381 – Rare Breeds: Preservation, Promotion and Purposeful Breeding
Rare Breeds: Preservation, Promotion and Purposeful Breeding
Let’s kick off a month of Pure Dog Talk conversations, insights and ideas about rare breeds, preservation, promotion and purposeful breeding of these delightful dogs.
Today’s conversation is with Jennie Chen, breeder of Lowchen and Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Anna Wallace, breeder of Entlebuchers and Ian Lynch, Dandie Dinmont Terrier owner.
How to acquire a rare breed dog
Just acquiring a dog in a rare breed is one of the most difficult challenges, our panelists agreed.
Anna Wallace and her Entlebucher
“I mean we’re absolutely protective of the dogs,” Wallace said. “So we have that aspect of ‘well we can’t keep them all we do have to place some of these puppies’ but we want to make sure they go into the right homes … can they benefit the breed in the long run… pets are very important because (they) become the ambassador the public sees … but we also don’t want to lose too much of our breeding pool in our gene pool to dogs that are going to ultimately end up neutered … so there’s a balance there and I know that’s one of the reasons it’s hard to break into (a rare breed). I actually broke in with a male ’cause it’s always easier to get a boy.”
Public education
Ian Lynch with his Dandie Dinmont Terrier
Reaching the general public with information about our lesser known breeds is critical, especially younger people.
“I think a lot of times of millennials are kind of going back to our roots in a lot of ways,” Lynch said. “Like the farm to table eating, what’s old is new, what used to be called hand me downs is now called vintage clothing. I think a lot of people are really interested in history and I really liked the idea of being able to help a breed that needed a hand. I mean they say this in a lot of ways, that you could go to a shelter and you can save one dog or you can buy a rare breed, an endangered species. and save a whole breed of dog, the whole history of this dog can be saved.”
Social media
Jennie Chen with her Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and Lowchen.
Social media, particularly Instagram, including Facebook and Twitter, are great resources for reaching potential new owners. Our panelists agreed that young folks buy from social media and we need to reach potential owners where they are.
“I actually started in social media a little bit by accident,” Chen said. “’cause when I got my first greater Swiss mountain dog, I studied psychology and I’m all into early neurological stimulation early neurological training critical periods, I started *Keep Austin Dog Friendly… it is a list of restaurants in Austin TX where you could take your dog … I would go take my dogs out and I still do that today for socialization, for training and all that sort of stuff, and that website got really, really big … my dog became the face of *Keep Austin dog friendly… the website is still up … I even turned one of our website events into (my dog’s) birthday party … I use Instagram now quite a bit. A lot of my homes… create an Instagram specifically for the dog. I don’t have to get photos via email, they’re available all the time on my phone.”
Listen to the podcast for more insights, ideas and guidance from our outstanding panelists.
323 – Marketing Strategy Ensures Viability of Endangered Breed
Marketing Strategy Ensures Viability of Endangered Breed
Dandie Dinmont Terrier
Jody Moxham is a Dandie Dinmont Terrier fancier and a globally successful marketing professional. She was asked by her club to create an ad for the breed. She refused. And created far more than just an “ad.”
DDTCA created the Strategic advisory committee, which Moxham chairs, exclusively dedicated to ensuring the long-term viability of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier.
Surging numbers
In three years, the work of the committee has increased registrations of the breed by more than 150 percent. Membership in the club is surging to the point it can’t keep up with printing the membership roster, Moxham noted. According to AKC statistics, the breed has risen six points in popularity after years of decline.
“I asked myself, ‘How would best marketers address this.’ There is a thing called the product life cycle in marketing,” Moxham said. “A lot of breeds are in the “decline” phase…. Marketers reposition a “product” and put it back in to introductory stage. That’s what we’re doing.
Product marketing techniques
“I created a methodology for forecasting success of marketing communications while they were just ideas on paper. We marketed it to multi-national corporations and helped them strengthen the persuasiveness of their strategies and their communications. We were proven effective in 40-some countries, according to the tough measures marketers use. A month after 9/11, the US Government called and asked if we would be willing to see if the methodology that worked so well in the commercial world could also work for national security interests. We gained contracts from across all arms of the USG – Defense, Military, Intelligence, and State.
“It has been a fascinating journey. What drives me is making a difference. I thrive on doing things that have never been done before. Or that are super tough. Easy can be done by anyone. Really hard piques my interest.
“We will not stay vulnerable”
Betty-Anne Stenmark and Jody Moxham bred Dandie Dinmont Terriers together for many years.
“That is the background that I brought to tackling the objective of ensuring the viability of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier for generations to come. You probably know we are a highly vulnerable breed. But we will not stay vulnerable.
“We started this program three years ago and formed the Strategic Advisory Committee as an action arm of the DDTCA.
“The first of four surveys has been released, each dealing with a specific area of breeding and raising healthy litters. Collectively they will be the foundation for mentoring programs for DDTCA and other breed clubs that want to use our findings. We want the DDTCA to be known as the innovator of support programs for breeders … and as a sponsor of best breeding practices.”
To learn more about the DDTCA visit: https://www.ddtca.org/
To hear the conversation with legendary Master Breeder Betty-Anne Stenmark about the Dandie Dinmont Terrier and its “gene puddle,” click to listen here.