Carrie: It just makes me heartsick to see what they've done with the GSDs, but I believe the trend is beginning to reverse SLOWLY. The European practice of not docking is slowly taking root here, too.

KYS: Yes, there are standards and many of them are close to 100 years old. BUT, it depends a great deal on the judge's interpretation of the standard and the old, "you scratch my back...." thing. There's a great deal of money involved in the dog show world and prestige and reputation are built on winning (no matter what) which brings new clients to the handler's "stable". Many of the judges have been/are professional handlers and part of the "good ole boys" club (even females) and sometimes ethics get bent or broken. This is not to say that all judges are not doing a good job, but as I said, sometimes they look at the wrong end of the lead (and would deny it vehemently). Oddly, enough, they have to serve an apprenticeship to be able to judge a breed, so I guess it depends partly on who they serve that apprenticeship with. It just perpetuates......We've really gotten off the topic, haven't we? Sorry, Logan, how is Lilly doing today? Does cooler weather affect her more?