“Never go back to a judge who gave you a major win–whether it’s a National Specialty or a BIS at a Westminster-type event. If that judge later puts another dog over yours, it diminishes the enormity of the earlier win.”
Despite its unshakable popularity, there is clearly a messaging disconnect about the German Shepherd.
When I was growing up, it was high praise to call someone a good woodsman. Those folks could build cabins or even houses, chop up logs for campfires or cut poles to hang a deer they’d shot, pitch a tent or make into a stretcher to haul people out of the woods who weren’t good woodsmen.
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show President Don Sturz is a happy man. It might be that when I dropped in (via Zoom) he was at home, with his three dogs snoozing around him, but it might be because, against the odds, he (and, he would say, his very able team) brought Westminster back to Manhattan.
It is the dog’s nose, its power to discriminate scent and the dog’s ability to follow a track that many believe lead to the single most culturally significant occurrence in all of human history. And, that event was the domestication of the dog. Exactly where domestication first began is widely debated, but genetic evidence suggests that it occurred between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago. So, it was a process that took place over thousands of years, but as it was happening, the fates of both species became intertwined.
Will Alexander Drops Some Knowledge About What’s Happening in the Sport of Dogs. It’s Deep… It’s Humorous… It’s Provocative… It’s Will Unfiltered! Will Alexander has an in-depth conversation with George Alston. Click here to watch on Canine Chronicle TV!
Australian Cattle Dogs were developed in the 1800s in Australia to work large herds of cattle over large unfenced areas.
Understanding what the essence of any breed goes far beyond familiarizing yourself with the standard–no matter how thoroughly–or knowing all about canine anatomy.
Maybe you’ve seen the quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book, The Little Prince: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
