The Tall and the Short of it

I am not going to go into all the nuances of the AKC Standard - to see the in full go here.  Remember to come back {wink}

The opening remarks in the Standard are on general appearance.  It addresses that the GSP is a versatile hunter and all-purpose gun dog who has keen scenting and that are highly intelligent. The GSP was developed to hunt fur and feather over land and water - he should be able to point, trail, and retrieve any game his person chooses.

A GSP is a medium sized dog - boys 23-25 inches at the withers (shoulders) and girls 21-23 inches.  Now I'm going to state my opinion on the next section and I know it will not be popular with some...  The next part of the standard states 'Deviations of one inch above or below the described heights are to be severely penalized.'  This does NOT mean a 26 inch boy is fine nor that a 24 inch girl is - it says they are to be severely penalized!  

Now before some of you call for my lynching I will state here and now, as I have numerous times before, my foundation is based on Malhaven Sage Grouse who was 24 inches.  She was a multiple Group winning/placing Special in Canada (#5 the one year she was campaigned), she finished quickly on both sides of the border and she produced pups that fit the height requirements and some who didn't.  That said according to the AKC standard she was outside of the ideal height.

When the proportions of a dog are correct and in balance those who are outside of the ideal range are not so noticable.  And I am not suggesting that we should be throughing the baby out with the bath water and not using a dog in our breeding programs that may fall outside the ideal range in the standard.  I do believe that we need to be mindful of that and trying our best to move forward with ones that do fall inside that range in the next generation.

I remember well showing my 22 inch girl and having one judge dismiss her from consideration for being 'too small'.  The next day the judge, from a breed who was also dealing with bigger is better at the time, praised her for being correct.  Both judges are entitled to their opinions however the first judges assertion that this girl was too small when she stood at the middle of the ideal is a little scary to me and speaks to the trend at the time and in that area of girls that were at the top of the standard and over being more promenient in the ring.