Ch . Aquarius Centercourt Delight won 24 BIS in the early 2000s and was ranked among the top Sporting Dogs in both 2003 and 2004 .
BETWEEN THE LINES , CONT ’ D FROM PAGE 18 them is a particolor male that looks like he could have been in a show ring today — and that ’ s more than a hundred years ago ! Watching it gave me goosebumps , but when I showed the reel to a few fellow Whippet people , none of them were as impressed as I was : “ But those other two dogs — they moved like Italian Greyhounds . …” I guess it depends on what you expect .
The Most Popular Breeds
As examples of breeds that have changed , I chose the two most popular of all : the Labrador Retriever and the German Shepherd Dog . I ’ m not getting involved in the heated debate carried on among people in both breeds whether the changes are an improvement or the opposite ; I ’ m just showing a few photographs that I feel demonstrate real changes that have occurred . ( Incidentally , it ’ s easy to prove almost anything by carefully selecting and culling among photos . However , I focused on good , clear portraits of dogs that were top winners at the time the photographs were taken . I did not , for obvious reasons , want to include dogs that could still appear in a show ring . Like it or not , this is what a dog of that breed looked like when it did some serious winning .)
The differences between the photographs of the German Shepherds Ch . Cito von der Marktfeste and Ch . Covy-Tucker Hill ’ s Manhattan are striking . Sure , Manhattan was born more than 50 years after Cito ’ s big wins , and you need to have a completely open mind to see that they are even of the same breed . Yet both were greatly admired in their day : Cito won more Best in Shows in the late 1920s than any other dog , regardless of breed , and Manhattan — who is still remembered by many old-timers — was No . 1 All Breeds in both 1984 and 1985 .
By a fortunate accident , we still have Cito ’ s vital statistics : He weighed 85 pounds , was 25 1 ⁄ 2 inches tall at the withers and 28 inches “ long ” ( presumably from breastbone to buttock ). I don ’ t know about Manhattan , but at least judging by his photos he may have weighed considerably more than Cito . To my eyes he also looks a lot more powerful , not as high-stationed ,
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Bottom left : Ch . Shamrock Acres Light Brigade is the only Labrador Retriever ever to have ranked among the Top 10 dogs of all breeds in the US . This happened in 1968 , when he was No . 1 Sporting Dog and No . 5 All Breeds , winning 12 BIS . Bottom right : Dual Ch . Bramshaw Bob , BIS at Crufts in both 1932 and 1933 , compiled a record that makes him one of the top allbreed winners ever in the UK .
22 DOGSinREVIEW . com