Pedigree Dogs Exposed Documentary Maker Wins Award: NDWA Conference Report

Published on October 21, 2008 by Ryan O'Meara   ·   1 Comment

On October 13th 2008 the National Dog Warden Association celebrated its 25th anniversary conference, an event featuring a fascinating insight in to animal control solutions from all over the world.

The event culminated in an awards ceremony where the best of the best from within the dog warden world were recognised and a special award was dedicated to the maker of this year’s hottest canine talking point, the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

The event was attended by professionals from within the animal control community and presentations were given on a variety of canine related issues:

I attended the first day of the conference as I was presenting myself.

The conference was opened by Susan Bell, President of NDWA before NDWA chairman Neil Burton read out a prepared statement from DEFRA who were due to be giving a talk but pulled out at the last minute with a statement which essentially read as them saying they had nothing really to say and that they were scaling back their efforts to support dog wardens in their efforts to enforce the clean neighbourhoods act. An early disapointment that the arm of the govt responsible for animal control and much important canine related legislation could not put in an appearance to address the people charged with the task of implementing dog control.

However, this was to be the only down side of the day.

We next enjoyed a genuinely fascinating presentation by Steve Elvidge who provided a exciting insight in to the wide and varied role of a Western Australia Ranger. From his experience reporting 22 feet great white sharks swimming too near to the coast line to explaining how the rangers enjoy a (seemingly) much closer working relationship with other areas of law enforcement, it seemed to me that the UK could learn much from the best aspects of what the rangers do.

Next in line for the day’s events was my own presentation entitled: Recognising and dealing with aggression in dogs. The central theme of my presentation was based upon the key elements that cause dogs to be aggressive towards people as well as highlighting the prime reasons why dog attacks occur, including failure to recognise canine signals, under stimulation for many pet dogs and a basic gap between what we think we know about dogs and what we actually know about dogs.

There is a (very short) clip of my presentation here and for anyone who would like it, I am happy to send a copy of my presentation plus a supplementary essay on the causes of canine aggression. Feel free to contact me.

Following my presentation we received an overview of Section 68 of the Clean Neighbourhoods Act by Dave Griffiths, East Hampshire District Council. Dave competently explained the challenges faced by the modern dog warden. I gathered from his talk that all dog wardens seem to be faced with primarily similar sets of problems and much of the concern is 1) lack of funding, 2) too many dogs being produced and irresponsibly supplied and 3) lack of awareness amongst the public about what to do with lost / straying dogs since the Police gave up their responsibility for dealing with them.

Dave’s talk was all the more insightful as it was followed by a truly engrossing presentation by Mark Kumpf, President National Animal Control Association (USA) who spent an entire afternoon highlighting the good practice deployed by his own unit at Montgomery County, Ohio.

Mark explained just how essential the dog registration scheme is as deployed by Montgomery County. His presentation detailed how 100% of the revenues generated by the scheme enabled him and his team of animal welfare officers to put in place an A1 level of service and how the system enabled them to circumvent many of the problems highlighted by Dave Griffiths which appear to be hindering dog wardens in their efforts here in the UK.

Mark also gave a fascinating talk on the problems of dealing with dogs in a rabies-present country as well as a profile on the excellent website Pet-Abuse.com

With the day’s seminars and presentations complete the evening session was dedicated to the first ever NDWA awards where those from within the animal welfare, dog control and pet profession were recognised.

The awards were as follows:

Dog Warden of the Year 2008
Mandy Dorman, Wokingham Borough Council

Dog Warden Team of the Year 2008
Sandra Thompson MBE and Christopher Thomas, Caerphilly County Borough Council

Outstanding Achievement Award 2008
Dave Griffiths East Hampshire District Council

Outstanding Contribution to Animal Welfare 2008
Mark Kumpf, President of the National Animal Control Association (USA) for working on the
Michael Vick dog fighting investigation.

Most Supportive Company 2008
AVID Pettrac

Most Supportive Council 2008
Amber Valley Borough Council

NDWA Committee Award 2008
Simon Clark, AVID Pettrac

NDWA President’s Award 2008
Cuthbert Jackson, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Company Awards

AVID PETtrac Award for the Promotion of Microchipping 2008
Dog Warden Service Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Dog Control Solutions Ltd Award for Outstanding Customer Service Provision 2008
Carol Bolton, Southampton City Council

MDC Award for Humane Animal Control 2008
Neil Burton New Forest District Council

The final award of the evening was presented and awarded by myself, the K9 Magazine Award for the Promotion of Responsible Dog Ownership 2008.

This award went to Jemima Harrison for her stunning documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed. In my speech announcing the award I paid particular credit to those people who are brave enough to speak out about issues which may not make them popular amongst certain sections of dog owning society but will, in the longterm, have a hugely positive effect on the world of dogs and canine welfare. There is little doubt in my mind that the documentary Jemima produced has been the biggest catalyst for change in the dog world for some considerable time and personally I am unable to think of a more deserving recipient of this award. The film has had and will continue to have a telling impact on the dog world for years to come.

Unfortunately I was not able to attend day two of the event due personally but from those who were present, it was more of the same – quality presentations and fascinating insight.

Killing by Kindness (Animal Hoarding)

Debbie Dawson, Vice President, NACA (USA)

Current Position on Breed Specific Legislation

Mel Page, Deed Not Breed

Merseyside Police Update

Inspector Neil Davies, Head of Dog Section Merseyside Police

Some Guidelines for ‘Guidance for Enforcers’

Peter Tallack, Advisor to Association of Chief Police Officers

Big Dog’s American Style & Other Stories

Mark Kumpf, President NACA (USA)

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I would like to congratulate the NDWA for an excellent event and wish them all the very best of luck in the work they do, which often goes unheralded.

Highly Recommended: This could be the most important link you EVER click as far as your dog’s life is concerned – see why….!