Well, according to USA TODAY, The Westminster Dog show ratings ranked number 8 overall on the "Cable top 15," with 4.4 million viewers at 8pm on Tuesday.
Westminster overall was up slightly over last year with a 3.8 million average over its two-day run. Then to top the cake on Saturday (or was it Sunday), NBC, the new owner of USA's cable channel, had a one-hour rerun of the highlights. Throughout the weekend on cable both Discovery and Animal Planet had reruns of many aspects of the AKC event, with particular emphasis on Agility. This kind of constant exposure on TV can only help the image of the sport and result in increases for AKC registrations. There is a concern in certain segments of the core constituency that unless some of the smaller shows receive this kind of recognition as well as the larger shows that people will think in terms of extravaganza events. They argue this will discourage rather than encourage participation. I'm not too sure I accept this kind of thinking, nor do I truly agree with it at all. However, if in fact AKC is about to establish a TV coordinator for all televised events of shows under their auspices, this concern will be addressed if deemed necessary.
I see where the ban on hunting foxes with dogs was ignored recently and that Prince Phillip is going to France to continue the hunt with dogs. I had hoped that an accommodation between the parties could have been reached so that a minimal number of hunts would go on. I guess though the hard cores of both parties were too wrapped up to reach a compromise.
By the time most of you read this the Board election will be over. I'm glad I'm not a Delegate, since while I know who I would not vote for, I'm not too sure for whom I would vote. I definitely would continue both Steve Gladstone and David Merriam in office. I probably would continue with Charlie Garvin, too, although I wish he was more pro-active in the sense of pushing though his many good ideas. I could easily support Tony DiNardo as well as David Keene and Jim Dok. All three are new names in the sense that they have not run before or recently. I fear, though, that both Keene and Dok suffer from a lack of exposure which Tony does have. Some of Tony's past exposure may not be all positive to some people, but overall I have great confidence in his being a valuable Board member. I must say that I thought Judi Daniels' answers to John Mandeville's “Questionnaire” were among the best of the lot. My problem with Judi is her past, which I cannot forgive nor forget. Her problem has never been her intelligence but more her ability to handle people. This still sticks in my craw. I am really disturbed about AJSA's willingness, nay encouragement, of having exhibitors who actively campaign dogs sponsor its Westminster cocktail party. This is now the second year this has happened and the cost is a "tidy" sum. It just seems to me that just as Guidelines from AKC are set about proprieties for individual judges, these proprieties should carry over to Judges Associations. Obviously not all members of the Association should be put on alert, but certainly the Officers and Directors with whom the exhibitor or exhibitors contract with should be precluded from judging those dogs. A prior agreement to this effect should be entered into, I think anyways. I'm told when SCJA attempted to do just that, the potential sponsor declined the sponsorship. If this is true, good for SCJA, I say. You are just opening the doors to a potential bad happening no matter the good intent of all the parties to the project.
By the time most of you read this we'll be at Crufts, where over 20,000 dogs are entered. The late and great Audrey Dallison used to write about these huge numbers, that they were mostly "farm dogs" and not show dogs. In a sense she was right, since numbers rarely indicate quality. In numbers, there is always quantity but rarely a whole lot of quality. You sit around rings for hours watching breeds being judged in the hundreds, and if you see five good ones you're usually lucky. But those good one are frequently so breathtaking as to be well worth the effort of finding the wheat from the chaf. I mean, just look at some of our top dogs for the last several years and you'll see what I mean. The show itself is overwhelming, and without a doubt one of the great dog events that should be attended by every dog person who is interested in dog shows proper. •
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