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What The Heck?  You Have To Be A Freaking Millionaire In This Sport?

That is what I’m beginning to believe.  I just made my entries for a fairly local show and it cost $318.00.  That entered one special for 4 days, and 2 class dogs for 2 days.  Then we will have gas and lodging and food for the weekend.  It is a long weekend, so there was an extra day of entries, but even so.  We will be traveling to the USA for a show this weekend, so our expense is even higher for that 3 days.   We absolutely love showing dogs.  There is nothing we would rather be doing.  But this year, we have spent on average of $500.00 per weekend and we have shown almost every weekend.  $20,000 is approximately what we have spent on showing our dogs this year so far, not counting advertising and other miscellaneous expenses.  I am sure that there are others that spend more than us.   

All we have to do to discourage young and enthusiastic people or families with children that are looking for a family activity or older folks that are looking for something new and fun to do in their retirement, give them an idea of what they will spend in this sport.  Ok, young people most likely won’t trade off vacations with friends and their gym memberships to get into Dog Fancy.  Families will probably pass because the cost is too high without sacrificing school uniforms, college fund and kids birthday gifts.  Are older folks willing to cash in their RRSPs and sell the family heirlooms to have enough disposable income to pay for the dog fancy?  All that said tongue in cheek, but you know there is some truth in what I’m saying.

I know someone that won the lottery and decided to use some of her winnings to campaign her dog with a professional handler for one year.  That is the only way she could ever afford to do that.  I know Alliances have been made between owner/handlers to help show each other’s dogs, so they won’t have the expense

of a professional handler.  I feel sorry for professional handlers, too.  There can’t be that many doctors, lawyers and oil or cattle barons left in this world that can afford to pay $50,000 a year to have their dogs professionally housed and shown.  Obviously, participating in any sport is a choice.  But if enough of us can’t afford it any more, then we take the choice away from the rest.  It will get to be where you won’t have enough people participating.   You won’t need to rent a venue, you can just hold the much smaller and intimate dog shows in someone’s backyard.

How then do we get the cost down so it will be attractive across the spectrum? I have no idea!!!  I wish I did know how to make our sport more affordable.  I would be sitting up high on the throne as the All Mighty Dog Fancy Poobah!  But don’t we have enough brains among our sport to gather a forum to figure it out?  Let’s lock them in a room for a long weekend and not allow them to see their beloved dogs until they come

up with a solution.  There needs to be fact sheets, lists of shows, financial statements, charts, graphs and a mindset that this is a solvable problem.  Approach it like a business.  Offer advice to the Kennel Clubs on how to provide a show that brings more exhibitors, lowering their cost but improving the Club’s bottom line.  Where are the great minds in our sport?????

I bet USAS and Peta are rolling on the floor holding their bellies from laughing till it hurts.  They aren't our worst enemy.  WE ARE!  We don’t care enough to find solutions to solve our problems.  We just like to point fingers!

She Said What?   No He’ Didn’t!   We voted Her Out!  Don’t Trust Anything They Say! Watch Her In The Ring, She Plays Dirty!

Admit it.  You have either heard these comments or said these comments and probably said or heard worse than these examples. 

Shame on all of us.

We keep our sport smoldering at its core with these mean spirited comments.  It’s like a smoldering fire that just sits between the floor joists doing unseen damage.  It’s dangerous, it can be deadly.  

Most of us learned how to get along with others when we were three years old.  We learned “Do Unto Others What We Want Others To Do Unto Us” and “If You Can’t Say Nice, Don’t Say Anything At All”.  Then why as Adults we can’t get along? 

I find myself moving farther away from negative people ringside.  I don’t want to leave the ring feeling like my stomach is in a knot.  Feeling tense and in knots isn't fun.  How do the comments I hear over and over about others improve anything?  If you are overheard by me, then you have probably been heard by many others.  Really, do you want to be that kind of person?

There was a lady that was typically disliked by everyone.  People had a nasty name for her.  I admit, she scared me a bit.  Lyle and I were hosting a cookout at a show, and I made the decision that I was going to invite her.  Several of my friends thought I had taken leave of my senses.  I approached her and told her how happy I would be if she came to the cookout.  She looked extremely surprised, but she said she would try to make it.  Sure enough, she showed up.  She was very pleasant.  She joined into the conversations with ease.  She was happy and engaging.  It turned out she had a sense of humor and was completely different than I thought.  I am so glad I invited her.  Now, we can speak to each other without tension at ringside.  It’s hard to call someone names when you get to know them in a different light. 

I didn’t tell the story to make Lyle and me look like angels.  Holy Crap, you know we are not.  We are human and sometimes slip and say things that should have been filtered.  Lyle and I have an agreement that we help remind each other to not say hurtful and negative things.

Again, this sport needs a huge positive attitude infusion.  We aren’t helping ourselves by causing friction, forgetting that we are all different and we may not always agree.  Ganging up on others can feel like bullying.  Backbiting says more about those doing it than the ones it’s happening to.  Always grumbling about other people, judges, venues, weather, club politics and other exhibitor’s dogs, etc. only serves to keep putting more nails in our sports coffin.

If you are talking about Lyle and me, good Lord, stop it.  Oh unless you are saying nice things, Carry On!  We aren’t perfect and we may say or do something mindless. 

Dang, I feel like I’m preaching.  Can I have an AMEN?  Now, if you will turn to page 419 in your hymnals, we will all stand and sing, “You Don’t Walk Alone”.

Where are you on this chart?  Do you recognize anyone you know? 

Lyle Jenkins – Husband Extraordinaire, Dog Enthusiast, Amateur Dog Handler and Damn Nice Man

A person sent me a nice deed this week, and when I was reading the email, I realized she was talking about

my husband.  I wrote her back that I couldn't print something about us doing a nice deed, but then I realized that l should tell you wonderful people about my man.

I married this wonderful man 15 years ago this coming January.  It is probably the best thing that has happened to me, only tied with adopting my son, Tom.

Lyle is from Nova Scotia and is a real family man and thinks that families should do things together.

I come from a huge dog family, but Lyle did not.  When we got married, he had to take me and my dog.  In the 15 years, he has tolerated us getting more and more into dogs.  He stepped in and learned how to handle our Standard Wirehaired Dachshunds in the ring.  He has proved to be a wonderful student and willing to take advice.  He has earned a lot of respect for his ability to learn and to laugh at himself when he has made mistakes.  Lyle believes that we should have fun and when we have fun the dogs enjoy it more and present better.

Lyle believes in respect for all people.  He wants those around him to have fun, too.  Lyle does so many nice things for others for no other reason than it makes him happy to help others.

The particular nice deed Lyle did that was the subject of the email I received was he knew of a person staying in a unheated converted van with her small dogs when the temperature turned off very cold at night.  Someone told Lyle about her situation and he went straight away to Wal-Mart and bought her a small ceramic heater.  She offered to pay him for the heater and her gave her a hug and told her not to worry about it.

This is just one example of the nice things he does for others at the shows.  I am a very lucky woman to have such a dreamboat hubby!  

Be sure to go to Canuck Dogs, http://www.canuckdogs.com, to see all the upcoming events and to check stats.  You should  bookmark it.  That's where you will find my blog. 

                                                                     XXXOOO