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Betterment Of The Breed


Silverblue
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I think with the ageing and passing away of many breed doyens, and what I see as the emergence of the ribbon chasing generic showdog types, across many, many breeds, yes - breed loyalty, long term knowledge of one's breed is fading with some.

Recently at our kennel club show, we did a parade of breeds, and I was horrified when we approached some breeder/exhibitors for a short bio on their breed - and they had NO IDEA of the breeds origins or history. I was truly shocked and saddened.

Its seems to be quite common now to 'get out of' such & such a breed, having a breed for five minutes & then 'placing' them all, to move onto the next. :-(

but every now and again you meet someone who is passionate about their breed's history & future :-)))

fifi

edited to add more musings !

Edited by fifi
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I think with the ageing and passing away of many breed doyens, and what I see as the emergence of the ribbon chasing generic showdog types, yes - breed loyalty, long term knowledge of one's breed is fading with some.

but every now and again you meet someone who is passionate about their breed's history & future :-)))

fifi

sadly I have to agree.

but add for the almighty dollar as well

yes there are people who are passionate about their breed. They are out there

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Has this term become extict ???

I don't think the wallies breeding blue , would even know what it means...

It means different things to different breeders but who are they kidding if the production of thousands of blue Stafford pups is going to contribute anything to the breed. The majority are breeding blue to blue and when they aren't or there is a decent dog or bitch in there somewhere, they are just robbing the gene pool.

Edited by ReadySetGo
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I think with the ageing and passing away of many breed doyens, and what I see as the emergence of the ribbon chasing generic showdog types, yes - breed loyalty, long term knowledge of one's breed is fading with some.

but every now and again you meet someone who is passionate about their breed's history & future :-)))

fifi

sadly I have to agree.

but add for the almighty dollar as well

yes there are people who are passionate about their breed. They are out there

There are some of us that are still breeding for the betterment of the breed and we live by this statement......but the odds are stacking up against us cos it is becoming extinct cos too many are breeding for the money.

Edited by Shazzapug
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It is true in some cases I am sure. I can only be guided by the experience and great mentors I have in my breed, but unfortunately they are all over seas based!

The almighty dollar and the blue ribbon has certainly over run the bettering of any breed in a few instances as we lose the "mature" and experience to this!

I am fortunate as I have "excellent examples" and as the only two the blue ribbon, but the satisfaction of competition is costly as I have to import more to compete against myself! But I consider this to be advantageous in the betterment of the breed itself for Australia and I am hopeful the breed, as guided by the knowledge of the true Xoloistas worldwide.

Knowledge cannot be bought it must be respected and earned.

JMHO

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Not extinct. I know or know of several excellent breeders who have mentors and are passing on their standards. So long as this is happening, excellence will continue to exist. I'd guess that excellence has always been rare and old fashioned people who can't see all the fuss and just put a dog they like over a bitch they like have always been the majority.

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The term is very subjective. I personally have never really liked it. It is often given lip service, but how many actually stop and think what it means in terms of their breed? How do you make your breed 'better'? 'betterment of the breed' implies changing a breed.

I prefer to think of it in terms of 'preserving' the breed. I don't think my breed itself needs to be better in any way and who am I to say what should be changed to make it better. Personally I think it rather presumtuous for me to say I am 'bettering' the breed.

What I DO want to improve is individuals within the breed - so that they continue to preserve the breed as a whole and put it in a good position to continue to go forward into the future. A totally different prospect.

:thumbsup: JMHO

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The term is very subjective. I personally have never really liked it. It is often given lip service, but how many actually stop and think what it means in terms of their breed? How do you make your breed 'better'? 'betterment of the breed' implies changing a breed.

I prefer to think of it in terms of 'preserving' the breed. I don't think my breed itself needs to be better in any way and who am I to say what should be changed to make it better. Personally I think it rather presumtuous for me to say I am 'bettering' the breed.

What I DO want to improve is individuals within the breed - so that they continue to preserve the breed as a whole and put it in a good position to continue to go forward into the future. A totally different prospect.

:thumbsup: JMHO

Well said. I tend to follow that same thought process as I have a breed that only 60 years ago, was on the brink of extinction. I"m not saying that this breed doesn't have ongoing issues that need to be addressed though. My opinion of the weakness however, is not the same as another breeders and neither of us is wrong for our thoughts.

I have always believed that when I speak of bettering the breed, I am not looking at changing the entire population, but fixing the issues that are apparent in my own yard. We all want the best dogs we can get, but we all know no dog is perfect....fixing an issue like feet, might result in a neck length we don't prefer...so next time...try to fix that....if we are doing things well, many of us will be able to say that generation x was better than generation w in some areas, and generation y is better than the one before in other areas.....we are in fact, bettering the breed.

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Betterment of the breed in my case as the breed was a total of 70 dogs in 1950s, is an attempt to get the purity back to the breed and eliminate the parts that were manmade rather than naturally selected( as the breed should be) .

I do not think the terrible exaggeration of the standards in some breeds ( man made breeds) has been of any benefit to the breed or the Dog World.

We as Xolo owners are responsible for brining the breed back from the brink with pure specimens and eliminating the lines that have had input from other breeds. The breed has a CPR registry where pure Xolos can be registerd from the deserts pending DNA samples and proof of input.

I believe one can always strive to a breed standard ( maybe betterment is a tough term) but in my eyes there is no perfect dog that matches a standard, let he who has a perfect dog stand up!!

JMHO and why we all strive to better the breed ?

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I have always believed that when I speak of bettering the breed, I am not looking at changing the entire population, but fixing the issues that are apparent in my own yard. We all want the best dogs we can get, but we all know no dog is perfect....fixing an issue like feet, might result in a neck length we don't prefer...so next time...try to fix that....if we are doing things well, many of us will be able to say that generation x was better than generation w in some areas, and generation y is better than the one before in other areas.....we are in fact, bettering the breed.

Yes I think this is important,

Also my idea's on "bettering the breed" include on having problem free dogs in your breeding program, with the help of DNA testing this is becoming a lot more common now days, but also includes dog with other genetic problems, those that can't be "tested" for but we all know are lurking in our lines, be it loose eyes, splayed feet etc.

Each generation we breed should hopefully be better than the previous one.

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I think with the ageing and passing away of many breed doyens, and what I see as the emergence of the ribbon chasing generic showdog types, yes - breed loyalty, long term knowledge of one's breed is fading with some.

but every now and again you meet someone who is passionate about their breed's history & future :-)))

fifi

sadly I have to agree.

but add for the almighty dollar as well

yes there are people who are passionate about their breed. They are out there

There are some of us that are still breeding for the betterment of the breed and we live by this statement......but the odds are stacking up against us cos it is becoming extinct cos they are breeding to win.

+2

Someone once told me the phrase that comes to mind

"Trash with Flash" LOL!

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Define betterment of the breed.

I think my definition would be improving on what I have, and when I reach the standard that I feel epitomises the breed, work to maintain & preserve that standard throughout the generations :( .. and with time, as more breed specific health testing becomes available, embracing it as a valuable tool to better the breed health wise as well. I think 'bettering the breed" goes a lot deeper than just the written standard.

Edited by LuvMyWhiteShep
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And winning in the show ring doesnt always necessarily mean that you are bettering the breed.

Do I need to explain more????? or do people get my drift??? :laugh:

I could be way off, but are you referring to the types that just breed & never step a foot into the show ring?

Personally, I think it's still a handy tool being compared against your peers. :)

Edited by LuvMyWhiteShep
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