Thanks to Lee Connor for sharing this beautiful photo of Pebbles the Boston Terrier from the UK. Lee’s little girl is in whelp and wanted to take a moment to peruse the pages of The Canine Chronicle and dream of the great accomplishments her puppies may have in the coming years. If you have […]
I just celebrated my 45th birthday (I know, it’s something people always find hard to believe, looking at my glowing ever-youthful complexion!) however it’s an inescapable fact that I was indeed born in 1972.
This month I have chosen a breed near and dear to me. Those I asked all have at least a half-century each of actively breeding Afghan Hounds.
And herein lies one problem with genetic testing: dog owners, and even dog breeders, too often don’t know what it means. And it’s not really their fault. Thirty years ago all we had to know was the difference between genotype and phenotype, and dominant and recessive. We thought that if we could identify every carrier through test breedings, and remove them from the gene pool, we could purge our dogs of hereditary illness. We fantasized about DNA tests that might one day allow us to actually “see” a dog’s recessive genes. And when that first test happened, and then another, and another, breeders set out to do just that. They removed every carrier they could identify, and in so doing created a genetic bottleneck that reduce their breed’s genetic diversity and allowed other heretofore unknown or insignificant diseases to come to the forefront. With more knowledge of our dog’s genes came the need for more knowledge on how to use this knowledge.
History is full of examples that demonstrate the importance of early life. Most focused on the kinds of experiences thought to affect early behavior and influence later development. The first year of life for a canine can be divided into three important time sensitive periods that overlap each other.
They’ve experimented with different breeds: English Springers, German Shorthairs, and German Shepherds, to name a few. In some cases, the breeds simply couldn’t acclimate to the African climate or work effectively in intense heat. Far more often, the handlers were the main problem. Few had any experience with dogs, and none at all with highly-trained detection dogs.
As a rule, dog people confront things head on without recourse to fantasy or rationalization. That overriding, collective personality trait is therefore difficult to reconcile with our secret vice– an enduring fascination with supernatural dog stories.
One of the things that I noticed during the 15 or so years that I judged all three types of AKC hunt tests was that dogs seem to have perfect timing for when they royally mess things up. Things they’ve never done in training suddenly pop up, frequently in the most spectacular fashion, when the money’s on the line in a test. This seems to be especially true if dog and handler are within one orange ribbon of a title.
A hot topic these past few months, with the long awaited return of dog shows occurring, has been the judging panels. Why are many of the same judges appearing consistently at the few shows available for exhibitors? With more shows open for entries now, what will be the effects of these repetitions? Has the time come to look at the pros and cons of the suspension–due to COVID–of the 30 day/200 miles between assignments for judges? Read through what our panel of judges has to say on these issues and more. You will find their opinions worthy of serious consideration.
Sharon Abmeyer, beloved breeder of Welsh Terriers and distinguished member, former interim president, and most recently, chair of hospitality for The Welsh Terrier Club of America, passed suddenly, but peacefully, in her home on Saturday, October 17, 2020.
