Dear Cavalier Folks- I, for one, am sooooooo disappointed that the Cavalier ring (AKC) is being assaulted by the Pro Handlers. My breed of origin, Golden Retrievers, is run by the Pros-I haven't put a major on a dog in years.(But these same dogs finish with Pro Handlers, and a $5000.00 bill, all the time) I have been delighted to able to show and finish Cavaliers without having to resort to the "Big Guns" for their majors. Now we see more and more handlers creeping into this ring, and more and more owners feeling a lack of confidence and ability and hiring them. Before you all get upset with this statement, let me give some history...I have been "in dogs" since I was a teenager ( a long time ago). My parents were not dog people-they could hardly understand why I would want to spend money on a purebred dog! What I have done and learned was from a congenital (but not hereditary!) affection for purebred animals and their display (I also showed horses as a teen, and cattle while in Ag. College) My first job was as kennel help for a famous terrier handler...I worked for the late Doug Bundock while I was in University, and have for years "rode shotgun" for many of the handlers we (Gold-Rush) hired-Janet Bunce, Bill Trainor, Bob and Linda Stebbins, Bruce and Gretchen Shultz, Laurie Youmans and Michele Anderson to name a few. Yes, the Pros ARE good at what they do, and all of us can learn from them (I certainly know that I have!). I have the knowledge and skill level to be one myself, but have always preferred to show my own dogs because I believe that the show ring should be a venue to display what we as breeders have produced (or in the case of bought dogs, what we have acquired to hopefully add to our breeding programs). The frustration comes in when the politics get into the way of the show. WE ALL KNOW there are MANY judges out there that will "put up" a Pro Handler's dog over the owner handler as a matter of course-good grief, I'm showing my Golden special only one day out of three the NorCal week-end because there's just no point in my wasting two days of entry fees under judges I know won't look twice at my dog (because I'm on the end of the lead, not Pro Bruce, or Cathy, or Laurie, or Suzanne etc.). Both of these judges did point this guy when he was with the Pro Handler, but her advise to me was not to bother, now that I was showing him! Now I did enter my Cavalier open bitch all three days, but that's only because I didn't know any of the judges so am taking a chance on them all! It is also hard to compete with the Pros and their extensive staff if you have more than one dog to show-I've never seen a Pro Handler have to drag a dog out of a crate whilst tossing another in to make the class-there's always the assistant (or owner ) handing over a perfectly groomed, settled in dog at ringside. Again-I didn't enter my open dog those three days for that reason and that reason only-wanted to concentrate on the girl, and knew I'd be up against a bevy of Pros with help, so am leaving him behind. Now I know that I could avoid all this by showing CKCSC-USA and some of my dogs are registered old club, but the shows are few and far between on the lower west coast (and nonexistent in Hawaii, my other home), and I don't think my latest Golden Retriever special would have much meaningful competition there! I just hate to see the breed fold to the Handler pressure. Come on folks-if you can't/won't handle yourselves, have a friend/the breeder/even me, ' fer Christ's sake, not hire the ubiquitous Pro! Geez, I'll show a dog for free if you promise to bring it to me clean and leash broken, and will hold my dog while I'm in the ring! But please let's not turn this into another Golden ring, where most judges feel, "Oh, there's Pro A & B-better not piss them off! And that cute owner handler there will be thrilled with a third!"! JMOHO- Kim Johnson Allegria Cavaliers and Gold-Rush Goldens
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