There is a steady chorus of claims that coat color is the LAST thing a judge LOOKS at or SHOULD LOOK at when assessing a Golden Retriever in the conformation ring. As you might have guessed, the word LOOK is operative here. Let's examine some statements made by THREE of the most knowledgeable leaders to be found in Golden Retriever circles.
We are told that color is ALWAYS a minor consideration. Such a view was expressed in May of 1938 by E. F. Rivinus in the AKC GAZETTE.
... regarding the tendency on the part of American judges to confuse the Golden Retriever with Irish Setters. The typical English Golden of today is different.
Notice that the writer uses the phrase ENGLISH Golden. He goes on to say the following:
Finally, as to color, let me urge judges not to fault a dog too quickly for being light...the standard leaves considerable room for variation as to color, so, in the case of an otherwise good dog, let it be a relatively secondary consideration....
Of course two years later Rivinus also suggested strongly that we should resolve "there will never be one group of dogs for show and a totally different group for the field." And much earlier President George Wahington strongly suggested that we avoid forming political parties and not involve ourselves in entangling foreign alliances. Sometimes the best advice falls on deaf ears.
Bev Brown says there is but a single breed-- the Golden Retriever. To quote the author, "The breed standard adopted by the GRCA and GRCC was essentially the same as the British Standard." And further that, "...both American and British Goldens are Golden Retrievers through and through and descend from the same foundations." There are differences in type, to be sure; but they pale in comparison to those elements which distinguish the breed. To Brown, cream is merely a SHADE of gold, NOT a separate COLOR. She is convinced that the British Breed Standard agrees with her. She states, "In fact the British Standard specifies cream as an allowable shade." Later she comments,
...it behooves breeders to remember that the breed was founded as a gold-colored retriever, hence the name Golden Retriever, and maintaining some golden coloring in the breed's coat color is worthwhile, regardless of where it is in the world.
I would argue that Brown misreads the British Standard which to nearly everyone else speaks to both gold AND cream as allowable colors, not shades. Valerie Foss has said," ...If we are to breed and judge to the British Standard, all shades of cream and gold should be acceptable." Whether in error or by intention she SWITCHES the terms CREAM and GOLD in her discussion. And, minor point, the first "Goldens" were actually yellow pups. And I would add that Tweedmouth did not seek to produce red Goldens at all, though he added Irish Setter to the mix.
I also wonder why it is "worthwhile" to have a gold presence? Because of the name, apparently.
Brown says that color should be a minor consideration in the show ring. But also,
....Theoretically, if you have two Goldens of equal overall quality in competition, and one is extremely pale or extremely dark the dog that is somewhere within the allowable range of color should receive the higher award. The allowable spectrum is really quite broad, and only dogs described as cream or dark red should be faulted. Also, rather than the undesirable extremes at both ends of the spectrum, there is no preference for one shade of gold over another.
So, Brown says color is a minor consideration. But that is only AFTER you disregard certain entries in your mind because they fall outside the acceptable color parameters. The FIRST thing you do as a judge, therefore, is to dismiss certain dogs from serious consideration SOLELY BECAUSE OF THEIR COAT COLOR. The LAST thing becomes the FIRST thing in your decision.
Jeffrey Pepper pretty much echoes the sentiments of Brown. Regardless of coat color, even if cream or overly red in hue, ALL are Golden Retrievers. He goes on to say,
More importantly, color should probably be the last thing considered when evaluating a Golden Retriever. There are so many other facets of the dog that are much more important than color. Unless the color falls outside the accepted parameters, choosing a dog based simply on color is almost always a mistake. Those who judge the breed should pay particular attention to this statement. I have judged Goldens all over the world for more than twenty-five years, and in all of that time and with all of those dogs, there has never been a time when the winning dog was chosen based on color. I have never been in a position of judging two dogs that were so equal in quality that there was nothing but the color left as the deciding factor.
So, once again, color of coat is the LAST consideration but only AFTER Pepper FIRST decides which entries will NOT MAKE his final cut due SOLELY to coat color which falls outside of HIS allowable spectrum.
As he says, ....Dogs that appear totally white or very light cream with no hint of gold in the coat...fall outside the parameters of acceptable color.
One can't help but wonder what sort of ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT Pepper made when he judged everywhere else in the world except the USA (and Mexico--big whoop). In all other nations CREAM is an ACCEPTABLE COLOR and non-issue in the conformation ring.
Like Brown, Pepper seems to question the proper interpretation of the British Breed Standard.
People often ask which standard's color requirement is more historically accurate. That is hard to know. ....it is probably correct to think that the cream color is a bit lighter than that of the original dogs. Some earlier authorities on the breed believe that the change made to the English Breed Standard in the mid-1930s was done to allow for the light shadings often seen on the feathering of Goldens and was not intended to permit a predominant body coat color of cream. Many others would disagree.
Pepper said that as cream-coats came to dominate in the United Kingdom, winners were used as sires, resulting in many Golden Retrievers with cream-colored coats. But he quickly reverts to SHADES of gold rather than distinct colors when he points out that the key elements in judging must always be those required by the breed standard. To this reader it sounds like he is not convinced that the British Standard calls for TWO separate COLORS. And, the author adds,
....I feel that the predominant color should carry at least some hint of a golden hue, not a biscuit or cream color.
And Pepper agrees with Brown in the following regard.
Basically a coat that is so light that it appears to be cream-colored (what I tend to call a "vanilla retriever") or so dark that it approaches an Irish Setter red should be faulted. After all, the breed is called Golden Retriever....
Finally, the thoughts and expressions of Marcia Schlehr, GRCA Historian, GRCA Breed Standard chair, and member of the GRCA Judges' Education Committee.
Color is essential in defining the breed as the "Golden." The Standard includes as acceptable a range from pale gold through deep reddish gold as the predominant body color.
Dogs whose color is predominantly cream or off-white, or a dark red approaching the color of the Irish Setter, are not truly "golden" and should be judged accordingly.
Actually, the Standard identifies NO particular color at all beyond "Rich, lustrous gold". The parameters described by Schlehr were determined by Schlehr and the GRCA Judges' Education Committee. There is an additional phrase in the standard which states, "....Predominant body color which is either extremely pale or extremely dark is undesirable...." The same Committee has taken upon itself to declare what "extremely pale" or "extremely dark" means. So, for all intents and purposes, this five-member committee has created the color range which we must accept; even though their choices are found NOWHERE in the Breed Standard itself.
The author appears to have a fondness for the darker gold shades; while cream is described as dull and having an absence of glint, chestnut is included in her range of acceptable coat colors for a Golden. While she maintains that a dark red approaching the color of the Irish Setter is wrong for our breed, I guess if that dark red IS the color of an Irish Retriever, that's okay. The AKC Breed Standard lists TWO acceptable colors for the Irish Setter-- mahogany and...you guessed it, CHESTNUT. And, for the record, the appropriate color under the standard of The Kennel Club for an Irish Setter is ONLY chestnut. And believe it or not, the FCI Irish Setter Breed Standard names only one color as well-- chestnut. .
Schlehr also chimes in concerning HER OPINION of the meaning of the British Standard. She says,
....But my impression is that the 'cream' as used then referred mostly to the admissibility of the pale shadings on gold-colored dogs, and not to the nearly white dogs we now think of as 'cream' colored.
Her opinion does not include any documentation of any kind. Neither do the statements made by Brown and Pepper. Opinions and viewpoints morph into beliefs and are then accepted as facts(?) That's no way to write the history of the breed.
And in each case the author claims that color has little to do with the quality of a Golden Retriever. But they each say this ONLY AFTER they remove certain colors from consideration.
To repeat Schlehr, COLOR IS ESSENTIAL IN DEFINING THE BREED. If you agree with that conclusion, all other considerations must take a back seat--conformation, movement, hunting instinct, and temperament. It's pretty much like parroting the old lady in the automobile commercial: It sure doesn't LOOK like a Buick! I refuse to accept the idea that COLOR defines our breed.
Pepper proclaims that,
...breed standards are not written for novices, but rather for those intimately familiar with the breed being described....Because we are dealing with living things, breed standards must always allow room for interpretation. Standards purposely use description such as ...'varying shades' ....
The finally quote that I will cite from Pepper's book is a MISTAKE, but I can't resist closing with it.
STANDARDS SHOULD BE CHANGED ON A WHIM OR TO MEET THE LOOK OF CURRENT DOGS.
I've left off the quotation marks, since I assume that Pepper has since corrected the slip. So we begin and end with LOOK. In this case, look what I found.
Sources:
What Exactly Is An English Golden Retriever?--article by Bev Brown
The New Golden Retriever-- book by Marcia Schlehr
The Golden Retriever-- book by Jeffrey G. Pepper
No comments:
Post a Comment