Page 168 - ShowSight - February 2020

If You Only Read One Thing Today Please Make It This
BY MICHELLE SCOTT
It’s an ego driven sport and we really have to get back to our love for our dogs, the breed and the sport. We all need to work at educating the public. Good post.
Christina Chandler, ALBERTA SHOW DOGS
January 31 at 6:23 PM
Let me preface this with the truth... I’m sharing this in the genuine hope that it changes even one mind. I’m well aware that the way it is composed has the potential to upset some people but that really wasn’t and isn’t my intention. If you can make it to the end I think you’ll see what I mean.
And if you don’t feel like reading it, at least my dog is pretty.
I haven’t publicly opened a can of worms in a while and since this is a hot topic (and has been for ages) in the dog community and it’s something I feel strongly about I figured why not alienate some people and start some fights this afternoon?
Not really. I mean, that’s not my actual intention but let’s be honest.. it’s probably going to happen anyway. So here goes. (You might want to sit down for this.)
Breeders of responsibly produced, well bred dogs need to stop getting their elitist panties in a bunch when people email or message them asking the price of their puppies.
Even if that’s all they ask them. Even if there is no greeting, no capitalization, no punctuation, no nada. Even if their email address is puppieluvz07@tirekickers.com.
I’m being serious, people. And I’m being serious for a number of reasons.
Let’s start with the first one. The one that has abso-fricking-lutely nothing to do with your puppies, your time, the money you’ve spent, the trials you’ve traveled to, the training you’ve done, etc. It has nothing to do with you at all.
Some people have a hard time communicating via the written word. Maybe they have a learning disability that prevents them from expressing themselves in a way that would appeal to you. Maybe English is their second language and it can be difficult for them to write what they want to say. Maybe they just feel awkward when they send an email or a Facebook message. Whatever the reason, they’re not trying to be rude or dismiss the value of your dogs. They just don’t communicate well via this platform.
When you’ve gotten over feeling ashamed that you’ve possibly made horrible assumptions about someone due to something they can’t help let’s move on to the second reason(s) why you need to straighten out your unmentionables. I combine these two because they stem from the same emotion—frustration.
Imagine that Joe Pet Guy has already spent hours communicating with other breeders only to find out that the prices that the breeders are asking for their dogs don’t fit into his budget. Or—this is a personal favourite of mine—he’s spent a lot of time composing well thought out emails that never got a response because of whatever arbitrary thing he said that got Mr. or Mrs. Breeder’s nose so high up in the air that they couldn’t find the reply button. Joe is frustrated, he’s bummed out, he’s likely feeling pretty rejected, and he doesn’t want to waste any more time than he feels he’s already wasted. At least if someone ignores the email he sent that says, “How much?” it didn’t take him that long to write it in the first place. >
166 • ShowSight Magazine, February 2020