Thanks your opinion Mo, which i just cant agree with.
Gill there will always be problems with puppy farmers, probably one of the most affected breeds the labrador, chocolates to be precise, remember the chunky chocolate box puppies? the chunky labs you see in the ring these days couldnt work for a full day in the field! Which is why so many breeds have been split into working/show lines, which is a shame i feel, why cant we breed dogs in all breeds which are capable of doing their original job, why must their be a split in so many breeds ..

Umm where does it state if he grows too high he will not be able to compeate!???
I know GSD's BSD that compeate and some of these are a hell of a lot bigger than BC's in general...

Ill say it again, im not saying there shouldnt be a standard!!!!!!!!!

tnhought this too ive seen retreivers and setters do this sort of thing too, and they are somewhat larger than a BC
Ive seen a Pomeranian compete in agilty to, but thats another story

Seriously id love to know christine how you came to the conclusion of if he grows to big he wont be able to compeate because there are Agility Tests for Standard Dogs, measuring over 1ft 5ins at the withers; Midi Dogs, measuring 1ft 3ins and 1ft 5ins or under at the withers; and Mini Dogs, measuring under 1ft 3ins at the withers....

I was taking it to the extreme Gems, where would you draw the line, half inch here another there...........??

all shapes and sizes do agility.

You will have to excuse me ive had a bit to drink, but yes any size can do agility christine! so i am totally bemused as to where your comment about tj getting too big to do agility came from!!!

This isnt really about Gems choice in dogs though is it.
You wouldnt choose a pomerianian to retrieve game and you wouldnt choose a St Bernard to be a lap dog and this is also what the breed standards are about yes thats taking it to extremes but its human nature to push it just that little bit further and with out a resonable standard to aim for where will it stop there has to be some cut off points somewhere or we do say goobye to distinctive breeds? Relaxing them just means the next time someone breeds a dog thats slightly out of breed standard in someway they push to have them relaxed again.

Exactly!!! people push breeds tooo far, so far that they cannot do what they are bred to do!!! this is my argument

Yes but my point is how is relaxing the breed standards going to stop that? It won't.