BACK FROM THE DOG SHOW!

[Die Fledermaus]

Back from the WKC Dog Show.

A great many photos later. And I, again, have some great ones.

MSG is under going renovation, and space is in shorter supply: the number of dogs has been cut down from around 2500 to just over 2000; next year it will be about 3500 as they will be in another location - www.chelseapiers.com/. That, apparently, will be for only one year, and then back to MSG. The evening competition, best in group, may be at MSG nonetheless. How many dogs will be in the competition then remains to be seen, after the full return to MSG in 2014,

Interestingly, even 2500 dogs is considered small by some standards.

This year, owing to renovations, the Toy group, and the Terrier group, on separate days, were in the MSG Theater. This made things a little inconvenient, but gave us a bit more space. It was still crowded: people complained, as usual, but we will all be back, as usual!

In the Benching area there was no arrangement by breeds; people parked wherever. This made finding breeds harder. In several cases I could not even find breeds I looked for, such as the Finnish Spitz. Perhaps the number of entries was small, and they were in crates when I walked by, and I walked by many times over many hours. Perhaps they were in the arena when I was in the Theater. I never did see an Alaskan Malamute, for example. except during the evening competition; and I only saw the back of a Komondor.

Pedigree used to be a sponsor, and their ads, even during the evening shows, made reference to helping the mutts in shelters. Pedigrees' smiling dog commercials were also quite funny in front of The Garden. But this year Purina is the sponsor. I asked a top AKC person, I think the president, and could get no answer. I had previously heard the AKC and Pedigree had a falling out over the shelter mutts issue. That would be too bad as no reference was made about them during the shows, also, a PeTA person started yelling about this before the Best in Show began. To be looked into.

When I got back after the first night the show was being rerun on TV. I saw it and recorded it. Sadly, I also found one of my pet rats (Jiggs) dead - he had been healthy the night before. More on that in the Memorial section of RR. But it was not on TV when I got back the second night for whatever reason. I suppose I will see it eventually: last year's was broadcast recently also.

I had the usual great time seeing the dogs and talking to the owners. The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (Toller) remains my favorite.
As for the results, it still seems (and is) highly subjective, especially when they get out of the Best of Breed competition and start comparing by groups of different breeds.

So, we ended up with a wide variety of finalists: Dalmation,Wire Haired Dachshund, Pekingnese, German Shepherd Dog, Kerry Blue Terrier, Irish Setter, and Doberman Pinscher.

And which won? Pekignese!

There was a palpable re-eaction of surprise to that choice, although it surely had fans. Most did not seem pleased. But my own subjective opinion is that the judge, more of a terrier expert, picked a dog that does not look like a dog, but looks more like some diminutive form of alien life from Outer Space. I am sure the dog's personality is sweet and it deserves respect, but nonetheless is the result of the most severe and extreme genetic tinkering by Man. The WKC should not be encouraging extremes in breeding by selecting such dogs. In years past some breeders complaining that judges were rewarding the more extreme characteristics of each breed, And the Pekingnese has long been the most extreme.

But I don't go there for the subjective results. A shame this year's result will encourage the breeding and characteristics of such Toy dogs that are the least natural of any.

Opinions on this are welcome.

For those interested see the link:
www.westminsterkennelclub.org/

[Die Fledermaus]

Forgot to add this.

The Komondor breeder told me that the Puli is no relation whatsoever to what seems like the much bigger version of it - the Komondor. The Hungarians bred them separately and specifically for that kind of fur to blend in with sheep - they had herding, and guarding, functions.

[pinky]

I saw a photo of the Best in Show dog and shuddered. Alien life form, indeed!

[Hamsters82]

I'm disappointed the Peke won. My mother and I thought the Dobie would get it for sure; he looked like he'd be the winner. That stance he took!

Ah, so that was the person being taken away. The camera got off of that pretty quickly. The Toller is my brother's favorite as well; whenever he can in the near future, I know he'll have one.

Yes, a lot of breeds look the same but aren't. The Samoyed and American Eskimo look the same, but are a separate breed as well; like many others. Their coats, the Komondor and Puli's, take a very long while to groom because the owner must go cord by cord.

The Peke, when groomed not to look like a show dog, are actually not that bad looking. They're in no way cute, but not ugly as the show dogs look.

[Die Fledermaus]

I suppose I posted the photo links elsewhere.

The size difference between the Samoyed and AED is significant. So if you know anything about the two breeds it should be easy.

I still need to bone up a little on spaniels and terriers.

[Hamsters82]

Go through a dog breed book like I do every month, sooner or later you'll recognize breeds. Okay maybe the Sammie and Eskie were too easy but so are the Kom and Puli (they have size difference on them too).

If you really want to get confused on non-AKC breeds, look at these three breeds:
1) Tatra Mountain Sheepdog: www.dogbreedinfo.com/images14/PolskiOwczarekPodhalanskiCIMG0383.JPG

2) Maremma Sheepdog: www.dogbreedinfo.com/images14/MaremmaSheepdogBeau11monthsold.JPG

3) Slovak Cuvac: farm3.staticflickr.com/2329/2339471837_6b64092aee_z.jpg?zz=1

Now if I didn't say what they were, would you have gotten them? Forget AKC breeds, they're easy (for some), now it's the rarities one must learn afterwards.

But you're saying "one thing at a time right"? With some people, we do both AKC registered, FCI and NR dogs.

[Die Fledermaus]

Oh my. I saw the three photos. I would have said a Great Pyrennes in all cases! How would YOU tell each of those tree apart, and apart from the Great Pyrennes?

[Hamsters82]

Those three still get me from time to time, but I just keep focusing on how different they look. I know what a Pyr looks like, so those three to me don't look like one.

See, after you get into the AKC breeds, you need to brush up on some FCI and NR ones.

[Die Fledermaus]

I need to work on spaniels and terriers first - some still fool me.

What do you SEE in those three dogs that makes each distinct to you?

[Hamsters82]

Some terriers are easy to get to know, others are bugger. Spaniels are relatively easy once you see how different they are from each other.

Some Tatra Mt. Sheepdogs have bigger heads and more of a fluffier tail that hangs over its back more than the others, bigger boned too. More like St. Bernard, big boned wise.

Maremmas resemble more of a Kuvasz/Pyr mix. Oh and the nickname for Great Pyrenees is Pyr, just to let you know. They aren't as big boned as the Tatra and not as fluffy.

The Slovak has sleeker fur, the head is shaped a tad different from the Maremma's. They look sleeker too, body wise. Almost as if they're the smaller of the three.

That's what I see.

[Die Fledermaus]

Yea, you have to look a lot, and then you notice stuff like that. I once knew a couple of twin girls. Looked identical! But after a month I could easily tell them apart.

[Hamsters82]

What sort of spaniels and terriers do you need help identifying?

[Die Fledermaus]

Ha! The ones I can't recognize!

www.akc.org/breeds/

Let's see which ones are especially hard to remember. Maybe more study will solve the problem!

Terriers: Glen of Imaal, Border, Manchester, Lakeland, Norfolk. Again, maybe more study will help, but when I see those, I go "Hmmmm, let me think. . ."!

Spaniels: Boykin, Sussex, Welsh Spinger. Same as above about study.

Think Spaniels will be their own Group some day?

[Die Fledermaus]

Nice new avatar/profile pict, btw.

[Hamsters82]

Thanks, I wanted to find a cool looking Pegasus.

The Sussex is easy to see because they are big boned and lower to the ground. They have huge paws and lumber when they walk.

A Welsh Springer Spaniel is lighter than that of the English SS. They're also leaner, ears are shorter, if you put them side by side you can easily tell the difference.

Boykin--still getting used to that one too, so I'll look at them again for you as well.

Glen of Imaal--huge head, low body, looks somewhat odd at some points. Always normally tan or gray in color.

Border T.--tall, proud looking, black and tan, longer tail than most terriers, square head, taller than most too (as in taller/leaner than say a Westie).

Manchester--just think of a Mini Dobie and taller than the Min Pin and you have a Manchester, but with a tail.

Lakeland--lighter color than the other terriers, smaller a bit too. That's what I go by.

Norfolk--this is an easy way to tell them a part from the others... Norfolk...make the F for the Folded Ears they have. Stocky build too.

Hope that helps a bit.