The third factor in this preliminary elimination (and that is all this is) concerns exercise requirements. If the dog is to be kept in top condition and be happy, exercise is a requirement as critical as feeding. It is not just a small adjunct to daily maintenance. Either your dog is going to adjust his lifestyle to suit yours or you will have to do the same thing to suit his. An active dog is not going to be at his best in an inactive household. It is not easy to keep an Australian Shepherd or a Chesapeake Bay Retriever—or its owner—happy with his Frisbee when he has to pass underneath a grand piano and dodge several Spode jardinieres in order to make his catch.
Think of how wrong a new owner can go. Let us posit that the owner-to-be has a tendency to be sedentary and thinks of a quick trip to the nearest hydrant as high-impact aerobics. He owns a Jane Fonda workout tape to show him how he can get his dog and himself there and back. Nothing daunted, he gets a Border Collie, a breed that looks on twelve miles of running as a warm-up and likes to be extremely active from dawn until he falls off his legs long after dusk. Also, the owner has no land to speak of. He is a dedicated urban creature. His backpack comes from Gucci and so do his low-cut, laceless “hiking” boots. He doesn’t even own a car. He has no means of getting his dog out into the countryside. It is probably a disaster in the making for man and dog alike. It is highly unlikely that this dog owner will have a flock of sheep. Border Collies are shepherds, and shepherd they will, one way or another. No sheep, they’ll take grandchildren. No grandchildren available, they’ll herd the washbasin, the bathtub, the hamper, and the commode. One Border Collie we heard about regularly puts all of the houseplants in the middle of the living room rug whenever he is left alone. He has to make things orderly and neat. What he herds doesn’t matter very much. Not to suggest such dogs are not wonderful, but emotionally, they are anal as hell.
Another family lives in an urban apartment without any real likelihood of improving on the acreage situation in the near future. Despite that, the family gets a Mastiff or Bull-mastiff, ideal estate dogs, and everyone goes quietly insane together. Well, sometimes quietly and sometimes quite noisily. They are forever tripping over each other, becoming more bruised and claustrophobic by the minute. Sometimes guests have actually been injured. In these thundering encounters, the dog is innocent, just too big for the space allotted to it.
The underexercised dog is likely to become obese and increase its propensity to break wind. Breaking wind under such circumstances can tarnish your silver and stop your watch. You can always tell when it has happened—you get a vertigo attack, including double vision, or a migraine. Either way, the dog smiles. A bored dog, even if he is smiling, is likely to create an unsatisfactory condition in the home.
Another family has little spare time; both adults work, and they have limited discretionary funds for even routine professional grooming. They get a Bearded Collie or a Keeshond and gradually stop playing tennis and going to wine tastings. There is no longer any time for things like that. And eventually other outside activities involving extra funds are eroded.
The subject of conditioning can’t be stressed too much. Snickers lives in a town house but gets constant work and play routines. She has plenty of time with a tennis ball and a Frisbee. That is not only healthy but also gives the dog quality time with members of her human family. Judges often comment on her solid body and excellent tone.
There are a number of different ways people take an interest in (fall in love with) a breed of dog. Rhonda, an incipient dog lover, came to the farm, fell in love with my Whippet, Topi (how could she not?), and decided that she had to have one, too. And along came Snickers. There is that way. People also fall in love with an exciting performance in a motion picture or on a television show: a Border Collie in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (that dog, Mike, was the sire of my Border Collie, Duncan); a Dalmatian, obviously, in 101 Dalmatians; a Saint Bernard in Beethoven. There have been scores of others. Surely King and Rin Rin Tin had a great deal to do with the popularity of the German Shepherd, and Lassie helped elevate the Collie to tremendous heights. Publicity works for animals as well as it does for people.
And, too, there are fads, the in breeds, the-thing-to-do breeds—get a Komondor, for example. But be warned: Fads are not the way to go. They never have been. The dogs representing these breeds may be wonderful, generally, but when one comes to live with you, it is necessary for the two of you to suit each other in a number of different and often special ways. The relationship between you and your pet is not unlike a human friendship. You have other people in your life; your friend does, too. Yet, together, you two have something that is unlike any other combination on earth, something that is yours alone.
Avoid fads; they can lead to heartbreak. If everyone on the block has a particular breed of dog, surely you shouldn’t get one, too. It is just plain common sense. If a breed is a fad, it is almost certainly being overbred, with the inevitable puppy-mill carelessness that entails disaster. It is quite possible to locate dangerous Labradors, stupid Goldens, and nasty examples of just about every breed. All you have to do is find some puppy-mill puppies in a pet shop and learn firsthand just how much bad breeding can do to fine dogs. Labradors, incidentally, are not dangerous, nor are Goldens witless, not unless they are bred that way.
So there we have some unavoidable considerations. If you have a hankering for a Saint Bernard, you may have to choose between that breed and a Porsche convertible. A Lotus would just not work out with a Newfoundland. A Rhodesian Ridgeback half crazed for the want of exercise can be a real downer in an apartment-house elevator when an elderly couple tries to join you in your descent. Here is where you must bring your powers of analysis into play. You all want to be supremely happy together, but the structure of the arrangement that will make that possible is the human partner’s responsibility. The dog doesn’t buy you. You are asking the dog to join your family. Whether you actually show your dog or not is not an issue here. Compatibility and comfort are. And you should never lose sight of that fact. Give the initial relationship a chance. The details of showing your dog, if such is your desire, will reveal themselves as you and your dog move along together. But before you move you have to bond.
In the final analysis, your choice will be essentially aesthetic. It will depend in large part on what you as an individual find beautiful, what you can’t or at least don’t want to live without. That is a very personal decision, obviously. What is so amazing is the variety of dogs available and what appeals to whom.
With few exceptions I find just about all dogs beautiful. I love their faces, especially their eyes; I love to watch them move and to interact with them on a one-on-one basis. There are relatively few breeds and random-bred dogs I wouldn’t enjoy. In our forty-six years of marriage, my wife, Jill, and I have owned an awful lot of dogs, about sixty in all.
When it comes to purebred dogs, I do have a special place in my heart for a number of breeds: Whippets, West Highland White Terriers, Greyhounds, Bloodhounds, Great Danes, Jack Russell Terriers (recently recognized by the AKC and extremely popular with the horsy set and more and more so with urban folks in apartments; some of them can be real stinkers, but when they are nice, they are very, very nice). I love, too, Golden and Labrador Retrievers, Toy Poodles, Mastiffs and Bullmastiffs, Doberman Pinschers, Bassets, English Cocker Spaniels—and there are so many more. That doesn’t mean that I like Standard Poodles or German Shepherds any the less, not really. It just means that I have owned and loved these other, special breeds myself or have known some personally and fallen for them. It will be the same for anyone seeking a dog for loving and showing. Novices should take their time. Let a naturally slow process unfold naturally. A bad or hasty choice or at least a careless one can mean a lot of sadness and wasted money. Picking the dog you are going to live with for the next ten to fifteen years is one of the few opportunities you will ever have to select a family member, besides your spouse. (Mordecai Siegal made that observation years ago.)
Before you say “Welcome to my heart,” think it through. It really is quite an offer you have to make. One way or another the dog is going to repay you in kind, but his opportunity to do so will be provided by you.
Ouch! Biters
Although it isn’t a major factor in the world of show dogs, there is a problem that occasionally raises its ugly head. Real dog people know that unfortunately there are breeds more inclined to resolve their frustrations with their teeth than other, more satisfactory companions are. That becomes an important factor if you have children living in your home or visiting there. The ultimate ostrich game is played by ignoring this problem. Oddly enough, good, dedicated breeders will usually be honest in a heart-to-heart talk about the biting propensity of their own breed. Promise them anonymity and listen to what they have to say with rapt attention.
There are several levels of or ways to define what are collectively and often mistakenly called dog bites. It is important to know these differences. The bottom level, the least damaging, evolves from the technique female wolves, and dogs as well, use to discipline their cubs or puppies. If a female is tired of the shenanigans displayed by one of her young, she may clamp her mouth shut, roll back her lips in a terrible snarl, and then really growl from deep down inside. It can be a most impressive display. The climax of this drama is an apparent lunge, as if to tear out the young animal’s throat, but that is not the real intent, not at all. It is all show. The female in effect slaps or punches the youngster in a decidedly nonlethal way. Many so-called dog bites involving human victims are nothing more than that. A female, sick, hungry, tired, or just having an off day or week or year, punishes a pesky human kid with an incisor punch. No bite is intended, but teeth can be sharp and an accidental cut or abrasion is possible. But if there is no upper and lower part of the injury where the teeth clamped down, I question whether a bite was really intended or involved. A punch like that is still not desirable behavior. Damage can be done that can leave scars. It constitutes a breach of faith even if unintended. Of our resident eleven dogs, not one would even consider a bite or punch-bite. It is very simple; one of the earliest commands they learn here on the farm is: “No teeth!” or “No bite,” even in play.
A word of warning: some bitchs are very nervous about young puppies they have borne. They would rather not have them handled. If you teach her there is no danger, she should let you handle them whenever you want to. All this is done while you are praising her. Go slow, offer no threat, recognize her sensitivities, and keep strangers, particularly kids, away from the puppies until everything is settled.
The second form of dog bite is just that, a bite by a dog. Fortunately, most occur on the extremities; there will be teeth marks on both sides of the hand or ankle. Clearly, whatever happened was intended. This is bad news for man and dog, and careful consideration has to be given as to whether the dog can stay in the family. There are trainers who specialize in aggressive dogs. They are very expensive (and rightfully so), but they are usually successful and are probably your only sensible choice. The sooner an expert takes over after an incident the better.
It can get quirky. The late, great film director Stanley Kubrick bumped into me in the then MGM studio, Elstree, north of London in Hertfordshire. He invited Jill and me to join the Kubrick clan for dinner that night. Coincidentally, he wanted to talk about dogs, creatures he dearly loved.
When we arrived, he gave me the background story while we had cocktails. He had bought a West Highland White Terrier for his three young daughters. The Westy is traditionally one of the sweetest dogs there is. In my whole life I have known only two cranky ones, and Stanley owned one of them. It had bitten him; his wife, Christiane; all three of their daughters; along with assorted aides, servants, delivery men, and service people.
I went to see the dragon in the kitchen, where he was napping in his bed under a small table.
“Hi there, Pup, what’s the problem?” I asked, pulling up a chair slowly and being ever so soft and friendly. I was careful not to be threatening.
I made the hit list anyway. The T. rex. of dogdom with the nonstop cute face came out from under the table like a cruise missile with teeth painted on its warhead.
From what little I could see, this was one dog that wouldn’t make it in a house with kids coming and going and sleeping over. With considerable reluctance I suggested that Stanley select a different breed or at least a different Westy from a different breeder. His problem would not lend itself to a quick or sure fix. The Kubrick dog had a screw loose.
But Stanley was a true dog lover and he went for a second opinion. He said that he wanted to give the dog every chance. He called the late lion tamer and circus owner Jimmy Chipperfield and told him the story he had told me. The Westy went off (in a Rolls Royce, as was only proper) for a brief stay with the Chipperfields. There the subject of biting could be given very careful attention. When the Westy with the teeth finally came home, he no longer bit like a spunky little frizzled-face terrier but like a lion instead. I didn’t hear where the Westy finally landed, but his time terrorizing the Kubricks ended abruptly.
Jill and I had moved back to the United States when a letter from Stanley made it clear that an appropriate dog breed had to be found for life in an English manor house with walled grounds and a loving family. I recommended a Golden Retriever (they breed them superbly well in the United Kingdom). Stanley accepted the plan, and the last time I saw him he had three or four of them, all bouncing around him, rejoicing in their own life and his. Sadly, his is over. But he did love dogs.
Some Goldens do bite, it must be admitted, not many, but some. Most Westies do not, so what does this anecdote tell us? If you get your dog from a person you know and whose dogs you know, you will, in all probability, have an opportunity to meet at least one parent of the puppy you are considering. That doesn’t necessarily prove anything, but you can get a pretty good indication of what your chances are for a sweet-dispositioned easy keeper. Do your research.
The third level of biting dog involves savaging instead of just biting. There has been a lot of that kind of thing reported in the news in the past few years. It is a very troublesome matter, and more than a few human deaths and a great many terrible mutilations have resulted from this ultimate level in intolerable canine behavior. It is rare that a healthy, well-bred, well-trained, and conditioned dog turns out to be a savage, but when it does happen, the owner will discover soon enough that showing is not really an option. There is no point to it; the individual dog in question should not be bred under any circumstances. A note in passing: Some of the sweetest dogs I have known have been Pit Bulls. When they are raised as pets and properly obedience trained, the kind of behavior we hear about and hate just doesn’t become an issue. Breed-specific prejudice makes about as much sense in dogs as it does in people.
Some people, an awful lot perhaps, want a visual deterrent like a Doberman Pinscher or a German Shepherd, but the number of people who want a gregarious, responsive friend who is always reliable is far greater. It can be either of those two breeds or any other, but a dog, certainly a show dog, should be handleable even by strangers. It is a demand that is going to be repeatedly made of it in the show ring, and that is for certain. A dog that acts like a kite on the end of its leash just because a stranger approaches has as much chance of going Best in Show as I do of winning the Kentucky Derby afoot, carrying the horse.
There is a way that almost always seems to work in the evolution of a supernice dog, no matter what the breed. Handle him from the day he is whelped; have family members and friends handle him, too. Take turns carrying him around. Have him beside you when you read or watch television. Scratch him in all the good places and talk to him. The “good places” vary from dog to dog, but I find that a few inevitably elicit that glazed look of extreme pleasure. On the chest, between the front legs, is one, and another is lower down on the sides of the neck, from shoulder point to the lower jawline. On the back, at the base of the tail, a good scratching
will often bring forth a reflexive kick or hunch-up. If you walk your dog often and find reasons to praise him, you will genuinely enjoy his company and he will rejoice in yours. Getting him to set up properly in the ring and move in keeping with his breed standards will be much easier if you two are a team with a history of interaction. It really isn’t all that different from raising kids or being married. It is the story of giving and getting as played by two entities in goodwill for the pleasure of each. Rare is the dog that doesn’t want to play that kind of game.
Setting up, or stacking, properly is a lovely thing to watch. That is when the dog looks his best. He has been trained to it and is doing it with the guidance of a thoroughly professional handler. While he is home he should practice stacking every day. Stack him on the floor if he is or is going to be large. Offer treats, make it fun. Practice walking with decorum on a lead, no more than five to ten minutes a day. Don’t be a bore.
If his breed is normally shown on a table, practice that as well. Have strangers approach him and examine his body, his bite, his coat.
Go to matches; get him used to the ring, the judge’s role, traveling; socialize at every opportunity. Be sure to make play part of his show experience. Keep the dog “up.” A squeaky toy is a good thing to have in your pocket.
(Before going to a match where he can sniff around other dogs, make certain his shots are up-to-date. Check your plans with a veterinarian.)
Going for the Blue Page 8
