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My
responsibility ???
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Since the upstart of the internet world, I have got into
contact with breeders from all over the world.
Some of them contact me to ask my advise as to which stud to
choose for their next litter, probably because they have seen
some puppy from my kennel which they like, so I put a lot of
time and effort into trying to find a suitable partner.
I ask for pictures of the bitch and also her pedigree, to try
to form an opinion as to which stud will complement her in the
best way possible.
Sometimes I get pictures that show a very slender bitch with a
poor front angulation ,too high on her feet and with a top
line that is far from strong and level. Her owner wish for
puppies that are full of substance with strong bones and good
confirmation (Who does not wish for such puppies?)
When the bitch in question is so far from the type the breeder
wants, I feel I have to tell them this. My advise is to buy
another bitch or be prepared to breed at least three
generations always choosing a very strong stud of another type
than their bitch to, if they are lucky, achieve the wanted
type in the puppies.
This answer does not please the future breeder, and very often
I hear no more from him.
In spite of this I feel that my responsibility is to be as
honest as possible when asked for advise. It surprises me that
breeders believe they can get puppies completely different
from their mother. We all know that looks and confirmation
have a strong inheritability, and in these cases to get the
type of puppies they want they have to believe in miracles,
which as we all know do not happen very often.
The best way to get the wanted result is to only breed bitches
of the type you want, and if you do not own such a bitch, you
either buy one or prepare yourself for many years of hard
work, before you might get puppies of the type you like. By
then you might even have forgotten which type you prefer.
I also get questions from owners of a good type of brood
bitch(in my opinion) ,
I feel very happy to be able to suggest a stud of the correct
type, only to be told by the breeder that the stud I suggest
does not have a lot of details that this breeder looks upon
as a “must”. My answer is as always .”You have to establish
type before you can afford to correct details” If you breed
with an emphasis on details, you will never get the type
right!
In most cases the breeder does not believe me and mates his
beautiful bitch to a stud lacking in type, but with nicely
spotted ears, dark eyes and all teeth. The puppies turn out to
be lacking in type and some have light eyes, dark ears and are
missing some teeth.
Do you get my point? When the breeder contacts me again to
voice his disappointment, I feel like saying “I told you so!”
In spite of following my own advise as to breed from type, I
almost never get a litter where all the puppies are of the
same type as their parents, so it is very important to pick
the right one for myself and for those buyers that want a
puppy for future breeding.
If you carry on being true to type your next generation will
have fewer puppies of the unwanted type and the next even
fewer, and so on .So the most important rule when it comes to
breeding is: Choose breeding stock of the type you want in
your litters!! (,why make things more difficult then they
have to be?)
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According to plan?
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Perdita's Pernille-84
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Perdita's Over and Over Again-86
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We have all had our first litter, maybe five years ago or ten
or twenty....
I remember my first litters when I thought it was very easy to
get nice puppies, as I looked upon all of them as being “stars
to be”, at least if they had nice spots and good expressions.
These first puppies grew up and proved to be far from the well
built Dalmatians with nice outlines and strong movements that
I already was so fond of.
I had two bitch lines in those early days. One was strong and
well built (Perditas Pernille). While the other had beautiful
spotting, nice expression and nothing more(Perditas Over and
Over Again)They were very different, but both became
champions, so that proves how much this title is worth. If
there should be some justice in show results, clearly one of
these bitches got her title totally undeserving!!(Maybe even
both?)
I thought that if I mixed these two types, at least one puppy
would get the best from both, so I mated P.Pernille to the
brother of P. Over and Over Again.
What a disaster!!!! All the puppies from this combination were
far below average, and for some reason they were not even nice
tempered,
I was very disappointed, and at a loss as to what to do
next.....
I was told(by a well known breeder of poodles) to breed from
only one of my bitchlines, finding future studs of the same
type as the bitch. Now I had to decide which line to keep
breeding from. The choice was easy, as I preferred the
strongly built Pernille to the “beautiful” Over and Over
Again. The latter was sold to Iceland after having given me
one nice bitch in combination with Knight of Gold at
Theakston. This bitch(Perditas Memory Lane) became the mother
of Perditas Just in Time. So many years and generations later
I did mix my two original bitchlines, by using Just in Time.
Anyway, little by little I understood that breeding good
Dalmatians should prove very difficult .By good I mean dogs
that I liked and enjoyed watching, especially when moving.
By then after nearly ten years of breeding, always asking
other breeders what they thought about my planned
combinations, I became more and more certain as to which dogs
I liked and started to make my own decisions in stead of
asking everybody else, always getting answers that confused
me.
The first stud I “fell for” was Timankas Talented Clown ,
everybody except Anne K. Lund advised me not to mate my bitch
to this dog. I had however made up my mind, and the result of
this combination gave me P.Long Live Love(-90).(This was his
first litter)
The next stud was Dalmos Educated Edgar , and this time
everybody except his breeder had thousands reasons why I
should not mate my bitch to him. I went ahead, and got some
lovely bitches from him(-92).This was his first litter.The
next two came in -93 and-96.
Trine Senderud came visiting with her litter after T-cart
Popolus and Kjmo’s Alize.(-92)They were eight weeks old.
I straight away ”saw” Dalmings Easter Parade and bought him on
the spot. I never regretted this. He became the father of P.
Just in Time in his first litter and later P. Keen Observer,
and P. Inkasso.
I had by now become more confident as to which dogs I liked
and so made up my own mind regarding stud dogs, not letting
the opinions of others matter too much. These were as always
negative if the stud was not from their own breeding. I learnt
a lot from this , and it proved to be the only satisfying and
constructive way to go.
If you as a new breeder asks a more experienced one as to
which dog to choose for your bitch, and they only suggest dogs
of their own breeding, be aware, as this might only be a wish
to see their own breeding “in action.” not taking into
consideration which dog is most suited to your bitch. The
reason might also be that they do not know any other dogs
(which proves that their interest in the breed is rather
limited) or that their homebred dogs have been sold with a
contract and so are pocketing the mating fee, giving them even
an economic reason to suggest their own dogs.
The world of dog breeding is to say the least very confusing,
and the pitfalls are many!
Maybe the following advise might help you along:
First take a long, hard look at your bitch. Do you really like
her? Has she got the most important qualities of the breed?I
take it for granted that her health and temper leave nothing
to wish for. Don`t worry about details, but look at her
outline and her movements. She should be wellbalanced with way
winning movements(breed standard )If she is to your liking
,look for a stud of the same type. I would be very surprised
if they do not produce at least one good puppy. KEEP IT and
guard it as gold. This is your future. Mate the mother to
another stud of her type, not related to the father of her
first litter. KEEP the best puppy, and now you have
half-sisters not related on their fathers side but still of
the same type. Mate these two sisters with unrelated dogs of
the right type and you have cousins, and might start planning
your own line breeding. It sounds easy, but might prove very
difficult, so you have to have patience and perseverance. It
is absolutely necessary to line breed if you want to create
dogs that will prove themselves as good producers. Without
line breeding you only create more and more Dalmatians which
in most cases will have little impact on the breed.
Every breed needs breeders that try to create dogs, not only
for themselves, but for the breed. So start to depend on
yourselves as to which dogs to choose for your breeding. The
sooner the better!!
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The legendary Ch Snow Lepard from England
born in the 1920
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I have had quite a few discussions both with other breeders
and dog owners, when it comes to how important I think type
is.
Type for me is alpha and omega! So what do I mean by the word
type? A Dalmatian of the correct type, is a dog that fulfills
most of what the standard asks for in a good Dal I am very,
very careful not to change anything from this standard to suit
the dog I am going to breed from, and will always have to
accept some shortcomings.
The other breeder may say that for her health and temper are a
must and this is the most important issues for her when it
comes to breeding Dalmatians. This is of course very important
issues, but I usually answer that if this is so important,
why not breed “mixtures”? You can pick a dog of any breed that
you know has an excellent temper and good health and mate her
to a dog from another breed with the same qualities. Then you
should be sure to get puppies with good health and temper ,as
you would have thousands of animals to choose from..
I breed Dalmatians and then I owe it to the breed to try to
get the puppies as close to the standard as possible ,to me a
Dalmatian of poor quality in type and confirmation does not
become a good Dalmatian because he has an excellent temper
and ditto health.
I also suspect that when a breeder put such great emphasis on
health and temper it is partly because her dogs are lacking in
type.
When I pick animals to breed from I firstly have to find
specimens that are of a good, preferably excellent type. And
they have to be correct in the aspects where my bitch has a
lot to ask for. They should not be overdone when it comes to
these qualities ,but correct. If I have a poorly angulated
bitch I look for a correct angulated stud. He should not be
over angulated! A bitch with a snipy nose should get a stud
with a correct one, not one with a heavy muzzle.
So do I not put any importance on health and temper? Of course
I do, but I only investigate these issues if I like the type
of the dog in question. Another matter is, that it is very
difficult to get correct answers when you ask a breeder or dog
owner about these things, some of them get offended, and quite
a few will not understand what you are asking.
I have the same problems when I get a new visitor in my
kennel, and have found that the surest way to get a correct
answer is to ask if their dog likes strangers. If they answer
that the dog only accept women without glasses and with dark
clothes, I know I am in for a troublesome two weeks during
which this dog is supposed to be in my care. The same applies
when I ask an owner about a dogs temper, I ask very exact
questions. And in this way I can tell if the dog has a temper
suitable to my bitch. I use words like happy instead of
aggravated, quite in stead of shy ,nosy instead of roaming and
so forth...
My problem is that I find it more and more difficult to find
Dalmatians of an excellent type,and this is where we all have
to take responsibility, and maybe do something about it before
it is too late.
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My youngest bitch
is having her first litter and I have to stay put as she is
all the time checking that I am near by. So why not use this
opportunity to write a new topic.
I am as always
very concerned with science contra breeding, but as the
headline says I feel I am fighting a loosing battle. This
spring there will be a lot of litters born in Norway. Most
breeders put an ad on a very well known site for selling
pets. Yesterday I had a look at this site ,and one of the
Norwegian breeders had an ad that was a true copy of those I
read from breeders on the Continent. The parents were H.D:A,
BAER+/+ and had all teeth. This was then of course meant to be
information to help sell the future puppies. We all know
that these are in no way guaranteed to get all teeth, 100%
hearing or healthy hips, in spite of their “ excellent”
parents. Even worse such ads might give the impression that
most Dalmatians are deaf, toothless and having problems with
moving due to bad hips.
I can well imagine
that in a few years time this kind of ads will have even more
information about the parents test results, giving the public
and presumptive buyers an impression of very healthy pups. It
might even make it difficult for some to sell puppies from
untested parents .I am not against testing to know as much as
possible about ones breeding stock, but I am so very much
against excellent dogs in temper and confirmation being shut
out from breeding because they fall short in some tests that
give the answer to the status of this one
quality in the dog, and even more ridiculous when we cannot be
sure that the puppies inherit the same qualities as their
parents. So far we only exclude dogs with unhealthy hips and
unwanted colour from breeding in Norway, but I am very much
afraid that unilateral dogs will follow suit and as tests
increase in number, so will unused dogs..
Let us start with
hip dyspepsia, here we even have a rule in Norway that parents
must have healthy hips, even so the percentage of dogs with
healthy hips have not improved over the last 25 years, we
still have ca. 10% of the puppies developing unhealthy hips.
Even so it is very rare that a Dalmatian has to be put to
sleep because of troubles with their hips, so when all comes
to all maybe hip x-ray are not so important after all? I have
at least heard this stated from various veterinarians over the
years. They are shocked as to how much money is spent to x-ray
dogs hips, when the result of leaving out affected dogs is
zero.
Then the hearing
issue. We all know that 100% hearing dogs can give deaf
puppies just as the unilateral does. I take it that 100% deaf
animals are not bred from, but a test was carried out in
Sweden many years ago, showing that two deaf parents did not
give more deaf puppies in the next generations, than the
average in the population. The deaf puppies in Norway
constitute an average of between 3 and 4 % of all puppies born
( at the most 5-10 individuals) There are up to recently not
many Dalmatians tested, so we are sure to have some parents
that are unilateral, in spite of this the percentage of deaf
puppies do not increase.
The problem comes
when one has an outstanding dog that proves to be unilateral
and so will be excluded from breeding. How can a breed afford
this without loosing qualities like type and confirmation. A
dog that is not a good specimen but has 100% hearing will be
preferred to the excellent dog, and time might show that the
chosen dog might give quite a few deaf and unilateral puppies.
Everybody must see how idiotic this is!!
When we add to the
two issues above ,the questions of a full bite and the newly
discovered interest in MO, not to forget dogs that carry the
gene for unwanted colour ,one is not left with many dogs to
choose from when trying to find a suitable match. Finding a
dog that is free from these unwanted qualities and is a good
DALMATIAN can prove very difficult and might in spite of all
tests give puppies with the “faults” you are so eager to
avoid.(Excluding unwanted colour)
The most important
quality for a new dog owner is the dogs temper ,so far there
has not been any tests that are adequate in testing an
animals temper, though some dog trials can give you a good
indication. So far most breeders are indifferent to these
tests ,even if they all agree that well functioning dogs are a
must.
We have also the
problem of allergies that are on the increase ,maybe due to
the environments which are becoming more and more unsuitable
both for dogs and humans.
I have had the
misfortune of breeding both animals that prove to have an
unwanted temper and some that are developing atopi(a very
serious allergic condition)This has been a disaster for the
dogs, the owners and me the breeder.
I have also bred
dogs that develop unhealthy hips, lacking premolars, yellow
spots and unilateral hearing. All these dogs have lived to a
ripe old age ,giving their families the joy of owning a nice
companion. Maybe we should concentrate more on the issues of
temper and allergies?
I sincerely believe that breeding dogs is taking a wrong turn
and it might well be that the future of our breed is in the
balance ,slowly looking less and less like the standard says
a good Dalmatian should look like .What is the point in
breeding spotted dogs with all teeth, 100% hearing and healthy
hips, when the spots are the only quality that show that the
dog is meant to be a Dalmatian..
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It never stops to surprise me! How is it that almost any
dalmatian can get a top price at a show, and even a title as
time goes by?
It is hard to believe that the breed has a standard and you
doubt whether the judges have bothered to read it.
I do accept that we can prefer different types of dalmatians,
but even so the standard tells you that the dogs should give
you an overall impression of harmony (well balanced). This
seems to be totally lacking in some specimens. They have over
angulated hind quarters while no angulations in front, or
heavy fronts with weak hindquarters. They do not have a strong
and level back, apart from when they are nicely arranged,
standing still in front of the judge .Movements so important
in a dalmatian are very often given less importance than it
should. And most important of all, they do not have the
rectangular look of 10:9=length:hight
Everybody believes that I only accept the strongly built
dalmatian.This is not true, but I very rarely see a slender
type with the right proportions ,with all four feet planted
firmly on the ground ,and with a strong and effortless stride,
during which they do not loose their harmonious looks by
curving their backs and carrying their tails too high
It does not matter if a private owner gets a prize or two for
a dog that is far from being according to the standard. It is
much more serious when a well known breeder shows dogs that
do not comply with this. Some breeders show their dogs almost
every week end, and very often their dogs are among the
topwinning dalmatians, whether the dogs deserve it or not
.These breeders should feel a great responsibility towards the
breed, and only show dogs of good quality. But what do many of
them do?
They will enter the ring with any dog as long as it is bred at
their own kennel ,and in this way not only confuse the judges,
but also the new breeders. I have voiced these opinions many
times to experienced breeders, and so have earned the
reputation for being envious of their great success in the
shows.
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Honestly my concern is the breed!
How can the newcomers and future breeders get a picture of a
good dalmatian when so many dogs of poor quality are taken
into the ring by top winning breeders?
These breeders have a great love for competitions and many of
their dogs are of the highest quality ,so why not stick to
showing these, and leave those of poor quality to be shown by
their owners, if these are indeed interested in showing them?
I trust an experienced breeder to know the difference between
a quality dog and one lacking in type.
This problem is growing worse and worse in our country as our
club arranges lots of so called “top winning lists.” Here you
get points for every new dog introduced in the ring, if the
dogs earns ONE C.K .which most of them do for one judge or
another. This results in breeders fetching their homebred dogs
from near and far to show them in the ring, and hopefully,
sooner or later gain a C.K. to earn a few more points on the
clubs top winning list. Then we have the top winning
individuals given points according to their six best placings.
Finally the kennel`s breeding classes(4 dogs from the same
kennel) also earn points if they get a good critic, and most
judges give them just that, often being completely ignorant of
which qualities to look for in such a class, as they come from
countries where this competition does not exist.
I am afraid that all these competitions are here to stay as so
many top breeders enjoy them. Therefore I implore you to read
the standard over and over again, giving you knowledge as to
what to look for when you see a dalmatian in the ring ,asking
yourself if this dog is according to the standard or not
,when it comes to important issues like overall impression and
harmony and, not to forget ,strong and way winning movements.
I have long ago understood that many judges cannot be trusted
to see the best dalmatian in the ring, and when well known
breeders take advantage of this fact and shows dogs of poor
quality, the result is to say the least, very confusing.
I am not the one you should trust when it comes to judging
dalmatians.The standard should be your only guideline .You
will never find a dalmatian that is 100% correct according to
the standard, but you will at least get a picture in your head
about which qualities such a dog should possess ,and so get
less confused when you are watching the placings some judges
make in the show ring.
If you want to start breeding dalmatians ,or have only had a
litter or two I offer you the following advise
Form your own opinion as to which dogs you find most correct
in accordance to the breed standard, and forget show placings
and the opinions of more experienced breeders. The latter
often being prone to recommend their own dogs ,and not taking
into consideration which dog will be the best dog for your
bitch.
Without forming you own opinion about which qualities goes to
make a good dalmatian, you will keep on being confused as
to which dog to choose for your breeding and consequently have
little success as a breeder.
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Breeders to day have a lot of new issues to consider, as
science is moving rapidly into the fields of genes and
inheritance in dogs as well as in humans.
We are told about mothers to be, who test their unborn babies
to find out if they are affected by some illness or genetic
shortcoming. We can all understand the heartaches these are
facing if they are told that their unborn child is suffering
from a weakness of some kind. I am very happy that these
tests were not available when I gave birth to my three
children in the late sixties.
I honestly do not know if I would have been able to decide my
unborn baby’s future.
Now I have to take a stand regarding my dogs, as they can also
be tested for many genetic issues, and I am sure there are
more tests to come.
We all have to balance between knowledge and feelings, and
this seems to divide breeders into two main cathegories,those
who want “nonfault” litters, and those that want to stay true
to type and has to accept faults in some litters.. To make all
puppies both typy and faultless in their genotype seems to me
an impossible task. Especially as science develop more and
more possible tests. .
We can all agree that it is difficult to find a good stud for
the bitch you want to mate.
She has her shortcomings,and you will always look for a
partner that is free from her faults, which may be a wrong
tailcarrage an unlevelled back ,too long(short) legs etc.etc
After months of research you find a suitable candidate and you
start to investigate him further.
Temper is a must, and here you will have to ask his owner in a
very subtle way or he will get offended.Believe me, I have
offended some owners in my time, being totally ignorant of the
fact.
Then to the health issues.
Hips must be clear. In Norway we have for the last 25 years
only used dogs in breeding with clear hips, and to day we
have the same percentage of hips dyspepsia as when we started
in 1980!
Then many countries ask for the dogs to have 100%
hearing, inspite of knowing nothing about how deafness is
inherited, and at present in Norway having only 2% deaf
puppies.
We can now by sending a blood sample find if the dogs are
carrying the gene for lemon or other unaccepted colouring.
We have also got the problems of megaesophagus. I know that
dogs who have given this in their litters, in some countries,
are excluded from further breeding.
Then we have our specific illness ARDS in dalmatians,here we
have now reached more than 10 generation from a known carrier
and in spite of this, breeding from theoretical carriers are
frown upon in some countries.
Apart from the above mentioned weaknesses, we have the issue
of a complete bite, lovely spotting and good show results.
When I surfed the net some days ago, I found a homepage where
the expected litter had apart from the above mentioned
requirements, parents free from iris hypoplasia, with normal
thyroid functions and with no evidence of allergies or stone
forming. The expected puppies were also promised to be
intelligent.,so may be the parents had also passed an
i.q.test?
I am afraid that the more specific requirements we ask for in
our dogs, the fewer will be accepted for breeding and the
result is bound to be a breed lacking in type and
confirmation, and may even end in such a small gene pool that
we will get new problems that up till now is unknown in the
dalmatian.
I have the following philosophy .If the dog is of an
outstanding type with a nice temper, I will accept certain
shortcomings regarding the above issues,. and I hopefuture
breeders will not get so preoccupied with test results that
they put a breeding ban on all dogs that do not pass all
genetic tests with flying colours.
Kari
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This is a new phrase that seems to be more and more common.
What does it mean?
You might well ask!.
When this illness was discovered some 15 years ago,we had a
lot of discussions in Norway as a dog named Timankas Talented
Clown could in
theory
be a carrier of this fatal disease,
which started with a bitch called O`Soul Escada born in
Finland in 1974.She was the great-great-great grandmother of
Talented Clown.
(We had a few other dogs that could be carriers too,
but these have had very little impact on the breed in this
country)
Those breeders that had no cause to worry wanted all offspring
from Talented Clown discarded,
while those among us having daughters of his, wanted to carry
on breeding from them.
He had given some very nice daughters, so our views were
respected.
Instead of discarding his daughters,
we made rules that if they should be bred from, we had to mate
them to dogs we knew could not be
theoretical
carriers.
This was done untill we to day have dogs being many
generations from Timankas Talented Clown, who is still only a
theoretical
carrier (I cannot stress this fact strongly enough)
as so far we have had no cases of ARDS from his lines. Many
dogs to day are still
theoretical
carriers,
although the chances for carrying the ARDS gene are halved for
each generation. To day we have a very small chance of getting
sick puppies,
when we mate two
theoretical
carriers,
which we now are doing all the time.
But it is not correct to state that your dogs are ARDS free.
First of all, every dog reaching the age of maturity is ARDS
free, if it would have ARDS it would have died very young
(around six months old).BUT as long as you have a
theoretical
carrier
in your dog`s pedigree, your dog is a
theoretical
carrier
too. What would be correct to say is, that your dogs are not
theoretical carriers of ARDS, if this is the case! I can
however see that on a lot of homepages the term ARDS FREE is
used on dogs being indeed
theoretical
carriers,
even if the generations from a
known carrier
has reached more than twelve.
The theoretical
carrier
TimankasTalented Clown was 5th. generation from a
known carrier,
this making among others Perditas Long Live Love
6th.generation, Perditas Keen Observer 7th generation and
Perditas Inside Information 8th. generation from a
known carrier,
while they themselves are
theoretical
carriers.
From there you can count yourselves,and as long as you get no
cases of the illness, the generations keep on being only
theoretical
carriers.
This will go on forever!
You might of course say that as so many of the
theoretical
carriers
are doubled,tripled and linebred even closer,you can count
your dogs free from the ARDS gene,
but even if this is likely ,you cannot be 100% sure.
As a comfort I might add ”What can you be 100% sure of, when
it comes to breeding dogs?”
These days we have a new illness that seems to be given a lot
of attention ,megaesophagus!
As far as I know we do not know how or even if it is
inherited.
Due to all the talk one should think this is a weakness
showing itself in almost every litter. Already some breeders
have taken it upon themselves to ”prove”who are the carriers.
Here in Norway we have to my knowledge had four or five cases
the last twenty years,and as we have a very small gene pool,
we surely would have had more cases if it should have a strong
inheritability.
The next”proof” is founded on the fact that almost all
dalmatians in this country comes from the same dogs, and these
dogs from the past have now become ”the carriers”.
I do respect those among us who find it interesting to study
theories regarding problems in the breed, but please do your
research in private untill you have more meat on the bone! The
way it is done to day will only harm the breed,
as
so many have too little knowledge to dispute the theories and
might get their priorities wrong.
Kari
Ditlefsen
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Ch Perdita's Long Live Love 1990-2001
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It has been a long time since I wrote something on my topic
site, but I do get a lot of mails from breeders that have
found my topics interesting.They have been translated and
published in many countries.
So what has happened during the nearly two years that have
passed since I last wrote something on this site?
In my life -not much. I have had a few more litters,and maybe
one or two puppies that I have found interesting enough to
keep or sell to another breeder. The rest of the puppies have
been sweet and nice and are very much loved as family pets-not
that the promising ones are loved less!
One should think that as a breeder of more than 40 litters,I
should be able to get more than one or two promising puppies
in each litter,still this is not the case. As I wrote, I am
happy to see one or two very nice puppies in a litter, and I
do not expect more than that. If I am asked from an up and
coming breeder if I have a nice puppy for them,I have to
disappoint them as the one or two promising ones are already
spoken for.Those left are according to me not of such a
quality that they should continue the breed,neither here in
Norway nor abroad
One cannot expect an unexperienced breeder to be able to see
the quality in a few week old puppy, so it is up to me to
guide them. If I should fail to do this,the ”newcomer” will
think that she has got a very promising puppy, and start her
breeding programme from this bitch.
I would be very surprised if the result will be worth the
trouble.If you look upon yourself as one of ”the oldies” you
have to take the responsibility that goes with it. I have a
rule that I only sell puppies to new breeders, if this is one
that I might consider keeping myself.Does the breeder still
insist on one of the other puppies,they have to take full
responsibilty for their choise,and are told so..
Quite another problem is, that in some countries they have so
many rules and regulations that I find it impossible to send a
promising pup to a breeder living in that part of the world.
How can I know if the pup will get all teeth or other details
so important in these countries. I hate it if a very nice
bitch of excellent type has to be discarded because of some
detail.This has happened, so I do not sell more puppies to
these countries,better than to keep the puppy in Norway. Maybe
this is one of the reasons why so many look upon the
dalmatians in this country as well above average.We have the
opportunity to breed from the best stock regardless of missing
teeth and unilateral dogs. Of course the result is that many
of the pups are missing some teeth, and one or two may be
unilateral as well.( This also happens in countries that
discard these dogs from breeding, so what is the point?)
Because of this, some breeders abroad ask me to keep the puppy
they want untill they have got their new teeth and also ask me
to test them regarding their hearing.This I find very
demanding. First a breeder wants my type of dog which I have
bred after more than 25 years of hard work and selections,
then they also want the details right. I cannot perform
miracles!!
Through the years I must have kept more than 30 puppies, and
if you look at my brood bitch page you can see that far from
all have been bred from.If a pup does not develop the
qualities I want in my breeding programme, I find a new home
for her where she will be loved as a pet.
This is what breeding is all about and gives you lot of
disappointments,frustrations and expenses,but also a feeling
of pure joy when a puppy proves to be all you can hope for.
Almost on all homepages breeders write underneath the
pictures: Hips A/A hearing+/+and complete sisscors bite. I am
much more interested in the picture! Does this show a
dalmatian of the correct type according to the standard? Also
I would be more pleased if the text under the pictures says
something about this dogs health and temper.I imagine
something like:
”This dog has a very sweet temper and love the company of
people and other dogs. He has never suffered from skin
problems or had any other health problem. In his first two
litters the puppies have developed nicely.” This would to me
be interesting information,but only if the picture shows a
dalmatian of the correct type. I see a lot of dalmatians with
a lot of titles but I would not breed from them,because to me
they are of the wrong type. Some of them do not look like
dalmatians at all,but more like greyhounds or mastiffs Others
are so straight in the front and so overangulated in their
hindquarters that they look like a poodle..If you draw the
dogs silhouettes, leaving out the spots, you will have great
difficulty in seeing that this is indeed a dalmatian.So what
does it help if the dog has all teeth and 100% hearing, or for
that matter a lot of titles.?
Perditas Long Live Love born in 1990.missed 8 premolars and I
am quite sure her hearing was not perfect,though she was never
tested ,but she was of an excellent type,healthy and sweet
tempered.She reached the age of 11,in spite of having six
litters.(The last one being on her own initiative, with her
own son!)
I ask you to look at your dogs pedigrees and I am sure many of
you will find this bitch not only once, but many times behind
the dog you breed from to day.
In Europe you have her grandchildren through her sons Perditas
Keen Observer,Perditas Kick Spot,Perditas Knock About ,and her
daughters Perditas Kiss me Better, Perditas Key to Heaven
,Perditas Keep Track,Perditas Killing me Softly,Perditas Knock
on Wood,Perditas Keep an Eye on Me,Perditas Kind O.Magic(All
her off spring have names starting with the letter K, but are
from different litters) not to mention her grandchild Perditas
Inside Information. All these dogs would not have exsisted if
Long Live Love would have been discarded,due to her missing
teeth .
This should make us all think,and my great wish for 2006 is
that all breeders will look upon TYPE,TEMPER and HEALTH as the
most important issues and then strive to correct the details
after these three qualities are well founded in their breeding
stock.Not the other way round,because when details get very
important, you never get around to give type the attention it
should have. I for one has a long way to go before all the
puppies born in my home fulfill the three above mentioned
requirements.
I would want us to work hard to convince breeding councils
and jugdes to see that type is what is most important.We have
far too many active people who take it upon themselves,not
only to lay down the law when it comes to hips,teeth and
hearing,but also spend a lot of time making more obstacles
for breeders who wants to create dalmatians of the correct
type(meaning that they shall look like a dalmatian.).
If some people get their way, the word type will be an unknown
word for future breeders,as the ”scientists” among us will
want to discard all dogs that have given offspring with faults
or weaknesses,while they count teeth,test ears and x-ray hips
in those left.If everything prove to their ssatisfaction these
dogs will be given the go ahead.Nobody asks if they look like
a dalmatian.
Dog breeding is not a science,but an art where you have to
take calculated risks if you want to make some progress.
You must however differ between the risks that will cause you
as the breeder difficulties, and those that you pass on to
the new owners.The last ones being above all temper and health
risks that do not manifest themselves before the pup has left
your home.
I wish you all a new year where your love for and interst in
our spotted breed gives you a lot of satisfaction and few
disappoinments.
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I have often been asked why I do not show my dogs more than I
do.
If I thought that showing my dogs would make them better in
any way, when it comes to their value as breeding stock, I
would of course join in the ”fun”-I am however quite sure
that this is not the case, sometimes I am even afraid that we
may give the show results too much importance when choosing a
partner for our broodbitches.
The showring is for instance not the best place to jugde a
dogs temper. The shy and aggressive ones are easy to see, even
though sometimes they are only beeing awkward because they
lack training. But what do we really know about those that do
behave.?
I do remember the first CC. I got - I was in heaven!!!! Of
course to me the dog was the best dalmatian that walked the
earth, and the judge was from that moment the best qualified
among judges ,beeing the first one to recognize my
dogs`excellent type and confirmation. Leo did have a few blue
ribbons from earlier encounters in the show ring. He made
champion after some more C.C.s and blue ribbons, the last ones
I chose to overlook, blaming it on the judges bad taste .A few
people began to ask me if they could use him as a stud dog-I
was of course thrilled, and ”forgot” to tell them that Leo
inspite of his sweet way with people .hated other dogs, not
bitches but DOGS!!!!!!! In the showring I watched him as a
hawk, and he was never allowed to come near other males-And
the spectators only saw a tailwagging , happy young
dalmatian. So it would be up to me to tell them about his
aggressive behaviour towards his own sex, something I did not
do-I told myself that he was like this because he had changed
owner(I got him as a one year old)His brothers and father
behaved in exactly the same way, but so what.. Thank heaven,
he never became a stud dog, but that was not because his
owner did not try. Maybe I am the only one that has commited
the sin of withholding information about my dog, not telling
others about his weak points which is so important when it
comes to breeding.
Then we come to a dog`s health You cannot see if a dog is
healthy in the ring, and if you have a great winner do you
have the courage to tell those interested in him that he has
a weak stomach maybe due to stress, maybe he limps after
having been on a long walk His skin may be irritated as soon
as he is in the rain, and so on.
All these weaknesses is important to know for those that may
be interested in using him for breeding. Maybe the bitch has
similar problems and then what will happen to the puppies !
It seems to me that the more a dog wins, the more important
it becomes to try to introduce him as a dog completely without
weaknesses, this might be because everybody is looking for
something to critisize in a great winner, probably out of envy
..Many breeders will also be interested in a great winner only
because he is just that, they do not stop to consider whether
he has the qualities that their bitch may be lacking. Some
breeders also hope that the puppies will be easier to sell if
the father has a lot of titles, and I am afraid that might
also be the case. The strength in a kennel is the bitchline
and if this has a lot to wish for it does not help using a
great show dog, especially if he has some of the same
weaknesses as your bitches. What would help is
using a stud dog linebred on the qualities your bitch is
lacking. If you have a great winner, you also
have a great responsibility to inform interested breeders
about what might be his shortcomings, as he, like the rest of
our dogs are sure to have some. As you might have
guessed I am not at all sure that showing and breeding are
compatable.
I have been asked to come to see a few week old litters, and
I have straight away seen a strong promising bitch which is a
future broodbitch if everything goes well, but no- the breeder
is concerned that she is missing a little bit of pigmentation
or that she has a few too many spots. They even compare the
puppies sides, if the leftside (show side) should be the least
flattering that does concern them too. They choose the most
beautiful spotted one, one not beeing too strong, but flashy
and at the same time they want her to be a good broodbitch.
I am going to be a little personal-I have often been asked why
I sold P.Let`mTalk P.Knock on Wood and P. Kiss me better, all
of these three bitches have had a wonderful success in the
showring and I am grateful to their owners for having shown
them so much .At the same time I stayed at home with their
sisters, P. Long Live Love and P. Key to Heaven and both have
given the breed individuals that have become important not
only to me but also to many, many other breeders. Both these
liver bitches were too strong for the showring at least for
some jugdes, and even with a much better handler than
myself,(which is not difficult to find) ,would never have had
the same success in the ring as their blackspotted sisters. If
you want to breed good, healthy and correct dalmatians, and at
the same time enjoy competing in the showring, I think you
should keep one sister for breeding and one for showing, then
you might have the same success both as a breeder and an
exhibitor.
I have now read through the above and I can see that it seems
like I am very full of myself, having the correct ,easy answer
to everything-Let me haste to deny this. I have had many
disappoinments both in the ring and in my litters.
Nevertheless I am convinced that breeding and showing usually
requires different qualities in the dogs, exceptions goes to
prove the rule. The showwinners are flashy, showy with
floating movements bordering to the extreme. Good breeding
stock is sturdy, strong and maybe a bit boring!!
If you enjoy showing and competing , please do !! We need
people beeing happy in this world, However, when it comes to
choosing your breeding stock be aware that you might be wise
to at least look elsewhere, before you decide. The great
winners have parents, what about them!!!!!
This time I am sure to get some reactions to my topic!!!!!!
Kind regards Kar
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Many of you have asked me to write something about how I think
a good dalmatian should look.This is not at all easy, as I
very often ”feel ” for a dog without always being able to
explain why, but I will give it a try.
As all breeds, the dalmatian has a breed standard which is a
bit different in the F.C.I. countries compared to England and
not to forget America. I will keep to the F.C.I. standard,
which is the one bred and judged from in my country.In Norway
we have just finished a compendium about the dalmatian as a
complement to the standard. Through this work, I have learnt a
lot about which details goes to make up a correct dalmatian. I
have studied a dog`s skeleton and asked a lot of questions to
well known ”dogpeople”.In this way I have been
forced to learn about details,something that I had not
bothered much about earlier as I was then as now mostly
concerned with type.What I know now is that type is made up of
all the details….
Even so type and overall impression are the most important
issues. A dalmatian has to have the correct proportions
according to the standard --
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which is 9:10-height:length.
Even small discrepancies from this gives a dog that is too
tall, too low, too long or too short, all of which are equally
wrong. Neither should a good dalmatian give a narrow
impression, reminding me of those newly born puppies I cannot
make thrive.We all differ when it comes to what
we most easily accept regarding wrong proportions. Some are
used to see tall elegant dalmatians and will more readily
accept these, while others are used to the strong low ones,
not always free from corseness as the standard say they should
be. In the dalmatian standard you do not find the word elegant
either, and personally I dislike it when people call a
dalmatian elegant. It should be strong and well muscled, at
the same time totally free from lumber.
Then we come to the details: One of the most
important features of a good dalmatian is a long beautifully
arched neck flowing into a strong level back which should be
of fair length. By flowing I mean just that , no sharp or
abrupt lines.The dogs should not loose their topline when
moving, as sadly many dalmatians do.They roach their backs,
get a dip just behind their shoulders, or roll their backs
from side to side. The last you can always see in promising
puppies, but hopefully they will grow out of it, as they gain
strength and muscles. Good fronts are rare to
see, and I feel they are also difficult to judge as they have
so many dimensions. The chest should be deep and
long, running smoothly up towards the abdomen. To get this
smoothness, the last set of ribs have to be deeply placed in
the dog, almost as deeply as the ribset next to the last one.
This is also important when it comes to giving the chest the
correct length.
Regarding the front, this must neither be too narrow nor too
wide, but most important it must not be totally missing. I
have seen dalmatians with almost nothing between their front
legs and with a very poor front angulation to complete the
disaster. On the other hand, if a dog is too wide in front
they seem to be carrying their legs on the ”outside” of their
body. Watching such a dog coming straight towards me makes me
think of a barrel more than of a dog. I am afraid I have been
guilty of creating some of this last kind.I am however working
on getting rid of it.
We must remember that the front is only connected to the dog
through muscles and ligaments and if a strongly built dog is
in poor condition this will result in an impression of a dog
falling on its nose.
The hindquarters have to be well muscled, and
the thighs, both the upper and lower, should be strong, with
muscles showing directly under the skin. We do have a lot of
dogs which do not have enough strength in the lower thigh
which in my eyes is so important.You get the impression of a
dog having suffered from polio when very young.To
make the hindquarters perfect the dog must have well defined
buttocks as well. This also gives the correct impression of
length in the silhouette.
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Then
we have the tail!!!
To me a beautiful correct slighty curved tail is a must. How
many times I have been worried about a promising pup, carrying
the tail too high, curved over the back, I cannot count. Will
the tailcarriage come out right in the end or will it not????
We all know that six weeks old puppies have a terrible way of
showing off and this gives them the most unbecoming and
incorrect tail. Sometimes it develops correctly and just as
many times it does not .
Feet also concern me .They must be tight and
rounded like the paws of a cat.Flat feet are not only sad to
see, but they also give the dog a problem if it should trot
all the miles a dalmatian is supposed to be able to..
.Heads are to me very difficult to say much
about. We have the head well described in the standard. I feel
there are not many dalmatians with totally correct heads, but
if it is not too awful I`ll let it pass.Very seldom have I
seen a dalmatian with such a terrible head, that I cannot
excuse it, if the rest of the dog is lovely. The
important thing about heads is the expression. This will not
be the best if the eyes are too light,as this gives the dog a
hard expression instead of a friendly one.
What I do feel strongly about is the lack of premolars. Why is
it that some people give this detail more importance than
almost any other? In some countries in Europe a dog missing
one or two teeth cannot be used for breeding nor shown at a
dog show.What a pity!!!!! How can the breeders afford this? If
it is a mediocre individual it does not matter much, but what
about a dog that is far above average when it comes to quality
but is lacking a few teeth??? I do not think I
could bear having to sell such a dog as a pet, not being
allowed to use him as a stud.-I would probably have to move to
a country where they are more sensible about this problem and
where missing premolars is no more nor less than all other
faults.
I cannot jump the issue of spotting when I write about our
spotted friend, but I feel that some put too much importance
on a dalmatians decoration. It is after all not too difficult
to find nicely spotted dogs to breed from much more difficult
to find a correctly built dog with an acceptable spotting. A
dalmatian should be distinctly spotted (breed standard) I do
feel that a pure white coat with clear spots is important and
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