Cavalier Club: Congratulations, Your Shot Missed the Messenger but Took Your Own Foot Clean Off
Yesterday we heard the news that Margaret Carter had been voted out of the Cavalier King Charles club for her part in the heinous crime of standing up and admitting to the health problems within the breed she so clearly has such feeling for.
The breed club members, keen to have their pound of flesh voted against her in their hundreds.
Well done!
Why, you might ask would I offer my congratulations to a breed club which is clearly so insular, so unaware of how REAL dog lovers see them – I use the term real dog lovers because ANYONE who voted Margaret Carter out does not have any right whatsoever to describe themselves as such – when, to the untrained eye this might look like a monumental case of embittered fools making a complete ass of themselves and their own organisation?
Why would I say well done?
Well, if this case hasn’t 100% confirmed the widely held view that there ARE still major, major problems in the pedigree dog world which are being ignored at the expense of the politics of personality, then NOTHING will.
Let’s look at the facts shall we?
Pedigree Dogs Exposed – pre-broadcast of this documentary the KC sent out a press release ‘warning’ people that the programmer was likely to be one sided. Bear in mind, the programme hadn’t even been broadcast yet. The Kennel Club were obviously concerned enough to try and get some damage limitation in as early as possible. What they actually did is whip up even more interest in the documentary from dog lovers all over the country.
The documentary airs. Millions watched, in horror. People are shocked, really shocked. Normal people, not just ‘dog people’, normal, ordinary people see footage of dogs suffering and breeders giving ridiculous, pathetic, outdated opinions on why ridgeless Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies should be killed and other such nonsense. Even the Kennel Club’s own chairman is seen telling an interviewer that he ‘didn’t need science’ to tell him about his dogs. The documentary was the subject of great media interest nationally and internationally. The issues it raised are still reverberating today.
The aftermath.
The Kennel Club purchased keywords on Google including the famous, established ‘RSPCA’ brand name to direct users to the Kennel Club owned genetics website. A move that would be more aptly described as propoganda, not good public relations. I mean, what CAN we work out from the fact that the Kennel Club was prepared to buy the search term ‘RSPCA’ in order to send people to their own website when the RSPCA had clearly drawn a line in the sand on the issue of bad breeding and the Kennel Club’s failure to stem the bad practices? It’s not just a misleading, misguided piece of desperation, it’s just plain stupid.
The Kennel Club is keen to engage in damage limitation. They ‘assure’ us that 90% of pedigree dogs are healthy. Their own, most recent health study contradicts this figure. And even so, an admission that 10% of all pedigree dogs are unhealthy is hardly something to boast about by anyone’s definition.
The RSPCA do the right thing, they withdraw from Crufts.
The Dogs Trust and National Dog Warden Association follow suit.
The Kennel Club claims it has been ’stabbed in the back’ by these charities to whom it had recently donated money.
The BBC tells the Kennel Club they are reviewing their position regarding the ongoing broadcast of Crufts. The Kennel Club tells the press that they believe the BBC’s position is ‘untenable’ and that the KC themselves are ‘confident’ they could get another broadcaster anyway – this, I must remind you, is all before the BBC have announced the results of their own investigation.
The Kennel Club are asked why they don’t insist on health testing for all puppies registered with them. They respond by for them to do this. Instead, they draw people’s attention to the Accredited Breeder Scheme, a project which has been controversial even amongst Kennel Club affiliated breeders.
The Kennel Club claims it would be a mistake to get tough on bad breeders as it could lead to the creation of more breed registries, as was (they say) the case in the USA. Other commentators argue that many of the breed clubs which run in competition to the American Kennel Club are actually far superior in their attitudes to health standards.
The Kennel Club continues to insist it is working hard with breed clubs to do all they can to improve the health of dogs and to address the issues raised by Pedigree Dogs Exposed.
Then, on Sunday 6th of October 2008, the Cavalier King Charles club blows that claim out of the water, instead proving just what a complete farce the entire notion of breed clubs ‘working hard on health issues’ actually is!
It has been reported that fewer than 2 dozen members attended the two Cavalier Club’s sponsored Syringomyelia Conferences, yet over 200 showed up to vote out Margaret Carter who was the key person behind every ongoing club health campaign as originator or main supporter.
TAKE THAT, MESSENGER!
And so where does this leave us?
Let’s say you are a breeder and a breed club member. Let’s say you are concerned about health issues within your breed. Are YOU going to be brave enough to stand up and bring attention to the white elephant in the room that is the health problems affecting your breed? Are you prepared to be made a pariah by people who aren’t as concerned about the health issues affecting the dogs you love as you so clearly are? Are you bold enough to stand up and work to help the breed you love get healthier only to see a vengeful mob kick you out on your ear?
Well, you SHOULD be brave enough. You should follow the lead of Margaret Carter. Because YOU, my friend, would be RIGHT, THEY would be wrong.
The fact that there is such an obvious and concerted campaign from within the dog world to shoot the messenger leaves only one real hope. Maybe they’ll get so trigger happy they’ll continue to aim their guns at their ‘enemies’ but only succeed in blowing their own feet off. As they stagger around wondering where all their power, prestige and authority disappeared to, the Margaret Carter’s of the world can get on with the task of working to make dogs better.
Other breed clubs should not be judged by the actions of this one. However, it is an interesting insight in to the REAL attitudes of some of the people who have cried the loudest about the ‘unfairness’ of the Pedigree Dogs Exposed documentary. They call themselves dog lovers, to me it seems they have a stronger affinity for ostriches.
Highly Recommended: What dog owner wouldn’t want a piece of THIS action? – Get FREE dog food!
Related posts:
- Kennel Club Hits Out at Cavalier Club; Supports Margaret Carter
- Kennel Club has ‘Concerns’ About Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club
- Cavalier King Charles Club Accuses K9 Magazine of Misleading Readers
- Pedigree Dogs Exposed Documentary Maker Responds to Kennel Club Moves
- Cavalier Clubs Get Their PR Advice (From The Kremlin)
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As I have continued to say over a 6 year period its the breed clubs that are at fault they continue to rule in a shoddy K9 world. The attitude of the Cavalier club doesnt surprise me in the slightest, its what we all expect from organisations run by imbeciles and dodgy old breeders who judge dogs for business reasons and not health.
As we all know if breeders spell out health problems with any breed, its the committee members and the club secretaries that will ring around their friends to accuse you and dispell you from the clubs, REGULATION OF ALL UK BREED CLUBS MUST BE SEEN TO BE DONE BY THE GOVERNING BODY -THE KC……
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Thank you,Ryan O’Meara for your comments re: the stupidity by the CKCS Club to shove out the strongest person they have to champion the health of the sweet Cavaliers. It’s been said “a club for breeders not for the breed” and doesn’t that succinctly speak to their infamous action. Well, in spite of them, a few breeders are working diligently to validate the health of their breeding dogs.Puppy buyers will have to be extra careful to research breeders after all that has been demonstrated. Again, Mr.O’Meara,well done.
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Please get your facts right Margaret Carter was not voted out of the Cavalier Club. She was voted off the Committe of the club. Her membership still stands
She was voted off the committee for not being able to keep her own counsel in other words she did not keep to the rule of confidentiality.
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Oh, confidentiality is it? That’s why she was voted off?
And why, please tell, should a club have a confidentiality rule which prohibits members from talking about health results or in fact anything else? I’m sorry, but the Cavalier club is NOT MI5 and the actions of the breed club have been widely condemned, even by the Kennel Club. trying to defend the indefensible is not a wise strategy.
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Tina Holmes – you should be ashamed of yourself! That is the ruse used by the Club but the real and transparent reason is seen by all of us that own cavaliers and care for their welfare. Money and status which leads to more money for pups is the real reason breeders voted her from the committee and why they refuse to scan their dogs. Margaret Carter and Carol Fowler should be applauded for standing up for these beloved dogs who only ask for a loving home not to be “given” a genetic death sentence.
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Loz B
Well written!
Not sure if you have noticed but it seems that the KC has rallied it’s troops to defend it and those others who are getting it in the neck at the moment! The KC also sent out an 8 page letter/statement type thing to councils explaining what to say re the PDE TV programme.
I applaud the actions of Margaret and Carol, it takes a certain type of person to stand out in the crowd especially when you are in a minority. Well done to them both.
Sadly the KC has missed yet another opportunity to regain some form of credibility and almost belatedly jumps on the bandwagon, yet again, too little too late.
Perhaps the KC should change it’s name to the Homer Simpson Club and have as it’s strapline, DOH!
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