Negative take away

So in my last blog I had nothing but positives to say about the show we attended, But I did mention that I would write about my take away from that particular show. And since some time has passed since we went to the show I have not only had time to think about the negative impressions I received, but also have had more interactions with other cat breeders on social media (more on that later), MANY which were not pleasant. DON'T GET ME WRONG, there are really nice people in the cat world. But there are also those that are not. (warning, this blog became LONG in my rant of what I didn't like).

On the positive side, we had luckily been benched on a table back to back with another Bengal breeder who was super nice and friendly. They were very helpful, offering advice, helping, make sure I didn't miss any of my classes, never offered unsolicited advise or passive aggressive in any way. Just pure friendliness and helpfulness. They were wonderful, and between being benched close to them, AND the amazing placing, and compliments on Morse's personality I received, I was happy that I went and had some very wonderful experiences.

But I also had less than favorable experiences as well. First to understand why it was not favorable you need to understand that I come form a LONG history of showing horses. I am well aware of breeding philosophies and genetics, and also in the art of being able to look at an animal and determine "does this animal not only have beauty for the 'show' but also have the correct conformation to be a betterment to the breed itself". It's a matter of being able to use a mathematical formula; length of bones in back and tail, placement of hip and size and rotation of hip, set of neck, cleanliness of joints, no genetic diseases, etc. And that truly is an Art to not only see it, but to see it clearly enough, that whoever is judging sees the same angles CONSITANTLY. I personally am a person who value constancy and predictability. People who flip flop, change their minds about things, or don't commit to what they say out loud really bothers me.

There is also the years of working in National show barns that gives me the experience to see quality in a horse verses what those in the business describe as a "backyard breeder". Although I personally HATE that term backyard breeder... it is used to imply that only those with massive huge stables and excessive money to buy a whole herd of fine mares and the money to pay for a fine stallion can produce a fine horse. While EVERYONE ELSE who only has one single mare or a couple mares in the back yard and pays or trades for a breeding can not produce ANYTHING of quality.

While it is true that those who have massive money can build the finest stables, and afford to pay to hire the BEST breeding managers who know they best lines to cross the best mares with the best stallions to improve the mathematical statistics that they will produce the best foals... it does NOT mean that there are not people out there with little to no money who do not possess the talent to see stunning angles and understand breeding lines to take one mare in their back yard, and who push themselves to find the best possible stallion to cross with that mare, and for some it's harder because they have to take out loans to get the breeding and care and training done, just to produce ONE truly exceptional horse.

I have no problem with someone of extreme talent but no money trying to break into a field and prove their talent. In other fields it is referred to as "the underdog". What I do have a problem with is just any owner who has a pasture pet that has terrible conformation and the owner decides to breed it JUST because they want to have a foal, with zero regard as to weather or not that mare should have a baby or not. OR even worse those that breed JUST because they want to make a profit.

Most people in ANY animal field will admit that if breeding is done correctly it is more of a hobby than a business because there is so much expense you are lucky to break even. In dogs they call people who breed JUST solely for profit "puppy mills". I prefer the term "mill" over the term "backyard breeder" because of the difference... someone might have a great backyard and a vision and loads of talent. But someone running a mill is an animal producer with zero regard for the animals they breed, the future of the animals they breed, or the future of the breed itself.

Having said that I am also used to Judges on the horse circuit who are so well trained and stick to their ideals of judging that if you show against the same horses over and over you pretty much know how a class will go down, with a few exceptions. Usually a stallion who has ideal angles, perfect legs, and good looks should place consistently no matter who the judge is because he matches the breed standard set by the industry itself, unless he does something strange and doesn't show well, or there is an accident before he enters and has a slight limp, each class has be shown as it is presented that day.

However... In the cat show... this did NOT happen. There were cats that place FIRST on the first day and when shown on the second day under the EXACT same judge with the EXACT same competition... the Judge would place a cat FIRST on the first day and then dead LAST on the second day... "WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT??????"

When I asked one of the super friendly Breeders about this is how she explained it, not in her exact words, but close and shortened and I'm going to come more straight forward and not as nice or political as she was saying (she was very sweet and trying hard to be forgiving and political in the best way)...

There are some judges that are "flash" judges, and some judges that are "conformation" judges and then there are just some who don't seem to be constant with Bengals at all, and never have them in their best of show placings. They never place the same way twice and [I'm] not sure if that is because they just don't know what they are looking for in a Bengal, or they just don't care about this particular breed, or if they just look for who gives them the cutest look of that particular day.

The flash judges look for the best color, and the typical ideal of an orange brown with huge striking black rosettes, and the flashier the color the better. The conformation judges look for a certain eye, and really like the shorter tails as stated in the TICA breed standard (the standard says "medium tail" but for some reason these conformation judges where fascinated with one particular short tailed Bengal)

And then there are the judges that you just never know what they are going to do.

Well for me that is EXTEAMLY frustrating. The following day I had a discussion with the same person after an another first time cat shower who had a cat (the same age as mine) who was disqualified and it got us into a discussion about kittens and showing.

That same breeder went onto say that they felt sorry for that person, if someone advertises a cat as show quality or sells it advertised as a "SHOW CAT" then it should have been shown while a kitten and basically trained to show. Just because a cat is a exceptional looking cat it is not a show cat unless it has been accustomed to the show world. And that in reality BECAUSE there are these inconsistent judges ANY purebred could be a show cat so long as it is trained and handled very early and comfortable with the environment; That a "show cat" meant it has experience, NOT based on it's looks or pedigree.

Well for ME that is hard to understand. Since my experience with horses says that there are purebreds with papers that do not meet show standards and even thought they can be trained up to show well you cannot change bad conformation. And what I want to accomplish is sweet cats with the BEST personalities but also excellent conformation. So how do I judge my program if the Judges are not consistent?

Her advice was, come up with my OWN breeding ideal image and just go for that. Not ignoring the registered standard, but to not worry about the judges as much as what I personally wanted to see in my own cats. That I would be my own judge of my kittens and make adjustments as I needed to because everyone has their own ideal of what a Bengal should look like.

She was absolutely right about that. Looking at my competition I loved my own cat better than anyone else's. Not because he was mine, but if I looked at the group showing with un-biased eyes and thought to myself "if my cat where not mine and I wanted to pick one out to take home like a first time buyer all over again, which cat would I want" and it was MY cat each and every time. So that gave me a great feeling. I love my cats profile. the wilder the cat looks with almost a roman nose and wild panther look to it the better for me. I'm not a fan of Bengals that have dished faces like other domestic breeds. It's fine in those breeds but for me the point of having a Bengal is to fulfill the fantasy of having an actual wild cat like a Jaguar in your home. And that is what I breed for. It is also why I like LONG tails rather than medium and especially don't like short. Wild cats have long tails for exceptional balance, and the higher the cat lives the longer the tail because his life depends on it (google snow leopards and you will see they have the longest because they live on very steep cliff sides and a fall is fatal, they need the extra balance).

But I regress, this blog isn't supposed to be about my breed standard I'm developing verses others catteries, this is about the experience of the show... SO the first negative for me was the inconstancy of certain judges. The SECOND was, on the second day, there was a certain Judge who I liked because she was making comments on the cats in a positive manner, but was praising all of them and saying things like "what a stunning class". Even though this judge placed my cat Third (his lowest placing) She placed all divisions EXACTLY the same both days and was very constant, and very positive, and friendly and open to questions. So I asked her specifically in HER opinion, since she keeps commenting about how stunning the class is, would my cat do well in a regionals event? The reason for asking was because he was beating and being beaten by the same cats in this show but it was a fairly small show, did she think in her opinion as a professional, would the regionals with LOADS of cats be worth going to and would he still have a change of placing CONSITANTLY in the top of the classes.

In horses it's one thing to do well in a small show but totally different to go to a big league show. My though was is my cat good enough to even attempt going up against breeders who were big league breeders.

She gave me the most positive feeling of all... her answer was "YES". She said that in HER experience as a judge, she has seen many Bengals and was so impressed by THIS particular show and the quality of cats that showed up she felt it could possibly be the very three that were placing in this show would produce the same placings against a HUGE show. That even though she placed him third the reason she kept saying "such a stunning class" was that she loved all three above Many others she had seen at other shows. That this was a "best of the best" show rather than a best of the worst show.

That made me feel like I had a "big league" cat. I felt so good. That comment and the praise by someone who I thought was constant and was enthused about the breed made me feel even better than the First place Best of Breed that Mr. Morse had won the day before...

But it didn't last too long... I was reveling in my good news with my mother when someone from the other side of the room, just had to come over and tell me that in HER opinion the judge should have never told me my cat would do well in a Regionals show because if she doesn't know who is judging the show or what their standards are then I might not even have a chance to place in my class. She didn't feel it was fair for the judge to "get my hopes up" only to have me go to the show and not place at all and then be angry because I felt I was mislead.

Well, I try to give all people the benefit of the doubt. And perhaps this woman heard me say that this was not only my cats first show but MY first CAT show as well. And perhaps she was trying to spare me heart-ache. However, the way she did it thought was not welcomed.

She didn't know me or anything about me. I have YEARS of showing experience in the horse world and I know that when you go you are literally paying for a persons opinion. And that you might not make it to the top EVEN when you have the best animal and give the BEST performance of your life. I already know that if I pay the show dues and don't place that is a chance that I am taking. And while it is heartbreaking, it is the risk of showing any animal. There are times you will walk away with nothing. BUT I also know that there are animals whose confirmation is so Bad that they have no chance to place what-so-ever.

And THAT is what I was looking for; Is my cat truly show quality, or was I just somehow getting lucky at show that was the "best of the worst" as sometimes happens in other animals. And the judges answer was that all the cats in this particular show were VERY high quality. While this gal MIGHT have had good intentions... she killed my buzz. And since it was the first time this person had spoken to me I had not established a relationship with her to know where her unsolicited advice was coming from. Was she genuinely concerned or was she being passive aggressive and killing my buzz on purpose? I don't know, but she did kill it and crated a negative where there was a positive. I don't like that. If I watch a certain breeder or exhibitor or judge long enough to establish an opinion that I myself want THEIR opinion I ask for it. But I don't like unsolicited advice.

Personally I don't criticize others even if I don't like their cats. If someone is kind and friendly and not negative, and I personally find their cat to be ugly, I would NEVER tell them, and if they won a class I would genuinely be happy for them. Not upset because I didn't agree with the judge. I try to find something nice to say to people. If I don't like a cats face but it has a stunning color or coat I compliment it's coat, but never say that I find it's face unappealing. I believe in the "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all" with the ONLY exception being if someone who KNOWS me and genuinely asks my opinion because they want to know MY opinion of a specific something... if it is not positive I will ask them "do you want the "I like you so I'm going to be nice" or the "Simon Cowell" honest answer you might not like". But never do I give "unsolicited advice" that is about something negative. I find that passive aggressive.

You have to have very thick skin to show at a cat show. At a show I went to watch in order to decide if I was going to show at all I was in the vendor area when I saw one woman walk up to a man who had his Bengal in his arms and started the conversation with "Your cat's coat is ugly and that is why he isn't placing"... My jaw dropped open and I watched this man to see what his reaction would be when she went on to explain what would help him place better and then offer really helpful advise after, and later I did see him using some of the advise, which made me believe perhaps she knew this man. But my goodness really? Is that a way to start a conversation? Even in the horse shows we don't do that to each other. It comes off as Ugly, not helpful.

For those negative reasons I have decided that I'm not going to continue to show Mr. Morse again. To me he proved he is show quality, and his win in Best of Breed will be a favorite memory enough that I don't need to do it again. But I will show his kittens MOSTLY for the purpose of training them to get accustomed to the stresses of shows, so that if I get a customer who wishes to have a show cat they can choose a kitten who has been brought up in the correct way to be peaceful and pleasant at the show and provide the best possible experience for that customer. But also I hope that someone someday finds me to be as helpful and as pleasant and as positive as I found that one particular breeder who was tabled directly behind me. They were a part of the highlights of the show experience and without them, I probably would not return at all. I hope I can be that positive no matter what happens or who disagrees with my program. (I have already had people saying nasty things about my program).

I also enjoyed the positive people enough that I would like to be around THEM again, I just have to take the good with the bad and keep my chin up and follow my own ideal with the help of those who are kind, considerate, helpful in a positive way. And look for the positives, because I know that I will also have times where people will spread rumors, not be friendly, or even be passive aggressive and not kind. I know there will be people who do not approve of MY personal breeding goals because they do not match their own. I think it says a lot about a person if they talk badly about others who do something different than they do, OR if they say we all have different philosophies, so each person should choose a mentor or kitten that best matches what they are looking for (without the bad mouthing of another breeder or his way of doing business).

In my next blog I will talk about advertising and the DRAMA I had with the afore mentioned breeders who not only trolled me on social media but then also Harassed the poor breeders who I bought cats from because they didn't agree with my breeding philosophies.

Until then, ttfn.