Melissa Thom Webboard User Reg: 12-04-2007
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The Kennel club has had a rough year of PR. They have made changes to pretty much all breed standards to emphasise less extreme dogs. I thought you guys and gals would be interested in some of the standard changes.
Natalya Zahn Webboard User Reg: 12-22-2006
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Quote: melissa thom
The Kennel club has had a rough year of PR.
Indeed - and it all depends on who's spinning the story as to what the attitude is. The BBC ran a special on "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" last August that I think helped motivate a lot of these amendments, though it certainly didn't win many fans out of breeders. (I have yet to see the show myself, so I can't myself be a judge, but I have read a lot of comments about it.)
I get "the Bark" (general dog culture mag with an emphasis on the wonders of mixed breeds and rescue dogs) and the "Ridgeback Register" (premier publication for my breed). The Bark gave the documentary a glowing review, while the Register was quite up in arms. One of the "amendments" to the Ridgeback description was a de-emphasis of the RIDGE "as the escutcheon of breed." I don't take sides here - the ridge certainly doesn't matter to me and my "Zimbabwe Flatback" but it did stir things up, that's for sure...
(sorry to go OT if comments were supposed to stay within the herding breeds...)
I'm glad that the GSD's forequarters must be "firmly attached to the body." That's probably not to be confused with "detached from the body," which I assume would be a fault.
Melissa Thom Webboard User Reg: 12-04-2007
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Breeds as I recall that took a direct beating in that show were the ridgeback, cavalier king charles spaniel, boxers, GSDs, bulldogs, and basset hounds. They used a pretty broad brush though to paint all breeds as having problems with extreme breeding being the source of that problem.
They also took point at some breeding practices which are no longer allowed in UK registered dogs like mother/son, father/daughter, and brother/sister pairings. They also took to task the national ridgeback club at the breeding standard that ridgeless puppies must be culled.
That BBC show is posted in its entirety (I think it's an hour long) on youtube. Someone made a post about it in the forums here too. If you want to see it, I can find the link for you. For youtube it's been divided into 6 parts. It is hard to watch, though, because it shows the dogs acutely suffering from genetic/inherited disorders (such as epilepsy - or the brain disease that the Cavaliers get) and talks about how breeders knowingly breed dogs with these conditions because they win the shows.
I am glad to hear the breed standards are being revised.
Natalya Zahn Webboard User Reg: 12-22-2006
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Quote: Angela Burrell
Natalya,
That BBC show is posted in its entirety (I think it's an hour long) on youtube. Someone made a post about it in the forums here too. If you want to see it, I can find the link for you.
Thanks Angela! I'll check that out.
Just to clarify, I wasn't taking sides at all with that documentary. I do subscribe to a little bit of breed specific propaganda (for RRs), which gives me insight into a completely different world, but I absolutely support any changes to written standards that would help eliminate some of the downright shameful breeding practices out there that exist solely to win ribbons.
*That comment about the detached limbs was pretty funny...
Check out the Westminster dog show website. You can see photos of the dogs that won their breed classes.
My review: the Rottweiler nearly has the back legs of a German Shepherd, and the Neopolitan mastiff was about 10 sizes too small for his skin. His mouth was somewhere down around his knees. I wonder how he eats or even walks? The Dogue de Bordeaux looked like a huge brown Pug. I always thought they looked more like American Bulldogs. The black Labrador looked like a barrel on short stilts. sigh.
I did think some of the dogs were attractive. The Giant Schnauzer, Dobermann and German Pinschers, NSDT retriever and Newfie looked good to me.
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interesting - standard changes in UK
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but it did stir things up, that's for sure...
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