Such boring knitting to show you! The bottom of bag #2 is done, and I’ve just started the sides. Yep. Riveting, I know. I feel exactly the same way.

I gave Chappy a haircut today, which he badly needed. He’s been looking kind of shaggy lately, and now he looks all nice and trim. Though I keep looking at him and seeing curls I missed. He recognizes that particular look in my eye, though, and ever-so-casually gets up and leaves the room before I can reach for the scissors, though (grin). That’s okay, he still looks so much better than he did. I know there are lots of people who don’t groom their Boykin Spaniels at all, but I like my dog to look trim, and Chappy needs haircuts a lot more than Katy did

Speaking of Boykin Spaniels, I heard about the perfect “club” for them the other day: The Dang Yankee Boykin Spaniel Club. Isn’t that a great name for a club?

Boykins, of course, are the state dog of South Carolina, and so most of the breed activities take place down south–entirely out of reach for me and my carsick boy. There’s a lot of politics going on with the breed, too. The original breed organization is at BoykinSpaniel.org and has been registering the breed for decades, since 1977. They were/are against the breed becoming part of the AKC, though, wanting the breed to remain focused on good, healthy hunting dogs, rather than show dogs. But, there has been movement from people who want to participate in AKC events, and so another Boykin Spaniel organization started up, the Boykin Spaniel Club, which started in 1997 and has worked hard to get the breed into the AKC. That started what amounts to a civil war in Boykin Spaniel circles, with some people loyal to the original group, and some loyal to the newcomers out of sheer desire to be able to show their dogs in the AKC shows, or do AKC agility, or whatever.

Now, personally, since I’m not a breeder or a dog-show kind of person, I don’t really feel strongly one way or another. When I first got Katy in 1999, I truly longed to be able to train her for obedience showing and to participate in obedience and agility, and the AKC is really the only show in town, since I’m so far away from “Boykin Central” in South Carolina. (Yes, there’s the UKC, but their shows don’t tend to be easily accessible from NJ, either.) So, I would have been thrilled if the original group had started the process for AKC membership. They didn’t, and so this other group–which the AKC considers to be the official breed club–stepped up. So, I’m torn. I feel loyal to the original group (not least because it’s through them I found Katy in the first place, and it’s with them that Chappy is registered), but at the same time, I like the idea of (theoretically) being able to take Chappy to a dog show, which is only possible because of the “upstarts.” And, as you can imagine, the fighting between the two groups is bitter.

One thing I find interesting, though? The breed description for the pro-AKC-group is quite different than the description of the independent, but older group. According to the Boykin Spaniel Club, the breed should have a double-coat and brown eyes–no amber eyes like Katy had. The Boykin Spaniel Society, though, allows them and does not require a double coat. Chappy, for the record does not have a double coat. Which means, of course, that he doesn’t live up to the “new” standard as seen by the AKC. Not that he’s a show dog, or that we particularly care, and he IS registered with the BSS, so we’re content with that and I’m sure we would be made welcome if we ever made it to South Carolina.

Oh, and the Dang Yankee Boykin club? They’re loyal to the original BSS. The politics are interesting, huh? Who knew that there was so much back-biting among dog fanciers??

• Tags: Chappy, General • Permalink:Jeez… //