THE ESSENCE OF THE SAMOYED BREED
BY CAROL HJORT, CHAIRPERSON AND SCA JUDGES EDUCATION COMMITTEE
T he year 2 020 was known as the Year of the COVID lockdown. When AKC sent a request to the SCA asking for its participation in the AKC Working Breed Seminars being offered at the AKC/Royal Canin Show in December, our Judges Education Committee (JEC) was ready to take on the chal- lenge! The topic assigned to our Committee was to define the Essence of the Samoyed Breed. I decided to toss the topic out to the SCA Judges Education Committee for discussion, and the entire committee quickly dove into a lively conversation on the topic! “Essence” is a polysemic term used as a designa- tion for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity and without which it loses its identity. So then, what makes up the Essence of the Samoyed Breed? Our first most obvious element was the Breed Type, or the physical characteristics of the breed. The Samoyed is an Arctic breed that lived and thrived around the Arctic Circle where tempera- tures could plunge to -50 degrees during the long winter months. So the Samoyed had to be equipped to not only survive in these frigid temperatures, but to also work in these extreme conditions as well. Everything about the Breed Type for the Samoyed is designed for its survival and comfort within the Arctic Circle, where it lived for thousands of years before being discovered by outside explorers. Let’s examine a few of the key features that are an inte- gral part of the Samoyed’s extreme weather gear, or Breed Type. The Head: First and foremost, let me state that the Samoyed is not considered a “Head Breed.” However, the head contains many of the character- istics that enabled this breed to successfully survive and thrive in the extreme weather conditions of the Russian Arctic region, and these characteristics should be preserved, as they are part of the Essence of this Breed.
238 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2021
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