Pedigree Dogs Exposed – YOU Can Take Action to Help Dogs

Pedigree Dogs Exposed – We Need a Change, We Need it Now and YOU Can Make it Happen

Following the broadcast of the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, the distressing footage of dogs writhing in agony as a result of bad breeding, congenital disease and outdated ideals of what dogs are supposed to look like the nation collectively recoiled in horror.

We absolutely can not and must not stand back and allow it to continue.

Man’s best friend has been and is continuing to be exploited, mutilated and routinely abused in the name of breed standards and aesthetic trivialities.

True dog lovers have been appalled at the content of Pedigree Dogs Exposed but even more upsetting, many of us who have been in or around the organised canine world for any length time were not in the slightest bit surprised by what we witnessed in this programme.

Abnormal is now accepted as normal. For some dogs the ability to breathe, cool down, hear, walk properly and function as normal, happy, healthy dogs is impossible. The previously held notion that ‘KC Registered’ was a stamp of quality has been exposed as a complete fallacy. When corruption and health defects have made their way all the way to the pinnacle of the dog show world, Crufts, we have to accept that KC registration is simply a slip of paper, the credibility of which has been undermined irreparably.

Many dog breeds are in a perilous position, from which they will never recover if existing practices are allowed to continue. And continue they most certainly will be if the reaction of the Kennel Club is anything to go by. There is an obvious vacuum at the top within the organisation. Kennel Club chairman Ronnie Irvine insisted on Pedigree Dogs Exposed that the Kennel Club could outlaw first generation inbreeding only for the Kennel Club’s secretary to claim via the media that they could not effect this change. If the chairman and secretary are on a different wavelength over such a fundamental and controversial Kennel Club rule, what hope for the future?

The Kennel Club has officiated over the world of pedigree dogs for more than a century. They are not a new organisation. The state of Kennel Club registered pedigree dogs is not an issue they can wash their hands of by passing the buck to the uncaring breeders who are actively operating outside the parameters of what normal people would consider to be good breeding practice, yet they still manage to get their registration certificates stamped, approved and therefore endorsed by the Kennel Club.

The Kennel Club’s reasoning for not ‘getting tougher’ on these rogue breeders is ‘because it will drive them away’. This would be highly amusing, were it not so abjectly pathetic. Why would the Kennel Club seek to keep these sub-par breeders under its wing when any right minded person knows full well that the Kennel Club has singularly failed to exert ANY influence over them in the first place? It is a laughable excuse and reasoning which beggars belief.

On the issue of first generation inbreeding (father to daughter / brother to sister) many other countries have banned this yet and for good reason however, the UK –  a nation of animal lovers, hasn’t. Why not?

The mess that dogs are in is not entirely the fault of the Kennel Club, they are but a mere breed registry, they are not the people producing the dogs. however the Kennel Club have ratified the breed standards, agreed the breed club charters and they have taken the money for the registrations. When the KC puts its famous logo on a registration document they simply cannot walk away from their responsibility to that animal or the fact that the public does (or at least did) place its trust in the system of KC registrations. Bad breeding practices have been tacitly endorsed by the Kennel Club for more than 100 years.

So what are we to do? What is the alternative?

Thankfully, there IS an alternative.

The European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals has been signed and ratified by the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.

The United Kingdom is conspicuous by its absence from this agreement. Why is that?

The Kennel Club holds the strong view that UK dogs are better off under ‘self regulation’. What they actually mean by ‘self regulation’ is to keep the status quo, i.e Kennel Club regulation. The Kennel Club believes that it is best placed to ‘fix’ the problems affecting dogs today. The fact that they have presided over more than 100 years of pedigree dog regulation and we have reached the mess we are in today, seems to be lost on them.

The Kennel Club does not want the UK to sign the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals.

I, as a passionate dog owner, a dog lover over and above dog magazine editor, pet publisher, dog trainer or any other professional connection with canines, I desperately want the UK to sign and ratify the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals without delay.

I’m not alone.

The European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals is supported by many people who have spoken out about horrendous breeding practices in the pedigree dog world. The UK is doing a massive disservice to its dogs by not being a part of this.

The Kennel Club cites its Accredited Breeder Scheme as an alternative to the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals. If you are in any doubt as to how toothless and equally open to abuse the Accredited Breeder Scheme is, please take the time to read this.

So if you, like me and many others like me genuinely want a change to take place, genuinely want the governance of dogs to be given teeth, genuinely want to be a catalyst for change in relation to canine health and standards of dog breeding, please support the Pet Owners Parliament motion for the UK to sign and ratify the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals.

Dogs will thank you for it now and for centuries to come.

To have your voice heard click here.

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

Tags:  Animal Welfare