--- On Fri, 3/7/09, happylea@... <happylea@...> wrote








Good on you Wendy and Lara,

About time these people took notice of the "Hairies" 
 
Thanks Deb! 
I have found such negative attitudes to Weis in general in Canberra. At our
club, one of the Instructors had a bitch, BYB, and she was the biggest flip
going, it seems. So everyone thinks that's what they are all like.  There are so
few of them here, but an individual does not make a breed! There is an award
down here for dogs with their show Ch, who then get a CD (bronze medal), CDX
(silver medal) or UD (gold medal) Called a Dunbar award after one of the greats
in Obedience in the ACT. I said when I started going to the club, that I wanted
to be the first LH to get a Dunbar medal, and they laughed!
Gone are the days when they were considered almost human.  My vet is also a Dobe
and ESS breeder, and Obedience judge, and when I said that one of my babies was
going into Obedience, he chuckled and said, 'Oh, if it's smart enough.'  At
Tracking Training in Sydney, I was told by the trainer, that you might see
the very occasional Wei tracking, but you never see any good ones.  Then he
followed behind Zed, and she did her usual corner (she goes straight ahead,
stops, basically pivots , and follows the next leg) and he says excitedly, 'Did
you see that corner?!' and I thought, Oh, but I thought you NEVER see any good
ones LOL!
But maybe there is reason that people don't see them as intelligent any more.
Our breed (hairy, but much more the non-hairy) has really suffered by people not
caring about anything else as much as the look of the dog. What's between the
ears has to count, too. When I see some of the things at shows, dogs that cower
in their crates, but are trained enough to at least let a judge go over it,
I can see why they are getting a reputation for being nothing but a show pony.
At Canberra Royal, I saw a young one that would not even let the judge examine
it, or move properly, get very highly awarded. There are SO many young ones here
now, that have very short sternums (no lung room) long in loin (weak backs) over
angulated in the back end (cross over side gaits that tire easily) and they are
WINNING! Take any of them out in the field for a day, and you'd carry them home.
In our standard, it mentions the Wei working ability so often, the description
of
the dog actually talks about work, not really what it looks like, and so you
would think that being build for work would be an important part of
judging, including being mentally fit, but it doesn't seem to be as important as
a dog that is trained to the highest degree (robot) and looks good on the
stack.  It says in the standard three times that they must not be shy, but at
the NSW Wei Specialty last year (the one with the FCI judge) someone I know was
there watching. They are pet owners, but came along for a look. They were
watching the judging, and one said to me, 'Why don''t they like to be touched?'
I hadn't been taking notice, but started to really watch. It was the young
classes (SHs, I THINK) and  dog after dog pulled away from the judge, and spun
around behind the handler. And I thought to myself, how bad must things be
getting, when a non-dog person notices it? 
OK, had my rant for the day!
Wendy (freezing in Canberra. Not even 6 degrees C yet, at lunch time!) 



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