Re: [pyrnet] Dwarfism

["Linda Weisser" <lmweisser@olywa.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <JGentzel@aol.com>

In a message dated 9/26/00 9:10:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
bamb@monmouth.com writes:

<< He was happy, healthy, and certainly all Pyr! >>

Certainly they would be, which makes it all the more tragic.  Such a noble
fearless heart and soul in a compromised body.>>

Well you have to have know this "fearless heart" and his "compromised body"
to grasp how essentially "insulting" this is.  Ubu was a complete dog.
Because he was not a "normal" Pyr does not mean that he was some sort of
"freak".  He did everything with gusto and loved his life and the people in
it.  He lived here in the NW for almost a year later in his life and part
of that time was spent on a farm.  Part of it was spent with me and so I
think that I can speak with some authority.

None of this should be construed as any kind of "endorsement" by me for
dwarfs or the deliberate breeding of same.  Or for any flagging in the
effort to eliminate them as a genetic problem in the breed.

<<As far as the number of Dwarfs and surveys, the number reported will most
likely be very incomplete.  The GPCA has made it more difficult for folks
to
be members and thus offended many.>>

Well, if these folks are more offended than they are interested in the
breed there's probably not much we can do.

<<  Also most of the working breeders care
nothing for the GPCA and in fact look on it as some beauty pageant holder,
and openly, aggressively scoff at it.  So the reports of dwarfs are very
probably greatly diminished. >>

You might be interested to know what information we have about working
Pyrs.  The breeders may not care but their buyers often do.  And, of
course, a huge number of the lines of working dogs do not have dwarf
connections.

<< You think the BYB and puppy millers care a whit
about the GPCA and any surveys?  >>

No again, but our health survey is chock full of dogs bred by these people
whose information has been submitted by their owners who hardly know the
GPCA exists.

<<I know of reports of several litters with
dwarfs in working hands that will never be counted. >>

If you know this for a *fact* (and not just another rumor--he said/she
said) then you need to give that information to Tami Green so that she can
contact these breeders directly and see if she can make any inroads.  It is
not useful to sit out there and say "I know".  if you do indeed know, you
owe the breed more than dangling it out on an internet list.

<< I think it highly
probable that the GPCA and its membership including the regional clubs
comprimise a much less than majority of the activity around the breeding
and
owning of the dogs.  >>

Well, that isn't exactly new information or any kind of giant surprise.  A
consistent reading of the AKC studbook will tell you that.   And it has
been that way for many years.

 <<I am told that the National Dairy Goat organization anctually recommends
that
people who need dogs to guard their goats recommend not using a breeder who
is connected with the AKC and show world. >>

This is also an old song and dance.  We've met this also for years and
years.  At least since the mid 80s when the "backyard" LGD breeders got
underway and had to have some argument to promote their business.  Frankly
"we" (as in serious devoted fanciers of the breed) have been out of control
for a very long time.

Linda Weisser