[pyrnet] Melissa, Re: Snow Nose

[Ingraminthegame@wmconnect.com]

Melissa,

You shouldn't have to apologize for your dog and I don't think anyone is asking you to.  We all love our pets and I think the topic has just went to correct breeding and the fact that people shouldn't just settle for a lack of pigment in their breeding dogs.

We have an all white male with a brown nose.....gets close to black sometimes and has also gotten close to pink.  He is a nice specimen of the breed otherwise and has good pigment everywhere else besides the fact that he has wonderful bloodlines.  So, we bred him a few times to marked, well pigmented females.  With one, he produced white and marked pups, the marked ones having good pigment, better than the all white ones though they had pigment too but due to the mother getting mastitis, died by three days of age leaving one marked pup who to this day has great pigment.  With the other female, he produced all marked pups with excellent pigment but of course the credit would fall a lot, I'm sure, on the female.

Like I said, we all love our dogs, we just have to remember their origin and not let problems become normal.  When a dog has a fault that can be corrected in breeding, we can do that but not emphasize it and spay/neuter any pups that would carry on the same imperfection.  In a case where a dog is breeding quality besides the nose, selective breeding with marked, well pigmented dogs is possible.....even some of the old famous champions had this as seen in some photos, although I'm sure that may cause some controversy.

There's no need to feel defensive, no one is attacking your dog, just discussing the proper breeding of pigment.

If you'd like to see a pic of Moses' nose, go to http://www.zyworld.com/mapleway/MapleWay.htm click on Enter and scroll down to the second photo.  It may not sound like much to those who show every weekend, but Mo is pointed toward his championship on very little showing.....beating marked, well pigmented, correct-to-the-standard dogs.  And yes, his coat is awesome, a little brushing and a good bath cleans him right up from what you see here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Chrissy


In a message dated 12/22/2005 10:40:02 AM Eastern Standard Time, wygate@hotmail.com writes:


> I didn't think I was going to create such a controversy just by mentioning 
> that my Pyr has a pink/black nose just like another group members Pyr (can't 
> remember the dog's name, but it was a 'Happy Birthday' string.)  Of course 
> people should be breeding good, solid, breed standard dogs, but sometimes 
> the best efforts still create dogs that aren't the breed standard of 
> "perfect." I have a 2 year old Labrador named Timber that is OFA certified 
> from a breeder that has been in the business for over 20 years, and Timber 
> has level 4 hip dysplasia.
>
> I'm not going to apologize for my 'imperfect' dogs, because they are more 
> perfect that most people I know!
>
> Melissa