ShowSight - August 2018

Quit Your Complaining: A Complaint Is Only...

BY DAN SAYERS continued

their dog or the quality of the competi- tion. These naysayers always have some- thing to gripe about. However, these same folks rarely—if ever—assess their own shortcomings or change the way they do things. They simply lodge yet another complaint. Chronic complainers never seem to recognize their own pessimism. Their habit for speaking in the negative is normalized because the company they keep is typically other complainers. Misery does love company, and the peo- ple who bitch and moan with regularity are never alone in their protestations. Their complaining only reinforces the kind of negativity that attracts others complainers. The exhibitor who posts an online criticism of a judge quickly finds support from comparable key- board complainers who have their own story to tell about how a judge manhan- dled their dog or didn’t touch it at all. Although replies to these kinds of posts may attempt to refute the original mes- sage by offering an opposing viewpoint, they are typically ignored in favor of more fatalistic storytelling. Eventually, another pessimistic post targets a new subject and the complainers move on.

People who choose to complain do so because the attention they receive provides validation for their belief. “If so many people have similar stories to share about the judge I don’t like, then I must be right,” says the critic to him or herself. Habitual complainers who find support for their negative opinions have little reason to move into action. Instead, they become procrastinators who never achieve their goals because they never move past the complaining. If the goal is to put that final major on a dog, the way to do it is not to com- plain about the dog’s breeder, its han- dler, the other exhibitors, the judge, the show committee, the superinten- dent, the AKC or the fact that Mer- cury is in retrograde! No amount of complaining will put the Champion- ship title in front of a dog’s name—no matter how the planets are aligned. The only way to achieve this goal is to make a declaration to become inde- pendent of the complaints and take responsibility for present circumstanc- es. Complaining about a lack of majors is only a first step. The most important step for the complainer is always the next step.

“HABITUAL COMPLAINERS WHO FIND SUPPORT FOR THEIR NEGATIVE

OPINIONS HAVE LITTLE

REASON TO MOVE INTO ACTION.”

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76 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , A UGUST 2018

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