Dogs Trust Joins Anti-Kennel Club Campaign
Well it seems the BBC’s Pedigree Dogs Exposed programme has really started something now – and about time. The Dogs Trust, Britain’s largest dog charity, has now joined the furore and withdrawn its support for Crufts over the controversial breeding news.
As we reported yesterday, the RSPCA has cut all links with the Kennel Club, organisers of Crufts, Discover Dogs and many other dog shows and events.
The Dogs Trust Chief Executive, Clarissa Baldwin, has demanded, as we did a few weeks ago, that the Kennel Club review all its breed standards to take the focus away from the aesthetics of the breed, especially where the breed standards refer to ‘small head’ or other such vague descriptions that seem to encourage breeders to attempt to breed a dog’s head as small as possible, to the point of being detrimental to the breed’s health and well-being.
Ms Baldwin has also gone a little further and contacted the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs requesting legislation to govern dog breeding.
If you missed how all this started, I believe you’re missing the greatest dog war so far this century and one whose repercussions are likely to be severe. The Kennel Club are facing a real risk of losing their reputation and although they are now apparently complaining to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, about the BBC’s documentary, at the end of the day, the damage has been done.
Naturally, I imagine the BBC’s programme was biased for the sake of publicity, however, the facts were there. It certainly didn’t help when a senior Kennel Club official was filmed voicing his own approval of breeding a female dog with her male offspring for the sake of getting a better show dog.
The BBC has stated that it is reviewing its 42-year long contract with the Kennel Club to televise Crufts. Again, as we commented in our article, if they don’t broadcast it, somebody else will so my personal opinion is that it’s just a publicity stunt. Indeed, yesterday the BBC said it would appoint ‘a panel of independent experts’ to advise on changes at Crufts to improve the welfare of dogs and said:
In an ideal world we would want to continue with them.
Of course they would! Crufts attracts high viewing figures and next year, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be more people than ever watching it.
I think that a government body should take over the role of The Kennel Club, if they are incharge of registering dogs and they make it mandatory for the breeder to do it then they will know exactly what is going on. They will be able to sort out new legislation as well so I think it is the only way forward!
[…] then, the Kennel Club has lost valuable sponsorship from both the RSPCA and the Dogs Trust amongst others and, following further arguments with the BBC where the Kennel Club refused to ban […]
I love to see dogs in good condition, but what i watched made me feel sick in the stomach. the kennel club should not have a committee full of money making self opinionated breeders , and should in its place be made up of people who have a knowledge and full understanding of dogs.
They should equally have no place to enter their dog in shows perhaps they would all resign leaving only people who genuinely give a dam to take charge of rules and regulations