“Author Archive”
Stories written by AnthonyA
What a terrible week March 14-21 was for our dog show family. This is being written as our world is faced with the expanding threat of a Pandemic. As we prepare to deal with whatever that will bring… events in our lives still march on seemingly oblivious to the pandemonium. Three of our lifelong friends have left us. One was very painful for the Afghan Hound fancy. Floyd Gale passed away on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. His loss shouldn’t be overlooked. He represents so many in our sport that gave much for their chosen breed. I write this for him and those like him we have lost.
May 17th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
Lately, there’s lots of talk about the AKC’s judges’ approval process. What else is new? They’re constantly revamping and debugging the system. Even people going through it admit they can’t keep up with the endless barrage of policy changes. But we can agree that for awhile now mentoring has been a major aspect of it.
May 16th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
In our divisive world, it’s no surprise that the inferno of national politics has jumped across the chasm and landed square in the middle of our sport. For more than a century, we managed to keep our disagreements in the context of the sport with no basis in national politics. Seemingly eternal issues like too many shows, judging approval processes, poor judging, grooming space, and parking had nothing to do with our presumed political affiliation. Opinions were based on our views of the sport itself. Not so much anymore. With COVID-19, one of the sport’s biggest challenges in history, the question of when to resume dog shows has become the core argument.
May 12th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
In these dark and quite frightening times, what we need to hear, more than ever before, are stories of resilience, perseverance and eventual triumph. It is of no surprise that the popular fairy tales, which we were all brought up on, were often also written in times of great fear, challenge and hardship.
May 12th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
It’s been a long time since Louisville was abruptly shut down, mid-cluster. It’s been a long time since those who rely on dog shows for their income have been able to do their work, and it’s been a long time since those who just love dog shows, dog sports, dog people and dog events have had a dog show fix. With the list of cancelled events stretching into September, some people despair that they’ll never see a dog show again.
May 6th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
Antiquity has nothing to do with Stone Age Neanderthals in early Europe. The history and culture of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome – ca. 3000 BC to the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 – is generally identified as antiquity, a remarkable period that left us abundant information about hunters and hunting.
May 2nd, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Dog Show History,Featured | Read More »
It’s an old adage, and, unlike some of the old adages, this one actually is true: It takes birds to make a gun dog. Certainly, you can train virtually any sporting dog without using birds, at least to a functional level. But, it’s not efficient and it’s not easy.
April 28th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
Dog shows are being cancelled because of a novel form of coronavirus. This isn’t a news flash – you’ve probably experienced the frustrations of no TP at the store, being told to cook at home instead of go out to eat, and cancelled dog shows.
April 26th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
Nat Geo WILD, the network that brought “Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet” to Westminster last year was back again for 2020. This year, the lines at their booth were even longer as “The Incredible Dr. Jan Pol” and his wife, Diane Pol, greeted fans with hugs, signed pictures, and posed for selfies.
April 21st, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
The breed standard for the Flat-Coated Retriever includes one of my favorite phrases describing a breed – “power without lumber and raciness without weediness.” The standard also lists the “distinctive and most important features” of the breed in the General Appearance section – silhouette (moving and standing), smooth effortless movement, head type, coat, and character. They reflect the five items of breed type in Richard Beauchamp’s book, by the way. It is helpful when breed standards provide us with explicit priorities. I looked for the survey that this article is based on to corroborate and elaborate their priorities.
April 16th, 2020 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
