From the show experience
1. There is a lot more to training than I realized. A lot more info is available on the various Waterslager club websites. You can also learn through members, or contact me anytime, I’m glad to discuss what I know. I hope to put a page up on training in the future so keep checking back.
2. Anybody can go buy a Waterslager, start breeding and selling them. They will sell them to you for the same price the people that show them do. But if they do not go to shows and show their birds from time to time they can have no idea as to the quality of song their birds carry. If you buy a bird that can’t sing “klokkende” then you may as well have saved your money and bought any old canary.(Don’t get me wrong here. A waterslager that can’t sing klokkende still has a very nice song. And can still carry the genes and make a nice breeder. But there is nothing like a beautiful deep slow “klok”)
3. Shows are a great place to measure the results of your hard work. After listening to birds sing all day long at the show I learned to recognize some of the tours. I had no idea my birds were not singing the water tour. I got a good start into telling a good singer from a bad one. It takes a lot of effort to get good at it.
4. Waterslagers are great mimics. My birds picked up a wild bird song that sounded neat to start with until I realized it just didn’t fit the song. It is not a negative thing, just not necessarily a good thing. On the flip side when my birds got home from the show I found they started to sing "klok". Something they picked up from the other birds at the show? Go figure!!!
5. The more you learn about the hobby of breeding and raising quality Waterslagers the more you realize there is more to learn. It is a very complex yet enjoyable hobby.
6. Shows are a great place to meet to meet some neat people, exchange ideas, and best of all get or exchange some new stock for the following year.
He scored 105 in the 2004 season
My first breeding and showing season
