As of late, there seems to be a barrage of Breed Standard revisions. Many of these changes are for clarification purposes, but these revisions may also include new disqualifications. Changing a breed standard should not be taken lightly and does come with consequences.
Over and over, the dog fancy mourns the loss of individuals who devoted their lives to the study, preservation, and improvement of purebred dogs. When Connie Gerstner Miller passed away on July 30, she had established a distinctive line of Golden Retrievers as well as a plan for the continuation of her breeding program. A line can be continued; too often, the knowledge gained during years as a breeder, handler, and judge isn’t passed to another generation. For Connie, mentoring others as she did throughout her career was her way to pass on all that she had learned.
This 1969 Chevy Camaro convertible with the original burgundy red paint, belongs to Carol Curlee.
The dog biz has changed a lot, but I won’t preach to the choir. Among other things, the idea of exploring multiple breeds instantly undermines credibility. Yes, there are valid reasons for that. In reality, mastering a breed requires many years of hard work and dedication. And “student research” garners no respect in this sport. The thing is that so many breeds are desperately lacking knowledgeable supporters these days. That fact is arguably becoming a bigger threat to their genetic integrity.
These three terms are essential and paramount to understanding and judging every breed and facilitate a deeper understanding of the breed standard.
The 2021 AKC Canine Health Foundation National Parent Club Health Conference was a virtual event this year. I confess it was nice to attend at home in my shorts, but the experience drove home the value of networking with researchers as well as with parent club health representatives. Plus, there was no good food. Nonetheless, there was still plenty of good information, divided into topics of dermatology, cancer, neurology, and cardiology. There’s never space to cover every presentation, but here are the highlights of the cancer and neurology sessions. I’ll cover the dermatology and cardiac session next month.
Although dogs and wolves may have split into different species around 100,000 years ago, according to the latest mitochondrial DNA research, somewhere between 12,500 and 17,000 years ago, dogs and humans formed a partnership. However, archaeological finds in Belgium and elsewhere suggest that wild wolves may have been selectively bred by humans beginning as far back as 32,000 years and may have been one factor in helping homo sapiens survive by making them more efficient hunter-gatherers than their nearest competitor, homo neanderthalensis, which eventually withered and died out.
Have you recently bought a beautiful puppy or young dog and found you have not been winning as you had hoped? Do you have a gorgeous puppy that you want to start showing? Do you want to give him the best chance possible of winning?
How many exhibitors leave the dog show after losing the breed? How many exhibitors win the breed and do not place in the group? How many exhibitors will proclaim, “That judge doesn’t like hairy dogs, that judge only puts up his friends, or that judge doesn’t know my breed?” Well, here is the $10,000 question, how many exhibitors or handlers for that matter, have read every breed standard in their respective Group? Is it fair for the exhibitor of the Standard Poodle to pass judgement on the Bulldog? Or vice versa?
The general public may never truly appreciate the esoteric knowledge required to breed great purebred dogs. It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to learn this stuff. However, there’s one aspect of purebred quality that they will instantly latch onto… MONEY!
