Comment to 'I Remember When...'
  • Here's an article that can be quickly glanced through. Pretty dogs on the right. Dogs retaining working ability of old on the left. I'm not certain how anyone could look at dogs

    https://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/100-years-of-breed-improvement/

     

    Granted the largest part of the problem is breeders putting up with folks dictating what these dogs should look like when the very people making these rules don't work the dogs. I had a bulldog out of all Champion lines. She was kept lean to prevent health problems & she did stand her ground against a herd of cattle but if she hadn't bluffed them, she'd have been killed. If you look at the photographs of then vs. now it's undeniable the breeds have been changed & most often is done with little regard as to what those changes mean when the dogs are working. Exaggerated wrinkles, massive heads, dumbing down the working temperament to suit the folks who don't wish to work the dogs but insist they are champion breeders.  No, it doesn't work that way.  I have a dog right now out of a multitude of champions. Everyone thought I was crazy but the reason I bought her is I knew the breeder. I've watched her & her dogs for over 20 years. She's tough as nails & breeds dogs who aren't politically correct. Through training you can curb those instincts to accept what they must to survive in modern day life but the instincts were there FIRST. Therefore this dog works. The genetics must carry the right ingredients or the dog is not what it appears to be. Unfortunately there is too much of that these days