Ch Deja Vu In Like Flynn CD PT HOF ROMPX

Ch Deja Vu In Like Flynn CD PT HOF ROMPX
Ch Deja Vu Up Close & Personal HOF ROMX

this is one of my favorite pictures of Udo

this is one of my favorite pictures of Udo
Udo group 1 judge E Sullivan

Specialty Best In Show shown by friend Pat Murray

Specialty Best In Show shown by friend Pat Murray
Udo- winning his first specialty @ 2 years old shortly after being returned to me

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Am Mex Ch Deja Vu Mia Cool As A Cucumber


Dill is in Mexico. He is having quite a bang up career there. He is co-owned with the Fischl family-father Christian, mother Lala and daughters Paula and Lourdes. He sleeps in Paula's bed at night, waits for her to come home from University every day and generally is flourishing in his new life there as show dog and family pet with kids (he loves them).


So far in 5 months of showing Dill has won about a bazillion Herding Groups and has climbed up from non-champion to the Number Two ranked dog in the Herding Group. Very cool for such a young dog not yet in his prime.


Dill is not perfect, but his outline, proportions, breed type and beauty is arresting. He has such a lovely head, solid topline and classic carriage. He is a proud guy. You can see it in his natural carriage and style of being.


Carriage is one thing I consider heavily important in the Briard. It is something intangible but of tremendous significance. It is part of what makes a Briard a Briard-not a Bouvier. The standard for the breed is so defined about how the dog should operate in the world, how he should present himself in life and carry himself in general.


I read and reread the AKC standard arbitrarily and intermittently over time. Every time I do, I take away something new which I missed or forgot about. Last time I looked at it, the passage about carriage struck me with a fresh appreciation. In the first sentence the words "vigorous and alert" implies a certain countenance and carriage. But go on to the specific " the head joins the neck in a right angle and is held proudly alert".


Recently there was a discussion on one of the inane Briard lists on the internet about head carriage. As long as I have been in the breed I have heard the clueless expound on proper head carriage. They like to say the dog should carry his head low-many proclaiming greatness in the presence of a dog who looks like a plow horse-head being carried in motion in a line below the shoulders. There is nothing proud or alert about a plow horse. The carriage is more reminiscent of a Border Collie or crippled old Cocker Spaniel than a Briard.


The clueless like to say the dogs who win too much look more like "prancing Poodles". My mentor and friend Mary Lou Tingley in response to a photo posted demonstrating the low head, long strung out body of a bad moving devoid of carriage Briard remarked that it was probably herding field mice. Indeed, that is what it looks like-one line from tip of nose to tip of tail. We call them "flatliners". Like the cardiac monitor of a dead person-one flat line.


Dill will never be a flat liner on his worst day.

8 comments:

  1. The fact that someone judges Crufts or the local puppy match is no proof that they know anything about gait and structure and function. Your point is what?
    I know it is easy to fall to something you feel you know alot about to substantiate yourself as in the know, but the facts stand on the topic of locomotion. No where is it proven by the form following the function that a trotting herding dog should carry its head below its shoulders. If that is the kind of movement you seek, that is your right of free choice. There is room for many different opinions and experiences. That lack of carriage abd breed type displaces the dog's center of gravity and diminshes balance and power and harmony of forward momemtum. When a dog is falling over its front as the only way to go forward, one has a serious problem.
    I have seen countless dogs, Briards and others work grazes as well other forms of herding and controlling stock. I have seen correct structure and balance reinforced through correct balanced trot and carriage over and over. Never once in a dog who I knew to be structurally balanced did I see the head carried in the preposterous position of reaching to the ground. The head nd neck shoudl reach forward as the dog increases speed, not fall towards the ground at a collected trot.Like I said in the blog above, that is the carriage of a plow horse whose center of gravity has to be so far forward because of the burden he pulls. Not the position and carriage of a herding trotting dog whose movement has been mandated by a written standard to be as light as a large feline, or like quicksilver or giving the impression of gliding along the groud without touching it. The standard says "dogs with clumsy or inelegant gait should be penalized." There is nothing elegant about a plow horse with his nose to the ground or a dog with his head hanging between his front legs in order to move forward.
    And lastly, yes, my dogs have set the record for the breed on all levels of the conformation ring and hold all the records...for specialty wins, all breed Best In Show wins, Westminster wins, Group wins, top winning male and female of all time, top sire and top dam of all time... blah blah blah. The show ring is one which values good and sound structure and movement coupled with breed type correct for the breed. This includes a dog who gaits well, is sound in the front and rear and carries himself with the joie de vivre of the breed and a show dog. I am proud of the records set. Thanks for noticing!

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  3. Here's a photo of Nash working the graze taken after about a half hour or so ..... http://seabries-nash.blogspot.com/2009/06/working-graze.html

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  5. Hi Terry,
    Love the blog and the information you share. I had to chuckle about the post that deviated from movement (I see nothing in the standard about either Beger or shepherd movement) to coat. The timing on the coat comment is very apropos. As you know, Miles earned his PT this weekend in some pretty horrible weather. It had rained for 24 hours before the event, the grounds were swampy (this is FL after all!), muddy, and under water. It was pouring the first day of the test, Miles and every dog and person on the property were soaked. Other competitors told me they assumed I was going home to spend hours grooming my dog after being drenched; I said I wouldn't have to because he has correct coat. They also assumed that I groomed him every day, which I don't, only once a week. The next day it didn't rain and the competitors who “met” Miles commented on his coat, they were fascinated by its coarse texture. They assumed from looking at him that it was soft. Just goes to show that you can't judge coat texture until you actually touch it. Miles and I are looking forward to continuing our herding training. Thanks for the information.
    Sheryl

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  6. Gabrielle
    is the Nash a youtube moving or just a static shot? give him a pet!! herding in this weather is a pain.

    sheryl
    Welcome to the world of herding.. it is always in the rain, snow or heat!!! BCA nationals this year was nothing but MUD....try C course time and distance in the mud...hope you head up north for the nationals next year so we can all see miles.
    mary weir.... www.enchantedbriards.com

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Violet at 8 months specialty weekend