In the beginning our committee was chartered to produce an illustrated standard, and the first thing we did was to ask the question, “What is an illustrated standard?” We immediately discovered that the answer was complex and depended not only on the intended audience but also upon whom you asked. For example, a breeder might answer that it is simply the written standard in picture format and that its purpose is to reduce some of the liberal interpretations that some breeders display.  A new student of the breed would tell you that an illustrated standard is a learning tool whose purpose is to clarify the obscure terms used in the written version.  A judge would answer that it is the parent club’s official discerning definition of what is important as well as what is correct and that its purpose is to provide judges with a more explicit ideal against which to judge our breed.