Type vs. Style – Is Breed Type Fluid?

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74 – June, 2022

By Wayne Cavanaugh

The quintessential “Type vs. Soundness” debate endures. In our sport centered on subjective evaluation, continuing the debate is healthy and necessary for properly assessing the dogs we see. There is, however, another debate that increasingly deserves an active, unbiased, and respectful discussion. That debate is: “Type vs Style.”

The core of any definition of breed type must center on history, original form and function. We conceptually want our breeds to look like what they were bred to do. Be it protecting the flock, marking the gamebird, collecting taxes, or attracting fleas to the foot of the queen’s bedding, it’s essential to remind ourselves that the breeds came before the standards. Hungry hunters in need of a meal didn’t form a club, write a definitive breed standard, then create a dog to match their written words.

In fact, in some cases the standards weren’t written until long after the breed was established. Heinrich Essig declared the “creation” of the Leonberger in 1846; he died 53 years later without ever having written a word.

Generally, the development of breeds went something like this:

• Breed originators had a need or desire for a dog that would perform a specific task, or in some breeds, have a specific look.

• They crossed the stock at hand to create a breed that could, say, hunt upland game birds or charm an emperor.

• As form follows function, conformation eventually corresponded to the job at hand so the founders wrote down a description of the ideal for others to follow.

• Typically, as kennel clubs and registries formed, those breed descriptions became the basis for the breed standards we use today.

• Today, the breed standards, when read in context with history and purpose, are recognized as a key to understanding breed type.

Click here to read the complete article
74 – June, 2022

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