BBC PULLS THE PLUG ON CRUFTS

Once again the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has capitulated to the animal rights wackadoodles. The BBC, that venerable institution of all things British, has announced that it will not broadcast the Crufts Dog Show, a British institution since 1886, long before the BBC. The BBC had demanded that the British Kennel Club, the equivalent of our AKC, ban twelve “at risk” breeds from competition at Crufts: the Clumber Spaniel, the Basset Hound, the Bloodhound, the Dogue de Bordeaux, the Mastiff, the Neapolitan Mastiff, the Pekingese, the Shar-Pei, the Chow Chow, the German Shepherd Dog, the Bulldog, the Saint Bernard, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the Rhodesian Ridgeback. The Kennel Club admirably refused to ban the named breeds and the BBC pulled the plug.


For those who don’t know, Crufts is the world’s largest dog show with a remarkable 22,000 dogs competing. That’s seven times the size of our largest show. Last year the British TV audience alone was over 14 million. You would think that alone would let you know on which side the British people are on this debate. Yet, the PETA thugs run about pretending they represent the public. The British are legendarily reserved, but they better get off their butts before there is not a dog left in England. Ban the Bulldog? Churchill must be turning over in his grave.

For all of you isolationists out there that think we here in the US are exempt from such extreme interference in our lives, visit the PETA site and read the lies and slander these anti pure bred dog trolls spread after the 2008 Westminster broadcast, alleging that the winner, the Beagle, Uno, and the other finalists were carriers of multiple life threatening congenital defects. I can remember one Westminster show in the 1970s where they invited several previous BIS and Group winners back including the Miniature Pinscher, Ch Rebel Rod's Casanova Von Kurt, the 1963 Toy Group winner. He was 14 years old at the time and still covered the big ring without missing a step. It is simply a myth that pure bred dogs are less healthy than mixed breeds. Making dogs better is what we breeders do. That includes breeding out health problems.

BRITISH KENNEL CLUB CAVES

The British Kennel Club has succumbed to months of pressure and announced the review of all dog breed standards. The review follows a anti-breeder BBC documentary which accused the Kennel Club of supporting the breeding of deformed animals through its standards. The documentary, titled "Pedigreed Dogs Exposed”, showed a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with syringomyelia, a condition which occurs when a dog's skull is too small for its brain. It also singled out Boxers, Pugs, and Bulldogs for criticism.

Top US Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
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Citing increasing public pressure, the Kennel Club stated that it was pushing through its review of all breed standards, “…with added urgency.” The RSPCA, which announced last month that it was pulling out of Crufts over concerns about the welfare of pedigree dogs, responded with this statement: "We welcome the (Kennel Club) review of breed standards and hope it will make a difference for pedigree dog health and welfare in the future."

Top US Boxer
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The Kennel Club also issued a statement against the action of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel national breed club for ousting a member that had appeared in the BBC documentary and criticized her fellow breeders. However, all of this did not placate the Kennel Club’s critics. The Veterinarian Director of the Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog charity, sniped, “We are saying that the Kennel Club should look at the consequence of what it hasn’t done in the past 50 years. We are more than happy to help in every way to resolve the situation, but doing it at a snail’s pace is just not good enough.”

Top US Pug

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The Kennel Club, determined to make the most of a bad situation, is asking that it be given the legal power to make its Accredited Breeder Scheme compulsory throughout the country, which would allow only Kennel Club members to produce or sell puppies.

Top US Bulldog

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All of this bolsters two of my core beliefs.

1. Never give an inch to the animal rights wackos. I’m astonished that the British, of all people, fail to grasp the ramifications of appeasement, it didn’t work with the Third Reich and it won’t work with the RSPCA.
2. We have an obligation to police ourselves. If national breed clubs don’t take action to assure their breeds are protected, they risk having outsiders, who neither appreciate the breed or breeders, dictating to them.
   

Finally, take a look at these beautiful animals I have included in this post and imagine a world without them. How sad would that be?