In The New Yorker "Talk of the Town" column of February 23, 1935, E.B. White writes:
DOG SHOW: A NEW SHOWMANSHIP:
Next year, when Dog Show time comes round, we would like to see a wholly new brand of showmanship introduced into the Garden.
We were horribly bored by the judging last week—all that business of standing around a ring, hour after hour, brushing a dog’s hair the wrong way and jacking his tail up with the palm of your hand.
Who cares, anyway? Only a handful of fanciers know about a dog’s points, and besides, conformation and ring manners are piffling qualities in a dog, reveal-ing little about the animal’s character, exploits, or temper.
A dog should be made to work for his ribbon, each breed in his own wise. Pointers should have to point, Shepherds should be required to herd a band of sheep from the east goal to the west goal. Poodles should be required to jump through a paper hoop, not just fol- ow Mrs. Sherman Hoyt around the ring. English bull terriers should be made to count up to ten, retrievers retrieve rubber ducks, Scotties chew up old shoes. Greyhounds should be put over the high hurdles. Sled dogs should race with a little anti-toxin, while St. Bernards carry brandy to anyone in the audience who feels weak, preferably us. Beagles would jolly well have to beagle, or shut up.
How about it, dogs—are you dogs, or mice?
2 comments:
As true now as it was then. Truer if anything.
Amen to that. EB White’s opinion is even more relevant today considering the degradation of breeding quality and ethics in both dogs and horses. I have seen the Morgan horse become a spavined, weak canoned wreak in the past 45 years, where nearly all of them cannot track a straight line down the rail in a supposed conformation class. Not one could haul logs or a wagon to save his life. It is so sad to have watched a wonderful breed of horse that was sensible, steady, and a dependable mount or workhorse ruined most likely beyond repair.
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