I am disappointed with how often subjects which could and should be discussed instead degenerate into name calling, ... or worse.
I have friends on both sides of this debate. Ron Ainley, Shayne Mehringer, and Mark Rosenblum are all friends of mine.
I helped Shayne develop his product and the Rocky Mountain Retriever Club - of which I am a member was the first club in the country to use Entry Express. The Rocky Mountain Retriever Club has been very pleased with the quality of the product and service that we have received from Entry Express.
When the new entry service first started, Ron Ainley called me and asked if the Rocky Mountain Retriever Club to use it, I told him: "Ron, I have stood by you, because Ainley makes a high quality dog box at a good price and because you provide great service. Until your product is as good or better as Entry Express, and at a better price, we are staying with Entry Express."
At the 2007 National Amateur in Stowe, Vermont, I asked Mark for an explanation of how much money was invested in the new entry service and what the return on investment was. Mark said that he was not authorized to release that information. I was later told by an officer of the National Club that the information would soon be forthcoming. To date, I have not seen it.
That being said, I think that new edition of Retriever Entry is huge improvement over the initial product. I am surprised that people are so reluctant to acknowledge how much better and easier to use than the old product. I am even more surprised at how many people denigrate it. Nevertheless, I still think that EE is a better product.
However, I do not think that the fact that no service is imposed by the new product is insignificant. For 150 dog field trial - at $3 per entry - with the new entry service $450 that goes back to the contestants. That is no small matter, when you consider the number of field trials that are held across the country every year.
Similarly, if the profits from catalogs were invested into activities or items for the benefit of the sport, I think that would be a worthwhile endeavor.
I have no quarrel with Shayne making money. However, if that money went back to the contestants and to the sport, I think that would be a very good thing.
So, IF
-The new product was as good as EE
-The service at the new product was as good as EE
-The proceeds from the new product used for the benefit of the sport
And - perhaps the biggest IF -
IF the people who pay entry fees for their dogs actually had some say in how those proceeds were used to the "benefit" of the sport
Then maybe I would push for adoption of the new product.
For now, I am still sitting on the fence ... and given the nature and number of my concerns, I may be sitting there for a while.
But, I think it is a mistake for people to cavalierly dismiss the efforts of the Retriever News to make a better product.
And I think it is wrong for people to attack Ron and Mark personally. Anyone who knows either of them personally knows that they are good and decent men who want to do what is best for the sport. I may disagree - and I have disagreed - with some of their decisions, but I have never questioned their commitment to the sport.
I wish that we could discuss this topic - so many others - without the invective that so often spews forth.