Newcomers to the sport often have a hard time separating necessities from expensive frills. Watching big-winning handlers claim top honors in the ring, and eyeing their set ups in the grooming area, novices might assume it’s the outward trappings that ensure success: the state-of-the-art tack box, the glitzy St. John suit, the hydraulic grooming table. Don’t be distracted! The key to success lies in a sound education, not maxing out your credit cards on wardrobe and shiny new toys.
If you’re a novice to dogs, or not so new but in need of a reset after a few years of mixed results, here are a few essential ingredients that go into a valuable education.
A good mentor is crucial to your advancement in the sport. Part sounding board, part teacher, the right, compatible mentor will guide you while allowing you to make mistakes—small ones, nothing irreparable—as you learn. Ask questions, observe, and choose well, as the wrong mentor can do more harm than good, by souring you on the sport before you get your feet wet. Good mentors will encourage you to talk to everyone, won’t disparage fellow exhibitors, and won’t compete against you with littermates. They remain active in the sport but after many decades of success, they have little to prove, and won’t be the ones chasing after newbies to offer themselves up as a mentor.
I always suggest finding two trusted mentors, one in your breed, and the other simply a kind, compatible, successful breeder-exhibitor of whatever breed; someone you will meet in your local all-breed kennel club. The mentor in your breed will assist you in learning breed history, getting familiar with pedigrees, and sharpening your eye when it comes to understanding the nuances of breed type and appreciating worthy dogs of different styles. The mentor outside your breed will be unconditionally supportive, and oftentimes more objective than people in your breed.
While this may seem obvious, note the key word “reread.” The Breed Standard isn’t a car maintenance manual or a familiar recipe that you will consult once or twice, then put away in a drawer forever. With a million opinions shared daily on social media, it’s easy to get caught up in breed trends and confuse personal preferences with the actual stated requirements of the Standard. Does your Standard specify “may” or “must?” Does it deem something “undesirable,” a “fault,” or a “major fault?” Refreshing your memory by rereading the Standard regularly, and not just skimming, will keep you on your toes.
Even if your breed is one in which puppies are delivered by C-section, knowing how to recognize the onset of labor and how to assist a bitch in whelping a litter is one of those basic skills that all breeders should possess. Your calm demeanor and command of the situation will certainly help relax an anxious bitch. Ask your mentor or a friend in your local kennel club if it would be possible for you to watch a bitch whelp a litter, if you do so quietly without getting in the way. It will be a huge education and give you confidence to last a lifetime. Being a dog breeder gets messy at times, and this would be one of those times. When the time comes that your own bitch is bred and ready to whelp her litter, by all means have an experienced friend there with you, but you’ll feel better knowing what to expect.
The late, iconic judge Beatrice Godsol famously said, “All dogs have faults, but the great ones wear them well.” By applying your Breed Standard objectively to your own dogs, keeping Mrs. Godsol’s wise words in mind, you can be proud of your boy’s superb head and your girl’s correct tail carriage while also recognizing their dippy topline or restricted front movement. In the ring, this awareness will help you stack your dogs to present the most pleasing picture, and move them at the most flattering speed; when looking for complementary mates for a breeding, it will guide you in making smart selections. You should be your dogs’ toughest critic. By quietly and knowledgeably sizing up your dog show competition on a given day, you will generally understand why your dogs placed as they did. Being kennel blind is never a good thing.
The most successful breeder-exhibitors are lifelong students of dogs. With the right attitude, there is always something new to learn. Mastering the basics will give you an excellent foundation.
