When we enter in to the “dog world” we have to obtain our dogs from somewhere, now for those of us that decide to show and/or breed this can be a tricky scenario, because we look in someway for guidance being a foreigner in this strange new world.

In many ways the dog world is no different to any other walks of life in that there are some that will guide, offer advice but let you go your own way and make your own mistakes, but will still be there if it all goes wrong, then there are those who give advice but don’t really want you to make your own decisions.  The tricky part is figuring out the difference, I say tricky because lets face it when it comes to showing we are all competing against each other in the ring, is this where the difference between a “good mentor” and one who thinks they are a “good mentor” becomes apparent ?

What is advice? For the giver it is passing on the benefits of your experiences to help others in situations they may be unfamiliar with.  For the receiver it is to be given the details of another's experience to take or leave as they choose, It is after all their life and their choices and mostly when people ask for advice they are asking for just that not to have their decisions made for them, also you have done your best in advising them and what you consider sensible they may not.  Most of us at sometime in our lives have been in a situation where we have made the wrong choices having been advised, but surely that is how we learn.

For some I imagine winning is everything, and yes why do it if not to win or be the best some may say but I disagree to an extent with that.  It is believed by older generations that the show ring should be used for evaluating breeding stock and not just about the winning & individual personalities, I think however as generations have moved on this is what has happened.  There are so many dogs not available at stud, and so many breeders who wont sell puppies to fellow show folk, so consequently these dogs become “lost” to the breed.

In order to progress in life in any chosen field one has to have a certain element of guidance, coupled with determination and the will to succeed.  Maybe sometimes we all need to take a step back and ask ourselves what it is that we feel is important, shouldn’t we all be working together and not against each other ?

The next time you are asked for advice, or take a new person “under your wing” remember that they are individuals, I think we should all give as much help and guidance to each other as possible, but should also allow others the freedom to make there own choices and yes sometimes mistakes, after all we are all only human.