What Price Glory?

Those reading this article will, I'm certain, be convinced as to whether or not I need stronger medication. But, in my defense, my mania is a simple one... I am less than impressed with the general condition of our breed in today's show ring. There are those that continually put good dogs in the ring and have done so for many years. There are some newer exhibitors that have learned from the right people, taken their advice, and they too put good quality into the ring. However, too many of the dogs that are sporting a CH prefix (or will do so in the future) are not doing our beloved breed justice.
I am using several thoughts and comments sent to me by fellow Daneites who are equally passionate and concerned about the state of the Great Dane. Even though these individuals would never be categorized as shrinking violets and would not be hesitant to acknowledge their positions, I will not mention their names. I note this to emphasize that the comments made herein are not based on just my personal opinion. Most everyone that I know that has been in the breed for a long time has the same or very similar feelings and beliefs. ("In some causes silence is dangerous." - Saint Ambrose)
Where to begin... I hope this will not become too disjointed but there are a number of points that really need to be made in addressing this situation. Let's start with...

Why do we show? - There are many driving factors in this category. Certainly all of us (including yours truly) have some desire for ego enhancement. Remember the Ken-L-Ration commercial - "My dog's better than your dog." This is all well and good as long as we have an accurate and honest opinion of what we are putting into the ring. Finishing dogs for the sake of making another notch on the handle is just not enough. Over a period of time the dog show should help each breed to raise the bar on overall quality. Knowledgeable judges (to be covered later) put up the better dogs. The decisions of these judges are subsequently utilized in various breeding programs and the breed improves. A fairly easy concept but not necessarily the case. If the driving force of breeders is sheer numbers then they will continue to fill the ring with what has made them successful and not always what is in the best interests of the breed. Some will think my position to be too idealistic whereas I think that those same individuals may be in this sport for their personal agendas and not necessarily for bettering our beloved Dane.

The Breeders - You are the life's blood of our sport. It is you that are charged with the responsibility of improving the breed. I will be the first to say that this task can be daunting. Even when decisions made in your breeding program make perfect sense and the expectations are high, the gods are not always kind as to how the genes actually disperse. All of us have seen the breedings that, on paper, look to have been made in heaven but the litter is just so-so. The reverse is also true. However, breeding better dogs to better dogs is usually a good directive. Due to our current communication and marketing abilities it is far too easy for individuals to get caught up in the stud dog du jour. Many of these high profile animals have and will continue to make wonderful contributions to our breed. But I need only to have you sit at ringside during BOB at our National to see that all dogs backed by marketing programs are not created equal. Over the years I can recall a couple of number 1 Danes (of course, at any given time, there at least 5 or 6 dogs that are number 1) that were just not very good. ("The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need." - Napoleon) I know I have mentioned this in a previous article but over the last 10 years or so two AKC Field Reps and a large number of handlers and exhibitors have approached me at ringside with the same question... "What the hell is going on with your breed? They don't even look like Great Danes!" Not the type of comment that anyone wants to hear. My point being that individuals on the outside looking in sometimes have better vision than do we. Something about a forest and the trees. ("Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship." - Omar Bradley) All of you know the people (either personally or by reputation) that have been on top of the mountain for decades. I don't know too many of them that would have any problem in being used as a sounding board. Utilize these assets and pick their brains. In days gone by the environment at ringside was much different than what we see today. People got together and TALKED about the dogs in the ring. I don't mean that they "trashed" them but they discussed the merits and faults in a manner that attendees (especially the neophytes) went home with more knowledge or, at least, some new ideas. Today's desire for instant gratification and the fact that breeder X has a couple of champions seems to negate the need for any help, criticism, suggestion or input from a person that really knows the breed. How many times have you seen an exhibitor after their dog has been defeated stay at ringside to talk about (perhaps even learn something) from a mentor? The student must seek out the teacher not the other way around. ("Happy is he who can trace effects to their causes." - Virgil... "Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever" - Napoleon)

If the resources are available, I would encourage you to study the background of your dogs. Due to the passing of time many of the names that were on the tongues of all of us many years ago are not even known to some of today's breeders. It is the qualities of some of these foundation animals that has perpetuated many of the better features we see today. Certain aspects of Dane anatomy are better today than in years gone by but far too many foundational aspects of the breed are suffering. Do your homework! ("The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see." - Winston Churchill)

The Campaign - There are few breeders (in any breed) that are not proud of a nice puppy. The Dane world is simply crazy about their babies. Our National Futurity has been a "happening" as long as I can remember. Every year we see 200-300 puppies in a two-day event. Most of us would agree that there are a lot of nice puppies at this venue. Did you ever wonder where all those great puppies went? When an additional 50-100% of size is attained, many of them have lost their appeal. You can decide if this is a problem of any giant breed or one that is more prevalent in certain lineages. The gorgeous baby that finishes from the puppy class and then is never seen again only to be marketed a few years later as a stud dog may not be what it once was. The ads restate his whirlwind career but the accompanying photos are those of his youth and not what he looks like today. There is certainly nothing wrong with showing a puppy. I have finished dogs from the puppy class as have many others. However, the true quality of the dog is being able to stand the test of time. How many times have you heard something along the lines of... "Their puppies are always nice but they HAVE TO finish their dogs early because they fall apart as adults." Over the years I have seen young dogs (less than 18 months) from very prominent breeding programs that were not terribly impressive. I have seen the same dog at 3-4 years of age and couldn't take my eyes off of it. Personally, I think that this would be a better formula for our breed.

Now we broach the topic of people that know better and still don't change. I know breeders that have consistently put dogs into the ring and at some point finished them that I would have sold as pets. They have done this through exhaustive showing (often a couple years of arduous competition), following certain judges across many miles, and offering a blank check to a handler. It is not necessary to convince me that enough time and money will get you what you want. I get it!!! What I don't get is what this achieves insofar as improving our breed. This same mentality we also see with some Specials which usually includes the added feature of throwing the dog into the judges' faces with an endless marketing program in every publication known to man. If you're going to promote a dog, please promote a good one!

The Handlers - Unlike many breeds, the Great Dane is one where the dogs are, far and away, presented beautifully in the ring. Whether by a professional handler, owner, breeder or friend the resulting picture presented to the judge is usually quite nice. Like every major breed, the Great Dane has a number of professional handlers that specialize exclusively (or nearly so) with our breed. We all know them and they all have amassed impressive credentials over the years. Other than the National I do not personally watch Danes very often from ringside. I don't think that doing so presents an appropriate picture for a person that is a judge. However, I enjoy talking to professional handlers because they are very knowledgeable dog people. Their reputation for winning comes from their ability to identify quality in potential clients. If you haven't done so, sit down with your handler and talk about our breed. You might be surprised how informative they can be. ("Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least." - Lord Chesterfield)

A very unfortunate aspect of the current economic situation in our country is what it has done to the ranks of the professional handler. Many have simply been forced to quit the sport because their clientele has dried up. Others, in order to pay their overhead, have been forced to accept at least some "gas dogs". In case you have never heard this term it describes a dog that has little if any chance of winning and the handler takes it into the ring just to get a fee (to pay for gasoline). There are some people that have made a career of this. Usually these people are the ones that fill the owner's mind with negative comments about the judge and that is the reason that Fido didn't win. They perpetuate the stories and the handling fees until, at some point, the owner realizes what is going on, someone has the nerve to tell them or they simply run out of money.

Despite what many might think, one reason that the true professional handlers do a lot of winning is not because the judge "only-puts-up-handlers". It is usually because they have the best dog in the ring or a dog that is at least competitive with any of the rest. We must also temper our feelings with the fact that as long as the best we have to deal with is human beings (whether as judges, handlers, breeders, etc.) there is always the opportunity for things to be skewed. Put yourself in the position of having a profession where you handle dogs and get paid for your services. To handle a dog that you know would best serve our breed as a loyal and loving companion on someone's couch and to promote this dog to a newbie owner as a walk-on-water specimen certainly does not do any justice to the breed or the profession. That is why I have always categorized handlers in two ways... 1) the person that handles a dog for money and 2) the professional handler. ("A fault is fostered by concealment." - Virgil)

The Judges -
This is certainly not the easiest subject to approach. Don't think that I have forgotten the years spent as a breeder and exhibitor. Judging, for me, seems a natural progression for someone in the world of dogs. It is a shame how many outstanding breeders have no desire to enter this aspect of our sport. All of you can probably name several individuals that you would like to see making decisions in the ring. Over the years I have tried to persuade some of them to consider getting their feet wet but to no avail. Since the time of my very first show dog I have never ceased to be amazed about the opinions individuals have about judges. To be perfectly candid, my wife and I had a couple names of individuals to whom we would not give an entry. There are people that have longer lists of judges to whom they will not show than the ones that they will. It is not uncommon for the people with the longer "black lists" to have the more mediocre dogs. It's funny how the really good dogs are recognized by the vast majority of judges. There is usually some reason for those dogs that have finished in just a very few shows. However, there is a very real aspect to another viewpoint...

In any breed there are some people that are approved to judge that just don't do a very good job. They are influenced by promotion, a prominent handler or simply have not learned the breed properly. Like yourselves, I have watched some fairly agonizing attempts at sorting out the better Danes from the lesser ones. Next year will mark my 25th anniversary as a judge. During those years I have sat with judges at ringside, at social events and seminars. I can tell you that 99%+ of the judges that I know really try to do it the right way. I have also witnessed the darker side of impartiality.

The one trap that is easy to fall into is fault finding. You and I can sit at ringside and criticize a judge for putting up a certain dog because it had too much this or not enough of that. That criticism is probably right on the money. But judges are charged with putting up the best dog and there are weaknesses in every dog. What's the old adage..."The only perfect dogs that I've ever seen I have pictures of in my wallet." I assisted with breeder's education at last year's National. I met a number of very nice and interested breeders and believe me the tendency to find a single fault and magnify it in their minds was evident. There are faults and then there are FAULTS. I sorely miss the gradation of faults from our original standard. I still have this list in my mind and use it whenever I am asked to mentor someone. Lack of breed type is just a tad higher on that list than a white toenail. You might think this an exaggerated example but you would be surprised at how different people establish their own "hot buttons". If a person's breeding program has some strong attributes, they are likely to be more critical of weaknesses in those same areas on other people's dogs.

It is for these reasons that I continue to stress the advantages for people desirous of judging our breed to have a strong mentor. This is no less true for any other breed. You may be interested to learn that we are raising the bar with regards to having judges attend our education program at the National. What a great venue for anyone to develop an eye for the breed.
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I hope that each of you have the opportunity (if you have not done so already) to be blessed with a truly outstanding Dane. Whether it is of your breeding or you have decided that a change is needed in your program and you obtained a dog with the intent of making a fresh start, it can (and will) be life changing.

I will end (at last) with a couple of quotes from Warren Buffet...
"Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
"Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks."

BILL