Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Being politically correct

There is no bad color.  Gosh this sounds so political and well, it can be and shouldn't all in the same breath.

Cardigan standard says…. All shades of red, sable and brindle. Black with or without tan or brindle points. Blue Merle (black and gray; marbled) with or without tan or brindle points. THERE IS NO COLOR PREFERENCE!!!!!(my emphasis).

Lately I’ve been hearing and seeing a lot of this “preferred color” or should I say “ disliked color” commentary. It’s so bogus in some many ways. Though I will agree, there are a select few judges that have a preference for blue dogs and then black and white, but I’ve never had a judge comment that my dog is the wrong color, just ask the Tall Kid's red dog, Frankie.

When we opted to keep Red Dog out of the litter over a couple other puppies, we got all this bullshit—reds are hard to finish, it will take you a long time to finish him, judges just don’t like seeing red cardigans, etc etc etc

Frankie won, a lot, over nice blue, brindle and black and white dogs. He finished faster than his brindle siblings, as in doing it in less shows, though his brindle brother did finish the month before. His brindle sister waited till that fall to finish. He was 13 mos old-the same age that his brindle grandsire finished. And he hated and still hates showing, so his attitude in the ring sucked.

I have heard of recent months that a red dog lost and when the owner asked the judge why, the excuse was the that color made the dog look like a pemmie. Okay, so instead of saying it was the dog’s color the judge hated, why don’t you take the moment to really evaluate your dog and see what else made it look like a pemmie. I’ve seen the dog and the very first time I wondered if it was a tailed pemmie! Head, front, tail set etc, all indicated Pembroke to me, just like the judge. Add on the sable/red color and there ya go.

We need to quit making excuses for our dogs and be honest about what was shown that day, the quality of the judge and judging and what was consistent in what the judge wanted.

Of recent, I’ve been sitting down with the Tall Kid and the Ms after we get done showing and analyzing why what dog won and comparing it with the rest of the entry. Yes I agree, there have been a few friends and family gimmes, those will always happen, but then you need to single out the consistent forms with the dogs that won. And yes, I grant, I stood in a line up a few weeks ago and looked up and down, then outside the ring and realized that we would not be able to get anything close to a consistent piece. We had tall leggy dogs, no coat dogs, long dogs, dogs that almost dragged their chests on the ground, heads that were totally different between WD/WB/BOS/BOB—I mean you could not have picked more diverse group of winners. Yet looking outside the ring, there was more consistency—anyway, a judge who won’t get my entry again, even though I won that day.

Back on track---don’t stomp out of the ring saying the judge had no clue, don’t berate your dog by saying it needs to be a different color in order to win. But definitely take a step back and ask yourself why the dog that won did and what it had your dog didn’t that day according to the judge.

Remember, there’s always that chance it really was the quality of your dog, not the color that got you that placing.

Oh and the red dog in my house,  he is prejudice-he only likes black and white girls.  Just as Cora, Music and Emmy.  Go figure.

Later gators....
C

2 comments:

Jinnie said...

I agree, color is the last thing that should be your worry (unless you have a green or purple Cardi).

Cindy said...

Now wait a minute, green is perfectly acceptable! Just ask Pete after she's been in the pasture, she thinks it's a great coordinating color with her red brindle stripes!