Everyone Loves A Loser

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116 – April, 2022

By William Given

“All the world loves a winner and has no time for a loser.”

This quote is attributed to Knute Rockne, the indomitable head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and member of the College Football Hall of Fame. This may very be true, but over the last few years I have developed a theory that, in actuality, “everybody loves a loser.” Someday, I have promised myself to take a poll, but it is my firm belief that a lot of us–including many long time, highly successful breeders–have had a pretty sad specimen of the breed wandering aimlessly somewhere in our early beginning. I freely admit it.

I no long feel real sorry for the novice exhibitor whose Shetland Sheepdog more closely resembles a Shetland Pony. Yes, it is entirely possible that the dog may have been misrepresented and the owner may have been taken advantage of, but it is now my contention that if they have what it takes to survive in the dog game and make any long-lasting contribution to the breed, then the first poor-quality dog may have been one of the best things that happened to them. In retrospect, I find it a blessing.

A ridiculous assumption, you think? I think not, because owning and showing a “loser” can teach us some of life’s lessons that the habitual winners will never learn, to wit:

How To Become A Good Sport

If you are showing a perpetual loser, you have been afforded the opportunity to learn this very quickly. We all know that judge Homer I. Diot, is both senile and half-blind, but if you are lucky enough to be handling a loser, you will not make a fool of yourself by arguing the merits of his placements because your dog would not have won anything anyway. Consider this, if you have learned to be so stoic from losing, when and if you ever do win it will come as such a complete shock that it will be very easy to be gracious.

Losing challenges us and serves to keep us humble. I find it is important to be humble or life will find a way to do it for us.

How To Make Friends

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116 – April, 2022

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Posted by AnthonyA on Apr 11 2022. 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.