BREED STANDARD A TIMELESS PICTURE IN WORDS
By Pat Bullard
I t’s time to enter the showring but the judge is standing at the table intent- ly reading the Maltese breed stan- dard. Tome, that’s as impressive as a Maltese breeder who keeps the breed standard with them all the time and breeds to it faithfully. It is not a recipe where substitutions can be added and get the same result. We’re not trying to create a new Maltese dog. We are trying to preserve an ancient breed that has been around for over 2,500 years. We expect show judges to know our breed standard and follow it to the letter and we, as breeders, should ex- pect the same from ourselves. I take lots of trips down Memory Lane watching vintage videos and searching through old magazines. Sometimes I find myself so lost in what was I can almost touch the Mal- tese from generations ago. I admire how closely the Maltese decades ago fit the breed standard so much more closely and many of them could win today. The classic moderate head, the balance and soundness of struc- ture and movement would all be as beautiful to see in the ring today as it was in the old days. Even coat texture and color were more honest before we started bleaching and flat ironing for showing. I miss the Maltese I knew and ad- mired from the those days. You may think I’m speaking of the biggest winners and I do remember many of those fondly but it is the general
“THE CLASSIC MODERATE HEAD, THE BALANCE AND SOUNDNESS OF STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENT WOULD ALL BE AS BEAUTIFUL TO SEE IN THE RING TODAY AS IT WAS IN THE OLD DAYS. Even coat texture and color were more honest before we started bleaching and flat ironing for showing.”
54 • T op N otch T oys , M ay 2019
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