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Although, from the beginning, the new breed
of the Eurasier was based on differing breeding objectives, differing advice
influenced the breeding programmes and different opinions will accompany the breed in
future, it is hoped that the representatives in
charge of the breeding programmes will continue to strive to combine the best
qualities of the Chow-Chow, the Wolfspitz and the Samoyed in the
EURASIER. In this context, Eric Zimen remarks (Der Hund, München
1992):
"Not the
refined uniformity in appearance, but the character traits are the guiding
principle in breeding".
But this can only be achieved if top priority is given to the maintenance and improvement of
the breed, and matings are only permitted if there are sufficient suitable people who want a
puppy from such a carefully and responsibly planned and raised litter, quite
contrary to the increasing commercialized production of "Eurasiers" unfortunately
showing up within Europe and the world.
A
Eurasier breeder does not aim to make a profit.
A Eurasier is neither an absolutely
obedient dog, who will never outgrow the early stage of a young dog, nor is he
the primitive and ancient animal of a pack, obedient only to one owner
combined with a dislike towards strangers. He is Chow-Chow (always
rethinking what is asked of him, and sometimes distrustful) and
Wolfspitz (very attached to his owners) at the same time. Both qualities imperatively require a
family to live in a very close bond with such a dog and therefore any of the
following must be avoided: keeping this dog in a kennel;
temporarily having strangers look after the dog to achieve a
carefree holiday; limiting the dog's radius of action by keeping it chained; or locking the dog in a
crate (which some even do for the whole period of a long
working day, which seems to be common practice in North America, see "crate training").
A
Eurasier needs direct human contact and attention and therefore he lives
within the family circle with access to the entire living quarters of his
family. It must be possible for him to take up contact with his human pack,
but at the same time he must have an area that he considers to be his
favourite spot, to which he can retreat to and rest undisturbed when he wants
to.
Both, the attentive and intelligent
Wolfspitz as well as the "questioning" Chow-Chow, ask for an
intensive and close relationship with "their" humans: The
combination of these qualities in the Eurasier, maybe even the amplification, calls for an even closer
relationship. Exploring, trying, testing,
are all very exciting and instructive occupations that already begin during
the imprinting and socialization phase of a puppy at the age of 4 to 7 weeks,
and will, more or less, accompany a Eurasier all through his life. If a puppy,
adolescent or adult Eurasier cannot explore, try out or test his environment sufficiently because he is limited by being kept restricted
(e.g. quarantine) or
because he gets far too few stimuli to explore his world (by only being
walked in front of the sidewalk of his home, no contacts to other dogs, etc.),
he is in great danger because this can lead to disturbances either in
behaviour, interaction with humans or animals, and/or his general learning
ability can be severely affected (see Eberhard Trumler, Hunde ernst genommen, München 1974).
A
Eurasier owner gives his Eurasier sufficient exercise and provides him with
the possibility to learn about his surrounding world, he spends at least two
hours with his Eurasier outside in nature every day and he enables him to have
necessary social contacts with humans and dogs.
The term domestication stands for the
efficient adaptation of an animal to humans and their settlements. Despite a
dog's dependency to humans, he still remains to be an independent living being
and keeps his identity as a "modified wolf" in the human pack. In contrast
to the term domestication, degeneration defines all those
changes and deficits in elementary areas such as movement, social
behaviour and reproduction; such deficits can be harmful for a dog's
future or his need for an existence suitable for a dog and they can endanger our wish to
enjoy a rewarding and pleasant/trouble-free life with such
a dog (see Erik Zimen, Der Hund, München 1992) - or to say it with Eberhard
Trumler:
A
Eurasier owner protects his Eurasier with profound knowledge from being
treated as a commodity, from having to compensate his owner's minority complex,
and/or from being not more than a
soulless object for exhibition.
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