When Politics, Dog Shows, & Layoffs Collide

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40 – May, 2020

By Wayne Cavanaugh

Politics and COVID-19…We’re Better Than This

In our divisive world, it’s no surprise that the inferno of national politics has jumped across the chasm and landed square in the middle of our sport. For more than a century, we managed to keep our disagreements in the context of the sport with no basis in national politics. Seemingly eternal issues like too many shows, judging approval processes, poor judging, grooming space, and parking had nothing to do with our presumed political affiliation. Opinions were based on our views of the sport itself. Not so much anymore. With COVID-19, one of the sport’s biggest challenges in history, the question of when to resume dog shows has become the core argument.

Unfortunately, which side you’re on increasingly appears to be linked to the political party you support. National politics have divided the nation over time, and now we’re letting it divide the sport. That is a profound and disappointing shame.

For the long-term future of our sport, it doesn’t matter if shows start tomorrow or next year; it matters that there are dog shows. It doesn’t matter if you think COVID-19 is a hoax or a pandemic, it’s the overall health of the sport and those who support it that will determine the sport’s future. If the sport is to come back strong, it sure as hell shouldn’t depend on what news network you believe is telling the truth. We need to leave the networks at home. We need to work together now. Perhaps more important, we need to find a way to wipe the slate clean after shows resume.

If we don’t agree to put political differences aside, we simply won’t have a sport. It sickens me that friends who have known each other for decades, friends that have worked, won, and lost beside each other for lifetimes, have allowed national politics to break them apart. What’s next? Judging panels will be skewed Democrat or Republican? Judges will favor owners and handlers because of their views on social media?

It wasn’t all that long ago that long-time dog-show friends wouldn’t know what each other did for a living or how they voted because it wasn’t important. We weren’t necessarily avoiding those topics, we were just focused on talking about dogs! As it stands today, will we ever be able to go back to that world of kinship when shows resume?

Click here to read the complete article
40 – May, 2020

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Posted by AnthonyA on May 12 2020. 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.