Meeting held on 16th November 2003

The Canaan Dog Club of the United Kingdom held a Special General Meeting on 16th November, in order to discuss and vote on a proposed new standard. 19 Members were present, apologies had apparently been received from members who stated that the venue was too far for them, but were not read.

It is believed that at least two people were recording the meeting on tape, the Recording Secretary and the Secretary. However, those present were not informed that it was being recorded, nor asked if they had any objections.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 1.00pm. He reported that The Kennel Club insisted we held this Special General Meeting, but they would still be taking the postal vote into consideration. He repeatedly stated throughout the meeting that he did not want to hold this meeting, believing it to be a waste of time, but they had to.

The Chairman stated that the Club had received correspondence from several people in Israel, but because they were not all members and did not live in the UK, he, as Chairman, discredited the letters. He went on to state that the letters were not relevant to this meeting as they were concerned with changing the FCI standard, not the English one, and were not addressed to the members of the club. When one member, who had seen copies of the letters, stated this was incorrect, he angrily dismissed her comments. He further went on to discredit Israel, stating that they "held the breed in such esteem that they did not even have a Canaan Dog Club". When asked the content of the letters he replied that it was the committee's prerogative not to tell members. When it was pointed out to the Chairman that these letters were addressed to the club and its members, he replied that was beside the point. It was clarified that the decision to discredit the letters from Israel and not inform members of their contents was that of the Chairman alone, not the committee.

The Chairman repeatedly advised the meeting that we were not allowed to use FCI wording within the standard. However, since the meeting it has been confirmed that this is incorrect.

The Chairman reported that The Kennel Club had given strict instructions that a Special General Meeting be held, with a secret ballot on each clause. He also stated that The Kennel Club will be taking into account the postal vote and advised a member that it was in the Kennel Club's letter addressed to the club. The Secretary did not have the letter present.

The Chairman had to be called to order several times throughout the meeting. He made it obvious how he personally wanted members to vote, he appeared neither independent nor impartial and was extremely rude to members who made points he personally disagreed with. At one time the Chairman made a verbal attack on one member, stating she had only been in the breed 5 minutes and implying her contribution was of no value. He later verbally attacked another long-standing member, stating that he had contributed far more to the breed than she ever had. When another member asked a question concerning Pariahunde and the breed founder, Prof. Menzel, the Chairman retorted, "I don't know, the woman's dead. Do you want me dig her up and ask her?" The Chairman repeatedly told the meeting that he and his wife were the most experienced breeders in the UK, of his dog's wins, and throughout the meeting gave stories of his dogs and his personal opinions in order to emphasise his points.

The meeting also appeared very confusing to some members. One moment the Chairman and Secretary were discrediting those in Israel, next they were selectively quoting things these same people had written.

The results of the vote was that the majority of those present voted to accept the proposed standard, with one amendment made at the meeting, thus effectively going against the wishes of the country of origin, Israel, and indeed the rest of the world, and effectively setting the wheels in motion to change the breed within the UK.

 

Proposed Revised Standard for the Canaan Dog
8th June 2003

General Appearance
It should be emphasised that a Canaan Dog should look like it has potential for survival in the desert. It is a medium-sized, well-balanced, square dog of the pariah dog type. The dog should not be exaggerated in any way. There should be a strong distinction between the sexes, with males looking masculine and bitches looking feminine.

Stating there is a strong distinction between sexes is sufficient; the wording "… with males looking masculine and bitches looking feminine" is unnecessary.

Characteristics
Alert, agile, quick to react, highly intelligent and amenable to training, but its survival instinct should remain its strongest drive.

We are unsure exactly how a judge is to be able to determine in a show ring that a dog's strongest drive is his survival instinct.

Temperament
Wary of strangers, preferring to retreat rather than show aggression. Highly territorial. Always vigilant. Affectionate and extraordinarily devoted to its family.

With the wording "… preferring to retreat rather than show aggression" being removed at the Special General Meeting, we feel that this is now tolerable, although not ideal.

Head and Skull
Skull well proportioned, wedge shaped of medium length, appearing broader due to low set ears. Skull somewhat flattened between ears, with some width allowed in powerful male heads. Stop shallow but defined. Length from muzzle to stop approximately equal to length from stop to occiput. Muzzle is sturdy, of moderate length and breadth. Jaws should be strong, lips tight and darkly pigmented. Nose ideally black; but a "snow nose" is acceptable according to season.

A snow nose is undesirable and therefore should not be shown as being acceptable in any breed standard. The argument for this to be included appears to be that Myrna Shiboleth has stated it is acceptable, and that the photograph on the cover of her book, "The Israel Canaan Dog", depicts a dog with poor pigment. However, Myrna Shiboleth did not choose the design or photograph for the cover of her book. Furthermore, Myrna has always said that the snow nose is not desirable but, bearing in mind that a dog with an undesirable trait is never shown under FCI standards, she states that it is acceptable - meaning that a dog with a snow nose can be shown. She also states that "To ignore the fact that it is undesirable will result in people not trying to breed for good pigment."

Eyes
Dark brown, almond shaped and obliquely set, with black rims

No comments

Ears
Medium sized, erect, manoeuvrable and set low with broad base, slightly rounded at the tip. Tipped ears not to be penalised in dogs up to 12 months of age.

We fail to see why it is written that tipped ears in puppies must not be penalised. Tipped ears are a fault and while in some young puppies there may still be a slight chance the ear will become erect it is surely up to the judge how they consider this fault.

Mouth
Full dentition, with scissors or level bit equally acceptable.

No comments

Neck
Muscular, of medium length without throatiness. Should give a well-balanced, elegant appearance to the dog.

No comments

Forequarters
Well laid muscular shoulder, elbows close to body. Medium boned. When viewed from the front forelegs straight. Pasterns slightly sloping.

No comments

Body
Square, and strong, but not bulky, displaying athletic build and agility. Withers well developed, back level, loins muscular, chest moderately broad and deep, extending to the elbows. Ribs well sprung. Belly well tucked up. Moderate angulation. Balance is essential.

We do not feel that the wording "…not bulky, displaying athletic build and agility" correctly describes the breed. The FCI wording is more correct.

Hindquarters
Powerful, broad muscular thighs. Second thigh well developed. Hocks well let down. Legs straight when viewed from behind. Strong buttocks, lightly feathered.

No comments

Feet
Strong, round and cat like with hard pads and strong, hard nails of any colour.

No comments other than we find the comment on nail colour rather strange. It brings to mind a dog with red nails!

Tail
Set high, with a thick brush, carried curled over back when at attention. When carried up, the tail should not curl to either side of body, or lie flat against its back. Flexible, used for balance when on the move.

We do not understand the wording "… when at attention". Prof. Menzel described the tail as "Set on high, curved over back when excited, as bushy as possible."

Gait/Movement
Effortless, natural, ground-eating trot. Should demonstrate marked agility and stamina with no wasted motion. Correct movement is essential.

We believe the wording of the FCI standard to be better.

Coat
Outer coat dense, harsh and straight of short to medium length, with manes desirable in males. Undercoat close and profuse according to season.

No comments

Colour
The coat can be either solid in shades of white, sand to red-brown, or black; or it can be white with patches of any of the aforementioned colours. Both solid and patched dogs can be with or without a mask. If masked, the mask should be symmetrical and cover both eyes. A black mask is permitted on all colours. White markings are permitted on all colours. Brindle is not permitted.

We fail to see why the mask should suddenly be required to cover both eyes. Does this mean that a dog with a small mask covering merely the muzzle is now incorrect? We are also 100% against the removal of the undesirable colours grey, black and tan and tri-colour. We have heard the following arguments for their removal, and give our response.

(1) In an interview published in 1972, Menzel stated, "To me all colors are acceptable if they are colors naturally found in the Canaan family. This omits gray which usually represents a mixing of the blood line with some other breed when gray appears on a Canaan one must be highly suspicious of its purity. In general, a tri-colored coloring is a Canaan is definitely acceptable in my opinion."

a. Myrna Shiboleth replies…
i. The interview was published in Hebrew, but neither Dvora nor Prof. Menzel were native Hebrew speakers, and neither spoke or wrote completely correct Hebrew.
ii. Canine terminology in Hebrew at that period was still very unstandardized, since these were quite new concepts for the Hebrew language. A lot of terms were misused - tricolor, for instance, at the time, was used to refer to collies that were sable and white with some black overlay, which is not correct, the correct term is a shaded sable. This was true for many breeds and many and various terms. Unfortunately, I don't have the original article in Hebrew to be able to check the terms used, and I would doubt very much that it would be possible to find an original copy.
iii. The article was translated by people who as far as I know are not native Hebrew speakers (Rabbi Kahn certainly was not, though I don't know who the second person is), and were probably not very experienced dog people who were well versed in terminology.
iv. Prof. Menzel made very clear in her other statements and in the standard she wrote that "black with brown legs" resembling sporting breeds, was not allowed. This is obviously black and tan, or tricolor if there is also some white. I believe that her references to what is translated here as tricolor would be to brown and white dogs with black mask, and/or with some black shading in the marking, which has always been allowed, and has commonly been referred to by some people here as tricolor in Hebrew.

b. We query why it is proposed that grey is no longer undesirable, particularly if this interview, and indeed paragraph, is being used to argue the point for tri-colour.

(2) Regarding black and tan and tri-colour, the original standard stated "… black with brown legs are not desirable at the time…" and therefore certain people feel the founder never meant that they were to be always considered as undesirable.

a. Whilst it is of course impossible to ask the late Prof. Menzel exactly what she meant, we do have the next best thing - people who knew her personally, people who worked with her, and others who studied with and under her. All of these people are in agreement that Prof. Menzel never said they were acceptable, including Dr Dvora Ben Shaul, who conducted the above interview. It is understood that Menzel rarely referred to black and tan or tricolour (calling them black with tan legs). Myrna Shiboleth does not recall ever seeing these colours in Menzel's kennel or descending from her dogs, and believes that Menzel rarely referred to these colours because she never had them in her breeding. Menzel is also remembered to say that she thought dogs of that colouring looked impure and untypical and she did not want it in the breed.

(3) That the gene pool is so small these colours must not be discarded.

a. The colour grey is extremely rare; Myrna Shiboleth has reported that in all her years of owning and breeding Canaan Dogs she has just seen three grey Canaan Dogs. Therefore including the colour grey would make no difference towards the gene pool. Prof. Menzel believed grey to represent impurity (as above (2)).

b. Black and tan and tricolour are in fact quite rare and Myrna Shiboleth reports that she may have one appear in a number of years. On the occasions that one is produced they are usually given away or sold cheaper as pets. As far as we are aware, and according to our research with breeders around the world, there has only ever been one breeder who has bred (and continues to do so) from black and tans and/or tri-colours. Since the beginning of the breed this fact has not diminished the worldwide gene pool. However, we understand that it would reduce the personal gene pool of the kennel breeding from these colours as, being a simple recessive; all their dogs now at least carry the gene.

(4) There now appears to be health problems within the breed, including down from wild dogs, and therefore it would be wrong to discard healthy dogs from the gene pool just because of their colour.

a. As far as we are aware, and according to our research, there are no known health problems, and we would ask for evidence of such.
In the last ten years just three dogs from the wild have been used for breeding, two in Israel and one in the UK. One of the dogs in Israel sired just one litter of three puppies in 1995; the other dog has sired five litters in the last two and a half years. As far as that breeder is aware, all the progeny from both dogs are in perfect health. Of the latter dog, the oldest are now just two years old, and only one of those has been used for breeding so far, siring two litters. As far as that breeder is aware, all the puppies are healthy, although his last litter are still young puppies. The bitch in the UK had two litters and as far as I am aware, apart from radiographic canine hip dysplasia, no health issues are known about. The HD is currently not believed to be a problem, but Dr Malcolm Willis did advise breeders that they must breed wisely, hip scoring all their dogs and breeding appropriately in order to prevent it from turning into a problem. The only other possible "problem" concerning health that we know about is cryptorchidism, which has affected at least 6 dogs in the UK. Due to the relatively low number of dogs affected (6%), this would not be classified as a "problem" at the moment.
The only other recent health issue that we are aware of is 3 cases of epilepsy in the USA, concerning dogs bred in Italy. However, these have been discussed with Dr Malcolm Willis, who stated that the evidence was not conclusive that this was an inherited problem, due to the fact that one of the bitches became epileptic after a traumatic dogfight, and another after being poisoned.

Size
Height 50-60 cms (20-24 ins). Weight 18-25 kgs (40-55 lbs). Dog should be athletic in build and weight should be proportionate to height. Due to slow maturation in the breed, young dogs up to 2+ years of age may typically appear somewhat rangy.

We fail to see the reason for the additional wording. It is somewhat obvious (in any breed) that youngsters can appear rangy, but certainly not 2+ years.

Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault, as well as anything that would detract from the dog's potential survival as a desert animal. The seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog.

No comments, other than the fact that we were surprised to see this standard paragraph altered.

Note
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended.

No comments

 

Jill and Ian Terry, Babrees Canaan Dogs