Susan Cochran > Michael, I was talking about Cocker breeders in general not the small > percentage of the elite. I doubt very seriously if the number of Cocker > breeders who belonged the the national club would have been a majority of > the Cocker breeders as a whole, even in the 1970s. > > The numbers of Cockers registered during that period compared to the numbers > produced by national club members would substantiate the above opinion. > > All the best, > Susan Cochran
Susan, I was not referring to 'the elite' but only myself and the innumerable breeders I knew and showed with that I believe would fall into the 'Cocker breeders in general' category. One of the bonus'es of showing dogs is all the neat people you meet through your shared hobby that you would otherwise have never had the opportunity to know. Then, as today (though our numbers have diminished with the breed), the majority of the breeders/exhibitors still know each other, their dogs, their recent successes and failures and with the internet, are probably closer for less money than in the '70s and 80's (my telephone bill used to be 400+ $$ a month!). Go back and check the numbers of bitches nominated for the Nationals and you would find several hundred each year...the AKC figures for registration do not reflect the show people in most breeds as the commercial breeders, both large and small, breed only to sell and certainly were not interested in showing their creations. They, combined with the housewife's cottage industry activities, make up the majority of the registrations. In 1947, there were 78,501 individuals registered for the year and even now, we still average about 28,000 annually I believe and last year, only finished 603 champions for the year 2000, so we are finally getting into more reasonable figures, but the Cavalier fancy must be horrified at hearing these numbers! Perhaps now we can work hard and bring back quality into the breed, there were a few nice ones at our National a couple of weeks ago, i was delighted. Regards (and apologies to the by now, bored Cavalier lovers but all this does apply to Cavaliers as well...think about it!), VBG, michael ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
