In the 1942 classic film Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart ad-libbed this article’s title line during the filming of the flashback scenes of Rick (Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) falling in love in Paris. Dogs also look at us when they want to show us their love or, conversely, when they want us to leave them alone. But, those are just part of the wide range of facial expressions dogs use to tell us, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
That was a quote made by one of the sport’s most successful handlers, and while it sounds like a comical declaration…when one thinks it through, its actually pretty accurate (once the details of the perpetrated action are revealed.)
When training a dog for Rally, Obedience or Tracking, there will always be times when it does not respond in quite the manner we believe it should have. The same will be true for dogs being trained for competition in any of the AKC’s performance events. It is, however, possible that the dog is being willfully disobedient, but it is much more probable that it is simply unsure of what it should be doing. In simple terms, the dog is confused. Any time we have a dog, a trainer and a new learning process, it is likely there will be some degree of confusion. Confusion is a part of the learning process, but it’s something we would like to keep to a minimum, and we understand that we will have to work through it.
Westminster 2006 was true to form in terms of surprises. A few shocks at every level of competition are the Westminster tradition. However, that particular year stands out for a couple reasons. Jim Reynolds, that year’s Best In Show judge, was no stranger to Westminster. He had judged there on ten occasions beginning in 1983. He was also among the few, confident judges who didn’t shy away from controversy. Tom Bradley III, Westminster’s show chairman for 17 years, described Jim as his “go-to guy” in an emergency. “He was always on tap to take over and fill in. He always drew a good entry, was popular both in Canada and the US and, frankly, I think he was even more popular in the US.” As we know, unexpected judge changes are another Westminster tradition. Usually, that’s due to the weather, but throughout its history those unforeseen absences has run the gamut from a NYC ferry strike to the bombing of the Lusitania. Stuff happens and a reliable, popular judge is priceless at those times.
No. That’s the general answer given for the cancelled all-breed shows in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. And as much as these clubs probably wish they could, they probably can’t. Here’s why:
AKC Perspectives, the AKC Delegate publication, is one of the best dog publications you’ve never heard of. It’s professional in presentation and content and is full of well-curated articles about the sport. Perspectives is created by and published for the delegates, so it’s understandably not available to the public; that’s unfortunate because it occasionally reveals some real writing gems, none more important than a recent series regarding the number of dogs that compete in dog shows. The writing is excellent, the tone is pragmatic and positive, and the data is shocking.
Will Alexander has an in-depth conversation with David Merriam.
Fifteen years ago, in 2009, a major change was made to the format of the AKC National Championship. This change, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons this show has become the premier dog show cluster in all of the Americas and one of the most important dog shows in the world.
