It is amazing how popular some breeds of dogs are. I realized this on Thanksgiving day when there was equal advertising for both the Thanksgiving Day parade telecast AND the Kennel Club Dog Show. It is clear that within each category of dogs, there are favorites among the crowd in attendance.
Dalmatians were popular in the community near where my father grew up. There were several breeders who specialized in dalmatians, and it wasn't until long after we got a dalmatian that we realized they were often inbred. The first dog we got was deaf. Evidently this is a common characteristic of breed. The reason often given is that the ancestor dogs lost their hearing when running next to the horses pulling fire wagons. That, however, supports Larmarkian thinking over Darwinian, so not sure the belief passes the "smell test." Breeding dogs in the same lineage and increasing the probability of the recessive hearing/deaf gene to surface makes much more scientific sense.
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| Dalmatian relief print - Daniel Smith black relief ink. Hand painted with FW acrylic ink on Strathmore 400 series printmaker paper. |
The dachshund seems to be a very popular dog in some communities. We had a wonderful dachshund when I was growing up. In the Thanksgiving Day dog show, I was amazed to see the number of different varieties of this dog; brown, black, long hair, short hair, etc. Their long, low physique was valued by badger hunters. Hard to believe that our mild-mannered dachshund could hold her own with a ferocious badger, but that is the core of the breed's attributes!
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| Dachshund relief print - hand painted. Printed with Daniel Smith black relief ink and hand painted with FW acrylic inks on 400 series Strathmore printmaker paper. |
It is also not surprising to learn that dachshunds are susceptible to back and spinal injuries....I learned that during the Kennel Club Show. BTW - looking for a cute movie that spoofs the dog show craze - "Best in Show" provides some good laughs !
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