At its General Committee
meeting on September 2, the Kennel Club agreed to take a number of
actions following the broadcast of the recent BBC documentary
looking at breed health.
The Kennel Club strongly
rejects any implication in the programme that it is complacent, or
that it has failed to take seriously, or act on the issues covered
by the programme. This is fundamentally not the case. Undoubtedly
the programme was made to an agenda, and therefore relied on the
sensational to make its points, resulting in what we believe was an
extremely biased piece of television, which not only ignored much of
the excellent work already underway, but also offered no solutions
of its own!
Indeed, by its lack of
balance and criticism of those in the Kennel Club and the breed
clubs who are working so hard to find practical ways to promote
breed health, it potentially set the agenda back, rather than moving
it forward. That said, we acknowledge that many of those watching
are unaware of our work, and it is therefore incumbent on the Kennel
Club to take positive action to refute such poor journalism. We
believe that our best response therefore is a simple but clear
examination of the facts, and effective communication of the robust
measures we are putting in place.
VAST MAJORITY HEALTHY
The Kennel Club
acknowledges that some breeds do have problems and has been taking
action for many years to deal with them. However, our extensive
research underlines the fact that the vast majority of breeds and
dogs are healthy.
Thankfully, few of us,
or of the general pet owning public, will have seen any of the
problems which were portrayed as commonplace on the TV programme.
Neither the 160,000 visitors to Crufts this year, nor
the many
millions of other dog loving viewers who watch it on television,
will have
recognised the description “disabled
mutants in
a freakish, garish beauty pageant”
from what they saw – which was beautiful, healthy animals
interacting with proud and loving owners! This
is the reality, and while it is of course legitimate to investigate
dog health, we do not feel that it is legitimate to portray the
findings of those investigations in such a one-sided way which
completely ignores the efforts of all those most closely involved
with dog health.
PROUD OF ACTIONS TAKEN
To repeat, the KC is far
from complacent; where health is concerned more can always be done –
and it is being done. The Kennel Club is proud of the many actions
which it and the many breeders and breed clubs have been taking for
over 20 years to improve canine health and welfare, and just how far
we have already come. For example:
And there are many more
initiatives. The Kennel Club is a concerned and conscientious
organisation which has as its main objective ‘the general
improvement of dogs’. As such it defends the commendable actions of
responsible breeders, and is proud of the role it has played in both
developing and promoting them.
Future plans:
While the Kennel Club
already had in place an ongoing detailed strategic plan to deal with
all the key health issues, the recent Pedigree Dogs Exposed
programme has catapulted this topic firmly into the public eye and
has added urgency to our existing activity. Some of this activity
has already been announced, but the Kennel Club would like to take
this opportunity to outline generally what initiatives are currently
under consideration.
REPUTATION OF DOG
BREEDERS AND THE KENNEL CLUB:
ACTIONS WITHIN THE WORLD
OF PEDIGREE DOGS
The Kennel Club will
make full use of the measures it has within its remit and authority
to ensure that all breed clubs and councils encourage their members
to undertake health screening appropriate to each breed and that
individual breeders reach the highest possible standards of
husbandry and welfare.
· The
Kennel Club Breed Health and Welfare Strategy Group
(BHWSG) will continue to play a major role in this. It consists of a
number of people as follows:
Dr Ruth Barbour, BA., MB
ChB, FRCGP (Chairman)
Prof. Mike Herrtage, MA,
BVSc, DVR, DVD, DSAM, DECVIM, DECVDI, MRCVS,
Dean of Cambridge
Veterinary School
Prof. Sheila
Crispin, MA,VetMB, BSc, PhD, DVA, DVOpthal, DipECVO, FRCVS,
Past
President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
Frank Kane, Chairman
Kennel Club Breed Standards Committee
Meg Purnell-Carpenter,
Vice-Chairman Kennel Club Breed Standards Committee
Ronnie Irving, Kennel
Club Chairman
Caroline Kisko, BSc,
Kennel Club Secretary
KC
Health Department
Dr Jeff Sampson, BSc
DPhil, Genetics Advisor
Bill Lambert, Health &
Information Manager
Diana Brookes-Ward, BSc,
Health Co-ordinator
Those breed clubs and
councils which have been consulting and making progress with the
Kennel Club can expect to continue to do so – with renewed vigour
and determination.
Some breed
organisations, especially any which may have been unwilling to
co-operate with Kennel Club demands benefitting the health of the
breed, can expect the Kennel Club to be tougher on them and to take
unilateral action to enforce its demands if necessary.
There are already plans
underway for members of the Breed Health and Welfare Strategy Group,
to deal with issues regarding the following breeds over the next few
weeks and months: German Shepherd Dogs, Basset Hounds, Bloodhounds,
Neapolitan Mastiffs, Dogues De Bordeaux, and a joint meeting of
representatives of a number of brachicephalic breeds such as the Pug
and the French Bulldog.
A special meeting will
be held to deal with issues regarding the Pekingese Breed Standard.
It will also look at the possibility of other measures, in the event
of breeders or judges refusing to accede to Kennel Club requests.
·
Veterinary Passport
We are also considering
the introduction of a ‘Veterinary Passport’ before allowing certain
breeds to compete at Kennel Club licensed dog shows. This would be
designed specifically for particular breeds, confirming the status
of a dog’s health and conformation in relation to certain prescribed
aspects before they could be shown.
·
Codes of Ethics
To ensure consistency
across all breeds, the Kennel Club is reviewing its own Code of
Ethics, taking the Animal Welfare Act into consideration and adding
such items as ‘culling’ as an unacceptable practice in relation to
non breed standard traits. As stated some 20 years ago and that
remains in the case
The Kennel Club
considers culling to be unacceptable and in fact required the
Dalmatian breed clubs to remove this requirement from the breed code
of ethics some twenty years ago and had instructed the Rhodesian
Ridgeback clubs to remove the requirement from their codes of
ethics.
KC Registered Breed
Clubs will, in future, be instructed that they must adopt the Kennel
Club’s Code of Ethics and that any additions or departures from
these must be referred to - and be approved by - the Kennel Club.
These will form part of Breed Club Annual Returns in future.
·
Kennel Club Challenge Certificates
Challenge Certificates,
the means of creating champions, are entirely within the gift of the
Kennel Club and the allocation to each breed will be reviewed. The
General Committee has agreed that the allocation to breeds should,
in future, take much greater account of the willingness of those
clubs and breeders and judges involved in each breed to deal
positively with health and welfare issues.
·
Judges
Reinforcing the many
actions already taken to train and emphasise to judges the paramount
importance of health and welfare issues, a conference of Group and
Best in Show judges is to be held. This will ensure that all of
these senior people are given the opportunity to lead the way in
recognising the responsibilities they have, and to stress the
actions which will be taken if judges fail to place health and
welfare considerations sufficiently high when judging.
Consideration is
also to be given to requiring breed clubs and councils to organise,
every few years, conferences at which mainly specialist CC judges
would be required to attend to review breed health and welfare and
endeavour to avoid detrimental exaggerations.
Judges’
ongoing performance will be kept under review to ensure that health
remains an important priority for all when judging.
·
Line
Breeding and Genetic Diversity
The Kennel Club’s
Geneticist, Dr Jeff Sampson has been involved with Imperial College
on this issue for some three years, and is to continue the work
started with them. This work will examine the available research
findings, specifically considering the evidence relating to close matings and frequently used sires. To speed the process, Dr Sampson
will enlist the help of a quantitative geneticist to develop this
work further.
KENNEL CLUB ACCREDITED
BREEDER SCHEME – THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS SUCCESS
Individual breeders lie
at the heart of the continuing improvement of the health of our
pedigree dogs. Therefore the Kennel Club’s major health emphasis
for the future of pedigree dogs in this country is going to be
through the further development of the Kennel Club Accredited
Breeder Scheme.
Currently the scheme,
which is now just over four years old, is being reviewed and the
Kennel Club will be outlining its proposals shortly.
To be effective, the
scheme must be supported by all responsible dog breeders if
it is to be taken seriously by government and by the puppy buying
public. Some breeders have had doubts about joining and indicating
their willingness to support this voluntary scheme. While the ABS
is not the complete answer, it does give breeders a way of
demonstrating their commitment to dog health and welfare. If
serious breeders had doubts about joining before the broadcast of
the recent TV programme then it is hoped that the importance of
having such a scheme was underlined, and the necessity of everyone
working together is vital. The KC is also totally committed to
promoting the scheme to the wider public and ensuring its success.
SELF REGULATION OR
LEGISLATION?
Breeders should
recognise that the alternative to being guided by the Kennel Club is
to be legislated by government or a government supported
organisation. If it is shown that the dog world is unable or
unwilling to clean up its own act – then recent events should
indicate the way in which such external legislation could go. In
Pedigree Dogs Exposed, the RSPCA’s Chief Vet made the following
statements:
“The
RSPCA is extremely concerned about the very high levels of
disability, deformity and disease in pedigree dogs.”
“The
cause is very simple: it is competitive dog showing. That is what
has caused the problem.”
“This
is a no-brainer. Of course we have to change. We have to encourage
those involved in the industry to do a complete top to bottom review
of both Breed Standards and the rules and regulations of dog
showing, to move it away from its obsession with beauty through to
quality of life. But unless we start now, the pedigree dog hasn't
got a chance.”.
These are the views of
the organisation which wants to take a leading role in controlling
dog breeding in this country – and it is what we risk if initiatives
such as the Accredited Breeder Scheme do not succeed. The Kennel
Club needs to prove these views wrong.
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