Bracco Italiano forum

[admin]

Hi, all - recently I received an e-mail from a Bracco owner who told me that NAVHDA wasn't accepting dogs registered with UKC any more, so they wouldn't be able to do NAVHDA testing. I called Jim Applegate at NAVHDA today, and he clarified. Indeed, dogs registered only with UKC won't be accepted by NAVHDA. This is because UKC, in NAVHDA's view, does not require enough information in their pedigrees (identifying numbers, etc.) NAVHDA does, of course, accept Braccos which are registered with NAVHDA, and also accepts FCI pedigrees, which are common in Europe. The language on the website also states that other European registries will be accepted on a case-by-case basis, but Mr. Applegate said that any registry which legitimately is tracking purebred dogs will be welcomed.

In addition, for non-hunters, he told me that not only are owners not required to shoot/kill their game, they are not even allowed to. They have designated shooters who do that. Water-retrieving dogs' handlers will sometimes shoot ducks in the water, because their dogs may be close to the bird, so they are the ones who choose to take the risk. So - if you want to let your Bracco do what he loves to do, but don't want to kill, you don't need to worry.
Laneee

[admin]

goofy
There is a very interesting article in the July/August 2007 issue of The Pointing Dog Journal" by the founder of NAVHDA, Sigbot "Bodo" Winterhelt. He has left that organization. Here is part of the article for those who are interested. Other than this first paragraph - I have quoted, below, directly from the article in The Pointing Dog Journal.

"I founded the organization and spent forty years of my life developing and improving the system for one reason only, to test versatile hunting dogs. That system worked well until NAVHDA decided to start a dog registry for versatile hunting dogs. I was against this from the beginning. I knew that all-breed registries do not help improve any breed. They are just moneymakers. Any dog can get a pedigree. All-breed registries are just a slap in the face for all dedicated breeders. And they open the door for puppy mills."

"All versatile hunting dog breeds were developed by their own breed clubs, who kept their own registry, wrote the rules, and lived by them. Not one all-breed registry can point to the creation of a versatile hunting dog breed with the proud stamp 'made in America.' But they sure multiplied dogs with a pedigree to the degree of uselessness."

"The NAVHDA testing, training, and judging programs are the best for North American versatile hunters and their dogs. However, the rule to make it mandatory for a dog to be registered in the NAVHDA registry before the dog can be tested is absurd and against the rules that NAVHDA established when it first started. In the introduction of the test rules it states, 'nor does NAVHDA desire to interfere in any way with the prerogatives and activities of any breed clubs.' NAVHDA has no business deciding where a dog has to be registered as long as they are registered in a recognized breed club. Breed clubs are dedicated to improving their breed through tailor-made tests and rules for evaluating the genetic qualities of their particular breed. Through dedicated work, these clubs help to produce pure, dominant breeding material that will perpetuate some of the important genetic qualities that will produce reliable, outstanding versatile dogs with physical soundness."

"I also do not like the importance that NAVHDA puts on the Invitational Test and the title of Versatile Champion. The VC title has become the Holy Grail, and the air around it starts smelling of competition. Now VC is not enough; the latest title is International VC. Will it become the World Champion Global VC? The test for VC is based on trained performance, not genetic qualities. Trained performances are not perpetuated in future litters. The uninformed read ads for litters from VC parents and buy a pup hoping to have a future VC. Often they do not get the genetic qualities in their pup that they are looking for to produce a solid hunting dog."

"Now I am involved in a new versatile organization, The Versatile Hunting Dog Federation. We do not believe that registration is more important than testing. The VHDF celebrates and promotes hunting dogs and within that group specifically, versatile hunting dogs. We are going to leave registration up to the breed clubs and we are dedicated to dog evaluation tests, education, and full support of breeders and the various breed clubs."