10 Properties of Winners

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288 – The Annual, 2022-23

By Caroline Coile

1. Never quit learning. So you finished your first champion. Won your first NOHS BIS. Won your first group. Your first regular BIS. Your second. Your third. You’re at the top in your breed. Don’t think you can’t be better, do better. Don’t think you know too much to profit from a handling class, or from watching the groups, or asking a pro for advice. You will never know all there is to know. The only difference is how fast you learn as much as you can—and where you stop because you think you know everything.

2. Have more than one goal for everything. When you go to a show, your primary goal is probably to win. But if that’s your only goal, you’ve squandered your day. Other goals may be to watch the pros and learn, watch another breed and learn, help out at the show, socialize a puppy, make friends…When you breed a litter, your primary goal is to produce nice puppies. Other goals will be to place them in great homes, to help newcomers get a start, learn about how your line matures, make friends… When you go on social media, your primary goal may be to brag about a win. Other goals might include to inform others about some aspect of your breed, give advice, learn about dogs elsewhere in the world, make friends…When you campaign a dog, your primary goal may be to finish #1, but it can also be to educate judges, to win specialties, to show others what you think your breed should look like, to be the best breeder-owner-handled dog, to have fun!

3. Be willing to fail. The hardest part of showing a dog is showing up. Before you send in your entries you can be filled with self-doubt. Is it worth going to your National, or Westminster, where you’re unlikely to win? You can’t win if you don’t go. There’s not a single successful handler who hasn’t dragged themselves to a show they thought they stood no chance at, only to leave with the ultimate prize. How many times have we stayed home and wondered what would have happened had we gone? In truth, chances are you’d have lost but there’s also the very real chance you wouldn’t have. Take a chance. Stagnating is the same as losing. In the long run, you’ll regret not going more than you’ll regret going—win or lose.

4. Network with successful people.

Click here to read the complete article
288 – The Annual, 2022-23

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Posted by AnthonyA on Jan 7 2023. 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.