tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11839577030773422012024-03-17T08:06:08.516+00:00Pedigree Dogs Exposed - The BlogFrom the makers of Pedigree Dogs Exposed, the latest news and views regarding inherited disorders and conformation issues in purebred dogs.Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.comBlogger502125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-42526365352441607682023-11-06T11:26:00.005+00:002023-11-06T21:47:28.179+00:00Shocking! And here's how YOU can help stop this abuse<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="892" data-original-width="876" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejzYq-a5ETItZoO8lcZZfqh6-jOKC67TqwhdqBS_G27HMP2ZHanArX91SNYYIlzhkYfPHZiwVtAMe9aOYw_idnm8QDEt6pbQ1PZQpfOEyC3DxBCYUrtMHAzeHw6_fdOiRRbvc-b0EsKclE-kv6s5Dl7RnTLYVSO6KP3R3UVzA9IgpRfAuH-79-nsre0U/w393-h400/Fat%20Jack.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="393" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kennel Club registered - Britishbullz Fat Jack</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejzYq-a5ETItZoO8lcZZfqh6-jOKC67TqwhdqBS_G27HMP2ZHanArX91SNYYIlzhkYfPHZiwVtAMe9aOYw_idnm8QDEt6pbQ1PZQpfOEyC3DxBCYUrtMHAzeHw6_fdOiRRbvc-b0EsKclE-kv6s5Dl7RnTLYVSO6KP3R3UVzA9IgpRfAuH-79-nsre0U/s892/Fat%20Jack.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Last year, the UK Kennel Club registered over 60,000 Bulldog, French Bulldog and Pug puppies and f</span><span style="font-family: arial;">ewer than </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial;">five per cent</em><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> of these puppies were born to parents whose breathing had been tested before they were bred. This despite respiratory issues being their number one health issue. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today, Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pugs make up one in five of all the dogs registered with the Kennel Club - an increase from one in fifty in 2005.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Thousands more untested dogs are bred outside of the Kennel Club. There is, currently, an appetite for very extreme, freakish looking dogs - some sold for £100k and more by unscrupulous breeders.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As many people know, these breeds suffer from many health issues as a result of being bred for a flat (brachycephalic) face, with one of the most serious being Brachycephalic Obstructed Airway Syndrome (BOAS). </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A conservative estimate suggests that 67% of Bulldogs, 54% of all Frenchies and 75% of all Pugs in the UK exhibit some degree of BOAS. The true figure is likely to be higher.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The 'air hunger' these dogs experience has been described by experts as a significant welfare concern - in the same category as drowning or being deliberately asphyxiated. At best it is unpleasant; at worst terrifying.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The health issues suffered by short-faced (brachycephalic) dogs are considered so serious that the Netherlands has now banned their breeding . Other countries are now considering introducing their own measures - from an outright ban to strict breeding rules.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In 2019, in response to increasing concern from veterinarians and welfare bodies, the Kennel Club introduced a breathing scheme for Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pugs. The scheme grades dogs' breathing between 0 and 3, with Grade 0 being unaffected and Grade 3 being severely affected. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The scheme is only mandatory for breeders signed up the KC's elite Assured Breeder Scheme but there are very few of these (just 11 assured Pug breeders in the whole of the UK) and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">there is no pass or fail</em>. For all other breeders/owners, it is voluntary and uptake has been slow.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">While some of the more health-conscious breeders are now testing, the vast majority of Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pug puppies registered by the Kennel Club have not been tested and are at an increased risk of suffering significant breathing issues.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This dog above ,for example, is registered with the Kennel Club. He has not been BOAS tested and it is likely from his conformation that he is severely affected. His pups, all Kennel Club registered, are currently being offered for sale on Gumtree. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCl3FMkc81cKzd095pHHldQS6MxnF8FIfkAudX0hpyx3cWrgNY6peWUHlC2tgYuFFTXXyLsgoV-WMS9U0NA0_sijX_K-SjCDJFi4pkAZKML4ZWczqOdnwjTc7GEOJ94wud8zDCsbET2yegt_suSyLpDGEx7NRnQIhiZce28LoUPvdEbgbURbjq7Fp21ts/s1566/gumtree%20litter%20ad.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="1566" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCl3FMkc81cKzd095pHHldQS6MxnF8FIfkAudX0hpyx3cWrgNY6peWUHlC2tgYuFFTXXyLsgoV-WMS9U0NA0_sijX_K-SjCDJFi4pkAZKML4ZWczqOdnwjTc7GEOJ94wud8zDCsbET2yegt_suSyLpDGEx7NRnQIhiZce28LoUPvdEbgbURbjq7Fp21ts/w400-h83/gumtree%20litter%20ad.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">His pedigree name is Britishbullz Fat Jack - born in the UK on 9th June 2022 (incorrectly registered as fawn). </span></span></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Here's what he looked like as a pup:</span></span></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQN1eYQhZY4P1X_LiD4VyBg17QoLX_iLammjgPD4C-Z7ot7Rz5YXIkUV31BLDEO8BvYykotx93kI1-5dH92j-3sR6RQkUAHSkT04X6X_iTBgNHZ5Vz9MbEezWuYZdH7J_3SFbFMXGSgCV6lBVK0VsTWARzs4qXng43T1mu13xA2S_Lm27jaU1kz5VVIU/s2234/fat%20jack%20@%20griff%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1322" data-original-width="2234" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyQN1eYQhZY4P1X_LiD4VyBg17QoLX_iLammjgPD4C-Z7ot7Rz5YXIkUV31BLDEO8BvYykotx93kI1-5dH92j-3sR6RQkUAHSkT04X6X_iTBgNHZ5Vz9MbEezWuYZdH7J_3SFbFMXGSgCV6lBVK0VsTWARzs4qXng43T1mu13xA2S_Lm27jaU1kz5VVIU/w400-h236/fat%20jack%20@%20griff%201.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Here is his sister:</span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI7QLvwUZUphPFxdfOKUYND7YGnNNNIW6C1G0euub38jetoPiUxpK1qP2BwVuIjeeH15t97X23v6LXHLJewUVR_yegye1O7la_1p6J5Xl3kpJWOx8iWivugbfuiCMRrbz0RM9fCowqYhmbuaRffNAkYhfHbjpNoKXgc_yFRtaf0hy4Atpk_pMgnvxLVT8/s1744/352785451_780430413807049_4998420226147363202_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1744" data-original-width="1046" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI7QLvwUZUphPFxdfOKUYND7YGnNNNIW6C1G0euub38jetoPiUxpK1qP2BwVuIjeeH15t97X23v6LXHLJewUVR_yegye1O7la_1p6J5Xl3kpJWOx8iWivugbfuiCMRrbz0RM9fCowqYhmbuaRffNAkYhfHbjpNoKXgc_yFRtaf0hy4Atpk_pMgnvxLVT8/w240-h400/352785451_780430413807049_4998420226147363202_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Fat Jack was exported to the US earlier this year and, thanks to the reciprocal agreement between the UK Kennel Club and the American Kennel Club, Fat Jack is now registered with the AKC. </span></span></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuneD4-YkYRP4XRwKisFPp6NjtuDvcVLg2koNskNQwlLA9r9zltSqXhSHSj5I1IT0kKQzqmXxxFO_MyeDOnSfj99Z6IN_DkzaIs60TFEfpYlmAYDCTyWpXnYnnWpzHa9nUAOBkE9mlEAmYmXXKpjpQZkMM0JkQLNYKkw-Sca8QDNBlq5MffhqEqlbyIO0/s1247/AKC%20reg%20arrow.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="1247" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuneD4-YkYRP4XRwKisFPp6NjtuDvcVLg2koNskNQwlLA9r9zltSqXhSHSj5I1IT0kKQzqmXxxFO_MyeDOnSfj99Z6IN_DkzaIs60TFEfpYlmAYDCTyWpXnYnnWpzHa9nUAOBkE9mlEAmYmXXKpjpQZkMM0JkQLNYKkw-Sca8QDNBlq5MffhqEqlbyIO0/w400-h223/AKC%20reg%20arrow.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><br /></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Fat Jack's sire is Jackpot of Cheshire - a dog that sired 19 KC litters until his death in June 2022 at the age of just 18 months. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM875lbAR95jrDNFbT4eaCay80f_V2A94dfQAcPhpNZQgz31eK6wy96p_hyphenhyphenC7U5K51wuDOPh2wHzkvjrdtq1nYpeObRs7mgtl58hclC3lSKPGpu2jpJ1zm0kBX0HazF55TOwTxVt4srdVV58WqY5oLQFMwS0lQaj_obFBiAj1oWgblFOxiwJtT6THRf58/s2260/Jackpot%20confirmation%20of%20death.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1394" data-original-width="2260" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM875lbAR95jrDNFbT4eaCay80f_V2A94dfQAcPhpNZQgz31eK6wy96p_hyphenhyphenC7U5K51wuDOPh2wHzkvjrdtq1nYpeObRs7mgtl58hclC3lSKPGpu2jpJ1zm0kBX0HazF55TOwTxVt4srdVV58WqY5oLQFMwS0lQaj_obFBiAj1oWgblFOxiwJtT6THRf58/w400-h246/Jackpot%20confirmation%20of%20death.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Jackpot's sire is four-year-old Topboy Bully, still only four years old. <b>He has sired - wait for it - 80 KC-registered litters.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And Topboy Bully's sire is Burleybulls Nemesis, who has sired 160 KC-registered litters.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHhygfsVpHMHRjd_rH5t_znDFbbUAUToqYGW4Rq8bmblcLUtI_sM6I6ah71d2U4_Epa85JSInlSx172v_aqFlzMi_SuR4dc8JKWfu2iJfEEN9dAM-2HWxNEbrm7hfmkOZvYvRM93XXxHJqyIOc8P9IKQ5mo9wAqLxDhu_1KCQn0BMXzsXtEnUH8AFd1c/s1738/burleybullz%20nemesis.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1738" data-original-width="1504" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHhygfsVpHMHRjd_rH5t_znDFbbUAUToqYGW4Rq8bmblcLUtI_sM6I6ah71d2U4_Epa85JSInlSx172v_aqFlzMi_SuR4dc8JKWfu2iJfEEN9dAM-2HWxNEbrm7hfmkOZvYvRM93XXxHJqyIOc8P9IKQ5mo9wAqLxDhu_1KCQn0BMXzsXtEnUH8AFd1c/w346-h400/burleybullz%20nemesis.png" width="346" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-size: medium;">"We're just a register!" is the KC's defence. And indeed, the KC makes it clear in their small-print that KC registration is no guarantee of a quality dog. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Think of us as the DVLA for dogs," said a spokesperson for the KC recently. But cars have to meet manufacturing guidelines before they can be sold and they require annual tests to ensure their road-worthiness. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">I have always been sympathetic to the argument that it is better to register these dogs than not. After all, if the KC had not registered them I couldn't give you the above info. </span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><br /></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">But it is deeply shocking that dogs like Fat Jack and his relatives are being bred and legitimised through KC registration. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Being able to breathe is something just SO fundamental to quality of life - and the situation is now just SO serious that we need to do something.</span></span></p><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am calling on the Kennel Club and ultimately the Government to make pre-breeding breathing tests mandatory in order to prevent the legitimisation of dogs like the above, and I am also asking that only dogs graded 0/1 are bred, as has recently been ruled by the Supreme Court in Norway. Most health-conscious breeders in the above breeds would be in full support of this move.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Please sign the petitition urging the Kennel Club and the UK Government to take action now! Together we can make a difference to these dogs' lives.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">https://chng.it/K6LstFX6CK</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Noto Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></p></div></div>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-40813320093693502562022-03-11T00:49:00.001+00:002022-03-11T00:50:34.790+00:00Crufts 2022 - Day 1: scrutiny, scruples and a Neapolitan treat<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-wcHAQ0ycKSYtcfZfv3rUuM4Y47bM_lPrUsjFB5xAundjJRamJk4ETMhYeZkq6qHh-j7KbwNL8fw-VYK4mXq_qYffHZyD6cmcJ9qeGUcZUrWjwGiyDnKZMvGKSTazB3yQbk3IfUcU3xqqlMh45bre1ghgMBKgz22mHfDykuOWP3tqS7sxXxQEr7_X=s2243" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="2243" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-wcHAQ0ycKSYtcfZfv3rUuM4Y47bM_lPrUsjFB5xAundjJRamJk4ETMhYeZkq6qHh-j7KbwNL8fw-VYK4mXq_qYffHZyD6cmcJ9qeGUcZUrWjwGiyDnKZMvGKSTazB3yQbk3IfUcU3xqqlMh45bre1ghgMBKgz22mHfDykuOWP3tqS7sxXxQEr7_X=w400-h169" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Click to enlarge)</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Eleven years ago, I wrote a post featuring the Neapolitan Mastiffs at Crufts 2011. It highlighted the dogs in the ring that year - so horrendous that I headlined it "<a href="https://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/03/parade-of-mutants.html">A Parade of Mutants</a>". </p><p>The dog top-left above won Best of Breed that year - just heartbreaking. And the dog on the right won Best of Breed at Crufts today - Tommaso Goffredo's Taro. It's a world of difference, isn't it? The dog on the right isn't perfect but oh boy he was sound on the move. The picture captures that this dog is comfortable in his own body; not the painfully-hunched bag of excess skin that won in 2011. </p><p>Of course it takes more than a gobby blog to effect change - but it WAS the spark in this breed. It led to public outrage and the bad publicity made the Kennel Club wince. Breed reps were hauled over the coals by the Kennel Club after Crufts 2011 and told in no uncertain terms that the dogs had to improve. The following year, Crufts introduced vet checks. </p><p>That said, change can't happen if breeders don't step up to the mark - and that's what happened in Neapolitan Mastiffs. One breeder in particular, in fact - former breed health rep, Kim Slater-Mafi whose husband Mateaki won in the ring today with Tomasso Goffredo's Taro, who is 4.5yrs old. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPqAq1GlQ-96NAuguBEwT-LzWzN9SmGmMK0-WGvzCeeGy-aieKJneYIdsl3HH4e1SntKJH4BL_H94fcSfbsLv86lv5gkR0JeoOEacv6Eo3fzIQzpvA1JA2z_as0SRCvbl8kb9k-uayuPxKObVYpoY9Br97pRBlmXtCTIyy25oxRV6Nm1CKhCJ8Gy8P=s4096" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2731" data-original-width="4096" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPqAq1GlQ-96NAuguBEwT-LzWzN9SmGmMK0-WGvzCeeGy-aieKJneYIdsl3HH4e1SntKJH4BL_H94fcSfbsLv86lv5gkR0JeoOEacv6Eo3fzIQzpvA1JA2z_as0SRCvbl8kb9k-uayuPxKObVYpoY9Br97pRBlmXtCTIyy25oxRV6Nm1CKhCJ8Gy8P=w400-h265" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJH_2-7I_-Gj7qQJrRO6rYFz0ZO9qDqH6D7cSbexuC8m7gSlunRSmKfQOEYW9qHcGqxIu9EJtubbLaQcQNvE06WqUE9NGgRy2WzW54ZKdqH7TSz72UtHK-ClLkp9qaZklicvIzY5czNoA719asTzzDHZ3yWmSE_LGO_URF2VrxlHGKIMjEDUMCdliQ=s1152" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1152" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJH_2-7I_-Gj7qQJrRO6rYFz0ZO9qDqH6D7cSbexuC8m7gSlunRSmKfQOEYW9qHcGqxIu9EJtubbLaQcQNvE06WqUE9NGgRy2WzW54ZKdqH7TSz72UtHK-ClLkp9qaZklicvIzY5czNoA719asTzzDHZ3yWmSE_LGO_URF2VrxlHGKIMjEDUMCdliQ=w400-h265" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>I salute you both Although I would love you to go further ;-) . Below, on the left, is your boy, photographed today; in glossy show condition, slobber-free, I can see that his eyes are not red raw as we've seen in the past and.. lovely nostrils!. But check out the Neapolitan Mastiff from the 1970s. Leaving aside the cropped ears, the dog on the right has such a handsome, noble head. Less skin, cleaner face, better eyes. All the more imposing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh33ptzy0nGujEtPPwqPFQ-oTfNIKegOo3r6EO2gs2t-iZ-YkLRMvXtWfBZNW-b6f4dWhmn0TP2HEDMuVoMcccOhABOy8emJR8R9mO153EwhlWZjz5T5t7hyE__R6kgoI0viqwsKscJTzb8Ihhr0veI1KQGIy48YhSFTKws_o82jBSVuEqV_FL_u_NY=s2546" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1146" data-original-width="2546" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh33ptzy0nGujEtPPwqPFQ-oTfNIKegOo3r6EO2gs2t-iZ-YkLRMvXtWfBZNW-b6f4dWhmn0TP2HEDMuVoMcccOhABOy8emJR8R9mO153EwhlWZjz5T5t7hyE__R6kgoI0viqwsKscJTzb8Ihhr0veI1KQGIy48YhSFTKws_o82jBSVuEqV_FL_u_NY=w400-h178" width="400" /></a></div><p>This morning, I put up <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/cruffa/posts/3000219573528512/">a post on my campaign group CRUFFA</a> asking people attending Crufts to send in pictures of dogs that catch their eye at this year's show - examples showing improvement and/or those where it is obvious improvement is still needed. I actually do this every year - and every year it provokes outrage from those who feel people should be able to exhibit their dogs at Crufts without me highlighting issues. "Do your own dirty work and don't expect others to do it for you," wrote one commenter. " "How about you put your energy into helping the dogs in Ukraine?" asked another. </p><p>Many were keen to highlight the 'rules' re photography that are posted on the Crufts website (see <i><a href="https://www.crufts.org.uk/media-centre/private-photographers-film-or-video-film-operators-at-crufts">here</a></i>)</p><p>Bottom line, Crufts makes it clear that it is perfectly fine for members of the public to take photographs at Crufts and, as it happens, a condition of entry for exhibitors is that they grant permission to be filmed/photographed for TV/press. </p><p>That said, the Crufts website does does include this extraordinary statement.</p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(60, 61, 65); color: #3c3d41; font-family: "Maison Neue"; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><blockquote><i>No film/photographs/recordings to be taken or published which....may be to the detriment of the dogs taking part in the event, The Kennel Club or any visitors; or which may be prejudicial to the good image of The Kennel Club or which would if made public lead to adverse publicity for The Kennel Club or cause damage to The Kennel Club or bring the reputation of The Kennel Club or its members and/or visitors into question</i></blockquote><p></p><p>This is essentially saying that if you, say, got some footage of a judge whacking a dog or a Bulldog dropping dead in the ring (which very sadly happened one year), then you would not be allowed to publish it. This is at best nonsense and at worst a clear attempt at censorship. Legally enforceable it is not.</p><p>Worse, it does the dogs themselves a disservice. Why did the Kennel Club (finally) act on the dreadful half-dog-half-frog German Shepherds? Because one particularly awful one won in 2016 and it got a LOT of publicity.</p><p>The footage of the dog moving was edited out of the TV coverage - censored by some Kennel Club hand - but I tracked down the unedited footage and published it here. It got over half a million hits and the resulting outcry finally led to the Kennel Club acting. The GSD that won Best of Breed at Crufts today is night and day better than the 2016 winner (although there, too, still a way to go).</p><p>We all need outside scrutiny to keep us honest. And the dogs sound.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-30710952014520879592021-10-16T20:22:00.013+01:002021-10-18T11:30:50.510+01:00Crippled GSD wins Best of Breed at French Championship Show<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNFOQk9aw1s/YWsh9Q2wJJI/AAAAAAAAFw0/PhzndO6uMcsJES_fpjLJsY7Vgwm9_0RTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1486/2020%2BCh%2Bof%2BFrance%2BBOB.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1486" data-original-width="1020" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNFOQk9aw1s/YWsh9Q2wJJI/AAAAAAAAFw0/PhzndO6uMcsJES_fpjLJsY7Vgwm9_0RTQCLcBGAsYHQ/w440-h640/2020%2BCh%2Bof%2BFrance%2BBOB.png" width="440" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://user-2201896696.cld.bz/REVUE-CHAMPIONNATS-2021">Source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last month, the above GSD bitch won Best of Breed at the delayed 2020 French Championship in Dijon, France. Am sure she's a lovely dog but, oh boy, that backend 👀 </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Perhaps it's just a bad photograph?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's the link to the same dog being put through her paces in a working test in August this year - shocking for the the degree of disability that is evident for all to see. Now it's a novice test, but it is also sad to see how unethusiastic/anxious she looks too.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwyrjBWVTkk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwyrjBWVTkk</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Is there no one in France doing anything about this?</div>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-74580013571942299962021-07-20T22:30:00.020+01:002021-07-22T14:06:05.467+01:00TV REVIEW: Britain's Puppy Boom: Counting the Cost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AChnltHLXDU/YPaxqchtFfI/AAAAAAAAFwE/r-8eagAYCU4nRCNh1aUmruHJZOhGTiXBACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/britain%2527s%2Bpuppy%2Bboom.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1441" data-original-width="2048" height="281" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AChnltHLXDU/YPaxqchtFfI/AAAAAAAAFwE/r-8eagAYCU4nRCNh1aUmruHJZOhGTiXBACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h281/britain%2527s%2Bpuppy%2Bboom.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Personally, I think the BBC should have been brave and gone with the original title for this programme: "Will My Puppies Make Me Rich?" But when the programme was announced last November (<a href="https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/broadcasting-news/2020/11/will-my-puppies-make-me-rich-wins-bbc-commission-sheffield-docfest?fbclid=IwAR3RK5G1bQCSyEocUH0M9wnvzsUgZD4krMVMu_1frL2MAMejCSreL9z_0l4"><b>see here)</b></a>, the dog world lost its shit, convinced the BBC was going to produce a get-rich-quick guide for wannabe dog breeders. The two young women who secured the commission as part of a pitching competition were bombarded with abuse online. Even the RSPCA, which should have known better, called the programme "irresponsible". </p><p>The BBC was forced to put out a statement condemning the abuse and confirming their commitment to producing a well-researched, responsible programme (read that <a href="https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/broadcasting-news/2020/12/will-my-puppies-make-me-rich-bbc-condemns-personal-attacks-young"><b>here)</b></a>. But, disappointingly, the Corporation bowed to pressure and changed the title to something that was not going to offend anyone but is rather dull/worthy in comparison.</p><p>That matters because it's the very people who might have been drawn in by the original title who needed to see what proved to be a good film.</p><p>The programme was always going to include cautionary tales about how breeding dogs can go tits-up - such as the couple who decided to breed their Bull Terrier bitch because it would be nice to have puppies during lockdown and, admitted wife Jo, because "my husband wanted some dollar".</p><p>They ended up two grand out of pocket. The bitch, Ginny, needed an expensive emergency C-section; there was only one pup and judging by the way Jo was coo-ing, he may never be sold. "He's outstandingly beautiful," she says, cradling the all-white puppy. All I could think was: I hope the puppy doesn't turn out to be deaf (a significant risk in all-white Bull Terriers).</p><p>But of course some people do make money from dog breeding. A lot of money. In Manchester, photographer Rosie who specialises in snapping the currently fashionable bully breeds, told us that some breeders are copping £60k from a single litter of pups. That figure continued to ring in my ears and I suspect in the lugholes of many other too, in spite of the precautionary balance the programme included - which of course is what the welfare organisations and others feared. But the fact is that this kind of breeding is out there and it is a perfectly legit subject for a documentary. I thought it was great, actually, to have the issues raised for the younger, BBC Three audience.</p><p>There wasn't much evidence here of "good" breeders, certainly not in the sense touted by the Kennel Club which was thanked in the credits but whose influence was unfelt. I don't think the KC was mentioned once, perhaps considered as irrelevant by the programme makers as it clearly is to the young breeders who are doing things their way. </p><p>This will have infuriated many traditional breeders who will complain that the programme didn't feature one of their own; instead choosing to feature breeders such as 21-yr-old Hayden, a young man who had crossed his palms with Silver - the name of his American Bully, who he'd mated with his Old English Bulldog bitch to produce a whopping litter of 12, nine of which survived. </p><p>There was no mention of any health-testing (so presumably none) although the pups looked in chunky good health. Their mum, though, seemed very subdued, skinny from the effort of raising all those pups and with signs of irritation round her eyes.</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GhUY8ekGz88/YPe7S_6lB5I/AAAAAAAAFwU/yY1uJHDm7q4v9pb14HxtC-IRZJc9hg5uQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2831/bbc%2B3%2Bprog%2Bbitch.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1111" data-original-width="2831" height="158" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GhUY8ekGz88/YPe7S_6lB5I/AAAAAAAAFwU/yY1uJHDm7q4v9pb14HxtC-IRZJc9hg5uQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h158/bbc%2B3%2Bprog%2Bbitch.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Presenter, vet Fabian Rivers did not delve too deeply - although perhaps he did and it was edited out by the programme-makers wary of being too tough on those who had been good enough to speak to them. </p><p>Rivers, who is very personable on screen, did spell out that fashionable breeds can make a big dent in your wallet (in vet fees) way beyond their £3k+ purchase price, but the programme was rather thin on detail about inherited defects - even allowing a Dachshund rescue person to wax lyrical over Dachshunds ("they make absolutely amazing pets") with zero mention that 25% of them suffer from spinal issues that can leave them paralysed or that there are huge concerns about the number of them being bred to meet the current demand. Still, I guess there's been a previous film or two that has focused on this aspect...😀</p><p>The programme was journalistically at its meatiest when it came to exploring canine fertility clinics - a relatively new phenomenon in the UK and currently unregulated. We've been highlighting them on my campaign group <a href="http://www.cruffa.org">CRUFFA</a> for the past three years as they're often run as a profitable sideshoot by breeders who specialise in breeding overdone Bulldogs + Frenchies. </p><p>This was not obviously the case with clinic owner Rosie in Stockport and my hopes were raised when she told Rivers that there were some things she wouldn't do. Aha! So she would not, perhaps, facilitate the breeding of dogs that anyone with eyes in their head should never be bred? Nope, that wasn't the issue. Rosie just reassured us that, unlike some others, she wouldn't take a £200 artificial insemination fee off unwitting owners when the timing meant there was no chance of puppies. She also told us that a natural tie (you know, when dogs just get on with it without human interference) was "dangerous" - something that should have been challenged given the programme's target audience was people who are new to dog breeding. We do not need a new generation of breeders who think this is normal.</p><p>The programme sent an undercover reporter into the biggest fertility clinic chain - SmartBreeder - to attend a course advertised as "being covered by a fully qualified vet". Except the person who ran it - a guy called Dave Holt who was very full of himself - was neither a vet nor a veterinary professional. The camera caught him teaching his students how to draw blood (something that can legally only be done by a veterinary professional in the UK) - and he also recommended the illegal use of the human mini-pill as a contraceptive in dogs. </p><p>SmartBreeder has yet to issue a formal statement, other than to claim that Dave Holt provides the courses via his own business. I'll add it here if one is forthcoming. </p><p>Regulation of these fertility clinics is way overdue and I hope the focus will encourage the Government into action. Same for the coverage of ear-cropping, incredibly fashionable at the moment, despite being illegal in the UK for more than 100 years.</p><p><i>Britain's Puppy Boom: Counting the Cost </i>is available online now and you can watch it <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p09nl348/britains-puppy-boom-counting-the-cost"><b>here</b></a> - although only if you are in the UK I'm afraid.</p><p><br /></p>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-35394514383425369022021-05-08T14:01:00.038+01:002021-05-17T12:10:47.195+01:00Chihuahuas: shocking new research finds they are full of holes (no really)<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eZV_j3oj83A/YJXLhX6p2ZI/AAAAAAAAFrY/M2PNsJAMQRQPB8QVq4VvSHeiUkIBhE6mQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h331/CT%2Bscan%2Bwith%2Bholes%2Bmarked.png" /></a></div><br /><br />You're looking at a CT scan of a Chihuahua featured in a <b><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jvim.16123">new study</a> </b>from researchers at the Universities of Helsinki and Surrey. The red circles mark where there are holes in the skull exposing the brain underneath and it raises big and urgent questions about the breeding of the world's smallest dog. <br /><br />A<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340190811_Persistent_fontanelles_in_Chihuahuas_and_inter-_and_intra-rater_reliability_of_fontanelle_area_measurement_in_computed_tomography_images" style="font-weight: bold;"> linked paper</a> from the same authors (currently in pre-print) reports that more than 90% of the Chihuahuas they examined have these holes - known as persistent fontanelles - along what are known as the suture lines of the skull. It's a result of the skull not fusing properly.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5lVo-mfeK1Q/YJaxawuXGSI/AAAAAAAAFtc/nMssxhnGyCwU6qqKj7o6pXlE3uIgbaQOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s669/figure-5%2Bedited%2B.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="517" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5lVo-mfeK1Q/YJaxawuXGSI/AAAAAAAAFtc/nMssxhnGyCwU6qqKj7o6pXlE3uIgbaQOgCLcBGAsYHQ/w309-h400/figure-5%2Bedited%2B.jpg" width="309" /></a></div><div><br /><br />The holes are likely linked to the miniaturisation of a breed that can weigh as little as 1.5kg and sometimes less; also to the shape of the skull, which has become shorter and more domed over the years, particularly in show-bred dogs.<br /><br />The consequence is a high disposition to head trauma. One vet recalls a Chi that died when a tennis ball dropped on its head. Devastating for the kid that threw it. <br /><br />Until recently, an open fontanelle in the middle of the head (called a molera by breeders) was actually a mark of purity in the breed - a neurological jewel in the crown. Breeders denied there was a problem with them.<br /><br />Today, the breed-standard demand for a molera has been dropped by all forward-thinking kennel clubs - ie not the American or Canadian KCs, both of which still mention a molera as being permitted in their luddite breed standards. <div><br /></div><div>In fact, it's very clear from <b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#">t</a><a href="https://chihuahuaclubofamerica.org/chihuahua-breed-standard/molera-statement/">his statement</a></b> by the Chihuahua Club of America that a molera should not be considered a handicap:. <br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(15, 0, 0); color: #0f0000; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><blockquote><i>"Historically, the Chihuahua developed in Mexico and the United States has displayed a “soft spot” on the top of the head. In the Chihuahua this spot, or fontanel, is known as a MOLERA; and is the same as that found in human babies. In the past, this molera was accepted as a mark of purity in the breed, and it is still mentioned in most Chihuahua breed standards the world over. It is important to note that while many Chihuahua puppies are born without the molera, there are probably just as many born with one and its presence is nothing to become alarmed over. As shown in the illustration below, the molera in a Chihuahua will occur on the top of the head and may vary in shape and size when present." </i></blockquote></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9D8agz9JZF4/YJaakVinm8I/AAAAAAAAFtI/yNIOsNEkrQEX7ovaYTRRKHGXkwA6PnIKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1060/molera%2Billo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1060" height="204" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9D8agz9JZF4/YJaakVinm8I/AAAAAAAAFtI/yNIOsNEkrQEX7ovaYTRRKHGXkwA6PnIKwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h204/molera%2Billo.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />Further, it goes on to maintain: "<i><b>... the presence of a molera does not mean the Chihuahua has a medical problem."</b></i><br /><br />This is what the researchers set out to find out, prompted in no small part by the knowledge that syringomyelia (fluid-filled cavities in the spinal cord) and other brain abnormalities are found in the breed. Hydrocephalus is also common - although it is true that it does not affect every Chi with a persistent fontanelle and breeders fiercely deny that it is linked. </div><div><br />The UK Kennel Club standard no longer includes any mention of a molera and the FCI standard lists an open fontanelle as a disqualifying fault. Progress.<br /><br />Indeed, many Chi breeders have recognised that a hole in the head is as undesirable as, well, a hole in the head. In a recent discussion, one UK breeder told me: <b><i>"The majority of adult Chihuahuas in the UK show ring have no molera at all."</i></b><br /><br />The British Chihuahua Club says: <b><i>"These days few Chis have permanent molera which persist into adulthood."</i></b><br /><br />But these new papers show that this is not true. The researchers found that even if a central molera is absent, some Chi skulls are littered with these holes, something I imagine is going to come as a shock to most Chi breeders and owners. <br /><br />Significantly, the scientists found that persistent fontanelles (PFs) are more numerous and larger in smaller Chihuahuas and they also found an association between PFs and syringomyelia, overcrowding at the junction where the brain meets the neck (known as the craniocervical junction - CCJ) and ventriculomegaly (enlargement of the brain's ventricles). </div><div><br />The authors write: <i><b>"Although their concurrent occurrence does not prove causality, our findings suggest that PFs are associated with the occurrence of these structural abnormalities... Because SM and CCJ overcrowding may cause neuropathic pain and motor deficits, our findings challenge the current conception that PFs are a clinically irrelevant finding not associated with other structural abnormalities."</b></i><br /><br />The suggestion is that the dogs may suffer less if we allowed them to be a little bigger - and in the interests of health, we probably need to moderate their heads, too. We know now that excessive miniaturisation is problematic. We know that brachycephaly and domed skulls are a problem, too (the latter now well documented in Cavaliers as being strongly associated with the endemic syringomyelia in the breed).<br /><br />Many of today's Chihuahuas have domed heads, short, narrow muzzles which leave limited room for teeth/tongues, and foreheads that fall off a cliff into an abrupt, 90 degree stop. Breeders have selected for a short cranium which overcrowds the brain, pushing the structures upwards into the desired "apple-shaped" head. <br /><br />The UK Kennel Club standard asks for "an apple-dome skull", sets an upper weight limit of 2.7kg (6lb) and suggests a minimum weight of 4lb (1.8kg).<br /><br />The AKC disqualifies dogs over 6lb (2.72 kg), with no minimum. <br /><br />The FCI standard disqualifies dogs weighing less than 1kg (2lb 3oz) or more than 3kg (6lb 10oz).<br /><br />Interestingly, today's show-bred Chi looks very different from the Chihuahuas of old.<br /><br />This champ dog from 1949 is admittedly rather weedy-looking but note how the forehead flows into his muzzle from both the top and side. Added bonus: his eyes are well-set into his head.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-99MCAy27DuI/YJXHcacwjvI/AAAAAAAAFrA/zmHyzigLzNMAGPc24-PEpzyCY2bP4WcLgCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h400/1949_Chihuahua.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />This European modern Chihuahua (over 40 Bests in Show) is an improvement structurally from the neck down but just look at this head - almost a ball, with a sharp stop and a much shorter, stuck-on muzzle that's beginning to look like an afterthought. Not all of today's show dogs have muzzles this short but it is a trend and there really is no historical rationale for it.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RIYhTQ6BTZs/YJZZTFc6jeI/AAAAAAAAFro/EJeH0W6bWqchN0ou2IHl7NVpMxdsEV8mQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h335/2017%2BBest%2Bin%2BShow%2Bmag%2BCU.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://issuu.com/bestinshowmagazine/docs/onlinemagazine_de1a32d796f066"><b>Link</b></a></div><br /><br />Almost unbelievably, the <b><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiHiIWrl7rwAhXT_rsIHTFcADgQFjAAegQIDBAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdogwellnet.com%2Fapplications%2Fcore%2Finterface%2Ffile%2Fattachment.php%3Fid%3D2497&usg=AOvVaw3-VxxMORnVYAoXQWeYJh-T">AKC illustrated standard</a> </b>(NB this is a link to a direct download on dogwellnet.com - the only place I could find it online) features these heads as examples of a correct head. I mean.... the bottom right 😱<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hAYUTDnwgRw/YJZhybNlIoI/AAAAAAAAFsA/jVbqzsyOxTooGIzlV-0n1gMpKhhuSzpdQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h338/AKC%2Billustrated%2Bstandard%2Ball%2Bcorrect....png" width="400" /></a></div><br />Pet-bred Chihuahuas split into two camps - tiny"teacup" Chihuahuas bred by breeders with zero regard for health and bigger/heavier dogs (often up to 10lbs) which tend to have less extreme heads and longer muzzles. When breeders are not actively selecting for small size, nature tries to normalise. </div><div><br /></div><div>The dogs with more moderate heads/longer muzzles are often referred to as "deer-head" Chihuahuas. It's a term show breeders loathe. ("There's no such thing - it's not a Chihuahua if it doesn't have an apple-shaped head"). These dogs would never win today, but they were the predominant type in the early show-ring.</div><div><br />'<i><b>There is little doubt the Chihuahua has improved since the breed was first recognized by the AKC in 1904," </b></i>write two American doyennes of the breed <b><a href="http://www.thedogplace.org/BREEDS/Chihuahua/Buckman-Hooks.asp">here</a>.</b> <i><b>'Chihuahuas shown prior to 1940 were generally of the "deer" or "fawn" type, a bit leggy and longer bodied, and - too frequently, roach backed. Also, well into the 1930's the breed was still showing the results of mixed breeding. The year 1940 brought a marked change for the better, with more breeders recognizing the true Chihuahua type. The strength of the Chihuahua rests entirely in the hands of the dedicated breeders who strive, with each breeding, to produce dogs meeting the breed standard. We think this is a pretty good testimony of the Chihuahua today!'</b></i><br /><br />Nevertheless, "deer-head" Chis are the ones still found in much of Mexico - and they tend to be more popular with pet owners not involved in the pursuit of rosettes. It is also impossible to find anything like the dogs above in the photographic archive. <br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_JCAYeZ3qo4/YJZu4bpAbXI/AAAAAAAAFsY/oDG2iiWUgbIpGz2_wLHdIIo1QqwQcS-8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w371-h400/1920_Chihuahua.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><br /><br />The closest I can find is this 1903 dog featured in the book "British Dogs" by WD Drury.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1u9u0MrDo3M/YJZuRnTkBXI/AAAAAAAAFsI/SgdykrrEhl4PNAWh7h8ANC7rCYkUXDq-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w236-h400/1903_Chihuahua.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><br />I posted this graphic on <a href="http://www.cruffa.org"><b>CRUFFA</b></a> a few weeks ago to illustrate the difference. NB: I'm reliably informed the Crufts winner posted top left does <b>not </b>have an obvious fontanelle - certainly not one that can be felt by a judge. The skulls beneath are from a dog with the same type of head that did have a molera. </div><div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z1ndjIGEouo/YJZdrzmsWmI/AAAAAAAAFrw/SOHa0JMVz0UYWCYUpvBoeTRSobY6AaS8wCLcBGAsYHQ/w402-h640/apple%2Bv%2Bdeer%2Bskulls%2Bwith%2Breal%2Bdog%2Bcopy.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />The Chi breeders on CRUFFA objected to me calling the dog on the right a "deer-head", saying the dog still has an apple-shaped head. They did however recognise the dog as a Chihuahua (not always the case when I post more moderate dogs) and although a dog like this would not win in the show-ring today, it gave me some hope that show-breeders could be persuaded to to start selecting for a more moderate head like this one. Aesthetically it is so much more attractive.<br /><br />The KC's <a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/events-and-activities/dog-showing/judging-dog-shows/breed-watch/chihuahua-smooth-coat-category-2/"><b>Breed Watch</b></a> scheme does ask judges to monitor the following in Chis:<br /><br /><br /><i>Incorrect dentition<br />Wry jaw<br />Retained puppy teeth<br />Misplaced teeth<br />Protruding tongue as a result of incorrect teeth<br />Missing teeth<br />Incorrect bites<br />Excessively short muzzles</i><div><br />But here's the bitch that won BOB at Crufts in 2019. <br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LD9LCtyGB58/YJZ2JFo10SI/AAAAAAAAFso/W3zM44fWV5AIU2jZjk1C89dOBvq9PNYygCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/2019%2BBOB%2BCrufts%2B%2528bitch%2529.png" /></a></div><br /><br />This bitch's head makes me wince. There's a significant indent between her eyes (which of course helps give her the desired apple-shaped head) and the muzzle shoots off at less than a 90 degree angle. The tear-staining also suggests a problem with tear-drainage, often seen in Chihuahuas and other brachy breeds and linked to the skull confirmation/shallow eye sockets. Dogs' eyes shouldn't weep.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PEvUQP_T49Q/YJZ5O6eRDnI/AAAAAAAAFs4/3S-gLfUtoVYXBM1cXt8HFo1fnZzOu-1FQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h347/2019%2BBOB%2BCU%2Bhead.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />"Frontal bossing" is a medical term used to describe a prominent forehead and it is often seen in Chihuahuas. In humans - and dogs - it is associated with a number of genetic abnormalities (see <b><a href="https://www.genetics.org/content/genetics/193/2/317.full.pdf">here</a>).</b> It is also associated with Hydrocephalus, one consequence of the enlarged brain ventricles documented in Chis in this new study.</div><div><br />But back to the problem of those holes in the skull. <br /><br />In their upcoming paper, the authors conclude:<br /><br /><i><b>"[Persistent fontanelles] are almost ubiquitous in the examined group of Chihuahuas. They are located at dorsal, lateral, and caudal surfaces of the cranium, and hence are not all recognized reliably by palpation in adult dogs. Though the pathogenesis of the PFs described here is unknown, bone-deficient lesions may occur due to congenital defects in cranial bone ossification, delayed closure of cranial sutures, or bone resorption, as is observable in children with craniosynostosis (premature cranial suture closure). Because the imaging findings described in the Chihuahuas of this study are similar to findings among children with craniosynostosis/premature cranial base synchondrosis closure, this growth disorder may be a predisposing factor for the PFs described here."</b></i></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>Research comparing apple v deer-heads in terms of predisposition to persistent fontanelles or neurological issues has not been done. We also have no way of knowing how numerous PFs have been in the breed historically - clearly at least one has been a mark of the breed for a long time. </div><div><br /></div><div>This skeleton, dating from 1910, shows a Chihuahua skull with several holes in it. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l03NOiuSpcE/YKJOfpPKIXI/AAAAAAAAFto/eStliudc7IMaVOvWHr5M4I00HJlJH5NKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/1910%2Bchihuahua%2Bskeleton%2Bwith%2Bholes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1080" height="323" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l03NOiuSpcE/YKJOfpPKIXI/AAAAAAAAFto/eStliudc7IMaVOvWHr5M4I00HJlJH5NKgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h323/1910%2Bchihuahua%2Bskeleton%2Bwith%2Bholes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There were no really tiny "teacup" dogs in this study cohort - the smallest dog in the study was 1.4kg (and the largest 4.3kg), and it would be good to look at those too (there's certainly a rationale for thinking that their skulls could be even worse). </div><div><br /></div><div>It should also be said that persistent fontanelles have been documented in other toy breeds such as Yorkshire terriers (although there are no studies elucidating how common they are). This suggests that they are likely a consequence of miniaturisation. </div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></div><div>The authors conclude:<b style="font-style: italic;"> "Further studies are necessary to evaluate the pathogenesis and clinical relevance of these lesions."</b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span><br />You bet your bippy and as a matter of urgency - hopefully funded and supported by kennel clubs and breeders. If breed standards, or the interpretation of them, are found to be the cause, major changes in the breed must follow. <br /><br /></div></div><div><i><u><b>References</b></u></i></div><div><i><u><br /></u></i></div><div><b><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jvim.16123">Persistent Fontanelles in Chihuahuas. Part II: Association with craniocercival junction abnoramilies, syringomyelia and ventricular volume</a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340190811_Persistent_fontanelles_in_Chihuahuas_and_inter-_and_intra-rater_reliability_of_fontanelle_area_measurement_in_computed_tomography_images">Persistent fontanelles in Chihuahuas and inter- and intra-rater reliability of fontanelle area measurement in computed tomography images</a></b></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><a href="https://chihuahuaclubofamerica.org/chihuahua-breed-standard/molera-statement/">Molera Statement - The Chihuahua Club of America</a></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28892202/"><b>Syringomyelia and Craniocervica Junction Abnormalities in Chihuahuas</b></a></div>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-10067713304375055212021-03-19T09:42:00.021+00:002021-03-31T11:36:07.693+01:00Colonel David Hancock MBE - I salute you<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KOhOSf0f8W4/YFRnHTMbtII/AAAAAAAAFp0/gnmJKs-S0DokimJKv26OIIvWVw9I63sLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s250/david_and_dogs_sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="245" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KOhOSf0f8W4/YFRnHTMbtII/AAAAAAAAFp0/gnmJKs-S0DokimJKv26OIIvWVw9I63sLQCLcBGAsYHQ/w392-h400/david_and_dogs_sm.jpg" width="392" /></a></div><br /><p>I was so sad to hear of the passing of cynologist/writer/canine historian Colonel David Hancock MBE last weekend. I met him at his home in Oxfordshire in early 2008 where we interviewed him for <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed. </i> </p><p>I remember climbing up the stairs to his office which was lined floor to ceiling with dog books, many very rare, and feeling acute library-envy. I am pleased to read that his collection - along with the books and over 700 articles he wrote himself - is now safe with the Kennel Club. For now, his extensive writing is also still available on his website. Please do check it out for some of the most informed writing on dogs you will ever read. See <a href="https://www.davidhancockondogs.com/index.html"><b>here.</b></a></p><p>I am not sure there's anyone in the world who knew more about dogs. One reviewer called him "perhaps the most important living writer about dogs." He also, along the way in a full life, was a professional soldier, ran a rare breeds centre and wrote the breed standards for the Sporting Lucas Terrier, the Plummer Terrier and the Victorian Bulldog.</p><p>What I liked most about him was that although he looked and sounded like someone from the Establishment, for him it was always the dogs that mattered most. He was a well-known critic of the Kennel Club and a great champion of breeders who fought for change, his opinions always rooted in a real understanding of both dogs and history.</p><p>I got this email from him a few years back:</p><p><i>"<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">Jemima, You’ll be amused to learn that I’ve produced a new breed standard for the Mastiff that is going to annoy a lot of people who deserve it! It’s on my web site, attached to <a href="https://www.davidhancockondogs.com/archives/archive_790_899.html"><b>serial 803</b></a> in the archives bit. The OEMC and the MA are being invited to comment – so watch their space with interest. Do keep well and combative! Regards, David"</span></i></p><p>Sadly, the Club declined to adopt David's suggested new standard which would have promoted a more sporting dog.</p><p>I have, however, made a point of following his advice to keep being combative.</p><p>Fittingly, one of David's last articles graphically documented the decline in his beloved Mastiffs - check out the deeply depressing images <b><a href="https://www.davidhancockondogs-serials.com/1260">here</a>.</b></p><p>We were only able to use a few snippets of our interview with him in <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed - </i>notably one of the most compelling soundbites in the film (<i>"We are, in effect, breeding them to death."</i> </p><p>Here, for posterity, is a lightly edited transcript of the whole thing. I know many will find it fascinating.</p><p><br /></p><div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; margin-left: 21.3pt; width: 502px;"><tbody><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: What is your opinion of the state of health of purebred dogs today?</span></b><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I don't think the state of purebred dogs is anything worth boasting about. I think we have breeds that are more refined, or the dogs in that breed look much more like each other, there's an evenness within a breed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think quite a lot of breeds that are heavy-coated have become excessively heavy-coated; breeds that were short-faced have become damagingly shorter faced. Breeds that had long backs, short legs have been exaggerated to the detriment of the dog. And this has all come as a result at the pursuance of breed points, trying to make a breed look so much like itself, that it can almost become a caricature of itself.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: And what has the cost of that been?</span></b><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think the cost of exaggeration in dogs is that it shortens their lives and in the case of short-faced dogs it affects their breathing, it affects their scenting capability. With the long-backed breeds you have a dog that could be two years old but its back is the equivalent of five years old.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">You also get slipped discs and problems of extremely painful arthritis. The bent leg breeds also get bone problems, and the excessive bending of those legs and the shortening of those legs puts great stress on the rest of the dog. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Anything that exaggerated would not happen if dogs were bred by dogs. The exaggerations come because dogs are being bred by humans to suit humans. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Pedigree dog breeding today needs remedial treatment or it will end in disaster.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">In breeding dogs without their best interests in mind we are, in effect, breeding them to death. They're shorter lived, they lead limited lives. That is not good for dogs, and it's also not good for the moral conscience of man.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: That's a very strong statement. Do you really feel that?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Yes I do…A bulldog that cannot breathe properly, a dachschund whose keel is almost on the ground, a bassett hound with such severe arthritis in its legs that every time it moves it groans. This is not good.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Are there other examples which have shocked you?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The excessive weight in mastiffs means that there have been occasions when a mastiff has jumped down from an estate car at a show, damaged itself because of the sheer weight of the body… that's been bestowed on it by man. It's been put back in the car and taken home because it was unfit to continue. And when you breed dogs too heavy for their own good, that is a sad reflection on the moral values of the breeder of that dog. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Could you talk a bit about the reflection of us as a dog loving society… Britain is thought of as a nation of dog lovers. We were the first to introduce animal welfare legislation. Are we now leading the way in terms of animal welfare for our dogs?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I don't think Britain leads in animal welfare at all, certainly not in pedigree dogs. I think we started, we were the first nation to have a kennel club, we have created more breeds of dog in the pedigree dog world than any other nation. But we have not built safeguards into the perpetuation of those dogs.. We've allowed some breeds to become too heavy, some too short faced, some too heavy coated, some too short legged, others too short lived.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">All in the pursuit of cosmetic points, not sound anatomical points, and that is a reflection again on the breeders and their standards of… that which they bring to life - not to their love of dogs. We're a nation of dog owners, not a nation of dog lovers.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: That's a terrible indictment. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think it's not so much an indictment but a reflection on how far we've come away from the original purpose of dog breeding within breeds. The original purpose of kennel club shows were like the livestock shows, where you show animals and you admire their fitness for purpose, their soundness, and their anatomical soundness above all.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">We've drifted away from that. We are now breeding them for prettiness, for cosmetic design, to please judges. Now this cannot be right, and every time we change a breed we have to ask ourselves two questions: are we bringing in these changes to make the dog look prettier, or are we bringing it in because previously the dog was inefficient? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If the answers to those questions are not in the best interests of dog, we've lost our way. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Who or what is to blame?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think the blame for the current situation in the pedigree dog world is spread across a wide field. But in every element there's a human hand. Kennel clubs across the world have a lot to answer for because they've not shown leadership. They've shown patronage, but they've not shown leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">They should be showing pedigree dog breeders the way ahead… how to breed sounder dogs, how to breed dogs that lead a healthy life. There's no need to lose breed points, but there's certainly no need to exaggerate breed points. If you look, throughout history, of how these breeds evolved and how they developed, they weren't exaggerated in the past. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 5cm;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 5cm; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And they have become more exaggerated since showing dogs became popular. That in itself is a reflection on whether the breeders like their breed, or just like winning.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think breeding to, for perfection, is very questionable. I think the original purpose of livestock shows was in pursuance of a purpose for that breed. For example, function has always ruled form. The gun dogs were developed for a purpose, the hounds were developed for a purpose, as were the terriers and the shepherd dogs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">In other words, the gun dog men were behind the very first dog show held in the middle of the nineteenth century. They didn't want to see exaggerated dogs, they wanted to see the best examples of the dogs that could excel in the field.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Part of the reason was to identify future breeding stock. Now, shows are held where the breeding stock is chosen entirely because it wins, not necessarily because it's the best. A bad judge can lead to the wrong dog being bred from, and that is not good for the future of that breed.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: How aware do you think the kennel club is and why is it that they're not being stronger?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Kennel clubs, I think by their nature, are self-regarding. They tend to operate through committees, and they don't have one strong person who's got a mission, a life's purpose, to make things better. As long as the thing's going along, and big shows like Cruft's pay their way, and attract high attendances, they do not think - or always have at the front of their thinking - the best needs of the dogs. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The dogs are why all this happens. And if you allow certain breeds to become so exaggerated that it harms them, or breeding is conducted so closely by inexpert people - inbreeding, in other words - that it results in inherited diseases being spread more widely, if you allow dogs to be bred without any health checks… this is not pedigree dog breeding, this is reckless dog breeding. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Was there a moment of revelation for you?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">When you see foxhounds going flat out in pursuit of quarry, when you see coursing greyhounds being used in the field, when you see terriers going to ground, when you see shepherd dogs operating in the pastures, you begin to realise that these dogs were purpose-bred in pursuit of function and that's why they look like the way they did when they were brought into the show ring. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">When you get to the stage when dogs can no longer carry out their original function, because breeders - who claim to love the breed and respect it - have bred them that way, you begin to realise that they've lost their way. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Unless there's a functional test along the line, for terriers, for shepherd dogs, for gun dogs, or for sight hounds - unless you can match their appearance in the show ring with some kind of functional test of their ability, then you are not going to breed dogs as functional creatures, you're going to breed them as ornamental objects.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: But there's lots of breeds that don't have any jobs anymore, no?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think the fact that a breed is no longer used for its original purpose is a lazy way out for breeders to say we don't need to breed them to look like that anymore. If you look at a collie that, where its coat is so heavy it would not last very long in the pastures in a winter… If you look at greyhounds where their hind legs are so heavily exaggerated and over-angulated, that they get hip problems, then… there's no way that that dog could run fast anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And without tests, and without the design being tested - after all, most designs are tested - the designs of many breeds now have been forgotten. And as a result, the breeders are losing their way, the show ring rules, and in many breeds the dogs simply don't look like their prototype.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: A lot of breeders maintain they're improving their dogs - are they?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The improvement of dogs needs a definition. The kennel club have their overall l<i>eitmotif</i>… “the general improvement of dogs.” What do they mean? Are they breeding sounder dogs? The fact that you have 45,000 Labradors newly registered every year, are they being bred better now than when that breed was first promoted here in the 1920's? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">It is an astonishing success story in that Labradors were hardly known at the end of the 19th century. But has the breed actually gained? Are they still functional dogs? A lot of the working dogs don't look like the show dogs at all. They are lighter, they are quicker, they are smaller-headed, they are lighter boned. Which is the correct Labrador, the one that can operate in the field, or the one that can win prizes in the show ring?<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The improvement of dogs in the last 123 years, or however long the kennel club has been operating, could have been so much better. If the kennel club from the very start had said 'We are not just going to allow dogs to be shown and judged on cosmetic points, we're going to match that test with a field test'. You could have developed function and form at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think too, by neglecting to have mandatory health schemes, they have woefully neglected the health of dogs. Now when you're closely breeding dogs within a breed, you need skilful breeders. It is not the job of animal breeders in a backyard. Brother-sister, mother-son matings may produce dogs that look like the breed. But they… don't have the genetic virility and the genetic diversity to ensure that their progeny in due course lead healthy and sound lives. Now the kennel club could have done more to make sure that dogs were functional, respecting their original design, and been aware of the problems of closely breeding within a closed gene pool.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">After all, the closed gene pool is the result of kennel club recognition. It is an imposed sanction on dog breeders. If they don't breed registered dog to registered dog, they cannot register the progeny. Now you cannot insist on that without being responsible for the outcome. And I don't believe they have been as responsible as they could have been over the prevention or the reduction of the incidents of inheritable defects in dogs.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Some people will say they're just dogs. Why should we care?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think we should care about pedigree dogs because in the hands of the wrong people - unskilled breeders - you can produce dogs that lead short lives, lead hampered lives, with their sight impaired, their bones impaired and their ability to lead a reasonably contented life seriously affected. In other words, they can be handicapped by their own breeding<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If you look at breeds that for centuries were bred to a function, like mastiffs - not just the English mastiff but that group of dogs, they were powerful gripping breeds that in the days of primitive hunting before the invention of firearms were used to pull down big game so that man could collect his quarry. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">They were immensely valuable before the invention of firearms. They had to be strong necked, strong headed, immensely determined - but still hounds. If you now cast your mind to today, the mastiff, sometimes weighing in at 20 stones, has been bred for bulk, almost like breeding a short-horn dog. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And it serves absolutely no purpose. The mastiff was never intended to be that heavy, it was never intended to be that immobile. Dogs with that lack of agility who tried to operate in the boar hunting field twould not have lived long. Now they've come a long way entirely because of man's insistence that the mastiff should be a giant dog - heavy and huge. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">It never was. And the mastiff experts of 1880 like M. B. Wynn, who wrote the standard book on the mastiff, always said the English mastiff was traditionally never a huge dog. It was breeder intent: 'My dog is bigger and heavier than your dog'. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Now unless a kennel club steps in and stops breed clubs from going down that kind of line, of breeding dogs excessively for weight, or in the case of the bulldog where one breeder boasted he had the shortest faced dog in London - did he care about the welfare of the dog? No. The boast was more important to him than the dog.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: You mentioned before an owner who boasted about a mastiff that had died at four?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There are breeds that are shorter lived than they should be. I know of breeders of what they call 'alternative bulldogs' - Dorset old time bulldogs, Victorian bulldogs, or in Canada, old time bulldogs - that live to 14,15, and are still swimming. I know of many kennel club registered bulldogs that do not live past the age of four. That is not acceptable. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The kennel club has been operating for what, 130 years. Now is the time, before it's too late, for them to say to breed clubs: 'Mandatory health schemes start now, excessive exaggeration in breed design stops now'. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">So many breed standards use words like 'feet massive', 'head massive', 'coat long', um, 'back short'… Dogs bred by dogs would not have those kind of stipulations. Function decided form, function never went in for exaggerations. The dachshund - that was the badger terrier, the badger dog - was not as close to the ground, as long backed and as short legged as it is now. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There are plenty of depictions of the breed in the last 200 years to prove that point. The bassett hound is now shorter legged, longer backed, and closer to the ground, heavier boned, than it was ever in the past. If you look at the bulldog, the dogs in the baiting rings had jaws. If they didn't have jaws they could not bait bulls, they could not cling.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The idea that a short faced dog can go on breathing while it's gripping… a bull, is not borne out by the fact that all the dogs used in the boar hunt had long, strong jaws. They were heavy headed dogs, but they had ample jaw length. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: We've had bulldog breeders say to us 'that roll on the face is to channel the blood from the bull' - could you talk about breed points like that?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If you look at the bulldog, and the way in which breeders aim or try hard to justify the short face, the excessive wrinkling, … and the physique as being traditional - it is simply untrue. Alken produced famous prints of the bull baiting ring, and not one dog in his depictions - and he was a very accurate illustrator - not one of those dogs had a short muzzle. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Not one of them was over-boned. If they were not agile, the bull killed them. That is a pretty severe test. And so it's absurd to try to justify things that were introduced by man into the breed as being there for an original purpose, it is simply not true. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">What is true is that in the 19th century and 20th century some bulldog breeders were so anxious to breed a short-faced dog, they crossed their dogs with pugs - and six different Victorian authorities have testified to that - and they also produced contraptions which they clamped on the dog's head to stop its jaw growing. They also tied its back legs together whilst the pup was growing.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: But we wouldn't see that level of cruelty today<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">No but you wouldn't see cruelty like that today, but you're seeing the result of that cruelty. They weren't doing it for the well-being of the dog. The dog had no say in this. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And if you take a breed like the bull mastiff, where dogs - they can have a short face, or they can have a longer jaw - the ones with the short face are the ones that get out of breath. And I know of a bull mastiff breeder that has both types in their kennel. The ones with the shorter muzzle and the ones with the longer muzzle. The ones with the short muzzle are the ones that cannot run a long way without getting out of breath and suffering respiratory problems. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The longer jawed dogs do not have that problem. That is a perfect illustration of the handicap which too short a muzzle can give to the dog. It can also affect the dog's scenting ability. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Now scent to a dog is like sight to human. What you are then saying is that if a bulldog has only 20% of the scenting ability of another, longer faced breed, it's the equivalent of breeding a human being with one-fifth the sighting ability of a normal human. Is that acceptable? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Could you project into the possible futures and where this could go?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">DH: About 10 years ago a group of Canadian vets got together and produced a report. And their conclusion in a phrase was 'unless something is done, we are going to lose pedigree breeds in the next 100 years'. Now that's a fairly long time… if they'd be more precise they might well have said that some breeds would be lost in 25 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: How does the UK Kennel Club compare to others?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">All kennel clubs have a role to play in the healthy breeding of dogs and the welfare of dogs. You cannot just pay lip service to that.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If you take, say, the Finnish kennel club - … their kennel club is much more open to membership, and it has rules on breeding dogs. Mandatory health checks are essential, and they do not allow what I call reckless breeding - where you can mate any dog to any other dog and register the progeny. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">That is not a serious breeding exercise, it's certainly not a scientific exercise. All it's doing is wallet chasing and producing an almost a kind of puppy farming. It's condoning the production of dogs just because they are pedigree. And it's wrong to assume that the word pedigree means quality.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Pedigree and quality in the world of dogs are two terms that should not be used as being synonymous because they're not. 'Pedigree' gives that slight cache of quality. A pedigree dog can have no quality at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Are you a kennel club member?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I am not a kennel club member. And I wouldn't wish to be one because I am not a breeder of dogs. I do not show dogs. But my interest in dogs is that they are sentient creatures, and whether they are bred to a breed design or whether they are mere pets and to no design at all, their well-being matters. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There is far too much assumption in the pedigree dog world that because breeds are being perpetuated as breeds, they must somehow have some quality and they must therefore have some people looking after them. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And not enough thought is given, from kennel clubs down to the breed clubs, to the dog. Far too much is done with the whole business of showing, owning, breeding, ah, proliferating, litters and so on. In the end the idea that we're all in it for the love of dogs does not withstand scrutiny. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: What should people expect from a pedigree certificate? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">You should be able to obtain a pedigree form which shows you how the dog was bred, who its ancestors were. It should be able to tell you whether the dog's been hip scored, elbow scored, has its eyes tested - and if in certain breeds they have a problem - whether that dog has been identified in that line or not. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">It should also give you an idea of how the dog's ancestors have been judged by knowledgeable judges. On the continent they have a grading system. Our kennel club will not allow it to be introduced here. I would like to know if I was going to buy a pedigree dog whether it was going to go blind, whether it was going to live a long time, and whether its ancestors had been graded excellent. Because knowledgeable judges grading dogs excellent in some countries, they're the only dogs that can be bred from.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Isn't there a fundamental problem with the whole notion of kennel club breeding as it is at the moment? You're operating within a closed gene pool, isn't it a road to nowhere? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Kennel clubs could have a most valuable role in the breeding of pedigree dogs if they chose to. If they were to agree to mandatory health schemes, if they would limit the exaggerations in dogs in certain breeds. And if they were to make sure dog breeding was the pursuit of excellence, not the proliferation of dog shows. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">It's the dogs that matter, not the shows. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I don't know of any pedigree breed of dog that does not have inheritable problems. And of course mongrels and cross-breds can have inherited problems too. But I think when you're selling a breed and selling a pedigree dog for £500 you are in effect deceiving the purchaser of that dog if it is going to one day develop a condition which is inheritable and is harmful to the dog.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Nobody wants to buy a dog which in four years' time is going to be lame, is going to blind, or indeed, dead. Or, is going to keel over from a diagnosable heart disease. There are certain breeds, like the cavalier king charles spaniel - a superb companion dog - that's so quickly being overwhelmed with inheritable conditions affecting its heart, for example.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Far too high a percentage of dogs in that breed are dying from heart conditions or affected by heart conditions. Now without a mandatory health scheme which forces you only to breed from dogs that are free of those conditions is the way forward…to go on breeding dogs just because they happen to belong to a breed is no way forward.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: How do you think the kennel club perceives attention from the European Parliament or our own government? Do they welcome it, do you think?<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">DH: The kennel club - certainly the English kennel club in Britain - is far too self-regarding and far too smug. If Cruft's is a success, the kennel club somehow feels it is a success in itself. But if you look at the rate at which inheritable conditions are affecting dogs, if you look at the way in which the design which has been allowed to develop in some breeds are affecting its well being, and if you look at the way in which dogs are being over-produced - this is not good news. The kennel club boasts about how many dogs it registers each year because its whole funding system is based on money received for the registration of dogs. That's why- how it pays its way. But in a way, that encourages people to over breed.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If they are saying 'the more shows we have, the more entries we have, the more dogs we can register, shows that were successful' - that is not a judgment, that is a commentary. A judgment is how many good, sound dogs of high quality are being produced in Britain. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Now, we started dog showing. We started pedigree dog breeding. We created more dog breeds than any other nation. We, of all nations, should now be looking to our conscience and saying 'Ok, we started this particular human interest, what we must do now is set standards that the rest of the world admire'. At the moment, certainly in Europe, they are setting standards which we do not emulate.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Do you think the kennel club is aware of the need to change? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Kennel clubs and clubs like that, by their very nature, resist change. There's a complacency about them. And they measure success, in my view, by the wrong criteria. How many dogs live a long time? How many dogs lead a contented life? How many dogs can still carry out their original function? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Are we breeding livestock - which dogs are - to a degree in which the public admire? Or are we just perpetuating dogs because they look like the breed whose title they claim? Now, it's a matter of personal conscience here, and clubs don't have consciences. They are self-perpetuating, they're self-congratulatory, and they do not question themselves at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Dissidents, critical voices, are poo-pooed. At Cruft's time, anyone that criticises the pedigree dog industry, criticises the way in which judging is carried out, dog breeding is carried out - are considered to be heretics. That is not healthy. They should look towards dissident voices - especially if they're well-informed - and say 'perhaps these people have a point. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Perhaps we should take on board some of the points they've been making. Do they have some validity?. Now what are we going to do to move forward? You cannot keep a club which is responsible for living creatures… stuck in time. They have got to take advantage ofa dvances in veterinary science, and in genetic knowledge. And that they are not doing. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: They would say that they are. So do you think there should be a independed body overseeing and providing leadership? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think a kennel club which has a monopoly is in a dangerous position - from a dog's point of view. Because they can do what they like. What you need is healthy competition, or for the existing kennel club to say 'have we got this right? Should we not change? In what way should we change?'. But it's disappointing too, that the vets, the veterinary surgeons, don't speak up. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Do they speak up because the sicklier dogs are, the more patients they get, the more money they make? That's a cynical statement, but why do veterinary surgeons not speak up? They are scientists. They are in possession of facts. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">But there is no feedback, there is no, survey being done by the veterinary profession to say, oi - this kind of incidence of eye disease in collies has got to be more than just coincidence. We must report it, we must have a reporting system, so that we can breed out these faults, we can reduce their incidence, and aim to produce a healthier dog. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Is not the purpose of veterinary science to produce healthier animals? Or is it to produce as many patients as you can?<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: I have to say a lot of vets we've spoken to feel increasingly strongly about this… But how do you convince breeders? They think that they've got healthy dogs. They see critics as outside interference. While that's going on are we not beating our heads against a brick wall?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There are some breeders of pedigree dogs who are extremely honourable, very well-informed, and are contributing quite wonderful dogs to the world of dogs. But they are the minority. I would like to hear them speak out more, but how can they speak out more if they become pariahs?<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Their dogs will be penalised at dog shows, people will not recommend their pups, and they will be unable to continue. And so there's a self-defeating side to this - … dog breeders who set out to breed better dogs and obtain better specimens in their breed stand to be penalised in many ways. What you must do is go along with the current trend. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And if you take, say, the bull terrier - the bull terrier was designed by a man called Hinks up in Birmingham in the 20th century - they did not have egg shaped heads… If the egg shaped head was a benefit, he would have bred a dog with an egg shaped head. But we decided, we the great, the dog breeding fraternity, decided that the bull terrier was to have a sheep's head, or an egg shaped head, relatively late on in the development of the breed. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">That shows you two things: one is that the breed clubs did not have the true interests of that breed at heart - otherwise they'd have not allowed it to happen - and secondly, there was no guardianship. Where was the kennel club when a bull terrier with an egg shaped head was patronised, fashioned, and considered to be the example of the breed. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Those were the dogs that won in the ring - if you took a bull terrier in the ring today without an egg shaped head it wouldn't win. And yet, the bull terrier without an egg shaped head is the correct bull terrier, the correct example of that breed. And people like Hinks must be turning in their graves. Because all their work has been betrayed. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: What do you think of Cruft’s?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">You must take away the razzmatazz and the fact that it's become a dog food show, and a dog accessories manufacturers’ show. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If the dogs that turn up on the day are not good enough to win, the judges have the ability under kennel club rules to withhold prizes. They never do. But if you read the judges' critiques after the show - this is Britain's premier show, it's called the greatest dog show in the world, and it might well be - but if you read some of the judges' critiques, they make comments like: <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">'How on earth did they qualify?', 'I am distressed to see the way my breed is developing', 'This is a distressing sign and we must do something about it', 'The dogs were displaying upright shoulders, they were too short in the back, they were unsound in feet.' Many of them, time and time again, say how unfit the dogs were. They were overweight, they were in no condition, they lacked muscularity. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Now, if the TV presenters at Cruft's time ever read the critiques of the Cruft's judges, they would be a bit more humble in their endless fawning, sycophantic praise of what is going on there. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">It is a livestock show, not a razzmatazz puppy outing. And I think the light-hearted, all-admiring, uncritical comment that Cruft's receives by the TV coverage is quite shameless. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: If they were more truthful, what kind of commentary do you think we'd have?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think there's a need for truthfulness over the commentary on any human involvement with animals. Dog breeders need people to criticise them. Not unfairly, but to make sure that they listen to another voice. Because within breed clubs, within the kennel club, if there's not dissent, if there's no critical voice, all sorts of terrible excesses can go on and with some breeds have gone on.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Talk to me about your hope for the future, and how realistic you feel about that hope.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">DH: I think the breeding of pedigree dogs in particular needs a lot of remedial action, now. I think the kennel club must introduce mandatory health schemes. I think it must… do more than just alter the written breed standards, to stop the exaggerations that have crept in, in many breeds. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I think it must re-introduce a system of breeding within the show ring so that if you're identifying future breeding stock, you can say 'this dog has been graded excellent by three different judges' or 'this dog has been graded merely satisfactory by three different judges'. The idea that every pedigree dog is worth breeding from is not a good way to proceed. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">But unless you have some kind of curbs on dog breeders, they will purely go on breeding pups. And you could argue, the cynic might say, the shorter the life of the dog the sooner the future owner needs a puppy. And so there is some self-interest in dogs not living a long time. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">But the insurance companies are not stupid and they are now charging far more breed on breed, and far less for cross bred dogs. Now cross bred dogs need not be healthier than a pedigree dog, but if the insurance companies think they are, are they completely wrong? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: How hopeful are you really, David, that enough is going to be done to save pedigree dogs? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Unless kennel clubs, breed clubs, those involved in the pedigree dog world, develop and evolve into a more dog-led, dog-conscious organisation, in the end they're going to be forced to introduce dramatic change by activists. The kind of people who have led to the Hunting With Dogs Act. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Which is better, reorganisation and rethinking from within, by people who are in the dog game, have knowledge and can apply it, but choose not to. Or for somebody outside, some do-gooder, somebody who sees what's going on and doesn't like it coming in, crashing about.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Is that better than self-imposed rethinking, reorganisation, and saying 'we can't go on like this, we're not moving at a fast enough pace'. But unless kennel clubs, unless breed clubs, unless the pedigree dog world sorts itself out, then one day - I would like to think that vets would be more outspoken - I think the dog welfare activists almost certainly will be. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And is it not shaming for the European Council to produce a long list of British breeds which they feel are breeding dogs which are not leading a contented, long, happy, stress-free life. Is that not shaming? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And to just say we'll do it our way and these people are totally wrong - 20 countries have signed up to ETS 125. Britain is being advised not to by the kennel club. Is that vested interest? Or what?<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If you leave the kennel club with its current philosophy to make changes, another century will go by without those changes. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">They need a visionary leader who says: 'look, this is all very comfortable, but we are not improving dogs. There are well over 400 inheritable conditions in the breeds we promote. We are not going to allow this. We are not going to allow an unsound dog to win a prize. We are not going to allow a dog to be bred from when we know that it's going to be blind one day'. That kind of moral guidance is needed from somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If the kennel clubs can't produce it, then either a rival kennel club will be created by some group of well-meaning and probably well-funded people. And the kennel club will disappear because financially it's very fragile. Or, government will step in - and you can see from the Dangerous Dogs Act, a discredited act, written by ignorant people - and if you think that the kennel club was one of the two bodies that the Home Office consulted in the drafting of that act…<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The kennel club has got a lot of soul-searching to do. They've got to ask themselves lots of fundamental questions - have we truly improved dogs? Do we truly just carry on as we have been for the last 125 years? Or should we rethink what we're doing? Unless they have that kind of fundamental reappraisal of… the business they're in, I really do fear for the future of the pedigree dog.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The pedigree dog industry regards any criticism as coming from outsiders who are producing ill-informed comment. They should stop saying that and say 'Are the points these people making, are they correct? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Is it correct, is it morally correct for us to be breeding, and judging, 20 stone mastiffs that can't lead an active life? Or bulldogs with such a short face they can't lead a stress-free life?'. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: What sort of response have you had from speaking out on this issue?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Well, it's interesting because I do a great deal of research, and I study breeds and have for half a century. But if you write in magazines, you write books as I do and at Cruft's time you appear or are heard on BBC programmes - people talk in the pedigree dog world to protect their own interests. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">They try to make you sound ill-informed, not really knowing what you're talking about. Or, they try to give the impression that they are the experts, they're in charge, and nothing is going to change. That's very unhealthy. Every theatre values its critics. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Every activity which is purely self-regarding and regards itself as untouchable, frankly… is not going to last very long. Because all it's doing is perpetuating the same old problems, not solving them. The kennel club needs, and the pedigree dog industry needs, to start solving some of its problems and not writing off all criticism as ill-informed.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: You’ve made me feel rather depressed about the prospects of changing things. Is that how you feel?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">I do about quite a lot of the show dogs. And the sadness of the Hunting With Dogs Act, is that it is already affecting already hound breeding. The effect of the Dangerous Dogs Act has been to drive the strong-headed dogs that will persist into the hands of semi-criminal people.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There is another way of doing this, not by banning, not by prescribing, but by realigning - making sure that people who like the use of dogs in quarry pursuit, or the use of dogs that look tough and macho - there's a way of handling that. And it's not by identifying breeds and by banning things, but redirecting it.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And we talked about hound training - hound training produces extraordinarily fit, wonderfully well-bred dogs. And gives a lot of humans and a lot of dogs healthy exercise. What can be wrong with that? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: I'm not sure how comfortable you feel talking about it, but do you see anything that equates to overt racism in dog breeding?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There's a kind of scorn for crossbred dogs, or mongrel dogs, which defies comprehension, really. Because there are many crossbred dogs and quite a lot of mongrels that are healthier than many pedigree dogs. And that shouldn't be so. If it is so, why are pedigree dog breeders so inefficient?<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">But if you look at, foxhounds… the dogs in the pastures, the sheepdogs - they're not bred to a closed gene pool. They are bred by gifted breeders in pursuit of function. And their health, their soundness, and their ability to lead long lives are built into that system.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">What shepherd wants to train a dog to see it die at two or four or six? He wants a dog that lasts ten years. There is absolutely no point if you use dogs in having short-lived dogs. But there is every point in the pedigree dog industry in wanting more puppies or puppies sooner. That's not just a cynical point - if you are breeding dogs for money, it's a straight point of financial forecasting.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Is there a snobbishness in purebred dogs? If yes, is there a justification for it?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">In the pedigree dog world, even within the pedigree dog world, there is a snobbishness. For years, people who bred bulldogs were considered the villains. People who bred bull terriers were considered to be semi-criminals. People who kept gun dogs were considered to be slightly upper-class. The people who kept hounds were considered to be slightly more countrified.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And I think certain breeds - Staffordshire bull terriers - have long been associated with working class owners. So there has been a built-in, snobbishness I suppose is the word, a class consciousness in it. People who kept Borzoi were very different than people who kept Staffies. And, it may be true from the point of view of their level of income - but it certainly is not reflected in the quality of the dogs.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Is there a level of disdain that the show world has for working dogs?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The racier, faster working Labrador is often looked upon as sort of a black whippet, and scorned. But some years ago when I was making a video on the Labrador retriever, I spent some time with a very famous Labrador breeder – Gwen Broadley - who bred dogs that were not only extremely appealing but could function in the field. And she didn't have that attitude at all. She admired Labradors because of what they could do as well as what they looked like. And she was very anxious that her dogs perpetuated a type that could work and had working ability.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If you showed a mastiff breeder a dog that had been crossbred between two similar breeds, say an American bulldog and a Presa Canario, and if it looked like an English mastiff but was actually a better dog they wouldn't announce their concern and worry that somebody could produce a better example of the mastiff, they would say 'it isn't purebred' as though that was some kind of defence. Well nobody says if you're not a noble family you aren't any good. In human terms, why is it that pedigree dogs have been elevated to have some kind of quality purely because they are purebred? It's totally irrational.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Q: Could you talk to me about the pedigree breeder’s pursuit of "perfection"?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> People who admire and patronise a particular breed, whether it's a cocker spaniel or Borzoi, are looking to produce the best specimen of that breed that has ever been produced. Seeking perfection, you could say. But in so doing, if they produce it, say with a nobler head, is that a better dog? It might look nobler, but does the shape of it allow the dog a healthier life? Or is it too narrow, too long, its eyes too… sunken, is there too much loose eyelid and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If it is overfurnished as a setter, and has excessive feathering on its legs, or its tail is overfurnished, that is a handicap in the field. Therefore is it still a setter? If it's a spaniel and its ears drag on the ground, is it still a working dog? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">If it's a bulldog and will be killed by the bull within 30 seconds - and yet is still claimed to be perpetuating the dogs of the ring - is this a pursuit of perfection or is it misguided? And whenever people seek perfection, they introduce… subconsciously imperfections as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And I think in the end, with living creatures, it has to be function. Function decided form - that's why the breeds… resemble the dogs they do. But function also meant that the sight hounds of the world - no matter where they are - all look very similar. The pastural dogs, the herding dogs, all look very similar. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The mountain dogs, the flock guarding dogs, all look the same. From Spain, across to Russia, they're all of a similar conformation. Is it not therefore worth respecting that function that produced breeds right across the globe and gave us the breeds we have today? <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">And so what we should be looking for is soundness in dogs, not perfection in breeds. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">There is a terrible human arrogance in thinking that we can, in an artificial arena - like a show world - improve on all those pioneer breeders, those dedicated, devoted people who produced these wonderful breeds of dog for us to enjoy. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">That arrogance in the end overlooks the best anatomy to suit purpose, and it also tends to denigrate the well-being of the dog. Because perfection becomes the goal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">The outline of the setter, the stance of the fox terrier in the ring, the way in which the sight hound moves confidently across the ring, the way in which a chow stands haughtily, looking slightly oriental… these things have become prized, but to the detriment of the dog. The Chows' over-straightened stifle does not lead to healthy gait in the dog. Sunken eyes in any breed is not a good idea. The… loose lidded dogs, where you get what is called 'haw', where the dog can get red0rimmed eyelids which grass-seed can get in - certainly if they're gun dogs like the Clumber spaniel, or hounds like the bassett, grass seed in your eye is - you would know it from your own experience - is extraordinarily painful. When the eyelid almost collects grass seed because it's so loosely fitting - and has been bred and allowed for in the breed standard - that is a kind of pursuit of perfection which is almost surreal. It's saying that the description we've given these dogs - even if it harms them - must be adhered to. That is an irrational act.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">In the past, the kennel club has allowed out crossing when it has been necessary. The field spaniel to the English springer, the deerhound to the greyhound, the miniature bull terrier to the full-size bull terrier. And there are other examples. I think that enlightened outcrossing is an answer to some of the ways of reducing exaggerations in dogs. <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 13pt;"><td nowrap="" style="height: 13pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 14.2pt; width: 376.45pt;" valign="top" width="502"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">But on the other hand, when you see dogs with over-angulated hind-quarters in the show ring and winning, that's not good for anybody - except people who get paid to treat hip problems. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">____________________</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;">David - <i>thank you,</i> Sir, for all you did for dogs.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;">My sincere condolences to David's wife, Susan, who is fund-raising for David 's favourite charity. Please see <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Susan-Hancock5?utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_fundraiser_page_launched&utm_content=f49da6ee-97e7-498c-9bf6-d5ed9c34a755&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postoffice&utm_term=1617179503966"><b>here </b></a>if you would like to contribute something in this wonderful man's memory.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p></div>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-28441327723911545652021-01-31T00:19:00.013+00:002021-01-31T10:03:53.307+00:00The dogs that never sleep<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LR5vLjq8MD8/YBUqGVv4PaI/AAAAAAAAFn4/1scnzJ7cewk4_O-Ax9UsnZKV5lFYUfuEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2790/RSM%2Bevent%2Bbanner.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="2790" height="162" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LR5vLjq8MD8/YBUqGVv4PaI/AAAAAAAAFn4/1scnzJ7cewk4_O-Ax9UsnZKV5lFYUfuEQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h162/RSM%2Bevent%2Bbanner.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>On Friday, the Royal Society of Medicine hosted <a href="https://www.rsm.ac.uk/events/comparative-medicine/2020-21/cmp51">a webinar </a>exploring the parallels between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in humans and brachycephalic obstructed airway syndrome (BOAS) in flat-faced dogs. It was eye-opening - and profoundly sad. </p><p>"I was almost in tears listening to the extent of suffering in dogs with BOAS," admits Dr Felicity Vidya Mehendale who co-chaired the event. </p><p>Likewise, the spelling out of the widespread debilitating, sometimes life-threatening, consequences of obstructed breathing in humans left me feeling sick about the likely systemic cost in dogs.</p><p>Sleep research in dogs is in its infancy, but that some brachycephalic dogs struggle to sleep is not news. It's recorded in the veterinary literature (<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;">(Hendricks et al., 1987; Hendricks, 1992; Hobson, 1995; Koch et al., 2003; Hendricks, 2004).</span> I've highlighted the issue many times - including in 2016 via <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDzd_4DFCDE">this YouTube video</a> </b>and, more recently, with this poster illustrating the extraordinary compensatory lengths to which some of these dogs go in order to catch some shut-eye.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1RbTA_baH08/YBUsmuRdxVI/AAAAAAAAFoE/ix6JhlHGEX8fWCMAhdvUOZvgcvS3423BwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1191/brachy%2Bsleep%2Bbone%2B%252B%2Btoy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="842" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1RbTA_baH08/YBUsmuRdxVI/AAAAAAAAFoE/ix6JhlHGEX8fWCMAhdvUOZvgcvS3423BwCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/brachy%2Bsleep%2Bbone%2B%252B%2Btoy.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>Of course, dogs are masters at falling asleep in funny positions and sometimes with toys in their mouths. If your Labrador does this, you shouldn't worry. You don't even need to worry if you have a brachy dog that does this, unless it happens frequently and it's obvious that it helps your dog sleep. <p></p><p>The dogs on the poster have all been diagnosed with BOAS and all actively seek out an object in order to sleep. Some of them have stopped doing it post-surgery.</p><p>Pugs, Frenchies and Bulldogs are often as fleshy internally as they are on the outside and when they fall asleep this tissue relaxes - in exactly the same way as in (often overweight) humans, resulting in snoring and sleep apnoea. Frenchies and Pugs in particular often have narrow/blocked nasal airways. When they're awake they can compensate by breathing through their mouths. But when they're asleep, <i>dogs are obligate nose breathers</i>. They cannot mouth-breathe. It means they have to wake up to take a breath - unless they prop open their mouths open as the dogs in the poster have learned to do. </p><p>It's an extraordinary adaption - but, unfortunately, not all dogs are as smart as the ones above and some are chronically sleep-deprived as a result.</p><p>The veterinary speakers yesterday included Dr Sean Wensley (PDSA), Dr Jane Ladlow (Cambridge BOAS Group) and Dr Rowena Packer (Royal Veterinary College). </p><p>Revealing the cost of OSA in humans were Dr Renata Riha, Consultant in Sleep and Respiratory Medicine at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Dr Catherine McDougall, a consultant in paediatric intensive care and respiratory medicine at the Royal Hospital of Sick Children in Edinburgh.</p><p>Sleep science is a relatively new discipline in humans but the consequences of obstructive sleep apnoea are now well-known. Children with OSA have a higher incidence of cognitive and behavioural problems. Adults are four times more likely to have a car accident. Untreated OSA leads to inflammation and an increased risk of a stroke and heart attack. It is illogical to think that there isn't a profound impact on dogs too, even if we haven't measured it yet. It may not be a coincidence that heart problems are common in Bulldogs. </p><p>We heard yesterday that in adults and children, OSA can result in hundreds of micro-wake-ups every night interrupting the sleep that is so vital to our physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. Many owners of brachycephalics report that their dogs are restless in sleep - a phenomenon that is marked on this infographic from the Cambridge BOAS Group.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZMe0Oxy1xs/YBaACuUE4GI/AAAAAAAAFo8/lY4u4IN_7dcN2wGTPPY5vHesxUkTRB-FACLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/sleep%2Binfographic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1800" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZMe0Oxy1xs/YBaACuUE4GI/AAAAAAAAFo8/lY4u4IN_7dcN2wGTPPY5vHesxUkTRB-FACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/sleep%2Binfographic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Many years ago, on the old Pedigree Dogs Exposed Facebook group (now closed), someone swapped out an image of a Pug on a billboard for a child with Crouzon syndrome - essentially to make the point that Pugs suffer from distressing cranial deformities.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yo2iQy-SpDw/YBVQE0yzFnI/AAAAAAAAFog/LpEjMeVfWksb38-vje2YAk4ZhQrhrTIbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1632/10295168_745020795548350_4469667683292087755_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yo2iQy-SpDw/YBVQE0yzFnI/AAAAAAAAFog/LpEjMeVfWksb38-vje2YAk4ZhQrhrTIbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/10295168_745020795548350_4469667683292087755_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dR6piTFsfOo/YBVQE6JINZI/AAAAAAAAFoc/HnwmwJIDG6sns5XGlrIcAHFrhAoVljhOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/10350605_774872139210421_2236050306303061999_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dR6piTFsfOo/YBVQE6JINZI/AAAAAAAAFoc/HnwmwJIDG6sns5XGlrIcAHFrhAoVljhOwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/10350605_774872139210421_2236050306303061999_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>It caused uproar but, as we discovered yesterday from Catherine McDougall, there are indeed parallels between brachycephalic dogs and children with cranial deformities, including that children with Crouzon, Apert and Pfieffer syndromes suffer from sleep apnoea. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ftmFyF5y3cw/YBVNKDuLXHI/AAAAAAAAFoQ/Talg7WIGXE8N2nyK6IVgos9C2jWQZrq8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1212/OSA%2Bcranial%2Bdeformities.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1212" height="303" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ftmFyF5y3cw/YBVNKDuLXHI/AAAAAAAAFoQ/Talg7WIGXE8N2nyK6IVgos9C2jWQZrq8ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h303/OSA%2Bcranial%2Bdeformities.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 11pt;">A study in 2019 from the Royal Veterinary College entitled </span><b style="font-family: Times; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0219918&fbclid=IwAR2wcLoVHs724oHpYAfAfVu52KXQgGwfld4H3gQ1HxqWQyh_bG_R2VN9dCw"><i>Great Expectations, Inconvient Truths and the paradoxes of the dog-owner </i><span><i>relationship</i></span><i> for owners of brachycephalic dogs</i></a> </b><span style="font-family: Times;">found that around three per cent of owners reported that their brachy dogs had problems sleeping. That might not sound that many but, given their current popularity, it adds up to thousands of affected dogs. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times;"><span>Certainly, YouTube is awash with videos of Bulldogs, Pugs and Frenchies showing obvious sleeping problems, mostly presented by doting owners as their dogs doing something funny and cute.</span></span></p><p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090023313004280?fbclid=IwAR2I5AzVfjVM39XFI0KS-7vTUeZExHUJILrHQmgLmOsnoPgSWeV5pV5bLfM"><i><b>This 2013 paper</b></i></a> found that over half the Pugs and Frenchies treated for BOAS at the University of Leipzig suffered from sleep problems, with the authors suggesting either than their prevalence has been underestimated in the past or that they have "severely worsened over recent generations of dogs."</p><p>The problems documented included only being able to sleep with the <span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 11pt;">chin in an elevated position (31%); sleep apnoea (27%); attempting to sleep in a sitting position (24%); choking fits during sleep (11%); only being able to sleep with the mouth open (6%), and being almost unable to sleep or not sleeping at all (6%).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px;"><i>That's right. Some of these dogs don't sleep at all.</i></span></span> </p><p>If you want to get some sense of what that is like, here's a video of one severely affected dog whose every waking hour was sheer hell. Note how as his head drops in exhaustion, which causes his airway to block, his body begins to heave. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyVKqSxhOw7McWMU5UJXc4vsLL_ktEhDPvJ7MZxCBkw0ppzoK1nzia5RBl5Ssr_R2aLwbmvCjIlYhYKQvtNjA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></li></ul><p></p><p>Pimped on Insta for some years by his owner as being cute and funny and featured here before (<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2016/08/help-this-little-chap-get-decent-nights.html">see here</a>) - this dog has recently died. I have never wished more for a dog's release.</p><p>Of course, for all the similiaries between human OSA and BOAS in dogs, there is one glaring difference: obstructed breathing in dogs is a direct consequence of the deliberate breeding of animals with very flat faces. </p><p>As the veterinary presenters articulated the problem yesterday, with wincing examples of dogs gasping for breath, there was palpable disquiet among some of the human medics present that such predictable and preventable suffering should be allowed to continue. </p><p>#dontignorethesnore</p>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-47653200056311415662020-06-19T09:21:00.001+01:002020-06-19T09:23:00.673+01:00National Purebred Dog Day celebrates a crossbreed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xbPXTMVrimo/XgnNFLqLzII/AAAAAAAAFXo/KND_JmJGRn0gds6GdsiFv01bXbgkZqvzgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/3rd%2Bgen%2Boutcross.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="1248" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xbPXTMVrimo/XgnNFLqLzII/AAAAAAAAFXo/KND_JmJGRn0gds6GdsiFv01bXbgkZqvzgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/3rd%2Bgen%2Boutcross.png" width="600" /></a></div>
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Finn is, in fact, a third generation descendent of the excellent Irish Red + White outcross programme which crossed working Irish Setters in to the IRWS. In the screamier reaches of the purebred world where far more distant outcrosses induce outrage, this makes Finn a mongrel.<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/NationalPurebredDogDay">National Purebred Dog Day</a>, which describes individual dog breeds as "museum pieces with a pulse" claims it celebrates diversity....<br />
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... but of course it means the diversity of looks <i>between</i> breeds, not within-breed genetic diversity.<br />
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In truth the IRWS outcross initiative, <a href="http://ikc-ie.access.secure-ssl-servers.info/international-outcross-programme-irish-red-and-white-setters-and-irish-red-setters">supported by the Irish Kennel Club</a>, is not a huge leap. The Irish Setter and Irish Red + White Setter were all one and the same breed until the 1970s. But, still, it has met a lot of opposition within the show community - see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161220183611/http://www.dogworld.co.uk/product.php/78170">here</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121010152914/http://www.irishredandwhitesetterclub.com/index.php">here</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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To its credit, the UK Kennel Club supports the initiative and, today, outcrossed IRWS are proving successful both in the field and in the show-ring.<br />
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It's great news for the breed.<br />
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-43325406616235775982020-06-17T22:13:00.009+01:002020-06-18T16:43:24.050+01:00BULLDOGS: hurting even more than we thought<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46OF_T8yuqw/Xup-INKlzCI/AAAAAAAAFkA/XHSkCQL6_CM9SX406movj69t8ZSn1WK_gCK4BGAsYHg/s1634/sad%2Bbulldog%2Badobe%2Bstock.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="1634" height="333" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46OF_T8yuqw/Xup-INKlzCI/AAAAAAAAFkA/XHSkCQL6_CM9SX406movj69t8ZSn1WK_gCK4BGAsYHg/w501-h333/sad%2Bbulldog%2Badobe%2Bstock.png" width="501" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator"> </div>Until recently, concern about Bulldog health has focused mainly on the their breathing problems. But other health problems in the breed are well-documented. <div><br /></div><div>Now, <a href="https://actavetscand.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13028-020-00517-3?fbclid=IwAR21HABOpyoGChdBDsHxQETSHahQVxFAzVZqgxm5uN_K3dreQiDYUyiRhsg"><b>a new study</b></a> from Finland confirms that Bulldogs suffer from serious orthopaedic disorders - including an abnormal gait, slipping kneecaps, spinal malformations, elbow dysplasia and severe hip dysplasia.<br /><div><div><br /></div><div>The radiographic study, of 24 ostensibly-healthy young Bulldogs registered with the Finnish Kennel Club, found the prevalence of orthopaedic disease, particularly hip dysplasia, so high in the breed that "no healthy individuals exist". </div><div><br /></div><div>All but one of the dogs had moderate or severe hip dysplasia. Three-quarters had at least one malformed vertebra. Thirty-three percent had luxating patellas and almost half of the dogs in the study had elbow dysplasia. </div><div><br /></div><div>The orthopaedic abnormalities are linked to kennel club breed standards which ask for a large head, a broad and heavy front end and lighter, narrow hips, all of which result in extra stresses on the dog's skeleton.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Worryingly, the research suggests owners are unaware of the problems and that the iconic British breed may be enduring significant undiagnosed and untreated pain.</div><div><br /></div><div><font face="inherit">"<span lang="EN-US">One of the most worrying points of our study actually was, that the owners of the dogs we studied, did not feel that their dogs were sick or poorly, which is alarming" says lead author Anu Lappalainen. "It is important to note that many of the 'everyday behaviours' of these dogs are often actually symptoms of pain or discomfort</span><span>, but due to the amazing but at the same time hard to interpret, stoical temperament of these dogs, these symptoms are often not noticed or understood."</span></font></div><div><br /></div><div>Based on her clinical experience as a vet, Dr Lappalainen says she was expecting to find a number of issues but "the severity and amount of them was surprising to us."</div><div><br /></div><div>The study, funded in part by the Finnish Kennel Club and supported by the Finnish English Bulldog Club, is actually the third published using this cohort of dogs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023316302106?via%3Dihub">first </a>found that every Bulldog in the cohort (aged 2-5) showed some signs of breathing difficulty, almost half of them moderate or severe. The <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/vde.12752">second</a> found that all showed abnormal dermatological findings, too - 37% unrecognised by their owners. </div><div><br /></div><div>So to sum up, every single one of a cohort of<i> </i>Finnish Bulldogs reported healthy by their owners was diagnosed with breathing, joint or dermatological issues - and all but one suffered from all three. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Asked if the sample was large enough to be able to draw conclusions about the breed in Finland as a whole, Dr Lappalaeinen says: "<font face="inherit">Considering our research methodology, the sample size was sufficient, and our findings are noteworthy. Regarding the sample size, the key word is 'sufficient'. Modern clinical research aims to achieve reliable results by using as low numbers of animals as possible, so that we do not stress any more animals than we absolutely have to. This research was a prime example of how the examinations that the dogs were subjected to - albeit it was only walking for a kilometer, or lying on their side - were very strenuous to some of them, and thus, the less animals needed to be subjected to these tests, the better."</font></div></div><div><font face="inherit"><br /></font></div><div>Even allowing for the fact that some of the conditions were mild in some dogs, and of course these were just Finnish Bulldogs, it is an astonishing finding - and little wonder the authors conclude:</div><div><br /></div><div>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><font face="inherit">For the future of the English bulldog breed in Finland, it seems unlikely that any changes in breeding could produce healthier individuals when taking into account that the prevalence of orthopaedic diseases is high and in some conditions like hip dysplasia, no healthy individuals exist. In addition, orthopaedic problems are not the only condition that plagues this breed. At this point, the chances for selective breeding are lost and probably the only option towards healthier dogs would</font></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"> be crossbreeding."</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">They are not the first to conclude this. A study from UC Davis in 2016 found that despite their huge numbers, the breed had such low genetic diversity that it would likely be impossible to breed away from their myriad of health issues without outcrossing to a healthier breed. The study provoked uproar from Bulldog breeders who claimed lead scientist Professor Niels Pedersen had got it wrong. </span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">And that, sadly, is likely to be the response from Bulldog breeders to this research too. Here's one comment I saw about the study.</span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kgQykf2ogzA/XuuLgGdSTrI/AAAAAAAAFkg/QTNjC14gEysWzdcg3Yiyn-miEE2vf7TrQCK4BGAsYHg/s704/bulldogs%2Bsupposed%2Bto%2Bhave%2Bloose%2Blimb%2Bjoints.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="704" height="153" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kgQykf2ogzA/XuuLgGdSTrI/AAAAAAAAFkg/QTNjC14gEysWzdcg3Yiyn-miEE2vf7TrQCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h153/bulldogs%2Bsupposed%2Bto%2Bhave%2Bloose%2Blimb%2Bjoints.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white;">I do think it's important to recognise that some Bulldogs breeders are working hard to produce healthier dogs. We've seen that some do lead reasonably active lives; that some even do agility and other dog sports. There's more health testing too - and clearly they are much loved by their owners.</span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">But it is ethical to continue to breed dogs that suffer this much?</span></font></div><div><br /></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The answer, surely, is no.</span></font></div><div><font color="#333333"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></font></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><i>See also:</i></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><i></i><a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2020/02/exclusive-bulldog-breeders-attack.html">Bulldog breeders attack owners of Supervet's "Molly"</a></span></span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2016/07/death-of-bulldog.html">Death of the Bulldog</a></span></div><div><a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2016/09/uc-davis-challenge-prove-youve-got.html">UC Davis challenge: prove your Bulldog is healthy and we'll diversity-test for free</a></div><div><a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/11/raging-bull.html">Raging Bull</a></div>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-80662828364980218162020-06-16T16:20:00.006+01:002020-06-17T16:50:47.509+01:00The extraordinary story of how the Boston Terrier lost its nose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Tpro57JjhU/XuijGWu9_7I/AAAAAAAAFfw/kBMLRijx800eJ8s9_TUMx-CQmhdgUdNXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/103379342_720633342025397_439197419499695751_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Tpro57JjhU/XuijGWu9_7I/AAAAAAAAFfw/kBMLRijx800eJ8s9_TUMx-CQmhdgUdNXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/103379342_720633342025397_439197419499695751_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This photograph stopped me in my tracks this week. It shows Image Catcher of Ziost, who won the bitch CC at Crufts 2020 earlier this year. Her win is not a one-off. She has since been made up to a Champion.<br />
<br />As she's slightly turning away in the top pic, here are a couple more showing that her face really is very flat.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NagBCtkKO7Q/XuindBT1GsI/AAAAAAAAFf8/PGYHLA0CzfsznBKcVmrpKRYLYLYB9bFKACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/103331272_565122477531993_2190113958411228968_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NagBCtkKO7Q/XuindBT1GsI/AAAAAAAAFf8/PGYHLA0CzfsznBKcVmrpKRYLYLYB9bFKACLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h400/103331272_565122477531993_2190113958411228968_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UeNFbfIi5uw/Xuo7Z6a3veI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/5s9rMTHkKl0eb-a7-HnKMUuHlCT94obRACK4BGAsYHg/s1500/104167602_553240231992009_7483803173600459928_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UeNFbfIi5uw/Xuo7Z6a3veI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/5s9rMTHkKl0eb-a7-HnKMUuHlCT94obRACK4BGAsYHg/s320/104167602_553240231992009_7483803173600459928_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
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The reason it stopped me in my tracks is because the Boston used to have a muzzle and neither were their actual noses pushed back into the face like this. Here's a champ from 1910.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UWaN0Ibldo/XuirEU5KLII/AAAAAAAAFgY/ajf6-PI689gp7gpAEAu9ib-VZ-yzgQvLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1910.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6UWaN0Ibldo/XuirEU5KLII/AAAAAAAAFgY/ajf6-PI689gp7gpAEAu9ib-VZ-yzgQvLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/1910.jpg" width="377" /></a></div>
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These winners are from around that time, too.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aUriBwgNqzY/XuirVy0XcVI/AAAAAAAAFgg/XU6axBsZAOggzJSEffal9WSYh_KNBbJRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/6a5e01564a6144d586408d4be76444b6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="430" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aUriBwgNqzY/XuirVy0XcVI/AAAAAAAAFgg/XU6axBsZAOggzJSEffal9WSYh_KNBbJRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/6a5e01564a6144d586408d4be76444b6.jpg" width="346" /></a></div>
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So how did a breed that once had a muzzle end up without one?</div>
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There are three main reasons. First is the pernicious effect of the show-ring which too often leads to exaggeration over time. Second is the cult-like lure of brachcycephaly that has transformed several breeds (and threatens several others). The third, slightly more surprising one, is that the breeders have full-on fucked-up in their reading of the breed standard.</div>
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Here's how it happened...</div>
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The Boston Terrier was first recognised in the US in the 1890s.</div>
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Below is a contemporaneous report and illustraiton of the 1898 Boston Breeders Club Dog Show (in Boston itself, I believe),where muzzles, albeit of various lengths, are very much in evidence.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vzov_cilFns/Xuiwcj66bMI/AAAAAAAAFg4/OUYk1ifOBz0cgQA_214pwqmpzQBlJyxLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1898%2BBoston%2BBreeders%2BClub%2BShow.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1324" height="496" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vzov_cilFns/Xuiwcj66bMI/AAAAAAAAFg4/OUYk1ifOBz0cgQA_214pwqmpzQBlJyxLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/1898%2BBoston%2BBreeders%2BClub%2BShow.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the 1910 breed standard it states this: </div>
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<i>"MUZZLE - Short, square, wide and deep, without wrinkles.... the jaw broad and square, with short, regular teeth"</i></blockquote>
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Ten years later, there was a revision that included a max muzzle length (<i>my bolding</i>).</div>
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<i>"MUZZLE - short, square, wide and deep, and in proportion to skull;' free from wrinkles; shorter in length than in width and depth, not exceeding in length approximately one-third of length of skull; <b>width and depth carried out well to end</b>; the muzzle from stop to end of nose on a line parallel to the top of the skull"</i></blockquote>
Also of interest in the 1920 standard are the head faults listed - too short a skull and a jaw that turned up (as in the Bulldog).<br />
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<i>"HEAD FAULTS - Skull "domed" or inclined; furrowed by a medial line; <b>skull too long for breadth, or vice versa;</b> stop too shallow; brown and skull to slanting... Muzzle wedge shaped or lacking depth; down faced; too much cut below the eyes; pinched nostrils; protruding teeth; weak lower jaw; <b>showing "turn-up"</b></i></blockquote>
In 1919, the National Geographic Book of Dogs described the Boston's muzzle like this:<br />
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<i>"The face is intelligent, rather square, the nose, while short, is not pushed in, and the jaws are even, broad and fairly deep. He is in every sense a good practical dog."</i></blockquote>
And that, indeed, is what the accompanying illustration shows (here with a French Bulldog).<br />
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In 1926, breed historian E J Rousuck offered this clarification re muzzle proportions:<br />
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<i>"Conforming to outline to nearly every other part of the Boston's head, the muzzle must be square. It should be as perfect a square as possible, its width and depth and length being about equal; the "about" meaning that the slight deviation will probably take place in its length because, inasmuch as blockiness is a true requisite, the aim has ever been toward a short nose. The muzzle should come out squarely from the stop, its length not exceeding one third of the entire head, that is, the distance from tip of nose back horizontally as far as the set-on of the ears, should measure three times the length of the muzzle." </i></blockquote>
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Today's AKC standard now says this: </div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt;">"The </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman,bolditalic"; font-size: 12pt;">muzzle </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt;">is short, square, wide and deep and in proportion to the skull. It is free from wrinkles, shorter in length than in width or depth; not exceeding in length approximately one-third of the length of the skull."</span></i></div>
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And it also now allows an underbite, never a part of the original standard.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>"The jaw is broad and square with short regular teeth. The bite is even or sufficiently undershot to square the muzzle"</i></span></div>
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We now even have some Boston breeders talking about <i>layback - </i>essentially a nose that recedes into the head like this, aided and abetted by the removal of an upturned jaw as a fault being removed from the standard. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-alqHO9Gl1DA/XujISgz0MyI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/z1QxvuqH6CsLicbYvEq8zFiADvaqbVX-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/10473381_10152606180957891_778201177_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-alqHO9Gl1DA/XujISgz0MyI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/z1QxvuqH6CsLicbYvEq8zFiADvaqbVX-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/10473381_10152606180957891_778201177_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Unfortunately, the max-third demand is now interpreted by show-breeders as something to avoid at all costs and because too-short-a-muzzle has been removed as a head fault, there is nothing to prevent fanciers breeding the face off the dog. </div>
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On my Facebook group <a href="http://cruffa.org/">CRUFFA </a>yesterday, a US Boston breeder interpreted the proportions of the Crufts winner at the top as being correct with this illustration.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yr5qyloV2Jg/XujKJYAt4eI/AAAAAAAAFic/ZwnBOGC2RP8MLpjFzg8bJHO9rs_1ecSPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/jani%2Bmartin%2Bthird%2Bproportions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1218" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yr5qyloV2Jg/XujKJYAt4eI/AAAAAAAAFic/ZwnBOGC2RP8MLpjFzg8bJHO9rs_1ecSPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/jani%2Bmartin%2Bthird%2Bproportions.png" width="249" /></a></div>
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Leaving aside the fact that "muzzle" cannot possibly mean just the mandible (lower jaw), it is a plain wrong interpretation of the breed standard. </div>
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A dog's skull is not just from occiput to stop - it is the whole head, as E J Rousuck made clear in 1926, writing: <i>"The muzzle should come out squarely from the stop, its length not exceeding one third of the entire head, that is, the distance from tip of nose back horizontally as far as the set-on of the ears, should measure three times the length of the muzzle." </i></div>
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To suggest otherwise would be considered a nonsense by any anatomist. But sadly, we've seen this error also appear in other breeds where it has also been used to justify increasingly brachycephaly - "brachy creep" as we've dubbed it on CRUFFA.</div>
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Now it is true that there has been some variation in muzzle length over the years, and it is possible to find past Champions with a very short muzzle, only recently has it led to dogs as extreme as this dog, a show champion in the US.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o03v52TzcOw/XujDzMJO_yI/AAAAAAAAFho/RhpWNY8tgs8cddgHPbPYAwKYd4PhLwrXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2014%2BKen%2BRoux%2BHoss.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1267" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o03v52TzcOw/XujDzMJO_yI/AAAAAAAAFho/RhpWNY8tgs8cddgHPbPYAwKYd4PhLwrXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/2014%2BKen%2BRoux%2BHoss.png" width="316" /></a></div>
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And dogs like these in the UK show-ring.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2MB8CYWXN2o/XujGln0bjEI/AAAAAAAAFh8/lqpr1vIyIZ8sFIKZ4SrBUoQj-jZasL3mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/10639289_10152606170177891_42043280_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2MB8CYWXN2o/XujGln0bjEI/AAAAAAAAFh8/lqpr1vIyIZ8sFIKZ4SrBUoQj-jZasL3mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/10639289_10152606170177891_42043280_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I recently spotted this breeder meme, produced in response to recent legislation in the Netherlands that prohibits the breeding of extremely brachycephalic dogs.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkhwPFGZenY/XujUkw3p9hI/AAAAAAAAFio/G3xqbTnXBsMYlKvc7nH9PvM7LZ9w3Un7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/no%2Bno%2Bno%2Byes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="537" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkhwPFGZenY/XujUkw3p9hI/AAAAAAAAFio/G3xqbTnXBsMYlKvc7nH9PvM7LZ9w3Un7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/no%2Bno%2Bno%2Byes.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>
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The irony is that if they had stuck to muzzles the length of the dog on the right, the breed would not now be one of the 12 extreme brachycephalics whose breeding has been restricted in the Netherlands. </div>
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In fact, Bostons like this (and yep, they do still exist) are fine to be bred in the Netherlands because they meet the demand for a muzzle that is a third the length of the whole head. It's perfectly within-standard, too, but show breeders would dismiss this dog as "pet-bred"... the wrong colour... and far too "snouty"</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyHJjsXfKqQ/XunMPnTe5cI/AAAAAAAAFi8/p6GBGZzzgZUyuNytL98444kYLFj5PExAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Haze%2BBrown%2BBoston.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyHJjsXfKqQ/XunMPnTe5cI/AAAAAAAAFi8/p6GBGZzzgZUyuNytL98444kYLFj5PExAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Haze%2BBrown%2BBoston.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The latest trend is for show breeders to claim themselves "preservation breeders", apparently oblivious to the fact that the dogs they are breeding today often look nothing like the original dogs. They will tell you the dogs are unchanged in 150 years, asking us to not believe our lying eyes. </div>
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So does it matter? After all, we know that the Boston is a better breather than its fleshier cousins the Frenchie, Bulldog and Pug. </div>
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But this is not just about breathing (although some Bostons do struggle). Dogs' muzzles are where you find their cooling system. Crush them and the dogs overheat. Brachy mouths are also almost always<i> </i>a mess with rotated/crowded/mismatched teeth - an under-recognised cause of trauma and pain. A lack of a muzzle also makes eyes very vulnerable - as admitted by the Boston Terrier Club of the USA. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Because their eyes protrude and their muzzles are short, there is an increased chance over other dogs that they will scratch their eyes by accident. When walking with your Boston never allow them to come into contact with thorny plants."</i></span></blockquote>
So yes, it does matter. All dogs need a muzzle - as a physical buffer, as air-con and for a comfortable mouth.<br />
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<b>POINTS OF ACTION:</b><br />
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• introduce a minimum muzzle length into the breed standards of breeds vulnerable to brachy creep<br />
• KCs and breed clubs to educate and encourage honest debate about phenotypic changes in the breed, with an emphasis on what is and isn't an improvement from a welfare point of view<br />
• more emphasis on the perils of shortening muzzles in judges' training<br />
• add "brachy creep" to the KC's <a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/breed/watch/display.aspx?breed=4083"><b>Breedwatch for the Boston</b></a> (and other breeds where it is evident - eg Dogue de Bordeaux, Boxers, Newfies and sadly many others).<br />
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And a point of action for me personally: to give the <a href="http://www.ukbwg.org.uk/">Brachycephalic Working Group</a> a kick up the bum. Set up in 2016 by the Kennel Club after a veterinary petition calling for brachy reform was signed by over 40,000 veterinary professional), progress has been glacial - particularly re changes to breed standards that were reported to be imminent more than a year ago.Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-32908240966803161622020-05-29T16:19:00.002+01:002020-06-01T21:01:01.601+01:00Dutch ban short-nosed dogs: breeders fear others could follow <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">@Dier&Recht</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The story broke last week that the Netherlands had banned the breeding of Bulldogs and other short-faced breeds (and crossbreeds), prompting outrage from some dog-lovers - and a standing ovation from others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">To many in the show-world, the news seems to have come as a massive shock. New Facebook groups and petitions have sprung up overnight in the hope of preventing a slippery-slope spread to other countries. Dozens of international breed clubs have issued statements of condemnation and on Wednesday, the FCI (the umbrella group for many overseas kennel clubs) held an emergency webinar (a separate blog to come on that).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, the president of the FCI, Dr Tamás Jakkel, has even gone so far as to write an extraordinary open letter charging the Dutch KC (</span>Raad<span style="font-family: inherit;"> van Baheer) with negligence in letting the Dutch Government implement the new legislation. (Read Dr Jakkel's letter <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fci4pedigreedogs/photos/a.10150149154157627/10159893324497627/?">here.</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last week, the Pug Breed Council in the UK accused the Dutch KC of “being happy to see the demise of historic breeds that have existed for hundreds of years." The Dutch government's decision, it says, is "beyond our comprehension."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In reality, it has been a very long time in coming. And the 'ban' is both not a ban - and it's not new. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Legislation introduced in the Netherlands in 2014 forbids the breeding of pet animals "in a way that harms the welfare and health of the parent animal or the offspring." It spells out that breeding should prevent, as far as possible, serious hereditary disorders/diseases or welfare-impacting conformation being passed on to offspring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The hope was that it would be enough to encourage breeders to make changes, And, indeed, in 2015, the Dutch Kennel Club became the first in the world to mandate a 1km walking test for Bulldogs before they could be bred.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not much changed, though - and certainly not in terms of breeder willingness to change the look of their dogs. The legislation proved to be too vague to be of much to those wanting to bring prosecutions against breeders producing dogs that contravened the law.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Faced with continuing high-profile media attention on the plight of brachycephalics, the Dutch government commissioned a report from the University of Utrecht entitled <i><a href="https://www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/eng_breeding_short-muzzled_dogs_in_the_netherlands_expertisecentre_genetics_of_companionanimals_2019_translation_from_dutch.pdf">"<b>Breeding Short-Muzzled Dogs"</b></a></i> which was published in January 2019. It provided the basis for six new breeding criteria that Carola Schouten, Minister for Agriculture, introduced in March 2019.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These cover eye conformation, nostril stenosis, abnormal breathing, excess skin folds and - most </span>controversially<span style="font-family: inherit;"> - </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> that </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">all dogs bred in the Netherlands (crossbreeds as well as purebred) must have muzzles at least one third the length of their head (and, in time, half the length of their head).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As you might imagine, it was met with uproar - other than from one Pug club, Commedia, which advised its members to stop breeding and announced it would be willing to consider outcrossing in order to meet the new criteria. (A stance that was subsequently overturned by the members who ousted the Club officers who wanted to take this route.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, the Dutch KC itself broadly welcomed the new criteria - with the exception of the muzzle-length rule. In August 2019, along with its </span>brachycephalic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> breed clubs, the Dutch KC submitted a counter p</span>roposal<span style="font-family: inherit;"> in the hope of overturning it. It </span>failed - although it <i>has</i> won a <span style="font-family: inherit;">last-minute concession that allows, in the short-term, for one parent to have a shorter muzzle if other criteria (which includes an exercise test) are met.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last week the Club </span>announced<span style="font-family: inherit;"> that it will no longer issue full pedigree certificates to the following ‘extreme’ brachycephalic (short-faced) breeds - unless the parents have passed an independent vet-check confirming that at least one of them has a muzzle the required length. </span><br />
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Affenpinscher<br />
Boston Terrier<br />
Bulldog<br />
French Bulldog<br />
Griffon Belge<br />
Griffon Bruxellois<br />
Japanese Chin<br />
King Charles Spaniel<br />
Pekingese<br />
Petit Brabancon<br />
Pug<br />
Shih Tzu<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As there are very few of the above that meet this criteria, die-hard Dutch brachy breeders are seeing it as the end of the road. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Dutch KC says it has plans for a </span>separate<span style="font-family: inherit;"> registry where dogs that don't meet the criteria can continue to be recorded/tracked - but they won't be accepted on to the stud book and they cannot be shown. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Dutch KC also says it is hopes to </span>set<span style="font-family: inherit;"> up a separate registry for o</span>utcrosses bred to to bring in eg a longer nose from another breed <span style="font-family: inherit;">(something that has been done in Germany with the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://pugdogpassion.com/" style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold;">retro-pug</a>; although not in a way that's been embraced by the German KC</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">). The hope is that descendants of these dogs might, down the line, be considered acceptable enough to incorporate back into the stud book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This has prompted horrified calls of "mongrelisation" from some breeders. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The head is one of the hallmarks of the breed and its change in this manner will cause the breed's essence to be eliminated," wrote the </span>French Bulldog Clubs of America and Canada in a statement last week. "T<span style="font-family: inherit;">his mandate will significantly change the head shape, ratio of muzzle to skull, and the dentition."</span></div>
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I confess I am <i>infuriated</i> by the dentition reference. We know that French Bulldogs and other brachcyephalics have awful teeth - the result of squishing the normal number of canine teeth into a much smaller jaw. Veterinary dentist Dr Fraser Hale maintains he has never, in a 30-yr career, seen an entirely normal brachycephalic mouth. The teeth are always crowded/rotated. A longer muzzle should help normalise this, if not completely resolve the problem.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MFeGKQ2bAS4/XtEVwu6PAZI/AAAAAAAAFeY/qPNHngt0YRktMhkjPaEE71BBNpDpHty_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/GSD%2Bv%2BPug%2Bteeth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="1600" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MFeGKQ2bAS4/XtEVwu6PAZI/AAAAAAAAFeY/qPNHngt0YRktMhkjPaEE71BBNpDpHty_wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/GSD%2Bv%2BPug%2Bteeth.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GSD v Pug</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Dutch KC now finds </span>itself at the centre of an international dog fight, with many breeders <span style="font-family: inherit;">blaming it f</span>or what's happened. Many are also furious that the Club agrees with the legislators that at least some change is necessary.<br />
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"<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a Kennel Club, we have repeatedly urged the breed clubs of extremely short-muzzled breeds to include additional health measures in their breeding policies," says a spokesperson. "At that time there was no will to adapt, at least not enough."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Dutch KC is also frustrated by the deflection by many breeders to "lookalikes" (ie puppy mill/BYB-bred dogs). It knows that this argument doesn't wash with legislators when the scientific literature links the problems to the phenotype not the provenance of these dogs. Sure, "responsible" breeders are the most likely to health-test and their dogs may be pampered - but they are also often the ones breeding the dogs with the flattest faces because that is what wins in the show-ring. </span><br />
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In fact, the most cursory of Google searches proves that many brachyephalic dogs have become more extreme over the years, not less, and that it is the show-ring that has driven much of this exaggeration.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"If we look at some old photos of these breeds from the last century, which is not that long ago, should we not ask ourselves who we are to say that this is the only correct type? " asks the Dutch KC. "How would breeders at the time react to the breeds as they are today?"</span><br />
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In response to the the FCI's claim that the Dutch legislation is an attack on breeds that should be considered "national heritages" the Dutch KC suggests: "<span style="font-family: inherit;">So let us take a good look at the books and the available photo material from that time and use these photos as a standard. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">If we showed these photos to the public in the street from about 60 years ago and now, which would be their favourite?"</span><br />
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It's a good question. And yet if you point out to breeders that Pugs looked like this 150 years ago...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G20_X43hy6Y/XtEYhxlnceI/AAAAAAAAFeo/4vMXXykITY8mpT4V6-zLOBGdDoI_XdV8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1877-8%2B%2BMinnie%2Band%2BSally%2BRC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="513" height="311" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G20_X43hy6Y/XtEYhxlnceI/AAAAAAAAFeo/4vMXXykITY8mpT4V6-zLOBGdDoI_XdV8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/1877-8%2B%2BMinnie%2Band%2BSally%2BRC.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"> 1878-80 Minnie + Sally from The Royal Collection</td></tr>
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Or that Bulldogs used to look like this...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--J_7eDcW66w/XtEZW9ZPYII/AAAAAAAAFew/qa7gag_C4nQdptrTgIdfvB9DXU8JcwBKACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1888%2BDonald%2Bfirst%2BBulldog%2Bto%2Bbe%2Bshown%2Bin%2BAmerica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1419" data-original-width="1600" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--J_7eDcW66w/XtEZW9ZPYII/AAAAAAAAFew/qa7gag_C4nQdptrTgIdfvB9DXU8JcwBKACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/1888%2BDonald%2Bfirst%2BBulldog%2Bto%2Bbe%2Bshown%2Bin%2BAmerica.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Donald - the first Bulldog to be shown i America</td></tr>
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... they'll tell you that these examples were mongrels or can otherwise be discounted.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm not often in the habit of defending kennel clubs and I can understand why some believe the Dutch KC could have done more. But I don't think the international dog 'fancy' fully understands the strength of public opinion in the Netherlands - and indeed in other countries where </span>brachycephalic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> health has continued to be highlighted by scientists, animal welfarists and the media. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bottom line, the Dutch KC's hands are now tied. It can no longer continue to sanction illegal breeding any more than the UK Kennel Club could register breeds such as the Japanese Tosa that are banned by law in the UK. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course now the fear among breeders is that other countries, emboldened by the </span>Dutch move, might follow suit. In fact, I would be very surprised if we saw a ban in the UK any time soon and, let's face it, the USA is the breeding wild-west where any attempts at control is considered an infringement of constitutional rights. But there are certainly some murmurings in Finland, Norway, Germany and Austria.<br />
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No one should be surprised.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is now over 70 years since the first surgeries were done to correct airway abnormalities in these breeds. Today, much of the workload of thousands of vets worldwide is taken up trying to fix both their breathing and a myriad of other issues in these dogs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<span style="font-family: "applesystemuifont";">I am genuinely horrified by some of the patients that walk into my clinic,” says veterinarian Dr Gert ter Haar who contributed to the report commissioned by the Dutch Government and until recently ran the Brachycephalic Clinic at the Royal Veterinary College. “I don’t know where to start to try and make them feel better.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We now know that brachycephaly confers a host of pathologies on these dogs. Hundreds die from heatstroke every year because their anatomy impairs their ability to thermoregulate; they have the same number of teeth as a Labrador squished into a third or less of the space; a foreshortened skull which can cause the brain to rotate; eyes liable to damage by the lack of a muzzle to act as a buffer; painful ear problems, gastro-intestinal issues, difficulties mating and giving birth, compromised genetic diversity and a reduced lifespan - </span>particularly<span style="font-family: inherit;"> for the French Bulldog and Bulldog (5-8yrs old depending on which data/studies you look at).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr ter Haar says he is “thrilled” by the Dutch Government’s decision. “The only reason breeders have bred towards a shorter and shorter nose/face is that they look very cute and more childlike. Have we become so superficial that the look of our dogs is more important than their welfare? In my opinion this gives us a way, finally, to stop breeders who do not have the welfare of the dogs they breed at the top of their priority list.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Others believe a ban is a mistake, pointing out that simple solutions for complex problems can have unintended consequences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Unfortunately, I'm not sure that we have enough evidence to say that increasing the length of the nose alone will make the difference that they are hoping for,” says Dr Jane Ladlow, a brachycephalic specialist who is is one of only a few in the world doing advanced surgery on these dogs. Dr Ladlow, believes that the right approach is to work with, rather than against breeders. Along with colleagues at Cambridge University she was instrumental in the setting up of the UK Kennel Club's new respiratory grading scheme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“I'm concerned that the ban will stop reputable breeders who are concerned about health but won't stop puppy farms as imports from other countries are still allowable. There is obviously considerable demand for these breeds because of their personalities and popularity on social media.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr Ladlow also points to the Cambridge research which found factors such as head-width and neck girth may be more significant than muzzle length. She is adamant that there are healthy dogs out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Indeed, the Cambridge research found that around half of Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pugs had no significant breathing issues. But that leaves 50% who do. And, again, hardly a week goes by without a new paper identifying yet another problem. Two weeks ago, a Finnish study of ostensibly healthy Bulldogs found that that almost all had problematic joint issues (<i>blog post to come</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr Rowena Packer, author of several key scientific papers exploring the impact of brachycephaly on dogs, broadly supports the Dutch move: “<span style="font-family: "applesystemuifont";">Many millions of dogs with longer muzzles already enjoy the freedom to breathe, see, walk and play freely, with no need for invasive surgeries or laborious daily husbandry to achieve this.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Although ‘banning’ may not be an optimal solution for many parties, given the lack of success seen with other breed bans, the Netherlands are sending a clear message to dog breeders that this issue simply must be taken seriously.”</span></div>
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I'm not that keen on bans either. But I welcome the Dutch move. Not enough has been done to address these dogs' problems and breeders continue to resist even minor tweaks to their breed standards.<br />
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Hopefully, with the threat of legislation hanging over their heads, and with those arguing for reform clearly not going away, we will see more progress.<br />
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As ever, the dogs deserve better.<br />
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-25985270565235918552020-02-10T13:16:00.002+00:002020-02-11T15:49:15.539+00:00EXCLUSIVE: Bulldog breeders attack grieving owner of Supervet's "Molly".<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jntKACQpb-c/XjmFV-6hMeI/AAAAAAAAFZo/_NKFJfhsGyQLpWlhNso0Xx1A_prs74HogCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/molly%2Bgrab.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1600" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jntKACQpb-c/XjmFV-6hMeI/AAAAAAAAFZo/_NKFJfhsGyQLpWlhNso0Xx1A_prs74HogCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/molly%2Bgrab.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Millions of viewers tuned in to the hit Channel 4 show <i>The Supervet</i> on 30th January - and many wept when five month-old Bulldog puppy, Molly, was put to sleep. Molly had been rushed to Fitzpatrick Referrals in Surrey because she had been hit by a car. But it wasn't the accident that led to her death, it was what orthopaedic specialist Professor Noel Fitzpatrick referred to as "unscrupulous" breeding.<br />
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Molly had a fractured leg that needed surgery - but this was fixable. The problem was that scans revealed Molly was also suffering from crippling underlying genetic issues - including severe hip dysplasia and a trachea (windpipe) the size of a small cat's - just 5mm in diameter (it should have been at least twice that). Both conditions are life-limiting.<br />
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Fitzpatrick - criticised by some for being too gung-ho so hardly a stranger to taking a chance on a dog - advised Molly's owners that euthanasia was probably the kindest option. Her distraught owners agreed.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkz9FgHh3QE/XjmF8rUhQNI/AAAAAAAAFZw/Za3rYUzkZOY1NQzQdl2RdEB7EIDgj9B9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/FPR%2Btwitter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1382" height="281" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mkz9FgHh3QE/XjmF8rUhQNI/AAAAAAAAFZw/Za3rYUzkZOY1NQzQdl2RdEB7EIDgj9B9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/FPR%2Btwitter.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Initially, Bulldog breeders on social media showed sympathy to grieving owner Lisa Hook. But, last week, some turned on her. The reason? Miss Hook began asking questions about Molly's breeding.<br />
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It turns out that Molly doesn't come from a puppy farm or backyard breeder. She comes from a long line of show dogs - supposedly the <i>creme de la creme. </i>There will even be several close Molly relatives being shown at Crufts next month. But, as is the case with most Bulldog breeding in the UK, neither of her parents have been tested for hip dysplasia or respiratory issues, despite both problems being endemic in the breed.<br />
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When Miss Hook began to get upset that neither test is mandatory in the breed she was then subject to online abuse.<br />
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Kennel Club show-breeder and judge Maria Taylor (<a href="http://www.hillplacebulldog.co.uk/">Hillplace Showdogs</a>) posted this.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iRY_IcnxRpI/XjmIXK1-qxI/AAAAAAAAFZ8/6X3O9qGq_ps2Y5yWqIlB__TdWQgXA86JACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/maria%2Btaylor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="970" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iRY_IcnxRpI/XjmIXK1-qxI/AAAAAAAAFZ8/6X3O9qGq_ps2Y5yWqIlB__TdWQgXA86JACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/maria%2Btaylor.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Another called her a fraud, suggesting there were puppet-masters behind the scenes pushing her to ask award questions.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yfNvXTLYtvI/XjmKRZoNQRI/AAAAAAAAFaI/Y3VRq1-4ldsZHszsglz7ohio0yHBmPc2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/shirene.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="876" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yfNvXTLYtvI/XjmKRZoNQRI/AAAAAAAAFaI/Y3VRq1-4ldsZHszsglz7ohio0yHBmPc2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/shirene.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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There was then a heated online exchange with the Lampens, who bred Molly's sire. First, the Lampens accused Miss Hook of negligence in allowing her dog to be run over. They then called her "stupid" and "a liar" - and then claimed they weren't the owner of the stud dog, despite their name clearly being on show results for the dog in 2017. (In fact, their name is also on Molly's vaccination certificate so they were clearly closely involved with the litter.) When Miss Hook persisted on asking why no health-testing had been done, she was told to "f...off".</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYFkgM1Bg9g/XkFU-U52IVI/AAAAAAAAFcU/alf-Hg5iP78rjii9f9QgTdtxH0hRElKdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/lampen%2Bfuck%2Boff.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="968" height="153" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYFkgM1Bg9g/XkFU-U52IVI/AAAAAAAAFcU/alf-Hg5iP78rjii9f9QgTdtxH0hRElKdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/lampen%2Bfuck%2Boff.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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"The bullying has left me confused and intimidated" says a shocked Miss Hook. "I will never buy another Bulldog. It is obvious that want to shout down anyone that is trying to find out the truth in order to protect their friends but more importantly their pockets."</div>
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Some of the online trolls even suggested that it was impossible to judge hips in a 20-week-old puppy and that Molly should not have been PTS. But I can exclusively reveal the extent of Molly's hip dysplasia, something that wasn't shown on Channel 4.<br />
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Here, first, is an x-ray of a dog with excellent hips - note how the ball-joint (femoral head) fits snugly in the cup-shaped socket (acetabulum).<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Vri-syOsvc/XkAYG_-QljI/AAAAAAAAFao/EUwNxbKncQ4FqSXCaIHN2ADIw1hO2vZ5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/OFA%2Bexcellent%2Bhips.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="604" height="222" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Vri-syOsvc/XkAYG_-QljI/AAAAAAAAFao/EUwNxbKncQ4FqSXCaIHN2ADIw1hO2vZ5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/OFA%2Bexcellent%2Bhips.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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For contrast, here's a dog with severe hip dysplasia - note the uneven shape of the socket and how the ball joint is not sitting tightly in it.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NEXr7BdQwHA/XkAZPNpIorI/AAAAAAAAFa0/buTDgAsmNiMaRIfHjxe2QibQeh1cUGTZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/OFA%2Bsevere%2Bhip%2Bdysplasia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="600" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NEXr7BdQwHA/XkAZPNpIorI/AAAAAAAAFa0/buTDgAsmNiMaRIfHjxe2QibQeh1cUGTZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/OFA%2Bsevere%2Bhip%2Bdysplasia.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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And here are Molly's hips.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uQoNDKHVbcg/XkAbYjnUOSI/AAAAAAAAFbA/sSYhynmw2mAhccaLsj9ycfre1GdfFL-MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/molly%2Bhips%2Bcropped.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="1008" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uQoNDKHVbcg/XkAbYjnUOSI/AAAAAAAAFbA/sSYhynmw2mAhccaLsj9ycfre1GdfFL-MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/molly%2Bhips%2Bcropped.png" width="283" /></a></div>
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There is a lot wrong here. Significantly, you can see that the socket is severely malformed and the femoral heads are a country-mile from where they should be. This is not something that is ever going to improve. Last week, it was claimed on the Bulldog groups that Molly was "running around woods" the morning of the accident, but Miss Hook says this is simply not true.<br />
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"She used to fall over a lot and we sometimes noticed her back legs giving way. She could only walk for two minutes or so before stopping and refusing to walk. We used to carry her a lot."<br />
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Molly's breathing was also bad. "She was very noisy when walking and you could hear her even when she was lying still. She made a lot of snuffling noises."<br />
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But Molly was Miss Hook's first Bulldog and she put it down to Molly being a puppy. After all, when she had taken Molly to her vet for her second vaccination, they checked her over but had not highlighted any concerns.<br />
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Molly cost £1400 and was bred by Carmel Parsons, who lives near Ashford in Kent and also breeds Bullmastiffs and Pugs, some of which have been shown. Miss Hook says that when she told Ms Parsons that Molly had died, she denied there was anything wrong with Molly and she did not believe the Supervet's diagnosis. Ms Parsons is no longer responding to Miss Hook who has also not responded to my request inviting her to comment. No response, either, from Barry and Lynn Lampen, the breeders of Molly's sire.<br />
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Molly's pedigree name is Melcassics Temptation and here is her pedigree.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tv6aLQoQA1E/XkB8osvO-2I/AAAAAAAAFbM/Ky7P7QgLPesRHl1ZI5cZAY9WVDRtVcdRACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/molly%2Bhealth%2Bpedigree.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tv6aLQoQA1E/XkB8osvO-2I/AAAAAAAAFbM/Ky7P7QgLPesRHl1ZI5cZAY9WVDRtVcdRACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/molly%2Bhealth%2Bpedigree.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Click to expand</i></td></tr>
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You'll see that some of Molly's antecedents have been tested for HUU - a condition called hyperuricosuia that is common in Bulldogs and can cause painful urinary stones which can sometimes need surgery. Even some truly shitty breeders do this DNA test - because it's cheap and enables them to claim that their dogs are "health-tested".<br />
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But only one other dog in the pedigree, Molly's grandparent on the sire-line (Ch Testwood Tom) has had <i>any</i> meaningful health tests, and they were done in Belgium seven years ago. They include a fitness, eye, heart and trachea test - all great. But despite the claim, the hip test listed here is limited because it did not involve an x-ray - just a physical exam by a vet. Upshot: this does not rule out hip dysplasia. You need to x-ray to do that.<br />
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It is that likely the reason Testwood Tom has been tested is because he is a Dutch Champion and it is a requirement there in order to be able breed. Since returning to the UK, where there are no health test requirements, Testwood Tom has had no further health testing, despite the recommendation that breathing is checked every two years because BOAS (Brachycephalic Obstructed Airway Syndrome) is progressive. He has now sired 75 litters and is still being offered at stud.<br />
<br />
That said, his owner, Pam Freeman, was happy to talk to me and said last week: "As so much has been made of this I will now make arrangements to get him tested."<br />
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So what <i>should </i>Bulldog breeders be doing by way of health tests?<br />
<br />
The day after Molly's story aired on Channel 4, the Kennel Club posted the following statement on its Facebook page:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XbwTQV_dQb0/XkCUUtnqy5I/AAAAAAAAFbw/ibixlN7bA3sBIvj0BKvKnLd8jFdQyFpiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/KC%2Bstatement.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="584" height="366" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XbwTQV_dQb0/XkCUUtnqy5I/AAAAAAAAFbw/ibixlN7bA3sBIvj0BKvKnLd8jFdQyFpiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/KC%2Bstatement.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The reality?<br />
<br />
Despite the Bulldog being widely considered a health train wreck by most experts, the Kennel Club doesn't mandate <i>any</i> health tests for the breed. The vast majority of the 10,000 Bulldogs it registered last year - even those bred under the auspices of its supposedly-elite Assured Breeder Scheme - have undergone no health-tests at all.<br />
<br />
Instead the KC makes the following recommendations.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wc1W6-Gt9F4/XkCJZm8kdrI/AAAAAAAAFbY/aPNVIYWaY6Uts_-T_D7SWiKbhPMH6tMCACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/KC%2Bhealth%2Badvice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="1384" height="153" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wc1W6-Gt9F4/XkCJZm8kdrI/AAAAAAAAFbY/aPNVIYWaY6Uts_-T_D7SWiKbhPMH6tMCACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/KC%2Bhealth%2Badvice.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Clck to expand</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But the Breed Council bronze level Breed Council does not test for respiratory issues or hip dysplasia - two of the breeds' biggest problems. And although the Silver and Gold tests do test for respiratory problems, there is no requirement to x-ray hips. (See Breed Council health scheme requirements <a href="http://www.bulldogbreedcouncil.co.uk/health-scheme-criteria.html">here.</a>)<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, only a handful of breeders are using the Cambridge Respiratory Function Grading Scheme (RFGS) launched last year. Indeed, this is such a concern to the Kennel Club that last week it issued this appeal:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4JW9R4Ds-k/XkCqmORmvlI/AAAAAAAAFcI/JLT1cBng-6QvVCpSpZwXBGymSUesvoONgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/KC%2BRFG%2Bplea.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="816" height="215" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4JW9R4Ds-k/XkCqmORmvlI/AAAAAAAAFcI/JLT1cBng-6QvVCpSpZwXBGymSUesvoONgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/KC%2BRFG%2Bplea.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
The truth is that it is more common for stud dog owners to demand that bitches are the right colour than be health-tested. Most are happy to collect the £500 or so a jump with no questions asked, even if the stud dog himself has been health-tested - just as long as they're not a non-standard colour.<br />
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Of course, it is possible that Molly's appalling hips were an unlucky one-off. But we know that hip dysplasia is inherited and we know that Bulldogs have terrible hips. In the US, where over 1000 Bulldogs have been hip-tested, the breed is ranked second worst for hip dysplasia of all the breeds (only the Pug is worse). Over 70% of them have abnormal hips. In the UK, only 30 Bulldogs have been hip-scored in the past 30 years - with a median score of 32 (awful, basically).<br />
<br />
So <i>why</i> isn't hip-screening a breed requirement? Because it requires an anaesthetic and Bulldog folk consider this too risky because of the breeds' respiratory issues. It's also why so few are checked for trachea hypoplasia too (this too requires sedation). Of course most Bulldogs are born via C-section and an anaesthetic is needed for that but, hey, that's <i>different.</i><br />
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It doesn't help that many Bulldog breeders buy into the myth that Bulldog hips are different. Have a look at this.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u1tPnbvYQcc/XkCRPGdfRQI/AAAAAAAAFbk/6_V_iHjUry0GJaP40Zc7-Bv5Gqoph-oAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/bulldog%2Bhip%2Bdysplasia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u1tPnbvYQcc/XkCRPGdfRQI/AAAAAAAAFbk/6_V_iHjUry0GJaP40Zc7-Bv5Gqoph-oAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/bulldog%2Bhip%2Bdysplasia.jpg" width="358" /></a></div>
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<br />
It's bollocks, obviously.<br />
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It has taken continued pressure by vets, welfare experts and campaigners to get where we are today in Bulldogs. We do now have some health schemes from nothing at all a few years ago and I think it's important to acknowledge that there <i>have</i> been some improvements.<br />
<br />
The Bulldogs in the ring today move and breathe better than they did a few years ago and I am encouraged by the attitude of some breeders.<br />
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But endemic in the breed is a worrying climate of, at best, flannel and, at worst, intimidation being shown not just to puppy buyers who ask too many questions but to those within the breed advocating for greater health reforms. Very often, this is being driven by the politics engendered by the competitive nature of dog-showing.<br />
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The Bulldog Club Incorporated - the oldest Bulldog Club but perhaps the most forward-thinking on health - has just proposed that its members only breed from dogs that have passed the Bulldog Breed Council's Silver test as a minimum. It has caused uproar, with some threatening to resign membership of the Club.<br />
<br />
As a result, those <span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">who are really trying to breed healthier dogs are being let down by others and the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">whole thing is absolutely impossible for puppy buyers to </span></span><span style="color: #1c1e21;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33);">navigate. It remains unsafe for anyone in the UK to buy a Bulldog. </span></span><br />
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The Bulldog breed is desperately in need of new and stronger leadership - and a good deal more transparency. The Bulldog Breed Council still has not published the Bulldog Health and Conservation Plan the KC recently insisted they draft. Breed health rep Lieza Handley did not acknowledge my request asking for a statement regarding the issues raised by the Molly case - or indeed any of my messages.<br />
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The Bulldog Breed Council did, eventually, release <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bulldogbreedcounciluk/posts/2367533043507399?__xts__[0]=68.ARAOdlHqYJaVq7YS2Xw4tKVZORaKkwgD2gscjrYc3h7Aaiv2Rc9E2lzfTLqspuXh5zrD3BiNwoivhl6tej72hb-IINAfh_omm0e8-D4uWvNUmwVpxoDRTigu4EROro5hJRng3uDqjH7tL5zVwsL-ojH0cp052vNFJ2QvhSEpSPhjuD3BNmCsbmwfFm_85yiT73UJ4j6_X7dmKirNxJZuw6ecu4_pY80c49iacjK0nwvIvYMcBBdaodyrzTVy028fceAsx6eO6aaEvCjjaq0uf0x-ks0JoJYNPaAk2Fw-ywyXvK6TOiAdX2AOKT9X7mKoMZsF8VUXSov-LessS6hye85B&__tn__=-R"><b>this</b></a> statement on its Facebook page.<br />
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Bottom line? Lots of fine words and it's good that the respiratory scheme might become mandatory if only for Assured breeders. But there was nothing condemning the online trolling of Molly's owner. And they seem to have forgotten to make a single mention of hip dysplasia.<br />
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-88096526073176194702020-01-04T09:09:00.002+00:002020-01-05T01:03:20.751+00:00Wasabi win confirms show-world commitment to cruelty<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ceRNU6N9WU/XhA_QmuBEtI/AAAAAAAAFYM/4at1R2yvnfILn_kwo9J1uUzTwxQ774vzgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2019%2Bwasabi%2Bakc%2Bnationals.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ceRNU6N9WU/XhA_QmuBEtI/AAAAAAAAFYM/4at1R2yvnfILn_kwo9J1uUzTwxQ774vzgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/2019%2Bwasabi%2Bakc%2Bnationals.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table>
Apparently oblivious to the welfare concerns of breeding an extreme brachycephalic dog utterly swamped by its coat, Wasabi the Peke won Best in Show at the 2019 AKC Nationals in Orlando - which took place last month but aired on Animal Planet last Wednesday.<br />
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Literally nothing makes the dog show world look more outdated, ridiculous and cruel than breeding and rewarding dogs like this.<br />
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<i>That is all.</i><br />
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Well not quite all.<br />
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Wasabi's <b>grandfather </b>is Malachy, who won the Westminster Dog Show in 2012.<br />
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Oh, and Wasabi's <b>great-grandfather</b> is Malachy, who won the Westminster Dog Show in 2012.<br />
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Ah, and Wasabi's <b>great-great-grandfather </b>is Malachy, who won the Westminster Dog Show in 2012.<br />
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Here's the pedigree, evidence that inbreeding is still considered perfectly acceptable in many parts of the show-world.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6cAY7c3uBdA/XhBEulprOtI/AAAAAAAAFYY/cetgojby3UgSkF_eYWHoZawUVudzDA6fACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2019%2Bwasabi%2Bpedigree.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="1600" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6cAY7c3uBdA/XhBEulprOtI/AAAAAAAAFYY/cetgojby3UgSkF_eYWHoZawUVudzDA6fACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/2019%2Bwasabi%2Bpedigree.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Wasabi's great-great-great grandfather is, in fact, Danny the Peke (Ch Yakee A Dangerous Liaison) who won Crufts in 2003 (and who, as we revealed in <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed</i>, had been diagnosed with BOAS and had undergone surgery at Glasgow Vet School to alleviate his breathing problems before his BIS win).</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-co7FdsyVFI0/XhBI9GVfKuI/AAAAAAAAFYw/jc5SAMVzIAgCrL0Jx5zrTuj9l3q5i4mSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/danny%2Bthe%2Bpeke%2B2003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="478" height="282" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-co7FdsyVFI0/XhBI9GVfKuI/AAAAAAAAFYw/jc5SAMVzIAgCrL0Jx5zrTuj9l3q5i4mSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/danny%2Bthe%2Bpeke%2B2003.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is what lies beneath the coat of a champion peke - a skeleton deliberately deformed to ensure the breeding typical "rolling gait" enshrined in a breed standard written long ago.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E33_Rji3974/XhBGu9G2hcI/AAAAAAAAFYk/BdoIZEa9Yfw1rhEaIT07ksU2hbYYYH4UACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Pekingese_Ch_Chik_TSun_1960-550x372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="550" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E33_Rji3974/XhBGu9G2hcI/AAAAAAAAFYk/BdoIZEa9Yfw1rhEaIT07ksU2hbYYYH4UACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Pekingese_Ch_Chik_TSun_1960-550x372.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now the Peke has always been compromised by its conformation, but at least they used to have moderate coats - a kindness in a breed that struggles to thermo-regulate because of its squished face.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boCjEnhLU-Y/XhBN24QaNoI/AAAAAAAAFY8/EVN8SyUpQ8MI1VSPrWW1sGI0sS-PA4u6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1910_Peke_CHAMPIONBROADOAKBEETLE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="447" height="342" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boCjEnhLU-Y/XhBN24QaNoI/AAAAAAAAFY8/EVN8SyUpQ8MI1VSPrWW1sGI0sS-PA4u6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/1910_Peke_CHAMPIONBROADOAKBEETLE.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1910 Ch Broad Oak Beetle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2kFWsZFkQ0/XhBRZ2Ub7fI/AAAAAAAAFZM/vOhpAw91eZ8bwWH3g2TX6hudSiRFeNb5QCEwYBhgL/s1600/Kylin-%2BFaithful%2Band%2BFearless%2B%25281909-1924%2529Kylin-%2BFaithful%2Band%2BFearless%2B%25281909-1924%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="985" data-original-width="1200" height="327" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2kFWsZFkQ0/XhBRZ2Ub7fI/AAAAAAAAFZM/vOhpAw91eZ8bwWH3g2TX6hudSiRFeNb5QCEwYBhgL/s400/Kylin-%2BFaithful%2Band%2BFearless%2B%25281909-1924%2529Kylin-%2BFaithful%2Band%2BFearless%2B%25281909-1924%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kylin Faithful and Fearless 1909-1924</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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There is literally no one anywhere in the whole world outside of the show-ring who thinks today's show Peke is an improvement on these dogs. No one.<br />
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It's particularly depressing to see the fawning coverage from journalists and broadcasters in the US. Have a look at t<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/best-show-winning-pekingese-maintains-flawless-fur/story?id=68027775"><b>his on Good Morning America</b></a> as a cringing example.<br />
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There are so few people speaking up in the US about the morality of breeding dogs like this and until they do, it is not going to change. Although there is a glimmer of hope in the comments on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmericanKennelClub/videos/3414489235290883/"><b>AKC's Facebook post </b></a>about the win (please do hop over there to comment if you feel strongly about this issue)<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VAPGGWwvmfI/XhBVJOwdUhI/AAAAAAAAFZU/Rrie_V73bxwZhKPI3lvoBqPGjbna0SfEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2019%2Bwasabi%2BAKC%2BFacebook.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1410" data-original-width="909" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VAPGGWwvmfI/XhBVJOwdUhI/AAAAAAAAFZU/Rrie_V73bxwZhKPI3lvoBqPGjbna0SfEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/2019%2Bwasabi%2BAKC%2BFacebook.png" width="411" /></a></div>
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<i>Barely-</i>walking dust-bunny in fact. I have rarely seen a less animated dog than Wasabi. Perhaps hoping that if he keeps his head down, it will all go away.<br />
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<i>EDIT 5/1/20</i>: <i>The AKC has now removed Vicki Brusellis Hummel's comment on its Facebook - likely because it had got so many likes that it was by default showing as the top comment. They have deleted other 'negative' comments too although it's heartening to see that comments from those expressing concern/dismay still far outweigh the positive ones. </i><br />
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<br />Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-90106025993606135822019-11-30T12:42:00.003+00:002021-02-06T23:37:49.984+00:00Thor the Bulldog - a National disgrace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cH8ef-VMq0I/XeIv9kUAhMI/AAAAAAAAFTM/DcyyKqzMwqkbuVclmc-10nmXiDxuShZXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/CU%2Bnostrils%2B1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1600" height="257" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cH8ef-VMq0I/XeIv9kUAhMI/AAAAAAAAFTM/DcyyKqzMwqkbuVclmc-10nmXiDxuShZXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/CU%2Bnostrils%2B1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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A Bulldog called Thor has just won the National Dog Show in the USA. As the judge approached him before awarding the Best in Show crown, the judge's mic (so she must have heard it herself) picked up the rattle in his throat that likely points to an elongated soft palate. Two-hundred breeds, 2000 dogs and, ta-daaa, a respiratory cripple took the top spot.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="240" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/376515338" width="427"></iframe>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© NBC <i>clipped from <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/video/national-dog-show-2019-bulldog-wins-best-show-full-group">here</a></i></span></div>
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Too strong? Here's Thor playing with a puppy at home, the obstruction obvious. </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="476" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbulls.chavezaponte%2Fvideos%2F760335744163776%2F&show_text=0&width=267" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="267"></iframe><br />
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<i>EDIT 3/12/12: This video was embedded from Facebook and its owner has now taken it down. It showed Thor playing with a puppy and I posted it because Thor's breathing was noisy/raspy. </i></div>
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This video is from around two years ago. Given that BOAS is a progressive condition, I am surprised that Thor was not noisier trotting round the National Dog Show ring but then the mic was not close to him most of the time and the crowd was loud.</div>
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Now Thor is actually <i>better</i> than most other Bulldogs we've seen in the US show-ring - he moves quite well (<i>for a Bulldog</i>), he has tight eyes and there are no obvious skin issues (although the judge did not lift his large nose roll to check). He's heavy but at least not grossly obese. He has terrible teeth compared to a normal dog, but they are better than most Bulldog teeth (you can, at least, see all six incisors even if they are higgledy-piggledy and largely buried in the gum). </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EggRmUNrp74/XeJYyJYQ3rI/AAAAAAAAFTY/Q0END3xPqU4ES_653PdhKqxvrWO3JjZJACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/teeth.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="393" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EggRmUNrp74/XeJYyJYQ3rI/AAAAAAAAFTY/Q0END3xPqU4ES_653PdhKqxvrWO3JjZJACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/teeth.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Most Bulldog teeth look like this.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A0_UcPBT9hI/XeJakUjnu9I/AAAAAAAAFTk/lDwqoT0gZYwPBeLg-ZI-H--prGu87sxSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/bulldog%2Bteeth%2BKP.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A0_UcPBT9hI/XeJakUjnu9I/AAAAAAAAFTk/lDwqoT0gZYwPBeLg-ZI-H--prGu87sxSgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/bulldog%2Bteeth%2BKP.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Thor has a very short, recessed screw tail (a mutation that we now know is associated with spine issues). The tail does not appear to be mobile, robbing him of that mode of expression, and it doesn't come anywhere close to covering his anus.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">And that <i>nose!!</i> Tilted backwards under the large nose roll, Thor's nose is dry and dull and his nostrils are almost closed. Remember that dogs are as near-as-dammit obligate nose breathers.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MGSWeFy0m-Y/XeJefKOapwI/AAAAAAAAFT4/46wHH_pKl8kXEm6gixnj5iie_fIsWpENgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/CU%2Bnostrils.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="1600" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MGSWeFy0m-Y/XeJefKOapwI/AAAAAAAAFT4/46wHH_pKl8kXEm6gixnj5iie_fIsWpENgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/CU%2Bnostrils.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">And yeah.... that underbite... It's a demand in the breed standard; codified therein in the erroneous belief that, back-in-the-day, it better-equipped the Bulldog to hold on to a Bull. It leads, inevitably, to soft-tissue trauma in the mouth and a vastly elevated risk of periodontal disease because of cramped/rotated teeth and the mismatch between upper and lower jaws. I say it a lot but I will say it again... an underbite is a deformity (a Class 3 malocclusion in veterinary terms) and it has no place in a modern breed standard. Or, indeed, in a modern dog.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Thor has been quite extensively health-tested - and I'm genuinely pleased to see that he has good hips given that the Bulldog is the worst breed for hip dysplasia). This is a bit of progress. But you'll note that there is no result here for respiratory health and that's because despite poor breathing being the <i>single biggest health issue </i>for Bulldogs and other extreme brachycephalic breeds, there is no official scheme in the USA, unlike here in the UK, Scandinavia and an increasing number of countries in Europe.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PSBhNv0O1Cg/XeJbRQD-0pI/AAAAAAAAFTs/U1Ihm6cpmbQfhacjXEqc1_EfE-NY1upbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/health%2Btests.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="750" height="305" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PSBhNv0O1Cg/XeJbRQD-0pI/AAAAAAAAFTs/U1Ihm6cpmbQfhacjXEqc1_EfE-NY1upbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/health%2Btests.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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To sum up, while Thor might be good <i>for a Bulldog, </i>he is a disaster for a dog and I despair that any judge could have chosen him over the other dogs (all with normal canine conformation) in the Best in Show ring. I mean, award him Best of Breed if you have to - but <i>the Best dog overall</i>?</div>
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Finally - a question to US vets and the American Veterinary Association:</div>
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W<i style="font-weight: bold;">hy are you not doing more to address brachycephalic health in the US?</i> <b><i>Why are you not even talking about it publicly when the Bulldog is now the 5th most popular dog in the US (and the French Bulldog - arguably even worse - is the 4th)?</i></b></div>
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Here in the UK, in Scandinavia and in parts of Europe, there is progress being made because veterinarians <i>have</i> stood up and said enough is enough.</div>
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US vets: your silence increasingly suggests tacit approval of the breeding of dogs that struggle to mate, whelp, breathe, thermo-regulate and are dead by, on average, six old. Please, please, please get more involved in shaping a healthier future for these dogs. </div>
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<i>They need you.</i></div>
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<i><b>EDIT 2/11/19</b></i></div>
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Several commenters below have suggested that the Bulldog with the bad breathing featured in the home video that was featured above is not Thor. </div>
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Here are some pictures which prove they are one and the same dog - on the left, stills from the home video, compared with, on the right, stills of Thor from the National Dog Show TV footage.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8W7OXogfCE/XeVy7oHSlfI/AAAAAAAAFUo/k2m78B6kWk8Skz09eGP5bVhEruRggKwKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/home%2Bvideo%2Bv%2Bshow%2Bcompare.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="1600" height="330" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8W7OXogfCE/XeVy7oHSlfI/AAAAAAAAFUo/k2m78B6kWk8Skz09eGP5bVhEruRggKwKwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/home%2Bvideo%2Bv%2Bshow%2Bcompare.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Join in on the brachycephalic debate on <a href="http://www.cruffa.org/">CRUFFA</a>.</i></b></div>
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com116tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-62718490373189050032019-09-11T14:10:00.000+01:002019-09-12T00:14:59.717+01:00Basset Hounds 2019: a new low?<div style="text-align: center;">
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One of the things I found most depressing when making <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed</i> was seeing a young male show male Basset squat to have a pee and see the urine splash all over the dog's belly.</div>
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No dog should have so little ground clearance that they risk damaging their penis when going for a walk on anything other than green baize. Originally a hunting hound, today's show Basset is short and heavy and in no way fit for its original purpose, even if the mind is still willing. We know this, because there are still Bassets that <i>do</i> hunt out there - and they look like this.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woolaston working Bassets</td></tr>
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In the aftermath of Pedigree Dogs Exposed, the Kennel Club introduced vet checks at championship shows for what were then known as "high profile breeds" - essentially those with the worst conformation problems. The Basset was one of them. </div>
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In 2012, this dog (Ch Buzz Lightyear at Dereheath) won Best of Breed at Crufts but was then disqualified after failing his vet-check, albeit for an eye problem, not his resemblance to a badly-fitting valance.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sga_m3uB0rw/XXf5GQXQWdI/AAAAAAAAFPo/2sCLnE6DUwkBRORU5YQqxwL9wwmSiwhdwCLcBGAs/s1600/Buzz%2BLightyear%2Bat%2BDereheath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="211" data-original-width="312" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sga_m3uB0rw/XXf5GQXQWdI/AAAAAAAAFPo/2sCLnE6DUwkBRORU5YQqxwL9wwmSiwhdwCLcBGAs/s400/Buzz%2BLightyear%2Bat%2BDereheath.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There was uproar in the show-world. But the Kennel Club held firm, the vet checks continue to this day and Buzz was never bred from. </div>
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Even better, the following year, this dog won best of breed at Crufts 2013. Result!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">© The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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Sadly, the 2013 BOB was mated several times with no puppies ensuing. And then, horror of horrors, this massively overdone bitch won the following year.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">© The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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Since then, it's been up and down but mostly down. In 2018 it was good to see this more moderate bitch (Switherland Smart Alice) win.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LijbLn27rtk/XXf9WJUU1tI/AAAAAAAAFQI/JyR9HdPPja4xlsrPVuM49B24dFLkwcZWgCLcBGAs/s1600/2018%2BCrufts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1134" data-original-width="1600" height="282" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LijbLn27rtk/XXf9WJUU1tI/AAAAAAAAFQI/JyR9HdPPja4xlsrPVuM49B24dFLkwcZWgCLcBGAs/s400/2018%2BCrufts.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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But overall, the trend has been back towards lower, heavier dogs. The murmurings from ringside is that this breed, with less focus on it in recent years, is slipping back to where it was.</div>
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Which brings us back to the dogs featured at the top of this post. On the left is this year's Crufts winner, Ch Switherland Smart Image (Danny to his friends) and on the right is Malrich Paris Carver. This pic was taken last weekend at Richmond Championship Show where Danny won BOB under breed specialist judge Judith Murray. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NL5xbuLbpUQ/XXi3xTBeXkI/AAAAAAAAFQo/L3v26yXjfEoXl3FxH-u7JAx9LpeZplA-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2019%2BRichmond%2BBOB%2BSwitherland%2BSnart%2BImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1600" height="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NL5xbuLbpUQ/XXi3xTBeXkI/AAAAAAAAFQo/L3v26yXjfEoXl3FxH-u7JAx9LpeZplA-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/2019%2BRichmond%2BBOB%2BSwitherland%2BSnart%2BImage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In fact Danny went on to come second in the group under Swedish judge Miss MA E Persson. She will doubtless be familiar with the Swedish Kennel Club guidance re Basset Hounds that includes a concern regarding ground clearance and excess skin.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--qZMes8j9-Q/XXjYVMJ9djI/AAAAAAAAFQ0/_Albl3_UcFExqgZW7P6O0xZYOohPxkJQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/SKK%2BBSI%2BBasset.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1600" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--qZMes8j9-Q/XXjYVMJ9djI/AAAAAAAAFQ0/_Albl3_UcFExqgZW7P6O0xZYOohPxkJQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/SKK%2BBSI%2BBasset.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The UK Kennel Club has something similar guarding against excess skin and too little ground clearance.</div>
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So I am guessing that six-year-old Danny looks good on the move for a dwarf breed.<br />
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As the KC's <a href="http://bassetsrus.co.uk/Breed%20Health%20and%20Conservation%20Plan%20-%20Basset%20Hound%20Final.pdf"><b>Breed Health + Conservation Plan</b></a> notes:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gV2Ji1ORcn0/XXjadse320I/AAAAAAAAFRA/SyfGKfR1aLUGO3MFbqS2QjvH-59j_NGOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/chondrodystrophic%2B%2528from%2BBHCP%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="1600" height="97" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gV2Ji1ORcn0/XXjadse320I/AAAAAAAAFRA/SyfGKfR1aLUGO3MFbqS2QjvH-59j_NGOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/chondrodystrophic%2B%2528from%2BBHCP%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yep, it's a developmental abnormality that, frankly, you wouldn't wish on anything (however stoically that being may deal with it) but in the Basset Hound this is considered a <i>breed feature not a disease. </i>Moreover, it's something us humans have deliberately bred for - a handicap initially designed to slow them down on the hunting field and, more latterly, because it wins pretty ribbons.<br />
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But it's a <i>heck of a </i>burden to impose on a dog. And no surprise then that they suffer a number of muscoskeletal issues as a result. In the US, 40 per cent of more than 200 Bassets that have been tested have been found to suffer from hip dysplasia and 15% have elbow dysplasia. In a recent UK breed club survey, almost 20% of the breed were recorded as having conformation-linked disease.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x40SzgJINFM/XXjwNAW-4GI/AAAAAAAAFRw/3o2xQUbP-ZIQ7MNwf-MlY1fNRwYvNsS1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/conformation-linked%2Bconditions.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1600" height="232" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x40SzgJINFM/XXjwNAW-4GI/AAAAAAAAFRw/3o2xQUbP-ZIQ7MNwf-MlY1fNRwYvNsS1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/conformation-linked%2Bconditions.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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However, only a pitiful <b>four</b> Bassets have been hip-scored in the UK in the past 15yrs. And only six dogs have had their elbows tested - with only one having normal elbows. (See the breed specific stats <a href="https://www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/Content/Canine_Health_Schemes/Elbow_Scheme/Elbow%20breed%20stats%202018%201.pdf"><b>here.</b></a>)<br />
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Concern about elbows is such that testing is recommended by the Kennel Club. But no one does it.<br />
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And, finally, there's one big, dwarfy elephant in the room for Bassets: inbreeding.<br />
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The KC calculates the average co-efficient in the breed in the UK as 10%, but there are some top winning dogs that have COIs way higher than that.<br />
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Like Switherland Smart Image, the big winner featured above.<br />
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Bearing in mind that this is more inbred than a father/daughter or full-sibling mating, this is going some. Moreover, despite the breed's health and conservation plan raising concern about the inbreeding in Bassets, this mating went ahead in 2017.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qx0vxaVpCiQ/XXjij80LtTI/AAAAAAAAFRU/KUzpYG0HX7wJm-0OrXoq0bzBNEIRTEh-ACEwYBhgL/s1600/Switherland%2BSmart%2BImage%2Binbred%2Blitter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1446" height="236" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qx0vxaVpCiQ/XXjij80LtTI/AAAAAAAAFRU/KUzpYG0HX7wJm-0OrXoq0bzBNEIRTEh-ACEwYBhgL/s400/Switherland%2BSmart%2BImage%2Binbred%2Blitter.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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On top of that, Switherland Smart Image was first used at stud at just 10 months old and so was a son from that litter, Switherland Smart Alec. Two months later, Smart Alec was mated again (like his dad bred before any health testing had been done), resulting in another very high COI litter (24.2%) but producing the 2018 Crufts winner Switherland Smart Alice. <br />
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Ta-daa.... inbreeding (or line-breeding as the breeders like to call it to make it sound less bad) works when it comes to winning in the show-ring. At least in the short-term. Sometimes. But it will be the death of the breed - if fashion doesn't kill it first. Registrations for this breed have dropped by two thirds in the past 10 years, with under 500 registered in 2018. Potential buyers might smile at the 'funny' pix of Bassets swimming in their skin as they run but the hound predisposition to being whiffy - often exacerbated by their skin problems - do not in the main make these dogs easy house guests.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ty_UXB9SHGs/XXjpUnyvSpI/AAAAAAAAFRc/zBjKMcKMXKw1BfFNMAdnVqg5oC4JE3BeACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/enhanced-buzz-2296-1300233467-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ty_UXB9SHGs/XXjpUnyvSpI/AAAAAAAAFRc/zBjKMcKMXKw1BfFNMAdnVqg5oC4JE3BeACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/enhanced-buzz-2296-1300233467-11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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To sum up... there has been <i>some </i>movement on Basset health since <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed</i> - their eyes are considerably better than the droopy red wells that were almost ubiquitous in 2008. We also much less often see the Queen Anne legs of yesteryear.<br />
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But it's deeply depressing to see heavier and lower dogs in the ring again, when really we should be going the opposite way. This is a dog called Laval of Lohaire and although I haven't been able to track him down (anyone?) I think he dates from the 1930s/1940s and really, how much better is he for having longer legs and none of the mad, useless skin that is an affectation of the show-ring?<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4VZ6V57YGks/XXjqM7iAfQI/AAAAAAAAFRk/jNYpLrh2WsYGcSc49Hm-opLYcYhpp0tGACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1930s%253F%2BMiss%2BE.%2BRumball%25E2%2580%2599s%2Bbasset%2Bhound%2B%2522Laval%2BOf%2BLohaire%2522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="838" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4VZ6V57YGks/XXjqM7iAfQI/AAAAAAAAFRk/jNYpLrh2WsYGcSc49Hm-opLYcYhpp0tGACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/1930s%253F%2BMiss%2BE.%2BRumball%25E2%2580%2599s%2Bbasset%2Bhound%2B%2522Laval%2BOf%2BLohaire%2522.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-31617236752087724002019-03-16T22:25:00.004+00:002019-03-18T08:32:52.721+00:00Crufts 2019: the "cock-eyed, cousin-kissing" Pug that won Best of Breed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is Ch Eastonite Randy Andy who won Best of Breed at Crufts last week and it is <i>incredibly </i>depressing that we are still seeing Pugs like this being rewarded at the very highest level in the show-ring.<br />
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First up.... pinched nostrils and a squiff eye (strabismus) that is a result of the shallow eye sockets that are a feature of the breed (to the point that their eyes sometimes pop out).<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5ESP4pQzTo/XI1VjIApGxI/AAAAAAAAFKE/J4Aa0q9hkbEiCuhpGMhMPwROf2a0IKf4ACEwYBhgL/s1600/2019%2BCrufts%2BBOB%2BMCU.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1148" height="285" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a5ESP4pQzTo/XI1VjIApGxI/AAAAAAAAFKE/J4Aa0q9hkbEiCuhpGMhMPwROf2a0IKf4ACEwYBhgL/s400/2019%2BCrufts%2BBOB%2BMCU.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's what the KC standard says re eyes.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dsW0RDj3rxk/XI1wvr0dmuI/AAAAAAAAFKw/Dx0yOeYFVg8kZxWwtL9KZrmkpsmA-ITwQCLcBGAs/s1600/pug%2Beyes%2Bbreed%2Bstandard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="944" height="102" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dsW0RDj3rxk/XI1wvr0dmuI/AAAAAAAAFKw/Dx0yOeYFVg8kZxWwtL9KZrmkpsmA-ITwQCLcBGAs/s400/pug%2Beyes%2Bbreed%2Bstandard.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>So how did this dog win Best of Breed?</i></div>
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Perhaps eye tests should be mandatory not just for Pugs (they're not btw) but for Pug judges, too?</div>
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Second up, the Kennel Club database reveals just how inbred this dog is.<br />
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Let's consider that cousins would have a co-efficient of inbreeding (COI) of 6.25%<br />
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And that a grandfather/granddaughter mating would produce puppies with a COI of 12.25%.<br />
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And then look at this.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GLPMF-1fpJ0/XI1gmL_ZloI/AAAAAAAAFKM/TsmH6tB-qv0IM6lk4mlPHKce7AHT-gX7ACLcBGAs/s1600/2019%2BCrufts%2BBOB%2BCOI.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1231" height="177" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GLPMF-1fpJ0/XI1gmL_ZloI/AAAAAAAAFKM/TsmH6tB-qv0IM6lk4mlPHKce7AHT-gX7ACLcBGAs/s400/2019%2BCrufts%2BBOB%2BCOI.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Why, 11 years after Pedigree Dogs Exposed, is the Kennel Club still allowing dogs this inbred to be registered?<br />
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Why do breeders think it is OK to breed like this?<br />
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Surely I don't have to spell out the cost of inbreeding to this degree?<br />
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So have we seen <i>any</i> progress? Well sure... this dog was carrying a bit less weight than those in the past and he moved OK. </div>
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Oh, and we now have a Pug Health Scheme ... But it shows that <b><a href="https://www.pughealth.org.uk/pug-statistics/">70% of Pugs</a> </b>that have been tested aged 3-7 are clinically affected with Brachycephalic Obstructed Airway Syndrome. Read that again... thousands and thousands and thousands of Pugs suffer from air-hunger.</div>
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Now on the main <a href="https://www.pughealth.org.uk/pug-statistics/"><b>Pug Health </b></a>website those results are only up to the end of 2017. Maybe things have improved since then? Well who knows... no one has bothered to update the results since then. </div>
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And I can't tell you if this particular dog has passed any breathing <i>because it doesn't list the names of the dogs.*</i></div>
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In early February, the KC announced the launch of a new respiratory grading scheme for Pugs (and Bulldogs and Frenchies) which should mean the results will be made available. Unfortunately the KC hasn't actually bothered to update its website to reflect that this scheme is actually up and running.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nNYlf51zEEM/XI11kGiqkDI/AAAAAAAAFK8/2EqIoKOqdKAE95oUxeRh0f8ZDeyxbhxQgCLcBGAs/s1600/KC%2Bpug%2Bhealth%2Breqs%2Bmarch%2B2019.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="1594" height="101" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nNYlf51zEEM/XI11kGiqkDI/AAAAAAAAFK8/2EqIoKOqdKAE95oUxeRh0f8ZDeyxbhxQgCLcBGAs/s400/KC%2Bpug%2Bhealth%2Breqs%2Bmarch%2B2019.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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These dogs suffer and the complacency stinks.<br />
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<i>*The Northern Pug Club does list some health-test results <a href="https://northernpugdogclub.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Health-Scheme-Feb-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0kEZiBUz8xOJfpwSQzBZmmYXzgFNIoLTcjeHFhCEdCxuAIhkl_QXY9KU4">here</a>.</i>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-73448159551342450002019-03-11T00:53:00.001+00:002019-03-11T08:21:17.415+00:00Royal Canin removes Bulldog display at Crufts; Bulldoggers threaten boycott<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JyIBBk8TvQA/XITyZzmpfvI/AAAAAAAAFIw/SN1VvJjAVPYI1bYEIAZVDHmdsXpFy7beACLcBGAs/s1600/royal%2Bcanine%2Bstand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="620" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JyIBBk8TvQA/XITyZzmpfvI/AAAAAAAAFIw/SN1VvJjAVPYI1bYEIAZVDHmdsXpFy7beACLcBGAs/s640/royal%2Bcanine%2Bstand.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
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On Thursday night, Royal Canin bowed to pressure from vets and animal welfare campaigners and removed this display from their stand at Crufts.<br />
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The move has provoked outrage from Bulldog breeders across the globe, most threatening to never buy Royal Canin again. Even those who've never bought it anyway... ;-)<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KY9ertzEu_Q/XIUTspCY_NI/AAAAAAAAFI8/-qgldh6pS58k9Kh5ImHmnED8eZW1z_OrACLcBGAs/s1600/royal%2Bcanin%2Bfuss%2B-karen%2Bchamberlain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1542" height="176" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KY9ertzEu_Q/XIUTspCY_NI/AAAAAAAAFI8/-qgldh6pS58k9Kh5ImHmnED8eZW1z_OrACLcBGAs/s400/royal%2Bcanin%2Bfuss%2B-karen%2Bchamberlain.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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For those that don't know, there is a move in the UK - sanctioned by the Kennel Club - to persuade advertisers/companies to stop using extreme brachycephalics to sell/promote their goods or services. As I understand it, everyone taking a trade stand at Crufts has been informed about this (at least they were last year).<br />
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The aim of the no-brachy initiative, which I started in December 2015 with the launch of <b><a href="http://www.cruffa.org/">CRUFFA</a>,</b> is simple: to try to reduce visibility and, therefore demand for dogs that are very well-documented as having a lot of health issues.<br />
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I felt this was a more positive approach than simply beating-up breeders for producing short-lived dogs with a high risk of breathing, spinal, ocular, oral/dental and fertility/whelping issues. And I was delighted that the Kennel Club, vets, animal welfare bodies and even breed clubs backed the idea through the Brachycephalic Working Group (BWG) that was set up two years ago. You can see the BWG's 2017 statement re this <a href="http://www.ukbwg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Brachycephalic-Working-Group-Request-to-companies-to-avoid-using-%E2%80%98flat-faced%E2%80%99-brachycephalic-dogs-in-advertising.pdf"><b>here</b></a>.<br />
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Then, earlier this year, the British Veterinary Association published <a href="https://www.bva.co.uk/workplace-guidance/ethical-guidance/advertising-guidelines/"><b>new guidelines for advertisers</b></a> to help them make better choices in all the animals (not just dogs) they use to market their stuff.<br />
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The combined effort is working. Companies such as Comic Relief, Costa, HSBC, Costa and Pets At Home are among those who have committed to halting or reducing their "brachy-use". The initiative has now spread to other countries too, notably in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. And while you'll still see Pugs, Bulldogs and Frenchies on stuff, I really think it's now on <i>less</i> stuff than it was when we started.<br />
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One would hope that those who consider themselves good breeders would be grateful for anything that reduced their breeds' popularity. It is never a good thing for any breed. But sadly most instead see it as persecution. They think it's an animal-rights-fuelled plot to rid the world of Bulldogs, Pugs and French Bulldogs and are outraged that Royal Canin has bowed to pressure.<br />
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Now, personally, I'm looking forward to the day where the market for these dogs crashes and when people will be too embarrassed to have one because owning one (in their current form) labels you as unthinking. But if in the meantime a few less can be bred, especially by quick-buck breeders, then surely that's got to be a good thing?<br />
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I should say that it probably did not help that Royal Canin's <i>mea culpa </i>statement offered zero explanation as to the backstory, making them look like they were recoiling in horror at their hideous mistake.<br />
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They have actually now <a href="https://www.royalcanin.co.uk/faqs/why-do-you-use-brachycephalic-breeds/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=crufts&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link&utm_term=awareness"><b>removed this statement</b></a>, either preparing something a little less bald or perhaps bowing to pressure from breeders. I suspect the latter given that the Bulldog breed health rep met with Royal Canin and the Kennel Club at Crufts yesterday. Mrs Collins-Nattrass is a member of the Brachycephalic Working Group but it would seem that the display removal is a step too far for her.<br />
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After all, they do market a Bulldog-specific food which is supposed to be easier for the <i>pauvre </i>undershots to pick up. (You'd think, wouldn't you, that a dog once celebrated for being able to hang on to a bull would be able to manage a bit of extruded kibble but hey...)<br />
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Rather amusingly, RC market the product <i>comme ci. </i><br />
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Yeah, I didn't know where to start, either. Well, perhaps with a little vowel substitution.<br />
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<br />Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-17783676385411203052019-03-03T12:13:00.002+00:002019-03-03T19:24:56.705+00:00White supremacy - alive and well at the Kennel Club<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is such an irritating piece in <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/03/kennel-club-warns-premium-white-swiss-shepherd-dogs-could-sold/"><b>today's Telegraph</b></a><b>,</b> by journalist Val Elliott who has bought hook, line and sinker a Kennel Club-fed story that some unscrupulous breeders are trying to pass-off white German Shepherds puppies as more rare (= more expensive) Swiss White Shepherd pups.<br />
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For a start, there is zero evidence of this happening on anything more than a one-off scale. The Telegraph story refers to a single case in south Wales. A trawl through the UK's internet puppy sales sites reveals a few ads for white German Shepherds at the market price, but not a single ad for a White Swiss Shepherd other than for a single adult female that is KC-registered.<br />
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Frankly, the whole selling of the White Swiss Shepherd as something more precious than a white German Shepherd stinks worse than a month-old corpse in a Victorian sewer.<br />
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<i>Here's the real story:</i><br />
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The White Swiss Shepherd was formalised as a breed in the 1990s by breeders who objected - I mean not unreasonably - to the fact that <i>Kennel Club breeders used to kill German Shepherds that were born white.</i><br />
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Why? Because white is now a disqualifying fault in German Shepherds, despite the colour having been in the breed from the start.<br />
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The breed's (canine) founder's had a white grandfather called Greif. The breed's human founder (Max von Stefanitz) was always at pains to point out that there was no "wrong" colour for a good working dog. And white was considered a perfectly acceptable colour until 1933 when the Nazi party took over the breed club in Germany and banned the colour, believing (erroneously) that the colour was linked to health issues.<br />
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It led to the wholesale slaughter of German Shepherd puppies born with white coats.<br />
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The UK and US kennel clubs later blindly followed the German breed standard in effectively barring white German Shepherds from the conformation show-ring.<br />
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The result was that white puppies much further afield than Germany ended up being "bucketed" - (drowned in a bucket of water at birth) or otherwise disposed of.<br />
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There is, thank goodness, now more of a market for white German Shepherds although <a href="http://germanshepherdsetc.com/white-german-shepherds/"><b>this site </b></a>maintains that some breeders still cull white puppies.<br />
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Bottom line, it's all so stupidly arbitrary. The colour should never have been banned in the first place. There is a cost to genetic diversity caused by splitting any breed based on colour alone. And how ironic that a breeder of White Swiss Shepherds, who must surely know the history, is now suggesting that white German Shepherds are a second-class cousin? (Although thankfully the White Swiss Shepherd breeders have, so far, eschewed the broken toplines and wobbly back-ends of the German Shepherds that you'll see trotting round the ring at Crufts this coming week.)<br />
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My advice? If you want a White Swiss Shepherd puppy but can't source one because of the long waiting lists, why <i>not </i>go for a well-bred white German Shepherd puppy instead? Choose wisely and it's pretty much the same dog. And hey, it may even ensure that a puppy isn't killed based on its colour.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6lQNhUo2cC4/XHvUaqw7W4I/AAAAAAAAFIk/BM52DGmw7nwIBzYK_Cg2TmR4GkUcf6TXQCLcBGAs/s1600/Cathryn%2527s%2Bpup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="824" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6lQNhUo2cC4/XHvUaqw7W4I/AAAAAAAAFIk/BM52DGmw7nwIBzYK_Cg2TmR4GkUcf6TXQCLcBGAs/s400/Cathryn%2527s%2Bpup.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puppy Sophie... Swiss White Shepherd? Or white GSD? </td></tr>
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<br />Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-91725079214040833042018-09-16T14:50:00.000+01:002018-09-17T10:25:45.529+01:00PUGS: THE END IS NIGH! (Well, as we know them now - but don't panic, it's a good thing)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbyeeeeeeeee</td></tr>
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In a landmark move, the Dutch Pug Club has responded to bad publicity, unrelenting pressure from campaigners, a wealth of science elucidating the breed's many health issues and strengthened animal welfare laws in the Netherlands.<br />
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They have just announced the following reforms:<br />
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• opening of the stud books to allow interbreeding with non-registered Pugs (that may or may not be purebred).<br />
• the introduction of a minimum craniofacial ratio (muzzle/skull length)<br />
• a limit on the number of litters any one stud dog can sire<br />
• the introduction of a second endurance test designed to ensure that only the fittest dogs are bred.<br />
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You can read the <a href="https://www.commedia-mopshond.nl/nieuws" style="font-weight: bold;">statement here</a> if you understand Dutch (and if not you'll need to pop it into Google Translate). If an official translation into English is made available, I'll add it here.<br />
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The idea is to increase genetic diversity (studies suggest it is very low) and moderate the very flat-faced Pug that is currently in vogue. Pugs have varied a lot in form historically, but have never been as flat-faced as they are now and it has resulted in considerable respiratory and ocular problems. Recent research undertaken by Cambridge University shows that 70% of Pugs aged 3-7 have significant problems breathing - clearly unacceptable.<br />
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Now I expect my interpretation of the impact this could have might be different from that of hard-core show breeders in Holland but, if accepted by the Dutch KC (and the word is that it will be), it's possible we will start to see KC-registered Pugs that look more like this 'Retromop' below - leggier, more athletic and with more of a muzzle. (Retromops have been crossed with Jack Russell then bred back to Pugs to create a more moderate dog. There is also an "Altedeutscher" Pug in Germany that is more moderate and purportedly purebred.)<br />
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More importantly, a move like this really paves the way for other breeds, and a new wave of younger, more science-savvy breeders, to follow. And, technically, if registered in Germany they can be registered in other FCI countries and any countries that have a reciprocal arrangement with the FCI (such as the UK Kennel Club).</div>
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Great news for the breed - and possibly many others, too. Well done the Dutch Pug Club!</div>
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-21828608154641608502018-09-14T22:41:00.000+01:002019-03-18T15:57:44.576+00:00New freaks on the block: how to avoid buying the worst Bulldogs in the world<div style="text-align: center;">
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There is a sick trend in dogs that has now well and truly arrived in the UK. Welcome to a depraved new world where the game is to breed deformed, overdone bulldogs/bully types, usually in non-standard colours, then flog them for thousands of pounds under the guise that they're in some way special.</div>
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<i>They're not. </i><br />
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These are dogs often burdened with deformed skeletons and/or massive wrinkling, conceived by artificial insemination (AI) and born via C-section.The more extreme, the more "baddass" they are.<br />
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The breeders' Facebook pages are notable for back-slapping comments written by the barely literate and they are usually strewn with 'on-fire' emojis 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥. Never mind that these dogs are so compromised by their physiques that if there was really anything on fire in the vicinity they'd be toast.<br />
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Until recently, these dogs were the domain of a handful of idiots and wannabe gangstas with Lilliputian genitals in the USA. Now they've arrived in the UK. And, worse, the Kennel Club is registering some of them.<br />
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This breeder has blocked me but these links should work for you. <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/farhan.y.sardar/posts/10216879894174791">This one shows</a> </b>a very exaggerated puppy with a purple tongue.<br />
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And <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216779949716242&set=a.3183734277426&type=3&theater">here</a> </b>is the dog's KC pedigree - totally legit (well in terms of it being a genuine KC pedigree).<br />
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The most successful breeders boast a slick front-of-house - websites blaring gangsta tunes and kennels that would be the envy of many. (One even has flat-screen TVs on their kennel walls.) They talk about the dogs being "compact" and having "massive" bone, heads or muscle like these are good things.<br />
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<i>They are not.</i><br />
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You might look at these dogs and go WTF. But there is a market that buys into it - mostly young, uneducated money that finds the marketing cool. These are people who have no deep-down knowledge of what a dog should be.<br />
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The dogs fall broadly into two camps. The first are extreme English-type Bulldogs - I've highlighted this one <a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2017/12/"><b>before,</b></a> also KC-registered.<br />
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The second are exaggerated "pocket" American Bullies which actually often have half-decent heads and tails but whose shoulders are in the next county, cantilevered on to compressed, dwarfy frames. They usually have cropped ears (illegal in this country ) and are often very inbred to the point of looking not-quite-with-us.<br />
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The dogs are often sold to other wannabe-breeders who are tempted by the get-rich-quick promises. You too don't have to get a real job if you buy and pimp an extreme stud, wank him to exhaustion while he's still alive, dunk the filthy liqueur into a freezer in volume and flog it all over the world for a grand a time (and often a lot more) to people who have shit for brains.<br />
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<i>Too strong? </i><br />
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I'm just so angry that anyone in the UK could be stupid enough to breed and buy these dogs. <br />
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The breeders claim the dogs are healthy while doing few or no health tests. They claim they love them while condemning the animals they breed to a life beset with breathing problems, infected skin and painful joints. Most die young - but live on through frozen semen. Once they start to fail they are passed on for huge sums to unsuspecting buyers in other countries - often China.<br />
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Some of the new UK breeders are also behind a slew of new UK fertility clinics pitched at breeders of brachycephalic dogs offering cut-price procedures that are entirely focused on circumventing their dogs' desperate attempts to avoid passing on their genes.<br />
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A recent video on the Facebook page of one in the West Midlands showed intra-uterine insemination being done for what they called a "problematic" bitch (ie one that could not conceive by ordinary, non-surgical, AI) went viral on the veterinary groups. I understand that 100s of vets have signed a letter to the RCVS asking for action.<br />
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On October 1st, new legislation comes into force in the UK that will make it much harder for breeders to sell duff dogs. If you buy a dog that has not been health-tested and turns out to be suffering or dies from a breed-related problem, you can seek recourse in the courts and and help put these breeders out of business. Oh, and please let me know, too - I'd be happy to help.<br />
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Of course it would be better to not buy one in the first place.<br />
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Here's what to avoid</span></h2>
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• Puppies that were conceived by artificial insemination or born by a C-section. You are perpetuating the breeding of dogs that nature is saying should not be bred. </blockquote>
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• Breeders whose premises have ornate metal gates with the name of their kennel welded into them. </blockquote>
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• Any breeder that offers you finance </blockquote>
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• A breeder whose website or Facebook page where the "rare" colour of the dog is mentioned in the first two sentences. Some colours come with health consequence and others do not, but it reveals the breeder's main focus (which is to fleece you of as much money as possible). </blockquote>
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• Breeders who insist their dogs are "quality" or "healthy" without providing solid proof in the form of health test results. Ask what health tests have been done <i>before</i> you visit because the moment a little ball of wrinkle has been popped into your hands, man, you are lost. Some will DNA-test for colour and some will also DNA-test for <b><a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/glossary/screening-scheme.aspx?id=DNA+test+-+HUU">HUU</a> </b>because it's cheap and easy and makes them look like a good breeder. One has posted this on his website which makes it look like they are health-focused - but there is zero mention of any tests other than those for colour.</blockquote>
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Breeders who really care about the health of their Bulldogs/Frenchies/Pugs will be doing BOAS testing (which assesses how well the parents can breathe), heart-testing and spine-grading - and they will be boasting about them.</blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Ironically, puppies from health-tested stock are invariably cheaper than ones from the breeders I am highlighting here. </span></b></h3>
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• Do not be fobbed off with "vet-checked" - all a vet can check is that they're not actually dying at the point of being checked. It is meaningless in terms of future health. </blockquote>
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• Don't be impressed by an expensive-sounding puppy pack. It's a marketing tool. </blockquote>
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• Any UK breeder that displays pictures of dogs with cropped ears. Ear-cropping has been illegal in England since 1899.</blockquote>
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• Breeders whose social media sites feature a lot of these 🔥🔥🔥, 👑👑👑, 💣💣💣🤑🤑🤑, 💰💰💰 or where anyone calls the dogs "sick" meaning great.</blockquote>
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• Kennel names that include misspelled words: eg deziner, bullz or bullyz. </blockquote>
Feel free to add your own below!<br />
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<i>Further reading:</i><br />
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<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2017/12/warning-dont-buy-into-designer-bulldog.html">Warning:don't buy into the designer Bulldog bullshit.html</a>Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-69304181695288540522018-09-06T15:22:00.001+01:002018-09-06T15:34:52.068+01:00Bassets then and now<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Miss E. Rumball’s basset hound "Laval Of Lohaire"</span></td></tr>
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Have a good look at the Basset Hound above - I am not sure what year this is (anyone?) but would guess 1930s/40s?<br />
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Now have a look at the Basset that won Best of Breed at Crufts this year.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">© The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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Now, the modern dog is much more moderate than many we've seen in recent years. The dog below, for instance, won Crufts in 2008, just before Pedigree Dogs Exposed highlighted the issues in this breed. And it's not just that one is male and t'other female. </div>
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But while welcoming the moderation we've seen in the last decade, I think the dog of old is just SO much better put-together than the 2018 Crufts winner: no dollops of flesh hanging off his hocks or neck (well anywhere really); smaller ears, greater ground-clearance, a lovely rounded bum (honestly, dead straight top-lines are completely unnatural), and that whole rear-assembly is just so much more natural. You can really imagine the dog doing a day's work - running freely without leaving most of its body half a second behind. And of course, today's true hunting Bassets look like the old dog, not the Crufts winners.<br />
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Upshot: there is progress but show Bassets still need more leg and less flesh - and the only dollops we need are of common sense.<br />
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<br />Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-9480668996968788902018-09-02T14:04:00.003+01:002018-09-02T21:16:11.853+01:00Crazy in Croatia: breed's country of origin bans healthier Dalmatians<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Croatian Kennel Club has just announced that it will no longer register LUA Dalmatians - citing that science is on its side.<br />
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The problem? The dogs are not pure!<br />
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LUA stands for Low Uric Acid - and it relates to a line of Dalmatians bred down from a single cross to an AKC champion English Pointer 40 years ago. The outcross was done to introduce a healthy version of a gene lost in purebred Dalmatians and it prevents the dogs from suffering from a painful and occasionally life-threatening health problem.<br />
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<i>(For the historical lowdown, see <b>t<a href="https://vimeo.com/97641727">his clip from Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On</a>)</b></i><br />
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In their refinement of the breed, breeders of Dalmatians managed to inadvertently lose the healthy version of a gene that codes for uric acid production - the only breed of dog in which this has happened. As a result, there was no way to reinstate it in Dalmatians without an outcross.<br />
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Thus, the Pointer cross has simply restored an allele (gene variant) that exists in every other breed of dog. Indeed, after 20 or so generations, it is likely almost the only thing to remain from the original one-off cross. The added bonus in the LUA breeding programme is that the dogs have been well-documented/monitored by very health conscious breeders.<br />
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There are now hundreds if not thousands of LUA Dals being bred and shown, with both the American Kennel Club and the UK Kennel Club among those who have recognised and registered the LUA Dalmatians (albeit after an almighty campaign, including by this blog). Via a reciprocal agreement with the FCI, these dogs have now been bred and shown across Europe and elsewhere for some years now - including in Croatia.<br />
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It is true that there were issues with the breed's all-too-important spots not being perfect enough for the show-ring in earlier generations, but today's top dogs are indistinguishable from 'normal' Dalmatians and are winning well in the show-ring, with the added bonus that they do not suffer from the painful and at times life-threatening bladder stones that effect at least 10% of 'normal' Dalmatians. Affected Dalmatians have to be fed a low-purine diet and find it difficult/painful to pee. At worst they can die from a blockage/burst bladder.<br />
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Now, the breed's country of origin has taken the insane step to ban them.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xZvNKHb8dfM/W4vHUi_03ZI/AAAAAAAAFFM/ogZMRneEbigcndryiIuaGaEuoBalVUv7QCLcBGAs/s1600/DCC%2BFB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="1136" height="114" id="id_adbe_154_3e55_8595" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xZvNKHb8dfM/W4vHUi_03ZI/AAAAAAAAFFM/ogZMRneEbigcndryiIuaGaEuoBalVUv7QCLcBGAs/s320/DCC%2BFB.png" style="height: auto; width: 320px;" width="320" /></a></div>
On the Dalmatian Club of Croatia's Facebook page they state:<br />
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"...we want to improve the breeding, breed healthy dogs and there's no place for mix breed...<span style="background-color: #eff1f3; color: #1d2129; font-family: , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span>We just wanted to all let you know that LUA Dalmatians are huge NO in Croatia, mother land of Dalmatians."</blockquote>
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Motherland. Fatherland. <i>Vaterland...</i><br />
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Any similarity to German wartime rhetoric is of course, entirely coincidental.<br />
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The scrap is being played out on Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DalmatianClubOfCroatia/posts/1958711557526875"><b>here</b></a> and, rather amusingly, having stated that the dogs are 'inferior' and not to the standard, it turns out that one of Croatia's top breeders and judges gave one a great critique at a recent show.<br />
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No, no response yet to this proof offered two days ago..<br />
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Sadly, Bulgaria has also recently taken the retrograde step to ban LUA Dalmatians.<br />
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Let's be clear. There is zero scientific rationale for not accepting these dogs - and considerable scientific and ethical reasons why the decision by the Croatian Kennel Club is retrograde madness. <br />
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Does it matter? After all, aren't Bulgaria and Croatia minor Kennel Clubs? Perhaps we should just let them be and get on elsewhere with breeding beautiful, healthy Dalmatians?<br />
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Well yes it does matter. Croatia IS the official breed's country of origin (disputable in fact if you really dig into the breed's history) and there is real and genuine concern that this anti-science nonsense could spread. <br />
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The fight to get the LUA Dals recognised was a long and fractious one, particularly in the USA. Unfortunately there are still those in the breed outside of Croatia who believe these dogs are mongrels and unwelcome. (Still no mention of the LUA Dals on the British Dalmatian Club website either....)<br />
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What we need now is a virtual scientific delegation to write to the Croatian Kennel Club asking them to reconsider on scientific and welfare grounds - and in particular to counter the extraordinary supporting statement written by a Croatian biologist called <span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Krunoslav Brčić-Kostić.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can read that <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/DalmatianClubOfCroatia/posts/1958922717505759">here</a> </b>and frankly I don't know where to start. The man should be ashamed of himself. But basically, these are the reasons for advising that allowing the LUA Dals would be a bad thing.</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><i>the high probability that the LUA population possess Pointer genes closely linked to the SLC2A9 gene, and among them are breed specific genes responsible for the development and quality of spots</i></li>
<li><i> the possibility of introducing some deleterious alleles from Pointer</i></li>
<li><i>and the well known fact from population genetics that it is very difficult to eliminate deleterious recessive alleles.</i></li>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">I've already addressed the spotting issue, above. Re the possibility of introducing some deleterious alleles... well nothing has popped up yet and the outcross was done 45 years ago. And finally, if he was a conservation biologist worth his salt, he would know that there is no need to "eliminate deleterious recessive alleles" - every living thing has them and they really are just fine unless you increase the chance of them meeting up by inbreeding inside a closed gene pool. For a start, these alleles are rarely discrete entities that only code for one thing (eg the mutation for sickle cell anaemia also confers protection against malaria). </span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">Nope. This has <i>nothing</i> to do with health and no one should be fooled. It is all about purity at all costs. </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129;">And as for this...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.000000953674316px;">"The Dalmatian Dog breed was not established in 1975 nor in 2005. It is a historical breed which traces to a distant past, and this should be respected. The formation of the Dalmatian breed was accompanied with the acquirement of genetic load for deafness and metabolism of uric acid. This was the only option since without that the Dalmatian breed would not be possible."</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #1d2129;">Makes my skin crawl. The reasons so many Dalmatians are deaf is because of human selection for a dog that is too white - and a <i>specific</i> requirement that they should not have coloured patches on their ears (which would be protective against deafness.) Plus it's perfectly possible that it is relatively recent selection for ever more perfect spotting that resulted in the the HUA gene in normal Dals becoming fixed. Historical images show a very different-looking dog.</span><br />
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Brenda Bonnet and the team at the <a href="https://dogwellnet.com/"><b>International Partnership for Dogs</b></a> would be well-placed to do this - perhaps with the support of Danika Bannasch who did so much of the original gene research on this issue, plus any veterinary associations willing to add their name?<br />
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Hopefully it will be possible to get this decision overturned.<br />
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<i>Further reading:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/07/we-are-dal-lighted.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/07/we-are-dal-lighted.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2010/11/uks-first-gm-dalmatian-and-shes-winner.html" id="id_16ee_c891_9567_881a">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2010/11/uks-first-gm-dalmatian-and-shes-winner.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2014/06/lua-dalmatians-still-clubs-resist.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2014/06/lua-dalmatians-still-clubs-resist.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2010/11/and-akcs-decision-re-accepting-spotted.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2010/11/and-akcs-decision-re-accepting-spotted.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/03/dalmatian-diehards-would-be-disgusted.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/03/dalmatian-diehards-would-be-disgusted.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2012/01/fiona-dalmatian-ongoing-battle.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2012/01/fiona-dalmatian-ongoing-battle.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/01/dalmatian-club-of-america-last-throes.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/01/dalmatian-club-of-america-last-throes.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2010/12/dalmatian-club-of-america-kills-dogs.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2010/12/dalmatian-club-of-america-kills-dogs.html</a><br />
<a href="http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/03/fiona-at-crufts-win-for-breed.html">http://pedigreedogsexposed.blogspot.com/2011/03/fiona-at-crufts-win-for-breed.html</a><br />
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-87920382660765122042018-08-19T22:46:00.001+01:002018-08-29T22:31:01.624+01:00Pedigree Dogs Exposed 10 yrs on: everything and nothing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Pedigree Dogs Exposed was broadcast on BBC1 in the UK 10 years ago tonight. It laid bare dog-breeding practices that had caused a great deal of harm to dogs - harm that had been overseen by a Kennel Club that should have known better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Indeed it did know better. Even its own genetics advisor, Jeff Sampson, had written in 2004 in an article for a symposium that: "Unfortunately, the restrictive breeding patterns that have developed as part and parcel of the purebred dog scene have not been without collateral damage to all breeds." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Like many before him (and since) the answer for Sampson (who was clearly not stupid but had been subsumed into the KC culture) was to advocate gently from within in the hope that something might change. He and the Kennel Club could fairly point to money put into research to developing DNA tests for the ever-spiralling number of genetic diseases. I</span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">t's just that nothing was being done to tackle the root problem. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">When I first walked through the steel and glass doors of the Kennel Club's Clarges St headquarters in London’s Mayfair in early 2008 - past oak-panelled rooms, fine art and chefs in starched whites pandering to the Members, I smelled complacency.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Despite the KC's literature claiming that the </span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">primary objective of the Kennel Club was 'to promote in every way, the general improvement of dogs', it had actually overseen a criminal genetic neglect of man's best friend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">It was the Kennel Club that had endorsed the breed standards, that sanctioned the dog shows, approved the judges, green-lighted inbreeding, refused to mandate health checks and had continued to register puppy farm dogs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">It had done next to nothing because the problem was - and remains - that the people who run the Kennel Club are part of the whole self-serving system. Group-think had persuaded them that it was OK... convinced them that a show-ring rosette was <i>prima facie</i> evidence that they were doing something good for dogs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">For those that don't know, Pedigree Dogs Exposed was prompted by the death of my Flatcoated Retriever, Fred. That's us at the top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Fred was born in 1987 and I lost him in 2003, aged 15. I had thought he was going to live forever and my heart broke into a thousand shards when he died. Truly, I had never felt grief like it - and I write as someone who had already lost their mother and father before their time, my mum when she was just 46 to a brain tumour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">It was after Fred died that I discovered that Flatcoats, typically, die of cancer around the age of 8/9 and I was horrified. I felt cheated enough that I had lost Fred at 14. And I asked: w</span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">hy do so many flatcoats die of cancer so young?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">It opened Pandora's Box.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">It wasn't just Flatcoats.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">It was breed after breed after breed, </span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">with some paying a horrendous price in terms of genetic disease, wounded immune systems and lifespans that, for some, average just six or seven years old.</span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">I started making Pedigree Dogs Exposed with an open mind but the more we researched, the more we learned and the more shocked we became. By the time the film aired, </span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">I felt completely justified in calling it one of the greatest welfare scandals of our time. What grated most was the pomposity; the arrogance with which crippled German Shepherds were being wobbled round the show-ring by breeders who to their core believed their dogs were superior to any randomly-bred mixed breed when the scientific evidence spoke so strongly to the contrary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Inbreeding was seen as a good thing ("as long as you knew what you were doing" - which mostly they didn't). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">The KC happily registered pups born of mother/son + full sibling matings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Breeding from a top-winning dog as often as possible in order to pass on those champion genes to as many of the next generation was seen as a way of improving the breed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">The show-ring was busy selecting for ever-more extremes - gasping Pugs, bulbous Shar-peis, German Shepherds that were dragging their back ends, all on the watch of a Kennel Club that enjoyed Royal patronage and a respect in higher places that, frankly, it did not deserve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">As many will remember, I was the villain for highlighting that a top-winning Cavalier had been diagnosed with syringomyelia rather than the owner for continuing to show and breed a dog with such a hideous inherited condition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying that Pedigree Dogs was a "water cooler" moment. There had been many others before PDE - notably vets <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Y_ZOoWgEMvgC&pg=PA404&lpg=PA404&dq=simon+wolfensohn+youtube&source=bl&ots=LXGmbmCrXI&sig=SyOvNVjk64HK74ajb-giJ-L5uus&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKu8nGo_vcAhUELcAKHV3BBpwQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false"><b>Simon Wolfensohn</b></a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/emmamilnevet/posts/1037761962966052"><b>Emma Milne</b></a>, and writers/such as Pat Burns <b>(<a href="https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2006/05/inbred-thinking.html">Terrierman</a>)</b> and <b><a href="http://www.seppalakennels.com/articles/purebred-dog-breeds-21st-century1.htm">J Jeffrey Bragg</a>,</b> but it's hard to beat the power of 9pm prime time BBC and the international sales that followed (the film made a particularly big impact in Sweden and Australia). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">The issue hit the headlines - and continued to dominate front pages in the UK for months to come, fuelled by the three high profile reports into dog-breeding that followed, the desertion of Cruft's main sponsor, Pedigree; the BBC dropping the broadcasting of Crufts after more than 40 years, and the setting up of the Dog Advisory Council as a canine watchdog (sadly now defunct).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">For my part, having lit the blue touch-paper, I found I couldn't walk away. I wrote articles, did interviews, started this blog (almost 7 million page views to date) spoke at conferences and dinners, chivvied the great and the good behind the scenes and embraced social media to continue to spread the word. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">In 2012, I made a follow-up (you can view it <a href="https://vimeo.com/166015460"><b>here</b></a>) which highlighted the need for more to be done. Rather more recently, </span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">driven by deep concern about the lack of reform for the extreme brachycephalics, I started </span><a href="http://cruffa.org/" style="font-family: "gill sans", sans-serif;"><b>CRUFFA</b></a><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><b> </b>in an effort to tackle that particular issue from a different angle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">So, 10 years on, where are we now? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><b>The good news</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• There is much greater awareness of the dangers of selecting for extremes - whether for very flat muzzles, or short legs, excessive skin or size. If you compare the dogs that won Crufts in 2008 with the dogs that won Best of Breed in 2018, there is a perceptible swing towards moderation in some of the worst breeds.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i3lJBnIzfPI/W3lwS5OOFCI/AAAAAAAAFD8/tzqDiti7E88WxiePTs1AFXUAE6AKmYvCwCLcBGAs/s1600/2008%2Bcrufts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i3lJBnIzfPI/W3lwS5OOFCI/AAAAAAAAFD8/tzqDiti7E88WxiePTs1AFXUAE6AKmYvCwCLcBGAs/s320/2008%2Bcrufts.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crufts 2008 ©The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GObN5YVf3Nw/W3lw9YbM1OI/AAAAAAAAFEE/xIwOz5fbhLohPfzqxeIMlrYAgeNJNjC4gCLcBGAs/s1600/2018%2BCrufts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1134" data-original-width="1600" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GObN5YVf3Nw/W3lw9YbM1OI/AAAAAAAAFEE/xIwOz5fbhLohPfzqxeIMlrYAgeNJNjC4gCLcBGAs/s320/2018%2BCrufts.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Crufts 2018 ©The Kennel Club<br />
(yes a bitch, but she reflects the general trend)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• There is widespread acknowledgment that inbreeding is a bad thing. Most breeders now know what a co-efficient of inbreeding (COI) is and that a high number is a bad number. Some are going beyond the COI worked out from paper pedigrees and using tools such as <b><a href="https://embarkvet.com/">Embark</a> </b>or <a href="https://mydogdna.com/"><b>MyDogDNA</b></a> to check diversity and disease status at a DNA level. Some - heaven forfend - are even doing some thoughtful outcrossing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• There is a wealth of new science on the issues. Make something a hot topic, as did the film, and the research interest and funding will follow. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• I had the devil of a time trying to persuade the veterinary profession to speak out when I made PDE. Today, they are among the strongest and most determined advocates for reform at both an individual and profession level. Thank you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• The RSPCA was always on board, in no small part due to their then Chief Vet, Mark Evans who spoke out extremely strong in the film. Since then, all the main animal animal welfare organisations in the UK have played a part in maintaining the impetus for reform. A big thank you to them, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• Legislation: October 1st sees the introduction in the UK has of legislation that makes it a criminal offence to breed from a dog "if it can reasonably be expected, on the basis of its genotype, phenotype or state of health that breeding from it could have a detrimental effect on its health or welfare or the health or welfare of its offspring." The proof of this will be in the pudding but my hope is that a few high profile cases will act as warning shots over breeders' bows. There are similar laws now being enacted in Europe/Scandinavia, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• Social media: nothing to do with PDE, but Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others today act as an effective watchdog. Pictures of extreme show-dogs proliferate quickly and attract widespread censure. Brands that use exaggerated breeds to flog their stuff are now contacted - and very often respond quickly. This morning on Twitter I collared both Body Shop (Cruelty Free International) and supermarket Waitrose for using a Frenchie and a Bulldog respectively in their marketing. I am hopeful of a good response. Everyone can help here by doing the same - it really works. Brands in the main do not want to be associated with animal suffering.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• The Kennel Club has come quite a long way since 2008. After initial denial, it quickly bowed to public opinion (the then Chairman of the KC, Ronnie Irving, described it at the time as "a tsunami of hate") and began making changes. These included</span><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"> the banning of first-degree-relative matings; better training for judges; a review of breed standards (and changes to more than 70); the introduction of </span><a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/mateselect/" style="font-family: "gill sans", sans-serif;"><b>Mate Select</b></a><span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><b>;</b> educational tools for breeders and the public; vet checks at major shows; the establishment of the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the Animal Health Trust.; a limit on the allowed number of C-sections; increased funding for research and the news that it would consider well-thought-out outcrossing. The KC's Assured Breeder Scheme is now policed much more strictly. The KC supports a <a href="https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/"><b>peer-reviewed journa</b>l</a> which publishes useful research in the field. More recently the KC announced <a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/news/2017/december/the-breed-health-and-conservation-plans-project-update/"><b>breed health and conservation plans</b></a> which are intended to take a more holistic view of breed health - although the huge delay on these being publicly available suggests these may be proving contentious with breeders/breed clubs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Sounds a lot, doesn't it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;"><b>The bad news</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• Exaggerations are always in danger of sneaking back in. This Peke has just won the Toy Group at the World Dog Show in Amsterdam. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Bottom line, if we'd seen true reform, the Pekes winning in the show-ring would look more like this little one from 100 years ago - a dog today that would be thought to be a Tibetan Spaniel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">And at Crufts this year, although there were some more moderate dogs - and better breathing than we saw 10 years ago - it was depressing that this young dog had qualified.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">There has been zero progress in terms of moderating faces in the extreme brachycephalics. Deleterious underbites are the norm with jumbled mismatched teeth the inevitable consequence. There are still no restrictions on popular sires, either - and little impetus when this is where the serious money lies in dog-breeding. This year's top Bulldog, Ch Sealaville He's Tyler, has sired around 200 litters. At at least £500 a squirt, this is where breeders claw back the expense of raising top show dogs and it's an income stream few would willingly forego.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• Inbreeding is still rife. The KC may have banned actual mother/son, father/daughter and full-sib matings, but they still register puppies from matings that are far more inbred than this because of cumulative inbreeding. They also chose to not also forbid grandfather/grand-daughter matings - a pairing Sir Patrick Bateson, who chaired one of the reviews into dog-breeding, thought was particularly pernicious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• We've seen outcrossed Dalmatians and outcrossed Irish Red + White Setters registered by the Kennel Club - but this has been entirely due to individual breeders fighting for it; not something initiated by the Kennel Club or the breed clubs, which in the main remain deeply conservative. As such, outcrosses are extremely rare and the norm is still to breed dogs in closed gene pools with the inevitable consequences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• Breeders continue to convince themselves that they can health-test their way out of problems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">They can't.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• Progress has been made in raising awareness of the health deficits associated with particular breeds, but the popularity of some of our most deformed and disabled breeds - Bulldogs, Pugs, French Bulldogs - has soared. The Frenchie is now the UK's most popular KC-registered dog - knocking the far more sensible (and more sound) Labrador off the top-spot it has held for decades.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Now, we're seeing a surge in miniature smooth Dachshunds - seen as a cute "easy-keeper", at least until they bugger their backs. They have a muzzle, I guess. Just no legs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">• There remains disdain for crossbreeds, despite the science telling us that they tend to be healthier and live longer than their purebred cousins. The comparing of purebred dog breeding to eugenics in PDE was uncomfortable for many, but the parallels are obvious. And they remain. Everyone who still looks down their nose at a labrador x poodle and refers to them as a "labramongrel" needs to take a long hard look at what's driving how they feel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">How depressed am I by this? In truth, at times, very. But it is not as lonely a place as it was. There were times when I've felt like I was the only person shouting that things must change and now I am not. The conversation has started - and it continues.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">Ten years is the blink of an eye and there <i>has</i> been change. It is heartening to see the progress made by European and Scandinavian kennel clubs in particular.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">But it isn't yet the root and branch reform in the way we breed dogs that's needed to protect our dogs and it could so very easily slip back. There is also much work to be done in helping puppy buyers to make better choices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "gill sans" , sans-serif;">The dogs still deserve better.</span><br />
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-12019310000515946042017-12-10T22:27:00.001+00:002017-12-12T09:09:45.108+00:00WARNING: Don't buy into the 'designer' Bulldog bullshit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iRhvJZwvaFg/Wi2D1DvfjBI/AAAAAAAAE_U/QR5ZmsIZDgQuVf2xXAm8J56Ph-7JYV6cwCLcBGAs/s1600/mr%2Bchubbs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1280" height="252" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iRhvJZwvaFg/Wi2D1DvfjBI/AAAAAAAAE_U/QR5ZmsIZDgQuVf2xXAm8J56Ph-7JYV6cwCLcBGAs/s400/mr%2Bchubbs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The above dog - Mr Chubbs - is currently being pimped as a desirable stud by a Bulldog breeder called Adam Roche from Manchester, a man very happy to feed a new demand in the UK for 'extreme' Bulldogs regardless of the cost to the dogs.<br />
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Let's face it, being born a Bulldog is bad enough at the best of times. Only 15% of them can breathe like a normal dog. Some drop dead from overheating in even mildly warm weather. Many suffer allergies and intractable skin infections. Their joints are deformed by design. Their mouths are a jumble of overcrowded teeth and infected gums. They often cannot mate or give birth naturally. They die on average at six years old.<br />
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While there are a handful out there that lead reasonable lives - and certainly, like most dogs, many Bulldogs bear the encumbrances foisted on them with good grace - the Bulldog is a breed that is defective by design.<br />
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So the idea of taking this effed-up template and effing it up a bit further is incredibly distressing. It's a trend that started in the United States and now it's here - feeding a growing UK market for squidgy, squishy-faced, waddling dogs, usually in non-recognised colours like Mr Chubbs.<br />
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These are dogs bred deliberately to be gross. Their owners boast of "lots of loose skin" and "enormous nose ropes".<br />
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And it is no longer fringe. The Kennel Club is registering them - in their hundreds if not thousands. Don't believe me? Join the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1706915246196811/"><b>Rare Bulldogs</b></a> Facebook page and weep. It's a bizarre world where breeders call the dogs they breed "productions" and the worth of a Bulldog is measured in the size of its nose rope, the shortness of its back and legs and how thick-set they are. A quick trawl reveals loads of people in the UK posting really dreadful-looking Bulldogs, including its two British admins.<br />
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Pets4Homes, too, is awash with these dogs.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2LLR7MpSrbA/Wi2rzgJXwGI/AAAAAAAAFAA/pChEFtWgO_wmip2uUHUFjirAxZpD8oRngCLcBGAs/s1600/elvis%2Bking%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bblues.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1432" data-original-width="792" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2LLR7MpSrbA/Wi2rzgJXwGI/AAAAAAAAFAA/pChEFtWgO_wmip2uUHUFjirAxZpD8oRngCLcBGAs/s640/elvis%2Bking%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bblues.png" width="352" /></a></div>
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Elvis isn't KC registered (despite the claim in the blurb above), but many are.<br />
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Mr Chubbs was born in the US on 29th September 2014, and was imported to the UK and registered by the Kennel Club as Mr Chubbs at Dezinerbullz Essex UK. This is a breeder called Diego Sanchez who runs a slick website (forgive me if I don't link to it) that claims that "health and temperament" are their main priorities.<br />
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It's bullshit. There is no evidence that Mr Chubbs has been health-tested - either when he was with Sanchez or since he's been bought by Adam Roche of "Rochebulls".<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vp8Pjw09vFQ/Wi2Sq0Y7cSI/AAAAAAAAE_w/KFC1MMN9C2oqBjzqrQ6BnaMTH8SgSRtpQCLcBGAs/s1600/mr%2Bchubbs%2Bhealth%2Btests.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="1088" height="140" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vp8Pjw09vFQ/Wi2Sq0Y7cSI/AAAAAAAAE_w/KFC1MMN9C2oqBjzqrQ6BnaMTH8SgSRtpQCLcBGAs/s320/mr%2Bchubbs%2Bhealth%2Btests.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Kennel Club registered Mr Chubb's first litter on 2nd November 2015 so he was first used at stud when he was under a year old. He's had 20 other KC registered litters since then and likely any number of non-registered ones. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-naLQzlJnWPg/Wi2zwHMk3XI/AAAAAAAAFAg/GPkZ7608yAMUjjA_jACcFbm6C_bmtxxGQCLcBGAs/s1600/Mr%2BChubbs%2Bprogeny.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1230" data-original-width="722" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-naLQzlJnWPg/Wi2zwHMk3XI/AAAAAAAAFAg/GPkZ7608yAMUjjA_jACcFbm6C_bmtxxGQCLcBGAs/s640/Mr%2BChubbs%2Bprogeny.png" width="372" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and so on</td></tr>
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I have had brief exchanges with both Sanchez and Roche on Facebook - begging them, frankly, to not breed dogs like this. But of course what does my opinion matter when they can charge so much money from peddling deformity to a gullible public buying dogs by the wrinkle?</div>
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If Sanchez is health-testing, he is keeping it quiet. The only tests advertised on the Dezinerbullz website are DNA tests for colour - because his speciality is rare' colours, and chunky, squat dogs like this.<br />
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<a href="http://dezinerbullz.co.uk/onewebstatic/0710d5d2b6-lumber.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://dezinerbullz.co.uk/onewebstatic/0710d5d2b6-lumber.png" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="518" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's another, almost unrecognisable as a Bulldog but hey... he's KC registered.<br />
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Adam Roche, meanwhile, does seem to have one health-tested stud. But here is what he's pimping. Disgusting.<br />
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So what do we do?</div>
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Well, we could urge people to not buy them - hell, no one should buy any Bulldog (unless one of the more moderate alt-Bulldogs) - but that's clearly not working. Registrations continue to rise.</div>
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We could urge people to not breed them? Not while they can make so much money out of them we can't.</div>
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We could ask the Kennel Club to no longer register them, perhaps? This is a stance I've taken in the past, but the reason I've been able to find out that Mr Chubbs is not health-tested and has had 21 KC-registered litters is because the KC keeps records and makes them publicly available. It enables us to track them. Plus, this crowd is ahead of the game - they've recently launched a brand new Kennel Club promising to register any breed of any colour. (Click and wince <b><a href="https://dogworldkennelclub.co.uk/">here</a>.</b>)</div>
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We could make it illegal to breed dogs like this? Well, good luck with that - where on earth would you draw the line?</div>
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Truth is, there IS no single answer as much as I would love there to be. </div>
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That doesn't mean we just give up. </div>
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We need to keep publicising the problems. We need to encourage those who have bought one of these dogs and paid a heavy price to come forward and talk about it. My <a href="http://cruffa.org/"><b>CRUFFA </b></a>campaign and vets need to continue to persuade advertisers to not use any extreme dog (and that includes KC standard Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pugs) Although it's impossible to make their breeding illegal, it is not impossible to beef up legislation to financially clobber breeders who sell a dog that goes on to suffer or die from a breed-related issue. This is something that I understand is being worked on and it can't come a moment too soon.</div>
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Finally, a note about those 'rare colours'. Frankly, I don't care what colour a dog comes in - even if it's evidence that there's been some sneaky cross-breeding (most breeds need all the diversity they can get). </div>
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But, with the flat-faced breeds in particular, buyers should consider non-recognised or rare colours a red flag by default - as is any advert that lists which colour genes the dogs carry. While there is rarely a health problem associated with the colour itself (whatever the 'conventional' breeders claim), it is very often a sign that the breeder cares more about colour than health. </div>
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Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1183957703077342201.post-90760698887442523202017-10-17T14:56:00.000+01:002017-10-18T20:29:35.202+01:00Time to get tough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zci2ZbCMcoE/WeXoPe6RFDI/AAAAAAAAE84/wd7m8jFGasgG2JzmfRyRE2ubHwRiJZTFACLcBGAs/s1600/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1324" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zci2ZbCMcoE/WeXoPe6RFDI/AAAAAAAAE84/wd7m8jFGasgG2JzmfRyRE2ubHwRiJZTFACLcBGAs/s400/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_3.jpg" width="330" /></a></div>
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It is...<br />
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• soon to be 10 years since <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed</i><br />
• five years since The Advisory Council on the Welfare Issues of Dog Breeding highlighted the issues linked to head conformation in brachycephalic breeds<br />
• 18 months since the publication of research (funded by the kennel club) spelling out the link between stenosis (pinched nostrils) and respiratory issues, especially in French Bulldogs<br />
• a year since a <a href="https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/834/770/118/urgent-call-by-vet-profession-for-working-party-on-brachycephalic-dogs-and-cats/"><b>veterinary petition</b></a> demanding urgent reform for flat-faced dogs<br />
• almost a year since the Kennel Club set up the Brachcycephalic Breeds Working Group in response to that petition<br />
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.. and of course I have highlighted the issue of pinched nostrils endlessly here on this blog.<br />
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<i>Endlessly.</i><br />
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And yet... the picture at the top is one the Kennel Club has used as the ideal depiction of the French Bulldog in its new edition (2017) of its <a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/press-releases/2017/february-2017/kennel-club-publishes-new-edition-of-the-illustrated-breed-standards/"><b>Illustrated Breed Standards</b></a>.<br />
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And it isn't a one-off. Here's the one the KC has used for the Boston Terrier standard.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vpuDQw5y_Dg/WeXp1VxV-3I/AAAAAAAAE9E/0zuVDMs6G7orXuIqA6tkOL52FANejIs1wCLcBGAs/s1600/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1540" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vpuDQw5y_Dg/WeXp1VxV-3I/AAAAAAAAE9E/0zuVDMs6G7orXuIqA6tkOL52FANejIs1wCLcBGAs/s320/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_4.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">© The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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The Bulldog.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rI3xzwHGruA/WeXqNkY7jFI/AAAAAAAAE9M/2WTZzCPrs_w75vlR8ZZ3zIGozgXqWmWhACLcBGAs/s1600/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1325" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rI3xzwHGruA/WeXqNkY7jFI/AAAAAAAAE9M/2WTZzCPrs_w75vlR8ZZ3zIGozgXqWmWhACLcBGAs/s320/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_6.jpg" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">© The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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And the Pug.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IN2OUBo6wBU/WeXqFoEEHeI/AAAAAAAAE9I/Yhtz0wIwTs4aGH2Zkws6G8KfmXZjZE9lACLcBGAs/s1600/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1458" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IN2OUBo6wBU/WeXqFoEEHeI/AAAAAAAAE9I/Yhtz0wIwTs4aGH2Zkws6G8KfmXZjZE9lACLcBGAs/s320/new%2Bdoc%2B2017-10-17%2B11.38.16_1.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;">© The Kennel Club</td></tr>
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Dogs are as near-as-damn-it obligate nose breathers. And even if they can supplement by mouth-breathing when they are awake, they are unable to do so when they are asleep, meaning thousands of these dogs live lives of interrupted sleep as they have to wake up in order to not asphyxiate.<br />
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Study after study has shown that these dogs pay the price for not being able to pull in a decent lungful of air and that starts with the nostrils.<br />
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These pictures are all the proof you need that the Kennel Club is not taking this issue seriously; that at its very core the KC is paying nothing more than lip-service to the demands for reform by the veterinary profession and animal welfare campaigners.<br />
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At one of the first meetings of the Brachycephalic Breeds Working Group, then KC Chairman Steve Dean expressly said that he didn't want "changing the breed standards" to be at the top of everyone's list of actions that could be taken.<br />
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And indeed, it hasn't been.<br />
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There have been <i>some</i> new measures. The KC continues to fund brachy research. There is also now a <a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/press-releases/2017/march/kennel-club-launches-learning-resource-for-health-concerns-in-brachycephalic-breeds/"><b>brachy learning resource</b></a> available on the KC website, the promise of better education of judges and a breed club commitment to educate better about the importance of keeping brachycephalics slim. There are also now health schemes for the Bulldog, French Bulldog and the Pug which do test for respiratory issues.<br />
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All this is welcome. But, bottom line, the Kennel Club continues to bat for the breeders who do not want the basic phenotype to change because it's the breeders that pay their wages.<br />
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<i>Of course</i> the simplest, quickest remedy is to give these dogs back some muzzle - to help not just with breathing issues, but to help protect their eyes from trauma and to give their teeth some room in their overcrowded mouths (a Pug here compared to an Australian Shepherd).<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bOnU3qHm0R0/WeYE7TTSjxI/AAAAAAAAE-g/LfdR92eItPwoXjJ8uV50qpYuxqX90g2TQCLcBGAs/s1600/aussie%2Bv%2Bpug%2Bteeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1344" height="176" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bOnU3qHm0R0/WeYE7TTSjxI/AAAAAAAAE-g/LfdR92eItPwoXjJ8uV50qpYuxqX90g2TQCLcBGAs/s320/aussie%2Bv%2Bpug%2Bteeth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The problem is that breeders are wedded to flat faces, particularly in Pugs and Bulldogs. They talk about the perfect "layback" - which essentially means that the nose should not interrupt the line between the forehead and tip of the dog's chin.<br />
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In fact, there's a new book out on the Pug head (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pugdogillustratedbook2017/"><b>yours for only $159</b></a>) which reminds everyone that the word Pug comes from the latin for "fist" and that this is the shape the Pug's head should be in profile - i.e. totally flat.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4lhtrEz_cUs/WeXyJVykigI/AAAAAAAAE9c/GhhPx6Sy-E4vYpGNpM7XCFeZkMWHuMetQCLcBGAs/s1600/22555898_10155529703827559_1578488186_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1001" height="252" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4lhtrEz_cUs/WeXyJVykigI/AAAAAAAAE9c/GhhPx6Sy-E4vYpGNpM7XCFeZkMWHuMetQCLcBGAs/s400/22555898_10155529703827559_1578488186_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pugdogillustratedbook2017/">Source</a></i></td></tr>
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Here's a reminder from a top UK show breeder of what the Bulldog's head should look like.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0DgdOeW2dIM/WeXyk09FsLI/AAAAAAAAE9k/4Bqg71oE0LsZhXe4w4K95O7WT96LCbwXACLcBGAs/s1600/ocobo%2Blayback.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1092" data-original-width="754" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0DgdOeW2dIM/WeXyk09FsLI/AAAAAAAAE9k/4Bqg71oE0LsZhXe4w4K95O7WT96LCbwXACLcBGAs/s400/ocobo%2Blayback.png" width="275" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/116132645184214/permalink/1091235184340617/">Source</a></i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t8lvOYuL4pM/WeX2Gr06vUI/AAAAAAAAE90/nFUByQMPweMEujOwFbTREIoVw3UTwunsACEwYBhgL/s1600/layback%2Bmore%2Bbulldog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="960" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t8lvOYuL4pM/WeX2Gr06vUI/AAAAAAAAE90/nFUByQMPweMEujOwFbTREIoVw3UTwunsACEwYBhgL/s320/layback%2Bmore%2Bbulldog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YffSeGzX7_g/WeX2GpIc4SI/AAAAAAAAE9w/50GJ7CkIoxgHQl6YXUeNVrlxW3qP_yjlACEwYBhgL/s1600/head%2Bfaults%2Bbulldog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="960" height="294" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YffSeGzX7_g/WeX2GpIc4SI/AAAAAAAAE9w/50GJ7CkIoxgHQl6YXUeNVrlxW3qP_yjlACEwYBhgL/s320/head%2Bfaults%2Bbulldog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As you can see, a protruding nose or a less severe underbite is considered a <i>fault.</i></div>
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There was a big review of breed standards following <i>Pedigree Dogs Exposed</i> but it was mostly to add vague qualifiers such as, in the Pug standard, "relatively" short rather than just short when describing the length of the muzzle. This gives the breeders way too much wiggle room. We need proper metrics - a defined minimum skull/head/muzzle ratio and we need to find more profound ways to change their minds about what constitutes their breed in their eyes.</div>
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Large open nostrils are a requirement in brachy breed standards, but this is widely ignored because other points of the breed are considered more important. There would be outrage if a Frenchie with one lop ear or a Bulldog with a liver-coloured nose won in the show-ring, but dogs with slits for nostrils continue to be made up to champions. </div>
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Meanwhile, on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/cruffa/"><b>CRUFFA </b></a>group, whenever you post a picture of more moderate examples of the breed, current of historical, the breeders heap scorn. A few days ago, one breeder insisted that the dog featured in this famous painting of a Pug by Carl Reichert, dating from the late 19th century, was a crossbreed.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w2tkGqTQKz0/WeX7f5md48I/AAAAAAAAE-E/QZE1KiMsZWwiYEQAaU8Y15edOuKB80d6ACLcBGAs/s1600/Carl_Reichert_Mops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1547" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w2tkGqTQKz0/WeX7f5md48I/AAAAAAAAE-E/QZE1KiMsZWwiYEQAaU8Y15edOuKB80d6ACLcBGAs/s320/Carl_Reichert_Mops.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
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Same for these ones. Mongrels, the lot of them.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KtHb1doms4k/WeX73daquVI/AAAAAAAAE-I/-zlPnY6ErMoxGNzbbEveBG6TY4iWfjrUQCLcBGAs/s1600/afbde5bff6d252cceb6db699f1d8e98a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="570" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KtHb1doms4k/WeX73daquVI/AAAAAAAAE-I/-zlPnY6ErMoxGNzbbEveBG6TY4iWfjrUQCLcBGAs/s320/afbde5bff6d252cceb6db699f1d8e98a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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She admitted that the eye-white showing was undesirable but preferred the look of this Crufts dog.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DV4MYZTxFs4/WeX73m38gRI/AAAAAAAAE-M/oJHhR3sVCJYZYe_CDec--9q0UShLSo8_QCLcBGAs/s1600/72359080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1027" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DV4MYZTxFs4/WeX73m38gRI/AAAAAAAAE-M/oJHhR3sVCJYZYe_CDec--9q0UShLSo8_QCLcBGAs/s320/72359080.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Today, this was posted on a public Facebook page by one French Bulldog breeder in response to a plea by vets for more moderate dogs.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-28w7875LIjg/WeZyW-x-HzI/AAAAAAAAE-8/6BA2y3i-l6oFCLKEjcFIWvPBs5AOFfh8gCLcBGAs/s1600/costa%2Blorna%2Bdavidson%2Bedited.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="466" height="189" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-28w7875LIjg/WeZyW-x-HzI/AAAAAAAAE-8/6BA2y3i-l6oFCLKEjcFIWvPBs5AOFfh8gCLcBGAs/s320/costa%2Blorna%2Bdavidson%2Bedited.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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To those who say you cannot rebuild Rome in a day I say... rubbish. There are already more moderate versions of these breeds out there being bred by breeders more interested in health than the current fashion. </div>
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For more than 10 years, I have called for moderation and hoped it would come from the breeders. But I now know it won't. If we want anything more than a wee bit of tweaking round the edges, then we need to demand it. </div>
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It is time to get tough. These dogs suffer - not all of them all the time but too many of them too often. </div>
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Brachycephalics live a third less long than non-brachy dogs. Fifty per cent have significant airway disease. Almost all struggle to cool themselves. Most Bulldogs still can't mate or give birth naturally. Pugs have 19 times the risk of developing corneal ulcers. All suffer from very low genetic diversity. And so on.</div>
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Today, Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Pugs make up one in five of the dogs registered with the Kennel Club - up from one in 50 in 2005.</div>
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Yesterday, a new <a href="https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/takeaction/934/065/454/?z00m=29632170&redirectID=2511517751"><i><b>petition</b></i> </a>was launched asking for a ban on brachycephalics. Over 20k people signed it in the first 24 hrs. </div>
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Have we reached a tipping point? With your help. </div>
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I haven't been able to blog much recently because I am busy finishing off a television series for BBC2. But I have taken time out to write this because the new breed standard pictures made me so angry.</div>
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So please... Although it's moderation I want, not a ban, sign the petition. Make your feelings known to the Kennel Club (see <b><a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/contact-us/">here</a>)</b>. Complain if brands or media use generic pictures of brachycephalics to sell their wares. </div>
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Vets: <i>thank you </i>so much for all that you are now doing, but please keep the pressure on.</div>
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And, of course, to everyone out there - please don't buy that puppy. </div>
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It is <i>not safe </i>to buy a Pug, Bulldog or French Bulldog. Not safe for them and not safe for your wallet. </div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OzenIueNH7Q/WeYIwcjwwTI/AAAAAAAAE-s/xGEGFOxGeRMzsw50jrWBOPjq3H6W1RS4ACLcBGAs/s1600/nares%2Bstickers%2Bv0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OzenIueNH7Q/WeYIwcjwwTI/AAAAAAAAE-s/xGEGFOxGeRMzsw50jrWBOPjq3H6W1RS4ACLcBGAs/s320/nares%2Bstickers%2Bv0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Jemima Harrisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05092892697145388048noreply@blogger.com37