Going for the Blue (16 page)

There are, unfortunately, potential genetic faults in most breeds, and it can be somewhere between difficult and impossible
to breed them out of a line. By choosing puppies from the best lines, it is sometimes possible to avoid trouble. There can
be no guarantees, and as with any domestic animal, there is always the luck of the draw to contend with. Pick the healthiest-looking
puppy from the healthiest-looking and -acting parents produced by the most honest, involved, and concerned fanciers and you
can have the luck to come up with a fine companion and show dog. Do it any other way, puppy mill; pet shop; inexperienced,
unthinking, and uncaring backyard breeder, and you will almost certainly come acropper.

There are huge differences in the frequency of potential faults in the different breeds, and that does point fingers of suspicion
at many of today’s breeders. You, as a potential owner, must choose very carefully. Faults include a great range of potential
anguish for your dog—faults of the skeleton, hip displasia to shoulder dislocation; severe allergies; progressive retinal
atrophy; hypoglycemia; diabetes; epilepsy—some breeds having as many as thirty or forty of them.

The Norwich and Norfolk Terriers have no recognized genetic faults, nor does the Harrier. The Great Pyrenees, on the other
hand, has fifteen; the Great Dane sixteen, including epilepsy. The German Shorthaired Pointer has one potential fault listed,
the tendency to form subcutaneous cysts; the Field Spaniel two; but the German Shepherd and the Labrador Retriever each have
twenty-five. The Bulldog and the Cocker Spaniel lead the parade with thirty-nine and forty potential genetic faults, respectively.

The incidence of hip displasia isn’t nearly as common in some breeds as in others. The Saint Bernard is the most frequently
impacted of all breeds, while displasia is virtually unknown in some other breeds, such as the Saluki.

Genetic faults are a minefield where a potential owner should tread gingerly. Remember, a genetic fault is by definition a
potentially inherited one. Learn as much as you can about the lines of the breed that attracts you the most. Don’t do it the
hard way. We did. We purchased a Bloodhound puppy only to have it pitch forward into its breakfast bowl dead of a heart attack
at eight months of age. The breeder and her veterinarian both knew something we didn’t know and we hadn’t thought to ask.
It was our fault; we should have inquired. Every puppy in that litter, as it turned out, had at least a heart murmur. Whoever’s
fault it is, losing an eight-month-old puppy is heartbreaking. It can be said that the puppy would have died anyway, when
it did and how it did. It is just so much harder when the puppy is your own, one you have come to love. Guilt is built into
these catastrophes. It is easy enough to handle guilt intellectually, but when it comes to the emotional elements, it is far
more difficult.

The fact that a puppy has had genetic defects in its family background is no guarantee that they will recur in the generations
of concern to you. On the other hand, however carefully you plan the breedings, those faults can pop up seemingly from nowhere.
All you can do is the best you can, picking, matching, and perhaps praying. Raise your puppy with the help of your veterinarian
using the best nutrition possible, make certain all of the shots are on time, and love your dog. It can go very well indeed.
Just avoid those pet shops, puppy mills, and amateur backyard breeders. Give your puppy at least a level playing field and
try to work with the breeders who are working with other fanciers of your breed and veterinary research facilities to eliminate
genetic faults and improve the strength and vigor of what is by this time “your breed.”

T
here, then, we have the basics. If you want to show a dog and become a part of the sport you have admired, these are the things
you will have to know to start. It is not space physics and not brain surgery, but it is an exercise in knowing and caring.
It is the ability to give and to get.

First you have to have a dog not only suitable to the task but as taken with the whole idea as you are. There are to be two
of you out there on display and you both have to have the same thing in mind, winning. Most exhibitors are at least marginally
smarter than their dogs, so it is natural for them to lead the way. The dogs will go along with that.

Once you have taken the biggest and most important steps of all and chosen your breed and then, clearly step number two, chosen
your individual dog, the training begins. When you are in that phase you have a clear shot for the peak. Don’t stop and don’t
look back. Just get better and better at the game and help your dog hold up his end. Win and then win again. After your winner
has a Ch. in front of his name, you may want to think about breeding him or her to the best partner you can find. Explore
other aspects of the dog sport, such as obedience, agility, and the others we have discussed. You will have met any number
of people by that time who have the same kind of interest in the same breed you do. Talk things over. Presumably you didn’t
stint in choosing your dog. Try not to stint in choosing a mate for it. Your skill as a matchmaker has a great deal to do
with how the puppies turn out.

One other point: About sixty-three days after the breeding, the puppies will appear. If you have not had experience in the
whelping process you may want to have someone on hand to help you who has had experience—a breeder, a veterinarian, or a vet
tech. Give your puppies every chance there is for a good life, and that starts with a good beginning. Talk it over with your
veterinarian. Get the details right. Everything from a heat lamp to the whelping box itself should be perfect.

•  •  •

Going back a step, you will notice something strange happening with your feelings about your original puppy. When you two
first meet you will want to hug him—he is cute, after all! Puppies are supposed to be cute and huggable. His eyes look straight
ahead, just as your eyes do. He makes heartwarming squealing sounds and reacts with his whole body when you tickle him. He
will have puppy breath, which is practically an aphrodisiac for dog lovers, and he will squiggle and you will squeeze. Something
wonderful is beginning to happen. It is a string of markedly fuzzy moments, and you may be surprised to see how susceptible
to fuzzy moments you are. The process is called revelation. You are probably a pushover.

But then, day by day, the change will progress. It will grow and grow and grow. Your reaction to fuzzy will mature into a
solid relationship. When your dog looks up at you (a typical man-dog spatial relationship, since our heads are on top of us
and the dogs’ are out front of them pointing to wherever it is they are going), there will be eye contact, and then you will
realize the miracle that has occurred—you really do understand each other. And you certainly are profoundly interested in
each other. You care about each other. You have bonded and now you are friends in a way peculiar to just the two of you. There
is pride in this and some nervousness, of course, because the showing is about to begin. Fortunately, you are able to relieve
each other’s tensions. You touch. But typically the other comes first: first you love your dog and then you put him to the
test, and then finally you begin to collect and display his trophies and ribbons. You do all this together, the two of you.
By now you will be boasting. The circle is closing and you and your dog are inside it. Enjoy.

^*
In 1983 the breed was moved over to the newly formed Herding Group, where it is today.