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Butler County
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Fault Line (OWT1) Subject: evaluating dogs. Mentor: Dr. T.K.R. Bourn Student: Mick McCormick
I had lucked out. My first purebred dog was also my first show dog and my first champion. And now I was on my way to meet Ken Bourn one of the top breeders of Alaskan Malamutes in Canada and I would be meeting him in just a few hours. In addition to breeding malamutes Ken was a zoology professor at the University of Western Ontario in London. He had an enormous wit and a curious mind. During lunch he asked a question for which I still do not have a precise answer over 40 years later (what does the standard mean by a well let down hock joint?) I was anxious to see his kennels but even more anxious to have him praise my wonderful new champion. I asked him to tell me what he thought of King. He said I won't do that because most people aren't prepared to have their prized poopsie honestly evaluated. I was dismayed and disappointed. All those miles for nothing. But Ken said I will if you like take you out to the kennel and fault every dog in there for you. It was a distant second place in my priority list that day. But I thought, I wouldn't be going away with nothing. The hours flew by. Questions were answered. Others were posed and left hanging on the air. That afternoon I developed the basis for over forty years of learning about Alaskan Malamutes. It was several years before I realized that all the faults Ken pointed out to me in his kennel that afternoon were faults he had associated with my brand new champion. You might say I got the truth as I could handle it.
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