Acadia Kennels

03/07/2025

03/07/2025

LESSON ONE IN THE WORLD OF DOGS

Lesson One in the world of dogs is that if you put anything above breeding for utility, you will start to lose working abilities.

Work is a tough task master and it shows no favoritism. Fox and pheasant do not judge "up the leash" nor are they taken in by fads. Quarry is not much interested in nose or eye color, the set of the ear, or the "expression" on a dog's face as it creeps up a hedgerow.

In working dogs, utility is beauty, and "beauty is as beauty does."

E.L. Hagedoorn, a Dutch consulting geneticist to dog breed societies around the world, believed the show ring would ruin working dog breeds, and time has proven him right. As he noted in his 1939 book:

"In the production of economically useful animals, the show ring is more of a menace than an aid to breeding. Once fancy points are introduced into the standard of perfection, the breeders will give more attention to those easily judged qualities than to the more important qualities that do not happen to be of such a nature that we can evaluate them at shows. Showing has nothing to do with utility at all, it is simply a competitive game."

A noted breeder of alpacas said much the same thing, noting that when farm stock is judged on the basis of wool or meat it is a different standard than that used at shows:

"Breeding animals for the shows is a very peculiar business, because of the fact that it is wholly competitive. Whereas the breeder of utility sheep or utility pigs produces something that has a certain market value, which is not changed very much even if ten of his neighbors start in with him to raise the same sort of sheep or hogs, breeding animals for the shows can only pay the man who succeeds in producing such stock as is pronounced by the judges of the moment to be the most beautiful and the most fashionable."

The "judge of the moment" in a show ring may know very little about real terrier work.

In the AKC, for example, most judges are experts in a half dozen breeds. In the terrier ring, it's almost a guarantee none has ever owned a deben collar or cut a shoulder into a trench in order to get down another two feet. As a rule these authorities are experts by dint of having spent far too many nights in bad hotels attending show trials. In 20 years of owning dogs, they have logged a thousand miles bouncing around show rings in plaid skirts and blue blazers. They may have driven to the moon and back to pick up rosettes, but few have driven 10 miles out into the country to even see a fox den, much less put a dog down one or dig to it.

A few will claim expertise because they have bought an airplane ticket and attended a mounted hunt or two in the U.K.. They have seen "the real thing" they will tell you, and know what is required of a working dog thanks to their two-week vacation in Scotland! Just don't ask them how to extract quarry from the stop-end of a pipe or how to treat a bite wound.

Theory always ends where reality begins, and it always seems to have been this way.

The very first Kennel Club shows occurred in 1873 in the U.K., and 1874 in the U.S.. By 1893 Rawdon Lee Briggs was writing in his book, "Modern Dogs," that:

"I have known a man act as a judge of fox terriers who had never bred one in his life, had never seen a fox in front of hounds, had never seen a terrier go to ground ... had not even seen a terrier chase a rabbit."

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Note: This was written in 2022.

02/25/2025

02/25/2025

My sweetest, calm, favourite house dog just might have some drive deep down in her genes. 🥰 This is Puzzle’s first time showing any interest in the tug. I like that she has a naturally hard bite and is clear headed and stable. Maybe there is some Protection sport potential here. Thanks KAT Belgian Malinois .

02/21/2025

🩻 𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 - 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 & 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗢 𝗜𝗧?

Hip scoring is an important process carried out by responsible breeders before breeding their dogs. It is used to assess the health of a dog’s hip joints and involves taking X-rays, which are then sent off for evaluation and scoring.

Each breed has an average hip score, calculated by adding up the total scores of all tested dogs and dividing it by the number of dogs assessed. However, in breeds with a small sample size, this average may not accurately reflect the overall hip health of the breed. In such cases, it can be useful to compare breed averages from other countries for a more comprehensive perspective.

👉 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 (AVA system) - but we also want to see balanced numbers from left to right hips, if there is a big imbalance, this isn’t ideal.

🫢 Some breeds do not test hips at all. Why not? Their breeders may suggest that they don't have hip issues. I might ask, how would they know if they do not test? It is a myth that you can look at a dog and tell whether it doesn't have healthy hips or not...unless you have x-ray eyes that is.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗥𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗗 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 (𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀):

Griffon Bruxellois: 30.58, 53 dogs tested
Irish Wolfhound: 1.85, 20 dogs tested
Poodle (Standard): 8.18, 216 dogs tested
Newfoundland: 15.09, 117 dogs tested
Samoyed: 10.92, 296 dogs tested
Labrador Retriever: 8.26, 2,730 dogs tested
Golden Retriever: 9.82, 2,263 dogs tested
Staffordshire Bull Terrier: 14.45, 22 dogs tested
American Staffordshire Terrier: 17.45, 96 dogs tested
Affenpinscher: 36, 2 dogs tested
Australasian Bosdog: 21.50, 2 dogs tested
Australian Cattle Dog: 13.21, 72 dogs tested
Australian Shepherd: 7.04, 928 dogs tested
Bernese Mountain Dog: 7.87, 642 dogs tested
British Bulldog: 34.20, 117 dogs tested
Bullmastiff: 14.84, 243 dogs tested
French Bulldog: 17.15, 466 dogs tested
Neapolitan Mastiff: 18, 34 dogs tested
Pug: 23, 37 dogs tested
Rottweiler: 8.60, 903 dogs tested
Great Dane: 6.49, 146 dogs tested

𝗪𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 & 𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀?

🤓 𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗢𝗚?
There are 2 different systems to evaluate hips, one is called PennHIP and its testing provides an estimate of the risk for painful osteoarthritis of canine hip dysplasia later in life.

𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗛𝗜𝗣 is the newer method in Australia although has been conducted in America for much longer and is more common there.

This evaluation type can be done from 4 months of age, although not many people are happy to put a 4-month-old under to check hips if they don't suspect a problem though.

The other method is called the 𝗔𝗩𝗔 (Australian Veterinary Association) Hip Dysplasia Scheme – This system follows a scoring method similar to the British BVA/KC (British Veterinary Association/Kennel Club) scheme. It evaluates specific anatomical features on standardised hip X-rays and assigns a numerical score based on the degree of hip dysplasia present. Lower scores indicate healthier hips and this is what you'll find on our Australian ORCHID system.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗩𝗔 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗚𝗦
Some people score at 12 months of age, others at 18 months, and others at 24 months and they all have their own reasons, often not based on fact so we contacted the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) in America which has a database for mostly American dogs and are looked at as an authority on health testing.

The OFA allow breeders to list their dogs results on their database from 12 months of age, however those taken between 12-24 months are called preliminary results, the reason they do this is because breeders may want early knowledge of the hip status on puppies in a given litter.

The OFA state that "preliminary hip evaluations may be as valuable to the owner or breeder as the final OFA evaluation. This allows early selection of dogs for use as show/performance/breeding prospects and dogs best suited for pet homes. If the dog is found to be dysplastic at an early age, the economic loss from the cost of training, handling, showing and so forth can be minimised and the emotional loss reduced.

𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗫𝗥𝗔𝗬 & 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬
A previous OFA veterinary journal publication compared the reliability of the preliminary evaluation hip grade phenotype with the 2 year old evaluation in dogs and there was 100% reliability for a preliminary grade of excellent being normal at 2 years of age (excellent, good, or fair).

There was 97.9% reliability for a preliminary grade of "good" being normal at 2 years of age, and 76.9% reliability for a preliminary grade of "fair" being normal at 2 years of age.

Reliability of preliminary evaluations increased as age at the time of preliminary evaluation increased, regardless of whether dogs received a preliminary evaluation of normal hip conformation or HD.

👉𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝟴𝟵.𝟲% 𝗮𝘁 𝟯-𝟲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀, 𝟵𝟯.𝟴% 𝗮𝘁 𝟳-𝟭𝟮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟵𝟱.𝟮% 𝗮𝘁 𝟭𝟯-𝟭𝟴 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀.
These results suggest that preliminary evaluations of hip joint status in dogs are generally reliable. 𝗛𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲 (𝟮𝟰 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀)." as their score may actually improve with age.👈

✅ 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗟𝗧 𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬

👍 Do not hip-score bi***es 6 weeks before or after their season or pregnancy.

👍 Weekly underwater treadmill 6-8 weeks before scoring to improve subluxation results - study shows marked improvement. Book in at our Western Sydney clinic: https://www.balanced-canine.com/hydrotherapy. Depending on budget book in 1-2 times per week.

02/16/2025

02/01/2025

After your dog has a solid foundation, the rest will go a lot more smoothly. It’s like building a house – with a solid foundation, the house is more likely to be solid too. No foundation means you will be continually rebuilding walls, repairing cracks and leaks…

01/27/2025

https://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/are-we-watching-the-extinction-of-a-breed-or-why-are-we-focused-on-consequence-instead-of-cause

The Institute of Canine Biology