> Not true! :-O
>
> You never saw Mark McGwire with his kid ON THE FIELD when he was hitting his
> record-setting home runs?
No, and neither did you. I did see him afterwards, during the celebration.
You never saw Marge Schott with her dog on the sidelines? ;)
> It was a wonderful father-son moment shared with
> the world. McGwire's kid was proud of his dad. Wonder if McGwire's dog was
> equally proud? (No, I don't know if he even owns a dog). Of course, that was
> an exceptional situation.
> You'll take your kid to a play, a movie, a concert. Even to work sometimes
> (take your daughter to work day). Yes, and to ballgames, museums, amusement
> parks, even a race if you are sitting in the grandstands. You will be
> enjoying the event with your kid, who can appreciate it on a level far above
> that of your dog.
If the kid's above about the age of four, yeah. Note that you're not speaking
to how much the other people at the event are enjoying your special moment,
which is how you started this thread off...
> (Hey, Fido, watch Simo set up Gentilozzi for a pass! Yeah, right.)
>
> And your kid can be taught, rather easily, to fetch you a tool, carry your
> helmet, be your spotter, make you a sandwich, go get a grid/results. And if
> you tell him to do something ("don't run in front of cars on the paddock
> roads"), he at least understands what you are telling him. None of that true
> of your dog.
Umm, I would disagree with a number of those, particularly the last. Dogs
have been bred for thousands of years to be obedient. People haven't.
> I can share the event with my kid, who has some understanding of what I am
> doing out there and someday may do it himself. I don't expect ever to have a
> conversation with a dog about cornering technique or the thrill of victory,
> or have a dog draw me a picture of my race car with "good luck daddy" on it.
Nope, but in terms of what they DO get out of it, I submit that the dog is
having a much more complete and enjoyable interaction with you than the kid
is, assuming the same level of participation.
I've been twitting you a bit on this just for the hell of it, but I guess I
should put my honest opinion out there to be fair. I think autocross events
are lousy places for both kids and dogs, for most of the reasons you mentioned
in your first message. They are covered with hot or cold hard paving, noisy,
hazardous, boring, and the adults are preoccupied with other things.
Ironically, dogs actually deal with these circumstances much better than kids,
because they are more fixated on the owner interaction and less on the
environment. But it's still not a great place for them.
> I will relent to this extent -- I have no problem with your dog at the track
> if I am unaware it is there. Keep it on a SHORT leash, or in the
> motorhome/trailer.
(shrug) You have problems with people's dogs, I have problems with people's
kids. Neither of us is likely to get what we want; both should probably be
aware of the line where the problem becomes *our* problem vs the
owner/parent's problem; which is somewhere pretty close to where the rulebook
addresses it.
I guess that I should probably add that I am, or was, a professional dog
trainer; I'm not a parent, and I've never brought a dog or child to an
autocross event.
KeS
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