Finally they write something about the basset but...
Having known it was coming up, I was looking forward to the article and assumed it would probably tackle some of the recent debate concerning the breed. After all, basset breeders have been criticised in both Sweden and the UK within the last year.
Instead of taking up some of the major issues affecting the breed right now (health, inbreeding, changes to the breed standard, etc) the article was full of bland platitudes. In fact, Swedish readers might as well have saved themselves the bother and just read Eva Petterson’s excellent “Historik” page on Bassethound.se.
A Poor Insight into the Swedish Basset Hound
Aside from dodging the major issues, the article was illustrated with a nice-enough collection of basset hounds; however, the images accompanying the article did not do any justice to theSwedish basset hounds. Paula Sunebring and her Swedesun dogs, in particular, has had an incredible amount of success in Sweden and abroad. It would have been interesting to highlight how one of Sweden’s top kennels has set its mark on the breed internationally rather than simply repeating what is easily available on the Net.
Where Do We Go From Here?
I’m not sure what the rational behind the article was but let’s just say I was disappointed. As someone who has written a lot of journalistic articles I know full well that editors have their own, specific agenda and shape what’s punished. Still, I can’t help feeling that a major publication like this in dog Sweden could have actually said something interesting and engaged the community.
Where it goes from here, I don’t know. I’d like to see a more open debate and more discussion. I’d also like to see some of the more experienced breeders who have years and years experience with bassets get involved in the discussion.
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I agree with you. The article was very shallow and didn’t leave room for any thoughts or discussion. I honestly think that it didn’t even portrayed the breed very well. It was less informative than reading about the breed on wikipedia.
But I have not read the previous breed presentations in Hundsport – so I thought that I might have had my expectations to high.
As you say: a waste of opportunity!
Thanks Susanne, it really was a wasted opportunity, wasn’t it? I find it so frustrating that the official dog magazine of Sweden produced some fluff like this.
Jag var också besviken, en alltför lättsmält artikel.
De borde ha gjort bättre ifrån sig.
Hoppas ni hade en trevlig midsommar!
Hej Lina,
Det var en lugn midsommar. Helt ensam med hundarna. Faktiskt helt okej. Margrét och Leifur är i Japan på semester.