Powder Puff V's Hairless

[ashaflynn]

.....shame a hairless dog breed became a shave and veet breed, a hairless dog breed ( as in the hairless crested should be just that HAIRLESS) sadly its now common to veet and shave most Cresteds in order to attain the furnishings that win......

I think you'd be pleasantly surprised to see how many 'hairless' dogs are being shown in Victoria these day. Yes .. there are still a number of 'hairies' getting around - particularly seen in a lot of the European and American imports - however a number of us are putting naturally hairless dogs (that still have reasonable amounts of furnishings) in the ring and they are being recognised by the judges. Sure ... you do get the judges that simply won't look past the glamour pusses that are dripping with furnishings and as such are often extremely hairy - but the tide is slowly turning with some judges out there. The other issue we are facing at the moment in our quest to produce naturally hairless dogs of sound conformation and temperament is .... do you "throw the baby out with the bathwater?" Would any good breeder with the best interests of the breed at heart breed on with a naturally - or 'true' hairless dog that is lacking in structure and/or temperament over a slightly hairier counterpart that has superb conformation and temperament? True hairless dogs can - and do - produce hairy offspring - and the opposite also applies - hairies can also produce true hairless.

I know personally that my quest is to breed as naturally hairless dogs as possible whilst maintaining/improving the conformation. I refuse to go on with any extremely hairy dogs and will desex any produced but you can't dismiss great dogs (even with some body hair) from your program due to the unknown element of volume of hair a dog may or may not produce. As with all breeds out there it's trial and error to try and improve the breed but unless the judges see the true hairless infront of them they'll never be recognised. Those people who want to breed extremely hairies to 'win' in the ring have their priorities wrong .... it's just a ribbon and some points! The whole point of this is to improve the breed as a whole!

A good Puff will always shine thorugh if it is quality and a good judge knows his or her standard!

I completely agree with you ... however it's the "knows his or her standard!" bit that's the problem! Again this will hopefully improve with time ... but the Puff's have to be out their in the judges' faces to get the recognition they deserve!

IMHO a hairless breed should be that HAIRLESS with no human intervention bar a little facial tidy up whiskers etc.

But thats just my opinion on hairless breeds.

[Wazzat Xolo]

I couldn't agree with you more Wazzat. They aren't supposed to be the pretty dogs we see in the show ring. True hairless cresteds are quite ugly (but cute in their own way :) ) never see them anymore. I've been put off on purchasing another crested until I can get one that doesn't require endless amounts of shaving. I'm happy to wait until I can find one with minimal body hair.

It's also a shame that people wanting hl pets (like me when I got my first hl) can't get a hl dog that doesn't require shaving. No one wanting just a pet wants to have to shave them! And I don't think pet people are told of the types (extremely hairy etc) and the work involved in upkeep enough.

Very true Beth and a very sad outcome of what was once a hairless breed, but I have seen some outstanding Puffs and they are sure getting out there and recognised. Nothing can beat their characters ( ok a Xolo !!) but my 13 year old CC is still a clown!