I cannot believe all the negative comments being made about this guy. He's a beautiful specimen. But some people (besides saying that the game was "fixed") are also saying he's "ugly" and that "he's not even a real dog", and blah-blah-blah, and complaining about the way he moves, saying he shouldn't have won because he could barely move around the ring. That kind of shit is all over his Facebook album. I made a comment, but it appears to have been erased. Now how is it my comment could get erased, but the other negative comments were not? All I said was that I thought this little guy was adorable! And that I don't even care about the politics of show breeding. And that show breeders are nuts anyway. Well! They are! I've only met a handful of show breeders who are not nuts. And I do mean a handful. You can count them on the fingers of one hand! But the majority of show breeders I've met were cynical, obnoxious, have a flaring temper that would silence Joan Rivers, and are too gossipy and judgmental. Not the kind of people I would like to associate with! I'm too good for that.
I don't understand why everything has to be so political anyways! Personally, I don't think a breeder needs to show in order to be considered a good breeder. I think any person who thinks that is nothing but a snob. I wonder if, to them, a person should not have kids unless they've won ribbons in a beauty pageant. I've seen some kids that have never been entered in a beauty pageant, yet were still very adorable children. I think my nieces and nephews are very beautiful kids! They may not have the approval of a judge who's been licenced by any major corporation, but they have the approval of their families, and those who see them and think the same thing. I don't think a person or anything needs a purple ribbon to be validated. As long as a breeder has a good mentor, who knows a good specimen when they see them, has studied their lines and done all the necessary testing, why bother with titles and ribbons?
People are breeding dogs to death anyways. One poster put up a very interesting post that led to a video about how we are breeding unhealthy dogs. It's a sad movie to watch. One of the breeds with some of the worst problems is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. It's a breed I truly love, but would never have because of the health concerns that come with them. One of the problems I saw in this movie was a condition where their skull is literally too small for their brain. It's sad seeing those dogs suffer! And you would think getting these dogs from someone who shows, that you're getting a good quality specimen, even in terms of health. But no. In fact, it is show breeders who are breeding these problems into the breeds. It's terrible, because their job is supposed to be in preserving the breeds. That's one of the first things I learned when I began (seriously) breeding chihuahuas. Of course I am not breeding them anymore, and I have no intention of starting up again. While having puppies are a lot of fun, I had nothing but bad luck breeding chihuahuas. I never even produced a female, except in my very first litter, which I say didn't count because I was not serious about breeding then. But that's a phenomenon that even the most experienced and weathered show breeder could never explain. Every litter should have at least one female. And Groucho had a couple when I sent her to BC that one time with that breeder to be bred again. I didn't want to send her there! She had just had a litter, and I never believed in breeding one heat cycle after another. But I was also still a novice to the hobby. And this breeder assured me that breeding one heat cycle after another would not hurt her. Of course I felt bad about it, especially after I found out that that breeder was not at all as good as she tried to lead me to believe! I was pissed then!! But when I did get truly serious about breeding the right way, I was perfectly willing and able to listen to more experienced show breeders. One breeder I always listened to was Tanya, on the Pluba forums. I liked her. I still think she was cool. She knew her business very well. So yeah, I listened to her. I used to push against her, until one night I actually listened and discovered her love for chihuahuas is what led to her deep concern and railing against breeding merle chihuahuas. Merle is a beautiful pattern, but it does come with a heavy price. Having bred Australian Shepherds before, I knew already about the dangers of breeding a merle to another merle. It's worse with chihuahuas. With so many colors available, in some specimens, merle can be hidden, and then be disasterous.
But anyway, today's show breeders are always striving for flatter, or smaller heads, shorter noses, or in some breeds heads so big, the dog can't even hold it up. In chihuahuas, the heads are round on top and the nose is flatter than it used to be, and the stop (front part of the head) is getting more concave. While I will admit that that type of chihuahua is cuter than say one that looks like the Taco Bell dog, it leads to so many health problems. Pretty soon, we're going to see chihuahuas that have the same kind of neurological problem as we see in Cavaliers. Of course if all chihuahuas looked like the Taco Bell dog, I would never have gotten into the breed. That style is just not attractive to me. I love the "baby doll-faced" chihuahuas much better. To me, that "helpless, innocent" look is so much more appealing. But I think for the sake of the breed, chihuahuas should start being bred for a more narrow head, and maybe a little bit longer muzzle. Check out this movie and see if I'm not right:
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