Showsight October 2020

A M E S S A G E F R OM T H E P U B L I S H E R

CHALLENGES AND TRIUMPHS

E very year, the dog show world brings more than its fair share of challenges and triumphs. You might even say that dog show years are a lot like dog years. Show- sight Magazine may be only 28 years old, but we’ve packed several lifetimes of experience into our history—there is literally that much going on at any given time. This experience has taught me to appreciate each year for its uniqueness. For example, this year started out well enough. Then COVID came, which brought me a lot of sadness and, quite honestly, fear for our community and for my Showsight family. Then the Okla- homa shows happened, which I recall with a special fondness that continues to this day. The year 2020 is perhaps one of the toughest—if not the toughest—years I’ve experi- enced to date as an adult, but it has also made me stronger. Now the picture of what our community needs is clearer than it ever has been. We have several initiatives underway that will continue to bring you top-quality publi- cations and, most importantly, expand and promote purebred dogs, the sport and its breed- ers to millions of dog lovers who aren’t familiar with who we are and what we do. This past month, every single AKC National Parent Club Board has received a letter from me outlin- ing what we will be doing. Conversations have already taken place with over 80 breed clubs and other organizations. These will come to light once agreements are set. From this point on, almost everything we do will be showcased not only to people within our sport, but also to millions outside of it as well. I am a huge believer that positive changes will start happening within our fancy as a whole as more people are exposed to and educated about purebred dogs. Beginning this Fall, we will start releasing details about how we plan to reach millions of dog lovers outside our sport and how we will deliver it all to you at the same time—how you can be part of the exciting changes. I would like to thank the thousands of fanciers who have already spent a lot of time helping us bring these initiatives to fruition. A long, hard and expensive road awaits us, but with our “no fail attitude” we will not simply protect the genuine values of our community, we will also grow them and grow our numbers. Meanwhile, we are still confronted with a pandemic, social unrest, climate change and, on top of everything else, it’s an election year. It feels like 70 years are being rolled into one! (There are days when I ask my wife if we are living in a movie.) I have witnessed and heard that many of our fanciers have responded to the events of 2020 with fortitude, perseverance and resiliency. I am proud of everyone’s efforts to keep things going. Through this year’s challenges and triumphs, I have witnessed the Heart of our Fancy shine brighter than ever. For this, I’ll be forever grateful and proud to share the sport of dogs with you. Happy Holiday Season from my daughters Iryna & Adrianna, my wife Hanifa, our Showsight employees, their families and me.

“The Secret of Change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

AJ ARAPOVIC, OWNER & PUBLISHER

T H E D O G S H O W M A G A Z I N E

Est 1992

40 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2020

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