Measuring Progress When You’re Told the Sky Is Falling

Measuring Progress When You’re Told the Sky Is Falling

Exhibitors who are familiar with the European folk tale Henny Penny (or the 2005 Disney feature animation Chicken Little) will remember the story of a wee bird who believes the world is coming to an end. As the story goes, an acorn strikes the protagonist’s head, causing her to see danger around every corner and hysterically proclaim, “The sky is falling!” to anyone within earshot. The frightened fowl manages to gather support from a sympathetic goose, duck, and turkey who all believe her story, and together they decide to take their concerns to the king. However, on their way, they encounter a fox who offers to take them directly to the castle, but delivers them instead to his lair from which they never escape.

The moral of this distressing story, of course, is to avoid believing everything you hear. Fearmongering only results in mass hysteria and is the surest way to get lost and avoid finding solutions to problems both real and imagined. In times of trouble, it is important to remember that one acorn does not an apocalypse make. Thousands of falling acorns can sure seem like a mess, but what first appears as litter will soon feed countless hungry mouths—and in time, a handful of the little fruits will germinate. A fortunate few will even grow big and strong, providing shade from summer’s heat and a home for a variety of creatures large and small. Like acorns and oak trees, life itself is an endless cycle of little things that fall only to become big things that grow tall and mighty in an effort to reach the sun.

In the sport of dogs, we all go through difficult times now and then. As breeders, we experience problems with conception or delivery or puppy placements. As exhibitors, we can have trouble finding majors (or that final single point)! As club members, we may look around and see organizations that are losing more members than they’re gaining. And as supporters of purebred dogs and preservation breeders, we can easily become disheartened by all the focus on designer dogs, retail rescue, and a political agenda that has us defending our positions and our freedoms. Viewed collectively, these challenges are as real as any mountain of acorns. However, longtime participants in the sport understand that problems, like acorns, are problematic only until their true purpose is revealed. And once understood, they can lead to finding viable solutions that require listening to reason rather than repeating rumors or going down the proverbial primrose path.

When it seems the sky is falling, don’t assume it’s the end of the world. It might just be an errant acorn trying to tell you it’s a mighty oak in disguise.