Go here for Part One.
Is there a difference between the behavior of “show dogs” and “working dogs”?
Well, it depends!
[Fair warning : For the life of me, I could NOT keep a straight line going with this post because this subject really could turn right into a book. So please be kind!]
Before I can get into why I think that is, well, let me do some defining of terms. (It’s the law school student coming out in me – before we form any sort of opinion we like to say “It depends.” Other times we like to say “It depends on what you mean by X.” See, we can switch things up to keep you on your toes!)
Behavior: an observable activity in an animal, most directly related to temperament and training.
Working dog: A dog whose job is to work either by itself or with the supervision of one or two people. When I think of a working dog, I think of the Great Pyrenees out in the pasture guarding a flock of sheep, an Akbash chasing coyotes away from its herd of goats, a dog trained for schutzhund work, a Kelpie out on a ranch herding cows, seeing-eye dogs, the list can go on. These dogs are generally not much for the bright lights of Westminster, or even just the dirt and the crowds of a local dog show. They aren’t supposed to travel outside their territory and they do not respond well to strangers poking, prodding, and looking into their mouths and worse. They have a job to do thank you and would you kindly step aside while they do it!
Why did I not list any gun dogs, sight hounds, scent hounds, terriers, or toy animals? I didn’t list them because those dogs work primarily in conjunction with humans. We have to be there to pick up the game from the retrievers and the sight hounds. We work with scent hounds on the hunt for a missing person. We dig up terriers. And lastly the companion group is supposed to be just that – a companion to humans.
While we often say “these dogs are working dogs” they are meant to work with humans and oftentimes more than one. They do not have a defined area in which to stay, they come with us when we go to the field (of if you are a toy dog, to Nordstrom’s). We depend on them to take the vast majority of their direction from us and I daresay most come home and eat kibble from the kitchen floor. Their “job” is not the primary purpose of their life. I say this mainly because we (for the most part) cannot hunt year round, so they must do double duty as companions to us. Yes, my terriers have a job to do – but only if I take them to it because none of them can drive well. Most of their lives are spent either underfoot in the kitchen or hanging out on the couch.
Show dog: A dog whose primary purpose is to at worst tolerate and at best enjoy bright lights, big cities, lots of pampering and the application of enough make-up and hairspray to put Tammy Faye Baker to shame (God rest her soul! Is it bad that every time I think of her I can’t help but to think of that bad reality television show that had both her and Ron Jeremy on it together? If you don’t know who Ron Jeremy is, for the love of all that is holy don’t look it up!) Oh, and they even seem to look forward to being poked, prodded, nut checked and their teeth counted.
Now that I have done a piss poor job of defining my terms and explaining maybe what I mean before I meant to say it, let’s think about what turns a working dog into a show dog, and I will use the best breed of dog in the world, the Rat Terrier, as my example (no bias was used in the making of this statement).
The Rat Terrier is a conglomeration of breeds of dogs, mainly terrier, that were bred together to be small farm dogs. Their namesake is their arch nemesis, however they were also expected to bark when strangers came over, not eat the chickens, chase down rabbits if they got too numerous and put up with the various indignities that come along with children and the fact that they can fit into baby carriages and small girls’ clothing items. They are family dogs in the sense that in their traditional role as a small farm dog, they didn’t have to like strangers, just their family. What does this mean in the long run? Well, it means that as long as Fideaux doesn’t bite little Matilda and can do a decent job of keeping the rats out of the grain bin, then all is good with the world and the dog was allowed to procreate. This kind of breeding led to a temperament that was loyal to their family, wary of strangers, and decent varmint killing dogs.
Then along came folks (like me) who decided that by golly, these hardy little dogs deserve pedigrees and belong in the show ring! So we gave them a bath and then took them into town and threw them into a completely alien environment – here we go dog – don’t bite the judge, you can only pee outside the ring, and shush! NO BARKING at other dogs or people! For some reason, we liked wrestling these little dogs around the ring. We got better at showing, and we got better at socializing our dogs – something that their ancestors had no clue about! We got wise to breeding dogs for the show ring and peoples’ couches instead of the farm.
Is it harmful to the future of the Rat Terrier? Well, I don’t know. I can’t breed a surly one-person dog and expect to get a litter full of dogs who are people friendly. And to be honest, I don’t think it is the most responsible thing I can do as a steward of the breed. She might have been an excellent ratter, but that isn’t the only thing I have to take into consideration when I plan a litter.
Do I breed specifically for the show ring? Absolutely not! I don’t breed for particular traits or popular colors and patterns, I breed for structurally sound, genetically healthy, temperamentally stable dogs. I realize that 90% of the puppies that I produce are going into “pet” homes – suburban dwellings with children and perhaps another dog or two. I’ve faced the fact that I can’t, in these more modern times (OMG I resorted to that cliché when I promised myself I wouldn’t do it!) I can’t just show up at a neighbor’s house and present them with another puppy that will live its life underneath a porch or in a barn, doing its job as a ratter and watch dog. I am lucky that as far as terriers go, Rat Terriers are generally less high strung and can be less prey driven then a Kerry Blue or a Jack Russell, and they adapt pretty well to being house dogs instead of farm dogs.
The kinds of questions that keep me up at night include “Am I being true to the breed? Am I bettering the breed? How much prey drive is too much for a Rat Terrier? What is not enough? What temperaments do I want to produce? What do I want for breakfast tomorrow? How will this breeding affect my future breeding plans? Will these dogs live up to their names? What happens if this litter is a complete dud?”
To conclude this long and rambling post – yes – there is a difference between the behavior of a working dog and a show dog. In my opinion, it is because show breeders and working breeders are looking for completely different temperaments. I wonder in how many other breeds you can get a dog who is as happy in the show ring as they are in the field and that dog not be an outlier for the breed as a whole?
These aren’t questions I or most other breeders of Rat Terriers take lightly. The above was written not as an off the cuff discussion of what I think, but as what many Rat Terrier breeders as a whole think. I’ve come to understand that I don’t know all of the answers and we won’t ever have all of the answers through many, many long car trips with mentors and friends, and over more than our fair share of beers. Most of us are doing our best to preserve both a ratting instinct while still being able to pass for a show dog – and we don’t know if we are getting it right, and we won’t know, I believe, for many generations to come. Will the inclusion of the Rat Terrier into the rank and file of the AKC “ruin” us? I don’t know. I can only hope that we never become popular enough with the general public, or with handlers, to find out!
Is there a difference between the behavior of “show dogs” and “working dogs”?
Well, it depends!
[Fair warning : For the life of me, I could NOT keep a straight line going with this post because this subject really could turn right into a book. So please be kind!]
Before I can get into why I think that is, well, let me do some defining of terms. (It’s the law school student coming out in me – before we form any sort of opinion we like to say “It depends.” Other times we like to say “It depends on what you mean by X.” See, we can switch things up to keep you on your toes!)
Behavior: an observable activity in an animal, most directly related to temperament and training.
Working dog: A dog whose job is to work either by itself or with the supervision of one or two people. When I think of a working dog, I think of the Great Pyrenees out in the pasture guarding a flock of sheep, an Akbash chasing coyotes away from its herd of goats, a dog trained for schutzhund work, a Kelpie out on a ranch herding cows, seeing-eye dogs, the list can go on. These dogs are generally not much for the bright lights of Westminster, or even just the dirt and the crowds of a local dog show. They aren’t supposed to travel outside their territory and they do not respond well to strangers poking, prodding, and looking into their mouths and worse. They have a job to do thank you and would you kindly step aside while they do it!
Why did I not list any gun dogs, sight hounds, scent hounds, terriers, or toy animals? I didn’t list them because those dogs work primarily in conjunction with humans. We have to be there to pick up the game from the retrievers and the sight hounds. We work with scent hounds on the hunt for a missing person. We dig up terriers. And lastly the companion group is supposed to be just that – a companion to humans.
While we often say “these dogs are working dogs” they are meant to work with humans and oftentimes more than one. They do not have a defined area in which to stay, they come with us when we go to the field (of if you are a toy dog, to Nordstrom’s). We depend on them to take the vast majority of their direction from us and I daresay most come home and eat kibble from the kitchen floor. Their “job” is not the primary purpose of their life. I say this mainly because we (for the most part) cannot hunt year round, so they must do double duty as companions to us. Yes, my terriers have a job to do – but only if I take them to it because none of them can drive well. Most of their lives are spent either underfoot in the kitchen or hanging out on the couch.
Show dog: A dog whose primary purpose is to at worst tolerate and at best enjoy bright lights, big cities, lots of pampering and the application of enough make-up and hairspray to put Tammy Faye Baker to shame (God rest her soul! Is it bad that every time I think of her I can’t help but to think of that bad reality television show that had both her and Ron Jeremy on it together? If you don’t know who Ron Jeremy is, for the love of all that is holy don’t look it up!) Oh, and they even seem to look forward to being poked, prodded, nut checked and their teeth counted.
Now that I have done a piss poor job of defining my terms and explaining maybe what I mean before I meant to say it, let’s think about what turns a working dog into a show dog, and I will use the best breed of dog in the world, the Rat Terrier, as my example (no bias was used in the making of this statement).
The Rat Terrier is a conglomeration of breeds of dogs, mainly terrier, that were bred together to be small farm dogs. Their namesake is their arch nemesis, however they were also expected to bark when strangers came over, not eat the chickens, chase down rabbits if they got too numerous and put up with the various indignities that come along with children and the fact that they can fit into baby carriages and small girls’ clothing items. They are family dogs in the sense that in their traditional role as a small farm dog, they didn’t have to like strangers, just their family. What does this mean in the long run? Well, it means that as long as Fideaux doesn’t bite little Matilda and can do a decent job of keeping the rats out of the grain bin, then all is good with the world and the dog was allowed to procreate. This kind of breeding led to a temperament that was loyal to their family, wary of strangers, and decent varmint killing dogs.
Great. Here comes the baby carriage!
Then along came folks (like me) who decided that by golly, these hardy little dogs deserve pedigrees and belong in the show ring! So we gave them a bath and then took them into town and threw them into a completely alien environment – here we go dog – don’t bite the judge, you can only pee outside the ring, and shush! NO BARKING at other dogs or people! For some reason, we liked wrestling these little dogs around the ring. We got better at showing, and we got better at socializing our dogs – something that their ancestors had no clue about! We got wise to breeding dogs for the show ring and peoples’ couches instead of the farm.
We are so sad because we are not out in the blowing snow in a drafty barn looking for rats. Or something like that.
And what have we ended up with? Well, I daresay we are moving away from the temperament of a true little farm dog. No longer can the dog be wary of strangers – that’s an absolute NO in the race for a ribbon. They have to be able to go off of the farm and into a show ring and withstand that stress. They must learn a set of skills that aren’t natural to them – to trot on a lead at a certain place, stand confidently into the face of a judge and with all four feet in a particular spot, wag that nubbin’ and PLEASE look like you are enjoying yourself!
And what have we ended up with? Well, I daresay we are moving away from the temperament of a true little farm dog. No longer can the dog be wary of strangers – that’s an absolute NO in the race for a ribbon. They have to be able to go off of the farm and into a show ring and withstand that stress. They must learn a set of skills that aren’t natural to them – to trot on a lead at a certain place, stand confidently into the face of a judge and with all four feet in a particular spot, wag that nubbin’ and PLEASE look like you are enjoying yourself!
Like this?
Is it harmful to the future of the Rat Terrier? Well, I don’t know. I can’t breed a surly one-person dog and expect to get a litter full of dogs who are people friendly. And to be honest, I don’t think it is the most responsible thing I can do as a steward of the breed. She might have been an excellent ratter, but that isn’t the only thing I have to take into consideration when I plan a litter.
Do I breed specifically for the show ring? Absolutely not! I don’t breed for particular traits or popular colors and patterns, I breed for structurally sound, genetically healthy, temperamentally stable dogs. I realize that 90% of the puppies that I produce are going into “pet” homes – suburban dwellings with children and perhaps another dog or two. I’ve faced the fact that I can’t, in these more modern times (OMG I resorted to that cliché when I promised myself I wouldn’t do it!) I can’t just show up at a neighbor’s house and present them with another puppy that will live its life underneath a porch or in a barn, doing its job as a ratter and watch dog. I am lucky that as far as terriers go, Rat Terriers are generally less high strung and can be less prey driven then a Kerry Blue or a Jack Russell, and they adapt pretty well to being house dogs instead of farm dogs.
The kinds of questions that keep me up at night include “Am I being true to the breed? Am I bettering the breed? How much prey drive is too much for a Rat Terrier? What is not enough? What temperaments do I want to produce? What do I want for breakfast tomorrow? How will this breeding affect my future breeding plans? Will these dogs live up to their names? What happens if this litter is a complete dud?”
To conclude this long and rambling post – yes – there is a difference between the behavior of a working dog and a show dog. In my opinion, it is because show breeders and working breeders are looking for completely different temperaments. I wonder in how many other breeds you can get a dog who is as happy in the show ring as they are in the field and that dog not be an outlier for the breed as a whole?
These aren’t questions I or most other breeders of Rat Terriers take lightly. The above was written not as an off the cuff discussion of what I think, but as what many Rat Terrier breeders as a whole think. I’ve come to understand that I don’t know all of the answers and we won’t ever have all of the answers through many, many long car trips with mentors and friends, and over more than our fair share of beers. Most of us are doing our best to preserve both a ratting instinct while still being able to pass for a show dog – and we don’t know if we are getting it right, and we won’t know, I believe, for many generations to come. Will the inclusion of the Rat Terrier into the rank and file of the AKC “ruin” us? I don’t know. I can only hope that we never become popular enough with the general public, or with handlers, to find out!
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