CTCA Committee on Ethical Education

CTCA Committee on Ethical Education

Columns

Summer, 2013 1

Fall, 2013 5

Winter, 2013 9

Spring 201413

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Summer, 2013

Respecting the Game ... and Each Other!

This first column will introduce you to our Club’s newEthics Education Committee, recently created by the Board of Governors as part of the CTCA Five-Year Plan.

The Committee’s charter is purely educational. Through this column and in other educational venues, we will share information onethics and sportsmanship as they apply to breeding and/or enjoying Cairn Terriers in conformation and performance events.We plan to present clear descriptions of the thinking that promotes ethical and sportsmanlike behavior, using hypothetical examples (“vignettes”). We do not plan to include any reference to individuals or specific situations or tell anyone how to resolve ethical issues. We intend to present a way of thinking that will help the CTCA continue to thrive. For more on our charter, see:

Ethical dilemmas are sometimes complex, but, if you permit yourself some time and thought, you can often resolve even rather involved conflicts intelligently and creatively. Here’s our first vignette. What would you do?

Vignette: A Tale of Short-Term Memory Loss, Woe, and Ethical Challenge

The important CTCA Roving Specialty show weekend was approaching and Rick, of St. Paul, MN, was excited to show his two Cairns. He spent months preparing the dogs for the event, show-training and grooming them until he was sure he’s done his best. On travel day, Rick brought the two Cairns, his tickets, his new CTCA gear bag, and his luggage to the airport and flew to Los Angeles.

After a good evening’s rest, Rick and the Cairnswoke early and were in the grooming area by 7 AM.But as Rick opened his new gear bag, the blood drained from his face. He quickly realized he had left all his show supplies in the old gear bag – back in Minnesota. With less than an hour before the first ring time, Rick felt desperate; there was no time for even a frantic dash to vendors, let alone adequate prep.

You overhear Rick’s dismay, but realize you have an entry in the same class as Rick’s dog. What would you do?

You might consider this line of thinking:

1. Realize that this is a “right vs. right” dilemma; there is no rule or statement in the CTCA Code of Ethics requiring that you help a competitor. Preparation is a valid aspect of competition. On the other hand, nothing forbids you from helping Rick either.
2. You might reflect on the implications of “sport” and“sportsmanship.” What actions would show the greatest respect for the game?
3. Deciding how to handle “right vs. right” dilemmas often involves looking at the options through a number of lenses to see which provides the most helpful insight. Four of the most common ethical lenses are outlined below. Which are most relevant to this situation? Do they help shape your response?

1. Justice vs. mercy orientation – Here, how would your approach differ if you leaned toward justice (“part of the game is the requirement that each competitor come prepared”) or mercy (sympathy for Rick’s situation)?
2. Short- vs. long-term implications – What would maximize today’s outcome (for you)? What would be most beneficial(to you) long-term?
3. Individual vs. community issues – What would be the best approach for you as an individual? What would most help the Cairn community?
4. Truth vs. loyalty conflict–This is often one of the most difficult lenses in practice. It often relates to the dilemma of whether to report a friend (loyalty) who breaks the law (truth).

Clearly the considerations that go into acting ethically can include a broad set of factors: to benefit the greatest number of people,favor the ends or the means, act on principle, fulfill one’s duty, show compassion, or follow the Golden Rule. Ethics almost always involves thinking on both, or all, sides of an issue, recognizing that the world is seldom black-and-white, but shades of grey. In this case, what would you do . . . and, importantly, why?

Because the purpose of this committee’s work is strictly educational, we’ll also recommend a few books and articles to strengthen our discussion and provide useful frameworks for wrestling with future dilemmas.Our first recommendation is an inexpensive paperback:

Kidder, R. M. How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Harper, 2009.

I invite you to join the discussion. Send us your comments on this vignette, help us develop useful, and anonymous, vignettes taken from your experience in any part of the canine hobby, and consider joining Anne Dove, Tammy Erickson, Kendall Lake and me on this committee. I look forward to hearing from you . . . and to productive discussions ahead.

Jim Hulbert, ad-hoc Chair

Fall, 2013

Respecting the Game ... and Each Other!

In this second column, let’s start with the basic foundation of ethics, stable and enduring core values, then let’s move on to our area of ethics, sportsmanship.

Core values are crucial to our lives as functioning, mature adults, because without them, we have nothing. If there weren’t a set of values creating a structure on which we can base our ethical behavior, we’d have very little else but “moral relativism,” or “situational ethics.”

Some people say ”you cannot talk about any structure in ethics, because every situation is different.” Using strict relativism, every person’s “right vs wrong” or “right vs right” ethical problem (1) would have to be resolved by re-identifying values unique to the conflict, then re-develop ethics to resolve the problem. This re-invent-the-wheel process can easily revert to (a) doing nothing and hoping the dilemma will solve itself, or (b) doing knee-jerk what you were going to do anyway, without thinking. Situational ethics is a recipe for moral chaos, emotional reactivity, and even I-can-darn-well-do-what-I-want selfishness.

Fortunately, however, most people who say “values are relative” really do rely on core values to survive and flourish in society. They may mean, correctly, that “behavior is relative,” depending on ethical challenges and a person’s ethical decision-making. As most of us, these folks need only to acknowledge that they do indeed have and use enduring core values and that these have helped make them become the socialized and successful people they are.

Countering moral relativism, “doing ethics” gives people the power to think through problems and behave morally and consistently with integrity. Ethics’ reliance on such values as the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, with their dozens of derived values; truth-telling, promise-keeping, transparency, respect, and sportsmanship; offers a structure for living and deciding intentionally, not reactively. This can make our lives happier and more productive, making our time with canines and colleagues in the sports of conformation shows and performance events far more enjoyable. (2)

Now we come to the ethics of sport. Sportsmanship is a collection of core values expressed in an invented and regulated competition. Above all, sportsmanship involves “respect for the game,” respect for the rules and spirit of the game and for one’s fellow competitors. (2, 3) Practicing sportsmanship involves obeying the rules of the contest, upholding the spirit and limits of the game, honesty, promise-keeping, trust-building, affection, and ultimately, respect for the game and other competitors. Sportsmanship involves gracious winning and gracious losing. Adhering to these values leads to mutual trust and fellowship with one’s colleagues and enjoyment of sporting events and thriving sporting organizations. In our CTCA, in addition to the personal effect of each person’s enjoyment of the canine hobby, the beneficial effect of ethical behavior on the health and growth of the parent club itself can be substantial. There is a real likelihood that sensitizing our members to the importance of values and ethics generally, and to sportsmanship specifically, will play a role in ensuring that the CTCA continues to thrive, maintains its characteristic good fellowship, and attracts and retains members.

Our vignette regarding sportsmanship: The issue is fairness and, as important, the appearance of fairness in shows and events. A review of the AKC Regulations reveals some prohibition of judges’ judging dogs of family members, but not dogs of friends and colleagues, or dogs closely related to those owned by the judge. Beyond the regulations, it appears to be left to the judge and handler to decide, as one member of our committee has said, “how close a [judge-handler] relationship is too close?” Is it wrong if the judge is the breeder (owner of the dam of the exhibit) or owner of the sire of the dog that he or she is to judge? It is clearly a matter of judge and/or handler to decide what is sportsmanlike, basing their conclusion, not on existing regulations, but on “manners” (4) and ethics.

Referring to the quick summary in the CTCA orientation slide show, (2) the issue might be seen as a decision between two “goods:” justice (going by the book) and “mercy” (deciding case-by-case), based on the reputation of the judge for impartiality and the judge’s relationship, if any, with the handler. “Going by the book,” in this case may eliminate all possible appearance of unfairness, by leading a judge to excuse the dog from competition before judging it or, as a passive strategy, to place it last in its class. On the other hand, because the AKC judging department requires impartiality, and because many, if not most, judges are indeed impartial, a handler might choose to present his or her dog to a friend- or colleague-judge, if the handler is convinced that the judge would not subvert fairness in the ring or field and, instead, make an unbiased decision.

The decision falls to the judge and handler. To avoid all appearance of bias and go-by-the-book, judge and/or handler could agree that any dog owned by one of them is not to be judged by the other. To decide case-by-case to enter the dog, both judge and handler need to be aware of the risk of a perception of bias by their colleagues in the sport. If the judge-handler family- or hobby-based relationship is seen to be too close, and especially if the judge places the dog highly, the two might be accused of a violation in manners or sportsmanship.

A violation of manners and sportsmanship, but not a violation of regulations, might not be committed with impunity. In contrast to a rule violation and an explicit sanction, one’s lack of manners or sportsmanship can carry a lasting and implicit sanction. Each person who is seen to have been unsportsmanlike, unmannerly, and failing integrity may quickly realize how his or her reputation within the sporting group has changed.

As noted in our presentation to the Board of the CTCA, for institutions and individuals, ethics can be powerful.

Resources

1. Kidder RM. How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Harper, 2009.
2. Please note our orientation slide show:

1. Butcher R, Schneider A. Fair Play as Respect for the Game. In Ethics in Sport, Morgan W. (ed). Champaign (IL): Human Kinetics, 2007.
2. Moulton JF (Lord). Law and Manners. The Atlantic Monthly, Jul, 1924.

Jim Hulbert, Chair

CTCA Ethics Education

Winter 2013

Respecting the Game…and Each Other!

Submitted by Anne Dove

In this issue, we explore a dilemma that is facing many dog exhibitors as we see conformation entries declining and opportunities for earning points, especially majors, becoming scarce.

You have a nice bitch that just needs two more points to finish her championship title. Unfortunately, there are few other Cairn exhibitors currently showing in your geographic area, and it is unlikely there will be any Cairns entered in local shows until the regional specialty in a few months. You also have a very nice six-month old bitch that you eventually intend to show, but she is currently too immature, lacking in coat, and in need of training to be competitive. You also have her litter sister who has several conformation-related weaknesses, and you have recently decided that she is not of sufficient quality to show her and breed her in the future.

A few friends of yours who show Cairns in neighboring states contact you to see if you are planning to enter an upcoming show. The location would require travel for all, but the city is easily accessible. Like you, they are seeing a decline in local entries, and they each have a bitch that just needs one major to finish their championship titles. They are checking-in with their network of friends see if they can build a major. They need three more class bitch entries to build the major—and you just happen to have three bitches that you could enter that weekend.

You originally had planned on waiting for the specialty to debut your puppy and to try to get those last few points for your adult bitch. However, you also appreciate how difficult it is to find a show with points, let alone a major, and you would really like to help out your fellow exhibitors. But to build that major, your other, lower quality puppy would also need to be entered. She will eventually be placed in a non-show home, but she is currently eligible to show. What are you going to do?

This scenario is not unusual, but raises many questions that could be examined through a variety of lenses. There is no single “right” answer in this scenario, but the variety of ways we could approach this situation helps to reveal different ethical paradigms or models by which people might make difficult choices.

Justice Versus Mercy1

In weighing whether to enter your puppies to build the major, one could compare the relative “fairness” of the competition to the “compassion” you might feel for exhibitors who need assistance in working towards their goals. You know the puppies are not likely to win, giving the adult dogs a potentially unfair advantage. By contrast, by not helping out your fellow exhibitors, they may not be able to find the shows and entries they need to finish their dogs’ championship titles.

Short Term Versus Long Term

Another way of analyzing this scenario is through the perspective of time and impacts. In the short term, entering your puppies would help out everyone involved, and long term, you would be helping to build the sense of cooperation and camaraderie that is needed to sustain the purebred dog community and the sport of conformation. However, what if your friends’ dogs are not strong examples of the breed? By helping them finish their dogs’ championship titles, could you be adversely affecting the long term future of the breed by enabling a lower quality dog to achieve a milestone that is intended to convey a dog’s quality?

Self Versus Community

Considering how different decisions in this scenario affect you as an individual versus the broader community is yet another framework for consideration. By entering your puppies, you would be providing an opportunity to earn an extra major on your adult, and in the future, your friends would also be more likely to return the favor if you ever need help building a major. However, by showing a puppy that you feel is not of sufficient quality to eventually breed, are you best representing the breed to the judges and the general public?

There are many ways to analyze this “right-versus-right” vignette, but this framework provides a useful tool for stepping back and deliberating the decisions we make and how they may affect the broader Cairn Terrier community, the sport of pure bred dogs, and ourselves as individuals.

1Kidder, Rushworth M. How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009.

Spring, 2014

Respect for the Game … and Each Other!1 February, 2014

The holidays can be a magical time, and they were this past season. Greeting cards zipped back and forth around the world as bonds with relatives and friends were renewed. One of the forms holiday magic takes is the thoughtful giving of a gift that so resonates with the recipient that whatever connection between giver and receiver that brought about the gift is beyond telepathy.

I received a book that I could not have told anyone that I lacked or wanted. I did not know the book existed. At Christmas, though, I opened my package and found Medieval Dogs, by Kathleen Walker-Meike, published by the British Library, 2013. The book is filled with color, calligraphy, copies of vivid drawings made from the 7th century through the reign of Henry VIII. Most of the references are to the usefulness, loyalty, and affection for dogs shown by peasantry, artisans, and royalty (graphic).

Albertus Magnus, 13th century, wrote about puppy selection, dog care and feeding, and the training of guard dogs. Edward, Duke of York, 15th century, also described canine diseases and treatment and first aid. The beloved dog of Thierry, Abbot of St. Thrond, 11th century, was commemorated: