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198 – October, 2023
Legends come and go. Be they walking on 4 or two legs, one factor is definite–nobody will get out of this life alive. And so it goes that over the past two years I’ve misplaced 4 individuals who have been vital characters in my guide of life. Each deserves a narrative however my focus for this piece will likely be my most recent loss.
I’m not going to fake that Geir Flyckt-Pedersen and I have been good buddies. We knew one another. We have been cordial and I thought-about him to be a mentor. He gifted me with lengthy talks about his days in dogdom. He was a fabulous useful resource, however Geir was far too excessive up the doggy meals chain for me to ever feign his friendship no matter how a lot I revered him.
Ten years in the past Geir was invited to a puppy-rating occasion the place my private homebreds have been the main focus of the festivities. A well-respected breeder was current and it was that opinion for which I had come to study. I didn’t know Geir had been invited to the sorting occasion however he was a dashing added attraction to this casual affair, and I used to be glad to see him. From earlier expertise, I already knew that Geir’s late spouse Gerd aka “Nenna”–an English Cocker Spaniel authority in her place of birth–held a powerful bias towards a selected color-combination to which my dogs are inclined. I knew this, and but I used to be greatly surprised when quickly after my favourite puppy was hoisted onto the desk Geir stepped ahead, seemed down over my shoulder, and stated, “I would never use that color. Especially with those markings.” Sharply, the authority from which I had hoped to study turned focus from the puppy to the Scandinavian, and the ranking of my puppy was forgotten. Instead, Geir acquired mentoring on sort, bone, and substance; and why colour and markings are the final issues to think about when judging this breed within the United States. To his nice credit score, Geir discovered from that day. Much later, in his great prose, he wrote about judging the English Cocker Spaniel freed from prejudice in direction of colour and markings. In that piece Geir wrote eloquently of my breed, expounding upon the issues he had discovered.
As for what my esteemed authority considered my puppy, I by no means discovered. The alternative was unintentionally stolen away. Ultimately, I made a decision to belief my opinion and stored him. Much to my astonishment, the attractive puppy with the unlucky colour and humorous markings grew as much as take a five-point main underneath one other well-respected authority with me on the top of the leash. I’ve mirrored on this ever since considering of the well-known Percy Roberts line, “I don’t need good luck, I need good judging.”
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198 – October, 2023
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