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You are considering the future with regards to continuing to broadcast Crufts dog show in the wake of the explosive content of the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

You have stated that you have a two year agreement to continue to show Crufts.

You have seen the content of Pedigree Dogs Exposed. You, like us, MUST have felt the lump in your throat sitting through the extremely harrowing footage of dogs in agonising pain as a result of horrendous breeding practices.

You can not wait two years to make the RIGHT decision. Without reform of the Kennel Club, genuine, far reaching reform NOW, you can not, with any clear conscience continue to endorse the horrors as highlighted by this program.

Please, please do the right thing.

Because judging by the overly defensive position of the Kennel Club who don’t seem to be able to agree even between themselves on what they can and can’t do (Ronnie Irving chair of the KC stated on Pedigree Dogs Exposed that the KC could rule out father to daughter and brother to sister matings - whereas Caroline Kisco on News 24 today insisted that the KC could NOT outlaw this practice), you need to make the right move.

Dogs will thank you for it in the long run.

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Today, August 19th, the news agenda, the mainstream news agenda that is has been filled with news of a controverisal documentary being aired by BBC One, Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

The documentary has captured the attention of the national media, mainly because there is buzz abound that the documentary is damning, the BBC itself is seriously considering whether or not to continue broadcasting Crufts dog show after their two year deal expires.

The media has been covering the issue of ill dogs, suffering and in pain as a direct result of poor dog breeding practices and the Kennel Club have been putting the legwork in in an attempt to put their side of the story across.

In fact the Kennel Club’s PR offensive started before the documentary had been seen by anyone. A preemptive press release was published on the Kennel Club website explaining their position that they felt the documentary was biased - please recall, nobody had seen the documentary at this stage - and that it had preconceived ideas about the Kennel Club and the state of pedigree dog health.

The press release was later emboldened and a prominent link was placed to a web address. This one:

The Kennel Club hits back - www.doggenetichealth.org

Throughout the day, the KC’s PR machine has been in overdrive. Not so much preemptive this time, more defensive.

The RSPCA’s chief vet Mark Evans set the ball rolling in this morning’s press and media when he stated that Crufts dog show was ‘a parade of mutants’.

The RSPCA themselves sought to clarify, through this website, that Mark’s ‘mutants’ comment was his own view and not neccessarily the view of the RSPCA. But nevertheless, the RSPCA and the KC are clearly on opposite sides of the fence on this particular issue. The RSPCA told us:

The ‘parade of mutants’ comment is Mark’s personal view. The RSPCA is, however, concerned about the unacceptably high levels of disability, deformity and disease affecting pedigree dogs - and this includes animals entered into ‘best of breed’ classes in dog shows like Crufts.

We believe dog shows that are judged only according to breed standards encourage selective breeding for appearance and the intensive breeding of closely related dogs.

The RSPCA isn’t against all dog shows - in fact we want to help ensure a positive future for the pedigree dog by working with everyone involved. We would like to see the emphasis shifted away from appearance, so that health, welfare and temperament are considered first and foremost.

Dog shows have the potential to be incredibly beneficial in terms of promoting dog welfare and are also ideal opportunities for the RSPCA to meet dog owners and breeders, let people know about our work and help spread animal welfare messages about responsible pet ownership.

The UK’s largest and most prominent animal welfare charity has openly criticised the UK’s largest breed registry. Are they now at loggerheads?

Well let us return to the issue of the Kennel Club’s PR offensive, the website www.doggenetichealth.org. According to domain records, www.doggenetichealth.org is owned by:

Registrant Name:James Johnson
Registrant Organization:Publitek New Media Ltd
Registrant Street1:18 Brock Street
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Bath

Now it’s certainly no sin for the Kennel Club to be actively employing a preemptive and reactive PR strategy at this difficult time, it makes sense actually - especially when the Kennel Club’s own chairman may have dropped a bit of a publicity clanger when he was quoted on camera saying:

“I don’t want a bunch of scientists telling me that they know more than I do about all the dogs I’ve known over 40 years”

So no, there can be no ire directed at the Kennel Club for putting the PR machine into overdrive on today of all days. Excpet when you start to peel away some of the layers of what one may be inclined to call deceptive marketing.

A search conducted on Google performed just a few hours ago for the search term ‘RSPCA’ and what website should we find sitting boldly in the paid-for-listing area of the world’s most popular search engine? You guess right, www.doggenetichealth.org (see the image below, click to enlarge)

For those unfamiliar with how Google advertising works, it’s relatively simple to explain. Your instruct Google to display your web site advert based on certain ‘keywords’ typed into the search engine. So for the website doggenetichealth.org to appear in the paid-for-listings or sponsored area of Google’s search results for the specific search term ‘RSPCA’ it means the advertiser is paying for that position. The RSPCA is, it goes without saying, an internationally recognised and TradeMarked brand name.

So what are web users to think?

They conduct a search for the UK’s most prominent animal welfare organisation and are met with a prominent advert for doggenetichealth.org - which is a pro Kennel Club site being used in the PR fight against the (as yet unbroadcast) documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

But aren’t the Kennel Club and RSPCA in some deal of opposition regarding this whole issue?

Didn’t the RSPCA’s chief vet describe, in no uncertain terms, his feelings toward what is happening on the Kennel Club’s watch with regard to pedigree dogs?

How do you think the RSPCA would react should you or I purchase their trademarked name in the Google advertising system if we were publicly at loggerheads over a high profile issue?

Deceptive? Fair game? You be the judge of that.

The RSPCA has spoken to us about this issue, they say:

Unfortunately Google have changed their rules which now allows any organisation to advertise under any brand name, hence this site is legally allowed to redirect traffic to their site via the RSPCA as a search term. I think this has presented a problem for many corporates and I believe there are a number of test cases in court at present so it’s a case of watch this space with regard to Google’s rules.

And no, this is not a site that the RSPCA is associated with. Fortunately, the RSPCA’s website is top of the list on the non-paid for returns in the search engine so if people want to find out more about the RSPCA’s work on indeed our stance on the issue of dog breeding, hopefully they will just click on the link to our site.

For the record, when K9Magazine.com ran a negative press story regarding Crufts dog show (back in 2005), we received contact from the Kennel Club to remove the use of the Crufts logo in relation to the editorial, as it was of a negative nature. Fair enough, we did.

Furthermore, K9 Media (the publisher of K9 Magazine) also received a call from an RSPCA corporate lawyer in 2007 regarding use of their logo on one of our websites. This was sorted out amicably and put down to a misunderstanding on behalf of the RSPCA - that logo remained in place, but it emphasises how importantly large organisations take their intellectual property and trademarks.

Less than one month ago, the Kennel Club took the matter of online deception so seriously, they pursued and won an action against the registrar of the domain name thekennelclub.co.uk

The UK’s internet domain name dispute resolution service, Nominet, ruled that the registration was ‘abusive’ and ordered that the domain name be handed over to the KC

So it comes as somewhat of a surprise that the the pro Kennel Club website www.doggenetichealth.org, owned by a PR firm, is paying for the search terms ‘RSPCA’ and ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed’. In fact, many in the new media marketing world would venture as far as to say it’s an extremely controversial practice, no matter what the circumstances.

RELATED LINKS:

• Pedigree Dogs Exposed - Radio Discussion
• BBC Issues Crufts TV Coverage Position re Pedigree Dogs Exposed
• RSPCA Chief Vet Condemns ‘Parade of Mutants’ - Pedigree Dogs Exposed
• BBC’s Continued Coverage of Crufts In Doubt in Wake of Pedigree Dogs Exposed Program

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The issue of health and wellbeing of pedigree dogs is high on the news agenda today. Earlier this morning, K9 Magazine (publisher of www.dogmagazine.net) Ryan O’Meara discussed the issue with BBC Radio Scotland.

 

 Standard Podcast [6:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For clarification: Ryan O’Meara was NOT, as stated in the radio address, a consultant on the show.

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The BBC has issued an official statement regarding the continuing speculation that they are considering dropping its association with Crufts dog show in the wake of controversial documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

“The BBC remains contracted to broadcast Crufts for the next two years. We will be discussing the matters raised in the film with the Kennel Club.”

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The RSPCA has today moved to clarify that the comments of its chief vet when he referred to some dog shows as a ‘parade of mutants’ were his own, personal thoughts and not neccessarily the view of the RSPCA.

However, the RSPCA is keen to clarify that it is concerned about the ‘unacceptably high levels of disability’ affecting many pedigree dogs.

K9 Magazine asked the RSPCA for clarifcation on whether it would be continuing to patronage Crufts dog show as a major trade exhibitor in the wake of chief vet Mark Evans’ hard hitting comments about the state of pedigree dogs in this morning’s media. The charity, which is the UK’s largest animal welfare organisation, explained:

The ‘parade of mutants’ comment is Mark’s personal view. The RSPCA is, however, concerned about the unacceptably high levels of disability, deformity and disease affecting pedigree dogs - and this includes animals entered into ‘best of breed’ classes in dog shows like Crufts.

We believe dog shows that are judged only according to breed standards encourage selective breeding for appearance and the intensive breeding of closely related dogs.

The RSPCA isn’t against all dog shows - in fact we want to help ensure a positive future for the pedigree dog by working with everyone involved. We would like to see the emphasis shifted away from appearance, so that health, welfare and temperament are considered first and foremost.

Dog shows have the potential to be incredibly beneficial in terms of promoting dog welfare and are also ideal opportunities for the RSPCA to meet dog owners and breeders, let people know about our work and help spread animal welfare messages about responsible pet ownership.

The BBC is said to be considering the future of covering Crufts as a result of issues raised by the documentary ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed’, airing on BBC One August 19th at 21.00.

Popularity: 8% [?]