Re: [pyrnet] New and want info on showing

[JGentzel@aol.com]

Speaking of faults.  Most of us learn and find ourselves looking for what is 
wrong with a dog (fault judging).  I think the ideal is to make that 
transition and look for what is good in the dog and note those areas that are 
not so good and balance them together.  Lets try saying it another way.  It 
is too easy to "zone in" on one fault and let this dominate our minds to the 
exclusion of all else.  This is what our judges do, because they do not have 
the experience.  When we have discussions like this it appears we are fault 
judging maybe, but lets keep in mind each part is only one part and we want a 
whole dog.  

Let me give you another example.  Years ago I took a dog from a divorcing 
couple that I had admired as a young dog and his breeding was 100% 
contemporary French.  Well, when Pasha arrived here, he was not so pretty 
anymore.  He had a terrible rear and those eyes had rounded and become quite 
loose for my taste.  BTW, his puppies that are still here are lovely and 
always have been. I had already used him at stud before I got him and took a 
chance on his hips as the owner had no intention of doing same.  When we 
decided to X-Ray him I was prepared and quite sure the news was not going to 
be good and so was everyone else.  Gorgeous hips.  Not only that, this dog 
was very heavy in flesh (fat is the term) naturally and was a huge round dog 
at about 31 inches.  But he could haul his big butt over any fence in a flash 
if he wanted.  So you have to see this 150 # plus almost cowhocked, poorly 
angulated  dog with one of the worst top lines you can imagine, going over 
the 6 foot chain length fence to believe it.  What else is interesting, is he 
got his AKC championship fairly easily.  This dog should have had a very hard 
time or not been able to get it at all.  

Joe