The dogs today are meeting the standard. I am not seeing the fat overdone dogs you are referring to. Now maybe you are in a different part of the country but in the East and Southeast the dogs are great.
Posts like these also look like sour grapes to me. Just because your dogs may not be winning doesn't mean all the other dogs are incorrect.
Everyone on this thread must really be frustrated and depressed. What a bummer to see all these Labradors who don't meet the standard win these shows. To make it worse, the ones most undeserving win the biggest specialties also. Oh....and these dogs cant work in the field. My...oh...my what is the world coming to?
I would love to see what a picture of a Labrador from a group of great artist would look like with nothing but the standard to go by. I am not bashing the standard and I am not suggesting I don't follow it. But, I have been doing this long enough to not think the way most of you are.
And, yes, there are some delusions here. The breed is never going back to the dogs of old like Light Brigade or Super Charger. Awesome dogs in their day but we have moved on.
And, yes, there are some delusions here. The breed is never going back to the dogs of old like Light Brigade or Super Charger. Awesome dogs in their day but we have moved on.
I don't know and would be afraid to waste my money to find out. I was curious what others thought. My intention was not to bring another discussion about why dogs have changed so much and continue to change, although I'd like to understand all aspects of this as well. But simply, does what most consider to be an "old fashioned" dog stand a chance in the ring today?
I believe a truly nice dog will always stand a chance. I have a more moderate dog with an old fashioned coat (short and hard) that finished easily but I would not show to certain breeder judges that like massive (a word that should never be used to describe this breed) dogs - there is no point. There are breeder and all around judges that do appreciate a correct dog.
Some dogs of the past who were nice in their day would not be competitive today because structurally we have improved the breed since then and they would not be competitive. However, there are several dogs from the past who would certainly be competitive today and probably more so because they have not lost head or coat type.
As a "new" person to the breed, let me just ask, aren't breeders perpetuating the path away from the STANDARD by breeding to the "flavor of the month" stud dogs? Picking a stud dog should be about improving what your bitch can produce not because he's the #1 dog at the moment.
As a "new" person to the breed, let me just ask, aren't breeders perpetuating the path away from the STANDARD by breeding to the "flavor of the month" stud dogs? Picking a stud dog should be about improving what your bitch can produce not because he's the #1 dog at the moment.
That's why we are looking at dogs so overdone and downright fat in the ring, that's what's winning. It's one thing to vary from the Labradors of the past, but it's another to not have a mind of your own and just jump on the "flavor of the month" bandwagon. Leave it to humans to mess things up. I stopped showing when I saw this happening, waste of time and money.