> Sorry you thought I sounded pessimistic. I am not.
Honestly, many people's responses are, in fact, making them sound quite
pessimistic. I cannot understand why anyone would feel the need to explore
the differences between AKC and CKCSC or if one was being hypocritical by
doing both, if everyone was assuming
that change takes time and that eventually the necessary changes WILL take
place and there will no longer be those differences or any so-called
hypocritical people! I am continuously surprised by the rehashing of these
*explorations* because I am way beyond that now. I am simply waiting for
the changes to take place and only attempting to figure out ways to make it
happen more quickly.
Here is an excellent reason as to why to show in both. There is no other
way to
continuously see and compete against ALL the top dogs in the country--every
single month if I
choose--not just a few times a year. I believe the only way I can keep the
quality of my dogs up is to be able to do this. I doubt I could do so
showing at only AKC shows when the majority of shows have less than 10
entries and only a few a year have more than 30 entries. I can't tell you
how many of some of my newer AKC friends would *oooh* and *aaaah* over a
certain AKC-only dog for a year or two, only to go to a CKCSC show to find
out that dog is in fact just a mediocre dog in CKCSC company. Half of each
class looks better than that previously worshipped dog. In my area I have
positively seen a trend for AKC-only Cavalier bitches to get leggier and
leggier,
with less bone and a longer more refined head lacking cush over the last 7
years. This scares me because I know people will get used to and start to
like what they continuously see and eventually breed towards that look. I
know there are areas where this is not happening--BUT those are the same
areas
where most of the dogs are shown in both venues--thereby retaining the
quality! In my area, many of dogs entered show in both venues--but the
majority of the bitches are AKC-only. And the quality of bitches has
plummeted.
It will be years before there are enough AKC specialty shows in enough areas
for AKC-only breeders to see this quality as continuously as CKCSC members
can do right now.
Laura Trunk
Roycroft Cavaliers
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