BTM 90.pdf - Criadero Chaudron Orme

Editorial.
Extreme Or All-Round?
Although I’m someone who deals with many
different Bull Terrier aspects on a day to day
basis, being a Bull Terrier breeder is not one
of them. You can count on one hand the
amount of litters I have personally raised and
been responsible for, and the last of those
was over 10 years ago. In truth the task of
vetting and finding excellent owners for my
puppies used to stress the living daylights
out of me, so I’m quite happy to leave that
to others - there’s no shortage of Bull Terriers
in the world and I’m sure the breed will cope
without one extra person breeding them. Of
course, the fact I no longer have any Bull
Terriers makes breeding rather difficult!
However ...
After reading the previous paragraph, it might
sound a bit odd to say that despite not having
any interest in actively breeding myself, I do
have a very big interest in how the actual
bona fide breeders go about their business.
I do tend to put myself in others’ shoes and
try to second guess them, which direction
will they go in, which dog will they use, what
would I do if I was them etc ... Maybe it’s
something others also do - I don’t know?
One thing in particular that intrigues me, is
what is the thought process undertaken by
breeders prior to choosing their stud dogs - or
more specifically what type of Bull Terrier are
they aiming to produce in the litter?
As we are all too aware, we all have our
own particular ideals and each person tends
to adjust the Breed Standard to suit their
own beliefs, the ‘perfect Bull Terrier‘ in one
persons mind is different to that of the next
person. Therefore it is probably fair to say
that different breeders are aiming to produce
different types of Bull Terrier to varying
degrees.
Many years ago when I got my first Bull
Terrier I started reading any of the breed
books I could find to try and learn a bit
more about them. An observation that was
repeated in many, was that there were four
different types of Bull Terrier within the
overall breed, - the Bull type, the Terrier type,
the Dalmation type and the supposed ideal,
the Middle of the Road type. Each breeder at
the time would probably favour one or the
other type and then breed accordingly.
Maybe many breeders of today do still follow
this strategy, but I personally get the feeling
that when it comes to breeding nowadays,
those four types of Bull Terrier have been
replaced in many breeders minds by two more
generalised types ... Possibly when it comes
to judging as well?
I think these days breeders and/or judges
fall into two camps, those who prefer to
see a very good all round Bull Terrier, not
necessarily a big or spectacular one but
one who has all the bits in the right place
Page 2 - Bull Terrier Monthly Issue 90
and gets close to the animal as described
in the Breed Standard. Then there are
those who tend to go for the more extreme
or immediate type of dog who grabs the
attention, very striking virtuous dogs - but
perhaps with their extreme virtues lack in
sheer correctness where conformation and
breed type is concerned.
Of course there’s all manner of in-betweens,
but most people (particularly when judging)
tend to veer to one or the other - the
extreme virtuous animal or the sheer correct
animal. The differences between the two
are probably highlighted best in the show
ring, - the extreme type is very ‘love-hate’
amongst judges, they’re either going to
do exceptionally well or not very well at all
- meanwhile a very good all-round dog won’t
be dismissed so readily by judges and will
tend to prove more consistent.
Which brings us back to the dilemma facing
breeders, do they plan to produce an
extreme type who may greatly appeal to a
smaller pool of judges but alienate others,
or a very all-round correct dog who will
generally do well under a bigger number
of judges. As it is often said that it is the
judges who shape the breed, it is therefore
interesting to see exactly which judges are
having the most influence, of which type of
judge are the majority trying to please?
On the other side of the coin, there will
be others who state that it is indeed the
breeders who shape the breed, that they
simply breed the type of Bull Terrier that they
like themselves irrespective of what judges
may or may not prefer, and simply hope that
enough judges are on the same wavelength.
With a bit of reflection, I think if I was
actively breeding and showing then I would
be in the latter camp - I would block out
trying to breed to impress specific types of
judges, and instead breed to strive for my
own particular ideal, - and of course if judges
didn’t like what I’d come up with, then they’d
obviously be completely wrong ... joke, joke!
As such, I can perfectly understand those
who go about it in a different way - who
maybe take a step back and look at the
overall breed to see what type or what
specific lines tend to do better, and then
simply go and breed around those lines to
produce similar dogs. It is a strategy that has
worked extremely well in the past for many,
and no doubt will continue to be a successful
method into the future. It does get results,
so why complicate matters - just see who is
successful and do as they do ...
But whether the breed is shaped by the
judges or by the breeders, a look over recent
history may give a clue as to which direction
it is going. There are animals of all types,
shapes and sizes who do well, very well in
fact - but the really super-successful dogs,
those that clock up multiple CC’s, Trophy
winners, Terrier Group winners and so on,
- more often than not they look to be the very
correct, outstanding all-round animals without
any great extremities, those who are very
hard to find fault with.
Dogs who are very difficult to fault however
are undoubtedly the hardest to produce, but if
judges are having any influence then it seems
this is the animal they want to see people
breed, - and with good reason, it’s similar
to the one described in the Breed Standard.
There’s a message in there somewhere that
the actual Breed Standard over-rules any
judges or breeders interpretation of it, and as
such the best tactic of all is simply to ignore
everyone and instead just try to produce the
dog the Breed Standard asks for.
The fact that no breeder has ever managed to
do it suggests you might be striving for quite
some time!
Double Money!
Developments afoot on the hunt for old
photographs.
As we all know as covered in last months
issue, I’m on the lookout for photographs to
use in the magazine from before the year
2000, and ideally the years between 1970
and 2000. As such I set a target of 100
photographs to be sent or e-mailed to me
by readers (or indeed anyone else for that
matter) by the start of 2010, and if successful
I have pledged to pay £100 to a Bull Terrier
related cause, which will be decided at the
time.
Well, there’s now a bit more information
to add to that. Over the course of the past
month, a very generous reader - who shall
remain nameless - has offered to match my
own donation if the target can be reached,
and has effectively doubled the sum on offer
to £200, - a lovely gesture I think we’d all
agree.
So in theory there is now twice the incentive
to reach the magical 100 figure, and
remember all that is required is for people to
send me any reasonably decent (or usable)
photographs of any dog or bitch who has
appeared in a UK show ring prior to the year
2000, - it’s perfectly achievable.
For what it’s worth the running total at the
time of writing stands at 22, so another 78 in
the next 4 months reaches the target amount.
Come on folks, don’t sit back and hope others
are going to do enough to reach the target,
I’m not asking for blood or money - a simple
e-mail with photographs attached is all it
would take to do your bit.
Paul Johnstone