IN THIS ISSUE—
• Christian Janes to Evaluate American Picards at Ohio Show
• A Letter of Introduction from Christian Janes
• Article on the Head of the Berger Picard by Christian Janes
• Reminder: AKC FSS Registration Deadline
• Calendar of Events

On Sat, May 16th at the Kinley Training Center in Painesville, Ohio we will be having an exhibition Berger Picard Specialty event. Christian Janes of Innsbruck, Austria, a long time breeder of both Berger Picards and Pyrenean Shepherds will be judging a group of our Picards at the Pyrenean Shepherd Specialty. Mr Janes (see his introductory letter below) is highly repected in the dog world and we look forward to helping the Pyrenean Shepherd Club host him in this country. This is an exceptional opportunity to meet with such a prominent breeder and to have your dog evaluated by him.

Competition points will not be accrued at this event. Instead, a written critique will be issued for each dog along with ribbons for Excellent, Very Good, Good and Fair and rosettes for Best Male, Best Female and Best of Breed. To download the registration form, map, directions and program description and schedule, log into the Berger-Picard Yahoo Group and click on FILES.

This event is open to members and non-members of the BPCA.

Berger Picard Specialty Program for Saturday, May 16: (8:00-11:00 am)

8:00 AM    Review of the breed standard and demonstration by Mr. Janes.
A continental buffet breakfast will be provided by the BPCA. Donations accepted.

8:30 AM    Evaluation of each entered dog by Mr. Janes

10:30 AM        Question and Answer session

All dogs will receive a written critique by Mr. Janes.

Judging by Mr. Janes will be a European style of breeding stock evaluation. Each dog will be evaluated to the standard and awarded a grade of Excellent, Very Good, Good, or Fair. Puppies 3-6 months of age will be evaluated first, with males shown before bitches. Dogs older than 6 months will be presented by age, youngest to oldest, and Mr. Janes will award Best Male rosette. Bitches will then be presented by age, youngest to oldest, and Mr. Janes will award Best Bitch rosette. Best of Breed will then be awarded. Following the presentation of awards, a short question and answer session will be conducted until 11:00 A.M.

Registration fee for evaluation per dog:
$5 for puppies under 6 months; $20 for dogs 6 months and up.

Advance registration and pre-payment is required by May 8. Time will be very tight, so we will not be accepting registrations on the day of the event.

Host Hotel: Red Roof Inn, Cleveland East, 4166 State Route 306, at I-90 exit 193, Kirtland/Mentor/Willoughby, Ohio 44094; Pets OK. $50-75 room rates. You can request a room by the grassy field. 440-946-9872 RESERVE EARLY! RV Parking available at show site for $10/day, no hook-ups.

Kinley Training Center is located at 8200 Proctor Road, Painesville, OH 44077

Please email the BPCA's new email address if you plan to attend or would like more information: berger.picard@yahoo.com

We would like to thank the Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America for this opportunity to share time with Christian Janes, to use their facility and for inviting BPCA members to participate in their activities throughout the weekend. For a list of everything that's happening visit the PSCA web site.

Christian Janes: A Brief Introduction

In 1979 I bought my first French Shepherd, a Beauceron male, from the very first litter of that breed in Austria. I showed this dog in many dogshows, which is how I met the Berger Picard in 1980. The first two Picards I met were well known dogs; the fawn male “Ocelot de la Franche Pierre” and the bringe male “Thor de la Baroche.” Since that day I’ve liked the true fawn dogs, which have become very rare over time.

In 1981 the first Berger des Pyrenees female joined our family and we started breeding in 1985, becoming very successful over the years. At that time, Austria had a club for all French Shepherds and I was a board member for more than ten years. My duties included taking care of the few Picards in the country.

Our last Beauceron had to be euthanized at the age of 6 months because of debilitating Hip Dysplasia. We wanted another big dog and we were considering another Beauceron or a Berger Picard. I went to France and visited several breeders of both breeds.Ten days later I returned home with our first Berger Picard female “Foudre du Haras des Elfes.” She became the mother of our first Picard litter in 1992. Between 1992 and today we have bred more than 30 litters of Picards with the kennel name “de la Vallee du Mouton.”

Since 1986 I have been a Fédération Cynologique Internationale (F.C.I.) judge for all French Shepherds and have added other herding dog breeds as well over the years. I have judged Berger Picards at numerous international and club shows in many European countries. I'm looking forward to meeting you in Ohio this May.

Sincerely,
Christian Janes (pronounced YAH-ness)

Photos in this section: Top: Christian Janes (photo courtesy of Gary Andrews). Bottom: Ocelot and Thor, the first Picards that Christian ever met (photo from C. Janes).

by Christian Janes

Many experienced Picard enthusiasts can see at first glance if a Picard has a good head or a bad head, and mostly they are right. But most of them cannot explain why the head is good or bad. I hope that my article will assist in the understanding of the issue.

I think that the head is an extremely important part of the pure bred dog. The head defines a typeful dog and is very important for the determination of breed type.

The head consists of many different characteristics and single traits: like skull, muzzle, bite, nose, eyes, ears, hair. All these characteristics can be divided into more single traits and/or put in correlation to each other. For a perfect head these characteristics need to have the right measurements and proportions and they have to harmonize with each other.

What makes judging even harder is that only a few of the characteristics can be measured (for example number of teeth, length of skull, length of hair) and even here problems arise at times. Most characteristics can’t be measured and depend on who is judging them. Just think about “type” or “expression” of the dog.

Above Photo: Berger Picard with excellent expression, correct ears, excellent eyes and perfect griffonage. Photo courtesy of Christian Janes.

SKULL & MUZZLE:

The skull and muzzle should be the same length, meaning that the stop is at equal distance from the tip of the nose and the summit of the skull.

The head must be the proper size. It can’t be too short or too long and its size must harmonize with the body of the dog. Looked at from above, the head is neither rectangular (the skull would be too narrow) nor triangular (the skull would be too broad), it should be slightly conical.

The head lines—the line of the skull (upper skull) and the muzzle (back of the nose)–are parallel to each other. This is best seen in profile (from the side). Many times you can meet dogs with divergent (unparallel) head lines. That is a fault that should be considered not only at dog shows, but also and especially when breeding.

The nose must always be black. Compared with other breeds the Picard has very rarely problems with pigmentation of the nose, the eyelids or the lips.

Above photos: Left: Excellent head lines; Right: "Bad" headlines. Photo courtesy of C. Janes.

BITE:
Judging of the bite is simple. There is an exact description in the standard.
To that I would add one remark: That a puppy has complete puppy teeth doesn’t guarantee complete permanent teeth.

Underbite is pretty rare with the breed. A bigger problem with Picards is overbite. There the lower jaw is shorter than the upper jaw and there is a clear gap between the upper teeth and lower teeth. Some young dogs grow out of it, but not all of them and this is a genetic defect.

A problem frequently encountered are missing teeth. The standard clearly states how to judge the teeth at dog shows. Time and time again one can see that dogs with missing teeth receive the highest honors, although this would not be permissable according to the standard. A judge has to respect the standard, and his personal feelings about missing teeth should be set aside. Breeding dogs with missing teeth is another subject, the discussion of which would lead too far for this article.

EARS:
The ears are very characteristic for the Picard. Young dogs often have disproportionately large ears. Important are the shape, the length and the correct base of the ears. These details form the correct appearence of the ears. Puppies have floppy ears. Starting at 5 weeks of age, the ears start to stand up partially. Some puppies already have standing ears at 5 weeks of age. Usually the standing of the ears fluctuates over the months, but once the permanent teeth are in the ears should be standing up.

There are numerous tips on how to help the ears to stand. It is better to give the ears some help than have floppy ears. Here I would like to point out that badly carried ears seem to be a genetic problem. In our breeding we had two descendents from different lines of a famous French stud dog that never put their ears up. I know of even more descendents of the same stud with floppy ears. The stud itself had perfectly erect ears!

Ideally the Picard carries the ears erect and parallel to each other. Some dogs have a one ear leaning towards the other ear, so that the tips of the ear touch. Some have soft tips that whip up and down. When a dog feels uncomfortable (often to be seen with inexperienced dogs at indoor dog shows) they might not show erect ears.

Photos above: Two examples of "bad" ears. Photo courtesy of Christian Janes. See top photo for example of excellent ears.

EYES:
The color of the eyes is dark and can vary depending on the color of the hair. The eyes are not allowed to be lighter than “nut brown”, which is a vague description. The eyes can appear lighter with dark dogs or strongly pigmented dogs.

The shape of the eyes is slightly oval. Round eyes result in a bad expression.

Judging the perfect expression of the eyes is not easy and depends on personal opinion. The standard demands an intelligent, lively and bright expression. A glaring eye (often with too light eye color) is a fault just as a mean or shy expression.

HAIR:
The so called “griffonage” is very characteristic for the breed and comes from the griffon-like look of the bearded French hunting dogs. According to the standard the griffonage consists of a slight mustache and beard and eyebrows. The eyebrows are not allowed to veil the eyes.

The rest of the head is covered in hair about 1 ½ inches long. There are way more dogs with too much hair on the head (and not only on their head) than dogs with too little hair! Too much hair is the biggest change in the breed in the last two decades—unfortunately not for the betterment of the breed.

TYPE & EXPRESSION:
This is a very important and especially difficult subject. The correct expression results from the optimal interaction of all single characteristics of the head. Ears carried too far apart disturb the expression as do too light colored eyes or insufficient griffonage or too much hair that covers the eyes etc.

The French specialty shows always offer a reward for “best expression.” If you compare winnings dogs at the last ten shows, you could see great differences. That illustrates clearly how subjective and difficult the judgement of type and expression is. Good knowledge of the breed but also personal taste play a significant role.

Above photos: Left: Excellent Expression; Right: "Bad" expression. Photo courtesy of C. Janes.

Thanks very much to Kati Barricklow for translating Christian's writings.

	Austrian Judge and Berger Picard Breeder, Christian Janes
Official Newsletter of the Berger Picard Club of America	April 2009
IN THIS ISSUE— • Christian Janes to Evaluate American Picards at Ohio Show • A Letter of Introduction from Christian Janes • Article on the Head of the Berger Picard by Christian Janes • Reminder: AKC FSS Registration Deadline • Calendar of Events Christian Janes to Evaluate Picards in Ohio at Pyrenean Shepherd Specialty On Sat, May 16th at the Kinley Training Center in Painesville, Ohio we will be having an exhibition Berger Picard Specialty event. Christian Janes of Innsbruck, Austria, a long time breeder of both Berger Picards and Pyrenean Shepherds will be judging a group of our Picards at the Pyrenean Shepherd Specialty. Mr Janes (see his introductory letter below) is highly repected in the dog world and we look forward to helping the Pyrenean Shepherd Club host him in this country. This is an exceptional opportunity to meet with such a prominent breeder and to have your dog evaluated by him. Competition points will not be accrued at this event. Instead, a written critique will be issued for each dog along with ribbons for Excellent, Very Good, Good and Fair and rosettes for Best Male, Best Female and Best of Breed. To download the registration form, map, directions and program description and schedule, log into the Berger-Picard Yahoo Group and click on FILES. This event is open to members and non-members of the BPCA. Berger Picard Specialty Program for Saturday, May 16: (8:00-11:00 am) 8:00 AM Review of the breed standard and demonstration by Mr. Janes. A continental buffet breakfast will be provided by the BPCA. Donations accepted. 8:30 AM Evaluation of each entered dog by Mr. Janes 10:30 AM Question and Answer session All dogs will receive a written critique by Mr. Janes. Judging by Mr. Janes will be a European style of breeding stock evaluation. Each dog will be evaluated to the standard and awarded a grade of Excellent, Very Good, Good, or Fair. Puppies 3-6 months of age will be evaluated first, with males shown before bitches. Dogs older than 6 months will be presented by age, youngest to oldest, and Mr. Janes will award Best Male rosette. Bitches will then be presented by age, youngest to oldest, and Mr. Janes will award Best Bitch rosette. Best of Breed will then be awarded. Following the presentation of awards, a short question and answer session will be conducted until 11:00 A.M. Registration fee for evaluation per dog: $5 for puppies under 6 months; $20 for dogs 6 months and up. Advance registration and pre-payment is required by May 8. Time will be very tight, so we will not be accepting registrations on the day of the event. Host Hotel: Red Roof Inn, Cleveland East, 4166 State Route 306, at I-90 exit 193, Kirtland/Mentor/Willoughby, Ohio 44094; Pets OK. $50-75 room rates. You can request a room by the grassy field. 440-946-9872 RESERVE EARLY! RV Parking available at show site for $10/day, no hook-ups. Kinley Training Center is located at 8200 Proctor Road, Painesville, OH 44077 Please email the BPCA's new email address if you plan to attend or would like more information: berger.picard@yahoo.com We would like to thank the Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America for this opportunity to share time with Christian Janes, to use their facility and for inviting BPCA members to participate in their activities throughout the weekend. For a list of everything that's happening visit the PSCA web site. Christian Janes: A Brief Introduction In 1979 I bought my first French Shepherd, a Beauceron male, from the very first litter of that breed in Austria. I showed this dog in many dogshows, which is how I met the Berger Picard in 1980. The first two Picards I met were well known dogs; the fawn male “Ocelot de la Franche Pierre” and the bringe male “Thor de la Baroche.” Since that day I’ve liked the true fawn dogs, which have become very rare over time. In 1981 the first Berger des Pyrenees female joined our family and we started breeding in 1985, becoming very successful over the years. At that time, Austria had a club for all French Shepherds and I was a board member for more than ten years. My duties included taking care of the few Picards in the country. Our last Beauceron had to be euthanized at the age of 6 months because of debilitating Hip Dysplasia. We wanted another big dog and we were considering another Beauceron or a Berger Picard. I went to France and visited several breeders of both breeds.Ten days later I returned home with our first Berger Picard female “Foudre du Haras des Elfes.” She became the mother of our first Picard litter in 1992. Between 1992 and today we have bred more than 30 litters of Picards with the kennel name “de la Vallee du Mouton.” Since 1986 I have been a Fédération Cynologique Internationale (F.C.I.) judge for all French Shepherds and have added other herding dog breeds as well over the years. I have judged Berger Picards at numerous international and club shows in many European countries. I'm looking forward to meeting you in Ohio this May. Sincerely, Christian Janes (pronounced YAH-ness) Photos in this section: Top: Christian Janes (photo courtesy of Gary Andrews). Bottom: Ocelot and Thor, the first Picards that Christian ever met (photo from C. Janes). The Head Of The Berger Picard by Christian Janes Many experienced Picard enthusiasts can see at first glance if a Picard has a good head or a bad head, and mostly they are right. But most of them cannot explain why the head is good or bad. I hope that my article will assist in the understanding of the issue. I think that the head is an extremely important part of the pure bred dog. The head defines a typeful dog and is very important for the determination of breed type. The head consists of many different characteristics and single traits: like skull, muzzle, bite, nose, eyes, ears, hair. All these characteristics can be divided into more single traits and/or put in correlation to each other. For a perfect head these characteristics need to have the right measurements and proportions and they have to harmonize with each other. What makes judging even harder is that only a few of the characteristics can be measured (for example number of teeth, length of skull, length of hair) and even here problems arise at times. Most characteristics can’t be measured and depend on who is judging them. Just think about “type” or “expression” of the dog. Above Photo: Berger Picard with excellent expression, correct ears, excellent eyes and perfect griffonage. Photo courtesy of Christian Janes. SKULL & MUZZLE: The skull and muzzle should be the same length, meaning that the stop is at equal distance from the tip of the nose and the summit of the skull. The head must be the proper size. It can’t be too short or too long and its size must harmonize with the body of the dog. Looked at from above, the head is neither rectangular (the skull would be too narrow) nor triangular (the skull would be too broad), it should be slightly conical. The head lines—the line of the skull (upper skull) and the muzzle (back of the nose)–are parallel to each other. This is best seen in profile (from the side). Many times you can meet dogs with divergent (unparallel) head lines. That is a fault that should be considered not only at dog shows, but also and especially when breeding. The nose must always be black. Compared with other breeds the Picard has very rarely problems with pigmentation of the nose, the eyelids or the lips. Above photos: Left: Excellent head lines; Right: "Bad" headlines. Photo courtesy of C. Janes. BITE: Judging of the bite is simple. There is an exact description in the standard. To that I would add one remark: That a puppy has complete puppy teeth doesn’t guarantee complete permanent teeth. Underbite is pretty rare with the breed. A bigger problem with Picards is overbite. There the lower jaw is shorter than the upper jaw and there is a clear gap between the upper teeth and lower teeth. Some young dogs grow out of it, but not all of them and this is a genetic defect. A problem frequently encountered are missing teeth. The standard clearly states how to judge the teeth at dog shows. Time and time again one can see that dogs with missing teeth receive the highest honors, although this would not be permissable according to the standard. A judge has to respect the standard, and his personal feelings about missing teeth should be set aside. Breeding dogs with missing teeth is another subject, the discussion of which would lead too far for this article. EARS: The ears are very characteristic for the Picard. Young dogs often have disproportionately large ears. Important are the shape, the length and the correct base of the ears. These details form the correct appearence of the ears. Puppies have floppy ears. Starting at 5 weeks of age, the ears start to stand up partially. Some puppies already have standing ears at 5 weeks of age. Usually the standing of the ears fluctuates over the months, but once the permanent teeth are in the ears should be standing up. There are numerous tips on how to help the ears to stand. It is better to give the ears some help than have floppy ears. Here I would like to point out that badly carried ears seem to be a genetic problem. In our breeding we had two descendents from different lines of a famous French stud dog that never put their ears up. I know of even more descendents of the same stud with floppy ears. The stud itself had perfectly erect ears! Ideally the Picard carries the ears erect and parallel to each other. Some dogs have a one ear leaning towards the other ear, so that the tips of the ear touch. Some have soft tips that whip up and down. When a dog feels uncomfortable (often to be seen with inexperienced dogs at indoor dog shows) they might not show erect ears. Photos above: Two examples of "bad" ears. Photo courtesy of Christian Janes. See top photo for example of excellent ears. EYES: The color of the eyes is dark and can vary depending on the color of the hair. The eyes are not allowed to be lighter than “nut brown”, which is a vague description. The eyes can appear lighter with dark dogs or strongly pigmented dogs. The shape of the eyes is slightly oval. Round eyes result in a bad expression. Judging the perfect expression of the eyes is not easy and depends on personal opinion. The standard demands an intelligent, lively and bright expression. A glaring eye (often with too light eye color) is a fault just as a mean or shy expression. HAIR: The so called “griffonage” is very characteristic for the breed and comes from the griffon-like look of the bearded French hunting dogs. According to the standard the griffonage consists of a slight mustache and beard and eyebrows. The eyebrows are not allowed to veil the eyes. The rest of the head is covered in hair about 1 ½ inches long. There are way more dogs with too much hair on the head (and not only on their head) than dogs with too little hair! Too much hair is the biggest change in the breed in the last two decades—unfortunately not for the betterment of the breed. TYPE & EXPRESSION: This is a very important and especially difficult subject. The correct expression results from the optimal interaction of all single characteristics of the head. Ears carried too far apart disturb the expression as do too light colored eyes or insufficient griffonage or too much hair that covers the eyes etc. The French specialty shows always offer a reward for “best expression.” If you compare winnings dogs at the last ten shows, you could see great differences. That illustrates clearly how subjective and difficult the judgement of type and expression is. Good knowledge of the breed but also personal taste play a significant role. Above photos: Left: Excellent Expression; Right: "Bad" expression. Photo courtesy of C. Janes. Thanks very much to Kati Barricklow for translating Christian's writings.	UPCOMING EVENTS Mark your calendars for these upcoming gatherings! Saturday, May 16: Berger Picard Specialty (held during the Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America 2009 National Specialty Show): Painesville, Ohio. May 16-20, 2009 Judge Christian Janes from Austria will evaluate Picards on May 16 from 8:30-11am. See article to left in this newsletter for details. June 11-14, 2009: United Kennel Club Premier Dog Show: Kalamazoo, MI. Featuring June 12 CERF Clinic with Dr. Ketring (see March 2009 newsletter) and BPCA annual meeting. For other UKC sponsored events, visit the UKC on-line Event Finder. WEB STATS Visitors to the Berger Picard Club of America's web site currently totals 23,226. Reminder to Register Your Picard with the AKC FSS Free! Limited time offer!! June 1 deadline. There is still time to register your Picard with the AKC Foundation Stock Service at no cost. If you register before the June 1, 2009 deadline it will be FREE to register your dog as we are submitting the forms together as a group. After the club submits the first batch of registrations to the FSS, the cost of registration will be $35. At some point in the future, the Stud Book will be closed and you will not be able to register your Picard with the AKC FSS. So, now is the time to register your dogs! Betsy will also submit the pedigrees to Paw Peds, the French club's pedigree site, so please send two copies of your dog's pedigree. Include two photos: a face shot and stack side shot. This can just be printed on a regular printer paper and NOT a photograph. To download AKC FSS forms, log into BPCA discussion group and click on Files. Pictures can be submitted electronically to betsy_richards4@yahoo.com For more information, including an explanation of the FSS program as well as the benefits of registering your Picard, visit www.akc.org/reg/fss_details.cfm ...but remember to send your application to our president: Betsy Richards, President BPCA 4432 Laurelwood Dr Roanoke VA 24019 Board of Directors President Betsy Richards betsy_richards4@yahoo.com Vice President Beth Toraason sharpa2@mail.escapees.com Secretary Valerie Black vablack4@hotmail.com Treasurer Pat Coury pacoury@yahoo.com Health Director Beth Toraason sharpa2@mail.escapees.com Rescue Director Michelle Fitzgerald fitzferrets@yahoo.com Newsletter Editor Mary Burdette burdette@greyfoxbluegrass.com Executive Director Kerri Murphy wolfhound@cox.net REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Northwest P.J. deCamp pj@pacificpicardies.us Midwest Leanne Chase lrc4620@yahoo.com Southeast Kati Barricklow kahtee@hotmail.com Northeast Jeff Shimp shimpjw@comcast.net Picardier Newsletter The official newsletter of the BPCA, The Picardier, is electronically mailed to all current members of the Berger Picard Club of America. If you are interested in being a contributor to future issues of The Picardier, please email your ideas to betsy_richards4@yahoo.com Please send jpg images for future consideration to both betsy_richards4@yahoo.com burdette@greyfoxbluegrass.com
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