OT: IvyJane Update

Yes blue eyes go with Huskies. With mals it is a no, no and not up to A.K.A breed standards.

Fred

At long last the UK Kennel Club is revising its standards but the breeders are complaining.

or

None too soon.

I found it really sad to see what happened to the British Bull dog, Dachshund and Peaks. I think the Mastiff is another breed that is in trouble also. My father and I stopped breeding Cocker Spaniels 30 years ago when we couldn't find replacement stock with any brains left in them. I am of the opinion that when it comes to unpredictable dog attacks on humans the cocker is worse than the pit bull. I could probably pick out every malcontent cocker out of a hundred with 99% accuracy just by looking at them. Those malcontents wag their tails one second and bite the next - too much inbreeding.

One of the ways for the Kennel Clubs could help to protect the animals would be to prohibit Kennel Club registrations of puppies from the same bitch twice in the same 12 month period. I won't hold my breath on that idea, there is too much money involved. I have no quarrel with some hair/fur conditioners being used but some of the hair spray, starch and powders being used on the toy poodles makes me want to puke! I might add that back combing any dog to make it look fluffier than normal makes me want to scream! I guess that is why I haven't participated in the shows for a long time.

I like the northern working dogs and there are storm clouds of interbreeding on the horizon for those poor dogs as well. The Mals appear to be going in two different directions; smaller, fluffier for show and larger for pets; neither one getting the exercise that they need; neither one being fed properly and now being subject to bloat and aspirated pneumonia. A potential giant Mal puppy can be ruined by improper feeding, especially over or under calcium intakes measuring in the 1/2%s. Then there were a few idiots that bred the Mals with wolves thinking it was a cool thing for the public to have a dog that looked like a wolf when in fact the outcome was neither. Thank goodness the wolf interbreeding has now been made illegal here. The so called wolf hybrids remaining are being kept in shelters and allowed to die off. I supported the wolf re-habitation in Idaho and Yellow Stone because it was needed but to bred them with dogs was nuts. The Mals are bigger and nicer looking just as they are. Off my rant......

Fred

Rant away. I have very similar thoughts about the Maltese. The show dogs are tiny, scrawny little things that live a good part of their lives wearing hairnets and curlers to keep their silky hair from matting. They use powder under their eyes to keep them from getting brown, or reddish marks and they generally treat the poor things like an ornament. The breed standard for show dogs is 4-6 lbs. and some of those pups are starved to keep them at that weight.

Anything bigger, and Puff is one of the bigger ones, is considered pet quality. Another very big problem is that since the breed got so popular the puppy mills are turning them out one after the other and doing it with a lot of genetic problems.

I'm anxious to see if the American Kennel Club ever gives in and changes some of the rules to benefit the animals and not the breeders. Lucille

VBS -- we humans have done too much harm to the dogs and cats we profess to love. I'll take my "not so perfect" rescue babies over those "perfect" show animals any time. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

RUMOR HAS IT . . . my name was mentioned on this newsgroup. That has to be a field record . . . how does it begin? "And after almost 7 years of absence . . . " Hello Fred, Sheena, and everybody else. Life is good in Las Vegas! I have one of the most successful country show bands in the city and have performed at some of the major casinos out here (Golden Nugget, Excalibur, etc.) No woodshop anymore but I did build all the redwood furniture in our backyard. If you're in Las Vegas, come see us!

Jim Mc (aka Jimmy Mac) formerly Future Collectibles.

Jim McNamara, right?? All afternoon I was trying to bring the name to the front of my mind, because I always enjoyed your posts. Glad to see you are still around, Jim

With a DH named Jim, one would have thought the name would have popped up in the forefront of my memory.

I am glad you are doing well and obviously enjoying a new life. That is what it is all about....life is a book, each chapter changes, and if you are lucky, it is an adventure story.

Best wishes.

Gillian, Florida.

Bad etiquette to post to oneself, but I thought no-one would recognise our old friend Jim from Texas!

Gillian

If you're doing things correctly, chances are you aren't making much money breeding dogs. The people who make money doing it are usually cutting corners somewhere.

And very few people I know breed dogs FOR dog shows. The point of the dog show is to be sure that breeding stock is of breeding quality. If your dog can't get a championship in competition with other dogs, you have no business breeding it, especially if your goal is to help maintain and improve the breed. If you think there's no reason to continue breeding purebred dogs, you're welcome to your opinion. I'm happy to disagree.

Elizabeth (and her two very spoiled Belgian Tervuren)

If you're doing things correctly, chances are you aren't making much money breeding dogs. The people who make money doing it are usually cutting corners somewhere.

And very few people I know breed dogs FOR dog shows. The point of the dog show is to be sure that breeding stock is of breeding quality. If your dog can't get a championship in competition with other dogs, you have no business breeding it, especially if your goal is to help maintain and improve the breed. If you think there's no reason to continue breeding purebred dogs, you're welcome to your opinion. I'm happy to disagree.

Elizabeth (and her two very spoiled Belgian Tervuren)

I have no objection to proper breeding. There's nothing so beautiful as a perfect, graceful, well groomed and happy dog. My objection is when some of the breeders behave as though they're working with inanimate objects and don't care at all if they produce healthy animals and treat them like (well) animals.

Some of those show dogs lead miserable lives. Certainly not all, but enough to make me uncomfortable. And, of course, I get nuts when I read about the puppy mills. As soon as a particular breed gets popular, you see dozens of puppies in pet shops, many of which are simply not healthy. Look at the statistics with bad hips and German Shepherds.

Night, night,

Not bad etiquette Gillian - just good taste! LOL! Life truly is better the "last" time around!

Jim (from Texas and now in Vegas.)

Howdy Do Jim -- we were pestering Dear Fred (novel idea, right?) and I posted about that wonderful photo you put together about him in a tutu. I couldn't for the life of MOI remember your name but I remembered you lived in Texas and did woodworking, etc. So Dear Fred was kind enough to send me your photo and the link to your band, etc. I'm just sorry I didn't know about it last month -- DH and I were in Las Vegas for a few nights I would have really enjoyed coming to see your group perform. It's good to hear from you and don't give up the "wood stuff" -- you were just too good at it to leave it behind. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

On 1/16/09 11:36 PM, in article snipped-for-privacy@35g2000pry.googlegroups.com, "Jimmy Mac" wrote: SNIP

Hi Jim! glad to see you again and listen to a little Texas style country.

Cheryl

I don't have to look at the statistics. There's a reason I have dogs who look like a German Shepherd/Collie cross instead of either Shepherds or Collies. *grin*

Elizabeth

LOL! That's exactly what I tell people about my Tervs. If you've never seen one, they look like Collie/Shepherd crosses. People stop us in the streets here in Salem to ask about them - they're truly stunning dogs. And I always make sure to emphasize that this is a breed that needs a job. If you don't give them one, they'll find one, and you might not like what they pick!

Elizabeth

LOL! That's exactly what I tell people about my Tervs. If you've never seen one, they look like Collie/Shepherd crosses. People stop us in the streets here in Salem to ask about them - they're truly stunning dogs. And I always make sure to emphasize that this is a breed that needs a job. If you don't give them one, they'll find one, and you might not like what they pick!

Elizabeth

I think a friend of mine in Brooklyn may have had a Tervuron. He was a beautiful brown/black dog, about the size of a medium Shepherd and really sweet. What I remember most was the gorgeous lionlike mane around his neck. I think I remember he was a Belgian something.

You can see some examples of Terv males here, starting with Cash's father and brothers

You can see some examples of Terv males here, starting with Cash's father and brothers

That looks just like the dog I remember. He was definitely a keeper.

The owners were Esther and Sid. Now if I could only remember the important information like the dog's name I would be happy. :*)