The Parent Club, AKC and the Afghan Hound
Breed Standard Shake-Up
.( by Peter Belmont Elmo, USA, 1985)
Page3
Afghan World publication conducted a small survey as they felt judges education was extremely needed, but several problems regarding who should do the educating and how it should be done, caused much controversy. The simple questionnaire below was sent to several persons AW felt were important Afghan people or persons who are or have been involved in parent club work. Other reputable breeders and exhibitors were not contacted as AW did not want the survey to become cumbersome, however., AW did invite anybody to make their voice heard by writing directly to Afghan World, the parent club or AKC directly.
Many questionnaires were mailed, however, all were not returned. Several persons called and said that they did not want to jeopardize their positions with influential or powerful persons, so they could not voice their views in writing. AW would like to thank the following who had the courage of their convictions to respond. In alphabetical order they are; 1. Peter Belmont Jr, Elmo Reg, 2. Archlyn Clot, Larchtree, 3. Sue Kauffman, Holly Hill, 4. Margarete Stanski, Isemeh Reg, 5. Marguerite Terrell, Kabik, 6. Ruth Tongren, ben Ghazi
QUESTIONS:
1. Have you read the interpretative Afghan hound Standard material?
2. What do you think of in respect to it changing portions of the original Standard
3. To what extent do you feel it will help or hinder judges?
4. How do you feel persons could be selected to work on such material rather than holding of a parent club membership card as their only "ticket of knowledge"?
5. Comments?
REPLIES
1. Peter Belmont Jr.
First I feel that traditionally, almost all of the BEST (not necessarily the statistical top) breeders in the country have not been members of the Afghan Hound Club of America. As I said in my Judges Education Seminar in St Louis a few years ago, you could count on one hand the members in the parent club who owned a typey, purebred Afghan.... so how can they qualify to become Afghan hound authorities? They don't! Why have not the breed authorities been asked to contribute, people like Richard Souza whose credentials are impeccable, or Karen Carter, or Joseph Kluchinsky, the Tongrens, Babbie who is the Senior number ONE breeder-judge in the USA, the Abrams or Johannah K Owen who was around when an Afghan was still an Afghan? Well, most of the damage is already done. AKC has handed out judge's licenses to their "cocktail" judges, friends, museum donors etc., the "so-called" important people and now they are realizing all the damage they have done. They are now sweeping these facts under the carpet and spending a fortune on Judges' Education. BUT, again they are going about it in the wrong way. The parent clubs in each breed most often than not have as their members the BEST breeders in the country. I understand Sheila Balch, one of the most respected Alaskan Malamute breeders and judges was not asked for her input in the Malamute slide-tape show .. I use this as one of many, many examples that have come to my attention. Again, AKC is to blame, not the parent club members who have good intentions, I am sure. I know they have spent thankless hours, without pay of any kind. My final comment is that if AKC gave out the license, LET THE JUDGE INTERPRET THE STANDARD since AKC feels that all judges are created equally. Bunk!
As for educating future judges, let them come from the ground UP and creep before they walk. Let them breed the breeds they seek to judge, let them show the breeds, and judge them at matches as they have been doing in the past and boycott AKC for giving out licenses to unqualified people, just because they show up to judge on time, stop on time, mark the judge's book neatly, look conservative in the ring, and tell the AKC reps what they want to hear, attend the judges' parties before the shows and all the trivial social events where the assignment swapping is done.
2. Archlyn B. Clot
Here are the answers to your questions -
1) I've read it. I helped edit it and stand ready to accept full responsibility for not thinking it through because,
2) There are parts of it which do alter the Standard
3) It would of course, help some and confuse some - that's reality. To say which way it would go would be impossible, but, all along, I've insisted that it was too important a document with too high an impact, to be done in haste or to be done without all the input we could possibly get.
4) I think that people who have been in the breed a long time should be consulted, especially those who helped to write the original Standard. I do not think that a Committee of 20-30 people, with a Chairman outside the Board of Directors would be unreasonable - with a Board Member acting as PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR to make sure that the work moved along and to disseminate information not only to the Committee, but to the membership, as well.
5) I've reluctantly arrived at the conclusion that the best way to "illustrate" the Standard would be to use simple line drawings, i.e., a level, dippy and roach topline, a middle, steep and flat croup, etc.,. without editorial comment. I do not feel that only AHCA members should have input. I do feel that we should and must tap every resource available to us. I believe we have a very good Standard and any additional material we publish must CLEARLY, not MARGINALLY, assist future judges.
3. Sue Kauffman
I have read this interpretation and find that many of the passages change the Standard. I have been a member of the Afghan Hound Club for about 25 years. In all this time, no Board of Directors has done more harm to the Standard and to the Afghan Hound Club of America. I have now resigned from membership.
4. Margaret Stanski
This is terrible. I can't believe that knowledgeable people could have come up with such poor text on just about every point. For instance: "The nasal bone meets the skull at a slight downslope causing noticeable in-curve just in front of the eyes which should not be confused with a true stop"! The standard is quite clear on this point, but the explanation is most confusing. Several things are not even in the standard such as ".... ears set far back" or single tracking. What really got me is the paragraph on white spots '....the occurrence of obvious white markings should be penalized according to size, placement and severity. White chest lockets and white toe tips and tail tips are frequently seen.' Have you ever seen an Afghan that didn't have any white? To the best of my knowledge, I have the only bitch that has no white chest or feet or anything else and she is not a champion. If judges penalize this, we may end up having no dogs to judge at all. To answer your questions;
1. Yes
2. It stinks
3. It will totally confuse judges and the result will be even worse judging than we have now.
4. Why not get a forum of knowledgeable breeders from a cross section of the country and then have it approved by the parent club members?
5. I sure hope this text will not be published and distributed the why it is now ...
5. Marguerite Terrel
I have read the parent club's attempt to write an addition to the Afghan standard.
Any changes in the Standard cannot be made by a small group of people no matter how good their intentions are.
I think the many changes will both confuse and frustrate even the experienced judges. To CLARIFY is one thing, to change the Standard is something else entirely different. To change the Standard to fit a few peoples' idea of the ideal dog is unfair and reflects strictly personal opinions. Much of this interpretive text is one group's feelings on handling and the areas of conformation THEY want singled out. Our Standard as written is easy enough to understand and does allow for some variation without showing preference to one type only.
I personally don't care who writes the text so long as they follow the Standard, have knowledge of structure and can stick to facts, not opinions. The parent club seems to be the obvious place to start and perhaps some outside authorities in and OUT of our breed can add balance of opinion.
My final comment is that nothing I could write would compare with the Kauffman critique and the clarification of the Standard by Ruth Tongren. Both pieces are inspirations.
6. Ruth Tongren
I am sure you know how I feel about the AHCA. I have written a piece in which I spell it out in aces. I will back up anything you say to stop this violence against the Standard of the Afghan hound.
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