To tell the truth, I was not surprised to see Victoria Stilwell at the Wesminster Dog Show insinuating herself with celebrity, but I was suprised that she would be so tone-deaf as to be urging people to "get on the boat" of the Kennel Club in the face of the Westminster public relations fiasco of dumping Pedigree-brand dog food because of its shelter dog campaign, the crowning of an inbred Pekingese as "Best in Show," and doing it all on the eve of Pedigree Dogs Exposed 2.
Of course Stilwell's cause has never been dogs, but about marketing herself. Her hysterics about slip collars is not about any acual harm those collars do to dogs, but about market segmentation as she seeks to differentiate herself from more experienced dog trainers with larger book sales and greater public appeal.
Now Stilwell has moved into the franchise sales business, which seems to be a particularly poor fit for the world of dog training. Presumably franchise owners will have to give some portion of their earnings to Stilwell (that's how franchise's work), which means that when a franchise deal goes south (and some always do), then the stink of litigation is likely to follow.
Stilwell has also effectively gagged herself when it comes to talking about the institutionalized violence and misery done to dogs through Kennel Club policies that lead to deformed, defective and diseased dogs. If she were to actually start talking about that, that might impact her dog-training franchises and her income from the same, as well as the income her franchise-owners get from the same. Ditto if she talks about how the American Kennel Club has pulled in scores of millions of dollars from the institutionalized misery of puppy mill dog breeding, and continues to do so.
And so, instead of leading the fight to end the institutionalized abuse of dogs by the Kennel Club, we find Victoria Stilwell urging us all to "get on the boat" with pedigree dogs and the the Kennel Club. Never mind the misery; think of the marketing opportunities!
Of course Stilwell's cause has never been dogs, but about marketing herself. Her hysterics about slip collars is not about any acual harm those collars do to dogs, but about market segmentation as she seeks to differentiate herself from more experienced dog trainers with larger book sales and greater public appeal.
Now Stilwell has moved into the franchise sales business, which seems to be a particularly poor fit for the world of dog training. Presumably franchise owners will have to give some portion of their earnings to Stilwell (that's how franchise's work), which means that when a franchise deal goes south (and some always do), then the stink of litigation is likely to follow.
Stilwell has also effectively gagged herself when it comes to talking about the institutionalized violence and misery done to dogs through Kennel Club policies that lead to deformed, defective and diseased dogs. If she were to actually start talking about that, that might impact her dog-training franchises and her income from the same, as well as the income her franchise-owners get from the same. Ditto if she talks about how the American Kennel Club has pulled in scores of millions of dollars from the institutionalized misery of puppy mill dog breeding, and continues to do so.
And so, instead of leading the fight to end the institutionalized abuse of dogs by the Kennel Club, we find Victoria Stilwell urging us all to "get on the boat" with pedigree dogs and the the Kennel Club. Never mind the misery; think of the marketing opportunities!
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