12/01/2025
The Importance of a BREED STANDARD & Breeding Today
Serious breeders are the artists, architects and maintenance workers of a breed, who preserve, improve fine tune, add or detract from specific traits in a bloodline or breed. There are Breed Standards for many animals - dogs, cats, horses, alpacas, cattle, poultry etc and for a good reason. Breed Standards aren't just for show dogs or winning ribbons.
Why do we need a Breed Standard?
One of the main reasons is because without it, faulty or exaggerated traits negatively affect the dog's structure and in turn, their health. For example, faulty angulation can cause added pressure on joints, which throws out other connecting joints, both of which can result in orthopaedic issues and inability to move correctly.
A Breed Standard ensures that breeders breed with dogs that behave as defined, and select most suitable dogs to breed from. Though, a breed is only a reflection of what the breeders 'create' within it and how closely they work within the Standard.
Regardless if a breed is utilised in its traditional sense, a Breed Standard is still relevant and necessary in other ways. When Breed Standards are ignored, the results aren't always pretty. Some people focus on and prioritise cosmetic traits only (such as coat or eye colour), so size, temperament and conformation are often thrown out the window. This is how breeds or even mixed breeds get a bad reputation - because some breeders are more focussed on producing dogs with certain cosmetic traits. Breeders shape the breed, whether that be in a positive or negative way. Can you name a breed where cosmetic traits have been the main focus, which influenced a breed - but in a bad way?
Over the past 9 years, there has only been small revisions made to the Lykos Wolfalike Breed Standard by the LWCA, but in future, there will most likely be more fine tuning and going into further detail so the Breed Standard is more self-explanatory.
Throughout history, man has moulded dogs into whatever he desires. Some breeds were purpose-bred for pastoral work, hunting, weight pulling, guarding some bred for lap dogs & human companionship. Back in the 'olden days', breeders whose dogs didn't do the work they were intended for, were culled from the breeding programs.
Without denigrating today's purebred dogs and the historical purpose behind them, other than the "high performance" breeds, how many breeds still perform the activity for which they were originally bred for?
And at the other end of the question - how many dogs can perform activities for which their breed was NOT bred to do?
Answer to both = plenty!
The gap is wider now than ever before and I don't see it getting any smaller, especially in this country.
The general population of pet owners don't partake in these activities (unfortunate, but it is what it is). Society has changed considerably with the progression of civilisation, which means many breeds are no longer required for the work they were traditionally bred for. Most are family pets and companions and if people do partake in traditional breed activities, it's usually done for tradition's sake, pleasure and competition, and dare I say it, in some cases, ego.
Quality, selective breeding should always be done in accordance with the blueprint and reference to a Breed Standard. There is absolutely no reasonable argument or excuse to why any serious breeder wouldn't. Afterall, it's in the dog's best interests and welfare needs to be bred responsibly and be thoughtfully bought into this world - and that's what counts.
https://www.lykoswolfdogs.com/breed-standard
The official breed council for the first and only Australian Wolfalike breed - the Lykos Wolfalike Advocating responsible pet ownership and ethical breeding.
