Show people are screwed up

Show people I think are responsible for the degradation of working temperament in "working dogs" today. I have an insight into it through a friend who's starting to spend big bucks on buying foreign dogs. The mind of a show person is like Alice in wonderland as far as what's important in a dog.

Yep, registration and pedigrees are the coup de grace for dog breeds. It's great that the US has the geography and culture that can lead to the development of great hunting dogs. If I was looking for a hunting dog I wouldn't look outside the US. You just have to know where to go. Which is why it's surprising to me that you're looking at the airdales.

Interesting, it looks like the lab was developed concurrently in England and Canada. No mention of the Irish though http://www.barkbytes.com/history/labret.htm Great breed the lab. The reason I think that better chance of getting them in US is because of the quantity of hunting that goes on here. I have this impression that throughout history hunting was heavily controlled in England and only the higher classes could do it, with dogs or without. In the US every Joe shmoe can hunt.