Question: If you don’t know where you want to go, how the heck do you get there?
By nature, I’m a planner. I thrive on timelines, schedules, and color-coded spread sheets. A lengthy To-Do list with all items crossed off makes me do my happy dance.
The timelines, schedules, and To-Do lists are the tools I use to help achieve my goals, the specific, clearly defined objectives I’m working towards. Well-conceived goals are measurable and quantifiable. They’ve allowed me to accomplish many of the things I’ve aspired over the years, including being a contributor for this magazine.
A dream may be a wish your heart makes, but a goal is a dream with an action plan!
A dear friend once said I accomplished things because, in most cases, I was just too stupid to know they were impossibly unrealistic. To them I said, and still believe, no personal destination is impossible if you can envision the steps to get there.
When I take on a new student, whether in person or remotely, the first homework assignment I give is for the youngster to create a list of five goals they hope to accomplish in the coming year. Whether a seasoned Junior Handler with years of competition behind them or an 8-year-old newbie, I expect every student to articulate what success in the dog world will look like to them.
“To them” is the significant part of that last sentence. While at some point in the process there must be family input, in the initial stages, goals must come directly from the Junior regardless of age. There is no place for a “Mama Rose” ringside at a Juniors’ ring!
Here’s the thing about Junior Showmanship as an activity for young people—with articulated goals, success can be within reach for any kid on any budget.
I believe every child should have a gym class, but not every kid dreams of running in the Olympics. Involvement in youth activities, generally, is a pyramid. At the bottom is the largest population, kids who just want to enjoy time in a structured environment with their friends. There are the sports kids, perfectly content on the field or on the bench, happy just to be wearing the uniform. There are the arts kids in ballet or theater, excited to be part of a production, included in a larger community and invited to cast parties. There is nothing wrong with participation at this level! Smaller goals do not mean lesser personal benefits.
Moving up the pyramid, there is a smaller middle group. Here are the kids seriously involved in activities, attending practice and rehearsal multiple days/nights a week. They are featured performers, integral to the success of winning teams and critically acclaimed productions.
Next on the pyramid are the highly focussed, strongly driven youngsters whose passions have brought success on even larger stages. At this point, they may have multiple teachers/coaches. Their activities take up much of their non-academic day and most of their weekends. Family obligations and vacations are scheduled around the Junior’s schedule. Here, the passions are fully flamed.
Finally, at the apex, are the Broadway kids and the Olympic competitors. Their goal has become their life, often setting them on a path into adulthood and a career.
The same pyramid model can be applied to Junior Showmanship. Among my current students, I have Juniors who just want to have fun with their dogs occasionally at local area shows. Then I have students aspiring to be in the Top Ten in their Breed, the Top Ten in their Group, in the Top Twenty of all Junior Handlers in the country in the national rankings. I’ve a contingency whose annual goals include qualifying for the Junior Showmanship Finals in Orlando and Westminster. Within the last group are kids who’ve set their sights on being among the lucky final 12 or eight Junior Handlers making it to “big ring” in Florida and New York City.
In creating their list, the rule for my students is that of the five goals, no more than two can be specifically related to the dog show ring! Involvement in Junior Showmanship must be about far more than ribbons and rankings if we’re truly concerned about ensuring the future of our sport!
I encourage Juniors to identify goals which increase their general knowledge of dog health, care, training, and breeding. Goals will vary by students’ ages, experience level, and where they sit on the pyramid. No goal is ever dismissed as ‘silly’ or ‘unimportant.’ If a goal doesn’t make sense, it becomes a jumping off point for further discussion.
Here are some examples from my current students’ goal lists: “I want to learn everything about a rare breed”; “I want to create a photo pedigree for my dog”; “I want to take a workshop to learn to be a ring steward”; “I want to watch a litter be born”; “I want to train my dog to get a rally title”; “I want to bring three of my friends to a dog show, so they’ll understand what I do and maybe want to try it”; “I want to take a dog first aid course”; “I want to attend a judge’s workshop”; “I want to learn how to trim toenails”; “I want to jog with my dog three times a week”; “I want to read at least three books about dogs”; and my personal favorite – “I want to learn when “Fido” (name changed for anonymity) has to go potty, so he stops peeing on my Barbies.”
Once I get the list from the Juniors, goals are reframed into quantifiable statements. “I want to learn everything about a rare breed” becomes, “I want to research Norwegian Lundehunds, including their Breed Standard and history from three different sources, contact at least one or two breeders, and then try to see one in person.” Specificity in creating the goal creates the framework for assessing eventual success.
Now, it’s time for a broader family meeting that includes parents and siblings. Goals must be prioritized against the realities of family finances and commitments. Unless your family sits among the “one percent,” budget considerations will color how goals are ranked. Parents, be candid about the expenses involved in showing. While certainly not as expensive as many youth activities, there are still costs associated with participation. There’s no harm explaining the practical limits of a budget. It will help the process. Prioritizing goals permits prioritization of expenditures.
Goals must also factor as they relate to all members of a family. If there are non-dog siblings, an ambitious dog show schedule can create resentment. Open communication before free time gets committed can keep harmony in the home. Here’s a great example of how this preplanning can work. One of my former students was a highly ranked and very competitive young handler. She had a brother who was an equally gifted BMX bike rider. From January to June, the parents would share the responsibility, one traveling with the son and one traveling with the daughter when events conflicted. During the summer, the family hit the BMX circuit hard, traveling together to the son’s races. Then, October, November, and December, the family’s primary focus was on the daughter and her showing. This approach went a long way to preventing excessive sibling rivalry.
Once goals are set and everyone’s on board, remember, we don’t carve these in stone!
Goals should be flexible. Things happen. Life happens. A Junior, their family, and a coach/mentor should reassess goals regularly several times a year. Priorities may change. New goals might be identified. All goals might get thrown out the window! And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Years ago, I had a Junior who was right on the cusp of “the big time.” She had all the pieces—talent, drive, maturity, and intelligence. Sadly, her life took a major turn when her grandmother became ill with cancer and moved in with the family. The family’s priority, by necessity, became caring for grandma, leaving little time or energy for anything else. There would be no dog shows for quite some time.
But this was a kid, passionate about the sport, who understood priorities. She established new goals and used the 10 months she was “off the circuit” to breed her dog. Her goal list became: find an appropriate sire; get her bitch’s health clearances; take a seminar on whelping; create a puppy enrichment/training program; and research how to assess a litter. From a litter of four, she kept a male. One year later, the two took the first of many Best Junior Handler awards.
Goals may change, but they provide a roadmap for our journey. We may choose to take a detour along our route. We may get where we are going faster than anticipated and decide to go further. We may even opt to forego the trip for a bit until road conditions improve. Without the map, though, we will never be able to reach our destination.
