FROMTHE EXECUTIVE EDITOR EMERITUS
JOSEPHNEILM C GINNIS III
PILLORIED IN PENNSYLVANIA, JUDGING THE JUDGES and AKC/ROYAL CANIN’S SUPER SHOW
IT HARDLY SEEMS POSSIBLE that this is the twenty-fifth time I’ve gotten to affix my signature to a December issue of this magazine. And yet it has been that many years and that many wonderful times we’ve shared through our mutual love of purebred dogs. The people that I’ve met and cherish and might not otherwise have known make up a collection of bright minds and detemined hearts, all with a mutual goal: the preservation of the var- ied, fascinating dogs recognized by the American Kennel Club. Breeding quality dogs is an uphill battle even in the best of times and right now things have become a little tense. We’ve long ago learned that we should be our own best police and that in union we’re strong and our dogs are safe. It’s no wonder we’re a tight-knit bunch.
PHOTO: JOE DEPETRO
Steward?? Quite frankly I was most concerned and read further, but it turns out the wicked act perpetrated by the judge was that he or she simply didn’t put the guy up. (Sounded like it happened often enough that if it were me, I’d take a second look at my dog or my handling abil- ity.) Anyhow, I started poking around to see exactly how much traction these type think-tanks (or dunk-tanks) get and like anything else on the internet, it’s subject to a huge slab of salt. Were arbiters to be ranked by demeanor
Forefront in the minds of most are three topics: the legal nightmare that has befallen a longtime fellow fancier, the new requirements for judges seeking first-time or addi- tional breed approval, and AKC’s super show in Orlando. Let’s talk a little bit about all three. First, and certainly most distressing, is the situation in which Miniature Schnauzer expert Joan Huber is now enmeshed. At eighty-three years of age, and after untold time spent in the fancy—including being awarded Terrier Breeder of the Year in 2016 by AKC—Joan is now in the middle of a legal skirmish during which eighteen of her dogs were confiscated by Pennsylvania authorites in her absence, neutered and spayed and placed in foster homes. I’m told these were all champion or show- prospect dogs, so it’s a blow to her revered breeding pro- gram and in addition to breaking her heart. There are reports that Animal Rights’ Activists were instrumental in bringing about the complaint in the first place. It’s far from over yet and in the meantime Joan needs help. Her friend Shawne Imler has established a GoFundMe.com campaign by which those wishing to do so can help. We must all remember that if it can happen to one of us, it can happen to any one of us. Once I get more details I’ll share them; in the meantime we send our thoughts. I’ve often had strong thoughts about the way in which judges are pilloried online. Granted, I rarely pay too much attention to most of the naysayers because so much of it is very obviously spoiled grapes, but recently I ran across a piece that gave me immediate pause. An individ- ual—I was going to say “a self-appointed expert” but decided not to—who to my knowledge is not a judge ran a survey question, and it was quite amazingly phrased like this: “What do you do when faced with atrocious judging?” I had to read it twice. Atrocious?? What, did the judge stab one of the exhibitors? Beat a dog? Berate a
(rude or friendly or dignified or what- not), attentiveness, and kindness to exhibitors, I could go along with that. But I have a great big problem with what I read, and it goes back to what i was taught almost fifty years ago. At the time, learning the ropes, I heard ringside catty com- ments and asked a mentor of their worth. And she said: “Unless you have done all that is required to be approved to judge, and had your
At the time, learning the ropes, I heard ring- side catty comments and asked a mentor of their worth. And she said: “Unless you have and had your hands on every single dog in the class that very day, and watched each dog every moment in the ring, then you are not qualified to judge the judge.” done all that is required to be approved to judge,
hands on every single dog in the class that very day, and watched each dog every moment in the ring, you are not qualified to judge the judge.” I took it to mean you go in,
44 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , D ECEMBER 2017
Powered by FlippingBook