Remember watching the Charlie Brown cartoon TV shows? The kids in the show could all converse normally, but when an adult was talking it sounded like, “Wah wah waaah wah wah.” Whaaaa? Somehow it managed to make some sort of sense and, in good sitcom fashion, everything worked out well in the end.
This month I’m looking back, not at persons who made up the interesting fiber of our dog show world, but at the way they arrived at the point in their dog lives that made them a household name in the sport.
The Dalmatian is one of those breeds that is instantly recognizable to almost everyone, due in no small part to a certain Walt Disney.
There is a current drive, here in the UK, that is very much against all pedigree breeding. Such practices, the experts tell us, always lead to health problems, disease, reduced fertility and shortened lifespan. Vets are calling for outcrossing as a solution to address these problems.
Uniformity and predictability are familiar allegations leveled at our sport by purebred detractors. Among the breeds frequently targeted to illustrate the detrimental impact of that objective is, rather ironically, the Bulldog.
Nicknames. Americans have a penchant for them. We give them to children, ourselves via computer names, friends, enemies, vehicles, cities and towns.
The progression is familiar—it has been repeated over and over in the purebred dog fancy. A child grows up loving dogs, learns to groom and show, becomes a professional handler, then retires from handling to become a judge.
The Pointer has come to symbolize the foundation of America’s purebred dog world. It’s generally regarded as the breed responsible for setting the wheels in motion for key developments like national registries, formal shows and field trials, and years later, the founding of AKC.
How does a successful accountant from Buffalo find himself in the BIS ring at Westminster wearing pink socks no less? No, he didn’t wake up vowing to swear off spicy curry dinners. It’s one of many strange episodes in a career that Dennis McCoy admits he never expected.
In 1950 Arthur Frederick Jones profiled the Affenpinscher for the AKC Gazette. He had been there since 1926 and served as editor since 1941. In other words, he had watched the dog business long and hard for most of his life. His article was prompted by an encouraging spike in Affenpinscher registrations after a decade of inactivity. His introduction noted that the breed had been “handicapped by inaccurate publicity” since its arrival in America. We may need to brace ourselves for another round of that. Banana Joe’s historic Westminster win is bound to trigger new interest in this fascinating breed. So, let’s set the record straight right now.
