As someone who spent a great deal of my life with horses, in fact, earning my living
with horses, I certainly understand how some of it is applicable to dogs. However,
not all of the horse background is applicable, and comparing one's experience in
horses is, frankly, not very pertinent to showing and breeding Cavalier King Charles
Spaniels. There are many people on the list who showed horses in one venue or
another, and some of us bred them, bought them green or completely unbroken, made them
and sold them. Some of us were paid to show other people's horses (like a
professional handler).
Some of us even bred and showed other breeds...with success, I might add. Some
have had top winners, stud dogs that were in great demand, and ROM producers in other
breeds. Quite a few people in Cavaliers are judges of more than one breed, and some
are Cavalier specialists.
Many people on the list are novices, too. And finally, there are people who fall
into the middle category. Just past novice but not yet in a position to advise anyone
on anything.
There used to be a story about the man on the corner who owned his breed of dog for 1
year before the guy down the street got his dog. The man on the corner was ALWAYS
going to have been involved longer than the guy down the street......that isn't to say
that the guy down the street can't surpass him in knowledge and expertise. But the
expertise comes from listening to people who know more IN THAT BREED....and failing
that, in that species. Time in doesn't necessarily relate to knowledge, as many will
attest.
The great thing about the computer and these lists is that everyone can learn and
some can teach, and rather than search for people to learn from, they're all here,
yakking it up (well, some don't talk...but you can reach them privately if you choose
to do so) and sharing experiences and hard-won knowledge. The bad thing about the
computer is that someone who knows nothing can be swayed by someone else who knows
nothing but who has been around longer and may have had some success.....but how can
you figure out which ones are which....? Therein lies the problem.
Finishing dogs doesn't necessarily mean you know anything, either. Breeding a few
Champions doesn't either, but it is, maybe, a tad better than finishing what you
bought, especially if what you bought wasn't a baby puppy. Beyond that one should be
able to pretty consistently breed dogs that can finish and even more, breed and sell
to someone else dogs that can finish them. I'm talking AKC here...we all know it
isn't hard to finish a Cavalier in the AKC. Most of the judges haven't a clue anyway,
and any dog of any breed will be made up if you take it around long enough.
Having a background of exhibiting and/or breeding other breeds of dog will
certainly be helpful. Having that background in cats or horses or gerbils or whatever
will also be of help...not as much, but some. If that background was in other than
AKC dogs there isn't any way to verify what anyone has actually accomplished,
anyway...so anyone can say anything and we can believe it or not. And what was the
measure of how successful you were, anyway.....lots of champions? dozens of top 10
dogs? a best in show dog or two? or six? in what venue?
Keep in mind the old question...What have you done for me lately? change it to
"What have you accomplished in Cavaliers?" -- because in the end, that's what
counts...what you've done in THIS venue and what are you continuing to do. Unless you
were born yesterday, you've probably done something somewhere sometime...and so has
almost everyone else. Years in another breed don't necessarily apply to Cavaliers, as
many people find out......correcting heads in one generation, for example.
Keep to the point. It's what you're doing now, learning now, and how you're
helping the breed now that matters...not so much what you did 10 or 15 years ago.
And, in this country, if you have enough money and/or influence, you can finish dogs
that nobody else even likes.....and even do big winning with them. So keep working at
it.
I still love horses....and cats, too. With rare, and I mean rare, exceptions,
talking about them doesn't benefit the rest of the people on the list.
Peggy
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