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I have been reading the queries of newcomers to showing and thinking there are some very practical pieces of advice every new exhibitor should be given. First and foremost in my book is an encouragement to enjoy showing, but in doing so to put what it is all about in perspective. Put your dog’s interests first before any and everything else, especially your own ego. Your whippets ar, and should be first and foremost, a much loved, well cared for pet. Their exhibition should be ancillary to that and not be the be all and end all of why you purchased or bred that dog in the first place.
Sadly, there are an increasing number of exhibitors for whom these obvious truths seem to be less obvious and I would like to recount the most extreme – and true – example of what can happen when perspective is lost, and showing, and winning, becomes an obsession, and innocent dogs suffer.
I have recently been involved, along with two friends in the USA, with the rescue of two whippets – a nine year old champion male of our breeding, and a younger male from another breeder – from an owner so obsessed with showing, and winning, and becoming recognized as a top handler in the USA (despite the fact her mediocre handling skills, offensive interpersonal skills, and physical limitations made it impossible that she would ever be able to realize this dream) that she lost sight of everything else.
Over a period of more than a decade that I have known this individual her life became more and more obsessed with attending and participating in dog shows, to the exclusion of everything else. The only thing she talked about, the only thing on her mind, was which show was coming next, which judge she thought she was friendly was going to put her up, and when they didn’t why they had their head turned politically by other entrants. This continued ad nauseum.
None of the people who tried to befriend her and did their best to be her friend were able to influence better life choices for her. She refused to accept that she needed to focus on herself, her house, her job, her health and her dogs, and relegate showing to a pleasant but relatively unimportant in the scheme of things, and treat it as an enjoyable, but not life altering, weekend activity.
I regret to say that not only did this obsession with show ring success never materialize (someone, or something, from people to ring politics was always to blame for her lack of success) but in the process she squandered her entire inheritance on buying the trappings of success – the big 8 cylinder show van, designer clothes to wear into the ring, and entries at each and every show within hundreds of miles of where she lived. University educated and intelligent, she also she also quit a succession of good paying jobs when employers refused to give her time off to go to particular shows. Ultimately her employment track record left her all but unemployable.
At the same time she completely neglected to pay her modest mortgage (less than $400 US per month) or repair the house on which that mortgage was held. By the Summer of 2007 her house was in foreclosure and she seized the next best opportunity as she saw it, to start over anew somewhere else.
She quit her job and moved 14 hours drive away from her former residence to share a home with another breeder/wannabe professional handler and terminated all contact with any of her past friends and working colleagaues who dared suggest her choices were not wise for herself, or her dogs. I tried, more than a year ago, to buy back the 9-year old dog she had gotten from us and was rebuffed. She refused to have any future contact with me because I dared to question her choices.
In January 2008 I learned that she and the friend had parted company after she failed to find employment after 6 months of looking and the friend threw her out. She had left her two dogs in the possession of this friend, while she searched for jobs and a place to live. The co-owner of the other whippet was alerted to the fact that the dogs were still in possession of the ‘friend’ and alerted us.
We made the decision that the dogs had in fact been abandoned, in contravention of the co-ownership agreements we had with this individual, and the other co-owner and a very, very good friend drove 14 hours each way to retrieve the two dogs. At a vet appointment after their rescue each dog was found by the vet to be between 8 and 10 pounds underweight and the older dog – our dog – was emaciated and had difficulty standing. In the vet’s assessment this dog might have had less than a week before his debilitation would have spiralled down so far he would not have been able to be saved from his emaciated state. And remember, these dogs were left with someone who, when queried by me as to their condition, attested to how much she loved the breed and who swore the dogs had never been in better condition.
Today both dogs are here in Canada with us and they will live out their lives with us, in comfort, loved, and well fed, socialized and exercised.
As for the ‘owner’ who allowed this to happen to these two dogs, I understand she is now living in a homeless shelter, looking for work, and still not facing up to anything approaching reality.
More horrific is the fact we learned that while her life deteriorated and the two dogs had been abandoned in the ‘care’ of this third party, she was using her communications skills and persuasive abilities to set her sights on another dog that would give her the wins she so desperately seeks. She was, in fact, already well along in the process of negotiating the lease of a champion dog in Europe so that she could show it to its American and Canadian championships. She was actively seeking to borrow money from friends and the daughter she had out of wedlock and put up for adoption 40 years before – allegedly to re-establish herself. But the real plan was to use the money to fly to Europe to pick this dog up later this spring!
This has now been thwarted, but I have no doubt this woman ‘s crazy obsession will continue as long as she is able to maintain that semblance of normalcy to the unsuspecting who do not know and have not seen her deterioration over the past decade. She has turned into a danger to herself, and certainly to any dog she would ever own. And while many of us could see it coming, unfortunately none of us could do anything to prevent it.
All this to close by saying, as an exhibitor, keep everything in focus and perspective, and enjoy the experience, but don't let it take over your life, or use it as the parameters of your self esteem. Life -- for ourselves -- and for our dogs -- is sadly all too short.
Lanny
Sadly, there are an increasing number of exhibitors for whom these obvious truths seem to be less obvious and I would like to recount the most extreme – and true – example of what can happen when perspective is lost, and showing, and winning, becomes an obsession, and innocent dogs suffer.
I have recently been involved, along with two friends in the USA, with the rescue of two whippets – a nine year old champion male of our breeding, and a younger male from another breeder – from an owner so obsessed with showing, and winning, and becoming recognized as a top handler in the USA (despite the fact her mediocre handling skills, offensive interpersonal skills, and physical limitations made it impossible that she would ever be able to realize this dream) that she lost sight of everything else.
Over a period of more than a decade that I have known this individual her life became more and more obsessed with attending and participating in dog shows, to the exclusion of everything else. The only thing she talked about, the only thing on her mind, was which show was coming next, which judge she thought she was friendly was going to put her up, and when they didn’t why they had their head turned politically by other entrants. This continued ad nauseum.
None of the people who tried to befriend her and did their best to be her friend were able to influence better life choices for her. She refused to accept that she needed to focus on herself, her house, her job, her health and her dogs, and relegate showing to a pleasant but relatively unimportant in the scheme of things, and treat it as an enjoyable, but not life altering, weekend activity.
I regret to say that not only did this obsession with show ring success never materialize (someone, or something, from people to ring politics was always to blame for her lack of success) but in the process she squandered her entire inheritance on buying the trappings of success – the big 8 cylinder show van, designer clothes to wear into the ring, and entries at each and every show within hundreds of miles of where she lived. University educated and intelligent, she also she also quit a succession of good paying jobs when employers refused to give her time off to go to particular shows. Ultimately her employment track record left her all but unemployable.
At the same time she completely neglected to pay her modest mortgage (less than $400 US per month) or repair the house on which that mortgage was held. By the Summer of 2007 her house was in foreclosure and she seized the next best opportunity as she saw it, to start over anew somewhere else.
She quit her job and moved 14 hours drive away from her former residence to share a home with another breeder/wannabe professional handler and terminated all contact with any of her past friends and working colleagaues who dared suggest her choices were not wise for herself, or her dogs. I tried, more than a year ago, to buy back the 9-year old dog she had gotten from us and was rebuffed. She refused to have any future contact with me because I dared to question her choices.
In January 2008 I learned that she and the friend had parted company after she failed to find employment after 6 months of looking and the friend threw her out. She had left her two dogs in the possession of this friend, while she searched for jobs and a place to live. The co-owner of the other whippet was alerted to the fact that the dogs were still in possession of the ‘friend’ and alerted us.
We made the decision that the dogs had in fact been abandoned, in contravention of the co-ownership agreements we had with this individual, and the other co-owner and a very, very good friend drove 14 hours each way to retrieve the two dogs. At a vet appointment after their rescue each dog was found by the vet to be between 8 and 10 pounds underweight and the older dog – our dog – was emaciated and had difficulty standing. In the vet’s assessment this dog might have had less than a week before his debilitation would have spiralled down so far he would not have been able to be saved from his emaciated state. And remember, these dogs were left with someone who, when queried by me as to their condition, attested to how much she loved the breed and who swore the dogs had never been in better condition.
Today both dogs are here in Canada with us and they will live out their lives with us, in comfort, loved, and well fed, socialized and exercised.
As for the ‘owner’ who allowed this to happen to these two dogs, I understand she is now living in a homeless shelter, looking for work, and still not facing up to anything approaching reality.
More horrific is the fact we learned that while her life deteriorated and the two dogs had been abandoned in the ‘care’ of this third party, she was using her communications skills and persuasive abilities to set her sights on another dog that would give her the wins she so desperately seeks. She was, in fact, already well along in the process of negotiating the lease of a champion dog in Europe so that she could show it to its American and Canadian championships. She was actively seeking to borrow money from friends and the daughter she had out of wedlock and put up for adoption 40 years before – allegedly to re-establish herself. But the real plan was to use the money to fly to Europe to pick this dog up later this spring!
This has now been thwarted, but I have no doubt this woman ‘s crazy obsession will continue as long as she is able to maintain that semblance of normalcy to the unsuspecting who do not know and have not seen her deterioration over the past decade. She has turned into a danger to herself, and certainly to any dog she would ever own. And while many of us could see it coming, unfortunately none of us could do anything to prevent it.
All this to close by saying, as an exhibitor, keep everything in focus and perspective, and enjoy the experience, but don't let it take over your life, or use it as the parameters of your self esteem. Life -- for ourselves -- and for our dogs -- is sadly all too short.
Lanny
