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MY HISTORY WITH THE WORLD OF RAT TERRIER COLORS
AND THE ARTA COLOR GUIDE
by Gail Holloway
7/18/04 Copyrighted. No part of this essay shall be copied
or reprinted without the express permission of the author
Personal
I have decided to write down my own history of my interest in color and color terminology in the Rat Terrier breed, and also the history, as I remember it, of the formation of the ARTA Color Guide committee and the subsequent ARTA Color Guide document. So much has been said and argued over this subject, including harsh name-calling, that I felt this might be useful for those trying to sort it all out.
I am also hopeful that writing this will help me work through the anger I feel after being present at a recent judge's banquet where a UKC judge loudly proclaimed to the approximately 40-50 people in attendance that the authors of the Rat Terrier Color Guide were "complete idiots" while a Blue Fawn "Pearl" Rat Terrier Puppy was being held up as an example of how stupid our color terms were. I don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe how I felt as I sat in horror while this barrage of verbal abuse was being dished out. This judge's favored breed was the American Pit Bull Terrier and she proclaimed the puppy was cinnamon (Pit Bull term for that color) and reiterated how very stupid we Rat Terrier color guide authors were for calling it anything else. None of the several other UKC judges present tried to stop her verbal tirade. Since I was the lone member of that Color Guide committee present AND the chief instigator behind that project, I believe in my heart that the scene was orchestrated to bring me humilation, as it is well known in that circle of individuals that I directed that Color Guide committee. I sat and listened quietly to as much as I could stomach and when no one made attempts to stop the attack I could only assume they agreed with her, so I quietly retreated from the banquet. I have been showing my dogs for 4 years but it was the first UKC judge's banquet I had ever attended. It is also the last.
I have no desire for sympathy, support or condolences. My goal is to get past this privately with the help from my family and my dogs. I would ask anyone who is reading this not to attempt to draw me into a conversation about this event. I'm trying to move beyond it and writing helps.
Some Interesting Facts about the ARTA Color Guide:
* The ARTA Color Guide Committee was formed sometime in midyear of 2000.
(exact dates are impossible to retrieve due to numerous computer crashes)
* Original Color Guide Committee members: Gail Holloway (director), Donna Sullivan, Robin Lutwinas, Michelle Heist, Rodney Ridgeway, UKC VP Cindy Cooke (advisor and non-voting committee member) Mark Threlfal (UKC advisor at completion)
* UKC decided, after we started this, to adjust the color section of the Breed Standard to match the Color Guide, when completed. (We were not expecting this, were not thrilled about it, either, and felt the added burden of that responsibility)
* The completed Color Guide was presented to the full ARTA Board of Directors for their approval and then to UKC, through Cindy Cooke, who shared it with UKC staff for their review and input, including Mark Threlfall, who made a few suggestions and minor adjustments. It was approved by UKC and then taken to the ARTA membership and voted in by majority on 5/16/01.
* The ARTA Board of Directors recoginzes and is currently discussing the need for a Color Guide Revision (which will begin after current projects are completed)
Back a few years ... my history with Rat Terriers
I have to go back a few years to 1994, the year we invited my elderly mother to come live with us here in California so that I could help her with her health problems. It was a very busy time for us with 5 active children in a small house, but we made room for Mom and tried the best we could to make her feel welcome and comfortable in our home. Mom adjusted well, for the most part, but she missed her dogs terribly. I told her we could fix that so we set out to find some for her ... the ones she grew up with. I'd heard of these family dogs all my life and knew how important they were to her and to my grandparents and my uncle out on their Nebraska farm. I'd heard all the funny stories about each of them, knew them by name, and had seen photos of many of them, but I had never owned one.
I didn't know these little dogs were called Rat Terriers and neither did my Mother. She called them Toy Fox Terriers. That confused me because I knew that breed to be a tiny companion dog of not more than 7 lb. and not at all like the ones in the family history photos. But, that was what Mom called them so we set out to find some Toy Fox Terriers. After looking at no less than 5 litters, we realized we were looking at the wrong breed. Mom became increasingly frustrated and agitated and kept showing me those dogs in her photos and pointing out the differences of what they looked like compared to the TFT's we had been seeing. Finally, I had a clearer idea of what we were looking for and we set out to find some, no matter what they were being called now.
We found the first dogs that matched Mom's description out on a ranch in Central Califorina. We saw about 6 adults who were clearly pets but they were also important working dogs who kept their barns and outbuildings pretty much free of rodents. We were told they were called "Rat Terriers" and given a little history about the breed development and how it was finally recognized as it's own breed, with it's own Breed Standard.
Mom and I sat on the grass with 9 wk old puppies (7 of them) romping all over and around us, I could see Mom was in a state of bliss. She became very animated and happy, like I hadn't seen for a while ... and I knew we had found what she was looking for. I had my heart set on an active little black tri female but Mom was smitten by a tan/white female who kept crawling up in her lap and staring directly into Mom's eyes. I could see that Mom was captivated and it became increasingly obvious that Mom and "Cleo" would be going home together. In another few weeks we found another breeder with a lovely black tri male puppy, unrelated to Mom's Cleo, and his name became Captain ConRad. Mom had a new bounce in her step and a new mission in life. And, I was hooked.
My journey into the world of registries, clubs, dog shows, color names and such was a bit lonely as Mother never saw much need for any of that stuff. She knew a lot about the practical side of nature and animal husbandry, typical of someone who had raised animals all of her life. Mom always had a natural wisdom about nature, was very observant, was a wildlife painter and a retired nurse (like myself). She taught me so much about the animal world and our relationship to it from the time I was a little girl. I dabbled and learned about the other stuff on my own. That was when I discovered Annie's online Rat Terrier Bulletin Board.
Mom lived with us for several years and in April of 2000 she passed away suddenly at the age of 82. During my early grief, her love for the dogs was always on my mind. Cleo and ConRad missed her terribly. I think they missed her as much as I did. My obsession to learn more about the breed may have been born out of my frustrated desire to stay connected to my mother and somehow share (spiritually) what I was learning with her. See GRN GAIL'S RATS FROM THE PAST ... a photo tribute to my mother.
Some of my early mentors were breeders and fanciers with a lot of combined years of expereince ... RATfolk willing to share their knowledge freely with me. Some of the ones that stand out in my mind as being generous with information and patient with my barrage of questions were: Anne Blair, Shirley Rouse, Rosalie Rinear, Margaret Burz, Rodney Ridgeway, Jenny Latta, Pam Mills, Juia Kleutsch, Lisa Sands, and Patty Cromer. Susan McCoy (TFT breeder) taught me a lot about dog showing and Karla Cole (1st judge that I met) taught me in the kindest way, why one of my favorite dogs was not show quality but a PET!! There were many others who influenced me but were more on the same learning curve as I was ... so we learned together. We had a lot of fun. Almost everything I was learning was agreed-upon information from Rat Terrier breeders and fanciers of that time ... except for the color terms.
As I learned how to register puppies I needed to learn what to call the different colors and how to distinquish between them. That interest turned into frustration when I purchased an"Apricot" female puppy I named Chia. While many colors were easily defined and agreed upon, others were not (Apricot vs. Lemon) Even the most experienced Rat Terrier breeders/ fanciers of that time could not agree with each other on Apricot vs.Lemon. What astonished me was the passion by which each of them stood firmly behind their opinions, terms, and descriptions and the degree of intensity SOME of them claimed the OTHERS to be absolutely WRONG! I hadn't expected that amount of passion ... especially in such a newly defined bred.
Welcome to the dog world, Mrs. Holloway.
Since I needed to be able to say with some certainty when asked, what color Chia was, I decided to contact every person that I knew who had an Apricot or Lemon colored Rat Terrier. I posted inquiries on different bulletin boards and wrote to people personally. I took a poll of what each was called, nose color, white fur or with faint colored fur when born, and any other information the owner could tell me about that dog and it's color name. I posted my summary of that poll on Annie's Board just to share what I had learned. Conclusion: There was no common agreement about which dog was which and how to tell the difference. What I did learn (humor) was that almost everyone claimed thier dog was Apricot and the OTHER color was Lemon. Apparently in the dog world, as with cars, no one wants to admit ownership of a "Lemon."
Incidently, it didn't take long for the word to get out that Holloway was into color. Oh NO!! She would surely ruin the breed by breeding ONLY for color and becoming a ...(gasp)...A COLOR BREEDER, etc, etc. I realized if I was going to pursue this it would be at the risk of my own reputation. So be it. I was interested, if not fascinated. My husband prefers the word obsessed.
Getting Back to Rat Terrier Colors and ARTA ...
I started talking to Donna Sullivan (founding president of ARTA) about the Lemon/Apricot poll that I had taken and about my growing concern that Rat Terrier breeders/ fanciers could not agree on these two colors and a few others that were in our breed. How were we ever going to speak with credibility to newcomers asking about our dogs if we couldn't agree amongst ourselves? I suggested it might be nice to have a Color Reference Guide ... a SUGGESTED list of terms that Rat Terrier Breeeders could agree upon. I remember clearly that we weren't interested in changing the world (or the existing Breed Standard) but only to try to get the Ratfolks to agree on terminology ... by a popular vote. Surely that wouldn't be so hard. How naive! We started putting together a committee to do this. Cindy Cooke (then VP of UKC, and a great mentor) had taken a special interest in our breed and she told us she was"...so very proud of what we were doing..." I was initially flattered by that comment from her but have later come to realize that "... so proud of you ... " may also be the short version for, "You have no idea what you are about to embark upon and I wish you TONS of luck and I'll try to be there with ointment and bandages when you get kicked in the head."
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