Ginny & Aaron Kincer | Ethos Golden Retrievers

Interview with Ginny & Aaron Kincer, Breeders of Ethos Golden Retrievers

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you live? How many years in dogs? How many years as a breeder? What is your kennel name?
2. What is your “process” for selecting show puppies? Performance puppies?
3. In your opinion, is your breed in good condition overall? Any trends that warrant concern?
4. As a Preservation Breeder, can you share your thoughts on the sport today? How’s the judging these days? What do you think about the number of shows?
5. In your opinion, is social media good for the sport? Is it harmful?
6. What are the biggest challenges facing the dog show community as a whole today and how can these be addressed?
7. What are some of the positive changes you’ve seen in the sport over the past decade?

1. Thanks for this opportunity! We are Ginny and Aaron Kincer from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ethos Golden Retrievers was established in 2015. Before that, Ginny, a third-generation breeder/owner/handler, has been involved in many breeds: Basset Hounds, English Setters, Irish Wolfhounds, Beagles, Norfolk Terriers, and Sealyham Terriers, with her family, Tim, Jodie, and Molly Childers, and Grandparents Bill and Anne Lindsay, under the prefix Chez Bonheur Kennels.

2. We have always enjoyed watching and observing our pups for hours. We temperament test and love to have puppy parties. As a kid, Ginny remembers how an ex-pen of puppies would mean a party. Dog friends would gather around the grooming table set-up and each pup would have a chance to be stacked, gone over, and then observed for movement, with everyone bringing a dish to pass and lots of laughs. A final decision would happen on pick, and so on, before everyone headed home.

3. Golden Retrievers are ever-changing. This could be due to their popularity, but it is one breed that definitely has a lot of variety. As you travel showing or judging throughout the country, heads have always been the biggest display of variety, like other breeds too, of course. I believe, overall, our breed still has some of the same concerns: open coats, high tails, over-grooming, but we have always seen this.

4. We see this sport as dated in its execution, in a manner that seems to avoid applying technology. There are a lot of amazing opportunities to apply technology to every aspect of the dog show world.

5. Social media is a tool, no matter what you can learn from it. What to do or not to do.

6. We need to build communities, not cliques. Winning or losing is a part of every sport, so surround yourself with people who are passionate about the breed you love, play the game with integrity, and are there to celebrate the wins but also learn from the losses.

7. We see more diversity in the sport, but we need more. A decade ago, this sport was a very male-dominant sport, but you see more women and minorities now. But, we need more of this and to encourage all to participate, especially children. They will carry this into the next decade. Thank you, SHOWSIGHT, for this interview and to all who took the time to read it.