The Absolute Importance of Type
By: Diane Jessup
Read carefully the words of wisdom, written a century ago: “My main warning cry concerns itself with the direction of the breed, which many breeders, many novices, still subscribe to, a direction that would lead us off the beaten path, far off of our breed goal; toward breed ruin. In all my articles, lectures, and judges reports of the last few years, I have desperately tried to point out that we must cling to the breed standard of the working dog, and I gave reasons why we must do so, as it was once laid down, as a model of the breed's design. I have emphasized over and over again that we should not get overly engrossed in details of outward characteristics, even if they are ever so attractive, when, for the breeding value of the dog, he must be based entirely and decisively upon the totality of hard constitution, good health, endurance, authentic working structure and stable temperament. "The vision, the understanding of this standard, is thus sometimes lost. Many young fanciers have unfortunately hardly ever seen correct conformation in respect to these dogs. They become intoxicated with appearance which so often has so little in common with the working dog as he is supposed to be. In this case, the only thing that helps is trusted faith in the system, until one's pondering leads to eventual understanding. The belief in what is well meant, the thoughtful suggestions and guiding principles, are for the welfare of the breed's future.” These are words which any serious student of breeding should study and hang on the refrigerator door! They are that important. They were written in 1929 by Max von Stephanitz, the “father of the German shepherd breed”. This man is worth listening to; almost single handedly, and with foresight, dedication and understanding not equaled by any single breed founder before or since, he brought the German shepherd from a homely, little known farm dog to become the top utilitarian working breed of the past several decades. That the German shepherd today is a breed divided and most of its specimens a far cry from von Stephanitz vision can be directly traced to modern breeders disregarding his words. The movement away from rustic original type, correct coat and true terrier temperament of the cairn terrier can, as well, be directly traced to modern breeders disregarding the words and ideals of those people who gave us the cairn terrier, all those years ago. (You can see the actual words of these folks in articles on my website: www.DanBarRanch.com). Von Stephanitz used his German discipline and attention to detail, and, within the working dog breeders (not breeders for the show ring) of today's Germany, the same may be said to be true. And while Americans will never embrace the discipline necessary to breed along the successful European fashion, still, much can be learned from a study of their successes and failures. The "exhibition" or show German shepherd dog (GSD) is a mess in both Germany and America. Bred along the system warned about above, show ring GSDs are laughable caricatures of what the German (working dog) system produces. Show bred German shepherds are shunned by all in need of serious working dogs. Police departments must import their dogs from working kennels in Europe. Even after one hundred years of importing the best Europe has produced, America is still having to import working dogs and in many cases police departments are now turning to other breeds. The show bred German shepherd has been bred to show ring fad standards - not the enduring standard - and now stands as the primary example of how poor breeding can split and ruin a breed. What has this to do with our cairn terriers? Everything. Von Stephanitz was a wise man. His primary concern was not only to preserve what he had worked so hard to bring together but also to put in place steps intended to continue to improve the breed far into the future. The German system works, though it too, faces an eternal struggle with faddist as well. Germany suffers as badly as America from the "splitting of the breed", one type for show, the other what von Stephanitz worked to produce. No system is perfect, and the German one clearly is not - but at least in Germany even show champions of working breeds must show minimal working drives to be considered for top honors. Because character was seen by von Stephanitz as as much a part of a dog's compliance to standard as physical appearance (as well it should) the German system insists on working titles for all champions and breeding dogs. There are classes for non-titled dogs, but those dogs are given scant attention and can never obtain the highest honors. But why the Germans produce superior GSD is so much more than just this intelligent inclusion of character testing of show dogs. The primary reason for its success is a strictly enforced breed standard, and the insertion of breed wardens into the mix. Consider a world where our cairns are judged only by those who have proven their true knowledge of working terriers. Imagine shows, structured after the FCI model where judges must prove their worth by given written critiques on each dog – so there is no guessing why they reward some dogs with wins and not others. These critiques note the dog's size, color, and remarks about strong and weak points. These reports are listed by breeders when advertising studs or puppies. It helps the serious breeder chose a stud or future brood bitch which will compliment or hopefully improve his or her animals. Not to mention, incompetent judges are quickly exposed with this method. Imagine for a moment AKC shows where each competitor is handed a paper upon which is written the critique of an experienced, dedicated breed expert. Not someone who has added the breed to their resume while trying to become an “all-rounder” and thus qualified to judge the prestigious “Best In Show”. As American’s we value our freedom more than our stewardship of dog breeds. Imagine putting regulations in place to stop backyard breeders from producing unsound, substandard animals? It has been tried, in a very limited way, with resulting hysteria from everyone; including those who should know better. American's do not want to be told what they may or may not do. They do not want a breed warden to tell them who to breed to, or which puppies to cull. It is unimaginable. And I for one am not saying I would want someone else telling me how to run my breeding program. Mercy, no! Another person’s ideas and goals may be very different from my own. Not to mention far too many people today who are put forward as “experts” have very little actual breeding experience! These “experts” who have zero practical experience with breeding practices will simply repeat popular fads or opinions on important subjects such as inbreeding and culling much to the detriment of dog breeding. However, much good could come from the AKC coming into line with some of the FCI (i.e., the rest of the dog world!) practices. Examples being cairns having to have health clearances before being declared top winners, and the rating system being put in place rather than a simple “first, second, third and fourth” grade. The FCI allows a judge to make it clear what they think of the quality of the dogs before them. VA is outstanding, above excellent quality, V is excellent, SG is very good, and from there is goes to satisfactory and unsatisfactory. And, better yet, within these ratings, the judge can now rate her dogs VA1, VA2, V1, V2, etc. What this allows is a complete rating which shows the competitor and the fanciers exactly what she thinks of this dog - regardless of where it placed in the winnings. So, in a class of 8 animals, you might have results as follows: VA1, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, SG1, SG2. It is so much more than first place and second place. It tells the competitor, hey, your dog may have been in second place, but it was still a really worthy animal, or, in some cases, where you might see only SG1, SG2, hey, there were no really exceptional animals presented to me, and even though you got second place, your dog is not V worthy. Judging like that takes guts. And it produces results. More from Von Stephanitz: “As with so many breeds, sport and fad breeding led to more severe evidence of natural traits, and therefore to bad breeding situations that had nothing more in common with working ability. This may seem nice to the faddist, however, for the true lover of Nature, who doesn't engage in matters based on eye appeal, it appears as a strange caricature.
“Over-sized, massiveness, height, racing ability, straight front or tucked up racing dog body would be for the shepherd an adverse perception leading to the death of the breed. And actually, some of our dogs and especially those who receive applause among the novices resemble the racing dog type in his over-sized, narrowness, tucked up appearance and feminization. The Borzoi, who hunts the wolf on the Russian prairies does not look like this; he is still a correct, rugged fellow. He who looks around at dog shows, pages through dog magazines, will find often enough that there are still a few other breed's destinies which are threatened, that is, they are about to step out of their breed type because they are not bred upon a breed goal, but rather upon an imaginary beauty concept.” Written in 1929, these words echo hauntingly today. The show ring is all about fads – it is all about extremes, like it or not. Many standards call for breeds to be “moderate” or “medium” and yet how many judges will resist rewarding those dogs with just a bit “more” of what the standard calls for? “Type” so easily becomes “hyper type” as judges look to reward animals which “stand out”. What does this look like in the cairn terrier? To truly understand this, you must first understand what set the cairn apart from all the other registered terrier breeds when it was recognized. The breed we today call “cairn terrier” was the proto-type Scottish terrier breed. The cairn was, in the beginning, called by many names, “the short-haired Skye”, “Highland terrier”, “Highland otter dog”, “Scottish otter dog”. From this original terrier was developed the Kennel Club registered breeds of the “Scottish terrier” and the “Skye terrier”. The “West Highland White terrier” and the cairn were one and the same breed until show ring breeders decided to separate them by color. Today, one hundred years later, the Scottie, Westie and Skye have strayed far from their origins and the cairn is well down that road. The working farm cairn terrier was valued for its very originality; this was the proto-type farm dog of the Scottish hunter and farmer. While given kennel club status, the appeal of this dog was its “unruined” appearance and character. Unruined, of course, by show ring fads. The breed was a hard coated, small, tough, determined little dog, long enough in the back (like all tunneling animals) to make it agile in pursuit of its underground prey. The coat was clearly noted to be double, soft undercoat covered by a medium-length hard, weather-proof coat. The hair was described as “hard” on the legs and “short” on the ears. The dog was most firmly not to be “groomed” for the show ring but rather presented “as is”. The first show ring fad appears to have been a desire for “furnishings on the head” which was to become a problematic for the breed as its career as a show dog moved forward. Because it gave judges something to fix upon. If “furnishings on the head” were good how much better a lot of furnishings on the head? If furnishings on the head was good how much better furnishings all over the body? The standard also called for “hard hair on the legs” but this ran contrary to “furnishings” and is today, largely ignored by breeders and judges. The problem is coat genetics make it nearly impossible to have both hard hair on the legs, a hard, correct coat on the body, short hair on the ears but a fluffy head! So, like show breeders so often do, the “showier” feature (head hair/shape) was chosen to be given preference over all the other points. This decision is more easily seen in the West Highland White terrier who is now so far removed from the original cairn type coat that its fluffy head is shaped not unlike the soft-coated Bichon Frise! In fact, the Westie’s head is shaped into what is called a “chrysanthemum” shape and there is no longer any pretense that the breed has a proper hard terrier coat. Today (2026) members of the Cairn Terrier Club of America are proposing increasing the size of the cairn to better fit with what is currently being shown by breeders. No true steward of the breed would change a standard to fit current fads! The cairn is a small breed used to get into small spaces between rocks (cairns) and breeding larger and larger dogs takes it further and further from its ability to function as a terrier. By far, the most grievous ruination of the cairn has come about by show ring breeders abandoning any attempt to keep the breed natural – as it was described when first recognized as a “breed” in the United Kingdom. While the cairn withstood the fads of the show ring far longer than the other terrier breeds today it is rare indeed to see a cairn that fits the standard without extensive grooming, plucking, stripping and removal of fringe hair. Today’s breeders (most of whom have no clue about the breed’s past) will shout till blue in the face that intensive grooming procedures, which start as young as 10 weeks old (“rolling the coat”; a euphonism for pulling the hair out) are “the way they should be”. It is imperative that a breed standard stay unchanged through the fickle trickle of time. To not do so leads a breed to be swayed back and forth, ever changing, ever at the mercy of faddist breeders and judges. What is “Type” Type has two meanings. First, type is what makes a cairn terrier a cairn terrier and not a golden retriever. That is breed type. Second, there is a more subtle type, that which marks dogs of a well-established line. For instance, the dedicated fancier may well be able to look at a dog and say, "She is from the So And So line", or "That looks like a This And That kennel dog". That would be identifying line type. Animals bred for show generally exhibit more "type" than those bred for performance but in order to be included as a member of a "breed", an animal must meet minimum breed type. In a world full of truly ignorant breeders, breed type suffers, and line type is almost impossible to find. Can the person who buys two or three dogs, puts up a website, breeds three or four litters be called a “breeder”? Perhaps some will, but the answer is really “no”. A real breeder has produced enough generations to have their own “type” within their line. The “five years in – than out” type breeders are out of the breed and onto greener pastures within three to five years – not even the lifetime of one dog. Dog World magazine used to be an interesting place to keep tabs on long-term breeders. From its inception in the 1920's, through the seventies, you would see consistent ads from breeders who were staying the course. They were always there, month after month, year after year. These were the breeders who, for the most part, developed dogs with line type. Today Dog World magazine is gone, and in its last decades you saw a very different picture. It had become a tragic showcase of fad breeders and puppy mills. Today it is difficult for those getting into cairn terriers to even know where to look to see what is actually correct. They can go to dog shows and see cairns which have been artificially made to represent the standard through extensive grooming. On-line information on the breed most often feature pictures of pet quality animals (often with long silky hair) so again the novice is led astray. Where, indeed, does someone find authentic information? My advice is to research pictures and information on breed from at least 40 to 60 years ago. A very small handful of people control the AKC breed standard for the cairn terrier. These are members of the Cairn Terrier Club of America, a clique of dog show only minded people with blue ribbons on their minds. These folks control the written standard and thus the future of the breed and how well the breed is stewarded through to the next generation. This is a tenuous future indeed. Breed standards get changed when the majority of dogs being shown begin to exhibit traits contrary to the original standard; rather than breed animals which fit the standard – the standard is changed. Current generations must never assume they are wise enough, or experienced enough, to change a breed standard. But each generation sure tries, always to the detriment of the dogs. There are no easy answers. There is no quick fix for the problems purebred dogs face. We need more serious breeders who will work together. We need more emphasis on health testing rather than ribbon winning. We need to make the breed attractive to appropriate public homes. But most importantly we need to remember that “type” in appearance and character is what makes a breed a breed – and it must be preserved at all costs.
Read carefully the words of wisdom, written a century ago: “My main warning cry concerns itself with the direction of the breed, which many breeders, many novices, still subscribe to, a direction that would lead us off the beaten path, far off of our breed goal; toward breed ruin. In all my articles, lectures, and judges reports of the last few years, I have desperately tried to point out that we must cling to the breed standard of the working dog, and I gave reasons why we must do so, as it was once laid down, as a model of the breed's design. I have emphasized over and over again that we should not get overly engrossed in details of outward characteristics, even if they are ever so attractive, when, for the breeding value of the dog, he must be based entirely and decisively upon the totality of hard constitution, good health, endurance, authentic working structure and stable temperament. "The vision, the understanding of this standard, is thus sometimes lost. Many young fanciers have unfortunately hardly ever seen correct conformation in respect to these dogs. They become intoxicated with appearance which so often has so little in common with the working dog as he is supposed to be. In this case, the only thing that helps is trusted faith in the system, until one's pondering leads to eventual understanding. The belief in what is well meant, the thoughtful suggestions and guiding principles, are for the welfare of the breed's future.” These are words which any serious student of breeding should study and hang on the refrigerator door! They are that important. They were written in 1929 by Max von Stephanitz, the “father of the German shepherd breed”. This man is worth listening to; almost single handedly, and with foresight, dedication and understanding not equaled by any single breed founder before or since, he brought the German shepherd from a homely, little known farm dog to become the top utilitarian working breed of the past several decades. That the German shepherd today is a breed divided and most of its specimens a far cry from von Stephanitz vision can be directly traced to modern breeders disregarding his words. The movement away from rustic original type, correct coat and true terrier temperament of the cairn terrier can, as well, be directly traced to modern breeders disregarding the words and ideals of those people who gave us the cairn terrier, all those years ago. (You can see the actual words of these folks in articles on my website: www.DanBarRanch.com). Von Stephanitz used his German discipline and attention to detail, and, within the working dog breeders (not breeders for the show ring) of today's Germany, the same may be said to be true. And while Americans will never embrace the discipline necessary to breed along the successful European fashion, still, much can be learned from a study of their successes and failures. The "exhibition" or show German shepherd dog (GSD) is a mess in both Germany and America. Bred along the system warned about above, show ring GSDs are laughable caricatures of what the German (working dog) system produces. Show bred German shepherds are shunned by all in need of serious working dogs. Police departments must import their dogs from working kennels in Europe. Even after one hundred years of importing the best Europe has produced, America is still having to import working dogs and in many cases police departments are now turning to other breeds. The show bred German shepherd has been bred to show ring fad standards - not the enduring standard - and now stands as the primary example of how poor breeding can split and ruin a breed. What has this to do with our cairn terriers? Everything. Von Stephanitz was a wise man. His primary concern was not only to preserve what he had worked so hard to bring together but also to put in place steps intended to continue to improve the breed far into the future. The German system works, though it too, faces an eternal struggle with faddist as well. Germany suffers as badly as America from the "splitting of the breed", one type for show, the other what von Stephanitz worked to produce. No system is perfect, and the German one clearly is not - but at least in Germany even show champions of working breeds must show minimal working drives to be considered for top honors. Because character was seen by von Stephanitz as as much a part of a dog's compliance to standard as physical appearance (as well it should) the German system insists on working titles for all champions and breeding dogs. There are classes for non-titled dogs, but those dogs are given scant attention and can never obtain the highest honors. But why the Germans produce superior GSD is so much more than just this intelligent inclusion of character testing of show dogs. The primary reason for its success is a strictly enforced breed standard, and the insertion of breed wardens into the mix. Consider a world where our cairns are judged only by those who have proven their true knowledge of working terriers. Imagine shows, structured after the FCI model where judges must prove their worth by given written critiques on each dog – so there is no guessing why they reward some dogs with wins and not others. These critiques note the dog's size, color, and remarks about strong and weak points. These reports are listed by breeders when advertising studs or puppies. It helps the serious breeder chose a stud or future brood bitch which will compliment or hopefully improve his or her animals. Not to mention, incompetent judges are quickly exposed with this method. Imagine for a moment AKC shows where each competitor is handed a paper upon which is written the critique of an experienced, dedicated breed expert. Not someone who has added the breed to their resume while trying to become an “all-rounder” and thus qualified to judge the prestigious “Best In Show”. As American’s we value our freedom more than our stewardship of dog breeds. Imagine putting regulations in place to stop backyard breeders from producing unsound, substandard animals? It has been tried, in a very limited way, with resulting hysteria from everyone; including those who should know better. American's do not want to be told what they may or may not do. They do not want a breed warden to tell them who to breed to, or which puppies to cull. It is unimaginable. And I for one am not saying I would want someone else telling me how to run my breeding program. Mercy, no! Another person’s ideas and goals may be very different from my own. Not to mention far too many people today who are put forward as “experts” have very little actual breeding experience! These “experts” who have zero practical experience with breeding practices will simply repeat popular fads or opinions on important subjects such as inbreeding and culling much to the detriment of dog breeding. However, much good could come from the AKC coming into line with some of the FCI (i.e., the rest of the dog world!) practices. Examples being cairns having to have health clearances before being declared top winners, and the rating system being put in place rather than a simple “first, second, third and fourth” grade. The FCI allows a judge to make it clear what they think of the quality of the dogs before them. VA is outstanding, above excellent quality, V is excellent, SG is very good, and from there is goes to satisfactory and unsatisfactory. And, better yet, within these ratings, the judge can now rate her dogs VA1, VA2, V1, V2, etc. What this allows is a complete rating which shows the competitor and the fanciers exactly what she thinks of this dog - regardless of where it placed in the winnings. So, in a class of 8 animals, you might have results as follows: VA1, V1, V2, V3, V4, V5, SG1, SG2. It is so much more than first place and second place. It tells the competitor, hey, your dog may have been in second place, but it was still a really worthy animal, or, in some cases, where you might see only SG1, SG2, hey, there were no really exceptional animals presented to me, and even though you got second place, your dog is not V worthy. Judging like that takes guts. And it produces results. More from Von Stephanitz: “As with so many breeds, sport and fad breeding led to more severe evidence of natural traits, and therefore to bad breeding situations that had nothing more in common with working ability. This may seem nice to the faddist, however, for the true lover of Nature, who doesn't engage in matters based on eye appeal, it appears as a strange caricature.
“Over-sized, massiveness, height, racing ability, straight front or tucked up racing dog body would be for the shepherd an adverse perception leading to the death of the breed. And actually, some of our dogs and especially those who receive applause among the novices resemble the racing dog type in his over-sized, narrowness, tucked up appearance and feminization. The Borzoi, who hunts the wolf on the Russian prairies does not look like this; he is still a correct, rugged fellow. He who looks around at dog shows, pages through dog magazines, will find often enough that there are still a few other breed's destinies which are threatened, that is, they are about to step out of their breed type because they are not bred upon a breed goal, but rather upon an imaginary beauty concept.” Written in 1929, these words echo hauntingly today. The show ring is all about fads – it is all about extremes, like it or not. Many standards call for breeds to be “moderate” or “medium” and yet how many judges will resist rewarding those dogs with just a bit “more” of what the standard calls for? “Type” so easily becomes “hyper type” as judges look to reward animals which “stand out”. What does this look like in the cairn terrier? To truly understand this, you must first understand what set the cairn apart from all the other registered terrier breeds when it was recognized. The breed we today call “cairn terrier” was the proto-type Scottish terrier breed. The cairn was, in the beginning, called by many names, “the short-haired Skye”, “Highland terrier”, “Highland otter dog”, “Scottish otter dog”. From this original terrier was developed the Kennel Club registered breeds of the “Scottish terrier” and the “Skye terrier”. The “West Highland White terrier” and the cairn were one and the same breed until show ring breeders decided to separate them by color. Today, one hundred years later, the Scottie, Westie and Skye have strayed far from their origins and the cairn is well down that road. The working farm cairn terrier was valued for its very originality; this was the proto-type farm dog of the Scottish hunter and farmer. While given kennel club status, the appeal of this dog was its “unruined” appearance and character. Unruined, of course, by show ring fads. The breed was a hard coated, small, tough, determined little dog, long enough in the back (like all tunneling animals) to make it agile in pursuit of its underground prey. The coat was clearly noted to be double, soft undercoat covered by a medium-length hard, weather-proof coat. The hair was described as “hard” on the legs and “short” on the ears. The dog was most firmly not to be “groomed” for the show ring but rather presented “as is”. The first show ring fad appears to have been a desire for “furnishings on the head” which was to become a problematic for the breed as its career as a show dog moved forward. Because it gave judges something to fix upon. If “furnishings on the head” were good how much better a lot of furnishings on the head? If furnishings on the head was good how much better furnishings all over the body? The standard also called for “hard hair on the legs” but this ran contrary to “furnishings” and is today, largely ignored by breeders and judges. The problem is coat genetics make it nearly impossible to have both hard hair on the legs, a hard, correct coat on the body, short hair on the ears but a fluffy head! So, like show breeders so often do, the “showier” feature (head hair/shape) was chosen to be given preference over all the other points. This decision is more easily seen in the West Highland White terrier who is now so far removed from the original cairn type coat that its fluffy head is shaped not unlike the soft-coated Bichon Frise! In fact, the Westie’s head is shaped into what is called a “chrysanthemum” shape and there is no longer any pretense that the breed has a proper hard terrier coat. Today (2026) members of the Cairn Terrier Club of America are proposing increasing the size of the cairn to better fit with what is currently being shown by breeders. No true steward of the breed would change a standard to fit current fads! The cairn is a small breed used to get into small spaces between rocks (cairns) and breeding larger and larger dogs takes it further and further from its ability to function as a terrier. By far, the most grievous ruination of the cairn has come about by show ring breeders abandoning any attempt to keep the breed natural – as it was described when first recognized as a “breed” in the United Kingdom. While the cairn withstood the fads of the show ring far longer than the other terrier breeds today it is rare indeed to see a cairn that fits the standard without extensive grooming, plucking, stripping and removal of fringe hair. Today’s breeders (most of whom have no clue about the breed’s past) will shout till blue in the face that intensive grooming procedures, which start as young as 10 weeks old (“rolling the coat”; a euphonism for pulling the hair out) are “the way they should be”. It is imperative that a breed standard stay unchanged through the fickle trickle of time. To not do so leads a breed to be swayed back and forth, ever changing, ever at the mercy of faddist breeders and judges. What is “Type” Type has two meanings. First, type is what makes a cairn terrier a cairn terrier and not a golden retriever. That is breed type. Second, there is a more subtle type, that which marks dogs of a well-established line. For instance, the dedicated fancier may well be able to look at a dog and say, "She is from the So And So line", or "That looks like a This And That kennel dog". That would be identifying line type. Animals bred for show generally exhibit more "type" than those bred for performance but in order to be included as a member of a "breed", an animal must meet minimum breed type. In a world full of truly ignorant breeders, breed type suffers, and line type is almost impossible to find. Can the person who buys two or three dogs, puts up a website, breeds three or four litters be called a “breeder”? Perhaps some will, but the answer is really “no”. A real breeder has produced enough generations to have their own “type” within their line. The “five years in – than out” type breeders are out of the breed and onto greener pastures within three to five years – not even the lifetime of one dog. Dog World magazine used to be an interesting place to keep tabs on long-term breeders. From its inception in the 1920's, through the seventies, you would see consistent ads from breeders who were staying the course. They were always there, month after month, year after year. These were the breeders who, for the most part, developed dogs with line type. Today Dog World magazine is gone, and in its last decades you saw a very different picture. It had become a tragic showcase of fad breeders and puppy mills. Today it is difficult for those getting into cairn terriers to even know where to look to see what is actually correct. They can go to dog shows and see cairns which have been artificially made to represent the standard through extensive grooming. On-line information on the breed most often feature pictures of pet quality animals (often with long silky hair) so again the novice is led astray. Where, indeed, does someone find authentic information? My advice is to research pictures and information on breed from at least 40 to 60 years ago. A very small handful of people control the AKC breed standard for the cairn terrier. These are members of the Cairn Terrier Club of America, a clique of dog show only minded people with blue ribbons on their minds. These folks control the written standard and thus the future of the breed and how well the breed is stewarded through to the next generation. This is a tenuous future indeed. Breed standards get changed when the majority of dogs being shown begin to exhibit traits contrary to the original standard; rather than breed animals which fit the standard – the standard is changed. Current generations must never assume they are wise enough, or experienced enough, to change a breed standard. But each generation sure tries, always to the detriment of the dogs. There are no easy answers. There is no quick fix for the problems purebred dogs face. We need more serious breeders who will work together. We need more emphasis on health testing rather than ribbon winning. We need to make the breed attractive to appropriate public homes. But most importantly we need to remember that “type” in appearance and character is what makes a breed a breed – and it must be preserved at all costs.