Great piece by Jess. This is in response to the great histrionic meltdown that is going on in the UK over the Crufts DQ’s. One prominent breeder of basset hounds is quitting entirely. This person has bred dogs for decades, but because that dog got DQ’d, the owner is throwing in the towel. Jess puts these people to shame.
Originally posted on Dog breeding is seeing your vision, your plan, come to life, moving, breathing, running.
Dog breeding is walking out into the desert and screaming in despair over loss and death and pain.
Dog breeding is the glow that you feel when a puppy owner sends you a video of a dog running around like a fool in the snow.
Dog breeding is being terrified of producing a dog who dies young, despite your best efforts to breed healthy dogs.
Dog breeding is having the ego and arrogance to bring puppies into the world for your own purposes.
Dog breeding is having the humility to realize you’ve made a mistake, and resolve to learn and do better in the future.
Dog breeding is perseverance in the face of opposition and nasty people who just want to shore up their own egos by making you feel badly.
Dog breeding is playing god…
View original 230 more words
Jess’s writing strikes the heart. That’s why many of us are “in dogs”, truly.
Perhaps the breeder Scottie mentions is quitting not because a ribbon was lost, but because the affair has made her/him realize how shallow the whole dog-show game really is. Especially if one must rely on the opinions of others who may well have quite different visions of what it’s all about.
Many who do show, do so simply because it’s a fun social event with others of like interests. And/or to keep up with what’s happenin’ in their breed. Especially in the UK, not all exhibitors are hell-bent on winning at any cost. Showing is just one of the fun things to do with their dogs. Except that, incrreasingly, it’s not so much fun any more.