Some kennels churn out champions like butter.
The dog show world can be an iffy place, at times.
I know several Ibizans [even as scarce as they are] who earned their titles, had a litter, then got sent off to a co-owner or other kennel.
It’s almost like “turnover”.
I’m not sure if people just want to keep showing the ‘new’ generation and put aside the old or if it’s simply the adrenaline rush of finishing a dog, time after after time.
Dobermanns being ‘my breed’ are something I’ve watched for almost 40 years.
I’ve seen the breed’s health decline at a horrifying pace.
Since I’m not pressured to breed “pretty winners”, I can afford to criticize the health part of the equation.
Far too many people will compromise health for a certain “look” that -wins-.
Look at Pugs and Bulldogs, for example.
They didn’t used to have flat faces.
Short, snubbed faces yes but not “flat”.
Judges and breeders colluded to that end.
A weird judge likes some ‘extreme’ dog and the other breeders rush to create their own versions.
It’s never beneficial to the breeds involved.
The Dobes of the late 70s’ were so freaking long and over angulated in the hock that they couldn’t trot straight to save their lives. ..but they “looked pretty” stacked.
The last issue of Dog World that I ever bought had a 70’s Hoytt champion on the front cover that was an abomination to the breed but he was “Dobe of the year”.
Bleah!
I’m hardly ‘faint of heart’ and the work doesn’t intimidate me; it was the utter hypocrisy and devastation wrought upon my breed that turned me off.
[imagine Goldens suddenly being shown that were Merles or had Roman noses, swan necks, prick ears or arched backs because somebody ‘powerful’ decreed that was the ‘new style’ for the breed]
When Odin’s papers came back from the AKC, I noted that they still have that great old drawing of a -correct- Dobe on top.
I’m not even sure how they mail those out with a straight face.
You personalized my comment, and I didn’t mean it personally for you. I think you and I are friends. I was simply making some comments. We don’t have to agree on this (and probably aren’t ever going to). Things are different in different breeds (I have a very popular breed and I used to have a very rare breed and keep up with that one still through friends and in fact run an email list for it still). Things are rarely black and white, they are generally pretty gray.
I had a friend in dobies, but it’s not a breed I’m intimately familiar with. Getting popular is never a good thing for a breed as it brings in new people who don’t take the time to learn about them before they are breeding and even winning and become what my husband calls “Instant Experts” and unfortunately they can exert a lot of influence on the breed if they happen to do well. But, you can’t ever change things from the outside, except of course the way PeTA wants to change them. So, I’ve stayed involved.
BTW all of the people I know in dogs complain about declining breed health. I am not certain what accounts for it, we talk about it all the time. It could be genetics (I don’t discount this, some lines DO live longer) however, we also diagnose things better, we save dying puppies much more frequently to survive to adulthood, we don’t cull the weak ones and we keep track of our puppies and talk on the internet. I don’t have an answer. I wish all dogs lived to be at least 15, and were perfect, outstanding examples of whatever the person who had them wanted them to be. But that has never been the case. And never will be.
One thing is certain. You and I both love dogs. :)