Re: [PyrNet-L] Re: Size, et al

[judith diamond <pyrenees@gwi.net>]

> I've often been amused / infuriated by this common (American?) phrase
> "too
> typey". What else can it really mean except "too close to the
> description for
> the standard type for the breed"? This is SUPPOSED to be the breeder's
> GOAL!
>
> Since "typey" is, by definition, a good
> thing, I've long ago switched to the word "style" to refer to the
> various
> preferred 'looks' that Pyrs can have.



> Hello to you,

> In general, I would like to congratulate the List, and especially Joe,
> for
> maintaining the overall quality and demeanor of the "breeding /
> standard /
> size" discussions.

    Here, here!! Yay list! Yay, yay and yay to Joe!
     I've been traveling and mostly off-line. I'm off again this
weekend. Just pooped in to say hello. I missed the list.


>  Over the
> years, I've found that most folks tend to stick with the "style", for
> good or ill, of Pyr with which they first fell in love.

    I know that this is true for me. My first pyr sighting  and
instantaneous life time love affair of the breed, was from a photo in
the The AKC's Complete Dog Book, published around 1955. It being a given
that photo's are not completely accurate, THAT pyr was immense and could
not be thought of as a large breed, but  as a only a giant one.

>  Only those who
> can separate the Breed from their backyard and come to equally love
> the
> abstraction are open, through educated, to a true change of heart.

    Is there really any other way for those of us that adore and cherish
the pyr breed?

>
>
> >Its probably just semantics and so subjective to not be
> >worth the debate. Giant, massive, immense or whatever
> >the breed should be large.

    I agree with David. I do however, bend to the vernacular of a
different word than *large* to describe our breed; in that the breed's
are so well defined by toy, small, medium, large, giant and such. I feel
it is most important to keep the accuracy of an X-tra- large dog breed,
when describing the Great Pyrenees, as to make no mistake that large is
large and giant is giant. I do not like the general semantic rules of
thumb either. I do hope that the pyr will continue to be described as
immense, because it seems that it always has been. If, however, the term
is switched to giant or some such, I could live with that. <VBG>.

>
>
> Correct Joe. For the revision to the current Amer. Standard, the AKC
> was quite
> adamant about using words which would muddy the comparison between one
> breed
> and another in the mind of a judge. If the old "immense size" was left
> in,
> what words would be left for the Irish Wolfhouds; "extra gigunda"? :-)

    Yes!! Or Gigantic! <g>.
     You see for me, all classification's pertaining to the general size
of a class of dog is relative, as David touches upon, a toy poodle is
bigger than another toy or small breed of dog. A German Shepherd is
smaller and larger than some other 'large' dog's. The medium
classification seems to vary as well. So, it seems only correct to allow
in the description of a giant breed to have variations of size. A pyr is
smaller than a newf., a newf. is smaller than a dane. A Mastiff may out
weigh almost everybody and wolfhound is the largest of them all in the
Giant Breed class. You see my humble point? Smile.
    But, "this is just my opinion, I could be wrong." All others
expressed are encouraged legally to find your own! LOL!

> The
> term "great" was picked to convey "big", while remaining subjective
> enough to
> leave wiggle-room for everybody else. It always reminded me of the
> sizes on the
> cans of black/ripe olives; "extra large","jumbo", "colossal" and some
> others.
> Which one is bigger, anyway?

    It's hard to tell with olives, their size seems to vary for me
depending how big my mouth is the day that I am eating them. How big
does it seem today? <BG>.
    Yours in pyr spirit,
    Judith, Jonah & Lexi

>
>
> Dave Simon
> ------------------
> All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
> Everyone else is required, by law, to find something else to say.