Developing an eye
by Andrew Brace
Lacking expression
Recently I was approached by a couple fairly new to showing dogs who asked, in all sincerity, what was meant by having "an eye". Someone in their breed had told them that they need to "develop their eye" before they embark on breeding. Unfortunately the giver of this advice failed to elaborate on the subject and so they asked me what she may have meant.
In truth these newcomers have two fairly average bitches with which they have entered the hobby; they have learnt how to handle and groom very well and their dogs have won decently for them. They are not however world beaters and are unlike to ever win CCs. Their owners love their dogs, obviously, but are at that stage where they perhaps do not have enough knowledge to appraise them accurately. They know they are not perfect, but havenīt yet worked out where they lack.
I can only imagine that, following conversations with this well-meaning breeder, she had concluded that they were not yet sufficiently well versed in the subtleties of the breed to star thinking about puppies.
The bitches in question, in my estimation, are soundly made animals that move correctly for the breed and are well conditioned. They are the right shape, if one is a little on the big side, but both their heads are rather plain and lacking quality and expression. However, they have some quality breeding behind them, and are the kind of bitches that, if put to the right dog who excels where they fail, could easily produce something worthwhile.
When it comes to breeding, their owners need to research their bitches pedigrees and those available stud dogs, in the hope that they may be able to pick up some common ancestry which excelled in breed points and also had the ability to produce the goods.
So, how does someone develop an eye? In my opinion it is all about exposure. To appreciate quality you need to surround yourself with it, and if you donīt have dogs of your own who can satisfy that requirement you need to study those who can. In the breed in question until about 20 years ago there were at leats six kennels that were prominent, each fielding a team of top class dogs at most shows. They virtually monopolised the top awards, as they should have done, and while all of them always turned out quality animals, there were subtle type differences that gave each breeder their kind of own kennel stamp. It was unusual for the owners of some of these kennels to ever use the stud dogs of their friendly rivals, although two of them did seem to co-operate, and generally they bred very closely within their own lines, all of them doing so with an intimate knowledge of the dogs they were using and their forebears.
Importance of ancestry
When these breeders died or retired from the sport, their kennels were rather dissipated and none had arranged for their legacy to be handed over to a successor, which so frequently happens in the dog world, so consequently odd dogs found their way into the hands of other breeders who had nothing like the experience or the vision of their previous owners. Various bloodlines were mixed and matched and in the next to no time the intense kennel "looks" were lost. Today it is virtually impossible to look at this breed and be able to pinpoint a dog´s ancestry, as could so easily be done in days gone by. Being exposed to quality in depth should enable anyone to develop a natural eye, but often it is the people who are outside the breed who appreciate the exposure more than those who are directly involved with it, and they who gain more from it. Equally important is studying photographs of the breed´s greats from the past. It puzzles me how so many of our newer breeders and exhibitors give the impression of having no interest in the marvellous dogs who may lie in the background of their pedigrees, and how so few posses the "bibles" of their breeds. A breeder at a show recently was bemoaning the state of her breed and confided that she had recently got out a copy of her breed´s standard work, studied the pictures, and so reassured herself that she still knew what they should look like!