Category Archives: Animal Behavior
Pekingese Takes Honors at WKC
Close up of a Pekingese in short 'puppy' coat.
This year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is in the history books now. The coveted Best in Show honors went to a Pekingese named Malachy.
The little dog waddled his way around the ring and into judges hearts. Malachy was up against a German Shepherd, a Doberman, a Kerry Blue Terrier, a Dachshund, An Irish Setter and a Dalmatian who earlier won their groups. But you must understand, for Best in Show the dogs in the ring are not competing against each other. Rather, they are competing against the ideal standard for their particular breed.
From The Washington Post;
The Pekingese Club of America, established in 1909, offers up a long description of what makes an ideal Pekingese, a breed that dates to ancient China. “The Pekingese is a well-balanced, compact dog of Chinese origin with a heavy front and lighter hindquarters. Its temperament is one of directness, independence and individuality. Its image is lionlike, implying courage, dignity, boldness and self-esteem rather than daintiness or delicacy,” says the club.
Malachy would have received high marks for his wide skull, heart-shaped ears that lie flat against his head, wide nostrils, “moderately bowed” forelegs, coarse coat and “unhurried, dignified, free and strong” gait. Pekingese breeds can be docked points for obvious styling of the dog’s coat and can be disqualified if they weigh more than 14 pounds.
The entire standard will be very detailed and much longer, but you get the idea. So simply put, Malachy was the Best in Show because in the judge’s opinion he was closer to an ideal of his breed than the other dogs were to theirs.
I like dog shows and I like cat shows. However, I think breeding to a standard has been taken way too far and I am happy to see responsible breeders beginning to try to breed for health and stamina rather than a look people like. Too many times those popular looks like the squashed face end up causing the breed health issues and might even kill the dog.
We are finally starting to realize the harm puppy mills and kitten mills do. We are taking measures to stop their inhumane treatment of dogs and cats. We also need to realize the harm perfectly legitimate breeders can do if they are not extremely careful with their breeding practices. The AKC is the perfect organization to encourage the ‘good’ breeders to do the right thing and to my knowledge they have been doing just that.
ACTION Wolf Kill in Canada
There is a vote tomorrow in the United States Congress over the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Stopping Keystone will also help prevent a wolf kill by poison in Canada. You can go here to find petitions to sign supporting the stop of the pipeline. The links to the petitions are on our sister site Luna canus.
It seems it is not only politicians in the U.S. that are in the pocket of and willing to lie for the big oil companies. The politicians north of the border in Canada seem to be just as money-grubbing as the ones here at home.
In Canada the problems are already presenting themselves from this dirty and environmentally destructive way to make the big oil firms a few more pieces of silver.
The process of removing the oil from the tar sands has had a major impact on the caribou population and sadly the process is not stopping there. Instead of reducing the environmental impact on the caribou habitat by Keystone XL, the Canadian government in all its wisdom has come up with a far cheaper solution.
So what action will Canada Oh! Canada, take to save the caribou from this environmental destruction? Why it is actually quite simple! They will poison the wolf population in the area! Yeah!! One big wolf kill, that should do the trick.
Obviously less wolves will mean more caribou and with more caribou Keystone can continue to rape the environment for their profit. The more profit Keystone makes then the more they pay off the politicians so that more animals and habitat can be destroyed and then they can make even more money and the dirty little wheel spins.
This is exactly the type of corporate greed and government compliance with business desires that has brought our entire world to the brink of environmental ruin.
While moronic tea bagger conservative Republicans like Louis Gohmert tell Americans that pipelines are good for our nation because they somehow give our wildlife a place to go on dates, we have other morons in Canada killing off every living thing they can think of.
Hey, it is a good thing for people though. After all, we can try to live in a desolate wasteland devoid of plants and animals because we can trust those who keep power through oil companies profits will provide for us. Right?
Sadly by the time it is all said and done, after the water is polluted, the land barren and the wildlife all dead the only thing left will be starving people and a massive cleanup project that will need to be paid for. Guess who will pay for that clean up? Not the oil companies or the politicians. No it will be our tax dollars that pay for that while the energy companies and their political minions go look for another habitat to destroy.
Look at what is happening in Canada.
Destroyed habitats. Wildlife die offs. Now the poisoning of the wolves.
Is this what we want imported into the United States?
You can read much more of what is happening in Canada and why the wolves are being poisoned by visiting The National Wildlife Federation.
Poisoning the wolves is a pathetic attempt to right things that have gone terribly wrong and placing the fault on wildlife not on interfering and stupid politicians.Westminster Dog Show Time
A Komonder at Westminster photo by whartonds at http://flickr.com/photos/48685334@N00/389392345
Last year an 85 pound female Scottish Deer Hound named Hickory took home the honors at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. That was an unusual win for a breed which isn’t all that well known.
What will happen this year at the United States’ most prestigious dog show? There are always surprises, disappointments and some seeming miracles at this show, so really anything goes. One thing is for sure, it will be exciting.
If you just want television schedules and times you can go to this Westminster link.
However, if you would like to take a behind the scenes look at the show and read about some of the dogs and their handlers, go to the Westminster Kennel Club.org link and have a fun time going through the site. There are some wonderful videos to watch there too.