[ SHOWGSD-L ] thoughts on All-Breeds.....
- From: "David Fritsche" <d_fritsche@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <Showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 10:44:36 -0700
We had a wonderful dog some time back. In fact he was my all time favorite
dog. He was everything a GSD should be in temperament, type and was
basically fault free, so to speak. But he was always second. He was second
to Ben when he finished, second to Desmo when he was in the ring, second to
Flash Dance, Bodega, and all the stars of that era. So we took him where he
would be appreciated more, to the all breeds. And sure enough, he finished
in no time, compiling 12 straight BOB's and several group placings to
follow. But we never bred to him. We did not breed to him because he was
basically fault free, so to speak. Meaning: Everything worked and he worked,
but 'any fault of movement' is our only 'very serious fault.'
I did not feel bad about finishing him, for he was a worthy representative
of the breed in all ways except - we have a weighted standard. His
temperament and character were, for me, his most endearing attributes, but
he was not as close to our weighted standard as those specialty dogs who
were beating him. So I loved him more than anything, but the standard did
not! And so he will always have the highest emotion and appreciation of my
heart, but the objective side of me says, his complete package was lacking
in the degree of movement our breed is capable of.
That is not to knock him or others like him. They are more usual in our GSD
world, and they have established a place in our hearts and in our show
rings, but, as much as I enjoyed him, loved the show experience and accepted
the points, I had no illusions that he was as close to the standard as his
sire, R-Man.
So, while I agree with my peers that there is an all-breed type and that
there is a total package, I personally cannot equate that to what I think
the weighted standard is after, movement. I know, there are subjective
things that are important to many judges and some preferences are elevated
in their judging to be faults and some faults are elevated to be serious
faults, and some serious faults are elevated to be very serious faults, but
that is, in reality an error in subjective judgment - not the standard. So,
I would urge us all to enjoy our dogs and show them where they best fit,
accept the points and frame the ribbons, but let's be careful to not allow
our subjective heart strings to move us away from that which defines our
breed more than any other characteristic - movement - our only very serious
issue!
Thanks Heather, I agree!
Dave
> I think that we as breeders need to breed correctly-moving
> dogs,> --Heather
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