Awards and Rewards

From the archives of The Canine Chronicle, December, 2011

by Peter Baynes

When I started writing for this magazine, I introduced myself as being the awardless Peter Baynes. I am still in the same position six years later, and with no future expectations, I have given up on the prospect of ever receiving any kind of decoration. Several of our own dogs have, however, had championships awarded to them in the distant past, but even they have seen their glory reduced by the introduction of a “Grand Champions Award.” Unless they introduce posthumous awards, it will remain the same into the distant future.

In my humble opinion the Grand Champions title has diminished the title of Champion. Maybe I have a sour impression of the situation because of my age – I celebrated a birthday milestone recently – I think I’m too old to invest a small fortune in  campaigning another dog, just to grab some of those new medals, and to be selfish it would go to the dog and not to me.

In contrast, rewards are more personal, they are less formal and a mere “thank you” or “congratulations” can mean a lot of encouragement to some individuals. Personally, despite my lack of awards in my career, I have received numerous sincere rewards, of which I count my blessings. Most of the encouragement has come from many individuals and organizations, in the doggy community, of which I can relate here:

Our first big surprise was from the Northern Boxer (one of the largest Specialty Clubs in England) where, as the youngest (obnoxious know-it-all) member, I had served on the committee for several years. I thought the only reason why I was asked to serve was because they thought I was wealthy — I owned a ballroom where they held a couple of shows. When I told them that I was getting married and leaving the area, I thought they would be pleased to see me go. However, Helga and I were surprised to see that many of the members attended our wedding, and the club gave us a wonderful gift of a cut-class lamp. Although our doggy trophies are hidden somewhere else, the lamp still takes pride of place in our home. But best of all, it was accompanied by a note thanking us for all the wonderful work we had done for the club.

Award ceremonies on television are sometimes referred to as snoozefests unless of course the presenter has a sense of humor. Similarly doggy awards events can sometimes fall into the same category, especially when they keep adding categories to try and please everyone. We used to enjoy being invited to the Quaker Oats Awards, which we attended every year until I stopped writing for a British magazine and the invites stopped coming. Since then we have attended only a few of the new awards ceremonies, maybe because we still don’t get invited.

Handling lots of different breeds in this country, we attended many of their Specialties. This usually meant that my wife and I were usually coerced into attending their awards banquets. They all seemed to have one common thread – they all went on too long. One, by mistake, was held in a dry county. A banquet without booze was even too much for our clients, and so they took us to the local Playboy Club instead where we were able to meet Kenny Rogers and Gladys Knight – much more rewarding than any awards. We even collected some memorabilia.

Another problem with club awards is that the same people seem to win every year. Nevertheless, I was always touched when one recipient always burst into tears after hearing that she had won again. It appeared that she was dying of cancer, and this would always be her last appearance. I believe she may still be picking up those awards forty years later.

When I believed I might be dying of cancer, I didn’t tell anyone. I did, however, decide to try to finish three dogs for my clients. I just entered all three at what was to be my last show as a handler. By some unknown, inexplicable power all three finished. The odds of this happening are tremendous! Just think; if I had finished three dogs at every show I attended for thirty years that would be almost 9,000 champions. Surely there would be some kind of award for that. A bonus to this single event was the fact that one of the dogs was owned by a doctor who a few months later was instrumental in saving my life.

Since 1998 (I think), the AKC has instituted many awards: the AKC Canine Health Foundation President’s Award; Lifetime Achievement Awards (for Conformation, Companion Events, and Performance); AKC CAR Awards for SAR teams; and the Outstanding Sportsmanship Awards. There may be others, but it would mean leaving the computer and walking across the room to check. They are all worthy of recognition, but it is becoming increasingly hard to keep track of them all, and who wins what.

Professional handlers have never received many awards, except maybe the Handler of the Year Award, which was usually given out by one of the dog food companies. Although their financial rewards sometimes have never been as great as people think, recognition by their clients and their peers, in many cases, has been their only other compensation. They do not even receive a gold watch when they retire, although someone gave Ric Chashoudian a fabulous party in New York when he retired. Another handler received a great party when he retired but several years later he went back to handling. We (the cynics) always wondered whether he should repay his clients for the party.

Judges are in the same position, with not many awards coming their way, but they have the satisfaction of knowing that some day they will be in a position to find that great dog that will go on to win numerous awards. Also, in addition to the many thanks for putting up a winner, the rewards most precious are the rare approvals from exhibitors who didn’t win under them.

I remember once when judging in England a powerful and critical Dog World correspondent wrote in his weekly column, “Although we didn’t win under Peter Baynes we found his judging to be impeccable.” It was totally unexpected, and became one of my treasured clippings. Incidentally the correspondent was Stafford Somerfield, the ex-editor of the News of the World, the newspaper which was recently involved in the phone-scam scandal.

Also, other rewards that judges find very welcome are repeat invitations to judge, especially from overseas, and other prestigious clubs in this country. I would be boasting if I said I have received many; maybe I can say that now since the AKC rules have changed. Incidentally, the Northern Boxer Club invited me to judge their show for the third time this year, but I had to cancel because of my back surgery. Another nice touch from the classiest shows in the world is that after the assignment they always write thanking the judges for making their show a success. Others lower down on the ladder expect judges to be grateful for the assignment.

Writing can also have many benefits, especially when a reader writes and agrees with something said in a column; it isn’t something you can put in a resumé but is certainly rewarding. In addition there is the thrill of being asked to write for a successful magazine such as The Canine Chronicle. As I said in the introduction, this will be my sixth year writing for this magazine and it has been a great trip. Although many of my articles have largely been tongue in cheek, it has apparently been appreciated by whom I refer to as “A small select group of disturbed individuals.”

Even my writing started in a strange way. Judging shows in England meant that I had to write critiques. I knew that they were read by the winners, but maybe by nobody else. I never thought much about their quality (I was a scholastic failure in school) but I was totally honest about my remarks. When asked to write the section on Boxers in the book Large Dogs, I truthfully told the editor that I was not a writer. His reply was, “I’ve read your critiques, and surely you are a writer.” Boosted by his remarks I wrote for the book, and went on to write many other articles for magazines, and not only about dogs, but also about music, my other love. Don’t get me wrong, I have never claimed to be a good writer.

I can think of many awards that I would have liked to have bestowed on my mentors who are no longer with us, but whose advice and encouragement kept me in this crazy dog world. One of my first supporters was another correspondent from the doggy press. I had a chance meeting with him in a dog food store. I hardly knew him, but in passing I mentioned I didn’t have anything worth showing at the time (despite having invested in show stock from reputable breeders). He wrote a nice article about me in his column and said that anyone who could truthfully assess his own dogs was definitely going to make it.

Although I was despondent at the time and almost ready to quit, I stayed on because of his encouraging words. For this reason I try to encourage beginners in this sport to keep trying despite the perception of politics and other shenanigans. Recently, I happened to be sitting next to a young lady at our local show. She said she was a beginner (owner/handler); I tried to impart some cheerful knowledge to her about the sport. Lauren has since e-mailed me thanking me for my advice. I thought I was just making the usual remarks about showing; it just shows that any little guidance given by old-timers can be regarded as helpful. I feel we all should tout this activity as an enjoyable sport with not too many awards, but plenty of new friendships that may last forever – rewards aplenty.

From the archives of The Canine Chronicle, December, 2011

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=1989

Posted by admin on Sep 7 2020. 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.