At an exterior description – you get your dog described compared to the breed standard.
There is no kind of competition, just an evaluation detail by detail.
The protocols are valuable for the breeding: both for the breed club and for the breeders. A description is also quite fun for an ordinary dog owner as you will see your dog in a new way.
SKV makes the descriptions official and as a member you will find the protocols here (you’ll need the password on last age on the lastest edition of our magazine.
Males:
https://vastgotaspets.se/resultat/tester/exteriorbeskrivningar/exteriorbeskrivning-hanar/
Females:
https://vastgotaspets.se/resultat/tester/exteriorbeskrivningar/exteriorbeskrivning-tikar/
The cost for a description in Sweden is 100 SEK for non-members. It’s free of charge for members of SKV.
SKV has no knowledge about the costs in other countries.
Approved describers in Sweden are:
Barbro Carlsson
Marit Cronquist
Karin Jonstad
Eva Lidman
Elina Sandqvist
Lasse Österlund
Swedish describers who describe abroad:
Marit Cronquist
Eva Lidman
Elina Sandqvist
Anita Whitmarsh
All bookings must go via the committée.
Send an e-mail to beskrivningskom@vastgotaspets.se
Foreign describers authorized by SKV:
Simone Uitendaal, Nederländerna
Kirsi Hotanen, Finland
Iris Kaimio, Finland
Robert Fisher, Nederländerna
Janetta Van Iperen-Hoevens, France
Why should I get an exterior description for my dog?
We have seen how some breeds have changed very much over time. The process is insidious so you don’t notice it except when you look at recent pictures in comparison to pictures of dogs that passed many years ago.
Some of these trends in changing we can see in our breed too even if they are not in the whole population – yet. It too easily happens that what is rewarded in the show rings is what is used for breeding and thus we lose the variation we have and must have in the breed. Over time they will look like carbon copies. It is clearly written: “SKV (=the Swedish Breed Club) considers it extremely important to maintain all the characteristics of the breed and not change or refine it, not exteriorly nor mentally.” To be able to observe tendencies of changes at the very least 50 % of purebred västgötaspets, preferably all, should be described.
The descriptions can also help the breeders to find better combinations compared to if you only have the show results or what you see to choose from. There is certainly a large number of dogs who have champion quality that never are shown as the owners are not interested in shows. If we can get those dogs described we get a better instrument to evaluate the breeding results and to follow the evolution of the breed. That is a way to avoid that some deviations from the standard get “normal” for instance missing teeth, too deep or too shallow chest, too short or too long body and a lot of other things.
It is much easier stop a small snowball than a huge one.
That is why as many västgötaspets dogs as possible must be described.
To get an adequate description your dog should be at least 2 years. From the age of 18 months you can get what we call a “young dog’s description” but the dog ought to be described again when it is mature.
