The soft mouth itself, and what it was made for
the position that gives the manifesto its name
a manifesto for the working golden
The Soft Mouth
Fourteen signed positions on what the golden retriever was made for and what the paperwork around the breed can and cannot certify: the mouth, the pedigree, the litter and the proof.
what does a field trial actually measure?how do you read a golden retriever pedigree?golden retriever or labrador, what changes?is the english cream a different golden?is there a miniature golden retriever?what does a serious litter really cost?what do CAC, CACIB and BIS mean?what does a field trial actually measure?how do you read a golden retriever pedigree?golden retriever or labrador, what changes?is the english cream a different golden?is there a miniature golden retriever?what does a serious litter really cost?what do CAC, CACIB and BIS mean?
Positions taken this season
14 entries
What a field trial actually measures
what the judges score, what the card records
How to read a golden retriever pedigree
the names, the letters, the three generations
Golden retriever or labrador: what actually changes
the comparison buyers actually type
The English cream question
a colour, or a kennel-name, or a claim
The miniature golden question
the most-typed question in the litter stand
What a serious litter costs
what the money funds, itemised
The alphabet of titles: CAC, CACIB, BOB, BIS, WW
the letters, decoded one at a time
The Mouth
the working trait itself: the retrieve, steadiness, the field trial
Steadiness at the line
the least photogenic clause in the working contract
The dummy and the bird
the training kit, in order of honesty
The Pedigree
names, lines, affixes and the alphabet of titles
The affix inside a registered name
the breeder's signature, inside the dog's name
The Litter
the day-counted diary and the first six weeks
The first six weeks, counted in days
the diary format the record prefers
The Proof
clearances, certificates and what a paper actually certifies
What a hip score certifies
one film, one day, one number
The health panel in plain words
the genetic entry, decoded
Other voices along the fence
The Soft Mouth keeps company with a few neighbouring titles that argue their own ground, each worth hearing out.
The argument on this page is easier to hold with a French notebook on the golden's closest cousin open beside it: the Labrador shares the coat, the water and the retrieve, and reads its own record the same careful way.
For a breed kept at the opposite end of the height chart, the long file kept on the Great Dane shows the same discipline applied to a different body: what the standard says, what the papers record, and where the two part company.
A litter diary kept honestly looks the same in any breed: the Spitz kennel's day-counted pages weigh the pups, note the week, and let the record speak in place of the promise.
Every clearance cited in the Proof stand ends at a table like this one: a veterinary practice's plain pages describe, in ordinary words, what an examination can certify and what stays outside its reach.
The other side of the price question is kept in the shelter ledger from the Loire: dogs that arrived without papers or purchase contracts, counted one intake at a time, and worth every recorded entry anyway.