If my approach to breeding great dogs was limited to one outstanding characteristic or quality then selecting that one “perfect” dog for my breeding program would be both simple and perhaps boring.  Truly great dogs are a beautiful blend of elements – movement and type.  The art and science of dogs playing in perfect unison is a “snapshot” of all of their features combined into one whole.  Correct head shape without breed type and movement is just … a correct head. 

        There are certain aspects of the breed that makes the hair on my arms stand on end…yes, that ground covering gait, that piercing eye peering angularly from beneath those beautifully sculptured eyebrows, clean well laid back shoulders indiscernible under the human hand and that confident, determined loyalty that beams through that shiny banded coat.  Is one characteristic more important than the other?  Not to me, my philosophy … Everything Counts!!!