Author Susan Orlean has written a piece about German Shepherds for The New York Times, but the piece glosses over one of the important reasons the German Shepherd has gone into the shitter.
She blames puppy mills and popularity, not contrived Kennel Club conformation standards and judging, or the failure of the Kennel Club to mandate performance standards to win a championship, or the inbreeding required when a small pool of dogs is brought into a closed registry system.
Having presented us with a half-baked cake, Ms. Orlean proceeds to ice it with a little sugary froth:
"Bad breeding is bad for everyone, and in recent years the American Kennel Club, among other organizations, has done its best to discourage it, and to encourage adoption from shelters, which have, unfortunately, an oversupply of abandoned purebred dogs."
What? Nonsense!
The AKC is fully in bed with the puppy mills and pet shops, and even cranks out special registration deals for them.
And the American Kennel Club is encouraging people to adopt shelter dogs? Nonsense again! The Kennel Club is only encouraging people to buy dogs they can make money off of, and those are registered dogs from anywhere (including and especially pet shops and puppy mills), not the mutts and dogs without papers to be found down at the pound.
And the American Kennel Club is encouraging people to adopt shelter dogs? Nonsense again! The Kennel Club is only encouraging people to buy dogs they can make money off of, and those are registered dogs from anywhere (including and especially pet shops and puppy mills), not the mutts and dogs without papers to be found down at the pound.
The back story here is that we have one more author who has written a book (this time about Rin Tin Tin, see end note to this piece), and she no doubt hopes for a little plumping from the AKC and/or dedicated German Shepherd owners.
At the very least she does not want to piss them off by telling the truth, which is that this breed was destroyed by Kennel Club pretenders and their show ring affectations.
Now, here's the ironic part: Ms. Orlean has made the same Deal with the Devil that nearly everyone does in the world of dogs.
Book authors do not want to park the blame for deformity in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre standards and judging protocols for fear it will hurt book sales.
Veterinarians do not want to park the the blame for disease in front of the Kennel Club's closed bizarre breeding pool requirement for fear it will curtail business.
Dog trainers do not want to park the blame for dysfunction in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre rejection of performance metrics for fear it will discourage referrals.
And what is the result?
The result is the lie that pedigree dogs are in trouble because of puppy mills or "backyard breeder."
In fact, pedigree dogs are in trouble because authors, breeders, veterinarians and dog trainers are loathe to tell the truth!
Instead of parking the blame where it needs to be parked, they whistle past the problem.
_ _ _ _ _
End note added three weeks later: The book is not the oped . The book is better than fine, and does not stray on to the cracked ice that the op-ed does. Susan Orlean's book is written a straight forward account of what happened to the original Rin Tin Tin and the replacesment and bogus ones that followed. It is an interesting tale worth the read! Buy the book, skip the op-ed!
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At the very least she does not want to piss them off by telling the truth, which is that this breed was destroyed by Kennel Club pretenders and their show ring affectations.
Now, here's the ironic part: Ms. Orlean has made the same Deal with the Devil that nearly everyone does in the world of dogs.
Book authors do not want to park the blame for deformity in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre standards and judging protocols for fear it will hurt book sales.
Veterinarians do not want to park the the blame for disease in front of the Kennel Club's closed bizarre breeding pool requirement for fear it will curtail business.
Dog trainers do not want to park the blame for dysfunction in front of the Kennel Club's bizarre rejection of performance metrics for fear it will discourage referrals.
And what is the result?
The result is the lie that pedigree dogs are in trouble because of puppy mills or "backyard breeder."
In fact, pedigree dogs are in trouble because authors, breeders, veterinarians and dog trainers are loathe to tell the truth!
Instead of parking the blame where it needs to be parked, they whistle past the problem.
_ _ _ _ _
End note added three weeks later: The book is not the oped . The book is better than fine, and does not stray on to the cracked ice that the op-ed does. Susan Orlean's book is written a straight forward account of what happened to the original Rin Tin Tin and the replacesment and bogus ones that followed. It is an interesting tale worth the read! Buy the book, skip the op-ed!
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- Related Links:
** Let's Do to Horses What We Did to Shepherds
** The AKC Helps Sell Puppy Mill Dogs for Petland
** The Wrecked German Shepherds of Crufts
** A Battle of Britain in Which the Germans Must Win
** The G in GSD Stands for Gimp
** Shitzhund Work at the AKC
** The Beam in the Eye of Kennel Club Breeders
** Making and Breaking Dogs In the Show Ring
** All at Sea at the AKC
** A Short History of Dog Training
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3 comments:
"...and in recent years the American Kennel Club, among other organizations, has done its best to discourage it,..."
In what alternate universe is this woman living? Most of the GSD lovers I know, myself included, can not stand to watch the parade of deformity that passes for show dogs. If you still want one, and darn it all, I do - you have to scour shelters and "rescues". Usually you end up with a dog decently put together that is a behavior project. Once you get that part under control, you have a great companion.
We recently got a tiny GSD girl from a shelter who has showed a HUGE aptitude for herding. Once we get a bit of the timidity about life in general sorted out, she's gonna be HUGE fun.
I disagree that the breakdown in the GSD comes from "contrived Kennel Club conformation standards." The GSD standard has been in effect since before 1974 and we didn't see the wrecked dogs then that we do today.
The standard states: "The whole assembly of the thigh, viewed from the side, is broad, with both upper and lower thigh well muscled, forming as nearly as possible a right angle. The upper thigh bone parallels the shoulder blade while the lower thigh bone parallels the upper arm. The metatarsus (the unit between the hock joint and the foot) is short, strong and tightly articulated."
What this describes is a dog that is as upright in the rear as it is the front - obviously this is NOT what we see awarding in most show rings!
I have written briefly about GSD movement here: http://hurricanedeck.blogspot.com/2011/09/things-that-make-me-ill.html
Yes, which is why in two separate spots here I add "conformation standards and judging."
The AKC controls WHO judges and what they judge on, how they are trained and credentialed, etc. The KC controls every aspect of the show ring. The buck starts and stops with them.
As for movement, the most important movement, I argue is off the couch. If the GSD we actually tested in real work as Max von Stephanitz advocated, the dog would never has degraded as it has.
P
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