Shame, Blame, And The Better Way: Building A Stronger Dog Show Community

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156 – September, 2026

By Sandy Weaver

Spend enough time in the conformation world and you learn a great many things.

You learn to read a breed standard. You learn that “five minutes until ring time” can somehow mean both hurry! and we’ll be waiting another 45 minutes. You learn which shoes can survive twelve hours on concrete and which ones are lying to you in the store.

And, unfortunately, many people also learn another skill: How to avoid being shamed.

We don’t usually call it shame. We call it educating. Correcting. Protecting the breed. Maintaining standards. Telling someone what they “need to hear.”

Sometimes correction is necessary. Standards matter. Ethics matter. Health testing matters. Sportsmanship matters. The welfare of our dogs matters most of all.

But there is an enormous difference between holding standards and using shame to enforce them. Our sport would be stronger if we learned that difference.

Shame Is a Powerful Social Tool

Click here to read the complete article
156 – September, 2026

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Posted by AnthonyA on Sep 14 2026. 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.