Saturday, November 15, 2014

A GOLDEN is a GOLDEN is a GOLDEN is a...


   Here we are at the GRCA National Specialty 2014 with Reserve Winners Bitch-- Sunkyst's VW.
   Winning bitch was a cream coat bred in the show's home state of North Carolina, the product of two English Type Goldens.
   Selections were made by the judge according to the AKC Golden Retriever Breed Standard. A standard which NEVER references the word "cream" despite the best and unceasing efforts made by GRCA leaders to convince the world otherwise. In articles found on the GRCA website you can find multiple references to cream as "undesirable" and assertions that the standard clearly says so. Judges are "educated" to accept this "fact." The show catalog includes the Golden Retriever breed standard, perhaps to remind us (and the judges?) that, "Predominant body color which is extremely pale or extremely dark is undesirable...."
   But all the blurbs found on the GRCA website-- advice or instructions to judges, comments on proper coat color, dismissive comments regarding the "vanilla retriever"  --none of which is included in the breed standard itself --alter that standard or its meaning. These articles state that pale gold is included in the acceptable color spectrum for coat color. But cream is not. Apparently cream is too "extreme" and too "pale" to suit their personal taste.
   There are THREE FICTIONS repeatedly asserted by the GRCA in their publications and public pronouncements.
     (1) All Golden Retrievers are born some SHADE of GOLD.
     (2) The British Standard considers cream to be merely a SHADE of gold, not a stand-alone coat color.
     (3)The AKC Breed Standard identifies cream as UNDESIRABLE.
   The American judge apparently was not swayed by these assertions when she chose her winning bitch. Nor was the British judge who followed up Sophie's win by proclaiming her Best of Winners. Neither judge was required to do so. When does pale gold become extremely pale? Too pale? And compared to what? The other Goldens in the ring, perhaps?
   When I asked the Board members (at the Annual Meeting) if the fact that Best of Winners possessed a born-cream coat  had caused them to reconsider their objections to cream, ALL sat in stone silence. They all-- each and every one -- should be applauded for their openness and candor. It's always instructive and informative to hear what our Club leaders think. Perhaps they could not hear the question over the shouting of the Club president(?)  Perhaps their silence was due to their desire to get the party started-- the Halloween event which immediately followed. The audience seemed to have little interest in the question either. The alleged "quorum" deserves kudos as well.
   The bottom line: the judges followed the breed standard. Other judges will as well.
   Jeffrey Pepper believes that, "....(B)reed 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...."  He, as virtually every spokesperson for our breed associated with the GRCA, has said that coat color should be a minor if not the last consideration in the conformation ring. On November 30, 2014 in North Carolina two well-respected judges did exactly that. What more can you ask? We should expect no less from professionals.

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