BETWEEN THE LINES
Fiddling While Rome Burns
BO
BENGTSON
O
f all the futile things you can spend your time on in
the dog world, none is more wasteful than trying to
rearrange the breeds into different Groups. There is
simply no way to divide all the individual breeds into Groups
in a logical manner that will satisfy everyone. Sure, it’s easy to
see that the Wire Fox belongs to the Terrier Group, for example. But what about the Bedlington, which looks almost like a
coated Whippet, or a Bull Terrier, which is the result of a longago cross between a Bulldog and a Terrier? What do a Basset
and a Borzoi have in common that makes them both qualify for
membership in the Hound Group? Sure, they both hunt, but in
a very different fashion, and they could hardly look less alike.
Just about the only Group there is some kind of consistent reasoning behind is the Toys. Different-looking as they
may be, they are all obviously of small stature — but even
that isn’t clear-cut because just how small does a breed have
to be to qualify as a Toy Dog? Some breeds that AKC lists
as Non-Sporting — Bichons, Boston Terriers, French Bulldogs — have at various times and in different countries been
considered Toys. Meanwhile, a few AKC Toy breeds belong
to different Groups in other countries: The Yorkie is in the
Terrier Group at FCI shows, for instance, and the Toy Poodle
is with the other Poodle varieties in what’s called the Utility
Group in Great Britain.
One might almost, as a friend of mine suggested only half
in jest, divide the breeds alphabetically. Breeds that start with
A to E are in Group 1, those that start with F to J are in Group
2, K to O in Group 3, etc. That wouldn’t satisfy anyone either,
of course, but the whole exercise is so futile and doomed to
fail that it’s disappointing to see AKC once again raising the
specter of re-aligning the Groups at a time when there are so
many more important things to worry about. Things like, for
instance, the very survival of purebred dogs and dog shows,
which seems to hang in the balance in a manner that would
have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Sure, at the rate
AKC is recognizing “new” (in reality often ancient) breeds,
it may be necessary to either add a few more Groups or to
decide which existing Groups the “new” breeds should belong
to, but it does bring to mind Nero famously playing his fiddle
while watching Rome burn to the ground…
Miscellaneous, which means it can’t yet be shown in regular competition, but they classify it not only as a Hound but
as a Sighthound, so it can run with Greyhounds and Afghan
Hounds at AKC lure coursing trials. That, of course, has a lot
of us totally befuddled.
Confusing the issue is that the AKC breed standard refers
to the Norrbottenspets as “a small, spitz-type hound of Nordic
origin that uses sight, scent and hearing to hunt forest game.”
Can a Spitz-type dog be a Hound? The word “hound,” a term
that’s been in use for hundreds of years, refers to primarily
either a Scenthound (which uses its nose to follow the prey, as
a Bloodhound or a Beagle does) or a Sighthound (like a Saluki
or Whippet, which catch their prey by eyesight and speed).
The decision of placing the Norwegian Elkhound in the
Hound Group in 1913 set a precedent that may have impacted
this latest Group placement. Most likely this was due to a
double mistranslation: The breed doesn’t hunt elk, and it’s not
a hound, but the native name, “Norsk Elghund” sure sounds
like it. “Elg” actually means “moose,” and “hund” means simply dog, so the breed should have been called “Norwegian
Moose Dog.” Perhaps that precedent is the reason we now
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The Norrbottenspets as an Example
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DOGSinREVIEW.com
X Nordic spitz breed, originating from Sweden
X Hunts forest birds, cornering them by barking and
using continuous movement until the hunter arrives.
X Currently in the AKC Miscellaneous Class.
TEXTERRI PHOTO
Judging by one present example, it’s all going to make AKC
look bad anyway. Have you ever heard of the Norrbottenspets? It’s a little Nordic spitz breed (“Norrbotten” is the
northern part of Sweden) that’s used for hunting forest birds,
cornering them by barking and continuous movement until
the hunter arrives. The AKC still has the Norrbottenspets in