AKC Gazette January 2007

Missing Links

The difference between a Great breeder and an Influential breeder? It is a Great breeder who has the vision and the creativity to produce long-lived, spectacular champions and producers over time, while the Influential breeder may get lucky with a prepotent sire or a top winner—but he does not replicate his initial success. Often, it is an inability to recognize the very essence of breed type that marks the distinction between the Great and the Influential— breed-specific subtleties that are the necessary components in any beautiful animal, whether Boxer or Bichon.

Great breeders know the difference between good sound temperament, equivocal temperament, and outright poor dispositions. They do not make excuses for the cowering, beautiful bitch, but ruefully spay her and place her as a pet. The Influential breeder may socialize her by taking her to 1001 dog shows; he breeds her, and produces others in her mold—all the while making excuses for her fears. She shies because a bigger dog growled at her during her first show; a chair tipped over at ringside; a judge wore a hat in the ring. Poor temperament is inherited every bit as much as a weak pastern or a soft back, and is probably the one essential component of a Boxer, indeed any dog, that should never be compromised.

The Great breeder really understands superb movers and the structure that lies underneath. Not for him are the dogs who simply motor at high speed from one end of the ring to the other, or who have been trained to gait ‘just so’ in predictable patterns. I recently had the pleasure to watch a Rhodesian Ridgeback give all of us a lesson in reach and drive…it gave me goosebumps to see him effortlessly eat up the turf. We rarely see a Boxer gait so brilliantly these days, this breed that was developed to run at top speed and not to tire as it pursued large game…We see polite movers, heads strung up high by handlers…the polite mover in the Boxer ring is not one the Great breeder will suffer gladly. But the Influential breeder will tolerate him because he knows this is the way to take home the highest laurels in the fashion of our times.

Eye shape and color are of the utmost priority in the Great Breeder’s whelping box. Taking to heart the Standard’s admonition that the eye should be ‘generous and full,” puppy selections are made partly based on eye expression and color. Those horrid almond eyes, correct in another breed but never in the Boxer, are not tolerated. But the Influential breeder cares little—he knows that the majority of judges do not quibble about eye expression, and probably agree that, after all, there are many more important things than a light, slantish eye. The Great breeder knows that he could not live with a mean topaz eye—he just could not bare to look at it around his home, let alone carry on with it in future generations. To him, the eye is truly “the window to the soul.”

These and other breed characteristics run deep in the marrow. Most are articulated in the standard, but some are carried in the heart of the breeder. Those truly Great breeders who are the stalwarts of their generations, know well what is the true essence of their breed. They do not always succeed in a given litter, but they usually have a plan of what to try next, which combinations of DNA will possibly produce the next Legion of Merit winner. They give of themselves willingly, but are rarely asked for advice in the cyber age…either because the next Influential breeder is afraid to be inquire, can ‘look it up’ in his search engine, or already bred his 2nd or 3rd champion: ergo—what more does he need to know?

Those breeders who do not compromise well, who have the courage to wait and watch until THE ‘keeper’ comes along…and do this for decades…these are the breeders who truly deserve to be called Great. They may not have the most champions, or the most BIS wins—but they do, eventually, earn the most respect among their peers. Their bloodlines afford the most consistency over generations, and their best are among the finest ever born. Alas, the Influential breeder fades away, soon just another kennel prefix, dimly remembered.

Stephanie Abraham
P. O. Box 346
Scotland, CT 06264