|
I have a long background in purebred animals. My parents bought me my first purebred dog as a birthday present over 30 years ago. I have continued with an interest in the dog world as an adult. Same with horses - my first horses were "grade" horses, but I have had registered horses for almost 20 years. In the past, when looking for an animal that I might not be well versed in, I have consulted the breed standard. So when I started thinking about getting alpacas, the first thing I tried to do was find a breed standard. The idea that one didn't exist never occured to me.
Breed standard opponents have good arguements. They have made me think, but haven't changed my mind. I have found web sites to give me a written description of the "Ideal Alpaca", so if a breed standard doesn't pass, I will survive. Here are some articles written by both proponents and opponents of the issue.
A Standard of Excellence: Lets start at the beginning with this article written in 1913.
Opponent Arguments:
Tears of the Alpaca: This is one of the most quoted reference for breed standard opponents. Written by alpaca and whippet breeder Ingrid Wood.
The Alpaca Breed Standard: A Path to Genetic Poverty: Also written by Ingrid Wood.
Alpaca Breed Standards: This is a 5 page article written by John Merrell.
Some Thoughts on the Push for Breed Standards: Take a minute to browse through some of the old articles from the Camelid Quarterly. The article, by Eric Hoffman, is near the end of the "breeding" subtitle.
Proponent Articles
Our Future: Alpaca Breed Standards or a Flip of Coin: An earlier article written by Mike Safley.
A History of Alpaca Breed Standards in the US: This is a long article written by Mike Safley, but is the rebuttal to the above arguments by Hoffman, Wood and Merrell.
Genetic Health for Dogs: Breed standard opponents quote this article, but I have put it under the proponents heading because of the simple fact that the author, who breeds a rare type of Husky, wrote a breed standard for it! Mike Safely also mentions it in the "History" article above.
| 
