On occasion it is surely an appropriate and salutary exercise for us, as connoisseurs and self-appointed guardians of the pedigreed dog, to reflect upon the prevailing condition of our animals from a long-term and multidimensional perspective. The aim in doing so may be viewed as potentially remedial and possibly even curative.
Of all the trends, I believe the most alarming is the adoption of hybrids or mutts as opposed to purebreds. We operate a boarding kennel, and many years ago eighty percent of boarders would be purebred, now we are lucky if thirty percent fit into that category.
Unfortunately, there is a perception that all professional handlers are more skilled than owner-handlers. They forget that many amateur-owner-handlers have become superstars in the dog world. When I gave handling clinics, I tried to emphasize that the owner-handlers are the ones who have many of the advantages.
So many of our readers know or have read about the grand old Santa Barbara Kennel Club in days of yore that I don’t think it’s necessary to repeat the stories, but let’s give you a short history of this famous dog show.
When AKC unveiled its Grand Championship program in May 2010 reactions within the fancy ranged from skeptical to hostile. AKC regularly debuts schemes to jumpstart the flagging morale and dwindling participation of owner/handlers.
Welcome to our new online home at www.caninechronicle.com. Our address is the same but, as you can see, everything else has changed…dramatically. When we began redesigning our website, we thought we needed to be more than just our digital magazine, a few articles, stats and pictures in a computer-friendly format. Our goal was to give […]
August 2012 By Gay Dunlap Whether from the ranks of breeder or handler, as judges, we were either born into the fancy, some perhaps third or fourth generation, or we began the journey by first falling in love with an adorable dog. If it was a purebred dog and registered with the AKC, we might […]
August, 2012 by Dr. Gareth Morgan-Jones In show after show it is oftentimes rather obvious that there are judges, particularly some of the newer ones, out there who are operating well outside their comfort zone and, as a result, are not always performing in what one might choose to call a fully satisfactory and […]
August 2012 by Lisa Dubé Forman In Part One of this article we discussed the greyhound and its genre breeds. I emphasized the importance of their having flexible, curvaceous toplines. Further, the amalgamation of length, shape and curvature of vertebrae in the spinal column, with the hard, smooth muscling encapsulating and supporting the loin area, […]
August 2012 By William Given I SPEND TIME WATCHING PROFESSIONAL HANDLERS. Professional handlers are not necessarily better handlers than breeder- or owner-handlers but because they show more dogs at many more shows they have become much more consistent in their presentation of client dogs in the ring. They make fewer handling errors. Watch with a […]
