What constitutes a purebred dog, and what constitutes a master trainer. Two questions that at first may seem different and require different answers. I think one answer will clarify both.

Years ago I had the honor of meeting an honorable man. A man who knew himself, his dogs and his fellow man. He took great strides to teach me for the first few years of our time together that I knew nothing, and he taught me to accept this fact. He showed me that to know about one breed, one must learn about all breeds. He taught me that papers had nothing to do with ability. I never once heard him call himself a master trainer. In fact he went out of his way to make known he was a student in a field that knew only one Master. He let no one try to enclose his talents or his dogs with in a filing cabinet.

When I first knocked on his door I thought I knew a lot. After a few moments at his side I realized I was very ignorant on many fronts. It was not his desire to have me copy his words but to learn my own, not to follow his path but to have it for reference upon my own journey. This past 24 hours I have learned that our relationship was unique. It was unique in several ways, one I had desire to learn to be, not to simply appear to be. This is an important point as in the term master trainer or purebred dog, these things sometimes appear to impose in print that which in the natural they are not. I have seen my words copied not for the advancement of a theory, not for the application of a truth, but for the sole purpose "to be."

To me the proof is in the pudding so to speak, not only in the WORK but also in the man. I have seen a lesson taught long ago come to meaning, those who after a day of watching become master trainers. They copy the talk...they know not the walk...they are going to trip. It is these people that have also weakened our dogs. It is these people and people like them that feverously content with out a paper you are not purebred. Just as their knowledge is nonexistent so too are their dogs. This issue is one of basic facts..."Without Ability Certification Is Worthless". It feeds a vanity a desire to be, that which is based on weakness. The sad truth is weak minds and weak hearts breed weak dogs. All they have is words on paper "NO Flesh On Bone."

In some circles this will suffice.... in their circles...constant circles...a dizzy existence at best. The dogs in Iraq are not papered that we placed there. They were placed by a method, which offers no certificates. Bred by a knowledge and hand that covets its truths and protects its very heart from the master trainers and the elite registries.

We live in peculiar times. Times of fantasy. This does not mean that facts do not exist. It means they are being ignored. It will take much more than weak hearts to ignore them. Just as in the registries that claim all must go through them to be pure...these self-proclaimed masters of the field are full of more than just themselves. It takes a certain type of person to condone this nonsense and they have no sense of how really obvious their nakedness appears on paper with the use of words like purebred...champion and master trainer. ...Master of what? Champion of useless.... Purebred by whose standards? Even though some may foolishly think you control that which was started so long ago...you do not. You can no more master or register this than you can hold the wind.

©Mike McConnery-Baden K-9,November21,2003
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