The Canine Chasm

Truth Bomb Tuesday: There's no such thing as an "English Cream" Golden Retriever.

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The Truth About ”English Cream” Golden Retrievers "English Cream" is a food, not a dog breed. All Golden Retrievers are special, regardless of the shade of gold.

An article was recently published in a dog world magazine that discounted millennials in dogs. Called us ”lazy” and “entitled”.

I was born into the middle of the millennial generation and I can honestly say that I haven’t met many people in my age group that are lazy and entitled.

On the contrary, most of us were raised in a culture of hard work and competition. I’m not sure where the stereotypes about us came from because if the majority of a generation is the “exception to the rule” then shouldn’t the rule be changed?

And we are finally starting to overcome the “Adopt Don’t Shop” rhetoric of our childhood. (Which, by the way, was not started by us since we were CHILDREN when it began.)The number of millennials buying purebred dogs and wanting to be involved is growing. We are in a position to start contributing to the fancy in meaningful ways: showing, breeding, volunteering, and even mentoring.

So the next time you see someone in their late 20s to very early 40s at a dog show, encourage them. Like a steward at a recent show did for me: I don’t know her name, but I’ve seen her at many shows. She knows that I’m an owner-handler and has watched my development as a handler over the last 3.5 years. When she walked up and said “you’ve been showing dogs beautifully today”, it made my day. We need more of that. More kindness, more encouragement. Let us help the fancy grow.

Millennials in Dogs: The Future is Now | American Dog Fancier Millennials in Dogs: The Future is Now By: Jess Deardorff I came to dogs from horses. I'm a third generation Connemara pony breeder. I