… meantime we can use the drawings from Alan Mitchells book (with hispermission) to explain what we are looking for in photography. Dish-faced – A slight concaveness of foreface, the tip of the nose is higher that the stop, when viewed in profile. Down-faced – where the muzzle inclines downward from the skull to nose .
No one can predict when or even if a dysplastic dog will start showing clinical signs of lameness due to pain. There are multiple environmental factors such as caloric intake, level of exercise, and weather that can affect the severity of clinical signs and phenotypic expression (radiographic changes). There is no rhyme or reason to the severity of radiographic changes correlated…
I make this statement at the expense of being tarred and feathered but increasingly, the best dog youll ever breed may be the hardest dog you will ever finish. It will be the odd man out and look different from the majority of dogs represented in the ring. Why? Some judges, insecure in a breed…
Your article on bite was very good; however, in spite of the AKC’s breed description as to bite and the acceptability of a “level” bite, you indicate that the “level” bite is undesirable. It may be undesirable in England but in the US, it is acceptable. This leaves judges and others who are not familiar…
Breed Type. You should know it when you see it. Richard Beauchamp put it this way Breed type is such an elusive thing It is something that cant be taught but it can be learned. Even when type is present to the fullest, one person may see it and the person next to him may…
Hereditary Cataract in Staffordshire Bull Terriers has been recognised as an inherited condition since the late 1970s. Affected dogs develop cataracts in both eyes at an early age. The condition is not congenital, so the lenses are normal at birth but cataracts appear at a few weeks to months in age, progressing to total cataract…
The muzzle should start wide and deep. The depth is achieved by a powerful underjaw which can be compared to a familiar object. Make a fist of your hand and look at the shape produced when you look at the thumbside by the second joint of the first finger down to the back of the…
Imagine a class of fifteen dogs entering the ring. Twelve are similar. Three are different. Those who do not fit in are excused in the cut. The other twelve are again judged. Puzzled, observers question why outstanding individuals walked. Does being different translate as being incorrect to the standard? Why does a judge choose from…
Owing to the different angles of the spines of the vertebrae from the withers to the tail, it will be seen that the top-line could never be absolutely level. Obviously, since the spinal processes are in four distinct areas and in each area they incline in different directions, where they do meet there has …
On the Saturday morning I was a bit concerned that Dot wasnt settling and one of the puppies wasnt suckling so well. The vet advised that I bring them along for a check up. Having been thoroughly checked Dot was pronounced well but given a calcium shot, an antibiotic shot and an oxytocin shot as…
The aim of any control measures must be simply to prevent any clinically affected animals being born and eventually to eliminate the defective ‘x’ from the breeding population. With the development of laboratory tests for the recessive genes that cause the two conditions (tests of L-2-HGA are already available) the first step must be not…
Most show fanciers these days simply wont admit that the breed has changed quite a bit from the original types, and such an attitude isnt hard to understand when one realizes the very people who are supposed to give them guidance encourage the breeding and perpetuation of the trendy, exaggerated type. Usually these are the…