Trouble in Griff Land

WWKD 

(what would Korthals do?)

Yesterday, as I was working on the Griffon chapter in my never-ending book project I went looking for a few more details on the early life of Eduard Korthals. What I found instead was a pretty intense shit-storm swirling in French Griff-land.

It has always been an open secret in dog circles that crosses to English Setters, GSP's, GWP's and Pointers have occurred in some Griffon lines in France for decades. I've alluded to it before in various forums, offering only the information I had been given "off the record" and what I had seen in the field with my own (non-expert) eyes. And I've known for a long time that an internal squabble over the issue of cross breeding had been brewing within the parent club for the breed in France. In fact, there had been warnings about excessive cross breeding coming from some sources as early as the 1990's.

Now let's remember that cross breeding is nothing new in France. Breeders of all kinds of dogs over there are quite "creative" and the French kennel club system actually has a mechanism in place for cross breeding under certain special circumstances. So I am fairly confident in saying that pretty well every breed of pointing dog in France has had at least a shot or two of English or German blood sneak its way in at some point in the last 130 years. And the French are not overly puritanical about it either. Like everyone else, they know how to play the "pure-bred" game and they stick to the official party line in public. But in private they are among the few who will admit that there is some "wiggle room" and that a dash of this or a dash of that from time to time is not such a bad thing. And to be honest, I find their attitude refreshing in a way. At least they admit that no breed is as pure as the driven snow and they certainly don't have a hair trigger aimed at any heretic that even thinks about cross breeding.

But it seems that what was going on in French Griff-land had finally gone too far, even for the French. The battle is now out in the open and it looks like the gloves are off. The biggest, best-known breeder of Korthals Griffons in the country is being accused of crossing to "foreign breeds" (mainly English Setters) and of even faking HD reports on some of his pups. It's as if Bob Whele (r.i.p) were being accused of breeding GSP's into his line and paying off a vet to rubber stamp their hip x-rays!

The people making the accusations point to strange colored griffs popping up with black, white and tri-coloured coats ranging from wiry to long to slick. They claim that some field trial Griffs are now just as fast as Pointers, that they run to the horizon and point laying down; they "set" (I've actually seen this myself). And they claim that most of the dogs seem to trace back to two or three lines, mainly the biggest one in France, a breeder with more field trial wins and show titles than almost all others combined.

Now, let me just say that I have no dog in this fight. I've met some fantastic Griff people in France, Quebec and in the US. I really admire the breed and am very impressed with the progress it has made. But I am an interested bystander and I believe that politically, this may be a real brouhaha. But on a practical level, I am actually optimistic that the breed will benefit in the end. The French seem to have a worldly, pragmatic view about these sorts of things. They are certainly much less evangelical about it than some of the more zealous purists in the US and UK where a similar situation would end up with torch carrying mobs hurling accusations of witchcraft. No, in France there will be lots of political/personal mud slinging, but in the end once the issues have been thrown around the Octagon for a while, dedicated Griffon folks will work together to put the breed back on a more or less straight and narrow path and continue to breed some really, really good dogs.

Anyway, I'm making popcorn and sitting back to see how it all turns out. It should be interesting. If you want to try to follow along, here is the site that is the center of the movement to bring all the shady dealings to light http://www.griffon-korthals-authentique.com/ It's in French, but remember, Google is your friend. Just click the "translate this site" option in language tools.

Bonne lecture!

Internets, E-Lists and Other Forms of Madness

Remember way back in the 90's when Internet version 1.0 had a cutting edge feature known as the e-mail list?

I thought those things had gone the way of the Dodo bird when version 2.0 of the internet came out with forums. Well it turns out that email lists are still around. I joined one the other day. It's on Yahoo (is that still around?) and is set up to discuss a kind of dog I am interested in.

Well, to make a long story short, my foray into the time-warp of email lists did not go very well. Within days of signing on, I signed off. Not only did the list seem like a sort of Jurrasic park relic from a time when shoulder pads and hair bands were cool, but it turns out that a small group of people who would should probably look into the benefits of psychotropic medication actually dominate it. I don't want to get into the details of what transpired, but suffice it to say that despite my best diplomatic efforts to point out that maybe, just maybe, there were a few problems in the breed, some of the thirstier cool-aid drinkers on the list came to the conclusion that I was the Anti-Christ.

Now, I know what you are thinking..Oh that's just crazy talk from Koshyk...

But I've got to say that some of the reaction bordered on the psychotic. I mean I'm as passionate about dogs as the next guy or girl. And I hold opinions that many people may not agree with. But what I read in the few days I was on the list went beyond passion; way beyond opinion. It bordered on what you would hear at an a exorcism performed by Anne Coulter after a three-day meth-binge.

So I ended up doing the Internet equivalent of "backing away slowly"...you know, that kind of move people make when they stumble on a bridesmaid and best man humping in the bathroom at a wedding reception?

Ya, that's how I spent my New Year's Day. How about you?

Even NAVHDA!

It looks like the AKC isn't the only organization that plays fast and loose with gun dog histories. It turns out that even NAVHDA indulges in some pretty sloppy pseudo-history as well.

In its Aims, Programs, Test Rules booklet , NAVHDA states that:
There are several breeds of versatile dogs common in continental Europe, and with four exceptions, all were developed during the last decades of the 19th century.

I take issue with parts of the above statement. First of all, the number of versatile dog breeds developed in continental Europe is obviously more than just “several”. The actual number is close to 40. NAVHDA recognizes 22 of them. In addition, NAVHDA recognizes the 4 pointing breeds developed in the UK, breeds that that were not developed “in continental Europe” or traditionally bred and trained for versatile work. As for the 4 "exceptions", well that is just plain horse hockey.

The four exceptions are much older breeds that provided a base for some of the others. These are the Weimaraner, the Vizsla, the Brittany, and its German cousin, the Small Munsterlander.

While it is accurate to state that the versatile breeds were developed at the end of the 19th century, claiming that the Weimaraner, Vizsla, the Brittany and “its German Cousin” the Small Munsterlander are “much older breeds” is simply wrong. They were all developed around the same time as the other versatile breeds and in the case of the Vizsla, almost completely recreated from scratch in the first half of the 20th century.

The text goes on to provide even more astounding inaccuracies.
The tracking hound, pointer and waterpudel were the basic breeding stocks most widely used to develop the short and wirehaired groups.

I have no idea what “The tracking hound” is. While there were types of dogs, hounds if you will, that were used to track game: Lymers, Schweisshunds, Bloodhounds etc. there was no breed known as "The tracking hound".

And what the heck is a "waterpudel"? It think it may be a reference to water dogs. Since one kind of waterdog is called the "Pudel" in German, it looks like the author just cobbled a word together in an effort to sound sort of German-ish.

And then there is this whopper:“The longhaired group evolved from the Small Munsterlander and flat-coated retriever.” Just how the “longhaired group” evolved from breeds that simply did not exist before the middle of the 19th century is quite a mystery.

Finally there is even a specific statement aimed at closing the list to dogs that some feel should be on it. "No distinctive versatile hunting breed has been developed in North America.”

This statement is not really there to add anything to the subject of gundog history. Rather is is a thinly veiled argument against the recognition of the pointing Labrador; a strain within the Labrador breed that can do all of the things the versatile breeds do, but for whatever reason is not considered by NAVHDA to be a versatile breed.

C'mon NAVHDA, you can do better. In the eyes of many, you stand as the North American authority on all the versatile breeds. You are certainly the largest and best known organization that tests them. You could at least check the facts on their histories before you send your booklet to the printers or post it to your website.

Lebensrum aus der Kanada?

WARNING:
What follows is a blog post written well before my morning triple espresso kicked me up a notch. I may come across as being somewhat of a sour old fart. But then again according to my wife , I am a sour old fart.

Let me tell you about Living Room...

Up here in Manitoba we have a whole lot of empty. The province is something like twice the size of England and home to about a million people. In fact we often hear our well coiffed politicians bemoan the fact that our population is stable at best and in many years it actually declines. You see, the old timers around here have a nasty habit of passing on to the happy hunting ground once they reach their 90's. And too many youngsters are accepting jobs offers "down east" in one of the new tatoo/piercing parlours that are springing up like magic mushrooms in downtown Toronto. What's worse, most working couples are so stressed out just trying to eake out a living that if they ever do get around to having sex, it is more like trying to shoot pool with a rope than it is about making babies.

The general reaction around here seems to be mild hand wringing. There might even a bit of teeth gnashing going on. For some reason forecasts of "zero growth" generate fear in some folks. Personally, when I hear that there simply "aren't enough people" in the province I can't help but grin.

You see, I don't like people.

I like dogs. I love my wife. My family is alright most of the time.

But people? They're the worst.

That's why when I find myself in a church for a wedding, funeral or to ask directions to the nearest Hooters family restaurant, I get down on my creeky knees and thank the Large One upstairs for the fact that I can go an entire hunting season without ever seeing another person.

Praise the lord and pass the amunition!

It gets WORSE!

Don't ask me why, but I actually went back to the AKC site to check out some other breeds. Boy o boy, I wish I hadn't (is there some sort of sado-maso pattern emerging here? If so, drop me a line on my "private" e-mail account to discuss the various..uh...options....)

Anyway, as usual, I digress. To the rant at hand:

It looks like the German Wirehaired Pointer "history" posted to the AKC site is not the only one that reads like it was written by a thousand monkeys hammering away at a thousand typewritters. It turns out that a lot of them are the stuff of English and History teacher nightmares. Here are just a few examples....

The Portuguese Pointer: Initially the dog was bred in the royal kennels and but later became a very popular hunting dog for the lower classes of society.
"And but later", is that from Shakespeare?

The GSP: The German Shorthaired Pointer combined in field-dog requirements those qualities which have long popularized the various breeds of hunting dogs.
"...combined in field-dog requirements those qualities..". Yup, there you have it folks. Proof that our educations system is juuuuust fine.

The Brittany: The Brittany was named for the French province in which it originated as early as AD 150.
While the statement seems to be grammatically fine, it is, and please excuse my Français, pure and utter BULLSHIT!! I mean c'mon! 150 AD? Why not just go for the gold and say 150 BC? Throw in an reference or two to woolly mammoths and Jurassic freakin park while you're at it.

The Spinone: The Spinone Italiano, or Italian Pointer, is Italy's all-purpose hunting dog. It is also sometimes referred to as a Griffon, since that name formerly designated the hunting dogs of all Continental Europe.
This just in from the AKC: all hunting dogs from Continental Europe used to be called Griffons. Stay tuned for further fantasies and made-up ball-wash.

The Griffon: The origin of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon came about shortly after Mendel published his experiments on genetic heredity, which inspired many Europeans to try their skills at breeding
Wow. Just freaking WOW. This is the FIRST sentence in the Griffon history and it is sooo out of the ballpark that I am sure Eddy Korthals is spinning in his grave just thinking about how wrong it is.

The Bracco Italiano: This dog of ancient Italian origin used for bird hunting has modeled itself and developed over the ages; from the hunting of yesteryear by means of nets, he has adapted himself to the present hunting and shooting. Frescoes from the 14th century are proof of the indisputable timelessness of the Italian pointer over the centuries, whether either regarding his morphology or his aptitudes at hunting as a pointer.
"whether either regarding"...yup, that there is real good English talking right there.

The Weimaraner: Throughout its early career, the distinctively gray Weim was propogated by nobles in the court of Weimar who sought to meld into one breed all the qualities they had found worthwhile in their forays against the then abundant game of Germany.
Is it just me or does this sound like something written by 15 year old girl desperately trying to sound deep and brooding?

WHO WRITES THIS SHITE? Please, for the love of all that is English and pure, make it go away!!!!

(insert emoticon symbol for curled up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth, eyes ablaze...)

A Wirehaired Rant

It may just be the egg-nog talking, but I feel a rant coming on. Please bear with me.

OK, here's the deal. Over the last few weeks, the average daytime temperature in Winnipeg has been about 3 degrees colder than the surface of the planet freaking Neptune...in a blizzard. In fact, it was so cold last night that a torch-carrying mob actually built a large bonfire out of the carcasses of several local TV weather announcers.

So what can be done to stave off the winter blues? Well you can try roasting marshmallows over a weatherman fueled bonfire. Or you can write. That's right: write. It works for me. In the last couple of weeks, I've finished a good chunk of the never-ending book project. Today I jotted down some more ideas, corrected a few faux-pas and ignored the fact that sitting at a computer for 22 hours a day is a great way to grow a beer gut and build a spongy layer of flab on my formerly skinny ass.

Anyway, I digress...

Today I've been writing about the Deutsch Drahthaar. A heck of a cool gundog breed from, you guessed it, Deutschland a.k.a Germany. And as usual, I spent a lot of time working my way through breed books and digging around the interweb checking facts and figures in an effort to find out just what makes the breed tick. At some point, I ended up on the AKC website. I wish I hadn't.

What I found there was a "description" of the Drahthaar that defies description. It is easly among the worst pieces of pure bovine scheiss I have ever had the displeasure of reading. It is such a funky mix of half-truths, contradictions and fluff that it makes a Sarah Palin press conference sound like Ghandi reading the Bhagavad Gita.

I recommend to whomever wrote it that he/she
1. Head straight back to his/her highschool and sue the English, history and geography departments for criminal negligence and
2. Actually check into a breed before spouting off about it.


Happy Festivus.