Page 257 - ShowSight - August 2019

Foundation Stock Service Q & A
Most of the breed is owned by pet owners, which are no doubt important, but we’re in desperate need of passionate dog own- ers who are excited to get involved and spread information about our breed.
What activities I do with my dogs? I’ve tried a variety of sports with my Kai Ken, currently having titles with the AKC in rally, lure coursing, conformation, and trick dog. One of our favorite activities though is hiking off leash.
We also are getting involved in dock diving, have tried barn hunt and agility. We herd with our Kai Ken (but cannot trial as they’re not a herding breed) and raise litters on ducks. They are hunting dogs so your mileage may vary.
Do I show in other registries? We have tried showing in UKC and IABCA, but I am very fond of my FSS/MISC friends so AKC is my favorite registry.
Would I breed more litters if we were fully recognized by AKC? Probably not. The issue currently is many Kai Ken are being placed in pet homes on spay and neuter contracts, so our breeding popula- tion is very small. For me to breed more litters I’d want more health tested and titled dogs available to breed to as we lack studs. Espe- cially ones who are accomplished.
The funniest thing that I’ve experienced at a dog show? My Kai Ken has won best in show at three shows, and every single time she humped me at some point in the ring! We kept losing in breed to another Kai Ken and my friends kept saying I needed to gait faster... But I knew if I did that she’d hump me! They said I absolutely had to if I wanted to win breed.... Sure enough I gaited faster, got humped, they got it on video and there was a future puppy home watching! But we got best in breed, first in FSS, and Best in Show! Plus everyone watching had a good time.
NICHOLE ROYER
I live in Southern California, in the high desert about an hour outside of Los Angeles. Professionally I am a park director and work for the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. In my private life outside of the Jindos—well I also own and breed working Alaskan Malamutes, run them in harness, hike and weight pull with them, do a little obedience (is there really life outside of dogs?).
We are in an interesting situation with Jindos. The individual who originally spearheaded AKC recognition was acting on their own and is no longer involved in the breed. Right now we only have two individuals in the US who are breeding registered Jindos, and a handful of wonderful owners learning about all the fun things they can do with their dogs. This means we do not yet have a large enough base of involved breeders or a big enough population of registered dogs in the US to realistically have a short term goal of full recognition. And that is okay. Instead of focusing on a big push towards recognition, we are realistic about the current situation and utilizing this time to import quality dogs, build a broad gene pool in the US, educate the public and those in the dog fancy about the breed (hopefully attracting new owners and breeders in the process), and use the wonderful lower stress and very friendly open shows to introduce novice owners to the fun of showing. There will be a time and a place to push for full recognition—we aren’t there yet.
I don’t honestly think full recognition is going to change things much. Jindos are an independent and intelligent hardcore hunting and guard dog that can be challenging to own and very much aren’t for everyone. They also are one of the most common “rare breeds” in the US. People have been bringing Jindos into the US from Korea for many years and breeding them. There is very little importance placed on registered dogs and the show ring by most people in the US interested in owning a purebred Jindo as a companion. Jin- dos also show up in shelters on a regular basis. My first Jindo and involvement in the breed came from stumbling across one over 20
years ago at a shelter and adopting her. There also is the mistaken belief that rescue dogs imported from Korea are all Jindos, and the largest group of individuals interested in owning a Jindo seem to currently gravitate towards that means of acquiring a dog. The only increase in popularly I suspect we will see is from individuals within the dog fancy who are interested in the breed but who aren’t inter- ested in owning one until they can show them in regular shows—in large part because open shows are so few and far between and these are folks who prioritize being able to show on a regular basis. A completely understandable position, much as it is frustrating for us because these are the kind of people the breed needs now.
Do I believe there are enough workers to go around to get my breed recognized? Absolutely not! We welcome anyone interested in the breed and encourage their involvement.
Would I breed more litters if we were fully recognized by AKC? Probably not. Placing pups is a struggle, and I don’t expect that to change with full recognition. We have never actually had someone involved in AKC registered dogs come to us interested in a pup. We will place a few more pups in show rather than companion homes if the breed is fully recognized, however I doubt there will be a large enough increase for us to breed more litters. Also, litters require so much time, money, physical and emotional input—I doubt I could realistically breed more often than I already do.
What activities I do with my dogs? I hunt the Jindos (they con- trol the small vermin on my property), lure course them, hike with them, do a bit of showing, and now and then run them with my sled dog team. We also have been doing breed education events for many years.
Do I show in other registries? Absolutely! the breed has full sta- tus with UKC and we do quite a bit of showing in that venue as well as occasionally showing at IABCA and ARBA shows.
The funniest thing that I’ve experienced at a dog show? Well, once while lure coursing one of my Jindos came off the lure to stick her nose down a gopher hole and then obsess about that hole and refuse to so much as look at the lure.
We also once had an indoor show ring with mats. The mats had been taped across one end of the ring and every single Jindo refused to cross the tape without jumping over it. The breed is notoriously finicky about their footing and feet, and every single one of our dogs took a flying leap every time they had to cross that tape.
CAREY SEGEBART
I live in Gilbert, Iowa. My life pretty well revolves around my dogs. My dogs and I train and compete in agility, obedience, herd- ing, tracking, conformation and dock diving. If we’re not training or competing, we like to go hiking and take naps.
Danish-Swedish Farmdogs are doing well in the process of mov- ing towards full recognition. We were officially approved by FCI last fall, the number of dogs in the country has met the criteria to move into Miscellaneous, and we have multiple dogs active in vari- ous AKC venues. We have 11 dogs that have earned a Certificate of Merit and three Master Agility Champions (with several more in striking distance). We also have multiple dogs with titles in obedi- ence, rally, herding, dock diving, barn hunt, scent work, flyball and lure coursing. Additionally, we have been working the past year on combining two breed clubs to create the official parent club, and all is going well so far.
Do I expect a surge in popularity once we’re in the regular show ring? Conformation and structure are vital to maintaining the soundness of our breed. Full recognition will bring them more attention and dog enthusiasts will become more familiar with our breed, but beyond showing in the conformation ring, the DSF is best known for being well-suited for a multitude of performance events, which they are already active in as a result of being part of AKC’s FSS program. Many DSF owners are interested in showing
ShowSight Magazine, auguSt 2019 • 255