Yep....for a lot of the people who are into the show thing, it seems to be all about ego-—look at my ribbons! look at what my dog won!-—instead of the animal itself. I love a beautiful pure breed; my favorites are German Shepherds, Dobermans, Malamutes, and Huskies. But I also adore mutts from the pound who couldn’t win a ribbon if their lives depended on it.
I agree with you——a pet is a lifetime commitment.
None of my dogs have ever won diddly squat yet I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.
However, their aunts/sisters/mothers/fathers are quite famous in the Ibizan Hound world.
Which dogs were luckier?
Those who are crated and flown/driven all over creation to get that ribbon, rarely seeing “home” or their owners or mine, who are with me 24/7,just being dogs.
Djinni’s sisters and brothers are regularly splashed on Canadian magazine covers yet she was ‘pick of the litter’.
She’s happy right where she and with who she is.
And so am I.
*If* I ever find a suitable bitch for Odin I intend to have a litter because I don’t ever want to be without at least a part of him in my life.
I can’t keep all the pups, if it’s a large litter so I have at least 4 people waiting for that day to come.
[my doctor, my vet, a vet tech and a physical therapist]
The price of those pups?
*Nothing*.
They will be too precious to me to put a price upon them.
They will be given to their new owners with myself as co-owner in the event that, God forbid, something happens to them the dog will automatically be returned to me.
I look at the photos of where Djinni’s relatives live and I see a room full of crates, walls festooned with obscene amounts of ribbons and I look at my own home...dogs lounging on their sofas, the floors festooned with “ribbons” of paper towels and stuffies they’ve happily shredded and dog toys strewn about like some squeaky minefield.
We are content.
:)
I see people in every single thing I’ve ever been involved in who are like that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met a person without an ego.
Most of the people I know who stay in the dog show hobby (not the ones who do what we long timers call the “Five Year Plan”) DO love dogs, DO put the dogs first and frankly spend lots of time and money on things like RESCUE. And then they get beat up by the media and people who don’t like the sport.
It’s ok with me if people don’t want to be involved in showing (btw, mixed breeds have things they can do now, competitionwise, if their owners so desire). What I don’t understand is the animosity of people toward the hobby I do love. I like dogs of all types.