Whoa.... is Monica Barry an animal rights activist? Perhaps she, you know, gets jiggy-jiggy with the Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle? (This was the accusation by one desperate dog breeder re NBC anchor Natalie Moralis in an attempt to discredit the Today Show's item on the AKC last week.)
But no. A quick check reveals that Monica Barry is a Borzoi breeder and exhibitor of some repute.
And she wasn't the only one to offer an opinion on the AKC's Facebook page on the state of the modern show German Shepherd.
Be afraid, AKC.
someone has to have left the caption "nice legs". Love GSD's, hate what some breeders have done to them :-/
ReplyDeleteVP
AKC's version of the GSD is easy pickins. Apart from that breed and a handful of others, I doubt that much can be expected of AKC from "within". It's the "without" that's killing the AKC -- the declining registrations (due in part, ironically, to the kennel inspections of "high volume breeders", a/k/a commercial breeders, which has driven them to start their own worthless "paper" registries), the ineptitude of the public relations staff (to wit: the debacle on the NBC Today show last week), the tuxedoed attitude which is displayed whenever an AKC dog show is televised, and AKC's budget, which is spread too thin to be effective and is tightening every year. But hardly anybody "within" is about to recognize such things as the idiocy of many of the breed standards (and the AKC conformation judges who make matters even worse) and closed stud books.
ReplyDeleteAt least my breed, the cavalier King Charles spaniel, and a couple of others have independent clubs and registries which have the option to do a lot more in the areas of banning registration of pet shop puppies and genetic health. I'm not saying the CKCSC,USA is doing much of anything right now about genetic health (because it is stuck firmly in reverse drive right now on that topic), but at least it has the power to do so. Parent clubs in the AKC have no such power. -- Rod Russell, Orlando, Florida USA
Double standards. The requiem for a GSD was posted by user, who has a picture of dog with serve micromelic achondroplasia on his avatar.
ReplyDeleteI would be far more worried about all the comments verging on bestiality.
ReplyDeleteThe GSD is my second favorite of the larger breeds, always has been:>) I grew up watching Lassie and Rin Tin Tin and Roy Rogers 'wonder dog" Bullet. Like the beautiful dog pictured above..Rinty, and Bullet were sound, beautiful dogs..I will NEVER understand WHY the GSD breeders chose to breed them to the point of making them look more like Hyena's in the hind end then dogs. Just as I will never understand why England and some other european nations are breeding collies that look like shelties (and not very good ones at that) or chow mixes..with their over exaggerated coats, deep stops, over abundance of head hair and snipey muzzles. Lassie was certainly not a show quality collie..and as a collie breeder myself, I do not breed for the LASSIE look but for the CLASSIC collie. As years went by, Lassie did improve in over all quality. Until Bob Weatherwax produced the very beautiful Laddie..THIS folks is what a collie should look like and thank GOD we N. Americans have kept the form and function of our breed along with the beauty. I still love GSD, I always will..but I could never have one..not like they are now:<( Even the littlest Hobo GSD's had good sturdy rears without the over exaggeration of angulation we see in the show ring today. R.I.P Rinty, Hobo and Bullet.
ReplyDeleteLove some sass. We have a GSD and we foster through a GSD rescue. Obviously love the breed; obviously devastated by the state of health of the dogs that come in to the rescue. These "purebreds" are crippled at 3, 4 years old. Heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is PRICELESS!!!
ReplyDeleteBRAVO, Ms. Berry!!!!!
Here Here! Monica Barry!
ReplyDeleteThe AKC has devalued their brand completely as they kept making deals in the short run for long term disaster. Articles about unhealthy inbred dogs have been appearing for several decades, and the AKC kept doubling down. If AKC registration means nothing - and they admit it does not - then why shouldn't every breeder start their own registration? Becoming the label for sick and deformed dogs has not been a great business plan.
ReplyDeleteGerman Shepherds should just stay in the AKC obedience,tracking,herding and agility trials instead,there they don't need sloping hocks or roach backs.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, Ms. Barry's attitude is fairly common in sighthound circles. Looking at the OFA hip rankings of sighthound breeds, that's not terribly surprising either...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful dog. Beautiful woman.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch what has happened, and what is still happening, to dogs, it makes me sad. And when i think about the foolish and cruel directions that some supposed dog-lovers have gone - i am taken back by the craziness of human reason. Why did so many people lead their dogs down the road to ruin?
Was it an example of Group Think? Was it like the Jim Jones suicide cult? Were the breeders like sheep following their leader without thinking about where they were going? Or did they just simply not care about the dogs?
Who will be the breeders, the clubs, and the good people who will help lead breeding onto a better path?
And the weirdest question of all: Will the Wrong Way Breeders accept guidence or will they say "I don't care if this path does lead over a cliff into the sea; I have been on this path for years, and me and my dogs are not going to change directions now!"
I fear the answer will not be based on reason.
Maybe I can help. For those of you who believe that the kennel clubs are helpless, I say that there is more than one way to change a breed standard.
ReplyDeleteLet the stuborn old breeders keep their sick dogs, and let them hang onto there weird breeding. Just ignore them. All a kennel club has to do is simply recognise a new standard under a new name.
For example: a few GSD breeders could work together to write up a new standard for a breed to be named "Alsation" or "British Shepherd Dog". Then the kennel club accepts those dogs as "Alsations" with health tests, working titles, and allowable outcrosses.
CKCSs become "Prince Spaniels". And Prince Spaniels require health tests.
The clubs can still save the breeds. Think outsie of the box.