Ringside Thoughts

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198 – October, 2023

By Kerrin Winter-Churchill

Legends come and go. Be they walking on four or two legs, one thing is certain–no one gets out of this life alive. And so it goes that over the last two years I have lost four people who were significant characters in my book of life. Each deserves a story but my focus for this piece will be my most recent loss.

I’m not going to pretend that Geir Flyckt-Pedersen and I were good friends. We knew each other. We were cordial and I considered him to be a mentor. He gifted me with long talks about his days in dogdom. He was a marvelous resource, but Geir was far too high up the doggy food chain for me to ever feign his friendship regardless of how much I respected him.

Ten years ago Geir was invited to a puppy-rating party where my personal homebreds were the focus of the festivities. A well-respected breeder was present and it was that opinion for which I had come to learn. I didn’t know Geir had been invited to the sorting party but he was a dashing added attraction to this informal affair, and I was glad to see him. From previous experience, I already knew that Geir’s late wife Gerd aka “Nenna”–an English Cocker Spaniel authority in her native land–held a strong bias against a particular color-combination to which my dogs are prone. I knew this, and yet I was taken aback when soon after my favorite puppy was hoisted onto the table Geir stepped forward, looked down over my shoulder, and said, “I would never use that color. Especially with those markings.” Sharply, the authority from which I had hoped to learn turned focus from the puppy to the Scandinavian, and the rating of my puppy was forgotten. Instead, Geir received mentoring on type, bone, and substance; and why color and markings are the last things to consider when judging this breed in the United States. To his great credit, Geir learned from that day. Much later, in his wonderful prose, he wrote about judging the English Cocker Spaniel free of prejudice towards color and markings. In that piece Geir wrote eloquently of my breed, expounding upon the things he had learned.

As for what my esteemed authority thought of my puppy, I never learned. The opportunity was unintentionally stolen away. Ultimately, I decided to trust my opinion and kept him. Much to my astonishment, the beautiful puppy with the unfortunate color and funny markings grew up to take a five-point major under another well-respected authority with me on the end of the leash. I’ve reflected on this ever since thinking of the famous Percy Roberts line, “I don’t need good luck, I need good judging.”

Click here to read the complete article
198 – October, 2023

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