I recently surveyed Facebook users for ideas on articles – and the following series is in planning. If you would like to contribute or suggest other topics, please contact me.
~ information on choosing a stud dog
~ information on toe nail cutting
~ information on the eye shape of the Clumber (and other breeds)
~ information on show training
~ information on general lifestyle training
~ information on getting into field or obedience trials
The eye article has certainly generated the most votes, so that has now been expand into the following extended format, and consequently will take sometime to get together.
Eyes
1 -intro – the eye, what is it, how do eye shapes form (this is dog centric of course, and shapes will lead to spaniel centric) – so the standards will need to be introduced here, possibly just as an intro and lead into article two
2 – Clumber form and how that dictates the eye shape, so we have skull structure, musculature around the eye, impact of muscle tone on eye shape, and skin (it is rather heavy) and tone of skin, so here we can introduce haw; and how this structure can be of use in the field; also discuss how eye shape can change with age. Also, disease and trauma and transient expressions of ent/ect/small eye openings.
2a -supplementary article to 2 – haw, how it is describe (correctly & incorrectly), what other breeds express it & why, the CLS haw controversy in the early 1900s I think it was), why the public find it confronting, how much is too much haw
3 – the eye rim conformational faults that can occur in all dogs, and why the Clumber can be prone to these (so ent, ect, too small an eye, too prominent an eye); breeding tactics to avoid these issues (any potential DNA screening), how to detect these faults or to at least have concerns that these problems may be evident so should seek professional advice, what the current national eye tests include (some don’t/haven’t covered ent/ect)
4 – back to the current standards, and expected consequences of the current wordings
5 – are the standards wrong, is it time to review what we require or accept in our competition and breeding dogs
In all cases I will be looking for interviews/comments/article editors/leaders!
As an adjunct to the feature on eyes, please see this article previously published in the UK’s Dog World, by the late Dr Harry Spira, it covers Haw.
