John Henry Walsh invented the Kennel Club "standard" -- cookie cutter judging based on a series of arbitrary points compiled by folks who may not have even owned any of the dogs they were writing a "standard" for.
Walsh was editor of The Field magazine, and wrote for that publication under the pseudonym of ‘Stonehenge.’
In 1867, a scant eight years after the first formal dog show (where he was one of the judges), Walsh published The Dogs of the British Islands, in which he and several friends set out to to detail the physical attributes of various breeds, and to assign various "points" to these features so that the dogs could be judged in a systematic way from show to show.
Walsh's point system (along wih the eugenics theories of Francis Galton) served as the backbone and architectural model of the Kennel Club point system which is used to judge dogs in the ring, and on the bench, to this day.
Walsh's point system gave ZERO points to health and field performance, and that is still true in the Kennel Club ring to this day. Any wonder then why health and performance are so pitiful among Kennel Club dogs?
3 comments:
But Patrick, the girls get scholarships, and gowns for the year.
Well, apparently someone appointed him God and he knew more that anyone else. I prefer the terrier description you posted a while back on a working terrier, Head with a brain, a foot on each leg, etc. from a terrier club.
Luckily,through no fault of his, dogs continue to have love and loyalty as a by product since they weren't listed in any of his descriptions.
I love my JRTCA that rejected all that nonsense and stands alone to breed working terriers.
Debi in Texas with the ugliest JRT with the biggest heart.
Dear Patrick,
In his first edition Walsh writes as if he'd actually seen a collie (No he didn't understand, but he may have SEEN one). Second edition Deep Fantasy.
Donald
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