Page 35 - K9 News - Issue 15 - March2021
P. 35

putting notches on their bedposts I was off at      were founded by very colourful individuals. They
           committee meetings held in smoky back rooms         prefer to be kept in power by grey suits who
           in run-down pubs as from a young age I had          never rock any boats and nod when asked to.
           become involved with several local dog clubs;       Rebels become outcasts and anyone with new
           to them having such a young enthusiast was I        ideas that challenge the way things have been
           daresay something of a novelty.                     done for generations by the establishment is
                                                               viewed with great suspicion and even disdain.
             Having been brought up the way I had
           been, it went rather against the grain to refer       It is assumed these days that people don’t
           to someone who was old enough to be my              know how to behave, have no ethics or
           grandparent by their Christian name. (I hope the    scruples, as we find more and more “Codes of
           use of that expression doesn’t offend anyone        Conduct” being published to rigidly govern all
           by the way, but in our multi-belief world it seems   manner of levels of the sport. Are people really
           that some have become overly sensitive about        widespread morons? Some of the guidelines
           what some of us merely regard as traditional        and regulations suggest that they must be.
           values.) However eventually I was worn down
           and I acquired several close friends who were         When you are a rank beginner everything is
           mainly women of my mother’s age, leading her        crystal clear. Life in dogs is very much a “them”
           to actually accusing me (in the pre-enlightened     and “us” situation and demarcation lines are
           days) of being a gigolo!                            totally apparent. However, if you then stick with
                                                               it and achieve a modicum of success the waters
             But I digress … the truth is that there was       become somewhat muddied. With achievement
           much greater respect for our elders and betters     will come further opportunities – to become
           in those days. Today it is not uncommon for         involved with clubs, and to maybe begin judging
           relative newcomers to address the old die-          your own breed. As your involvement deepens
           hards in their breed, and also leading judges,      so do the chances of your every move being
           by their first names, without having been invited   misinterpreted increase.
           to do so, and make it patently obvious that
           they believe they know more than their seniors        Ever since I can remember one of the most
           do! They think nothing of telling judges what       frequently heard complaints at dog shows is
           they thought of their opinion (provided it didn’t   that of judges “putting up their friends”, and of
           coincide with their own of course) and then in      course the complaint will always come from
           the post-show aftermath take to their keyboards     those who were standing down at the wrong
           with gusto as they proceed to decimate not          end of the line that day. I have had occasion
           only the poor judge who failed to recognise the     to point out many times to those who are thus
           merits in their self-acclaimed superstar, but the   complaining that when anyone first comes into
           poor creatures whose misfortune it was to beat      the sport, they have no friends. Logically they
           it. Social media has a lot to answer for – could    will gravitate towards people in the same breed
           you actually imagine some of the BS you read        who are showing the same type of dog they are,
           online ever being submitted as a “Letter to the     possibly with similar breeding, and oftentimes
           Editor”?                                            friendships will develop based on nothing more
                                                               than the fact that they see the breed through
             There are basic good manners which should         similar eyes and appreciate the same “type” –
           be preserved at all costs in terms of behaviour     even though in those early days they may not
           and sportsmanship, and then there is political      really fully understand what the word means. As
           correctness which is the scourge of our             time goes on they may use each other’s stud
           generation in my opinion. This results in the       dogs, exchange puppies or whatever, as their
           dumbing down of so many aspects of our sport,       vision of the breed continues to coincide. There
           whilst at the same time weakening the backbone      will come a day when that first judging invitation
           of society itself.  Freedom of expression is        arrives … what to do? Should their friends show
           discouraged by the very establishments that         under them?


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                                             K9 NEWS DIGITAL / MARCH 2021
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