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5.5.2008
Hey again everyone. I'd like to apologize for the lack of articles recently, and I'm going to apologize in advance for the rest of this week. I have an AP (Advanced Placement) test on Friday, and this week is going to be dedicated to studying for that. This also means that the layout contest winner will not be picked until this weekend. For that reason, I'll still accept entries, and now anyone who enters will receive $1,000 for participating. Remember, the SDN Newspaper name contest is also still going on.

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I've received two articles from one of my staff members, and so here they are:

Hello Fellow SDNer's! I am showcasing the English Setter this week, and giving you all information on SNAP. SNAP (Simdog Network Awareness Program) "is an organization dedicated to raising awareness of rare and dying breeds here on Simdog." SNAP is having a fundraiser today to raise moeny for building their accounts. Please bid on the graphics, or make donations to SNAP. This is an awesome cause. I currently own the first SNAP kennel auctioned off this week: English Pride. This account is dedicated to English Setters. Please come by and check the site out.

What is SNAP?

SNAP (Simdog Network Awareness Proram) is an organization dedicated to raising awareness of rare and dying breeds here on Simdog. SNAP will create an account, dedicate to a specific breed that has few or no dogs owned by breeders, and bring those dog's to full health. All dog are adopted from the shelter, but are carefully picked to be good foundation breeding stock. Once the dogs on an account are ready to start working, SNAP will then raffle off that account. New owners will be carefully picked, and they must promise to breed the said breed on the particular account. Frequent check-ups will be made to ensure that the new breeder is doing what they said they would. The goal of SNAP is to raise awareness of rare breeds, but offering a unique opportunity for others to breed them and bring them back into glory.

English Setter Breed Standard
Sporting Group

General Appearance
An elegant, substantial and symmetrical gun dog suggesting the ideal blend of strength, stamina, grace, and style. Flat-coated with feathering of good length. Gaiting freely and smoothly with long forward reach, strong rear drive and firm topline. Males decidedly masculine without coarseness. Females decidedly feminine without over-refinement. Overall appearance, balance, gait, and purpose to be given more emphasis than any component part. Above all, extremes of anything distort type and must be faulted.

Head
Size and proportion in harmony with body. Long and lean with a well defined stop. When viewed from the side, head planes (top of muzzle, top of skull and bottom of lower jaw) are parallel. Skull--oval when viewed from above, of medium width, without coarseness, and only slightly wider at the earset than at the brow. Moderately defined occipital protuberance. Length of skull from occiput to stop equal in length of muzzle. Muzzle-- long and square when viewed from the side, of good depth with flews squared and fairly pendant. Width in harmony with width of skull and equal at nose and stop. Level from eyes to tip of nose. Nose--black or dark brown, fully pigmented. Nostrils wide apart and large. Foreface--skeletal structure under the eyes well chiseled with no suggestion of fullness. Cheeks present a smooth and clean-cut appearance. Teeth--close scissors bite preferred. Even bite acceptable. Eyes--dark brown, the darker the better. Bright, and spaced to give a mild and intelligent expression. Nearly round, fairly large, neither deepset nor protruding. Eyelid rims dark and fully pigmented. Lids fit tightly so that haw is not exposed. Ears--set well back and low, even with or below eye level. When relaxed carried close to the head. Of moderate length, slightly rounded at the ends, moderately thin leather, and covered with silky hair.

Neck and Body
Neck--long and graceful, muscular and lean. Arched at the crest and cleancut where it joins the head at the base of the skull. Larger and more muscular toward the shoulders, with the base of the neck flowing smoothly into the shoulders. Not too throaty. Topline--in motion or standing appears level or sloping slightly downward without sway or drop from withers to tail forming a graceful outline of medium length. Forechest--well developed, point of sternum projecting slightly in front of point of shoulder/upper arm joint. Chest--deep, but not so wide or round as to interfere with the action of the forelegs. Brisket deep enough to reach the level of the elbow. Ribs--long, springing gradually to the middle of the body, then tapering as they approach the end of the chest cavity. Back--straight and strong at its junction with loin. Loin--strong, moderate in length, slightly arched. Tuck up moderate. Hips--croup nearly flat. Hip bones wide apart, hips rounded and blending smoothly into hind legs. Tail--a smooth continuation of the topline. Tapering to a fine point with only sufficient length to reach the hock joint or slightly less. Carried straight and level with the back. Feathering straight and silky, hanging loosely in a fringe.

Forequarters
Shoulder--shoulder blade well laid back. Upper arm equal in length to and forming a nearly right angle with the shoulder blade. Shoulders fairly close together at the tips. Shoulder blades lie flat and meld smoothly with contours of body. Forelegs-- from front or side, forelegs straight and parallel. Elbows have no tendency to turn in or out when standing or gaiting. Arm flat and muscular. Bone substantial but not coarse and muscles hard and devoid of flabbiness. Pasterns--short, strong and nearly round with the slope deviating very slightly forward from the perpendicular. Feet--face directly forward. Toes closely set, strong and well arched. Pads well developed and tough. Dewclaws may be removed.

Hindquarters
Wide, muscular thighs and well developed lower thighs. Pelvis equal in length to and forming a nearly right angle with upper thigh. In balance with forequarter assembly. Stifle well bent and strong. Lower thigh only slightly longer than upper thigh. Hock joint well bent and strong. Rear pastern short, strong, nearly round and perpendicular to the ground. Hind legs, when seen from the rear, straight and parallel to each other. Hock joints have no tendency to turn in or out when standing or gaiting.

Coat
Flat without curl or wooliness. Feathering on ears, chest, abdomen, underside of thighs, back of all legs and on the tail of good length but not so excessive as to hide true lines and movementor to affect the dog's appearance or function as a sporting dog.

Markings and Color
Markings--white ground color with intermingling of darker hairs resulting in belton markings varying in degree from clear distinct flecking to roan shading, but flecked all over preferred. Head and ear patches acceptable, heavy patches of color on the body undesirable. Color--orange belton, blue belton (white with black markings), tricolor (blue belton with tan on muzzle, over the eyes and on the legs), lemon belton, liver belton.

Movement and Carriage
An effortless graceful movement demonstrating endurance while covering ground efficiently. Long forward reach and strong rear drive with a lively tail and a proud head carriage. Head may be carried slightly lower when moving to allow for greater reach of forelegs. The back strong, firm, and free of roll. When moving at a trot, as speed increases, the legs tend to converge toward a line representing the center of gravity.

Size
Dogs about 25 inches; bitches about 24 inches.

Temperament
Gentle, affectionate, friendly, without shyness, fear or viciousness.

This information was obtained from the American Kennel Club.

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Every member of SDN is allowed to submit articles to the newspaper, so feel free to do so. =]

--Alyssa

article posted by help@simdog.net, #98post commentview comments

4.21.2008
Well. Since I've only gotten TWO entries from you members, I'm going to extend the date for another week. Since apparently the link as I put it doesn't work, I'll put it without html and you guys can copy it. Here:

www.sdnnewspaper.blogspot.com


If anyone is still interested in entering (and I hope SOMEbody is), click on that link and you'll find the layout contest entry requirements. Also, thank you our two current entries for your participation. The winner of the contest will now get $10,000, double the last prize. You can send in more than one layout if you wish.

--Alyssa

article posted by help@simdog.net, #97post commentview comments