Since we all own small parts......

[slamm]

Since we all own small parts of this working breed called presa canario. Please, read this and keep it in the back of your mind when you make decisions about your breeding stock and what you are doing with them.http://www.terrierman.com/rosettestoruin.htm

From bandog banter,

Sam

[eSPO]

A friend here in Phoenix e-mailed this link to me yesterday. This is a very good article and an illustration of what can happen when selection is based on beauty alone. I mentioned the over angulated German Shepherds that I saw for the first time at a show in Phoenix about two years ago, I am glad to hear that there is a movement away from the "look" promoted by dog fancy. There was also a great article somewhere about German shepherds no longer being able to work with German police. You can already see a serious deterioration in the Dogo side of this breed. The problem is that no headway is being made in type either. :( Fortunately we do have alot of people breeding Presas who understand the importance of maintaining the fire and the temperment of this breed. The UKC does have conformation events but their involvement in Hunting Trials, Protection Venues, and other performance events shows that they are still ,very much, interested in the "total dog". I think it took alot of courage for the UKC to embrace a protection event. Many people do not understand the value of a trained protection dog and the UKC just made a huge leap in promoting and educating the general public. I hear from people quite often who are taking up hog hunting,weight pull, or protection, want to see their dog on the agility field or some other event. I think the whole working "conciousness" is on the rise in the Presa Community and I think we are moving in the right direction.

[josebrwn]

I thought the article went a little overboard, e.g.
"Saint Bernards, once proud pulling dogs, are now so riddled with hip dysplasia that it's hard to find one that can walk without surgery in old age."

It's really emotive and prompts a knee-jerk "you said it!", but it just doesn't sound anything like the Saints I know, who are competing in Weight Pull and Agility, both.

When we hearken back to days of yore we have to remember there weren't really breeds so much as types, isolated populations, that interbred whenever that cute new bitch came trotting up the pike. Dogs aren't what they used to be in part because the world isn't what it used to be. And what is the dog population, just in the USA now? 70-something million? Inevitably with such massive population growth there will be sections of the population that are not super-heros. It just comes with population growth, and a world that has changed an awful lot.

But if you can get past the emotionally charged language and hyperbole, it's an important message. Standards are interpreted, usually anthropomorphically (i.e. the dog with the most human-like expression will win), and there isn't a place for working ability in the AKC ring. The Bull Terrier skulls were most telling, you can actually see the skull getting more and more human looking. And the English Bulldog skull especially, it looks like a child's face glued onto a dog's jaw, which is just about what the fancy is after.

The UKC, whose motto is "our dogs do stuff", is heading in the right direction with the Total Dog and now Protection programs. But there is a ways to go, and getting there is, of course, our job. Nobody's going to do it for us.

I like that the author said this:

As for those actually interested in terriers as working dogs (and if not, please read the paragraph above), we would do well to remember that we did not create these wonderful little dogs, and we do not 'own' a breed anymore than we 'own' anything in this world. Like most worthy things, we inherit our dogs from our forbears, serve as custodians for their gene pool in our lifetime, and have a responsibility to pass on this gene pool in a reasonably good condition for the future.

What I see in the working dog fancy is small pockets of self-righteousness and very little outreach. Witness the shock and horror of certain putative working clubs at the admission of Protection Events into the UKC, as though it were some secret art for only a self-appointed elect. It reminds me of the trouble Bruce Lee had with the Hong Kong Wing Chun society back in the early 70's. This is foolishness. Just like the show fancy they seek to control and contain, not to educate or disseminate.

I thought this article was especially good. Maybe we all recognize a little of ourselves in this parable.

http://www.terrierman.com/parable.htm

[eSPO]

You know, the really nice thing is that in Missouri at the Specialty, not one dog failed to drive at the "drunk stranger" There was no cowering behind the owner, no peeing all over themselves that you hear so much about. Green dogs,trained dogs it didn`t matter they were all out front of the owner warning the "drunk stranger" to come closer. We have some great dogs in the club and some good breeders. I do not expect to see this awesome temperment or type to go anywhere.

[SCreilly]

I think this was originally started by Grappler. I have always liked reading his stuff, very serious. A great crosspost and some real "food for thought". Thanks Sam....