Avoiding the Readiness Trap

by Jennifer Shortall

Reprinted from The Bengal Bulletin, Winter 2000

Olympic athletes know that the difference between winning and losing comes from being prepared. They also know that it is vital to compete within their appropriate age and skill level. A teenager doesn't typically come off the street into NBA training camp and find himself a first string player with a multi-million dollar paycheck a month later. Competition and training at increasing levels of difficulty is required to build up the endurance, skill and maturity required to compete effectively at the highest level.

So why do exhibitors of cats so often ignore this "level-building" process and plunge straight into the show ring with an unprepared, immature cat? It doesn't cause any physical harm, of course, to the exhibitor or the cat the way it might if a high school football star tried to start in an NFL football game. But a blow to the self-confidence and enthusiasm of a budding new exhibitor or a shock to the mental state of a not-quite-ready kitten or adolescent cat, can be just as devastating, and bring a quick end to what might have been a promising show career.

Consider the example of a fictitious cat named "Spot". Spot is a young Bengal, a slow-maturing male from a slow-developing line in a late-maturing breed. Spot shows as a kitten, holding his own and gathering an impressive collection of Best of Breeds and a dozen finals in just a few shows. His eager owner sends him on his eight-month birthday to a high-count show to start earning his titles. In his excitement, he enters Spot in multiple shows, all over the U.S. in the next three months.

The breeder cautions Spot's owner, that Spot is still in a gangly adolescent stage and is going to be coming up against some of the top cats in his breed at this first adult show. The novice owner, with titles dangling enticingly before him and still riding the high of his kitten victories, succumbs to the temptation of pushing a youngster too soon and ignores the rational voice of Spot's breeder. The owner just knows that Spot is going to blow away the competition. How could any judge fail to see the beauty of this cat!

The first show comes and goes. In a field of 20 Bengals, including the #1 and #2 cats of the breed at the time, Spot shows very well. He is a little nervous on the first day of the show, and distracted by a female starting in heat in the cage next to him. The smell and sound of the mature males is somewhat intimidating. The previously playful and purring kitten is tense and wiggly. He is not interested in the judge's toys as much as he is the trilling female rolling on her back. Spot gets a couple of breed and color placements including two Second Best of Breeds, but he does not get any Best of Breeds, and does not final. His owner is crushed.

On Sunday he is a bit more relaxed, having had a day to settle in, and he collects one Best of Breed and several Best of Color/Division, but still no finals. Spot rides home from his first adult show still without a title to his name. The second show is slightly better - Spot gets two Best of Breeds and one final. He leaves his second show a Champion. But his owner is getting more and more discouraged. Dismay soon leads to despair when at the third show, again only one final is earned. Spot's owner cancels the rest of the shows.

Over the next three months, Spot loses his baby fat and adds two pounds of solid muscle to his chest and hindquarters. His body fills out and he grows in poise and self-confidence. He outgrows his gangly stage and one morning his owner realizes that standing before him is a beautiful, mature male that shines like a star. He emails some recent pictures to the breeder, who immediately writes back and said he is crazy if he doesn't take Spot back out to the show ring.

Luckily, Spot's temperament is still quite kittenish & playful and he has not yet turned into a spraying adult. Being pulled from the other shows has prevented him from feeling too much pressure and going sour on the show ring. Spot enters a local show the following weekend and collects the four finals he needs to Grand Champion plus one more and multiple Best of Color/Division/Breed placements that leave him just a few hundred points shy of his Double Grand. This time around, Spot was ready to win!

New exhibitors often fall into the readiness trap. They have searched high and low for a kitten, subscribed to all the magazines and read every book on cat shows they could find, spent a fortune to buy from a top breeder with top bloodlines, joined the breed clubs, attended shows to watch and learn, practiced in the kitten rings, bought all the equipment and maybe even a new van to haul it. When the first few shows don't bring the accolades they expect, their budding confidence deflates like a leaky balloon. The cat doesn't understand why no one pets and plays with him as much any more, why mom or dad has such a gloomy air all the time. Together they fade from the show circuit and decide to just "stay home and breed" instead of "waste" more time and money on cat shows. A loss to the cat association, a loss to the breed.

The mentoring of every novice exhibitor must include warnings of the adolescent "dead zone" - the time between kitten and adulthood when a promising show cat just isn't quite ready to beat the more seasoned and mature competition. It isn't necessary to enter every show, or follow around the few judges that have given breed placements so far in the hopes of pushing them into finals sooner instead of later. When the time is right, and the cat has matured, if it is really good enough it will start winning consistently enough to Grand and confirm itself as a quality specimen. Then the exhibitor will be truly hooked on showing and be able to more reasonably evaluate their next show prospect, rather than falling by the wayside, a victim of too much - too soon.