<<<<<<<LOL...remember the "Earth is flat"...and you are "somewhere over the rainbow in the land of OZ".>>>>>
VBG Well if I have read my Tolkein aright, then originally the earth "was" flat until men in their overweening ambition to become immortal (nothing has changed! ) set foot in the Blessed Realm, the Valar laid down their guardianship and the One removed the Undying lands forever from the circles of the world............ sorry to inflict all this on you non Tolkein folk. That aside, there is a lot to be said for living "over the rainbow". we like it here! To me a smudge is any marking which is not "evenly divided on the head" - in my experience, detached smudges such as Kindrum Sylvia had, are not usually passed on to the next generation but foreward markings that come down past the corner of the lip towards the nose are quite often passed on the next generation. I have a lovely bitch here who I never showed as she had "forward markings" down both sides of her muzzle, but not as far as the nose....exceptionally lovely in every other way. Her first litter produced a champion and as she recovered her bloom, I looked at what was being shown and decided "what the heck' she's better," so put a lead round her neck at the age of 3..........she finished her championship in no time with several Reserve best in groups so her face markings obviously were not penalised by the judges. In her second litter, now 8 weeks old, two of the six pups have the same face markings. I think it depends, as with most issues, on the degree - a tiny smudge or slightly forward markings are one thing, a huge blotch or colour to the nose is another. I do think that bad head markings can have a deleterious effect on the expression - its up to the judge to balance that against an exhibits good qualities and against faults which might affect the quality of a dogs life. Jeanie ========================================================= "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.
