REGISTRY
Paul Jensen
In an effort to give you a better understanding about the issues in connection with a registry let me start with the "beginning."
We bought our first Small Munsterlander in 1973 after having immigrated to the United States in 1970. We soon found that a lot of people were very interested in our breed and we started looking for an acceptable stud for our Misty. Before going this far we had also attended a seminar about "The Dog in Motion." It was a very interesting seminar given by Rachel Page Elliot, a local well known golden retriever breeder and a show and conformation judge. Both Vibeke and I were so excited about what we had learned that when we came home that evening we immediately took Misty out on a lead and paraded her in front of each other under the street lamps. We studied Misty’s gait from the front, from the sides and from the back. After about 20 minutes or so we decided that Misty was not a good specimen of the breed and we should not let her become the birth mother of a "new breed" of dogs in North America.
During a winter vacation in Denmark we looked and found what we considered a great birth mother. She was born on second Christmas day in 1974 and we named her Bliss. During the next two years we watched her grow up and in July 1975 our male dog Chris was born. Both of the dogs grew up to be nice specimens of the breed. Wherever we would go people would stop us and ask about what breed of dog these were. Everybody seemed so interested in these dogs that we chanced to breed them and Bliss gave birth to the first recorded litter of Small Munsterlanders in North America on April 12, 1977. During the next two months our hearts were full of joy over these wonderful bouncing puppies. The joy and excitement passed onto first sadness of having to let the puppies go to new homes and then to frustration of not being able to find homes for our dogs.
The last puppies were about 4 months of age before we found homes for them. All the folks that had expressed such an interest in the dogs when they first saw them could not be found when puppies were available for sale or they kept asking if these dogs were registered with AKC. They were not. During a visit that I made to the AKC office in New York I learned the following:
AKC would want somebody to take charge of a registry that could be the basis for AKC if and when the time was right. From the conversation it was also clear that such a new registry should only accept dogs that had import pedigrees issued by the FCI accepted breed clubs in Europe. The Small Munsterlander Clubs in Europe require that the parents of puppies have qualified in field tests and have obtained at least a Prize 2 in conformation show. They shall also have been x-rayed and declared hip dysplasia free.
Since Vibeke and I didn’t know of any other Small Munsterlanders in North America at that time we decided to start a registry that would keep accurate account of Small Munsterlanders bred in North America. We have continued with that work since then and done it to the best of our ability.
We personally weren’t ready to produce many new puppies due to the response we got from the buying public, it also would have been impossible for us to do anything but a repeat breeding of Chris and Bliss which we decided not to do. Their first litter consisted of 5 males! We had anticipated and hoped for some female puppies in that litter so we had about 1 month before the puppies were born purchased and imported Peto’s Alpha to serve the female puppies of the first alliance! Obviously, not so. Over the next two years we were again often asked about our dogs and if they were good hunting dogs. We told people that they were but based on our experience with the first litter we also recognized that we needed some type of third person confirmation that these dogs were in reality hunting dogs. By happenstance we were asked to participate in a dog seminar at the University of New Hampshire in Dover, NH in the summer of 1977. Since Bliss was with the puppies we brought Chris and Alpha to the meeting and gave a presentation about the breed. At that very same meeting another person was there to inform about NAVHDA. We got together and decided to join the organization resulting in us the following spring being the first to test two Small Munsterlanders in an NAVHDA natural ability test. We had never trained a hunting dog so we were quite excited when we on a frigid April day in 1978 qualified both dogs. Peto’s Alpha was 14 months and Bliss were at that time 2 ½ years so she was tested as "Evaluation only." It was such a cold day that we had to break the ice on the pond for the natural ability swimming tests.
We have remained active members of NAVHDA and have been so until this day and along the way I became a judge and have been a senior judge since 1986. From this test on we could now reference the fact that our dogs had passed a real hunting test and that when we said that the dogs were good hunting dogs it was not only something we said but something we had "paper" on.
Our first litter of NAVHDA tested dogs was born to Bliss on September 15, 1979 and sired by Peto’s Alpha. Both Bliss and Peto’s Alpha had naturally by that time both been x-rayed and received certificates from OFA to be hip dysplasia free. Even though we now had puppies from certified hunting dogs living in the area we do, namely Massachusetts, it was difficult for us to find hunting homes for our puppies. Not being able to keep the seven puppies we were forced to sell the dogs to "good" homes and not necessarily hunting homes. Several of these new owners had problems with the puppies as they grew older and required more activity and since they were mostly living nearby we could follow their growth and we didn’t like what we saw. The dogs were misbehaving since they did not get the stimulation hunting experiences can give, so we decided that from then on we would not knowingly sell a dog to a non-hunting home unless we were absolutely forced to due to lack of ability to keep the dogs ourselves. We also felt that since we were putting so much effort, time and money into these dogs we would not waste the puppies on owners that just wanted another pet. There are plenty of pet dogs in United States and we didn’t want to add to the supply of dogs that are put to sleep by euthanasia every year in the United States (6 million/year at last count).
In the month of June 1978 calls went out from Sheila and Joseph Schmutz for the establishment of the Large Munsterlander Club of North America. The club’s purpose was to promote and foster the Large Munsterlander as a versatile hunting dog on this continent and to establish a sound breeding program which will improve its versatile hunting traits. The club was initially named as the Large Munsterlander Club and its first meeting was held in Toronto on October 12, 1979. In the winter of 1980 owners of the Small Munsterlander and German Longhair breeds were invited to join the club as well. Del Peterson became the breed warden for the German Longhair and Paul Jensen became the breed warden for the Small Munsterlander. In the summer of 1984 Paul Jensen suggested that the club’s name be changed to Munsterlander Club of North America since about 30% of the club’s membership owned Small Munsterlanders. Paul Jensen was elected president for the club in the fall of 1984. A position Paul held until the fall of 1990 where his extensive travel commitments required that the post revert to Joseph Schmutz.
It was also agreed that the club’s name again revert to the Large Munsterlander Club of North America due to the fact that the most active members of the club were owners of Large Munsterlanders and the challenge went out to establish a club for Small Munsterlanders. In March of 1993 Paul and Vibeke Jensen suggested the formation of a Small Munsterlander Club of North America (SMCNA) and suggested a slate of officers as follows: Ray DeJong (President), Gordon Bashaw (Vice-President), Barbara Krieger (Treasurer), Paul Jensen (Breed Warden), and Vibeke Jensen (Secretary). The slate of officers was reconfirmed in May of 1994 and they have held their positions as officers until January of 1998.
Throughout the life of the Munsterlander Clubs we would highlight in the newsletters that hunting tests and hip x-rays as being important and in its first year it was suggested that nobody should breed on a dog that was less than 18 months of age but less than 9 years. Bitches should bear a litter only once within 12 months. Dogs should be x-rayed and receive a free of hip dysplasia reading from OFA. Dogs should qualify in a NAVHDA Natural Ability or Utility Test (or meet such requirements if run for "Evaluation only"). Since OFA will only certify a reading of a dog’s hip x-ray after 24 months it naturally requires that the minimum age should be 24 months not 18 months.
These breeding requirements became more specific in the following years and they were for the first time publicized in the Munsterlander News 1985. They were as follows:
Throughout the years the Schmutzs and the Jensens have had many conversations regarding our favorite breeds and we have recognized that because of the small gene pools we have to accept litters of dogs where both parents don’t fulfill the requirements just stated. The executives of the club decided early on that it would be in everybody’s interest to keep these non-conforming dogs in "the fold" and we have used the following process. Registration papers will be issued for the resulting puppies on non-conforming parents but not a full pedigree. If one or more of these puppies go on to absolve themselves by fulfilling all the requirements the parents should have passed, a written request can be made to the breed warden to issue a pedigree. We have taken this approach because we believe it is in the best interest of the bitch to carry her litter to term. Furthermore, it is undesirable to have any Munsterlander out there of unknown parentage. Buyers should prefer sanctioned litters as they represent offspring of proven breeding stock, which provides additional insurance of hunting quality of the puppies.
Since we were still experiencing a small gene pool we softened the stance to the breeding requirement and changed item 5 to only require that the dogs had been tested in a NAVHDA test or the equivalent (not necessarily having a passing score). All the other requirements remained the same. The fact that SMCNA requires a hunting test as part of the breeding requirement has caused more Small Munsterlanders being tested after their 16th months of age. The most important parts of these "evaluation" tests are the comments that are made of the animal’s temperament, hereditary defects and potential gunshyness. The point score is of less importance (it is expected that the total point score is high for these older dogs).
The rules for breeding that has been advocated by the SMCNA is based on the adage "breed the best to the best." This selective breeding advice is reflected in the 1998 NAVHDA Aims, Programs, Test Rules Booklet (Improving the Versatile Breeds, Page 3). In the case of the North American versatile hunting dog, just as in Europe, comprehensive tests that truly consider versatility in the field are the foundation upon which we must build. Only dogs of proven ability should be used in breeding programs.
Since the NAVHDA registry issues pedigrees without any performance requirement, NAVHDA (1) undermines The Small Munsterlander Club’s efforts, (2) contradicts its own stated aims of advocating selective breeding, and (3) furthermore contradicts its own intent of not interfering "in any way with the prerogatives and activities of any breed club." 1998 NAVHDA Aims, Programs, Test Rules Booklet (Introduction, Page iv).
The NAVHDA offers an "out" for individual breeders that do not want to follow the spirit of the Small Munsterlander club’s aims of improved breeding. Further in the NAVHDA booklet it is stated: "The breeder should be extremely selective and use only dogs of proven ability as breeding stock."
Before the NAVHDA registry came to be, SM breeders who wanted to circumvent the club’s breeding requirements and still sell registered puppies had no opportunities since the Small Munsterlander breed is not recognized by AKC.
The NAVHDA registry has issued pedigrees for dogs against SMCNA’ better judgement. NAVHDA has registered puppies that are the prodigies of underage dogs that have not been tested in any NAVHDA tests nor have been x-rayed and declared free of hip dysplasia. The NAVHDA registry has registered a litter of an imported dog that does not have an FCI acceptable pedigree. NAVHDA has registered a litter of puppies of an underage bitch that was judged "people sensitive" in a NAVHDA Natural Ability Test.
These actions on the part of NAVHDA have negated the SMCNA’s only power to require a basic aptitude for breeding stock. SM owners and breeders have been among NAVHDA’s best supporters. Breeders not only run their own dogs in NAVHDA tests but encourage the new owners to do so in order to evaluate the dogs’ performance in the field but also the dog’s ability to pass on desired traits. It has always been a great source of puzzlement of SM owners and club executives why NAVHDA so blatantly ignored its own guidelines. Against our pleading we have found very little resonance at NAVHDA regarding our concern with their registry and we find it illogical that an organization would ignore its first purpose (performance testing) and to abide by some other interest (an uncritical registry), alienating many of its most faithful members.
As you can see from the above the "Registry" has been central to our overall effort in protecting the integrity of our favorite breed, the Small Munsterlander.
I am certain that most members of the SMCNA want to continue to support NAVHDA and use the organization’s first rate and scientifically based performance testing schemes, but I believe most would also prefer that NAVHDA refrain from registering puppies from unproven stock as they have in the past.