YOU SAID IT
Limited Access … Please
Can we all agree ? We live in a 24-hour / 365-day world . Anything and everything is immediately available , if we want it . By either going out to get it or doing it online , it can be ours . I recently needed information on the location of a store in the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey . I went onto the website for the mall to discover that the mall is open every day except Easter , Thanksgiving and Christmas . Recently , many banks began to offer full services seven days a week . Are they busy on Sundays ? Yes , they are . On my way to a local dog show , I went to a Starbucks for my coffee fix . This particular Starbucks shares a parking lot with a bank open on Sundays . Was there a place to park ? No , there was not . Did I persist ? Yes , I did .
Let ’ s think how this same instant accessibility permeates almost every phase of our lives in dogdom . When was the last time you checked online for real-time results on your dog or your competition at another show ? Do you look on the websites that give you all the Group results at the end of the day ? How about the statistics that are constantly recalculated for the most upto-date rankings ? My guess is that you check frequently . Then there are postings on the ever-available Facebook site . Whether at home or at the shows , we know what is happening minute by minute . Live streaming at the Westminster Kennel Club show provides each of us with a great front row seat at every ring . Their website posts all the winners with amazing speed .
When we breed our bitches , we count the days until that all-important ultrasound appointment . Before the physical evidence of a pregnancy is readily apparent , a definitive result can be determined . What happens next ? The positive news instantly gets posted , sometimes accompanied by photos taken during the screening . Disappointing news also gets posted for our near and dear to send cheery words of consolation . The process repeats itself at the time of whelping . Photos of the neonates with color , sex and weight quickly follow . Videos of the blessed event get shared with the touch of a finger . Remember when pictures had to be developed before they could be shared ? Those days are far behind us .
There is so much that is positive about our world of instant access and immediacy . At the same time lurks the ever-present
BY ELAINE J . LESSIG
“ Vigorous competition and civility are not inconsistent .” — AKC Code of Sportsmanship
opportunity for misuse and abuse . All forms of social media ferment the best and worst of instant messaging . Name calling , accusations ( true and false ) and misstatements abound on all the sites . Negative energy wastes time and causes unnecessary harm . At dinner together after a show , a fellow judge shared that she went on Facebook after judging a large specialty . To her dismay , a disgruntled exhibitor posted a scathing critique of her decisions . It started a battle between the unhappy exhibitor and fellow exhibitors who disagreed and were angered by those callous remarks . The situation escalated for days causing stress to the judge and fierce animosity toward the thoughtless exhibitor by fellow competitors . All of this occurred because no effort was made to filter disappointment . It was simply too easy to post it to a wide audience .
Easy access online with one another now extends to face-to-face communication in an equally troubling way . Show committees , exhibitors , professional handlers , judges and even American Kennel Club personnel are all subjected to unwarranted confrontations . Too many show committee hearings are caused by the failure to think before speaking . An exhibitor who starts collapsing big grooming tables and loading them on a metal cart with a noisy thud has another exhibitor who is showing in a nearby ring , screaming four-letter words at him . At the conclusion of breed judging , the owner of a ranked dog feels no compunction about entering the empty ring and demanding in no uncertain terms to know exactly why the judge chose a class dog over his . Although there was judging going on in adjacent rings and the judge attempted to be professional and polite , the owner persisted until the judge firmly suggested that enough was enough . This sort of troubling situation is happening more and more .
All participants in AKC events must ascribe to the AKC Code of Sportsmanship . Two paragraphs from that document are very relevant to the issue of easy access . One speaks to “ commitment to the values of fair play , honesty , courtesy , and vigorous competition , as well as winning and losing with grace .” The other states that “ vigorous competition and civility are not inconsistent .” The next time you participate in an event , no matter in what capacity , remember this : You agreed to that Code , not to unlimited access . DIR
48 DOGSinREVIEW . com