What is exactly our final destination? Written by Ante Lucin
More than ever in the last few months I have been asking myself where our sport is going, what is happening with it and where does it want to arrive. More and more I am getting depressed by seeing confusing things, reading Facebook comments, watching mediocre dogs winning, and the quality of dogs, judges and handlers going dramatically down. I talk regularly to my friends about it and two things are quite clear to me. When talking to the people who have been in the sport already for 20 or more years they keep on reminiscing about the good old times. When talking to the young generations, I feel there is nothing more that can be done to prove to them that things are not as they see them now. When I was young (or younger) I travelled the world to see dogs. I was not interested in the cities, culture, fancy dinners. I only wanted to watch dogs; to talk to the famous handlers, judges and breeders. To learn. I still remember all the Crufts, Westminster and Collare d’Oro videos, I was dying to receive them. I used to see them over and over again. There were no Facebook, live streams and all the wonders of the modern technology like we have now. But still I knew all the famous dogs and all the famous dog people. Judges, breeders and handlers by their names and by their fame which was exclusively earned by their honest work and knowledge. Today it seems that nobody wants to learn. Nobody is interested in DOGS. Everyone keeps on worrying if he is a friend on Facebook 188
Best in Show Magazine
of the judge who will judge next important show, which handler is good for which judge, which dog is flashy enough for junior handling, which judge is gay and which is straight. Many judges who are judging every weekend are not famous breeders. Some of them have never owned a top quality dog. Some of them never have picked up shit, delivered puppies, bathed dogs or driven all night to hear someone’s opinion. Then of course, many of these judges do not have the respect for the exhibitors and their work. But also there are far too many exhibitors, who think they are the best and they know the best. They happily announce (either verbally to their friends who have also had a bad day, or on Facebook when they get home) that the judges are stupid, all the handlers are corrupt and the only reason why they are not winning is because the whole world is against them because they are so good in everything they do. Nowadays everything is possible. We are not allowed to criticise, to ask or to question the placements. Still I feel the people that are most trashed on Facebook are the honest people. When I was younger judges were famous because of the dogs they had bred and/or shown and because of being honest, kind and ready to share their knowledge with the exhibitors. Breeders were famous for the dogs they bred and showed. Handlers were famous for the quality of the dogs they showed and the conditions in which they were pre-