Somehow, amazing as it may be, they just don't get it.
They held a ring seminar. Not just a ring seminar, but one led by an icon, a man from the homelands, a man of personality and popularity. ( Never mind, for the moment, that surface personality and the transient popularity are the mark of the successful salesman world wide.)
They prepared the field. They had the dog from France, a truly good dog. The icon was ready, come to America to dispense wisdom and knowledge, a knight in shinning armor to banish the German Schutzhund curse. The temperament test committee was out in force, ready to pay homage. Who was to know, perhaps they would hold one of their famous, mysterious meetings on the ring field, for all, finally, to see.
Surely, then, the wisdom would flow because their hearts are pure, because they know the working Bouvier without the training, testing and work necessary for mere mortals. Perhaps they do know the way to the promised land free of blood, sweat and tears. ( Never mind, for the moment, that they never actually train a dog to his potential, produce the Ring III dog which would be their rite of passage to adult status.)
Yes, they built the field, but nobody came. It worked on an Iowa farm, but somehow the magic would not move east to Virginia.
Perhaps the field of dreams requires a pure heart. On the Great Plain of America, on an Iowa farm owned by a family willing to make every personal sacrifice for a dream, those who did not believe could not see.
Perhaps a man who gives up the Bouvier to pursue tin and plastic cups, to adopt the Malinois as a better path to sport field glory, does not inspire the gods to suspend the rules mere mortals labor under, does not inspire the novice to drop his nets and follow the new fisherman.
Perhaps those with the inner strength and conviction to train a dog are not taken in by those who have not the courage or character to lead by example, who seek status in the working Bouvier world, perhaps even the title "Temperament Tester", without making the rite of passage, not producing a Ring III Bouvier as proof of their worthiness.
Yes, they just don't get it. Turning the tide of history, restoring the dream of the founders, is not a task for pet owners and play trainers. It is a war which must be won one dog at a time, in the trenches, on the training field.
How can an Ring event led by a fallen away Bouvier trainer, now devoted to the Malinois, under the auspices of an organization with a board which, with one or two silent exceptions, does not really train dogs, presided over by a president whose dog of the future is a Boarder Collie, promoted by those who still have not trained a serious Ring dog, expect to have credibility and inspire the novice ?
Jim Engel, November 1999