Facts - in Response to Idiotic Gossip:

[Elaine]

Got at threatening email this morning... you'll never guess from whom, but I can think of a few people who are saying, "I told you so." :rolleyes::cool: Suffice to say, no good deed goes unpunished. We've had about four years of "good deeds"... and at this point, we've had enough.

The email contained some threats to spread malicious gossip... so be it, the world will still turn... but the following are facts.

Warkant’s hips are OFA FAIR. That is published on our website and in the OFA records. OFA FAIR falls within the range of hips that are acceptable for breeding.

Titan was bred only once, at about 6 years of age. His one and only litter was whelped on March 31, 2010 (out of Logres’ Butterfly Flip). Seven months later, in October of 2010, Dr. Meurs announced a test for a gene she found related to DCM. As of this date (May 15, 2011) Dr. Meurs test is the only test that accurately guides breeders to avoid the transmission of a gene related to DCM. As evidenced by this forum alone, and on the DPCA private list, we have been strong vocal advocates for doing the Meurs test. And, we publish the test results on our website for the Logres dogs that have been tested to date (of which there are about 10).

The Meurs test was not available at the time we did the one breeding with Titan. We now know that Titan was HETEROZYGOUS (as per Dr. Meurs test), and Logres’ Butterfly Flip is NEGATIVE (as per Dr. Meurs’ test). That is an acceptable combination as per Dr. Meurs guidelines.

Titan died February 24, 2011. We have been very open about our suspicion that he died of DCM, and have said so publically.

We just received the results from Dr. Meurs for Titan. The loss of Titan is still very fresh in my mind… it is difficult to say a whole lot about his result from the Meur’s study, so I am including the actual test result. To skip to the salient point, Ch. Logres Titanium was Heterozygous (or heterozygous positive). I will leave it to you all to process this in whatever manner you choose. Titan may or may not have died from DCM (my guess is that he did, even though he was heterozygous). Titan’s only litter was to Logres’ Butterfly Flip, (who is Negative as per the Meur’s test).

Given that we are absolutely thrilled down to our toes with Titan's litter out of Flip, I guess this is about the best possible result from Meurs concerning Titan. That is about the only comfort I find in any of this.

We are done with these people and the drama they create. Dealing with them is like mud wrestling with a pig. You only get dirty, and the pig likes it. :)

[pretty dobe]

Elaine you know you are doing something right when they come after you. I learned that a long time ago. They also fail to recognize that e-mail threats are serious and easy to take care of according to the law. The last time I checked blackmail is a serious item......These types of people are not the brightest bulbs in the pack and show it by e-mailing this type of garbage...

[Elaine]

This all revolves around the back lash of trying to do a good deed by trying make the best of a bad situation… and creating something of a monster. And it involves our standards / our definition of quality. We all know (or should know) that simply because a dog finishes, he/she may not necessarily be a good dog to contribute back to the breed. Sometimes a dog finishes simply because of the skill of an extraordinary handler, where, with an average handler it would likely not finish. In any event, a breeder should re-evaluate as the dog matures. One example that comes immediately to mind is Ch. Logres’ Tungsten. He was a promising puppy. He finished with three majors, he even beat Hunter and Marley for the breed under Joe Tacker (and you have to know Joe Tacker to get the full context of this). Tungsten was only bred twice; and never by us. He had faults that I would not want to see replicated. There was one nice puppy from him, but one nice puppy out of two litters does not "a good stud dog" make. There are dogs with his pedigree that are much better examples of the breed.

Over the years there are many champions I can think of that do not belong in a breeding program, often because there are better dogs out there, with the same or better pedigrees. We are objective about the dogs we breed. That is the standard we set, and we are open about only using dogs that we feel have outstanding virtues to go forward with.

People don't always honor their word, and at the end of the day, it's difficult to maintain control over what descends from what you've bred. We try to be very selective about the dogs we have bred, that we then allow to be bred. And you will probably never see us pushing a stud dog. In fact, we have turned down thousands of dollars in breedings.

Others clearly feel differently.

It boils down to this, what other breeders do is their business. We each have our own standards and whatever level of success to show for it. But do not expect us to endorse what we feel is mediocrity, and do not threaten us; you will get it back in kind.

As an aside, I just found these photos, un-retouched, of a dog show in Fitchburg Massachusetts on August 22, 2010. This was a public event, recorded by both the AKC.org and Infodog.com