Dogs, whom we have considered our best friends for millenia, have been our companions
since the birth of civilization. First, we hunted together and they protected us.
As the history of mankind and its needs have changed, the role of dogs has changed
in our everyday life accordingly, opening up new and yet undiscovered areas.
They are frozen in time and sometimes deceptively real. Perpetuated in stone or bronze, looking over water, streets, parks or squares, dog statues can be found all over the world.
For something that is unable to speak, dogs don’t seem to lack the ability to communicate. That seems to be especially true when they know they have done something special and they expect bravos. Or, on those occasions when they want you to know that they have just gotten even for something you have done that didn’t meet with their approval.
It is well-known that AKC registrations have declined by 66% since their high of 1,422,559 in 1993. Hopefully, this decline may have ended in 2014 when registrations were about the same as in 2013. Many hypotheses on causes of the decline have been advanced. Initially the decline was attributed to losing market share to competing registries, but as more information became available it turned out they too lost registrations. More recently it seems like the decline reflects a change in America’s values.
It’s hard to describe the collective energy and optimism reverberating throughout the racing world since American Pharoah reclaimed the Triple Crown. Only one recent event in our sport compares to the scope of that miracle – Swagger. Actually, when considered in context, it’s way bigger because homegrown projects rarely make headlines at Westminster.
I received a note via email from a friend the other day and it certainly struck a chord with me so I thought I would pass it along to our readers.
By Amy Fernandez New York has always had a strange relationship with dogs. That became clear last week when Albany closed up shop without getting around to a few key issues like rent control and property taxes. No one seemed to notice because there was dancing in the streets about their unanimously approved ‘Dining with […]
By Peri Norman and Sandi Weldon Fourth of July weekend is a celebration across the country of all the things that we love. Of course, for those of us in dogs, we pack up the truck and head for our favorite big dog show weekend. People gather at these shows from near and far. Specialties […]
No one who is interested in the state of the dog fancy can have missed the fabulous prices that were offered for Tibetan Mastiffs in China only a couple of years ago. Nor can they have missed the recent article about the rescue of a wretched group of abused Tibetan Mastiffs who were destined for the slaughterhouse in the same country. What has brought a noble, intelligent, thoughtful, and valuable animal to such a pass in only a few years? How did it come to this?
