Page 116 - ShowSight - October 2019

Becoming
BY JACQUELYN FOGEL
BASSET HOUNDS—A BREED IN TROUBLE
You prob- ably think I am going to lament the quality of the dogs I saw at the Basset National, but you would be wrong. Actually the quality of show dogs is pretty good right now, even in the Veteran and Field classes. Could things be better? Of course, but that hasn’t changed for as long as I have been showing dogs. Is the breed becoming rare? No. Actually it is so
popular they are even making television commercials about how to hook up with fellow Basset owners with Facebook Groups for a Basset play date. The breed is relatively healthy, and most AKC breeders are participating in health and DNA testing. So what’s wrong with the breed?
It’s not the breed itself that’s in trouble, it’s the future of Bas- sets within the world of dog shows that’s in trouble. The current crop of breeders and exhibitors is aging, and we are not replacing ourselves with young people who want to show this breed. I think the average age of the people who attended the National this year in Denver was about 65. We had few young exhibitors and only two Juniors entered this year. Many baby-boom breeders have already retired or will be retiring soon. Most are not mentoring new breed- ers. National entries that had been 400-500 just a few years ago are now between 150-250. Bassets will soon become a rare breed in the world of AKC dog shows, though still quite popular with the public. Breeders can easily sell as many puppies as they can produce.
In many ways I understand why young people don’t want to take on this particular breed. It’s not flashy, it has a reputation for being difficult to breed, and they are a challenge to train. Nothing about the breed, except for their grooming and daily maintenance, is easy. Junior handlers don’t want to show dogs that are not as likely to get them the wins they want when they can just as easily find a Golden, a Dobe or a Shorthair Pointer. Handlers like to have Bassets in their line-up because they are easy keepers, but they don’t want to breed them. So for now the world of commercial and backyard breeders is supplying the huge demand for puppies in this this breed.
Personally, I think what is happening in Bassets is an indicator of some of the issues that plague the entire conformation showing world. There is such a disconnect between what we do in our com- petitions, and what the wider public wants or sees as valuable. They like to watch Westminster once every year–just like the Miss Amer- ica pageant. But they don’t honestly see themselves owning one of those fancy dogs. The pet buying public loves Bassets because of their temperament and ease of care, but it is like pulling teeth to try to convince any of them to show their dog. They don’t understand why it’s necessary. They love their puppies even if they never win a ribbon.
I love the push the AKC is making towards explaining why preservation breeding is important, and encouraging more breed- ers to produce more litters. But the elephant in the room is still the conformation breeders’ insistence that they are somehow holy because they don’t make money on their dogs. Many bought into that notion as though it is a badge of courage and commitment. If they don’t breed their dogs to make money, then they must be doing it right. Their dogs are worthy because they were not bred to produce a profit. Not only does that silly idea give breeders an excuse for breeding only one or two litters every other year, but it also provides cover for breeders who continue to breed dogs that cannot reproduce easily on their own, or that have structural issues that require a lot of human intervention. Of course you won’t make a lot of money if you have to spend nearly everything you earn from puppy sales on vet bills to keep the puppies alive. That is not a sus- tainable economic system.
I have said before, and it needs repeating. If you can’t make enough money on the sale of your puppies to cover your expenses, then something is wrong with your breeding program. Maybe you need to reevaluate the viability of your brood bitches, or price your puppies better. Maybe you need to breed more puppies. Maybe you should not breed bad mothers just because you think they’re beauti- ful. Maybe you need to do an honest reassessment of your breeding program. Maybe it’s not good for your breed to keep breeding bad mothers. Maybe you can stop assuming that things must be done the way you’ve always done them, and start a conversation within breed clubs about the long-term health of breeding toward extremes in conformation dogs.
I found in my own line of Bassets, that a bitch’s ability to reproduce, carry puppies full term, whelp easily and properly care for their puppies was being passed along genetically, not unlike physical traits I was breeding for–like a well-laid back shoulder. When I decided to cut off the branch of my family tree that was
114 • ShowSight Magazine, october 2019
“BASSETS WILL SOON
BECOME A RARE BREED
IN THE WORLD OF AKC DOG SHOWS, THOUGH STILL QUITE POPULAR WITH THE PUBLIC. BREEDERS CAN EASILY SELL AS MANY PUPPIES AS THEY CAN PRODUCE.”