Of Alternate Realities, States and Routes

A funny thing happened to me on my way to the forum! I woke up and smelled the roses.

Let me explain. Be patient and follow along, I promise that it will not be long, sad, melancholy, controversial, boastful or any of those other hooks used to keep an audience captivated. It is simple and short; so follow along with Mitch Miller’s bouncing ball (circa early 60’s).

You all know my extreme-sport involvement with dogs, show dogs to be more precise, if you know me even better, you also know my super-duper involvement with my family, Ryan and Jessie to be more exact. Both, my family and showing dogs serve as the backdrop setting of this little adventure.

So here comes the bouncing ball, follow along if you will.

It is now well into the afternoon at the South Dade Kennel Club’s dog show in June and Junior Handling is now happening in ring 3. As usual we have “front row seats”, no thanks to Bob Eucker, but to my wife Johanna Herzon, for you see she always manages to set up the best seats in the house for us to be able to see our kids compete in “Junior Showmanship” (the official AKC designated name for the event)

I have only one more handling assignment left in the day, a Standard Poodle of all things and I have about an hour before my handling services are needed at that ring.

I manage to get away from the crowds, puppy information seekers, old friends, new friends, handling clients, and all the other types you meet up with at these venues and sit by myself at ringside to watch two of my favorite people in the world, my kids.

My son, Ryan competes in the Open Junior Class, which is dominated by cute, cherub-looking little girls, ages 9 to 12. He stands out in this class, not by his size, but by the fact that he is the only boy amongst a sea of smiling, dimpled, cute as button girl faces.

Having “disappeared” from all the hustle and bustle of the crowds, I am now settled in for some serious watching and rooting for my “homies”. Totally entranced by the action that is to follow, I lose scope of all else around me, as Ryan enters the ring with his Labrador Retriever, a dog named Dakota, Am/Int Ch Chambrays Right On Target to be politically correct, that happens to be almost as big as he is. As Ryan makes his way around the ring, he looks for me as he has done a thousand times before, no matter if he is playing baseball, competing in a Karate tournament or just cutting up, he always looks for dad and then he smiles and I give him the “thumbs up” sign to let him know that I am 100% behind him. This truly is a father and son traditional moment.

However, reality is something that can not be escaped from fully and a tap on my shoulder startles me back to an into the here and now; like in “we are at a dog show with hundreds of folk looking and wanting information reality and disappearing into thin air is something that can only be done in a movie with the benefit of special effects and "mirrors".

“Are you the breeder of the two Labs that are being displayed at the therapy dog section?” the dream-weaver interrupter asks me.

I glance back over my shoulder at the interloper but a scene beyond them grabs my attention. Directly behind me about a dozen or so feet away is a table set up by the Therapy Dog Inc. people. There are quite a few people and dogs milling about this area and there on the floor wearing a service vest is a gorgeous whitish-looking Labrador, around him people abound. Two small children are stroking his back as he lies flat out on the concrete floor. A lady with a little mop of a dog approaches in front of where the Lab is lying and the little mop-dog goes nose to nose with the white Lab. The white Labs doesn’t even flinch, remaining stretched out on his backside as the scruffy denizen instigates a “chase me, chase me” game.

A very surreal moment to say the least, as I lose touch with the activity both in the ring in front of me where my son is competing and also with the tapper-person right behind me.  I wonder, “Who is this Labrador?”

Again, the shoulder tapper re-asserts herself with “Are you Sandy the Labrador breeder?”

“Yes” emanates from my mouth, but it is just an automated response, as I found myself captivated by the action behind me at the Therapy Dog Inc table.  There seemed to be so much positive energy concentrated at this particular locale. The dogs seemed so content with all the adulation they were receiving and the folk seemed so enthralled with the canine-human interaction that was going on.

The SDKC has permitted a small 8-x 8-section way in the back of the building for this group to set up an information “booth”. There are well over a dozen people milling about the little alcove set up for this service group.

I look closer at the well-organized commotion and determine that there are actually 5 service dogs on public display here and yes, two of them are Labrador Retrievers and both are really great looking dogs! I say this, because most of the time the dogs that you see in obedience, agility and other “none-conformation” events are by and far not the best bred conformationally correct specimens. Of course this last statement will get me into some major boiling water, but like Howard Cossell used to say “I tell it like it is!”

To be honest, I lost track of who the people were that had called my attention to the matter at hand; due to my alternate state of mind reality they probably walked away after a few more prompts that went unanswered. My desire to be attentive to the action before me with my kids and the entrancement with the service dog activities behind me, was extreme sensory overload to even consider tending to a third event, the interlopers had to go!

Did I say that this was going to be short and sweet? Nah, nothing in life is short and sweet, “if you don’t pay a price for it, then it ain’t worth nothing”, as Yogi Berra should have said if he didn’t say it already.

I glance back at the action in ring 3 and see the judge going over Ryan’s dog, but it is just a glancing look as something is calling me to the action right behind me at the Therapy Dog table. I shift my body in my chair so that I can view the action behind me and it is then that I recognize the person at the end of the white Lab’s leash. It is none other than Val Till, who happens to own two Labradors that were bred by me and she is also one of my Partners for the Betterment of the Breed.

So if that is Val then that white Lab must be Bear. Bear has a story behind him, but to shorten the chase, he just did not make it as a show dog and has not been to any of these venues in years. Yet here he was attracting as much attention as the “champions” in the conformation ring. In fact each of the service dogs on display at the booth had a bunch of people around them and some of the dogs even had kids on them.

Right behind Val and Bear was another one of my bred-by Labradors, Am/Int Ch Chambrays Mad About Madeline CGC TDI (Maddie) owned by Rosy Harkow. Unlike Bear, Maddie had made it all the way as a show dog; in fact she even made it to the most prestigious of canine events, the stellar destination for the top dogs in the country, Westminster!

Yet, here were the two of them sharing a common stage and receiving so much attention and adulation regardless of their exploits or lack of them in the show ring. There were several other service dogs pulling duty here also and numerous people surrounded each.

That’s when it occurred to me, we come to these shows and bring our best specimens to compete. Yet, when the competition is over in the ring, the dogs are put back into their crates and are only let out to drink water and relieve themselves. Meanwhile you have hundreds of folks milling about trying their best to get a peak at the dogs in the crates. Each of these folk paid an entrance fee as they stepped into the building, a fee that goes into the coiffeurs of the dog club hosting these events.  Each of these folk expect to “see” something for their fee, yet the majority of these dog clubs offer nothing in return for the entrance fee, other than “you are on your own folks, go watch the action in the rings, try to understand what’s going on, fend for yourselves when asking for information from the breeder/exhibitors and other than that, enjoy yourselves”. The clubs gladly take the money and really offer nothing substantial for the money taken.

Yet, right behind me in a corner that was so out of the way, the SDKC “allowed” a service group to set up a table where entrance-paying people were getting their money’s worth and more. They were getting answers and were actually allowed to “touch” a dog. I say this emphatically, since most show exhibitors cringe at letting anyone touch their dogs, either before going in the ring or after coming out of the ring. Remember, it’s back into the crates after they have finished showing!

Well, I say hooray for the service groups to be allowed to set up their booths and entertain the crowds. It costs the clubs zero; zilch, nada and the returns are immense in public relations! Instead of waiting for the service clubs to contact the dog clubs for space, let’s send out an open invitation for them to come and set up shop at the dog shows. Let’s even go further, let’s give them some premium spots to set up at, not some out of the way place.

Oh by the way, somewhere along my alternate state of reality, I did get a chance to see my son Ryan win his junior’s class and then go back into the ring against the Intermediates (12 to 14 years old) and the Open Seniors (14 to 18 years old) and compete for the highest accolade for the junior handlers at a dog show. I also got the chance to hoot and holler as the judge awarded him the Best In Show Junior Handler award!

Check out Val Till's 2 stories about Chambrays Sugar Bear CGC TDI. Click the Answered Prayers below and the Thoughts of A Retired Show Dog.

Answered Prayers
by Val Till! A great story about Val's trials and tribulations with one of her dogs, Bear. Now a Therapy Dog in action.

Thoughts of A Retired Show Dog by Val Till

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