Whenever I have free time at shows, I watch juniors. I love watching the new talent and how they interact with their dogs and peers. I love seeing their days made by pink ribbons and kind words. As I watch, however, I have noticed a shift from fundamentals to flash. While some are showing true to their breed standard, others are showing as “flashy” as possible–and being rewarded in junior showmanship.
Many in our sport complain about how dog shows today don’t compare to days gone by. I am grateful. I feel that with evolution comes change and with change comes a new perspective. Not all change is positive nor welcome, but then we have amazing advances and growth driven by necessity. Nothing stays the same, so to lament the loss of the past only paralyzes us and stifles our ability to evolve. The time for complaints has passed and the time for solutions is upon us.
Welcome to this exciting series on Canine Chronicle TV called NextGen with Michael Hill. In this episode Michael talks with Ari Katz. The NextGen series – Michael interviews young people who are leading the way for the next generation of exhibitors, breeders and judges in the sport of purebred dogs. They talk about how they were introduced to [...]
Imagine, if you will, a beautiful winter morning. A bright blue sky, no wind, the show grounds a freshly mown dormant field fanning out in front of you, rings decorated with straw bales and colorful faux flowers. The rising sun hasn’t chased the heavy frost off the fields yet, and its rays are bright and not warm at all. The temperature is 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the people are bundled up, huddled around the portable propane heaters stationed under the tenting.
A great many people choose not to dwell on their mortality and even put off writing a will as long as they can, but we can do our dogs a favor by planning ahead for what should happen to them when we are gone.
Have you ever wondered what it means when Fido cocks his head one way and then another when you talk to him? Is he performing some response he has learned to give when you say something to him or is he hearing a bunch of meaningless sounds and doing something he has found that makes you happy? Is he actually hanging on every word or just trying to convince you to come and play with him? Is he really just a dumb animal making random gestures hoping to please you or does he put two and two together, assess his options and decide on a plan of action? In other words, can dogs actually think?
Like countless other AKC projects, Meet the Breeds is best described as an ongoing experiment in customer relations. Modeled on the incredibly successful British version, Discover Dogs, AKC dabbled with various translations of the concept for years. Their earliest forays into direct marketing featured no actual event planning. AKC called a bunch of NYC locals and asked them to bring their dogs to Madison Square Park, which was conveniently situated right across the street from their old downtown headquarters. Those early events were tiny and highly disorganized. However, in terms of test marketing, they succeeded beyond all expectations. Word got around, and by the second year, vendors, sponsors, and doggy entertainment acts spiced up the roster. Every September, that minuscule sliver of NYC green space was overrun with local dog lovers. Like all great ideas, it was unstoppable.
At the end of the day, I am a practical person who likes to find solutions and be efficient. There is no place for head in the clouds for me. Feet on the ground is more my style. I tend to stay on task until the job is done. Loose ends make me uncomfortable. If the checking account is off by 18 cents, I need to find out why and make the correction. When my flight gets cancelled, I reach out to the airline with record speed to get another one. My tenacity is commendable, but comes with a price.
On Sunday, August 7, 2022, the day began like many others. Olivia woke me up when the alarm went off, and we put our three sleepy Siberians outside for their morning ritual. Liv made sure that I was awake, then promptly fell back to sleep on the couch. I got ready, took my prescribed medications, and gave myself a shot of a long-acting insulin. I fixed my breakfast, finished getting dressed, then drove 60 miles to my judging assignment in Canfield, Ohio.
The crime of stealing a dog from its owner is called dognapping. The word is obviously derived from kidnapping. The strength of the human-canine bond is a strong one, thus, the emotional effect of dognapping is not unlike that experienced by people whose child or family member has been kidnapped. A dognapping can have a devastating psychological effect on people.
