Becoming
Culture of Honesty vs Belief BY JACQUELYN FOGEL W e live in strange t i me s . S o m e
backs describe the same structure. This very knowledgeable breeder of top-winning Manchesters was unaware that the correct toplines for the two breeds were described nearly identically in their respective standards. Yet she has been mentoring judges for years telling them that the Manchester topline was NOT like a Whippet topline because that is what she believed. Her belief was stronger than the reality of the facts. Fortunately, the actual description she gave matched her standard exactly. It was her breed comparison that was faulty. Interestingly, this woman’s interpretation of her standard were resulting in toplines that looked much more like Whip- pets than Italian Greyhounds. Many of the Manchesters were short-coupled with a steep drop-off in croup—much more characteristic of an Italian Greyhound than a Whippet. She was correctly interpreting her standard and did not realize the similarities her breed actually has to the Whippet. When I told her I breed Bedlington Terriers which also had the Whip- pet topline, she said she believed they had a roach-back, too. She was greatly relieved to hear that Bedlington exhibitors sometimes make mistakes when we sculpt in our toplines, and some are made to look wheel backed, and others appear to have bubble-butts, but they should all be built like a Whip- pet. Some of us like more exaggeration in our grooming style than others. Grooming hair can be a blessing and a curse. Unless you put your hands on the breed, you can be fooled by clever or not-so-clever grooming. Another common belief causing problems in our breeds today is the belief that a person’s first dog in a breed is nearly perfect and exemplifies the standard. That kind of thinking causes people to routinely misinterpret standards. Using the previous example, if a person’s first Whippet has a wheel back, and they think it’s a perfect dog, then they will begin to interpret the standard to match what they have at home. The previously quoted statement from the Whippet standard will be describing their dog, and somebody else’s dog will have the faulty wheel back. We won’t know exactly how that per- son interprets the faulty wheel back. Perhaps they think it’s only a fault if it is over-exaggerated or if the croup drop-off is too severe. We don’t know. In general, first-time breed owners are not knowledgeable about the language used in standards. They haven’t spent enough time studying anatomy in dogs or horses, or goats or cattle. They don’t know how to objec- tively apply a standard to their breed of choice because they think the words mean something different from their actual definition. And most first-time breed owners do not want to question the authority of the breeder from whom they pur- chased their first dog. They want to believe their first dog is perfect, even if it’s not, and anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong.
of this was predicted by science fiction authors who foretold of a new language called New- speak where white is black and good is bad. George Orwell’s 1984 was frighteningly close to describing the social norms we are seeing in politics today. Facts are becoming debatable. Is that picture of a crowd
of people showing more or fewer people than another photo taken from the same place at a different time? Polar ice caps aren’t shrinking, they’re growing. The lies are becoming so frequent, and blatant, yet there are still millions of true believers who don’t understand that the phrase alternate fact is an oxymoron. Belief is becoming the replacement for fact- driven honesty. And we see it affecting our own small dog world, too. Let me give you a benign example. I had the good fortune to attend the Manchester Terrier National last week in Lex- ington, Kentucky. I am a dog-show junkie, so being able to watch a rare breed entry of this size was close to Nirvana for me. I was also fortunate to be standing with a long-time breeder who could answer the multitude of questions I posed for her. One of the questions I asked was about the topline on a Manchester, and her response was that they want a slight arch over a robust loin and a slight drop-off of croup. That sounded great to me, so I said, “Just like a Whippet,” a breed I judge and to which I relate. She responded, “Oh no, we do not want a Whippet topline!” I searched my memory banks (and my phone to pull up the AKC breed standard), and came up with the phrase in the Whippet standard that describes their topline: “backline runs smoothly from the withers with a graceful natural arch, not too accentuated, beginning over the loin and carrying through over the croup…” Both breeds describe a body slightly longer than tall. When I suggested to her that the standard authors were probably describing the exact same topline, she admitted that appeared to be true, but she had always believed a Whippet topline was not what they wanted. I asked her what she thought a Whippet topline looked like, and she described a wheel-back which is clearly identified as a fault in the Whippet standard. The Manches- ter standard says a roach back is a fault. Roach and wheel
“BELIEF IS BECOMING THE REPLACEMENT FOR FACT-DRIVEN HONESTY.”
80 • S how S ight M agazine , S eptember 2018
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