Page 24 - JRT Magazine - 2023 Issue 2

Perspectives

Tips for curing kennel blindness

If caught in time, kennel blindness can be cured
before it has a lasting, detrimental effect on your
breeding program. Following are some tips:

Avoid over-emphasizing a certain feature in
1 your breeding program to the detriment of
overall correctness.
Although most breeders try to emphasize the
excellence of the whole dog, it is human nature
to over-emphasize certain features. In fact, the
importance we give to a particular trait in our dogs
is how we express our "breeding personality" and
create what we feel comes close to our ideal. One
breeder may be a stickler for fronts and another for
toplines. The danger here is that, by focusing on just
one feature we can become "blind" to other faults
that may be creeping into the breeding program.
To assess your kennel blindness level, ask
2 someone whose opinion you respect to
objectively evaluate your dogs.
Some of the best people to ask are knowledgeable
breeders who are not kennel blind themselves. Be
sure the person really understands the standard and
request that they honestly critique the virtues and
faults in your dogs. Ask more than one qualified person
and compare their evaluations with your own.
Characteristics of people who are not If you are falling short of your objectives, it is most
kennel blind important to admit it to yourself.

• They are truly objective and are rarely satisfied As difficult as it is to admit failure, the realization
that our dogs do not possess certain virtues can be
with their own dogs, criticizing them more the first step in devising a plan to obtain what we
harshly than others would do so. really want.

• Regardless of time and effort already spent, No "perfect" dog has, or ever will ever be
they are ready to remove from their program 3 bred in any breed. Even your best can always
dogs that do not pan out, even to the point of be improved upon.
starting over with new foundation stock. As difficult as it is to admit failure, the realization
• They have an 'eye' for a dog and can appreciate that our dogs do not possess certain virtues can be
a beautiful one, regardless of who bred it or the first step in devising a plan to obtain what we
owns it. really want.

References:
Byrne, G. 1989. Der Deutsch-Kurzhaar: The German Shorthaired Pointer: Western Australia, Austed Publishing
Harris, B.J.F. 1993. Breeding A Litter. New York, Howell.
Onstott, K. 1980. The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs. New York, Howell.
Seranne, A. 1980. The Joy of Breeding Your Own Show Dog. New York, Howell.
http://www.topsfieldbassets.com
http://www.albertakennelclub.org
Photo source: Depositphotos.com

24 | A Worldwide Magazine for the Jack Russell Terrier / Russell Terrier • Issue 2/2023