Not Just Brags!
Everytime I am at a dog show, it never escapes me to notice the newbies in the ringside with their hopeful loving eyes, with hands tightly gripped as the judge walked passed their dogs in the ring. My memory fails me now that it has been over twenty years since my first experience in a dog show. Oh no, does it just makes me feel really old now! Somehow, everytime I see the newbies who of course can easily be spotted by old-timers like me, I have to admit that it sure does bring back a lot of memories. It was fun during our time! And yes I'm sure, it is as much fun to the newbies in the present. A ribbon of any color did not matter, a judge handing a ribbon just makes one jump in the air. That's how it is...
I remember back in the 70's when clubs sponsoring dog shows did not have as much funds and yet trophies were a lot bigger and given out were parchment certificates complete with ribbons and gold seals. The Best of Breed trophies then were as tall as the Hall of Fame trophies now. But do size really matter? All the parchment certificates I got back in the 70's were of course laminated and hung on whatever empty wall I could find in our house. And as I moved along, up the ladder ... the wood laminated certificates ended up as barbecue material. I got burnt out and as show people coined it, got clubbed too.
Back to the yard, I stopped showing and started breeding ignorantly in the 80's. I watched dog shows every now and then and particularly enjoyed the landsgruppen and seiger shows. And from once as an insider, I was outside looking in. There were new faces, some old and others gone, totally lost unlike me ... just peering through. The same thing, the newbies look. I've come and gone and come back and it's the same old story. I no longer keep my ribbons in albums and just throw them in fish bowls. The Championship Certificates are still in albums while the Championship records are filed in binders. I have offered various clubs Group Ribbons we have accumulated so that they can recycle them. I am literally running out of space for the Best of Breed, Best In Group and Philippine Grand Championship trophies. And soon, the Show Dog Hall of Fames too.
Now, I ask myself what I have accomplished?
Check if you must but this ain't just your ordinary brag. Not everyone can brag the way Cob Kennels can for the records show that yes, we have a lot of dogs. And the hundred dogs we have, we have shown 85 percent of them. The ten percent we never even attempted to show while the five remaining percent were excused from the ring at one point or another. But may I ask who among us have shown majority of the dogs we've owned and bred? Most often, you will find top breeders showing their latest imports and usually of the male gender. You see these dogs over and over again winning and winning. Go dig up records and look at how many dogs they keep in their kennels and tell me of the ratios of the dogs brought inside the ring and the dogs kept hidden. Do you see these breeders showing the brood bitches and how many of the brood bitches win? Go to a kennel and look at percentages. How many dogs are there in a kennel and how many of these dogs were shown, finished and retired from the ring then bred? A breeder may claim his/her dog is the top dog in the breed and has produced this number of champions and stuff. Look at ratios as to how often the dog has been used as a stud. Look at the progenies bred to different bitches. How many of their champions are home-bred, raised, campaigned and finsihed by them? Or the champions merely out of bitches bred because of stud services in case of a top dog in the kennel?
The Cob Kennels may not
have competition. Our dogs compete with each other. And yes, we
honor those who mock us and laugh at certain times when all of our dogs are
lined up and yet, another dog wins over all of our dogs from time to time.
A lot won't understand why we do what we do. Even my mother do not
understand why and not even old-timers and judges understand exactly what we, at
Cob are trying to accomplish. With an unbeatable record of 115 Philippine
Champions, 65 Philippine Grand Champions and 20 Show Dogs Hall of Fame to date
with 70 Philippine Home-bred Champions, 31 Home-bred Philippine Grand Champions,
4 Home-bred Show Dogs Hall of Fame, and 1 Home-bred Multi-All-Breed-BIS Winner
as of December, 2002 not to mention that these dogs are of different
breeds... I don't suppose anybody can even come close considering that Cob
is just 7 years old since its first litter back in December of 1995.
And for those who just love to put two cents worth in like maybe... "Well, that's a lot of champions because you do have a lot of breeds and dogs." And so I throw it back to you again, how many of us have the same passion, dedication and commitment with not just one particular breed?
In all honesty, I don't really much care about all these records... each night before I sleep as a dog lay down beside me, I know that I have accomplished what no record or wins would ever beat!
Welcome to www.cobkennels.info!
Fellow dog lovers (& divers!) are always welcome in our homes!
Don't forget to leave your paw prints (or bouys) behind!
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