Owner Handler Sub-culture

Before my owner- handler readers begin calling for my head, I want to apologize for feeling the need to write this article.  One of my primary goals in writing articles on conformation dog shows is to improve the domain of dog shows so it does not become irrelevant and die.  In speaking with many of my successful breeder friends, there is an overwhelming frustration regarding the decline in the quality of judging as well as dogs being exhibited in the ring in the past forty years.  I am truly blessed to have spent time with some of the all-time greats in our sport, and as I am writing this, I recall being a young man and being granted an impromptu mentoring session with Ann Rodgers Clark.  Mrs. Clark and my parents both bred Poodles, fostering a very open dialogue, and she was one of the most amazing dog people whom I have ever met.  She explained her thoughts on breeding and how it related to judging.  She hated being shown dogs with structural faults or that lacked the “hallmarks” that are critical for breed type. Her sentiments, that sub-standard dogs should not be exhibited, was echoed universally by all of my mentors, who were exceptional dog people. We need to identify the problems that are contributing to the decline in quality, that is apparent across so many breeds and take the steps necessary to change what we have been doing that has been netting us the negative results that we have been seeing.

In my last article, entitled the Pursuit of Mediocrity, I examined some of the issues regarding how judges lack of specific breed knowledge and lack of attention to structure, has fooled many exhibitors to think that their dog or their respective breeding program, is better than it is empirically. To be clear, it is not solely a manifestation of lack of knowledge, it is about an AKC breed registry that has doubled in number of breeds over the last forty years and the complexity of trying to keep up with an ever-growing domain of two hundred breeds to learn. Adding to the pressure being put on the system is the fact that dog shows once were a weekend sport, and now have become four-to-five-day strings, requiring more judges to be authorized in more breeds to fill the demand. For most of us, who breed and exhibit, our knowledge base is limited to our own breed and the knowledge that we have been exposed to.  If your mentors do not have knowledge of canine structure, are kennel blind, or just following the trends of what they see winning in the ring, the likelihood is that you are one of the people who are diminishing the value of our sport.  If we are working to preserve our respective breed of dog, we should have some knowledge of how the people who created and improved our breed thought about the form and function of our breed and how that translated to breeding selection.

Transitioning back to the change in dog show culture that we have seen since the inception of the Owner Handler competitions, I need to start by making a definitive statement– if dogs shows are about the quality of the dog that you are presenting, then why should it matter who is on the other end of the lead? Call me a purest, but I assure you, that most of my readers know the answer even without my saying, cronyism, selection bias, or stating that someone who can fill entries for me is worth more money than someone who has one good dog.  It’s obvious, so stating this openly, should not represent a problem for anyone, should it? Yet, it is with this realization that the AKC created owner handler competitions, so that non-professionals can compete with their peers in their own domain that is made up of fellow hobbyists, not professionals. If dogs are of equivalent quality, why should it matter?

Going back to my youth, the first time that I showed a Standard Poodle I was sixteen-years old.  My parents had nice dogs but did not have the money to support specialing dogs at a high level, so I was taught how to handle by the handlers who would also be my competition. When someone asked me if I was going to do Juniors, one of the Poodle handlers quipped at them if “he is running around the ring with us, he doesn’t need to play with kids.”  That sentiment was forever engrained in my identity as an exhibitor. When I returned to the dog show world, after a hiatus raising human children, I was perplexed when I saw that there was a group ring marked owner handler.  I have to admit that I didn’t really understand why there was a differentiation or how the system worked. I even accepted a ribbon, not knowing what it was, and my bitch has ten owner handled points in her AKC awards. (I did not show in group) Travelling back in time once more, I knew that when I was preparing a dog, it had to be groomed and exhibited well enough to compete with the professionals in the ring, there was no alternative provision for me if I lost, just work a little harder and come back swinging next time.

This new reality has created what I call an “owner-handler mindset,” where many owner handlers have given up on beating the professionals that they are facing in the breed ring.  Reaching back into my psychology background, I will make the assertion that there are both “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” biases that have caused this reality. Intrinsic refers to a bias that exists within one’s own mind and extrinsic, refers to a bias that is external to one’s control.   The low-hanging fruit here is the extrinsic bias, which I mentioned earlier in the article, professional handlers have a real statistical advantage in the ring, both because they prepare and present their dogs better, and judges will put up the professional who they see on a regular basis and can bring them more dogs to fill their entries.   We have all made the statement, “I know which end of the lead they were judging.”  Once again, I will save this for another article in this series.

The intrinsic bias that most owner handlers are facing is ingrained by their individual identity in the dog show world.  When I speak about identity, it refers to how the individual feels about themselves and their dog as a competitor.  If you believe that you can’t take on the professionals in the ring, you probably won’t make the effort that it requires to do just that.  If you are playing to win, your dog should be conditioned, groomed, trained and presented as well or better than the professional that you are competing against. The Poodle ring of my youth, in the northeastern US, was like flying at “Top Gun,” Wendell Sammet, Richard Bauer, Paul Edwards, Patty Proctor…, I might be dating myself, but when I tell you I had to fly against the best of the best, take my word for it!  I am not putting myself in their league, but I knew I had to bring my best every time. If I didn’t believe that I could be in the fight with these top pro’s, there would be no reason to waste entry fees, especially on my parent’s shoe-string budget. If you believe that you can’t win against the pros, you’re probably right, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Admittedly the politics in the ring is working against you too. Coming full circle, today there are breeder, owner, handlers who have the same type of winning mindset, exhibiting dogs at the highest level of the sport. I don’t have to look far outside my own backyard, or out of my primary group to find great examples in the likes of Laurie and Gabby of LAMZ Bedlington’s, Jamie Glodeck with her Westies or Leslie Jaseph and her Sealy’s.  I will also tell you that they are not only excellent exhibitors, but they are all knowledgeable dog people.

I have saved the hardest part of this discussion for last; the quality of dogs being exhibited in the ring, many of them in the Owner Handler rings.  Since I was introduced to the sport over forty years ago, there has been a serious decline in the quality of the dogs exhibited across most of the breeds I observe.  When looking at a dog, the first thing you should ask yourself is if you would use the dog in your breeding program.   Dog shows are the equivalent of livestock shows, where animals are exhibited to breeders who may want to bring an animal into their program. How can you do this effectively if you lack knowledge of canine structure? The only way to improve is to obtain the knowledge that is necessary and be your own hardest critic.  I bred a litter last year and my pick was a lovely red AmStaff bitch, she went through a phase where she was a little” east-west” in the front between four and six months.  Since I can’t stomach AmStaffs with bad fronts, the poor little girl probably thought her name was Fix Your(expletive) Front. Fortunately, she listened, her chest dropped and today she has a beautiful front. If you want to exhibit dogs, you should know more than the judge, because you are the one who must decide what you are keeping to move your breeding program forward and will have on the end of the lead in the show ring. Regarding the understanding of canine structure, the best way to learn is hands on with a mentor who understands your breed.  The problem with this is that it is hard to find someone within your own breed who possesses knowledge and is willing to share that knowledge with someone who will be a competitor.  There are resources that can help you to learn structure including books and AKC’s Canine College.  Another resource that I am fond of is Lee Whittier’s Dog Show Mentor program that is scoped to help the owner handler community, Lee has successfully bred and shown several breeds and is an AKC dog show judge. (www.dogshowmentor.com or join her Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/247202743293995)

We have all heard the term kennel-blind which is a bias in favor of one’s own dogs or dogs that are part of the same line. Kennel-blindness renders you incapable of looking at dogs objectively. What causes kennel-blindness is referred to as “endowment bias,” which is a scientifically validated principle that states that we place exponentially more value on a thing that we own.  You can learn more about this in my previous article on this topic. (https://showsightmagazine.com/dog-show-endowment-effect/)
How can we expect judges to be objective if we ourselves are not objective. If you can’t be objective about your dog, you might be one of the people bringing their pet to the dog show. This, however, is complicated by judges who will award wins and titles to dogs that should not be in the ring.

Conclusion

If you think that I am being overly critical of the landscape of conformation dog shows, I am sorry.   The issues that I am writing about is saying what other people are thinking and saying in private. If we are not willing to take steps to fix the problems, it will only continue to get worse, and we will lose the real value of showing in conformation dog shows.  As far as owner- handled competitions go, I don’t think they should represent a “replacement” for a win in the conformation ring. Owner Handled competitions have, is some ways become, like Junior Handler competitions for adults.  Judges are being asked to judge the dogs, not the skill or preparation of the handler presenting the dog. If this is the case, I find it hard to understand how having one breed within a respective group is enough to permit a judge to judge an owner handled group?  Does this foster the best results if the judge is supposed to be looking at the dog? If owner handled has become a Junior Varsity version of conformation, then we are perpetuating judges putting up professionals over owner handled dogs with the acknowledgement thought that everyone got a ribbon and an opportunity to play in their group. We as exhibitors are paying the entries, the registrations and all of the other associated costs of showing dogs, should we not demand that we get to compete on a level playing field, where the quality of the dog is the primary consideration. If we accept the status quo, it will only get worse! See you in the ring!

where you get a ribbon for participation, learn to up your game, find a mentor or a coach or learn from the pros and try to emulate them.  I spend a ton of time watching top pros present dogs, I get excited when I see a pro up their game and put on a live handling class in the ring. I have been at this for forty years; I learn new things every time I show.  If I have a question, I’ll find the right person to ask to get the answers. 

 but using this open forum to try to improve dog shows, by improving judging,

 This renders most people incapable of evaluating their own dogs objectively, which leads to many people “bringing their pet to a dog show.” It gets even trickier when judges either disregard the breed standard or the structural faults on a dog awarding unworthy dogs wins, perpetuating the problem and lowering the value of the average dog at a show..  I honestly have a hard time when people ask me to evaluate their dog, and I always preface the discussion by asking if they really want to know what I see?  I don’t think that most people want to hurt people’s feelings when doing an evaluation.  You can find more on endowment effect in my previous article dedicated to this principle. (https://showsightmagazine.com/dog-show-endowment-effect/)

(https://showsightmagazine.com/dog-show-endowment-effect/
3.  You see judges awarding a dog wins and assume it must be structurally sound. (the trouble with this statement is it might be the top ranked dog in the breed, and it might not be sound)