Monday, March 12, 2012

Peter Wedderburn Weighs in on Crufts

Peter Wedderburn weighs in:

The pedigree dog show world has been stunned by landmark decisions made at Crufts this year: six dogs that had been chosen as best of their breeds (Bulldog, Pekingese, Clumber Spaniel, Mastiff, Neopolitan Mastiff and Basset Hound) failed the new veterinary health check. As a consequence, the prize-winning pooches were banned from proceeding to the Best in Group judging....

Up until now, some people may have felt that this health check was going to be lip service to the critics by the Kennel Club. The decisions at Crufts this past weekend confirm that the Kennel Club is serious about enforcing its stated ideals of “celebrating happy healthy dogs”.

The inspecting veterinary surgeon specifically assessed four areas of concern on the health front: eye disease, respiratory problems, skin disease and mobility issues. The specific grounds for failure of the disqualified dogs have not yet been announced but the bottom line was that an independent vet decided that their appearance was inconsistent with full, normal health.

Ironically, the Bulldog that was judged to be second-best-of-breed was the pre-booked guest on the More-4 Crufts television discussion on Thursday evening. The reason for her tv appearance: she's an example of the “new, healthy” type of Bulldog, with a longer nose and less congested breathing. There's an obvious question: if she had pipped the winning dog at the post for “Best of Breed”, would she too have failed the health test? Is the Bulldog, as a breed, capable of passing health tests?

I don't know much about the winning Pekingese which was then disqualified, but I do know that when a Pekingese called Malachy won Best of Show at the prestigious Westminster Dog Show in the USA last month, he had to sit on a special cooling mat to prevent dangerous overheating when he was displayed to the media. It's this type of madness that the Kennel Club is trying to stamp out.
Read the whole thing!.

So what dogs won Crufts?  None other than the absurd-looking, fit-for-nothing dog called the Lhasa Apso.


9 comments:

OrcinusOcean said...

"Is the Bulldog, as a breed, capable of passing health tests?"
Possibly. I mean, they did let a flat-faced, overweight Pug through.

seeker said...

The Laso Apso were used to protect the Tibeten Monks of the Himalayas from Yeti. They proved very successful at this task. However, when dealing with Chinese Communist soldiers, not so much. Of course all the Yeti has was a howl, the soldiers had AK47s.

Debi and the TX JRTs

hwylo said...

Surely they are good for something if only making people happy. Most of us are not that worried about Yeti, or people pointing AK47's at us (so far).

If in fact utility was a primary criteria in owning a dog for a majority of people, I suggest that quite a few breeds would become rapidly extinct.

PBurns said...

But if utility is not needed, and all you need is a pet, there are a million soon-to-be-dead dogs down at the pound, each capable of making someone happy, and at least several hundred dozen capable of making anyone happy.

The Kennel Club says it is breeding dogs "fit for function" but does not test for function -- not temperament, not work, and (outside of this one-time very cursory veterinary check in which 2/5 of the dogs failed), not health.

HurricaneDeck said...

How many of us REALLY need a utility dog?

How much of an impact do your JRTs make on the groundhog population on your farm that you hunt? Oh, wait - you hunt OTHER folks' farms, and sometimes you catch and release. So much for going and and digging actually being useful (therefore utility) to anyone except to you and the shovel factories. So the utility of your chosen breed really exists just to make you happy.

The same goes for the vast majority of us. If a long haired, healthy and well bred dog makes the woman happy, then it has served its purpose, no matter if it came from a pound or not.

PBurns said...

LOL. I'm making enough of an impact that THREE farms I used to hunt have no groundhogs at all. I spent 6 hours hunting Sunday on a 2,000-acre place that I have taken a few hundred off of, and my friend and I could not locate one we could get to, so things are knocked down quite a bit there too. The small farm I hunt a lot now was a permission I got after I was recommended by one of the farmers who no longer has groundhogs on his place. So yes, if you are good farmers share and pass on your name. Yes, I catch and release fox, but most groundhogs do die (though truthfully not all, as I let the REALLY easy catches run for another day).

I would agree that if a person want a long-haired dog, they should get one.

But let's not kid ourselves that dog shows are about DOGs, eh? That's NEVER been true. Dog shows are about ribbons for people, not happiness for dogs.

Of course, if you are a dog breeder, you do not want anyone to ever mention that if you are only looking for a pet, there are 4,000 dogs a day being killed in this country, and perhaps a look at one of those might satisfy your needs, and that is true no matter what the breed.

Go to dog breeder web sites and see how many links you find to rescue of any kind -- breed specific or general. They're not there!

The simple fact is that dog breeding is a commercial activity and breeder do not want the competition with rescue. Most show dog people crank out a lot of puppies to sell to subsidize the ribbon chasing, and because the only way most of them know how to get a "winning" dog is to crank out twenty puppies a year and select those with the best markings, etc. And so, it's become OK to wink at the death of dogs at shelters if you sell.

So you want a long haired dog like a Pekingese or a Lhasa? Great! Go to http://www.petfinder.com and type in Lhasa Apso or Pekingese and see what's available. No shortage in this area when I just did it!
P

hwylo said...

As a resident of the romantic southlands, I know that over 30,000 dogs have been destroyed in an area within a 45 min. drive in the last decade. So yes, why spend hundreds of dollars on "pb" dog that doesn't serve its intended use when a $10 dog from AC is a much better choice? Like most things, judging something outside of the environment it is meant to function is a big problem. Anyone that breeds an animal that can't walk, breath, see etc. is a fool and possibly a criminal.

PipedreamFarm said...

As a farm owner where Patrick has hunted with his JRTs, I'd like to say I have found his dogs useful and I do not miss the vermin that were dispatched.

Mark

PipedreamFarm said...

As far as needing utility dogs; we need the use of our Border Collies for managing our flock of sheep. We need the use of our Maremma Sheepdog for protecting our flock.