What is a Breed Standard and how what it developed?

When the first dog clubs were formed, people had a good idea what their breed’s purpose and physical form was supposed to be. These dog clubs held competitions to determine whose dog did the best job of meeting breed purpose. Owners expected certain dog breeds to perform specific tasks such as: carting milk to town, ratting, flushing birds out of bushes and other pre-determined jobs.

Dogs were bred for specific purposes such as ratting, pointing, retrieving. Interestingly, only a handful of breeds were originally tasked and bred to be companion animals. Confirmation in meeting breed standard was in the dog’s successful completion of those tasks. In the development of the Sealyham, for example, Captain John Owen Tucker-Edwardes actually destroyed Sealyhams which were not willing to bait and challenge prey. These Sealyhams would not have meet breed purpose of ratting.

Eventually national kennel clubs were formed, the recognized frontrunner of national clubs being the British Kennel Club established in the nineteenth century. With the advent of national dog clubs such as the British Kennel Club and the American Kennel Club, a series of breed standards were established so that dogs were identifiable once and for all by written breed standard and registered as pure-bred pedigreed dogs.

As we moved into the twentieth century, tasks done by dogs disappeared at an alarming rate. And so did the dogs!

Otterhound and accompanying Sealyham packs were no longer needed when badger and otter hunting was banned in England. English Foxhound packs were no longer needed for hunting game when convenient supermarkets were built to meet food needs. Without these tasks, preserving the purpose and physical form of the dog breeds would have been impossible and the breeds would become lost forever. Fortunately, dedicated fanciers saw the need to preserve breeds and the breed standard. And as time passed, clear written standards were developed. Once dog clubs organized and adopted breed standards, these written descriptions became the formalized breed standards we use today.

Standards usually don’t offer explanations about why the standard is the way it is. For example, a standard may call for a hard and wiry, dense coat, but there is no explanation why this coat is preferred over other types. The standards were established so that the dog would meet specific purpose, perhaps in this case, ease of entering bushy growths and exiting them unscathed. A terrier with that coat would have a much easier time pursing game in that terrain than say a terrier with a cottony, thick coat would. The terrier with the thick cottony coat could easily become entangled in the brush. Few of us use our dogs to meet their original purpose, and as a result some of the breed standard’s requirements may seem trivial or irrelevant. The requirements in the standard are necessary for the breed to meet its purpose, and therefore are necessary. Breed standards which serve as the reference point for owners, breeders and judges, are available from national clubs around the world. These various national kennel clubs carry out pure-bred dog registration through their own stud registers, and they maintain their own individual breed standards for breeds they recognize as pure-bred.

The following series of photos shows a team of Sealyham Terriers and diggers hunting a badger; the Sealyham's original breed purpose. This was a very popular sport in Britian with Sealyham Dog Clubs holding regular Badger-digging trials twice monthly. At one time badger digs in all parts of England and Wales were quite a common occurance and attracted a lot of enthusiastic followers along the country-side where they once took place.

	Scene from early 1900's. Captain Jocelyn Lucas's Sealyham Team. Diggers located the badger by the sound of the underground battle between the Sealyham Terriers and the Badger.
	Another scene from early 1900's. Captain Jocelyn Lucas is seen putting a Sealyham into a Badger hole. Tremendous courage and tenacity was the hallmark of these brave little terriers battling the badgers.
	The same hunt. The Sealyhams have dislodged the badger from its lair, allowing the diggers to finally capture the badger and the hunt is over. The badger can be seen being held by a digger with a pair of metal tongs.