Am I Missing Something??

I have just been watching Crufts and quite frankly am confused (though I must admit it doesn't take much!), When did Samoyed's become part of the pastoral group??? I could have sworn they were utility!!

They're working group aren't they? Same as the Sibe and Mal etc.

They 'herd' and 'pull'

Hmm.....

Reindeer herders..... so they say?
I know that most of the indigenous Samoyede dogs were not white, but the person to bring them to the UK thought the white ones would be better received here.... so white they were and have stayed.

Interesting article on them from a book first published in 1903: (do scroll down past the adverts)
http://chestofbooks.com/animals/dogs...gs-Part-3.html

Yeah I was convinced they were sled dogs and was confused when they weren't in working =/

Samoyeds have always been in the pastoral group (well since it was split from the working group) as they are a herding breed.

On the continent the spitz breeds have their own group (Group 5) but in the UK they are split over most of the groups - I think only the gundogs and terriers don't have a spitz breed in it...

yup reindeer herders... so they iz in the right group

Right thanks for that.

I was just confused as I was sure they were in the utility group and when the Samoyed came on in pastoral my fella said the same as me about thinking they were utility his mum used to show them (theirs had the same kennel affix as the sammy on crufts) and when he asked him mum after she said she always showed theirs in utility group so we came to the conclusion they must have been reclassified at somepoint from utility to pastoral but clearly not.

Samoyeds have always been Working(before it was split into Pastoral & Working)We used to travel to shows in the 1960s/1970s with a couple who showed Sammies & they were always in the Working group.

Utility Group is really for dogs that don't fall into any of the other groups(like the Keeshond & Schipperke the two Barge dogs)