WITH KIM AND TIM DELANEY AND ANNETTE DIDIER
“PERSONALLY SPEAKING, WE STRIVE TO BREED SOUND- MINDED, HAPPY, HEALTHY DOGS WHO ARE FINE EXAMPLES OF THE BREED STANDARD AND THAT MAKE WONDERFUL FAMILY PETS.”
almost anything, that does not mean you should. More emphasis needs to be placed on testing for issues that are life-threatening to our breed and not for minor issues that can be managed. Personally speaking, we strive to breed sound-minded, happy, healthy dogs who are fine examples of the breed standard and that make wonderful family pets. Working with like minded-people, we hope we are accomplishing that. AD: As far as Beagles are concerned, dogs with very short backs, usually by shortening the ribs rather than the loin, which in turn forces the shoulders forward and upward into the neck, (losing the beautiful forechest that goes with the longer upper arm and layback of shoulder), restricting reach. Instead, the flat, straight fronts we are now witnessing too frequently mimics the characteristic Terrier pendular movement versus the effortless, clean reach and drive the Beagle should posses. All too often the correctly structured and moving Beagle goes unrecognized by the judge many times being the single
entrant possessing these important features. In the Visu- alization of the NBC Standard it states that: “Balance is critical. The length of body measured from prosternum to point of buttock is longer than the distance from with- ers to ground. There should be prosternum visible in front of the shoulder. Additionally, there should be some dog behind the tail, which is created by proper angula- tion of the pelvis as it meets the femur. As a result, the Beagle is off square, longer than tall. Although the stan- dard calls for a short back, the back must have sufficient length to allow for proper rib construction and a well muscled loin. Ribs should extend well back. Back length should be long enough to allow for a ground covering gait; hounds that are too short coupled will not be able to accommodate the angulation necessary for endurance in the field. A shorter backed Beagle is not necessarily more correct.” Many breeders, in my opinion, are seemingly taking ‘shortness in back’ to the extreme resulting in straight fronts, upright shoulders and the aforementioned terrier like pendular movement. I feel the confusion may lie in the fact that many include the loin in the short back equation rather than discerning between the short back along with the loin equalling the entire topline. This being said, the overall profile of the Beagle should be slightly more rectangular in shape versus ‘square’ many believing the American Beagle to be. Also, l feel there is currently a much greater depth of quality in the Beagle bitches as compared to their male counterparts. 3. The biggest problem facing you as a breeder? K&TD: The biggest problem facing us as breeders in Nova Scotia is there are not many other Beagle breeders close to us. We often are the only entry at our shows and have to travel many hours to compete at specialties and meet up with other breeders. It’s the same situation for accessing a stud dog: we have to borrow a dog or lease or import frozen semen, as driving back and forth to a local breeder is just not in the cards.
A beautiful example of breed type, balance, clean outline, ample bone without being overdone; lovely length of neck blendinginto his shoulders; pleasing head and expression! A wonderful overall package!
220 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , O CTOBER 2017
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