Forest and Stream Magazine. 3rd April 1890. Author: Unknown

"Before the advent of bench shows, dogs were valued almost entirely according to their merit for practical purposes, except of course in the case of the pet breeds. At that time the Setter, Sointer, and Spaniel were expected to find game, the Hounds to trail, the Collie to drive, the Fox-Terrier to go to earth, the Mastiff to watch, the St. Bernard to go out into the storm, the Bull-Terrier to take his death, the Greyhound to course, the Deerhound to run down his quarry, the various breeds of terriers to kill vermin, and so on. This standard of practical utility was the principle one that guided breeders in the selection of stud dogs and brood bitches.

With the establishment of bench shows this was changed. The fetich "type" was set up, and fanciers, big and small, fell down before it and blindly worship. Type is supposed to be as stable as the mountains, while in reality it is constantly changing. The winning Setters, Pointers, Mastiffs, Collies, etc., of to-day are quite different from those of even ten years ago, and ten years hence the typical specimens will undoubtedly differ as much from the present winners. "But", some fanciers will say, "this is because we have improved these breeds that they differ from the old-time specimens." Whether this alteration of form from the primitive stock is an improvement or not is simply a matter of opinion. This changing of type or improving the breed, or whatever other name it may be called by, is going on all the time, and will continue as long as bench shows are held. As new judges and new doggy critics take the places of the old ones the "type" of the breeds will be made to conform to the ideas of the most popular of the new authorities. After all, it is the judge and the bench show reporter who mould the doggy ideas of the great majority of fanciers.

Now, I am not opposed to type, but I do disapprove of sacrificing all a dog's useful qualities for an artificial standard. No matter how near a hunting dog is to the present idea of the breed, if he is gunshy and otherwise useless in the field he should never be given a prize on the bench. A dog of this sort who wins the name of champion does more harm by being extensively used in the stud than can be undone in a lifetime. As regards a remedy, it is a difficult problem to solve, and I do not at present care to offer suggestions. But the fact remains that bench shows are encouraging more than anything else the breeding of non-sporting sporting dogs, and gradually turning into house pets many other useful breeds.

Our English cousins were the first people to set up an ideal standard for the different breeds of dogs. Here is where the egotism of fanciers shows itself. After settling upon the type for their native dogs, they import Bassets from France, fix up an ideal standard and insist upon the Frenchmen conforming to it. From Germany they get Dachshunde, and as the primitive types seen there do not altogether meet with their approval, they lengthen the body by selective breeding and produce an animal the like of which is not to be found in the native country of the breed. The same applies to the St. Bernard, Newfoundland, Great Danes and a few other foreign breeds.

The fanciers of America are just about the same. The average Irish and Gordon Setter met with in this country is built after a different type from those of England. The same holds good with the Foxhound and Beagle. As we grow older and depend less on the mother country for our prize winners, the lines of distinction in these and other breeds will become more sharply defined.

The evolution of a type of the American Foxhound is now going on among the packs of Pennsylvania. Only a few years ago the meet clubs cared nothing for the looks of the hounds; it was field work they considered of account. Now, there is a decided effort to get packs together that look alike. Some fancy the tri-color, some the black and tan and others the blue ticked, but they all want them to be of equal weight and of the same general appearance. It will only be a few years before there will be a uniform type established and the packs will be pleasanter to look at even if they are not so good after reynard."

                                                                                    Sheep Dog Glory

by Roy Saunders

Despite the apparent insistence on breeding for working qualities alone, most Border Collies are in fact of a handsome appearance. The homozygous tendencies are very strong and although greys and tans occasionally crop up, about ninety percent of these dogs are a smartly proportioned black and white. If the dog is well-marked in black and white in the right places and is generally pleasant to look at, it is of course so much the better, but a collie which a layman might find striking handsome would look ugly and ridiculous to the shepherd if his head and tail were held high. The dogs "intelligence quotient" is shown more clearly in the carriage of his tail than by any other physical sigh, and it is perhaps a pity that we cannot test a child's IQ so simple and with such a degree of accuracy. In any case the plain mismarked miscoloured sheepdog whose breeding is right can give a stylish performance which is fascinating and beautiful and will easily surpass the performance of the most splendid looking dog with less good breeding.

MAKING SENSE OF COAT COLOR: A GENETIC APPROACH
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This article is intended to help you in understanding the genetics of color. Even though not all aspects can be covered in one article, we will focus on genes that are now available for testing.

The pigment that is responsible for a dog's hair color is called melanin. There are two types of melanin in dogs: a pigment associated with black and brown coloration (called eumelanin) and a pigment associated with lighter colors such as yellow, red and orange (called phaeomelanin). There are a number of genes that affect how and where these pigments are produced. The genes can occur as variant forms, called alleles. Some alleles play a dominant role (usually identified by capital letters) over others and their presence will overshadow the effect of recessive alleles (identified by small letters).

The gene designated as "E" is responsible for eumelanin production. If the dominant form of "E" is not present ("ee" genotype), the black and brown pigment is not produced and the dog's coat will be reddish in color (yellow, orange or red). On the other hand, if at least one E allele ("EE" or "Ee" genotypes) occurs, black or brown pigment would be the basis for a dog's coat color. A third allele, E^m, causes reddish dogs to have a black or brown facial mask.

The absence of the dominant form of "B" will change the black color of eumelanin into brown but will have no effect on the coat color of "ee" genotype dogs. For example, dogs with EEBB, EeBB, EeBb genotypes will have eumelanin normally produced ("E" is present) and will have black coat color (the dominant "B" is present). EEbb and Eebb genotypes will have eumelanin produced but their coat will be brown in color ("B" is not present). NOTE: any "bb" genotype dog will have brown nose and pad leather. The eeBB, eeBb, and eebb genotype dogs do not produce eumelanin pigment and will have reddish coat color.

The "A" gene is a bit more complicated. This gene controls where and how two pigments are produced on the body or even on the individual hair. It is very important to understand that the effects of this gene depend on the ability to produce eumelanin, which does not occur in "ee" genotype dogs. The most dominant allele in this group is thought to be a^y, which causes sable and fawn coloration of the coat.
Sometimes the reddish hair has black tips. Some examples of this type of dog are sable Collies and Shetland Sheepdogs as well as fawn Great Danes and Pugs. The next allele in dominance is a^w, which is characterized by alternately banded hair and sometimes is called "wild type". This type causes hair to change its color during growth from light to dark resulting in bands as seen, for example, in some German Shepherds or wolves.

The black-and-tan allele, a^t, gives a black dog its tan markings. This is typical of many hounds as well as Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers. The same allele is responsible for tri-color dogs (black-and-tan with white), for example in Shetland Sheepdogs.

The last allele is a recessive black "a", which is considered to be recessive to all other allele in the "A" group. Such "aa" genotype dogs are black. This can be seen in German Shepherds and Shetland Sheepdogs (bi-color).

There are other groups of genes responsible for coat coloration. They are C (albino), D (blue dilution), G (graying), M (merle), R (roaming), S (white spotting), T (ticking), and K (dominant black). The work of identifying them is still in progress. HeathGene Laboratory would like to thank Dr. Sheila Schmutz from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) for her dedication and support in this research.