The China Kennel Club, incon clave on 'Thursaay mingled do-served self-congratulation with leriticismt of certain of its mem-pers' habits. Apparently the lantiring executive which has so lsuceesstully organised the annual Shanghai Dog Show has failed to secure the regular attendance of exhibits, st so egal a term may be applied to the elegant bundles of dog-flesh which condescend to display their charms in public. The [Dog Show, like other enterprises, depends on gate-money for its support. For some reason or lather, the Committee are unable to persuade exhibitors to keep their dogs sufficiently long upon the benches to make it possible for the intending visitor to be sure that he or she will, at any given time, see more than 10 per cent. of the canine aristocracy billed to appear. All kinds of expedients have been adopted to remedy this defect. They lave been of no avail. One critic, in the abyss of pessimism, is' reported to have murmured. something about that curious!
al entity, the "Shanghai "and tohave practically recommended closing dowa the Dog Show. Here, to use a suit-lable phrase, a bark worse Fa than the bite. So popular is the Dog Show and so skilful has been the executive's handling of its exiguous finances that such counsel of despair could not possibly be taken seriously. indeed, the mere admission of the pleasant facts that the China Kennel Club has reached la record membership and that leven greater interest than ever is being taken in the Dog Show would put it out of court. There is.evidently a case for' public ventilation of a short-coming land, possibly, public persuasion lof recalcitrant, if well-meaning, Jdog-owners, Special conditions may exist to deter long benching lof the dogs. That might be taken into account and, although opinion must be diffident since it. is revealed that all expert suggestions have been tried without success, vigorous resi tance will be offered to the Jeharge that Shanghai is in-
Judges in a drabber setting than the glitter of canine vanity, lean be persuaded to sit on benches for long hours at a time. In a dog show the judges ido not sit on benches. The dogs jate given that privilege. The lowners of the dogs seem to find difficulty in recognising the interest which the paying public takes in the heroes and heroines lof the show. When once the dog has been taken in parade before the judges and the award or dismissal secured, the owner thinks it is quite unnecessa trouble about the further jing of the dog. Thus patrons pay good money to enter the ¥|show hall and, catalogue hand, are constantly confronted jwith'an empty bench when they hope to be able to identity the representatives of breeds which they take a speci interest. Dog-owers might, of course, be told that, if the mere Hiudging of dogs were the sole ion for the Show, the whole laffeir could be quietly and leficiently arranged some friendly veterinary hospital. But then dog-owners who go to the pains of entering their companions in Dog Shows are possessors of delicate susie it is a familiar journalistic fact that nothing gives rise to wore ate controversy than the organisation and gen-Management, of Dog jai Show.
As for the unhappy reporter who at. midnight, with st ins of canine. ecstasy. fighting fearsome battles in his ears; inadvertently calls a Sealyham a Red Setter or, ascribes Honourable Mention" to a sprig of nobility which really" secured a "First," his. pro-i fessional reputation has gone: his only hope is to transfer his talents to the quieter, useful, task of writing leading articles. So the China Kennel Club has to proceed tactfully in its educative mission.
As the "Shanghai Mind" has been: mentioned it is, perhaps permissible to suggest that it is not so much a matter of mind as lof method. Organisation is not. foreig: Shanghai's genius. it is possible to think of many fixtures here presenting a_ high! degree of showmanship. Sometimes, however, there is a lack of attention to the final and finer points of which Mr. Cochran would make such good juse. The Dog Show always seems to the uninitiated observer to come upon Shanghai with startling suddenness, If advance instruction to the public and to dog-owners were more lavishly available, would it not help in, stimulating such. keen. interest that the benching problem would be in a fair way to solution? Experience in other places shows that judicious attention to the art of maintaining the personal touch does tend to substitute ce-operation for indiscipline. No criticism of the admirable work of the executive is intended. Indeed appreciation must be warmly paid to the labours of men like Mr. J, L. 'Hunter to whom a presentation was deservedly made on 'Thu day. Dog-owllers ave temperamental but they have their sense lof the fitness of things. They Jean be made amenable to reason provded care: s taken not to test them too' highly, as, for example, by suggesting " that their particular exhibits are, fatter all, dogs avd not members of some angelic choir. Outside Dog Show a dog is a dog. He she is even a pleasant. conirade and, therefore, possessed number of vies which provide admirable foils to_ predominant virtue. In a Dog Show the dog becomes "what the advertisements call "something different." On the judicial bench infallibility ix assumed by the Bar. On the dog show bench the judges may, in their daring, find blemishes but an executive, purely as an executive, cannot. It has to be taken for granted that the bench at a Dog Show is occupied by certain highly-strung, blue-blooded, embed ments' of spiritual perfection, exuding virtue of "an almost aggressive kind. So regulation have to be applied with ference. In such circumstances definite proposals will not be made here, The drastic suggeation that a committee of dog= owners should be formed to-arrange for continuous benching might be put forward. It is Jeertain to be met by the valid contention that the China Kennel Club, unlike the Shanghai Bos Association, is not concerned with fighting. Tu fact, while dogs and even pups jate properly brought within th scope of the Dog Show, degmatism and pugilism have to be severely barred. This is not, therefore, a helpful examination jof the problem. It merely attempts to give sympathetic appreciation of the China Kennel Club's difficulties, to repudiate ithe notion that the "Shanghai JMind"" is admitted to, the Dog Show, and, for love of a quiet life, to put om record the view that. if there is any creature more respectable,—sagacious, quietly reasonable and good natured than the Shanghai Dog Show exhibit, it is the Shanghai
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.