Gone To The Dogs

My life is more than a little crazy as I have two time-consuming hobbies, but being recently retired I hope to have more time for both. I've been showing dogs since 1967, but about 10 years ago decided to cut back on dogs and dog-related activities and add an "easy" hobby, like a tank of fish. I STILL breed and show dogs, but many tanks later I also keep a variety of aquarium fish. Hiking,gardening, writing, reading, cooking, and (especially) dining out are also favorite activities.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Just Blowing Off Steam

Does no one read the standard? Certainly quite a few judges seem to have forgotten,
"The neck is nicely arched, fairly long, free from throatiness, and blends smoothly into the shoulders. The back is level and strong." Is that so hard? Where does it say that Dalmatians have a right angle neckset and a ski slope topline? Why do we have so many of them? They are not part of the correct Dalmatian outline. Another thing I wonder is whether or not they understand what this means - "The hindquarters are powerful, having smooth, yet well defined muscles. The stifle is well bent. The hocks are well let down." Do they KNOW that Dalmatians are supposed to have short hocks (actually short rear pasterns)? The distance from the point of the hock to the foot should be short, because this is a trotting breed, not a sprinter.