…I can think of a few sure-fire gold medal contenders from the dog world.

Last year, via this blog, a little spat erupted between myself and the dog newspaper Our Dogs.

You can read all about it here.

To give you the cliff notes version – I reacted angrily to the fact that Our Dogs made baseless accusations about the RSPCA in an attempt to distort the truth. They’re old enough to know better but, perhaps, going senile enough not to care.

You can read what the RSPCA had to say in response and you can, of course, draw your own conclusions about who said what and what the true facts are.

We provided Our Dogs with the right to reply and felt it appropriate to point out that our only previous ‘interaction’ with that particular newspaper was when they had to apologise to us (twice) for lifting our content and publishing it without permission.

Moving on.

A couple of weeks back, Our Dogs columnist Robert Killick let rip with a particularly vindictive column, explaining that he would ‘mate’ with his own daughter, calling in to question the capabilities and motivation of UK dog wardens and making comments suggesting that dog wardens or the ‘RSPCA were probably behind’ C-fidos. Obviously research is not a strong point. After all, the information on C-fidos is pretty easy to find with, oh, I don’t know, about 3 clicks of a mouse.

I noticed that in his column he had left a little note for his editor: (click for larger view)

Hmm. I would suggest that letting an opinionated, highly charged column go out with editor’s notes still in tact would be cause for a £1 in to the work’s charity jar, no more, no less – we all make these type of errors from time to time (although stealing content not once, but twice is – shall we say – getting awfully close to ‘clumsy’).

Moving on to the edition last week, I was told that there was an ‘interesting piece’ in the paper by a US vet (Libbye Miller DVM).

A ‘piece’? I thought. An entire ‘piece’?

The reason for my surprise was based on the fact that I had seen, circulating around various messageboards and chat fora a ‘piece’ written by the same Libbye Miller – only, and here’s the thing, it was being circulated incorrectly attributing the comments of random posters to the entire ‘piece’ by Ms Miller. There’s no way Our Dogs would have been foolish enough to have published the entire text – wrongly attributed to Libbye Miller – without first checking its authenticity, would there?

There’s no way they’d use the views of random, unidentified posters on a newspaper messageboard from the United States as the basis to support an editorial agenda, surely?

Of course, the ‘piece’ is being used by certain folks who want to support a view that there’s really not much wrong with pedigree dogs and that hey, crossbreeds are ‘just as bad’.

A juvenile, misguided view – at best.

But this ‘piece’, it simply isn’t that long. It could never make up an entire column, it was nothing more than a random posting on a messageboard. Bit desperate to be grabbing on to this ‘piece’ as supporting the  ‘pedigree dogs are in great shape and everyone’s out to get us’ cause being pursued by some.

Well, I was wrong. Someone very kindly forwarded me a scan of the ‘piece’ this morning. And yes, Our Dogs have indeed published the entire ‘piece’ containing the few words of Libbye Miller DVM and merged with the random views of other posters attributed to the vet.

You can read the Our Doh’s piece here.

And to see the comment in its correct context – go here.

For clarity, this is what Libbye Miller – a fancier of the high epilepsy afflicted Terveurens breed – posted:

No one ever seems to mention the millions of dollars that AKC and the Canine Health foundation have invested in medical research that benefits ALL dogs as well as humans.

“Adorable mixed breeds” get cancer, epilepsy, allergies, heart disease, and orthopedic problems just like purebreds. I see it every day in my veterinary practice but mixed breed dogs aren’t tracked like the purebreds so they have a reputation as “healthier” that is actually undeserved in many cases.

I am so tired of PETA and their bogus war on the dedicated breeders who strive to breed healthy dogs, place puppies in appropriate homes, and feel responsible for their puppies for life.

I wish someone would do a expose on PETA but the media seems really afraid of them.

The rest of the ‘piece’ were actually the views of anonymous forum posters. For instance, Ms Miller did NOT – as Our Doh’s reports – state:

“Shows like Westminster are a very valuable resource for finding breeders who do care and who use the best possible practices, as well as for learning more about the various breeds.”

No, that was opinion of well known canine genetic health luminary by the name of ‘Debz’.

And why, you might wonder, should I care so much about such a basic reporting error?

Well I think it’s important. I think it’s important that what is reported to dog owners in the sensitive and pivotal times we currently find ourselves in is – at the very least – accurate. It’s important that dog owners are not sold any more mistruths about the state that dogs find themselves in. The head in sand approach to canine health and welfare and the cause of the problems affecting pedigree dogs has been brushed under the carpet for too long.

When Pedigree Dogs Exposed was aired, it took that carpet and gave it such a yank, not only did all the dirty secrets come flying out – those who were desperately trying to keep it pinned to the floor were sent in to a dizzying spinning frenzy which, clearly, has affected their balance.

Why point out Our Doh’s in particular?

Simple really – its publisher is on a mission to discredit the documentary – a piece of film that WILL do more for the health and longterm progress of pedigree dogs in the UK than the 100 years of ostritch like mistruths, misreporting and plain ignorance that preceded it – by talking about ‘agendas’ unbalanced, inaccurate portrayals of the ‘true’ situation.

Well here’s the thing: how’s about you do some housekeeping and try and make sure you don’t miss the ‘agendas’, ‘inaccuracies’ and whopping great errors of poor research in an attempt to promote a skewed message of your own?

As dog lovers look forward to – hopefully – changes and reforms in the way we breed and view canines of all types, pedigree or non, we really need to wipe away the cobwebs of outdated views attached to a mighty great personal axe which is being swung in the direction of the messenger rather than focusing on the all-important message that was delivered: pedigree dogs need people to stand up for them to ensure their future is not as bleak as their (recent) past.

Highly Recommended: What dog owner wouldn’t want a piece of THIS action? – Get FREE dog food!

Related posts:

1. Did Sienna Miller Give Dogs Away as Revenge?
2. Government Report in to Pedigree Dog Health a Slap in the Face for the Anti-Health Campaigners
3. RSPCA Responds to Our Dogs Newspaper
4. The ‘Sport’ of Dog Showing – Should We Embrace the Cheats?
5. RSPCA Chief Vet Condemns ‘Parade of Mutants’ – Pedigree Dogs Exposed