SHOW to be a Winner!
First appeared in The Ring Volume 17 - 1997
by Griet Coetzer

"Your friends will tell you the judges was blind. And you will agree..."

Losing with a beloved Stafford - your pride and joy - hurts your feelings and dashes your hopes. As you leave the ring you may experience a mixture of disappointed, anger, and humiliation. Your friends will tell you the judges was blind. You will agree, immediately pointing out the faults of the winning dog. At this point the hardest thing to do is to keep quiet. But do it.

You’ve read the standard. You’ve studied movement... the most cow hocked and wobbly elbowed Stafford in the ring gets placed first. How can this be? Firstly, soundness is only part of the equation. Some judges put a great deal of emphasis on movement; some consider it only a formality. If you still think it was no better than the others, what about what you couldn’t see from the ringside? Judges make lots of decisions in one day who says they can’t just plainly, slip up. Remember, too, that you might be wrong. Judges have studied dogs and might be influenced by subtleties that you have not yet recognised, or they may see through handling ploys that have you fooled. Also be aware of kennel blindness: "The inability to see faults in one’s own dogs". 

It's so much easier to critisize when you haven’t been in the judges shoes...

Ensure you have a good specimen. Learn from the ringside then teach your dog the basics. Watch the judge and listen to his requests. Show to win. Set yourself realistic goals. Make friends. Relax and encourage your Stafford to portray a good attitude, this will not only look good but also make it fun! Don’t let your fantasies take over your reason. Determine what it will take to make you happy. As you show more, you should win more but you’ll find that every successive level of achievement seem a little harder to reach.

Showing a fine animal to its best advantage is in itself rewarding. 
Winning is a bonus.

Try another strategy if you are unhappy with the way your luck is at shows, or try another field such as, obedience, agility or field work... or use your skills to contribute to the breed. Activities like these will make it rewarding.

Winning isn’t everything: for me showing is about dogs and people! Enjoy your dogs as pets and enjoy the people as your friends.

We tend to attach a great deal of significance to goals we have not yet attained, but upon reaching them we find that we really the only ones that cared about them. 

Remember, winning will never change the true worth of your dog.

Unfortunately, many exhibitors use their dogs to say, “I’m better than you are”. The next time you feel like stroking your ego, stop and consider whether your listener could really be interested. It is certainly justifiable to boast of a big win of which you are proud (like your first point win could be even more exciting than someone else’s tenth group win).

There are many ways to be a winner; to give back to the sport of dogs. By supporting clubs, breed rescue and research, educating the public, encouraging newcomers, and setting a fine example by breeding with the utmost restraint and responsibility as well as by loving your dogs first as pets and second as a show animal. This way you will achieve much more than you would by simply accumulating a room full of trophies and rosettes.

Of course, the goal is to have it all!