RSPCA Withdrawal from Crufts ‘Unhelpful’ Says the Kennel Club
The Kennel Club has responded to the RSPCA’s decsion to boycott Crufts dog show and Discover Dogs by calling the actions of the UK’s largest animal welfare charity ‘unhelpful’.
Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club spokesperson, said: “Dog shows such as Crufts give the Kennel Club and other organisations a great opportunity to educate the dog loving public about the overriding importance of health and welfare. The RSPCA has attended Crufts for a great many years and will be fully aware of all the work that is being done to improve the health of dogs in and out of the show ring.
“The Kennel Club invests a great deal of time, money and care into the area of pedigree health. This includes grants, via its Charitable Trust, into developing health screening for dogs. A donation of £48,000 was recently given to the RSPCA to improve the general welfare of dogs. Furthermore, the Kennel Club has just released its ‘Future Plans’ to keep the public updated about its continued progress in this area.
“The fact that the RSPCA continues to make such unhelpful statements with regard to the health of pedigree dogs is extremely regrettable but we will continue to endeavour to work with them despite their stated position – for the benefit of dogs. The Kennel Club is dedicated to improving the health and welfare of dogs through responsible breeding and will continue to use Crufts as a platform to educate breeders and the public about the importance of joining us on this quest.”
The Kennel Club statement goes on,
The RSPCA has made several comments that the Kennel Club would take issue with. Specifically:
RSPCA – ‘There are unacceptably high levels of disability, deformity and disease that threaten pedigree dogs.”
The Kennel Club ran a health survey looking at pedigree health, the largest of its kind in the world. It has been found that 90 percent of pedigree dogs will not suffer from health problems that will have a detrimental effect on their quality of life, based on an analysis of the Breed Health Survey, carried out by in 2004 by the Kennel Club and the Animal Health Trust.
OK, let’s tackle a couple of really, really important issues here.
1) “A donation of £48,000 was recently given to the RSPCA to improve the general welfare of dogs.”
What a terribly strange and classless thing to say. What relevance does this have? The RSPCA have made a decision, they have explained their position, they have detailed their concerns and the Kennel Club’s response is to dismiss the RSPCA’s position and state that they’d recently given the charity some money.
Are the Kennel Club suggesting that this donation should have some impact on the RSPCA’s internal decision making process? Why even mention it?
If I make a donation to the RSPCA today and then deliberately go out and cripple my dog tomorrow, can I use the donation in mitigation when the RSPCA (rightly) prosecutes me? It is a bizarre and very, very strange thing to bring up. Amateur hour in the PR department at Clarges Street. We’ve seen much of this of late.
2) “The RSPCA has made several comments that the Kennel Club would take issue with. Specifically:
RSPCA – ‘There are unacceptably high levels of disability, deformity and disease that threaten pedigree dogs.”
So the RSPCA thinks that 10% of dogs suffering with serious health problems is ‘unacceptably high’ – and guess what? So do I. So SHOULD most people. The Kennel Club obviously doesn’t. So let’s ignore the disputed 90% figure for a moment and let us accept it as gospel that 10% of all pedigree dogs ARE suffering high levels of disease and disability. Here, right here in black on white, you have the Kennel Club arguing with the RSPCA who have stated that they find this figure unacceptable.
The Kennel Club’s response to the RSPCA’s (legitimate) concerns over unacceptably high levels of disease in pedigree dogs is to dispute that 10% is unacceptably high.
So there you have it, it’s official; 10% of all pedigree dogs suffering disease and illness is an ‘acceptable’ level. Not my words, but straight from Kennel Club HQ.
And people wonder why it’s hard to have even a shred of confidence in Kennel Club reform!
Oh, and if you fancy using the comment form for criticising my opinion, please make sure I haven’t ever given you any money in the past. Because if I have, and if you accepted it, your views are now irrelevant. OK?
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Im going to play the devils advocate this time.
If they did restrict breeding, they have no legal standing ground, so any breeder that doesnt feel like obeying the new rules, will simply registor there dogs with another of the many breed registrys (eg akc, ukc, ckc, fci, nzkc, ankc, nkc, etc).
What we need if the goverment to pass a law insted
and Im sorry for playing the devils advocate but if you purchase a puppy without seeing the apropriate health certificates of all its ansesors, then you cant realy complain about bad breeding when the pup falls ill down the line, you should have checked the breeding first
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Emm,
If the KC is to be taken seriously they have to set the benchmark. They have to insist on health testing. temperament testing etc.
Will they lose some business. Undoubtedly, in the short term.
Will unscrupulous breeders still breed poor quality dogs and register them elsewhere? Undoubtedly – many already do.
Will ill informed buyesr still buy these dogs? Undoubtedly.
Dose this mean that the KC should not make the necessary changes? I don’t think so. Thay are in no position to insist on legal restrictions of breeding or dog ownership tests, until they put their own house in order.
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I agree that the givernment need to bring in legislation, but if I were buying a pup in the UK I would findit strange that that it was not registered by the UK Kennel Club.
Also when i purchase my pup 4 years ago we phoned different breeders and researched her breed nad were advised to check for good hip scores in the parents and hemaphlia testing of the sire which we done.
The kennel club did not advise us of any other condition to check for, now at 4 she has two spondolysis and CDRM. We did not get her pedigree certificate until we picked her up and therefore could not check her ancestory in whichthe grandmother is the same on both dam and sire – this may be a contributory factor it may not.
What I’m trying to say is that people buying a breed for the first time are not always given all the information they require to make informed judgements. Had I known about inbreeding and had advised to look at her ancerstory we would have walked away – hard as it may have been.
We do need to make sure that correct information is available.
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yeah but the what if your getting a breed that is not registered by the kc?
and its to simple to say a a x breed between xyz and abc is going to be healthy that a purebred xyz or an abc
ok xyz are prone to 798, and abc are prone to 123
but if a xyz with a long line of health tests against 789, comming back negetive, breed with another xyz with a long line of health tests against 798, comming back negetive, and a abc with a long line of health tests against 123, comming back negetive, bred with an abc with a long line of health tests against 123, comming back negetive, those two sets of puppys are going to be healthier, than if you got pups breed from a xyz with a long line of health tests against 789, comming back positive, breed with a abc with a long line of health tests against 123, comming back positve.
also just becuase a dog is a xbreed does not mean the breeder is any more responsible, a few days ago i saw i sign sayng “cockapoos, maltapoos, cava cocks,labradoodles,jackachis,chugs pups all a month old ready for sale” it screams puppy farm to me
also floppy ears are prone to infection, labs and dobies both have floppy ears
and so are prone to infection, but if you have a labX dobie, it is a cross, but the liklehood is its still going to have floppy ears and still be prone to infection
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Have to agree with Frosty, its the first time owners that are ill informed, we need to get the info out there to them so they are made aware of what to look for, i was told about hip scores when i asked whats a good hip score? no-one could give me a straight answer because different people rate them differently. So we need as accurate answers as we can get. The info and the help just isn’t there.
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does any one know the research for the program as it showed the old versions of breed eg dachsies, bassets, but i was wondering were the breeds in the old photos the same breed, or is it an ansesorial breed,becuase there was a bit on how the kennel club standered for the bulldog was not right as the dogs were not suitable for bullbaiting, however bulldog is not one breed but a group of many and the ONLY bulldog breed the kc regonise is the british bulldog. British bulldogs are a SHOW breed, DESENDED from bullbaiting breeds, such as the olde english bulldogge, the british bulldog itself is NOT a bullbaiting breed, so would not need to be suitable for bullbaiting
also I would like to see the breeds being tested on how well they can perform in the task that there breed is (obviously making alternetive tasks for fighting/ bullbaiting/ hunting / and driving breed), as I looked up the latest labrador winner http://crufts.fossedata.co.uk/Breed.asp?ShowYear=2008&GroupID=GUN&ScheduleID=68 looks nowt like a labrador, more like a flabrador, labs should look like this http://www.sportingkennel.com/ladystand3.JPG, and should be able to haul nets of fish in icy water repeatedly with ease non stop for 3 days
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