From the category archives:

Pekingese

New Pekingese Rules Cause Furore

by Clare on October 9, 2008

Yesterday’s article about the Kennel Club’s change in breeding standards has caused a backlash from the breeding societies.

The BBC broadcast a recent documentary about the side-effects of unhealthy breeding, caused primarily by over-keen breeders looking to breed their dogs to conform to the Kennel Club’s breeding standards and ultimately win a rosette at one of the pedigree dog club’s dog shows, such as their highly prestigious Crufts show.

One piece on the programme which caused much uproar was the revelation that a Pekinese, the Best in Show dog of 2003, had had surgery (soft palate resection) so that it could breathe.

Yesterday, new breeding standards (see bottom of this page) were put in place for the Pekinese breed saying that a flat face is no longer acceptable. Indeed, as we highlighted in yesterday’s article, thanks to breeding the muzzle out the skin that used to cover the muzzle is now in the poor dog’s [read more]

{ 0 comments }