The Next Generation of Dog Owners Will Thank the BBC
Published on September 18, 2008 by Ryan O'Meara · 25 CommentsA ‘tipping point’ is what the Dogs Trust described the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed. The BBC documentary did indeed expose some truly shocking, stomach churning examples of animal welfare abuses.
Now the corporation needs to act quickly to ensure it is no longer associated with the animal welfare abuse it admirably revealed to the nation.
The Kennel Club have this week a lodged a complaint to (broadcast regulator) Ofcom, accusing the documentary of bias. For their part, a BBC spokesman has said the corporation stood by the programme’s content.
So here’s the nub, if the BBC does truly stand by the programme’s content it has a pretty simple decision to make – dissociate with the Kennel Club with immediate effect until such a time that full and effective reforms are forthcoming. This is the very definition of a no brainer. Even the Kennel Club themselves have described the BBC’s position (as Crufts broadcaster) as ‘untenable’.
Future generations will look at what we have done to some dogs and they will resent us. Make no mistake. A Bulldog with a median death age of 6 years old is not, on this or any other planet, acceptable. Want to know who caused that? Us. A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with a brain too big for its skull, unforgivable. Who caused it? We did. Over the past 100 years the Kennel Club has overseen pedigree dog issues. Breeders have come and gone but the Kennel Club is a common denominator. Trying to deflect the blame or shoot the messenger is counter productive. I could go on reeling off the list of abuses we’ve committed against some dog breeds, but ‘going on’ is not offering solutions. So here is a list of three very simple things the Kennel Club could and should do, literally overnight, to show that they are listening.
1) Insist on health testing of all parents before accepting a single registration. The Kennel Club argues they are not legally allowed to do this. If this is true, then have the Kennel Club used their considerable influence at Government level to have whatever law it is that is preventing them set their own rules changed? If not, why not? K9 Magazine spoke to DEFRA yesterday in order to clarify what law it is that prevents the Kennel Club changing its own registration rules, DEFRA were unaware of any. We have asked the Kennel Club for clarification.
2) Breed standards that contain a single line of text which offers nothing to support the health of dogs should be scrapped instantly. For example, here are three elements to three breed standards which need to be examined:
Basenji
Fine and profuse wrinkles appearing on forehead when ears pricked, side wrinkles desirable.
Pekingnese
A wrinkle, either continuous or broken, should extend from the cheeks to the bridge of the nose in a wide inverted ‘v’.
Neopolitan Mastiff
Head has loose skin forming wrinkles and folds
Why? Why do these dogs ‘have’ to have wrinkled skin in order to be healthy? Why?
Somebody needs to explain to me how those three very quick, simple examples relate to the Kennel Club’s assertion that breed standards are a ‘blueprint for health’ and not just about aesthetics. Something doesn’t add up, it rarely does when the Kennel Club’s attempts at defending the indefensible are concerned.
3) Get tough on bad breeders.
The Kennel Club continues to insist that it can’t get tough on bad breeders because A) they legally can’t or B) Other breed registries who ‘don’t care about dogs’ will appear and those dogs will still be bred anyway. Bizarre logic. Those breeds are being bred NOW and YOU’RE registering them. If other breed registries crop up, whether it’s one or one thousand, if YOURS is the best, with the highest standards, the one that doesn’t tolerate bad breeders, then yours will be the one that has the public confidence. This continuing position of trying to defend a refusal to get tough sounds to the general public like a desperate attempt to cling on to volume dominance. It’s not good enough, not by a long shot.
Three very simple suggestions. Not rocket science is it?
I didn’t even get on to issues such as opening up the registration to allow new blood in to widen the gene pool. These three suggestions are simplicity itself. Future generations will ask questions as to why they weren’t in place when dogs were dying and suffering in their hundreds of thousands. Future generations will look back at us with scorn the way we look back on animal welfare abuses committed by our predeccesors. If the BBC’s documentary has opened the door the corporation now needs to be bold enough to actually walk through it.
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
As an owner of basenjis i felt the need to comment.
“Basenji
Fine and profuse wrinkles appearing on forehead when ears pricked, side wrinkles desirable.”
Basenjis came over to the UK in the early 1900′s, they originated from the congo and were used as hunting dogs. As someone who owns very old oil paintings of these dogs I can tell you they look very much the same, as they do on the egyptian tombs they were painted on. So breeders have not changed the way they look. My line dates back to the very first basenjis in this country.
There is no scientific evidence in which to prove that wrinkles in basenjis cause harm to their health. However there is evidence to prove that it does not. The average life expectancy of a basenji is 13.6 years. Higher than your average dog. A large percent of the dogs that die are due to old age related illnesses such as kidney failure.
Breeding out wrinkles is pointless and does not benefit them in anyway. However change the characteristics of a breed and you no longer have the same breed.
You preach in your articles about how changing the aesthetic traits in dogs is harming them so surely in the case of the basenji you are contradicting yourself as there is no need to breed out the wrinkles as it does not affect their health. Please enlighten me on a basenji that has died from health issues to do with their wrinkles.
Pash, I’m afraid to say I have rarely read such bunkum. Unfortunately, it is views like your own – gladly, exposed to other users of this very website – that are largely to blame for the state a lot of dogs are in. Are you, in all seriousness, trying to tell me that those wrinkles are needed? You miss the point, entirely. The dog is a functional dog that has a breed standard calling for a trait – insisting on a trait – that PROVIDES ZERO HEALTH BENEFIT to the dog. Which is contrary to what many KC apologists have claimed about breed standards. As I say, you seem to have entirely missed the point I was making but have managed to make an absurd and obscure claim of your own. Bizarre.
you say that wrinkles…
“PROVIDES ZERO HEALTH BENEFIT” but NOR DO THEY DETRACT from their health so what is the point in breeding them out. If you look at a basenji you will see that they only have slight wrinkle anyway so it silly to compare them with the likes of a neopolitan mastiff which have masses of excess skin. There is no scientific evidence to back up your point in the case of the basenji.
The breed has been like that for thousands of years so who are we to start changing what they look like. I think you have missed the point I am trying to make Ryan. I do not disagree that some breeds like the mastiff need re-assessing but i think to change the basenjis aesthetic traits based on the fact that they do not benefit their health nor do they take away from their health is absolutely ludacris.
Smash – I haven’t said to ‘breed them out’. My point, which you seem to have not cottoned at this stage – is about breed standards. Why does the breed standard CALL for that wrinkle? It does not NEED to have that wrinkle to be healthy so what does the breed standard demand it?
So if I happened to breed a wrinkle free Basenji it would not win a show because it doesn’t meet the breed standard even though my dog would actually be healthier with tighter fur around the head. That’s a fact. So the breed standard simply does not NEED that insistance on the wrinkle, which is my entire point. I use the Basenji as an example because it is a healthy dog and does not need that ‘wrinkle clause’ in the breed standard. How do you think many of those other breeds (Neo Mastiffs, Bulldogs etc) got in to the mess they’re in? It’s because of an INSISTENCE on wrinkles (that are not required) in the breed standard. What makes you think for a second that Basenji’s can’t go the same way?
Breed standards should contain NOTHING that is of detriment or to the advantage of the dog’s health.
DO NOT PUBLISH MY EMAIL ADDRESS THANK YOU
I am most surprised that you have picked the basenji as an example of a breed with ‘elements that need to be examined’.
The basenji is one of the most ancient breeds of dog, it has existed for hundreds and possibly thousands of years unaffected by breeders tampering with its gene type or cosmetic appearance. In its natural environment it lives in rural villages, unfettered and free to breed as nature intended. More or less in a semi wild state, its coexistance with humans linked to its ability to hunt for food alongside the villagers.
It has a wrinkled head simply because it does. Photographs of dogs discovered 60 – 70 years ago show this physical trait. they still do today. Ancient Egyptian paintings also show the small wrinkled headed dog. Photos of more recent basenjis in their natural habitat in Africa, also show dogs with wrinkled, plaint skin. It has not been bred in, or introduced by breeders. It is a trait created by evolution. Basenjis have pliant, skin which is wrinkled on their heads most likely to help them wriggle through the undergrowth avoiding snags and also helping them escape from predators.
When the first enthusiastic owners of this dog travelled to Africa to buy the dogs from the villagers they were brought many to choose from, and chose the most healthy looking well constructed (ie physically sound) dogs they could. They then eventually wrote a breed standard based on the dogs they had and were looking at. The breed standard for basenjis simply seeks to keep the breed in as natural a state as possible. It has not tampered with it or chosen to emphasise points or changed it in any way. If you Google early imports such as Fula of the Congo you will see she is almost a blueprint of the breed standard and many dogs today look very much like her.
The American Kennel Club has recently allowed new dogs to be imported from Africa and this will widen the gene pool. Unfortunately it is estimated that mans violence, greed and destruction of the baenjis natural environment will soon see basenjis extinct in their original habitat. Certainly within 10 – 20 years. The basenji breeders of today are enabling this most ancient breed to survive. Naturally you would not castigate environmentalists for protecting endagered species such as tigers and gorillas. Yet you ridicule basenji breeders for protecting this species – a species that has most likely existed for thousands of years and was once the favoured friend of the Egyptian Pharoahs.
Shame on you.
Okay well how exactly were you hoping to have a wrinkle free Basenji? You have to breed them out. There are just over 70 show basenjis in britain. ALL of them having wrinkle. The breed standard calls for wrinkle as that is a characteristic of the breed, the same breed that had wrinkles thousands of years ago so who are we to change that?
The breed as pointed out before is one of the healthiest breeds out there. There is NO scientific evidence amongst basenjis that proves that their wrinkle affects their health.
Say we did start to breed basenjis with no wrinkle, surely thats changing their aesthetic traits, something you are against?
Either way we cannot win having wrinkles or not. Practice what you preach.
Shame on me?
OK. Seems you need to look a little further in to the point I’m making. Or, if that’s too much to ask. Please give me a simple, straight forward answer to a simple straight forward question:
Why does a Basenji NEED ‘profuse’ wrinkles in order to be healthy?
Smash writes: “Say we did start to breed basenjis with no wrinkle, surely thats changing their aesthetic traits, something you are against?”
Erm, weird argument – but I’ll bite.
Breeding out aesthetic traits that are detrimental is not something I object to. Just so we’re clear on that.
Smash writes: “There is NO scientific evidence amongst basenjis that proves that their wrinkle affects their health. ”
You’ve already trade to make this point! It is not at all the point I am making and I’m – clearly – struggling to get you to understand that.
So I’ll bow out and leave you to your own thoughts. You obviously can’t answer my question and explain to me why a Basenji MUST have profuse wrinkles in order to be healthy. And the fact you can’t answer that, speaks volumes.
Why does a basenji have wrinkles?
It doesnt NEED them for aesthetics it just HAS them. Like a tiger has stripes or an elephant has a trunk. I presume you are familiar with the theory of evolution?
Basenjis with wrinkles survived because they were useful to them. Or not a hindrance. Pliant skin (the cause of the wrinkle) benefits basenjis because they can wriggle from the grip of a predator or the snag of dense thicket. A tiger uses its stripes as camoflage, the elephant uses its trunk to reach high trees.
It is not a trait bred in by humans. So why ask humans to breed it out because that is your argument.
So lets deliberately produce tigers without stripes and elephants without trunks shall we. Why? Because you dont like them? No that would be silly……
My answer is Ryan basenjis do not have to have wrinkle the fact is that they do and always have. like the person above says
“The basenji is one of the most ancient breeds of dog, it has existed for hundreds and possibly thousands of years unaffected by breeders tampering with its gene type or cosmetic appearance…It has a wrinkled head simply because it does. Photographs of dogs discovered 60 – 70 years ago show this physical trait. they still do today. Ancient Egyptian paintings also show the small wrinkled headed dog. Photos of more recent basenjis in their natural habitat in Africa, also show dogs with wrinkled, plaint skin. It has not been bred in, or introduced by breeders. It is a trait created by evolution.”
Who are we to change that?????
you are just arguing now for the sake of it.
So lets clarify this.
A basenji doesnt NEED wrinkle to remain healthy.
It NEEDS wrinkle to stay ALIVE in its natural environment. If it didn’t need plaint skin to survive in the harsh African environment it wouldnt have evolved with wrinkles. Wrinkles have helped it survive. They look nice too ……but that is besides the point. They have wrinkles because they do. Perhaps you should concentrate on man made breeds and not breeds created by evolution, based on necessity and not beauty?
OK. Let’s examine a couple of points.
‘Needs wrinkles to stay alive in its natural environment’
Utter, utter claptrap. I’d love to see the ‘scientific evidence’ to support such a claim.
‘evolution / tiger stripes’ – Dear Lord, are you REALLY trying to compare dog breeds to natural evolution? With a straight face? Honestly?
So much daftness, so little time for me to address it all.
Carry on though.
Daftness you should listen to yourself Ryan. You clearly lost the arguement but cannot admit it.
Smash – now you’re calling yourself ‘James’, why do you do this. Your anonymity as ‘Smash’ is protected. I can only assume you’d like others to believe you’re a new person and thus adding weight to the arguments you’ve put forward under your other alias. It is odd, to say the least.
Anyway – no answer to my question yet?
Why do Basenjis ‘need’ wrinkles to be healthy. And please, if it’s ‘they need wrinkles to survive in their natural environment’ please, please back that up with a bit of science, if you’d be so kind.
Actually it is James that i am workin with in the same office so no we are not the same person unfortunately just people who share the same view. Is James not allowed to express his views? We were simply laughing at the arguement at work and he wanted to comment. So unfortunate you had go so low to try and cloud the fact you are still losing an arguement.
Well that explains that then. Obviously. I believe you as well. Even though this wasn’t your explanation last time I asked the question of you regarding changing identities.
So, no answer to the question asked then?
Maybe you and James should get together and come up with a simple answer to a simple question?
no that was because that was me trying to hide my identity which in a small showing society is hard so i tried not to reveal to much under the same name. Unfortunately that didnt work as you revealed it to them by letting them no who i was. Jmaes from my office simply wanted to wind you up. It certainly worked.
Ever heard of thwe data protection act by the way? You will be hearing from my superiors from the ICO complaints department very soon.
Do you write your own material or do you work with other comedy performers?
Seriously, show me where I revealed your ACTUAL identity.
Of course I know of Data Protection Act. It’s my business to know, hence I pay my yearly subscription to the Data Protection Commissioner. If you want to make a complain, on you go. Talk is cheap and you’re not making yourself look like the brightest button on the shirt here.
Not funny for you I actually do work for the ICO and part-time with a Data protection team at a hospital. So no this is no joke.
Well you’re quite right then, that isn’t funny. I’m not at all happy if folks who don’t actually know the law relating to data protection are working the field. Not funny at all. Like I say, don’t flap your typing fingers about it – got a legitimate DPA complaint, knock yourself out. Make it. Talk is cheap. In fact, if you DON’T make that complaint, you won’t just look like a fool, you’ll look like a dishonest fool.
‘OK. Let’s examine a couple of points.
‘Needs wrinkles to stay alive in its natural environment’
Utter, utter claptrap. I’d love to see the ’scientific evidence’ to support such a claim.’
Perhaps you need to read Darwins theory of evolution?
That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism’s genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival — a process known as “natural selection.” These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature).
My point is the basenjis wrinkle is a beneficial mutation created by natural selection. Basejis are an ancient breed of dog who have evolved in their natural environment, unaffected by human genetic engineering.Man did not breed the little wrinkled dog. He evolved like other wild dogs through natural selection. He is one of the few breeds of dog that has been very closely linked via genetic marking to wolves.The Canine Heritage Breed Test has shown that it is one of the most primitive (earliest) breeds known.
It is not ‘daft’ to liken the loss of the wild basenji population to the loss of any other species. The greed and destruction of the human species is responsible for the extinction of many other species. Loss of natural habitat will mean the loss of the land to the ancient people who are linked to the basenji in its natural state.
Soon the only basenjis left will be those we own and breed.
And I for one am not prepared to alter it cosmetically because you do not like its wrinkled head.
Anyway it has survived like that for hundreds, if not thousands of years. I am sure it will survive the misplaced interest of yourself.
But – perhaps it is time for you to explain why you want to get rid of its wrinkle. What do you know that nature does not?
OH please. The idea that you are trying to link natural evolution to a 2008 model dog breed is so wide of the mark it’s hillarious. Natural evolution would mean there wasn’t even a BREED called a Basenji. There would simply be ‘dogs’. That’s as basic science as it can get.
And, for the last time, who said I was trying to ‘get rid’ of the wrinkles? Again, my simple question – why does a Basenji, according to its official breed standard, need profuse wrinkles on its head in order to be healthy? Why? Why? What reason?
And I’ll tell you where this all comes from shall I.
Few years back I was watching Crufts. A woman was in the studio with her pet Basenji. She was a former professional tennis player. The dog breed ‘expert’ was asked to give an assessment of her dog in relation to show potential. He advised her that although she had a nice dog, it didn’t have enough wrinkles to be considered for showing.
Now, see, to someone like me – that knows that those wrinkles do not NEED to be there and have no positive effect on the dog’s health – well, to someone like me, that makes me laugh out loud at the show world who put such stock in such stupid ideals. Have certainly read nothing in this thread to convince me otherwise either.
Smash wrote:
‘Ever heard of thwe data protection act by the way? You will be hearing from my superiors from the ICO complaints department very soon.’
Lol, what is it with people who make threats and end up looking stupid themselves?
Is it a blog version of ‘Teddy out of the pram’ or merely a distraction technique when the argument is going against them?
Why does a Basenji NEED wrinkles anyway?
Oh please.
So little knowledge…. there is plenty of thorough scientific testing to prove that the basenji is very ancient indeed. Perhaps you should check up on this breed before you lump it in with ‘modern’ breeds. It is one of the very few ‘original’ dogs before man began to tamper with them and create breeds for a variety of purposes.
If you leave dogs to breed by themselves you get the basenji. The very ‘ dogs’ that you refer to.The basesnji IS the dog in its natural state. Do you do your research or what? DOH!
And so what that a judge commented it didn’t have ‘enough wrinkle’ for him? It obviously HAD wrinkle for the comment to be made. He was giving his personal opinion. Like you do. You are so intolerant. Wrinkle on a basenji is not exagerrated – does not harm a dog. I prefer smooth coated dogs as they are easier to live with (less hair to hoover up) does that make me a bad person too?
The breed standard that you deplore is simply a description of the basenji in Africa living a semi wild existence. They have wrinkle. Sorry. Fact. Breeders try to produce dogs that adhere to the standard. They try not to change it for reasons such as cosmetics, fads, or fashion. Just like the breeders of any stock try to replicate stock so that it is recognisable phyically and tempermentally as a particular animal or breed. Ever visit a farm show ? A cattle auction?
I cannot be bothered to reason with you any more. You base your argument on emotion and not reason. Next you will be commenting on prick ears or eye shape or the number of whiskers.
I wont fuel your foolishness anymore. I shall simply carry on breeding healthy, even tempered basenji like basenjis!
Good. I’m glad you ‘can’t be bothered to argue’ because you’re not very good at it.
Where, prey tell, did I say the Basenji wasn’t an ancient breed? I have to ask, do you actually read what I write or are you just all too wound up you get stomping away without even thinking what it is you are saying? You make points in some sort of opposition to me which I haven’t even made.
I’ll say it once more because with however many words you’ve typed you’ve still (conveniently) refused to answer this one, and despite the fact that you won’t be here to answer, others might fancy giving it a go where you have refused:
Why does a Basenji need ‘fine and profuse wrinkles’ on its head in order to be healthy?