[ SHOWGSD-L ] Our Breeds in Society
- From: "David Fritsche" <d_fritsche@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:22:55 -0800
I've enjoyed this discussion a lot. I talked to Peggy privately to
better understand the Brittish KC thing and what I think I objected to
was the KC 'seemingly' dictating to the breed clubs what their breeds
should be. So far, in our relationship to AKC, the breed club owns the
standard. I do have mixed emotions about breeds with health issues
that are brought about by breeding into that health problem for show
purposes - AND I will issue a disclaimer here - I do not own those
other breeds and therefore it is presumptions to conclude that there
is in fact a problem. If there is, then I have mixed empotion, but I
will have to leave it to those involved to iron out whither or not
there is. In our breed, there are some dogs with angles who have
problems - locked hocks, mobility problems, etc., but those are not
the norm nd are not caused by the slope of our dogs.
I never want to see the GSDCA and AKC fighting over such issues.
But the comments on this thread have been really good I think in that
they define several things in our individual approach to our breed and
what we are after. Just thought I should take one more shot....
I like a good hard GSD. I did not say sharp or mean, I said hard. I
define that as a strong personality with a secure in-charge demeanor
who will take care of business when it is necessary but who is
accomodating of people in various situation without fear or agression.
I think we do see a trend toward less 'hard' temperaments and dogs
that are not secure and are thus more apt to bite. That is neither
good for our image nor is it to the standard. That's my opinion!
Secondly, I hear the call to make our dogs more acceptable to the
public or at least to listen to public opinion in what we produce. It
is that part of the Brittish KC note that I objected to. It is sort of
the old, "1,000 Frenchmen can't be wrong" philosophy. Forgive me if
you are French, no offense intended, it is just a phrase that came to
mind from the past.... Well, they can be wrong and they are often
wrong and in fact the swings of public popular opinion are most often
wrong.
It is true, our society has changed, our culture has changed, and our
world is ever changing.... And I contend that our dogs have also
changed. Physically they have become more angulated in their brief 110
year history. With that has come significent improvement in the hip
socket. From the top three we have dropped to 39th - I just checked,
Stormy was right! The statistics are arguable, we already discussed
that, but the progress is certain. So if we have largly overcome our
old number one problem and have a more angulated dog, what is the
problem? It is not the dog, it is public perception - or am I crazy
here?
So I ask, should we contrast public perception that is uninformed
against the progress we have made and change our breeding practices to
please public perception? If we do then we are in fact altering our
standard and our health objective to accomodate ignorance. Whither
that ignorance is just public in general, Brittish KC in specific or
AR driven, I am not of a mind to move with it. The standard is the dog
and the dog is the standard, as Forrest Gump used to say, or was that
Tom Langlitz.
Oh my, I've said too much again!
Dave
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