Florent Friedrich, kennel Lilac Wind

Being invited to judge your annual Breed Show is an honor, I thank you
for it and look forward to it.
I would like to take advantage of this platform to go a little beyond the usual introductions, to share an important fact from my own personal experiences as a breeder, to address a point concerning modern breeding, then to finish with the event which concerns us – your Breedshow.

Breeding carries its load of both joy and disappointment. I took my first steps as a breeder in the beginning of 2000, and in the year 2008, the third litter at Lilac Wind was disastrous. In addition to poor overall quality, three puppies were micrognathic. Their lower jaw was too small in all dimensions. I made the difficult decision not to continue with these founding bitches and to start again on a new basis.

So, the real starting point for Lilac Wind was the fourth litter in the year 2013. My third litter was an inbreeding, which brings me to the second point concerning modern dog breeding: the need to conserve and create genetic diversity. This is not only the business of breeders, it’s a story of common sense and global politics – the business of everybody.
It requires an open-mindedness that will let in other notions than the search for an ideal type corresponding to a narrow idea inspired by the rigid reading of the Standard.
Genetic diversity, of course, can be read in a pedigree, but it can also be read in a meeting in show rings. The phenotypic diversity is a pledge of the future, and to extract some individuals from this cluster to consider them as the elite and the best future of a herd is a detrimental funnel.
Each individual carries with it an equal share of future and my wishes go to the advent of a breeding where the number of
stud dogs will equal the number of stud bitches.

I finish off with some wishes for the day of the show.

Health first; so as not to transmit germs from one dog to another, I will suggest that you yourself show the teeth of your hound.

A free presentation, with a relaxed leash and a hound that goes and stands naturally will be appreciated, however you can stack your dogs for photos.

And a little advice. At the gait, handle your dog in straight segments, slow down a little before turning, then speed up a little. It is in the accelerations that the action is revealed in its power and amplitude.

Do not turn around in a circle; it invites the dog to cross the steps and destabilises large hounds.

See you soon for a nice day.

Thank you.