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To National Cur & Feist Breeders:
In the last several
weeks I have seen something I never thought I would have to deal
with in your organization. The brother hood and family atmosphere
has been strained at best. I have been asked to settle this problem
with the treeing curs and try to please everyone, (good luck to
me). In doing this, I have talked with several people on both sides
of the debate including Melvin Hopper who registered the first
treeing cur.
The treeing cur
standards which are printed in your yearbook are vague, and were
left like this on purpose. This organization was founded for
hunters who had great dogs but no where to hunt. Other purebred
organizations would not allow you to hunt so the NKC helped, and the
partnership was formed.
Now it seems dogs
with characteristics of pure bred dogs have been slowly creeping
into our field trials as treeing curs. I am not blaming anyone,
with our open ended standard it is easy to see how this could
happen. I have had suggestions that a percentage approach might
solve this problem. Example a treeing cur could be no more than 50%
hound, 35% hound, 25% hound or no hound at all. I see two problems
with this approach. First it would be impossible to enforce this,
how would you ever be able to ascertain the exact % of hound in the
cur. Second today hounds are the problem; in the future it could be
a completely different breed of dog. The first treeing cur Melvin
Hopper registered was a 50% Hound and 50% Airedale.
I have thought
about this for several weeks and the solution I have come up with is
based upon the dogs over all general appearance. We all know the
standard’s for hounds and most other purebred dogs. Therefore if a
dog has a dominate appearance of a hound, or any other specific
breed it will not be registered with the NKC as a treeing cur. Some
breeders have tried to alter a hounds appearance by docking there
tails, cropping ears etc. These man made changes will not make them
treeing curs, so please don’t try.
I will be
appointing a three person panel to settle any disputes that will
arise; however I reserve the right to make the final call if a
consensus can not be reached. This policy will go into effective
July 1st 2008 and will not affect any dog that is already
registered with the NKC. New registrations for treeing curs after
July 1st 2008 must be accompanied with 2 photos front &
side view of the dog or a club with a licensed breed inspector will
be allowed to inspect the dog and verify the registration. The NKC
will reserve the right to nullify any new registration, if we find a
dog with the characteristics of a hound or any other purebred dog
has been allowed to be registered and hunt in a sanctioned event.
This policy will also cover future litter of treeing curs being
registered with the NKC, so make sure you are breeding correctly.
Once again I am
doing the best I can; if this does not stop the problem I will do
what is necessary to keep the NCFBA growing and a family oriented
organization. I know we are just one company you could field trail
with and we do appreciate all of you. But I will not allow anyone
to purposely cause problems no matter which side of the debate you
fall on. This is an NKC policy, not an NCFBA. Life is to short,
lets try to get past this and leave this organization for our
children to enjoy.
Thank you,
Del Morgan
President & CEO
National Kennel Club |