Did You Know? – “If anything shady was going to happen at a show… It happened long before the show ever started!”

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124 – November/December, 2024

By Michael Canalizo

That was a quote made by one of the sport’s most successful handlers, and while it sounds like a comical declaration…when one thinks it through, its actually pretty accurate (once the details of the perpetrated action are revealed.)

“That was then…This is now!”

Every day there seems to be some covert comment or accusation crop up on any one of the several social media sites. Sadly, some of these salacious accounts are confirmed after the proper authorities investigate the situation…BUT…. more often than not, posts with sketchy, vague details are displayed which in turn ignites the rumor mill. This needs to stop. If anyone bothered to dig a bit deeper into those making these posts…most would realize that most of what is reported would never hold up in court. Am I shocked to see that some of those quickest to “know it all,” haven’t been to a show in years or never bred or owned a successful competitor? HELL NO!

How does the fancy rein in comments made on any one of the many “Judges Review” pages, some with over 35,000 followers? The “Right to Free Speech” is bandied about at will, and some who try to be a voice of reason in defense of one’s perception are aggressively challenged and sometime flat-out maligned. I have watched as social media has transformed many of the traditional aspects of the dog sport. Some exhibitors now feel that these social media sites are the best platform to “advertise” their wins. What was once a casual post to share the occasional thrill of a win has now morphed into a barrage of uninterrupted wins, and sometimes a post to “alert” to their followers of some family emergency or another reason that one would not be showing somewhere to someone. Read that how you like, but if you know…You know. Do these people actually think judges care? Some judges choose not to let anything they read or see influence a future decision in “real time”. (as it should be) What concerns me more is how many of these serial posters have “Friended” many currently active judges. Did one think that when they were developing a “Friends” list, it would grow to exceed 5,000 nearest and dearest? The Dog Press of yesteryear was forced to reinvent themselves to augment their printed, mailed publication with online publications; and I’m seeing its after-effects. We all remember the hue and cry when the AKC Gazette replaced the printed version with an online version (and it continues to be a very well-read publication). What I worry about most is if the pubs don’t have ads in their magazines, can they still afford to publish the educational breed features with insight from others in the fancy, show reports, opinion pieces and, of course, the current All Breed and Breed stats?

Click here to read the complete article
124 – November/December, 2024

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Posted by AnthonyA on Nov 17 2024. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.