The controversy started when WKC decided to drop Pedigree as the shows sponsor. Word had it that there were too many commercials about shelters and mixed breed dogs and WKC wanted to concentrate on the pure bred aspect of the sport. Purina sponsors most of the National Specialties and many of the all breed shows so it only made sense that Purina should.
Then the extremists felt they needed to get involved. For some reason they have a perception that show dogs are treated badly and the breeders of these animals are creating some sort of heinous crime.
Speaking from personal experience , I have attended dog shows all over the country and have never seen show dogs treated like many of the pet and shelter animals. You don't see a show dog still in his crate while someone is hosing it out nor do you see show dogs tied out in the sun without water or shade. Some people might say that breeders are contributing to the shelter problem and perhaps occasionally that might be true. But the majority of the breeders competing at dog shows are testing their dogs for all kinds of genetic disorders and the pure bred dog is becoming healthier every day.
And if this wasn't enough controversy we then had the Best in Show judging.
It seems as though there are 2 types of people that watch Westminster, dog show people and people who love dogs. keypads were burning up with all sorts of negative comments about the winner! If you aren't a dog show person you don't understand that there is more to the dog than just hair. None of us sitting at home know how that dog feels under all that coat. The Pekinese had won 115 BIS and while I personally found it painful to watch a dog that appeared to be struggling move around the ring. There has to be a lot of merit to the animal other than just it's movement. I also think that this is a breed that selective breeding has hurt more than helped. Not one of our finer moments when it comes to improving the breed.
For me the first impression of a dog is whether or not it's balanced and how does it look going around the ring. After all most dogs need to move to perform their jobs. Then I look for attitude. I saw those qualities in the Doberman, the Irish and the Dalmatian and if I had been judging my BIS would have been one of those 3 dogs but I haven't put the time and effort into getting a judging license. So like everyone else, I need to accept that the judge liked the Peke better on that night.
We are kidding ourselves if we think a judge has memorized every standard. Judges rely on a subjective image of what the breed should look like and hopefully apply a knowledge of conformation when they put their hands on a dog that they do not regularly judge.
We shouldn't find fault in the dog that won, instead we should look at the AKC process of awarding BIS status to a judge and to Westminster for how they pick their BIS judge. Like many other BIS judges Ms Vogels only has 2 groups. She does not have her license to judge Dobermans or Dalmatians.
Perhaps in the future BIS should be judged like the Top Twenty with 3 judges evaluating each group winner and the dog with the most points becomes BIS.
Many of us struggle with our dogs and attention. Years ago at a puppy class the instructor taught us watch me! It was a very simple exercise. You put a treat in your hand touched the side of the dogs nose with your finger, raised that finger up to your eye and spoke the command "watch me". And there you had it.
