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Jon's Journal
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23rd April, 2008
I had a lively and interesting discussion with fellow fanciers last
evening which had the effect of my taking an introspective look at one
of my dogs which I always find fascinating. The particular topic
at hand was our sable bitch puppy, Rika. I will say I love this
bitch in many ways: I believe she has an outstanding headpiece, I love
her lay of shoulder and rare long upper arm of excellent return, I love
her shape, her topline, her bone and substance, her temperament, her
lovely dense coat, her strong rear drive and lovely sidegait. Her
"if" is her front in two particular aspects. While I feel she has
a neat but completely adequate crook of foreleg, her toes are forward
facing rather than with the desired slight out-turn and her movement
coming is a fraction too wide to be considered ideal. All
dogs have faults - every single one of them. I always try to
focus on strength of virtue and in this she has an abundance.
From what I have seen there are no bitches in the ring nearly as
beautiful.
Despite her obvious qualities does this shortcoming make her
worthless?...is it "astute" to consider features we might call the
sacred cows? Cardigan people
have campaigned long and hard to explain the ideal Cardigan front with
slight out-turn of feet to judges. Indeed, I hear many people say
it is a
key differentiator between Pems and Cardis. But is it because the
out-turned front is truly so critical or is it because we have been so
long prejudiced by judges who automatically prefer a neater, forward
pointing foot that we have made ourselves believe it's an intolerable
fault? I woke up this morning wondering if perhaps I should not
even continue to show her. This outstanding bitch with this
unfortunate, politically incorrect fault. Won't I be chastised
for showing her,
seemingly promoting this "atypical" front and therefore doing the breed
untold harm? Never mind this is by no means a soundness
issue. Never mind she otherwise has exquisite type features and a
level of quality that exceeds everything she's ever come up
against. If she had a 10 degree of out-turn of her toes this
discussion would never have occurred. But because of it I reckon
those judges who "know" a Cardigan front - because it's been hammered
into them - will deny her and those who don't know any better
will completely ignore it, probably not considering it a fault at
all.
This reflection teaches me we must never have sacred cows, we must
always look for
strength of virtue and weigh it against the dog's shortcomings. I
think in my mind of so many Cardigans with aggregious short-comings who
are Group and BIS winners, who are national specialty winners but
because Rika's toes don't point out slightly she will be deemed
"atypical" by the majority of the Cardigan fancy and ridiculed as a bad
bitch. Many decades ago, Raymond Oppenheimer wrote how a bull
terrrier with a mismark or a wrong mouth would never have appeared in
public, so geared was the old bull terrier fancy to fault judge.
He proved through his incredible breeding program how very wrong that
sort of thinking was - that sacred cows were a very bad theory.
It reminds me how Pluperfect began, how it continues and how it will
always go on. My "vision" has always been carefully manifested
and I must always turn a deaf ear to the bulk of the fancy who have
absolutely not a clue how to remove themselves from their perpetuidous
rut of mediocrity. I am free to question as I pursue perfection,
but I realize I must never allow myself to compromise the theories I
know to be correct just to appease the
ignorant masses, however politically incorrect it may appear to others.
21st April, 2008
What promised to be a joyful year of showing is turning out to be a
terribly sour pill. Many years ago I wished for the day when the
Cardigan would have a stable of breed specialists much like the bull
terrier. I dreamed of breed focus and improvement facilitated by
good judgements made by knowledgeable people. Our reality of
today is something very different. I have always been a hard task
master on the Cardigan breed - I am fully aware of this. I have
been appalled by lack of breeder talent and worked many years and
spilled many gallons of ink to participate in the educational
experience. I daresay as a result we still have extremely few
breeders whom I would consider up to the task. And this is a hard
breed to be sure - just when you think you've got it all in a single
package invariably something falls off the side. I think there
are very few dog breeders in the whole population who have truly
experienced what we experience in our efforts to positively develop the
breed. Add to this whatever the attraction is for this breed to
draw contrary and difficult people into it and you have pretty much the
mix of the Cardigan fancy.
So what has happened, we observe, is that many of the untalented and
marginally successful breeders became judges. They are proving
themselves to possess the same level of competance that they did as
breeders. I forever believed the answer was in education but I
now know that education is the skill which must be predicated on talent
and in that we sorely are diminished. The education allows people
to mouth the words but you cannot hide behind rhetoric when inside the
ring. The outcomes are terribly compromised.
The depth of understanding, the depth of ability to appraise breeding
stock seems to be so grotesquely base that people are unable to
differentiate between outstanding quality and complete
mediocrity. Coming from our recent national specialty I saw some
wonderful accomplishments made by skilled, talented and/or lucky
breeders and they walked into the ring and out again, with only the
very astute ringsiders left to appreciate them. It is the nature
of dog shows for people to focus their attention on the winners and to
naively think they must be the best ones.
We had a bit of discussion of this one evening in the hotel room and I
expressed my complete astonishment of people who are unable to apply
the breed standard to physical dog flesh. The head is 3 parts
muzzle to 5 parts backskull - you measure that with your fingers and if
it's 3 to 5 then it's right and if it's anything different then it's
wrong. The skull is flat between the ears - if it's not flat then
it's wrong. The cheeks are to be flat and not bulgey, if they
bulge it's wrong. The eyes are to be soft and intelligent, medium
to large with corners - anything else is wrong. The muzzle should
have a soft finish - a "bee sting" finish (meaning it has a soft
swollen appearance as if stung by a bee) - this is quality. The
head must fit the proportion of the body - not too large nor too
small. Head planes, amount of stop, ear set and ear size and bite
are all completely described by the standard. My point is that
this isn't a formula for a metaphysical reaction - it's simply applying
what is written to the dog in question. And yet, dogs who possess
little virtue are awarded top awards and dogs have merit are
ignored.
It's not personal opinion, it's simply failing to apply the
specifications clearly described in the standard. And that is bad
judging and should be deplored. It is by me even if a seemingly
majority of our "specialists" think otherwise.
5th January, 2008
Whenever I feel I have it all understood something always comes along
to shake me up. Over the Thanksgiving holiday I happened to visit
a Manchester Terrier breeder becasue she had advertised a specials
quality young bitch. I have managed my whole life not to have a
cropped or docked breed (except a Pem) that I intended to breed.
But I do very much like this breed and so decided to check her
out. As fate would have it, she happened to have a young 7-week
old litter as well and I found a dog puppy in that litter I preferred
to the bitch. I thought in my mind, surely I can just tape these
ears up and they will stand erect. By the time the puppy was 12
weeks I was feeling sheepish as the breeder felt he wouldn't win as
well with natural ears and I didn't want to embarrass her or
disappoint her. So I decided to go ahead with the cropping
procedure although I feel it is barbaric. What's even more
interesting for me - besides the fact I apparently feel the ear
cropping is not as bad as annoying his breeder - is that despite my
diligent taping of his ears for 5 weeks they are absolutely no closer
to standing then they were at 7 weeks! They stand beautifully
until he goes to bed and then they wilt just like petals of a flower!
What I realized in all my research on ears and ear cropping, is that it
is used as a substitute for correct ears. In Boston Terriers ears
are cropped if they do not look good natural. So, in effect, the
fault is removed through acceptable surgical intervention. This
is perfectly "within the rules" for that breed because it allows
cropped ears. Why do I get so upset with a fancy that "fixes"
things when some standards absolutely allow it? And, as I stated
before, some breed fancies totally ignore imperfections of a certain
kind. The Poodle standard, for instance, says this about the
tail, "Major fault: set low, curled, or carried over the back,"
and this about the forehand, "Major fault: steep shoulder," and
this about feet, " Major fault: paper or splay foot," and
this about movement, "Sound effortless movement is essential."
I don't know if I've EVER seen a BIS winning Poodle who didn't have at
least one of those faults if not all four. But in Poodles, those
major faults are overlooked. It's the breed culture. I used
to think people simply didn't recognize these short-comings in Poodles
when the reality must be they recognize them but dismiss them.
The dog fancy is a fascinating microcosm of humanity - where we make
situational judgements which are not and cannot be universal truths
applied to the whole of the population. It is my highly logical
mind which so often puts me on the "outside looking in." At times
it serves me well, at others it creates barriers which other people do
not even realize exist.
22nd October, 2007
In my never ever ending search for my perfect breed which doesn't
include bull terriers or Pekingese (my passions), I have contacted
various breeders at one time or another, always to find the breed of
the moment lacking in some criterion I have established. I find
the more you know about various dog breeds the less you are going to
like them. Nearly everything either is hard to whelp, hard to
raise or involves docking, cropping or some kind of faking for the
ring. I've held onto my ethics so tightly and so dearly that I
have become almost paralyzed. So many breeds today are faked for
the ring - terriers are colored, poodles dyed, terriers tails fixed or
ears fixed, hounds colored. I sometimes wonder if I should just
give up the ghost and realize all this fakery is stage makeup and let
it go. One breeder suggested perhaps I wanted a "natural" breed,
as though that is a class of purebreds separate and apart from the
"unnatural" breeds. The American kennel Club does not enforce or
wish to enforce this making up of dogs for the showring - why should I
fall on my sword when it has absolutely no intention of doing so?
This line of thinking always brings me back to standards and how
selectively fancies follow them. In some breeds they want
you to follow them to the letter - in others you would be a total
failure if you did so. Imagine judging the Cocker Spaniel
so that the coat was faulted for being excessive? Imagine having
little tolerance for the Bulldog which has to be hand-bred,
hand-whelped and babied throughout his entire short life? Recent
genetic studies (recent to me although published in 2004) indicate most
dog breeds truly were not distinct until dog shows were devised and
that some "ancient" breeds such as the Pharoah and Ibizan are actually
recent breeds. It makes me realize our preservation of ancient
artifactual breeds are really nothing more than man's folly in keeping
himself occupied until he dies. Perhaps it is all no more serious
than that and I need to simply let go.
6th September, 2007
There is a patch in the front yard which struck me as a batch of
weeds. I asked my mother about it, just in case it might be
something more before making a decision about whether I should pull the
plants up from the ground. "No," she said, "those are
flowers. There just haven't been any bees." I thought it a
strange comment, but didn't think too much of it since bee watching is
not one of my interests. Today I read that a virus has been found
which is massively impacting the bee population. To me it's just
one more factoid that indicates this planet has a very definite end and
it is in sight. It seems the negative energy is just engulfing
this planet.
I read today Whoopi Goldberg defended Vick's dog fighting interests
because either southerners or African Americans have "a different
relationship with dogs and
cats." That is about the most racist thing I've heard in a
long time. In fact, only society's currently acceptable
racist comments about gay people equals that degree of
vomitude. I am sure most murderers are nice people on the inside,
too,
Ms. Goldberg.
In a dog paper an article by some supposed "journalist" was reprinted
which went on the rag about PETA. To the dog fancy, I guess this
was some big find. I call it shameless plagarism of
Wikipedia. If you've never bothered to look up PETA on Wikipedia
how serious are you about finding out about this organization? I
don't defend PETA but I also very much resent having my ideology
dictated to me. Anything "animal rightist" is baaaaad. I
breed dogs because I love dogs and I love animals and I want society to
be kinder and more responsible with everything regarding animals.
Does the dog fancy work as diligently as many of these animal
right's groups to ensure this occurs?
Nope. Never. Too busy spending $100K campaigning the latest
special. The acrimonious writer took aim at PETA for its stance
on animal
testing. Guess what? I am not for animal testing either!
The European movement to stop tail docking has shaken American dog
breeders to
their boots. The Rottweiler club took out full page ads
chastising judges who put up "natural" tailed dogs. The arguments
vascilated between "You can't make us stop docking because we live in a
free country!" and "You're un-American if you don't dock
tails." I think there has to be something fundamentally wrong
with a group of people who campaign to ensure everyone is forced to
amputate the tails of the dogs they supposedly "love." Wouldn't
you get just a bit queasy writing a check for such an ad?
It seems anything that the "animal rightists" support dog breeders have
to automatically challenge. It's a shallow and
irresponsible stance, but isn't that really what America has come to
represent, anyway? Isn't it all about winning the debate,
even if the "facts" aren't actually facts but twisted snippets of
fact? Doesn't our own AKC
now promote commercial dog breeding because the registration fees will
help it meet it's expenses? Don't we justify this position by
saying our end goal (of fighting the animal rightists) justifies
supporting pet shops?
I think the following storyline speaks volumes to me about the complete
dearth of integrity or honor in our country. The following
excerpt is from the Washington Post and describes how the "Bushies"
pressured the Human Health and Services Department to not advertise
that mother's breast-milk is critical to infant health and resistence
to disease. It was done for the sole purpose of ensuring
the forumula makers didn't experience an impact to their sales
volume. It beautifully illustrates how the self-righteous,
"pro-life", "family values," "moral" Republicans willingly
and intentionally disregard public health and safety for the mighty
buck. I do not know how our country ever embraced these evil
concepts but many reading this will undoubtedly manufacture, for their
own peace of
mind, some plausible excuse, whether it be twisting the facts,
disparaging the source or challenging the interpretation. It
causes me never ending sadness.......
“In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of
breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an
attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince
mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not
breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin syringes and asthma
inhalers topped with rubber nipples.
“Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful
infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the
Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to
lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward,
department political appointees toned down the campaign.
“The formula industry's intervention -- which did not block the ads but
helped change their content -- is being scrutinized by Congress in the
wake of last month's testimony by former surgeon general Richard H.
Carmona that the Bush administration
repeatedly allowed political
considerations to interfere with his efforts to promote public health.”
27th August, 2007
My trip to Canada was delightful - weather nice and warm (for a
change!). The Hunter-Stevie
puppies were splendid and proved what
a great match certain of our bitches are for the prodigious
Firestorm. I brought home a little sable character calling her
"Poprika" for her paprika coloring and "Pop" dam line naming
scheme. They were just barely 8 weeks but quality abounds.
The depth of quality was such we could let several otherwise beautiful
puppies go to pet homes due to their coats. We let one
good-coated and quite typey bitch puppy go to a pet home who appears to
have less than ideal front movement while we are retaining two
extremely promising but coated bitches; our commitment to the highest
quality is never subjugated to the presence of superficial
faults! In this we are virtually alone in the Cardigan breed and
probably a very rare bird in the purebred dog fancy at large.
This lonely trek that Barb and I take is why we decided not to stand
our "show" males at public stud. While I have no interest in
hoarding top quality I have a strong sense of justice. It was
therefore our decision to allow earnest breeders to use the same coated
dogs we use, but to restrict from public use the fruits of our labors
when absolutely no one is willing to share in the risks and heavy
lifting that we must do and have done to get where we are in our
breeding program. To allow the fair-thee-well breeders to come
and scoop the pool did not strike me as justice!
Brett finished in excellent
fashion under Rev Dr Patrick Ormos at our
first regional Three Trails Cardigan Welsh Corgi club specialty.
It was truly an honor to be asked by Dr Ormos to put Brett on the table
while he lectured the crowd about correct Cardigan type. I was
terribly amused to realize some of the most unpleasant local breeders
had the good taste not to support the show which is undoubtedly why it
was such a pleasant affair!
Last weekend I was called into service to help Jim drive to California
and it was quite interesting to view the geography from Kansas City to
California. I found the Flagstaff, Arizona area exquisite and saw
a tremendous elk with a full rack of horns! For me the exciting
part of the trip was our very quick stop in Phoenix to view Brett's
brother, Happy. At 10 months he is
growing into a super lovely
dog, with exquisite type and elegance.
23rd July, 2007
First of all, great happiness as Stevie whelped 9 puppies and all
lived! Barb and Ruth have their hands full I am most
certain! We were delighted to test and find out 4 of the 9 have
good coats - more the statistical average one expects from a simple
recessive. I am most anxious to make it up to Canada in
mid-August to reveiw the litter.
I spend an inordinate amount of time researching breeds - always
looking for that "one" breed that I feel would make me so very
fulfilled. Why, you might ask, is not the Cardigan the "one"
breed? Because, for someone like me who has such depth of passion
for dogs, I have always felt the Cardigan fancy
is...well...lacking. In keen breeds, such as Pembrokes, bull
terriers (which, by the way, I never capitalize), or Cavalier
King Charles Spaniels the fancy is so completely engrossed in their
breeds. They hold specialty shows with real breed specialists
judging, they want written critiques, they know the really good dogs in
the breed and treat them respectfully. Cardigans might be inching
that way but they are far from it. In those breeds, people talk
intelligently about dogs, they talk about breeding, they recognize the
difference between mediocrity and excellence. And they are good
sports and gentlemen and women. The Cardi fancy is still very
"all breedy" which to me is a very flat existence. We have
a few keen people and I think I probably count them as my friends - we
have many more who do not and I suspect will never get a
clue. In bull terriers, the spirit is such that you feel
like you've really done something magnificent when you get a good one -
it's celebrated in the breed and it just makes you feel like you are
doing something worthwhile with your life. You are an artist who
has created a beautiful piece of artwork and your peers are artists who
have the knowledge, the training and the security to celebrate your art
with you. Ah, but to dream!
And not to get too political, but my goodness I just heard something
like over 60% of Republicans still think Bush
is a good President! Ha ha! I used to just itch for an
intelligence test between Democrats and Republicans (although I
consider myself an Independent since I think both parties suck) - I
think we can safely say at this point no test required! The facts
are self-evident! What amuses me endlessly is that I know a
majority of dog breeders are Republicans!
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21st June, 2007
I don't know why but I have been preoccupied with my philosophy of
"honesty" in the presentation of show dogs. I suppose it comes
from the almost daily disgust I feel for mankind as I must face each
day listening to some evil doing of President Bush or one of his
minions. His expressed "sympathy" for Scooter Libby's family
because the poor crook got caught has got to be unprecedented in his
unprecedented assault on basic human decency and the role of society's
laws. I just now finished watching a program on the plight of gay
people since the sixties and I will never understand how human beings
could turn their backs on fellow human beings as AIDS killed and kills
hundreds of thousands. This chapter in world events absolutely
sickens me and the people who said gay people "deserved" this sickness
could not beg God's forgiveness every day for a thousand years and
still deserve his light. That people would rather listen to
godless so called preachers speak about their views on God's children
rather than to sit quietly and listen to their own hearts - to not
trust that God would speak to them directly - really puts my head into
a spin. I wonder, are these the same geniuses who sport the
American flag sticker on the back of their gas guzzling Hummers?
Hmmmmm.
Mmm'kay, Jon, thanks so much. And this has to do with honesty in
the ring because...? Well, because it all speaks to values; the
values our souls understand. In my lifetime values have
diminished profoundly as we increasingly worship the superficial and
the meaningless and the aura of total nothingness. A society who
would rather read the latest tabloid headline about a deceased drugged
up former waitress with a ridiculous boob job, or that skinny Hollywood
white girl with no apparent talent, skill or redeeming qualities or the
latest idiotic reality show than anything at all having to do with our
self-imploding planet. I think to myself the fanciers who view
themselves as "sophisticated" and feel so secure in their theory that
if you don't succumb to "enhancing" a dog as warranted you are simply a
fool. My life and efforts are geared toward this never
ending challenge of breeding exceptional dogs and I truly take
exception to such a mindset. Who among us have not had the
outstanding dog who was mismarked or coated or had a wrong bite or was
oversized or a monorchid or carried their tail wrong or who wouldn't
show well? There is only this difference between those who
fake and the rest of us: integrity and values. To them I say,
"Stand a bit less between me and the sun."
On a less prognosticatorial note, Stevie had her babies
yesterday! I think she is a great bitch (but coated, see
above...) and Hunter a great stud dog. Delicious!
2nd June, 2007
This year's CWCCA national specialty was a spectacular one for us as
our little 6 1/2 month old dog puppy, Brett, made a smashing ring
debut. His
first ring experience brought him Best of Opposite Sex in Sweepstakes
whilst his regular class triumphs included Winners Dog and onto Best of
Winners and thereby also winning Best Puppy. This is not
the first time the kennel has had national specialty winners as
puppies, such as Pegasus, Peace Rose, and Primate sweeping the
national at 12 1/2 months old in 1986, and Peer winning the Sweepstakes
and WD and BW at 8 months (his sister winning BOS Sweeps and WB) in
1987, and Prussian going Best Opposite Sex in Sweepstakes at 6 1/2
months in 1988, but Brett is the youngest winner of the points our dogs
have garnered at the national.
Personally, my pleasure was
doubled indeed as my recently imported English Ch Morgan brought home
the Reserve Winners Dog award. Morgan
made a brilliant ring debut
himself a week earlier gaining two group placements his first two times
in the American ring. Morgan is, in my opinion, a fabulous
breeding triumph for his breeder, Fran Fricker, in that he combines the
wonderfully elegant and scopey body lines of the Joseter bloodline with
the exquisitely beautiful headpieces of Miss Maddox's Salvenik
program. Both Jacque and Don seem to love
Morgan's special sweetness and I was delighted when they wanted to
co-own him.
I am most anxious for Stevie's impending litter due the end of
June. It really was her dam, Poppy,
that truly got me to believe
this breed could be bred to a level of quality
comparable to that which we see in such breeds as the best Pembrokes or
Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (who I contend have the greatest quality
of any purebred dog breed). I did see evidence of this unique
quality in her paternal granddam, Barb's homebred national
specialty and Megan winning Devil Woman, and her son (Poppy's sire),
Jacob, but Poppy combines great type and great quality all in one and I
feel only the legendary Luca could have troubled her in the ring had
her coat been suitable enough for the fault-finders who constantly are
the drag to the few of us who take breed development seriously. (I'm really trying not to criticize but I
can't help it!) Both Luca and Poppy had fabulous breed
type, Luca would have bested Poppy in rear action, Poppy would have
countered with much more advanced head type. It was an
unfortunate fate that Poppy had to be spayed after
her only litter but it is the reason why we kept our hands on five of
the seven puppies
- despite the fact the whole litter was coated! Yes, Mother
Nature tried to have the last laugh but we looked her square in the eye
and said, "Oh, you'll have to do better than that, my dear!"
Barb also bred her sable bitch Vayda to Stevie's brother, Prince, so
we'll have much to look at by early fall. I am certainly
hopeful where Brett is concerned there will be many more from
where he came!
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