I am a Rottweiler owner. Rottweilers (in this country) are a docked breed. Our standard says so.
The AKC standard for my breed says, "Tail docked short". I can't for the life of me figure out why there are exhibitors that continue to enter, and have shown, Rottweilers with natural tails. Can't they read? I'm sure they can, but what about the judges? Do they know what our standard says?
There are many opportunities in various venues to compete with purebred dogs: the AKC, the UKC, European-style shows, agility, tracking, herding, obedience, etc, etc....And yet, I read things like, "it's my right to show my tailed dog, they can't excuse me for that!"....Well, yes "they" (being judges, I assume) CAN! If a person can't deal with the fact that showing a natural tail in our breed (in AKC conformation) means that your dog may get excused, then go to another venue!
The UKC, for example, allows either a docked or natural tail for my breed in conformation, so do the European-style shows. The AKC standard, however, says, "tail docked short"...our standard makes absolutely ZERO reference to a natural tail. (so, um, just how would an AKC judge "know" what a natural tail is supposed to look like since it is not described in our standard?)
I guess those that choose to enter and exhibit a tailed dog expect the judge to just overlook that tail...just take a guess at what it is supposed to be, when every other aspect of our breed is spelled out.
Far be it from me to tell people what breed to own, or what to do with them when it comes to breeding decisions, or whether or not to dock or crop. Yep, it's your choice on whether to enter your tailed dog or not; just remember that it is the JUDGE'S CHOICE to throw you out on your tail, or place your dog last.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
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I don't show my Poodles but I'm really tired of self-righteous people telling me how cruel it is to dock Poodle tails. I've seen docking done.About five seconds and they are back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to have much to say about dew claw removal and of course they love removal of sex organs.
Oh, yes, they love telling me that I'm evil on my FB video showing a dew claw removal. I've never heard of a serious issue from a dew claw removal (and plenty of the idiots think it's the same thing as a de-clawing), but I can speak first hand to spay incontinence, and it's horrible. In hind sight, I'd rather deal with an intact dog than have to deal with spay incontinence. And guess what, the drug I have to give her to stop her peeing in her sleep, undoes all the supposed benefits of early spay and has been shown to cause cancer in humans. OOOOh fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry: is it news to you that AKC judges don't judge according to the breed standard? Besides, if your breed standard doesn't identify a natural tail as a DQ, the judge can use his discretion to put up a Rottweiler with a tail, if he thinks it's the closest to the standard. Your beef is with your breed club NOT identifying it as a DQ.
ReplyDeleteBesides which: Let me know when you find ANY AKC breed in the conformation ring that looks like the breed standard, or like the breed SHOULD look. Have you seen a conformation Lab lately?
All but one of my dogs has/had dewclaws removed.
ReplyDeleteThe exception was a street rescue whom I got
at ten months old. Her dews had to be trimmed
frequently to keep them from growing into her leg
and causing major infection. Didn't seem to me
that they did her any good at all. As well,
Border Wars is right, except that there are really NO benefits to juvenile spaying. I have
a giant breed dog, intact like all my previous
dogs of the same breed. The very few times I
had to deal with incontinence due to a UTI were
horrible enough--flash floods soaking my bed,
requiring replacing the whole mattress. Intact
bitch is trouble? Duh. There's this great birth
control device that, properly used, works perfectly and is cheap and easily available. It's called a leash.