I have recently been involved in some discussions about why people breed distorted animals for “fun”(ie, shows). Please understand: I emphatically do not want governmental restrictions on breeders. But I do want (a) a bit of common sense and (b) some comprehension of why people do it. Here is what my feeble mind has come …
Tag: Animal Breeding
Dogs
Recent of ours, all but Irbis showing a little age, by Gail Goodman, and Cousin Nura in Scotland. Taik, Rissa, Kyran, Lash, Irb; two of Atai’s niece Nura courtesy of Mark McBride.
Queen Victoria’s Hound?
Terence Clark sent a fine Landseer portrait from the 19th century of what appears to be a female saluki– or, better, tazi; actually to my eye the dog seems eastern, Asian, even specifically “Turkmeni”. She is doing the rarely portrayed “propitiating” smile and but for color resembles Ataika I think. Terence said, quoting the Country …
Breeder Issues
No; though there will be fun stuff today, I will not stop beating this drum, because it needs saying/ beating. Jess from DesertWindhounds, in a comment at Retrieverman’s on why “can’t we just all get along?” “Tell you what. When I stop getting harassed by total strangers for my breeding decisions, we’ll all get along. …
Beating the Drum Again…
Arguments in the saluki- tazi world again (and implicitly in the whole dog world) on closed studbooks, “invalid colors”, the usual. And as always, sane and scientific counsel from John Burchard: “I think we have to remember that the breed subdivisions within the “oriental sighthound” group are to some considerable extent a Western artifact which …
Chinese Tazis Continued
When I wrote about old tazis in Asia recently one commenter sneered and asked if I thought Chinese “sheepheads” were ancient too, meaning the roman- nosed tazis of northwestern China (colloquially, “thin dogs”). I replied with this image from Prince Xanghui’s 8th Century tomb. Here is a recent photo of a similar hound, a male …
New Bird
After all the hints, he’s here– my “shotgun range” falcon! Yesterday we drove down to Bill Meeker’s breeding facility east of El Paso (and general animal friendly house– Ataika nearly went nuts trying to get to know –I hope only that!– their totally intact skunk through the bedroom door) to pick up a chamber raised …
Photo Blogging: Daniela’s Pack
Daniela went to California to pick up a pup, one of the grandsons of her old Lahav, from falconer – scientist Alberto Palleroni. Their dam is a distinguished young lady from the Gulf who I believe has actually caught coyotes all by herself! They were raised around his Gyrs who like many such fed them, …
Dr John Burchard on Breed Standards
My friend John Burchard, PhD, postdoc at the Max Planck Institute under Konrad Lorenz, years in Arabia with saluki and falcon, formerly involved in shows and still a presence in open field coursing and an attendant at conferences on dog genetics, (and owner of two of my pups (;-), on the inherent deficiencies of standards. …
Guest Post: Jess vs the Breed Box
Regular readers may know that I have long taken a stance against closed studbook breeding registries, which I consider to be unscientific Victorian relics that are causing actual harm to “breeds” by decreasing genetic diversity. Recently a perfect example has surfaced in salukis, where “traditionalists”— ie, people who want to limit the breed’s ancestry to …