Had a good day at Crufts

[lankeela]

Took three of my own and showed two more for my friend. GSD was 4th out of nine, Heelers got a second, two thirds and a fourth. Better than I expected as our judge seemed to favour a particular kennel(!).

[FredPuli43]

Judging. I've known 2 years at Cruft's when I knew the Best in Show before the group stages were finished.Don't think my informant was psychic; he wasn't far from the trade Press though.
This year, a woman with cocker spaniels told she didn't enter one of her bitches because the judge didn't like 'golden' ones. This kind of prejudice, plus the surprising popularity, with some judges, of some kennels,has been going on for decades.
Best thing that's happened has been the introduction of foreign judges. That has had a particular effect on the more cliquey breeds (he said, carefully avoiding libel!).
Fashions change. This year, the best of breed golden retriever was actually possessed of a gold-tinged coat. Not golden but at least not snow white, that is.Could this be the reversal of a trend going back 40 years? The only gold ones around seem to be working ones.

Congratulations, Lankeela
.
Thugulike. of course I know your dog, and what sex he is.George is famous .How was I to know that "Thug" was a wife ? (Although, thinking about life...)

[RATTER15]

http://www.google.co....cJdT7-WN4qN8gPM-vTADg

Take a look at the Belgian shepherd the Malinois it shows the shape off perfectly, a great herding dog, currently being used to replace the German shepherd by the police force in this country "and in Germany". One leg in each corner firmly placed underneath the dog, not trailing behind and certainly no problems with power or its working ability

With regard to the Wolfhound being inseminated at 8.5 years old, No responsible Wolfhound owner would allow a Wolfhound to be mated after 6 years old, many Wolfhounds don't live much past 8 years so breeding from a bitch of that age would be ridiculous.

The Kennel club states that a Wolfhound must actually whelp by the time it reaches 8 years old or the resulting litter cannot be registered with them. So the Kennel Club has not made the ruling you mention.

[woofgang]

what ruling RATTER? cant see any thing in this thread.

[woofgang]

oh, okay on t'other thread....

[RATTER15]

Sorry Woofgang, im losing my way with these similar threads.

[Carakeel]

Congratulations, Lankeela! To be honest, I had never seen Lancashire Heelers before you said you had them. What characters they are!!! Lovely! How many do you have? On the subject of GSDs, I lived in Germany for 28 years, have been here in the UK for the past 23 now. When I was a youg girl I used to go to a riding school that also housed and trained all of the police horses in the state of Hessen. Quite often the police dogs were brought in (at that time all were German Shepherds), many were the what was called the Old German Shepherd with a longer coat. But in those days none had the pronounced sloping backs you see today and the hind quarters looked stronger. I have just been reading some of the German police magazines and there they lament that the GSD is no longer the traditional German police dog it used to be, due to the increase in hip dysplasia and other health problems. I do find this sad as I used to love them. Like with so many breeds, sometimes changes that are meant for the better go too far and sadly it takes generations to redress some of these problems. But I do miss the old type of German Shepherd I knew as a child.

[lankeela]

Ratter it is a KC ruling, but my post was to ilustrate the ridiculous comments made in the article you posted a link to, saying that some breeders were deliberately breeding dogs that did not live long so they could sell them another one! And the eight year limit on breeding bitches is for all breeds, although some breed clubs have brought in their own lower limits.

[lankeela]

Requirements for registration following AI
• All litters produced by AI will be subject to existing Kennel Club registration regulations.
• The General Committee will not normally accept an application to register an AI litter if the donor male is alive and domiciled in the United Kingdom, with one exception namely, that Irish Wolfhounds of 8.5 years or older and domiciled in the UK may be used as donors in AI.
• In the case of sterile dogs which have become sterile simply due to general degeneration, Committee will accept applications but normally only if the dog is over 12 years age (or 8.5 years for Irish Wolfhounds) and with appropriate veterinary support.

[lankeela]

Thousands of people and dogs and the first person I bump into in the ladies on the way in was thugulike!

[RATTER15]

So we are talking about taking semen from a male not inseminating a female!

Thats because Irish Wolfhounds rarely live to 12 years of age. No surprise there.

[lankeela]

My point being that the article referred to dogs not living long, and I consider 8.5 years not too old for a dog to still be capable of mating a bitch or else that breed needs looking at too! Don't want to fall out but you said yourself that Wolfies don't often live long, yet you were pointing the finger at Bulldogs and asking if they should stop breeding them fullstop.

[Booldawg]

the lady who took the ringcraft sessions we attended (about 12 years ago) was in the Heeler world.

[lankeela]

Which area?

[Booldawg]

she lived in West Sussex in between Fernhurst and Midhurst. Cant remember her name. LOL, she must be ancient now. Very eccentric but then again thats fairly general in the show dog world!