Beauty shows dogs in the opinion

of a Great Master of the Cynophily

            translation by Federico

From the book: “Il Cane Utile (The useful dog)” , by Piero Scanziani:

“ Dog show’s primary fault is that it is based on a man’s judgments. The Judge in the Court makes mistakes, so can our judge on the ring. There are some incompetent judges, who are a plague for cynophily and that should be kicked out. What is more, there are some judges who have no manners at all, who ill-treat the new expositors because they present ‘average’ dogs. They should be expelled for unworthiness from the show, which are the places where zootechnics and sport’s cordiality meet …”.

The second fault of the shows is that the lovers are too much worried about beauty and peculiarity, forgetting the practical duty of a dog breed. On this subject, the English have reached degeneration making very beautiful Setters but unable to point, made stupid and just able to stand on a ring. I know some Boxer and Alsatians breeders as bewildered by the shows as to believe that their dogs live just to posture to a judge. This is very dangerous, we must defend our dog from this attitude as it has destroyed many breeds …”.

[Piero Scanziani (Chiasso, 1908 – 1993): writer and journalist. Figure of relevant importance in the European culture. In 1997 received the Schiller Prize and was finalist in 1985 and 1986 Nobel Prize for literature. Eminent dog lover, his commitment was relevant for the reconstruction and for the official recognition of Mastino Napoletano and he contributed to the compiling of its standard. Show judge for any race and directed “Cani” magazine. He studied the dogs’ psychology and wrote about different kind of training. Many of his main works has been translated in various languages, among which Norwegian and Slovenian.]

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