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| Passion Investments: Sports |
A Breed Apart
Richard J. Pietschmann
01/01/2006
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However, McAteer cautions others not to
make assumptions because owners focus on show or field with their dogs. “People
should not confuse opportunity with ability,” she says. “The show dog rarely
hits the trials, and the field dog rarely slips on a show lead, but they should
be able to do so.”
That is a conundrum for some purebred owners,
McAteer among them. Her Irish setter, Harmony, competed last year as a dog in
the field, then went to the national breed championship “in full-body splendor”
but with “her coat ripped out in the fields,” she recalls. “Some judges are now
more accepting that this dog must have been doing some work, but, nonetheless,
they like to see it with its prom gown on.”
Two retriever breeds—Labradors
and goldens—remain the AKC’s two most registered breeds. Labradors alone
accounted for nearly 147,000 of the 958,000 total AKC registrations in 2004. In
contrast, German shorthaired pointers such as Carlee are 20th on the list of
most registered breeds—only 12,269 registrations in 2004.
Yet, dog shows—also
called conformation shows because they judge how well an animal conforms to its
breed’s written standard of perfection—are not popularity contests. Wire fox
terriers have won Westminster Best in Show 13 times, Scottish terriers seven
times and English springer spaniels five times. Neither a Labrador nor a golden
has ever won the Best in Show title.
That may be because these breeds do not
have what Frei calls the show-business gene that more independent breeds do.
“Terriers and pointers do their own thing, and that’s what makes them excellent
in the show ring. They’re looking around thinking, ‘I’m hot stuff,’ while the
golden is thinking, ‘What do you want me to do?’ ”
Photograph by AP Photo/Ron Frehm.
Richard J. Pietschmann, a Los Angeles–based author and journalist, is a regular contributor to Worth.
Additional Information
 Top Dog
Shows
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