Scottish Deerhound Breed Magazine - Showsight

Photo courtesy of Linda Lindt

at a meeting of the UK Deerhound Club, November 26th, 1892, and again endorsed in 1901. It was recognized by that time that the breed had, in effect, been saved from extinction by this new sport of dog showing in England. Specimens that were “over-big” for deerstalking, had regularly been sent south to compete in the show ring which they did with dis- tinction and the breed became very popular. That reality and pressure from Graham and Hood-Wright who were great ad- vocates of size (and then both went on to develop the Irish Wolfhound), ensured that the newly adopted 1892/1901 Stan- dard provided for a size greater than 30 inches …. “if there be symmetry without coarseness, which is rare”. Then in 1914, a major change took place to the Standard with the addition of “Points of a Deerhound arranged in Order of Importance” . Type was placed where it belongs … first in order of importance. The absence of a description of move- ment in the original Standard of 1892 was addressed. Also slipped into the Standard was the phrase “as tall as possi- ble consistent with quality” and the height limits were changed. Club minutes that might have explained this change have been lost, but most likely it reflects the continuing concern expressed by some of the Deerhound fancy (letters and discussion in The Stock-Keeper ) that the breed will lose popularity to its much larger competitor, the Irish Wolfhound. This, of course, is exactly what happened. Regardless, with this change the Deerhound officially became a show dog. The breed Standard adopted by the AKC in 1935, included these changes while also increasing the breed height by two inches “from 30 to 32” for males and for bitches “from 28 inches upwards” . Weights were correspondingly increased in the AKC version and the somewhat spurious claim that the cli- mate of the USA might produce a mixed silky and hard coat was added.

By the mid 1800s J.H. Walsh (“Stonehenge”) began press- ing for the development of breed standards as the sport of showing dogs increased in popularity. So began the very pub- lic debate about how a Deerhound should look. Weston Bell started the task in 1892 with his seminal book The Scottish Deerhound with Notes on its Origin and Characteristics . This provided a first prototype breed standard developed with the assistance of the Duchess of Wellington, the Mar- quis of Breadalbane, Captain Graham, G.W. Hickman and Robert Hood-Wright. Hickman summed up their conclu- sions: “Between the large greyhound and a small deerhound there was no difference in outward characteristics…the deerhound is simply a rough greyhound raised to a larger size by selec- tions, common to the whole of Scotland…the Highlands of Scotland, being the only place where the stag has remained in a wild state in any numbers…” Bell makes a clear distinction that while his description is of the “modern Deerhound” with measurements of speci- mens currently appearing in the show ring, the working Deerhound forms the basis of his written “ideal”. So, in def- erence to the working Deerhound he capped size at “29 to30 inches, but not over 30 inches” for males and “26 to 27” inches for bitches. “To run into and hold a full grown stag, a large and strong animal, is certainly required and it was found that a dog av- eraging 29 to 30 inches was the correct animal”. Hickman and Hood-Wright then went on to reformat this de- scription by Bell (with one crucial difference) into a Deer- hound Standard which was formally amended and approved

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