The Power Of “They Say”

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184 – March, 2023

By Sandy Weaver

Photos by Lisa Croft-Elliott

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.

Most of the people–not all of them. Those waiting for the Junior Showmanship classes to start are coatless, and all but one of the female entrants have on skirts and are sporting bare legs.

The mother of one of the Juniors shares with the person next to her, “My daughter insisted on wearing a skirt because they say she has to wear one if she wants to win.”

Wow, could that possibly be true? AKC is very direct in their instructions to Juniors judges–as long as it looks like an attempt was made by the Junior to be clean and neat, the attire of the Junior is NOT to be judged. This is a dog show, not a fashion show. That’s a very clear instruction to the Juniors judges, straight from AKC Judging Ops. Who is it that’s convincing female Juniors that they can’t win if their legs don’t show, even outdoors on a frigid morning?

Click here to read the complete article
184 – March, 2023

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=257924

Posted by AnthonyA on Mar 17 2023. 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.