Looking Around With Lee – On the Road Together

By Lee Canalizo

June is a popular month for weddings! This thought led me to the idea for my column for this month! What makes a good marriage? Respect, companionship, love, common interests, tolerance and, not to forget, forgiveness! All these things came to mind when I started to think about this month’s subject. We are going to talk to couples that judge our dog shows. Just what works for them… the similarities, the differences, discussions, comparison of likes, and interpretations of a breed, OR none of the above!

Some of our guests today have been married for many years, some not so long, but they all take assignments to judge together (they’re infrequently without their partner). It’s interesting to see what helps the couples make this work. It can be quite an incendiary situation! Here you will recognize many of our most popular and respected couples and find out what works for them!

Robert and Polly Smith

“Yes, it is fun to judge together, even when we do not agree. It is fun if we see dogs we both like, but it can also lead to some very interesting discussions when we see the same dog totally opposite from each other. This is what often happens: when a Group is being judged, both of us are asked by other judges, ‘What is Bob or Polly going to do?’ We have no idea. Once, I said I knew Bob would not put a top winning dog up because he did not like a certain trait about him. No sooner than I said this, Bob had given him the Group. At dinner that night, I asked him why and he said, ‘Well… he had changed from when I saw the dog earlier in the year.’

“As partners—both in breeding and showing—we learned from each other and we still do when judging. There are times when we tell each other, “Well you were just dead wrong in who you put up,” but it is always an interesting conversation. The best part of judging together is that you always have someone to have dinner with after the show.”

Robin and Cindy Stansell

“We were both owner-handlers who came from very different backgrounds: Robin, the Bulldog breeds, and Cindy, the Spitz breeds. We also had very different professional backgrounds: Robin, the pilot/engineer, and Cindy, the legal professional who also likes to do crafts. [When judging] Robin first sees the type while Cindy first sees the structure and balance.

“Although we have been breeding both Bulldog breeds and Spitz breeds since our 2005 marriage, we notice how our background affects the way that we look at dogs. Because of this, we often have slightly different winners when we judge equal dogs. Robin will prioritize one thing and Cindy another. We respect our differences. After all, great dogs need it all.

To read more from Robin and Cindy Stansell and others like David and Anne Bolus, John Constantine-Amodei and Lloyd J. Amodei, and Eva and Ken Berg, visit the link below:

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=148917

Posted by Alex on Aug 24 2018. 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.