Hi, Dave,
Some of us are still owner handling the "natural" (but well conditioned
and groomed!) exhibits with pride. There is something more to do than
to hope; one can compile a list of judges whose opinion of the breed is
valuable to get and avoid showing to those who are not reading the
standard or ignoring it. There are a number of "unknowns" still, so
plenty of judges under whom to show. As we are showing a ruby now <vbg>,
there are judges who don't even look at our wholecolor, and we have
noted that information. Eventually, we will have seen most judges out
there and know a bit about them. Those who know the breed standard and
who judge the correct end of the lead will get more entries. For
example, there is one breeder judge who rarely ventures to the east
coast, but when she does, she gets a larger entry than any judge at that
given cluster in our breed. There are several AKC judges who I would go
a long way to show under; I've had nothing but good feelings about their
lineups; even when they didn't place me. Some of these judges are
already getting recognized with more presitigious assignments in our
breed/group.
The more we enter under judges who don't recognize a Cavalier from a
beagle, the more we reinforce their idea of judging our breed. I'd
rather stay home and wait for the next day or so in the cluster.
The judges with fewer entries may get some message; hope someone
interprets it for them. This year, it was quite interesting that the
ACKCSC National had a good entry...the day after dropped off.....and the
Sunday picked up considerably. We were sorry not to be able to stay for
the Sunday (kids in school in a different state), but you can see the
numbers still online. I know that the Sunday was a supported entry; but
those who chose not to show on Saturday made a point (at least with
me...I noticed...<G>).
That is not to say that I would rule out sending a dog to a good friend
who was a pro handler if I had good reason to do so; we are fortunate to
have some excellent and responsible pro handlers who specialize in our
breed. And, at least from my experience, the owner can and should give
instructions to the handler about such things as trimming. <G> I just
think it is more fun to show your dog yourself if you can!
Suze at Llawen Cavaliers
Dave Wagner wrote:
> Don't kid yourself. Trimmed and primped and strung up (and often on pro
> handlers) is what is winning more often then not at least in the AKC.
> Sometimes I think the judges haven't even read the standard and other times
> its clear they just like a sculpted dog. Some will say so citing both the
> standard and their own preference. I doubt this trend will reverse itself
> especially with so many Cavaliers being shown by pro handlers these days.
> But we can always hope.
>
> Dave
> CastleMyst Cavaliers
> http://members.aol.com/CmystCavs
>
> =========================================================
> "Magic Commands":
> to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email:
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL
> to start it up gain click here:
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL
>
> E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance.
> Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html
>
> All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author.
=========================================================
"Magic Commands":
to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL
to start it up gain click here:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance.
Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html
All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author.
