Spot Pickers

[CYJ]

Earl Tudor was a top dog man in his day. He stated a match well made is a match well won. You are the Manager- trainer of your dog and know it's weakness and strengths. There are Ace class dogs, B class dogs and C class dogs. All could be deep game. But your B dog or C dog will not have much of a chance winning over a well conditioned Ace dog. You may win gamest in show but still lose your dog, money and the dog pulling event.

I understand about some spot picking or OTC pulls being shown as a win toward a championship. Still unless dogs are specified and you put the weight out there. It is what it is. Now if you know someone is definitely going to bring a Ace dog on you and your dog is not a Ace class dog. There is no shame in not matching your dog into a probable losing situation. Cheers

[Officially Retired]

Earl Tudor was a top dog man in his day. He stated a match well made is a match well won. You are the Manager- trainer of your dog and know it's weakness and strengths. There are Ace class dogs, B class dogs and C class dogs. All could be deep game. But your B dog or C dog will not have much of a chance winning over a well conditioned Ace dog. You may win gamest in show but still lose your dog, money and the dog pulling event.
I understand about some spot picking or OTC pulls being shown as a win toward a championship. Still unless dogs are specified and you put the weight out there. It is what it is. Now if you know someone is definitely going to bring a Ace dog on you and your dog is not a Ace class dog. There is no shame in not matching your dog into a probable losing situation. Cheers

Well said, same as it's possible to enjoy a clubhouse fight between two good, solid boxers ... without being fooled into thinking either one is Championship caliber.

Jack

[FrostyPaws]

Well said, same as it's possible to enjoy a clubhouse fight between two good, solid boxers ... without being fooled into thinking either one is Championship caliber.

Jack

What's funny is that some of the good, solid boxers make it to Championship status simply due to them being good, solid dogs as opposed to the dog that just has one weapon in the arsenal.

[EWO]

This is a good topic. There is a wide spectrum when it comes to setting 'weights and dates'. Some will pick kennels or dogs they have seen in the past in order to put odds in their favor. There is nothing wrong with that because the primary task of every dog owner is to put their animal in the best possible situation for success. Some will stray away from the top camps as they do not feel they have a chance at the tier of competition. Nothing wrong with that as sometimes it is just plain smart to know one's place. Some just have a weight. Period. Nothing wrong with that either.

My issue with spot picking is what one does with the rewards of their decisions. If I match into the first time out, know nothing kennel Joe Smo's of the world and when 3 times by all rights and rules I have a Champion. If I use this spot picking as a means to sell puppies and continue my pounding of the weak then, for me, spot picking is a bad thing.

If I have a 39 male and I go see another 39 male that totally outclasses mine, and that weight is called. I am not going to pick that up. I would not be out there bragging about my 39 being open to the world except for this and that because spot picking quickly evolves into ducking from that point. But, if I know my dog can't win there I may as well shoot him at home, mail my money to the spot and save the trouble all the way around. No need to put my dog in a bad way.

Then, there are people with just weights. They throw them out there and whatever picks them up is who/what picks them up. They go into "Joe Smo" or "Top Gun Ass Kicker Kennel" with the same regard for both. He picks up weights regardless of who they belong to and he finds out where his dogs fit in to the grand scheme of things.

I think lot of spot pickers use money as the means of spot picking. Tons of good dogs, even great dogs belong to people who can't drop 5-10-15-20 stacks on the dogs. That becomes another topic/thread altogether. Lots of people will avoid good dogs/good people by hanging huge money numbers when the two weights could meet. That is another form of spot picking. EWO

[TopShelfKennels]

This is a good topic. There is a wide spectrum when it comes to setting 'weights and dates'. Some will pick kennels or dogs they have seen in the past in order to put odds in their favor. There is nothing wrong with that because the primary task of every dog owner is to put their animal in the best possible situation for success. Some will stray away from the top camps as they do not feel they have a chance at the tier of competition. Nothing wrong with that as sometimes it is just plain smart to know one's place. Some just have a weight. Period. Nothing wrong with that either.

My issue with spot picking is what one does with the rewards of their decisions. If I match into the first time out, know nothing kennel Joe Smo's of the world and when 3 times by all rights and rules I have a Champion. If I use this spot picking as a means to sell puppies and continue my pounding of the weak then, for me, spot picking is a bad thing.

If I have a 39 male and I go see another 39 male that totally outclasses mine, and that weight is called. I am not going to pick that up. I would not be out there bragging about my 39 being open to the world except for this and that because spot picking quickly evolves into ducking from that point. But, if I know my dog can't win there I may as well shoot him at home, mail my money to the spot and save the trouble all the way around. No need to put my dog in a bad way.

Then, there are people with just weights. They throw them out there and whatever picks them up is who/what picks them up. They go into "Joe Smo" or "Top Gun Ass Kicker Kennel" with the same regard for both. He picks up weights regardless of who they belong to and he finds out where his dogs fit in to the grand scheme of things.

I think lot of spot pickers use money as the means of spot picking. Tons of good dogs, even great dogs belong to people who can't drop 5-10-15-20 stacks on the dogs. That becomes another topic/thread altogether. Lots of people will avoid good dogs/good people by hanging huge money numbers when the two weights could meet. That is another form of spot picking. EWO

Right on EWO.

[Officially Retired]

What's funny is that some of the good, solid boxers make it to Championship status simply due to them being good, solid dogs as opposed to the dog that just has one weapon in the arsenal.

Agreed.

Well-rounded dogs are always a threat because they have no glaring weaknesses. They may not be great at anything, but they are rock-solid and respectable at everything. So while they may be outclassed in some respects by a really gifted dog in that area, if that gifted dog has weaknesses in other areas, then ultimately he may be exploited by the proverbial Achilles' Heel.

I have always favored "good, solid" dogs in my program, trying to make extreme gameness and durability their distinguishably-excellent trait. Particularly in my earlier breeding career when I wasn't breeding so much for style, or speed, on top of all that ... but at first mainly for just really game, tough dogs. I have heard probably several hundred people over the years say my dogs had "no ability" ... because they did not razzle-dazzle anyone. In fact, many times my dogs faced other dogs that were much more devastating than they were ... but ultimately these "high ability" dogs lost to mine, precisely because these other dogs had weaknesses in too many other areas (particularly gameness, durability, and stamina). So, when the smoke cleared, mine were still there, ready and willing to go ... after these "high ability" dogs slowed down, got hurt & tired, and decided they had had enough.

[Officially Retired]

Right on EWO.

Yup.

[Wise]

For the sake of not wanting to go into my own stuff I'd like to know how it's bred at least, I just flat out don't like that. My second and last question about the opponent would be it's match record, just because I think it's a fair question.
On another note lets not act like it's easy to get hooked every time you have a weight ready, for whatever reasons many dogs in the same era never got to meet. Was it spot picking or timing or simply the men didn't know of each other?

[FrostyPaws]

If you, as a person, don't want to go into your own stuff, then you shouldn't put any of your stuff out there. That is how you avoid that situation.

The match record doesn't really factor into my decision. Are there times I'd like to jump on winners? Sure. Been successful at doing so and not so successful at times for varying reasons. If you garner a reputation of being hard to beat no matter what, a lot of doors are going to shut on you especially if you're not going for stacks of cheese.

I can think of a lot of quality dogs that met during my time in dogs. I can think of some that didn't. Without knowing the men who didn't meet, I couldn't really offer up any real reason.

[EWO]

I agree with this post as well. I have never bred an awful lot of dogs so I can't really answer a question about going into my own. But like Frosty said that is easily preventable.

The only thing I have ever been concerned with is weights and dates. How a dog is bred or what he has accomplished is really of no concern to me. When I take my dog off the chain I have to know he is at his best, I am at my best, we are at our best and then we find out where those three things measure up. If I need to factor in how he is bred or what he has done or who has him ready then I can't get a true 'check' of where my team is at. If that makes sense.

I was having a conversation once about bringing out dogs the first time on the cheap to make the game check count. I pretty much said I would like to go into another first time out dog. This guy points out a black male that looked like he had lived the hard life and simply said, "That dog right there has won all six of his first time out matches". I did not get it at first but he was pretty much telling me that if I factored in another dogs pedigree or resume then I was setting myself up to either under prepare or over prepare. If you are right when you leave the only thing that can hurt you is a better dog. And there is nothing wrong with that outcome.


Nowadays I think money separates a lot of the quality dogs from seeing one another. Tons of quality animals are owned by guys that can't swing 5-10-15 stacks. On the flip side lots of run of the mill good dogs are protected by the fact it takes 10K to see them go. The second part of quality dogs not finding one another is the day and age. It is a felony to carry your dog across state lines. That in itself is tightening up the circles some. Before long they may be called State Champs. There are lots of reasons the top two at a given time did not meet. Those reasons can be as individual as the owners and the dogs themselves. EWO







UOTE=FrostyPaws;20171]If you, as a person, don't want to go into your own stuff, then you shouldn't put any of your stuff out there. That is how you avoid that situation.

The match record doesn't really factor into my decision. Are there times I'd like to jump on winners? Sure. Been successful at doing so and not so successful at times for varying reasons. If you garner a reputation of being hard to beat no matter what, a lot of doors are going to shut on you especially if you're not going for stacks of cheese.

I can think of a lot of quality dogs that met during my time in dogs. I can think of some that didn't. Without knowing the men who didn't meet, I couldn't really offer up any real reason.[/QUOTE]