Posted on 12/18/2008 8:20:21 AM PST by AnAmericanMother
This is a great public service announcement by the AKC on the importance of properly training and caring for your new puppy.
Thanks to Darnright for finding this.
Why get a dog you won’t spend time with?
The problem is that ANY conformation class (dogs, cats, horses) rewards looks over anything else.
It's important when you interview a breeder to make sure that breeder is doing something from a performance standpoint, something suitable to the breed.
We had the time of our lives at the National Labrador Retriever Specialty (a show for one breed only) in October. They had every performance event you can think of -- agility, obedience, rally o, flyball, tracking, retriever -- and quite a number of conformation type people came out to try to put a retriever working certificate on their dogs.
It's a pretty simple test (a single land retrieve live flyer, and two single water retrieves to show that the dog is willing to re-enter the water) but some of the Labs had obviously never seen a real mallard duck before. I was one of the gunners on the land test, and you could tell the newbies . . . some of them barked at the duck, some ran away and hid, and some decided to carry this beautiful new toy off somewhere privately and bury it . . . .
Of course, the show people had a good laugh at me when I put my two little roughneck field dogs up for a Conformation Certificate. Had no idea how to stack them or trot them out . . . and the dogs were like, "Why is this strange woman prying my mouth open and fooling with my tail?" But they both got their certificates!
Working dogs should have a working standard. This is what the Border Collie folks told the AKC, and the AKC absolutely refused.
Labs that barely know how to retrieve are an embarrassment. Instinct to work livestock in a useful manner is much tougher to achieve, and it all can be undone in a few years of careless breeding.
For me, the bottom line is, “If you have a viable working registry, why does the AKC need to take over?” And the AKC has so much money, it is hard to fight them.
>Why get a dog you won’t spend time with?<
People do it all the time. Most of the dogs are never trained, so they end up discarded. Biden’s had dogs in the past - shepherds.
And, especially with shepherds, many people buy older, pre-trained dogs. They’re expensive, over $2,500.00 (usually well over) but they tend to stay with the owners, because they are very satisfying companions.
LOL
The AKC doesn’t take over breeds. Breeders come to AKC and jump thru hoops to get their breeds recognized. I know what I’m talking about as I have been involved in a rare breed that was finally accepted in the late 1990s.
No one is forced to show, no one is forced to breed anything. However, it’s very easy to just blame a registering body. If you want to herd with your Aussies or Border Collies, do so and breed for it. No one is stopping you.
I can’t wait to see that movie.
My older Lab spent so much time in her formative years with Border collies (she started life as an agility dog) that she likes to herd, although she isn't very good at it.
But it's a pleasure to watch her handle to a tight blind, or dig a mallard out of the cattails in a stick pond, or run a 120-yard double in an overgrown field.
The AKC HAS tried to take over Border Collies.
“In December 1994, at a meeting where the Border Collie was not even on its agenda, the AKC Board of Directors voted to recognize the Border Collie, to begin registering it in February 1995, and to begin conformation showing of Border Collies in October 1995. Although AKC had always maintained that it is the parent breed club, intimately familiar with its breed, that adopts the breed standard and sets the policies for its breed, on this occasion AKC did not designate a parent club for the Border Collie. AKC, which of course had no previous familiarity with Border Collies except for issuing them ILP numbers, itself adopted a breed standard that defines what a Border Collie should be and how it should look. AKC did not designate a parent club for the Border Collie until August 1996, when it finally chose the BCSA. Since all the Border Collie registries were opposed to recognition, none of them furnished their studbooks to AKC. Consequently, AKC has been registering Border Collies based on papers sent in by their owners.”
http://www.bordercollie.org/akc.html
Even now, happily, only about 10% of registered Border Collies are registered with the AKC. Please do not say Border Collies worked to get AKC registration. I also remember the battle over Australian Shepherds and the AKC. You could also look at JRTs.
I didn’t mean to denigrate Labs. I don’t hunt, but I love to watch a good Lab work.
It's the buyer's responsibility to do his research and get the kind of dog he wants. Most people don't want or need a field Lab, and the misadventures of Marley are "Exhibit A".
A true high bred field Lab is NOT an appropriate house pet. An AKC conformation Lab with less energy and a milder temperament (and less hard headed too) is a MUCH better choice for the average suburban family. My younger dog would make Marley look like a finishing school graduate, if she were allowed to have her head. She's a Lean Mac/Gator Point/Honest Abe breeding, those are all very high octane dogs who pass on birdiness and activity to the nth degree. My vet says my younger dog is "wired for sound".
And as adorable as the true working Border Collies are, they are obsessive-compulsive workaholics and NOT for everyone . . . in fact, not for anyone who can't keep them busy and thinking 24/7. They make my girls look like couch potatoes.
BTW - the United States Border Collie Club: “The Club is not and has never been a registry, though it has cooperated as closely as possible with the three U.S. Border Collie registries (the American Border Collie Association (ABCA), the American-International Border Collie registry (AIBC), and the North American Sheep Dog Society (NASDS). It also cooperated with the AKC over the years in fielding requests for information from the public about Border Collies and in resolving problems that arose in obtaining Indefinite Listing Privilege (ILP) numbers for Border Collies whose owners wished to show in AKC obedience and tracking competitions. Because the USBCC opposes AKC registration of Border Collies for showing in the breed ring, the USBCC’s de facto breed club status came to an end when the AKC voted (over USBCC objection) to fully recognize the Border Collie and begin registering them in 1995.”
I didn't read it for the training information. I read it for fun. Period.
If I wanted a training manual I would have purchased one. I understand your frustration, but I think it's misplaced here.
The poor dog was bred to run 200 yard retrieves in Derby and then move on to All-Age Stakes. He needed space, and extensive exercise, and strict training to show him how to apply his carefully-bred drive and desire.
Instead he was confined, unpredictably spoiled and then punished for doing what he was bred to do, and spent his entire life in a state of hurt bewilderment, unable to comprehend why everybody was so mad at him or why he was unable to please his humans.
I'd feel the same way if a bunch of idiots got hold of a Thoroughbred racehorse and had it hobbled and chained in a rotating pony ride at a fair.
The agility people are breeding a Border Collie that's what hunters call a "switch dog" -- throw the switch and they are ready to herd, throw it again, and they'll drowse in front of the fire. I've seen only one so far, but he's a VERY nice dog!
My young crazy dog.
My well-trained older dog.
Allllll righty, then.
RDO Woof
I hate to think of what would happen if I fired a shotgun near my dogs. They will tolerate loud noises if I insist, but they don’t like it. Of course, they don’t believe in retrieving either. They seem to figure, “If he WANTED the ball, why did he throw it away?”
But a good Lab is a thing of beauty to watch, particularly in motion.
Leila wasn’t exactly a switch dog. She would tour the house, checking on each person and every room. Then she would check again. And again. And so on, until we went to bed.
Then there was the time she got loose during a kid’s soccer match...
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