Friday, November 25, 2011

ROM, ROMX and Health Certifications

Each parent club has the right to determine the requirements for awarding an ROM or ROMX to a sire or dam belonging to a member of that club.  Just as they can set the requirement for membership, etc.  If the club wanted to, they could even give the award to anyone, whether or not they were a member.  The clubs can require whatever they want to earn these titles.  It is their right as an independent club.  The BRTCA happens to require that the sires and dams have also passed certain health certifications.  The BRTCA also offers a Red Star ROM and ROMX.  This requires that the sire and dam of the dog being awarded has also passed those health certifications.  There is now a movement afoot to lessen these requirements because several people cannot meet them.  OH, WELL!  Instead of breeding so many litters each year, or importing so many puppies, and getting lucky every now and then with a dog that passes, why not selectively breed only those animals that have passed their health certifications???   We don't do a lot of breeding for that reason.  We only breed to dogs that are a good example of the breed and have passed their health certifications.  The choices out there in stud dog land are very limited.  We were unfortunate to be unable to breed two of our girls this fall when they came in season and the owners of one stud dog, and the veterinarian in charge of the semen clinic for the other, could not be reached in a timely manner.  One would hope that with the number of dogs out there, we would have more choices.  But I guess that is the reason we are the ONLY Black Russian Terrier breeders with a sire and dam that have been awarded the RED STAR ROMX.
Excellence is something to strive for, not to be undermined.