How will Uno's win affect us?
I posted this at my beagle message board; I thought I'd share here:
A Beagle has just won Westminster for the first time in it's 132-year history. This one single event will change things for every Beagle breeder everywhere - hunt or show. We are most definitely on the doggy world's radar now. We also know how the general public reacts to such things, how the "fad buying" will begin. It has already begun, and even the rescue shelters expect their numbers of Beagle residents to disappear into the hands of adoptive families. I bet "beagle breeder" has been in Google's top ten searches over the last couple of days. I can remember when everyone HAD to have a Dalmation when the movie 101 Dalmations came out. Chihuahuas were suddenly in great demand when Taco Bell ran it's advertising campaign using the breed. If you haven't been approached by buyers yet, prepare yourself for the onslaught...it will come.
I just tonight read this excerpt from a very old book, and how well it applies here:
"No fact is isolated. No event is solitary. No force works alone. No life exists but as a part of all other lives. We cannot separate our fortunes, or arrest the influences by which we touch each other. Society is a ship on which all are passengers, and what affects one affects all." - John Robert Connon
With this in mind, we as beagle owners, will do the breed a great injustice if we do not field the request for beagle puppies by educating the inquirers on the difficulties and true nature of the Beagle breed. The general public has NO IDEA that Beagles are one of the greatest kenneling challenges we know. They do not know that there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between "show" and "field" Beagles. A great many think all Beagles are going to be just like Uno - outgoing, bold, cuddly, and gorgeous in his Westminster-worthy way.
Again, what affects one affects all.
So, I beseech you all to be good stewards of the breed on the hunting side. Resist the urge of supply and demand. We get a bad enough rap as it is (with our hunting ways) from the tree-huggers. The serious show breeders/competitors are much fewer in numbers than we field trialers/hunters are...and even at that, they will have their hands full as well...saying "no, I don't have any puppies that will be born 6 weeks before Christmas..." but I feel like the show folks are better equipped to screen new buyers and put restrictions on sales because they've been stringent all along. We tend to think most folks will want to hunt with our Beagles, when all they really want in 2008-2010 is to show their neighbors that they now own a "Westminster" dog.
These are just my feelings right now. I know that it won't apply to most of us, and some of you will get offended by my words, but if it reaches 1% of the readers here who haven't considered the possible ramifications, then it's worth saying. We don't want to hurt the breed in the long run for a quick buck today. My wish is that we keep to our goals -- to produce the best show Beagles we can, the best hunting Beagles we can, and support those who are carefully trying to get the BEST of both in producing a "total Beagle." We are mostly breeders on this board -- be it one litter every few years, or on a bigger scale, but we are breeders nonetheless. I hope we all keep to our missions in a serious manner.
Thanks for reading, and again, Congrats to Team Uno! 
Comments
We went around looking for German Shepherds because we'd both had plenty of experience with them. When that forlorn Foxhound looked into my husband's eyes, it may have been love at first sight, but we never thought to bring him home until we read all we could find to learn whether it was the right choice. In the end, it was that he needed us to give him the life he'd never had.
The breeding industry seems just crazy to me, yet supported by an even crazier buying populace, fickle in each season.
You were "large dog" people to start with, and you did your homework. I applaud that, and your forlorn foxhound looks quite content to me. I put down my last house dog about 2 years ago, and haven't replaced her yet because of my busy schedule. This is the first time I haven't had a house dog along with my hunting beagles. I've always had an adoptee or two inside, but never a beagle, lol. I know what a training challenge they are. Those cute little Snoopy dogs have but 4 things thing on their minds when it's all said and done -- hunt, run, hunt, run.
Mine live in the above-ground kennels because I know without a doubt there isn't a fence that will hold them if they really want out. Those kennels each cost more than most people's first car. They have wooden sunning porches, insulated boxes, vinyl coated waire as to not hurt their feet (and to be sanitized). The dogs can bask in the sun, go in out of the rain, and have freedom of movement, yet my neighbors turn me in periodically for keeping dogs in "rabbit hutches", lol. They simply don't understand that for beagles, fences are a peice of cake, and traffic is very unforgiving.
My sister bought her miniature schnauzer from show people. And yeah, they're freaks. I mean, it's good because you know their dogs are well taken care of but I keep hearing rumours that white schnauzers are put to death because they're such an anomoly (but cute ones!) and that the tail they cut off... it's bone! It's all bone! How...
... sorry, tail and ear cutting kind of piss me off. Especially when it's just for show.
I remember hearing about the Dalmatians as well when the movie came out. Actually, when BOTH movies came out. They didn't realize how energetic the dogs were.
If I said I was looking for a house dog, preferably one that isn't SUPER high energy, what breed would you recommend?
Honestly? Large dogs: Any old Lab or Lab mix, Golden Retrievers (or mixes), Boxers are nice. Smaller dogs: Poodle or Poodle mixes, Westies. My favorite house dogs have been those I have adopted from the Animal Control Shelter. There are many in their with information cards where they were owner-surrendered, not strays.
My favorite ol' gal was a 13-year-old Westie-poo mix, Jo-Jo. She looked awful - her fur long and in matted dreadlocks, but she was sweet and kind and knew her name. She had belonged to a 78-year-old gentleman who had to go into a nursing home. Granddaughter didn't want to keep the dog. I looked at her and thought, "this dog's a terrier mix...she's got another 5 good years left in her." She died in my home at age 18, after 5 years of boating, golf-cart riding, bossing the beagles, and sleeping at my feet.
You might need to go to a shelter several times to find the right match for you and your lifestyle, but it's well worth it to be able to extend a good dog's life in a positive way. I like the older dogs. They seem to already be with the program of living inside with families of people. :-)
Okay, you've now become my dog person!
So, you've found that adopting older dogs, you still get that doggy love that dog-lovers crave? I keep getting lectured by people about how dogs are only able to love one person and that if you're not that person, you're just SOL.
It's just that I'm moving in with my aunt who has a house and a backyard. I'll be there for at least a year (probably longer) and I think an older dog would be a good fit for me.