weekend was two days to look forward to and not the rat race of the 4-5 day circuits of today. A time when judges and exhibitors would talk, lis- ten and share without having their integrity questioned. Where fellow exhibitors stayed till the end to laugh, to learn, to share and to create great friendships. What do you think?
116 • ShowSight Magazine, February 2020