Performance Anxiety

There are almost no dogs at any given time among the nation’s top 100 show dogs that have field or performance titles.

If you think that is an exaggeration, take a look at the list of the 100 top show dogs in one of the May issues of Dog News. There were exactly three that had proof that they could do the breed’s historical job: two Herding breeds – a Bouvier des Flandres now with a herding championship that makes him a dual champion and a Rough Collie with a pretrial-tested title – and one Sporting dog, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever with a master hunter title. Any way that’s sliced, it adds up to a whopping three percent. 

If you go to the top dogs in the Sporting and Herding breeds, the two groups for which hunting or herding titles have been available the longest, the picture improves slightly. Breeds having dogs with a JH or better among the top show dogs for the individual breed in the Sporting Group were the German Shorthaired Pointer (3), Chesapeake Bay Retriever (2), Flat-Coated Retriever (4), Golden Retriever (1), Labrador Retriever (1), Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (1), English Setter (1), Boykin Spaniel (1), Sussex Spaniel (1), Spinone Italiano (2), Vizsla (3), Weimaraner (2), Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (3) and Wirehaired Vizsla (1). There were no dual champions among the top show dogs in any Sporting breed. 

Chesapeake Bay Retriever Hank (MBIS GChS Sandbar’s Hardcore Hank MH QAA) was a highly successful show dog who, at the same time, was a master hunter and qualified all-age dog in retriever field trials. Hank’s owners are Adam Levy, Diane Baker and Andrew Barbouche.

Excluding both the Lagotto Romagnolo and the Nederlandse Kooikerhondje, since hunting mushrooms and being strictly a tolling dog would not be of much help for either of these breeds in AKC retriever or spaniel hunt tests, that means that less than half of the 30 remaining Sporting breeds could muster so much as a junior hunter title among the breed’s top show dogs. In fact, of the 245 or so dogs with BIS, RBIS or group-placement points in May, only 25, or a hair more than 10 percent, had so much as a JH.  

The Herding Group fared even worse. Of the 32 herding breeds, only the Bearded Collie (2), Belgian Sheepdog (1), Border Collie (2), Bouvier des Flandres (1), Rough Collie (1), Smooth Collie (1) and Puli (1) had a herding-tested title or better. In May, there were about 230 herding dogs with points from BIS, RBIS or group placements. Nine of these 230 dogs had an HT or better. This means that slightly less than four percent of these top show dogs had proven they could do at least the bare minimum work expected of breeds whose reason for being was to herd livestock.

The Sighthound folks seem to have done the best at making certain their show champions can do what their breed was supposed to do. Including the Italian Greyhound, nine of the 15 Sighthound breeds have managed to have one hound with least a Junior Courser title. Some, like the Ibizan Hound (5), Pharaoh Hound (5), Saluki (3), Cirnecho dell’Etna (2) and Greyhound (2) have more than one hound with a JC or better among their top show dogs. The other breeds having one hound with a lure-coursing title among their top show dogs were the Basenji, Borzoi, Scottish Deerhound, Whippet and Italian Greyhound. 

Whippet Claire (GCh DC BISS Runner’s Our Clarissa RATO DM CGC), a Best in Specialty Show winner, grand champion and field champion owned by Sharon Miller.  

Still, what all these numbers mean is that top show dogs that have any proof they can do what the breed was intended to do are pretty rare indeed.

So, why is the lack of titles in the jobs these top show dogs were meant to do important, to both the breeds and the fancy as a whole? Because, for one thing, this lack contributes ammunition to the naysayers who contend that show dogs can’t hunt, herd, pull carts, track down lost children and escaped convicts, run with a horse-drawn cart or carriage or do any of the other jobs that the various breeds were developed to do. That dog shows and dog show people have so thoroughly fouled up breeds that their dogs can’t do anything but trot around a ring and smile at the judges. That these beautiful-looking dogs are just pretty dogs and nothing more. That they have no brains, no prey drive and no biddability.

Standard Poodle Tye (Ch HRCH LeMerle Silk Tye MH MHU CD HPCX UWCX), a conformation champion with all three master retriever titles. Lin Gelbmann owned Tye.  

Sadly, sometimes this criticism is justified. Using Sporting breeds as an example, the dogs that show absolutely no interest in birds are often dogs whose pedigrees contain nothing but conformation championships. You can go back six generations and not find so much as a breed club’s working certificate, let alone any American Kennel Club, United Kennel Club or Canadian Kennel Club field title. While it may be possible, at least theoretically, for such a dog to become a decent performer in the field when its extended pedigree shows nothing but dogs with conformation championships, the odds definitely would not favor such an outcome.  

What’s more, the fashions and fads of the show ring have caused show lines in some breeds to no longer be physically capable of doing their historical jobs, or they are at a considerable disadvantage in trying to do that job. For example, the short legs that have become fads for some of the Arctic breeds hinder the dog’s ability to work in deep snow. They simply cannot jump high enough to get out of the snow because their legs are too short.  This can, quite literally, be a fatal weakness.

Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Gander (OHBISS GCh Cherished I’d Catch A Grendade For You BN WWDX NDD DD NWPD CGC) had great success in the Swissy club’s draft dog program and in weight pulling. Gander was Kim Woodland’s dog.  

There are a number of other fashion fads that create either structurally unsound dogs or breeds where a fashion whim hinders the dogs’ ability to do their real job. Number one on the list is poor angulation, and that is so closely followed by excessive coat it would have to be designated 1A. The goal of the fancy should be a dog that can show on Saturday and run in a field or herding or lure-coursing or agility test or trial on Sunday, which means it is necessary to have a dog that is balanced and moderate. On long-coated breeds, excessive hair is often used to disguise serious conformation flaws, and for Sporting or Working breeds, where the dog’s job often requires it to swim, excessive hair coat can be downright dangerous. 

But the lack of top show dogs doing the breed’s historical work doesn’t need to be that way. All that’s required is a change in thinking among folks whose primary interest is dog shows, and that includes conformation judges. 

Vizsla Trip (BISS RBIS DC GCh Boulder’s N Fusion’s Power MHA ROM), owned by Mel Reveles, Judy and Ed Hetkowski and Aaron Davis.  A rare achiever, Tripp was a dual champion that also won a specialty.

Step one: It’s going to be necessary to put aside the notion that what’s currently winning in the show ring is an ideal specimen of the breed and start paying a lot more attention to the standards. It’s important for everyone – breeders, exhibitors, handlers and judges alike – to remember that, for the most part, the standards were written by people who actually used those breeds for the purpose for which the breed was developed.  

While every participant in dog shows bears some responsibility for preserving the standards, the buck finally stops with the judges, as they have the power to withhold placements from dogs that are not structurally sound enough to do the job the breed was intended to do. Judges need to keep uppermost in their minds what the breeds they are judging are supposed to do when judging them in the conformation ring. They need to judge their breeds’ conformation based on whether it helps or hinders their ability to do their work, and if they don’t know whether a particular conformation trait is a help or a hindrance, they need to find out from the people in the breed who are actually doing that sport or work with their dogs.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi Belli (GCh DC MACH5 PACH Sandfox Rags to Riches CDX RE HSADs HSBd HIAds HxAd MsM MXC MJS 2 MP3 MJP4 MAX T2B TKI VPAX VCX), a triple champion (conformation grand champion, herding champion and agility champion) owned by Carol Donnely.

Step two: Breeders and owners need to re-evaluate priorities. The dog’s willingness to do the work the breed was intended to do, or some reasonable equivalent for those breeds whose historical purpose is now illegal, should be established BEFORE they put a paw in the show ring. For sporting breeds, for instance, that means establishing that the dog is birdy. (And by birdy, it doesn’t mean that the dog chases sparrows in the backyard.) For herding dogs, as another example, just because the dog likes to round up the neighborhood kids doesn’t mean it’s going to like or be capable of doing the same with livestock.  

It’s not that difficult to get a junior hunter, lure coursing or earthdog title, a herding instinct title, a novice barn hunt title or, if the breed was developed as a companion dog, a beginner novice obedience title, as the requirements for those titles are at the introductory levels. Breeds whose historical purpose was to be all-around farm dogs can earn a title in the AKC’s farm dog certification program. While the requirements for an FDC are not difficult, they do show that the dog is capable of the basic things needed for a good farm dog. 

For those breeds with no formal AKC program, such as a number of the Working and Non-Sporting breeds, many of the parent clubs have developed programs designed to test the dog’s ability to do the breed’s historical work, and virtually all of these programs also have an introductory level. Bloodhounds, for example, have a man-trailer program, Dalmations a road-dog test, Newfoundlands a draft-dog program and a water-rescue program, and there are many others. Many of these programs are approved by the AKC and thus these titles can appear on the dog’s pedigree.

Dalmatian Corey (BISS GCh CT Blackthorn Coreopis of Patch MTN RA OA OAJ RD CPC Can CDX) had proof he could do what the breed was intended to do with a road-dog title from the Dalmatian Club among his list of titles. Corey was Sara Pruyne’s dog. 

Clearly, there’s no lack of opportunities to demonstrate that a dog can at least do the basics of what the breed was meant to do. The problem apparently lies with convincing people whose primary interest is the conformation ring that these titles are not only very important and very necessary to the future of their breed, but that they need to put them on their dogs. It’s very possible and not all that difficult for a dog to be a good show dog and a good working dog at the same time. There are a number of people who have done it with their dogs.  

Welsh Terrier Bridget (GCh d’Asti’s Bridge Over Barneget Bay JE RATN RATO CGC) made grand champion and had an earthdog and two barn hunting titles. Bridget belonged to Mary Ellen Carney.

When you get down to the nub, the most important thing that a dog can do, particularly for the future of the breed, is the work for which the breed was intended. If the dog can’t or won’t do this work or some reasonable facsimile, it really doesn’t matter how many BIS, RBIS or group win or placement ribbons it has, as it’s not a true credit to its breed. Someday perhaps, if the folks in the dog-show world can get their priorities straight, the Bests in Show at Westminster and the National Dog Show will be dogs that are conformation champions and also have the proof at the end of their registered names that they can do what the breed was meant to do. For the good of both the breeds and the fancy as a whole, it can only be hoped that day is soon!