Posted on 03/24/2012 1:09:31 PM PDT by csvset
Once upon a time in Tulsa, Okla., there was a flaxen-haired princess with a coterie of loving attendants, a three-hour-a-day grooming regimen and a room full of trophies.
Fast-forward seven years to East Oakland. That princess - a champion shih tzu show dog named Pup-Pourri's Briana - was found this week staggering along one of the city's meanest streets, tangled in chicken wire and dirt-encrusted dreadlocks, one of the most bizarre animal-neglect cases Oakland animal control officers have ever seen.
"Our best guess is that she was enclosed in chicken wire so tightly she couldn't move, for months if not years," said Oakland Animal Services Director Megan Webb. "But she seemed to have all this training. This air about her. It was strange."
Oakland animal control officers have started piecing together Pup-Pourri's Briana's trajectory. After veterinary staff shaved off the chicken wire and matted fur, treated her skin infections and fed her a decent meal, they checked to see if she had a microchip. She did, and it was registered to a woman named Cheryl Baer in Tulsa.
She's a winner
Baer wept when she heard the fate of one of her favorite show dogs, a creature so beautiful, proud and charming she won best-of-breed competitions in five states. Baer was Pup-Pourri's Briana's groomer for five years, primping her for hours a day with shampoo, conditioner, curling irons and special latex bands for her topknot.
"I am absolutely appalled at what happened to her," said Baer, choking back tears Friday when reached by phone. "A dog that was so loved. ... It's a miracle she's alive."
According to Baer, Pup-Pourri's Briana was born in 1998 in Tulsa, the daughter of a four-time best-in-show sire.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Some kennels churn out champions like butter.
The dog show world can be an iffy place, at times.
I know several Ibizans [even as scarce as they are] who earned their titles, had a litter, then got sent off to a co-owner or other kennel.
It’s almost like “turnover”.
I’m not sure if people just want to keep showing the ‘new’ generation and put aside the old or if it’s simply the adrenaline rush of finishing a dog, time after after time.
Dobermanns being ‘my breed’ are something I’ve watched for almost 40 years.
I’ve seen the breed’s health decline at a horrifying pace.
Since I’m not pressured to breed “pretty winners”, I can afford to criticize the health part of the equation.
Far too many people will compromise health for a certain “look” that -wins-.
Look at Pugs and Bulldogs, for example.
They didn’t used to have flat faces.
Short, snubbed faces yes but not “flat”.
Judges and breeders colluded to that end.
A weird judge likes some ‘extreme’ dog and the other breeders rush to create their own versions.
It’s never beneficial to the breeds involved.
The Dobes of the late 70s’ were so freaking long and over angulated in the hock that they couldn’t trot straight to save their lives. ..but they “looked pretty” stacked.
The last issue of Dog World that I ever bought had a 70’s Hoytt champion on the front cover that was an abomination to the breed but he was “Dobe of the year”.
Bleah!
I’m hardly ‘faint of heart’ and the work doesn’t intimidate me; it was the utter hypocrisy and devastation wrought upon my breed that turned me off.
[imagine Goldens suddenly being shown that were Merles or had Roman noses, swan necks, prick ears or arched backs because somebody ‘powerful’ decreed that was the ‘new style’ for the breed]
When Odin’s papers came back from the AKC, I noted that they still have that great old drawing of a -correct- Dobe on top.
I’m not even sure how they mail those out with a straight face.
You don’t even have to actually win a show to be a Ch. as in most sports, so that’s a whole lot of Ch’s.
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I am exhausted so maybe that is why I’m not ‘getting’ what you mean here... would ya mind elaborating a bit please ?
Bottom line: there are thousands of champions and one is very likely to see a champion at any given all-breed show in any top 75 breed.
What AKC means by “champion” isn’t quite the same as what everyone else thinks of “champion” in real sports, e.g. There is only 1, or only a few, any given year in athletic competition. Hundreds if not more championships are granted by AKC in any given year for a given breed.
They don’t have to actually “win” a show - just be Winners D/B several times. No normal sport allows that. Being a Ch. doesn’t mean the dog won a single show.
Further, many dogs have won several shows (breed or BIS) - whether they are in different states is immaterial because there are not different “state agencies of dog shows”. Winning 5 different KC/BC specialty shows in the same state is really about the same as 5 different states. There is no vetting system or “playoff” system that even makes that incredibly special.
Thus, by no means is being a dog champion, or winning several different shows, highly unusual in the show world. It’s so common that the dog world doesn’t bother noting those dogs. Only the very best of the best really draw attention - those who keep winning dozens of shows, etc.
Not saying it’s easy to get your dogs to get that - but from the other view, there are TONS of Champions, every year.
> The title “champion” is actually a dime a dozen for anyone who attempts to show the dog more than once a month.<
Really? Wow, where do I sign up? So all I have to do is go to the pet shop, plunk down money on a dog with AKC papers and take it to one show a month? Wow, that’s so easy anyone with any dog can do it.
I used to show and breed labs so I know all of what you’re saying... I just couldnt get the jist of dont have to win a show.
You explained what you meant simply when you said ( paraphrasing here )either being winners dog or winners bitch.
With that one sentence I got it.
I also used to dabble around in AKC Hunting Retriever events and one of my bitches ( only 2 right now and they’re 10 and 7 ), I have titled. Her sire was a MH aka Master Hunter and he did not enjoy showing just like her. ugh.
My site if you care to look.
( and sorely outdated )
http://wetherwell.webs.com/
Thank you for taking the time to clarify for me. Appreciate it FRiend ~! And a great Sunday to you.
LOL, I’m glad your baby had good experiences there.
Yep....for a lot of the people who are into the show thing, it seems to be all about ego-—look at my ribbons! look at what my dog won!-—instead of the animal itself. I love a beautiful pure breed; my favorites are German Shepherds, Dobermans, Malamutes, and Huskies. But I also adore mutts from the pound who couldn’t win a ribbon if their lives depended on it.
I agree with you——a pet is a lifetime commitment.
Your best bet would be a rare breed.
Not only do you face less competition, the points system is based on the number of dogs you have to beat and if there’s only 2 other dogs of your breed in the ring, you’ve got a great chance at having a ‘champion’.
Try a Finnish Lapphund.
Very few of those around.
FYI, I’ve seen seriously flawed dogs win their title simply because they were heavily campaigned and a -lot- of money was behind them.
Or you could show your dog in Canada only and get what we refer to as a “cheap champion”.
The points/grouping system is different up there and an Ibizan can be finished in a matter of months.
One of my dogs’ sister finished her championship at the age of *10* after being dragged to every show possible.
The dog’s final show picture was of an elderly, miserable dog who’d been mercilessly hauled to every show on the east coast until some judge finally took pity on her and gave the “big win”.
That was only done so that her children and grandchildren who were born late in her life and also being shown at the time would have more ‘gravitas’ in the ring.
Pitiful.
None of my dogs have ever won diddly squat yet I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.
However, their aunts/sisters/mothers/fathers are quite famous in the Ibizan Hound world.
Which dogs were luckier?
Those who are crated and flown/driven all over creation to get that ribbon, rarely seeing “home” or their owners or mine, who are with me 24/7,just being dogs.
Djinni’s sisters and brothers are regularly splashed on Canadian magazine covers yet she was ‘pick of the litter’.
She’s happy right where she and with who she is.
And so am I.
*If* I ever find a suitable bitch for Odin I intend to have a litter because I don’t ever want to be without at least a part of him in my life.
I can’t keep all the pups, if it’s a large litter so I have at least 4 people waiting for that day to come.
[my doctor, my vet, a vet tech and a physical therapist]
The price of those pups?
*Nothing*.
They will be too precious to me to put a price upon them.
They will be given to their new owners with myself as co-owner in the event that, God forbid, something happens to them the dog will automatically be returned to me.
I look at the photos of where Djinni’s relatives live and I see a room full of crates, walls festooned with obscene amounts of ribbons and I look at my own home...dogs lounging on their sofas, the floors festooned with “ribbons” of paper towels and stuffies they’ve happily shredded and dog toys strewn about like some squeaky minefield.
We are content.
:)
My breed is the Papillon. It takes, at present, a minimum of 9 entrants of the same sex for a major. For a 5 point (the max points available at a show) win there must be 19 males or 21 females in competition excluding the dogs entered in the “Best of Breed” class. Needless to say, it takes more than entering any dog of that breed “more than once a month” to finish it, at least by the average owner/handler. All bets are off if you’re a judge exhibitor (who can only show his or her own dog) or if you have the disposable income to hire the right professional team.
It currently takes far more Papillons in competition to qualify for a major than it does German Shepherds just for comparison.
The story of this little Shih Tzu rips my heart out. Did the little dog’s owner, after losing his wife to Alzheimer’s, just have no energy left to care for the dogs? Perhaps he was nowhere near as involved as his wife, so he sold to a commercial breeder (the only type liable to purchase a kennel of dogs) out of naivety or out of sheer defeat. Maybe he knew but didn’t care. We’ll never know.
The number of people jumping on the dog show hate bandwagon is somewhat amusing. I have no interest in horse shows or racing, but I sure wouldn’t glom onto a thread to bash everyone who participates in or who watches the sports.
I’ve been involved in dog showing (breed and companion events) for most of my life. I know a whole lot of people who share my interest, because they love their dogs and they’re passionate about their chosen breed. They would NEVER sell their beloved dogs as a group, nor would they sell a finished champion without spaying or neutering the dog prior to offering it to another person.
Are there people involved in every competitive sport imaginable who are less than reputable? Sure, but they are NOT the majority.
You personalized my comment, and I didn’t mean it personally for you. I think you and I are friends. I was simply making some comments. We don’t have to agree on this (and probably aren’t ever going to). Things are different in different breeds (I have a very popular breed and I used to have a very rare breed and keep up with that one still through friends and in fact run an email list for it still). Things are rarely black and white, they are generally pretty gray.
I had a friend in dobies, but it’s not a breed I’m intimately familiar with. Getting popular is never a good thing for a breed as it brings in new people who don’t take the time to learn about them before they are breeding and even winning and become what my husband calls “Instant Experts” and unfortunately they can exert a lot of influence on the breed if they happen to do well. But, you can’t ever change things from the outside, except of course the way PeTA wants to change them. So, I’ve stayed involved.
BTW all of the people I know in dogs complain about declining breed health. I am not certain what accounts for it, we talk about it all the time. It could be genetics (I don’t discount this, some lines DO live longer) however, we also diagnose things better, we save dying puppies much more frequently to survive to adulthood, we don’t cull the weak ones and we keep track of our puppies and talk on the internet. I don’t have an answer. I wish all dogs lived to be at least 15, and were perfect, outstanding examples of whatever the person who had them wanted them to be. But that has never been the case. And never will be.
One thing is certain. You and I both love dogs. :)
You have to forgive my asking. The term “puppy mill” is a good example. We all think we know what it means. We have an idea in our head. I used to use it myself, but I don’t anymore. Why? Because it now is being used by the Animal Rights folk as a term for people who breed. So, I just find terminology can seem innocent but not really defined and then it becomes part of an agenda.
And as much as I dislike large commercial kennels myself, some probably do really love dogs. You have no idea how hard it is for me to say that. But it is probably true.
>One thing is certain. You and I both love dogs. :)<
Here here.
It’s frustrating to read this thread, because of course there are problems. Are we seeing problems because the gene pools of even popular breeds are declining due to the “popular sire” syndrome? Could gene pools be shrinking because we no longer have the luxury of keeping large numbers of dogs, like the large show kennel owners of the last century did? Are we simply seeing the effects of too much vaccination or pollution in dog food?
That said, painting an entire group of people who have essentially devoted their lives to their love of dog-oriented sports is a bit excessive in my view (and I’m not singling you out, Sal).
I see people in every single thing I’ve ever been involved in who are like that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met a person without an ego.
Most of the people I know who stay in the dog show hobby (not the ones who do what we long timers call the “Five Year Plan”) DO love dogs, DO put the dogs first and frankly spend lots of time and money on things like RESCUE. And then they get beat up by the media and people who don’t like the sport.
It’s ok with me if people don’t want to be involved in showing (btw, mixed breeds have things they can do now, competitionwise, if their owners so desire). What I don’t understand is the animosity of people toward the hobby I do love. I like dogs of all types.
The problem with a rare breed is finding other dogs to make points. I know, since I had one.
And if you show in Canada yeah, but then you get a Canadian CH. Not an American CH (which, sorry, my Canadian FRiends, the American CH has more cache...)
I’ve known a few people who could not let it go and did *drag* dogs around forever to finish them. Usually it’s an owner with ONE dog and they just really loved that dog and thought it deserved the title. Well, who am I to say they shouldn’t? Personally, I don’t want to spend a gazillion dollars on it. It’s why I’ve been doing this a long time and don’t have a million of those dime a dozen CHs. And I don’t keep them out to get SDHF points after they finish or send them to Westminster or Eukanuba etc.
But I don’t begrudge the people who do. In fact, they spend money and keep the economy humming.
And btw, unhappy dogs don’t win. I know, I’ve had a few who hated to show. And so, they were not shown. They became happy pets.
I said it once, but I’ll say it again...God bless you for having such a heart for animals. Your dogs are blessed, but it breaks my heart to hear about the others who live such a stressed life.
Your Odin’s a beauty, BTW.
Oh, what a sweetheart! Look at those eyes!
Brytlea, I didn’t mean to offend you, and I apologize if that happened. I’ve just always been a big animal lover and situations which put stress on them bother me. I’ve only been here since the fall (though I lurked for three years) and I’ve already taken some flames from a couple of hardcore folks who see animals as nothing but property who can be misused at will....and I probably will again, LOL.
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