U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made the news quite a bit these days. Contrary to recent reports, they don’t spend all their time on the headline stuff. In fact, one of the biggest developments these days is…well, if you’re reading about it here, obviously it’s dog-related JFK, North America’s busiest international travel hub, also ranks as the number one international air freight gateway.
Many years ago Long Island, New York was the Gold Coast of top-notch dog kennels, dog clubs and exceptional breeders. Fanciers with momore than sufficient funds housed many, many of their chosen breed together and they had the kennel help to manage such large endeavors. Those major operations are virtually gone now. Michael might have been the last of the “exclusive kennel managers” of this type. I’m not sure who houses 30-50 dogs with a full staff in what is now a highly urban area.
My fellow American dogs, I’m speaking to you from the boss’ cluttered office. While it’s not oval, a good many policy decisions have been made within its walls and most of them have affected me. So, I am here to issue a warning about something that could bring a cloud to the future for some of you who are enjoying life in the field. I’m speaking, of course, of dog shows and the show ring.
Most American exhibitors know little, if anything, about Canadian dogs shows and the pleasures to be had showing their dogs north of the border. Yet, many Canadian Kennel Club events have a certain charm that one finds lacking at too many of our shows here in the United States. They also have features that the American Kennel Club should consider implementing.
Take two fingers, starting at the top of your shoulder, and trace the bone that runs horizontally from the top of your shoulder blade (scapula) to the bone (sternum) that sits vertically in the center of your rib cage.
Showing dogs is the only sport that, by the payment of an entry fee and with no training whatsoever, you can compete directly with a professional. There is no other organized sport in which you can do that. The amateur is competing against someone who makes their livelihood from showing dogs.
Cooperative communication skills may link you to your dog in a way that exceeds the ape/chimp evolutionary tie. In the bowels of Emory University’s psychology lab, Brian Hare’s frustration was mounting. It was the mid-1990s. For what seemed the thousandth time, the then 19-year-old anthropology student covered a morsel of food on the linoleum floor with an inverted Solo-type cup. Three feet away, he inverted a second cup without food; it would be the “dummy” cup.
The Saluki is considered one of the oldest breeds. Sighthound-type dogs have been pictured in tombs, including carvings in the ancient Sumerian empire that strongly resemble Salukis.
The Biewer Terrier is an elegant, longhaired, uniquely colored toy terrier, with a breed signature ponytail neatly tied on top of its head. The coat parts down the middle, hanging straight and evenly on both sides of the body, as though a comb has been used to part it.
