The Miniature Pinscher – An Unlikely Success Story
The Min Pin has endured a bumpy ride to purebred success. In a sense, the breed was waiting for those visionary breeders to come along and make it real.
“Author Archive”
Here Come The Judges
Judges are both highly visible and opaque. Tireless, courteous and vigilant, they toil away week after week in all sorts of weather and venues, logging frequent flier miles, creating their own versions of Route 66, and making the acquaintance of every hotel and motel chain in America. They travel with rain gear, and own many pairs of practical shoes.
Closet Confidential – The Glam Cam… Summer Shows
From inside and outside the rings at shows during the summer months, there were great summer outfits galore worn by the exhibitors, judges, club members, and officials. Here is just a taste of the best of the best during the days of Glam Cam coverage. Do you have a fav?
AKC Rules Of The Road: Class Requirements
You’d think entering the right class would be easy, but misunderstandings about class eligibility and when you must continue to show make up a large proportion of disallowed wins. Don’t let your win be one of them! How well do you know your class competition rules?
Table Talk · September 13, 2023
The American Kennel Club sent out a survey to some fanciers recently. I’m not certain how they compiled their survey pool, but some who received the survey said they are concerned that the AKC will recognize “designer dogs” or mutts, as many of us call them, in the not too distant future.
The Big E – Emmulating Goldilocks
Over the past week, the farmer who tends the fields on the property where we are currently living has been harvesting the hay. It is quite a process. To begin, the fields were mowed down one after another. Then the grass was assembled row by row down the length of each of these fenced areas. After a few days, the farmer returned with his HUGE tractor to spread the grass over the entire area. At each step, the farmer made the effort to get the grass in exactly the place he needed for the process to be effective. If anything got in the way of the tractor, he promptly stopped, got down, and fixed the problem. Once he was satisfied, he climbed up on the tractor once again to finish the job.
FSS Terrier Breeds
The AKC Foundation Stock Service (FSS) has only four breeds earmarked for the Terrier group, and one of those, the Teddy Roosevelt, will be moving to the regular group as of January, 2024. The breeds come from four different continents: South America, Europe, Asia and North America.
The Juniors Perspective: Fault Judging Juniors
Fault judging–while frequently a topic of conversation in regard to the breed ring, junior showmanship often escapes consideration. It is common, though, and is prevalent every time a talented junior is immediately written off for a few mistakes. Instead, the judge will reward mediocrity–the perfect dog or the junior who took no risks, thus enforcing the idea that perfection is the only way to win ribbons. Fault judging in junior showmanship systemically encourages juniors to show “push-button” dogs rather than taking risks and learning from those challenges.
Did You know? It’s Okay To Be “Different” Most Of The Time!
Our dog sport is indeed a collection of many people from virtually every walk of life worldwide. You don’t believe me?
The Belgian Monkey
Growing up, I had a pet squirrel monkey. He was bought by my father, in a pub, and rescued from a miserable life as a photographer’s prop.
