Flairball

I feel the need to clarify something in this post again. I know many of you don't/won't believe it, but the Brittany has been removed fromthe Spaniel family. The reasoning is because Spaniels are not supposed to point game, and the Brittany is a pointing dog. This is not to say that Brittanys aren't good dogs. This isn't to say that Spaniels can't be taught to point game either, just that they are not supposed to.

Now, before anyone out there starts blasting away at my comment, I'd like to point out that the breeds respective parent clubs are who sets the breeds standard, and decides such things. These standards exist to protect the integrity of the breed. If you have an English Springer Spaniel that points, and you love your dog as I hope you do, please be aware that this dog is the exeption, and unique. The parent club, however, would probably frown on this dog being bred, and a characteristic which is contrary to what they have worked so hard,for so long to preserve being passed along in the breed.Should one desire to have a Spaniel like dog that points, then perhaps the Brittany is the dog for them.

Unfortunately, people see no problem breeding dogs to what ever standard (or lack there of) they see fit. This has in the past resulted in hunting breeds such as the Irish Setter having all the hunt bred out of them (gladly they are making a come back), and Labs that point. Pointing Labs, though growing in popularity, make my skin crawl. What was the need to make a Lab point? Were there not enough pointing breeds available? I don't know the history, but I'd be interested to know the parent clubs position on the change of the standard, or even if they've accepted it.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify this, and ended up in a half-rant.