PDSA adds weight to Crufts-opposition
The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is the latest high-profile organisation to suspend its involvement with the increasingly-maligned Kennel Club event, Crufts. The charity, which provides free veterinary care for the animals of people in need, cited "unacceptable" breeding practices, leading to serious health issues for pedigree dogs.
The world's premier dog-show competition is fast running out of backers, following the recent withdrawals of support of the RSPCA and principal sponsor Pedigree, and the prospect of the termination of the BBC's transmission of the event.
PDSA director of veterinary services, Richard Hooker, insisted that "breeding should put the dogs' quality of life before appearance." Whilst welcoming the Kennel Club's purported efforts to improve the health status of the animals involved, Mr. Hooker, whose position is "entirely consistent with that of the veterinary profession", demanded evidence of "real and sufficient progress in the quality of life for dogs" before any reconsideration. He also called for increased education for owners: "If members of the public only want dogs that are healthy and responsibly bred, then undesirable practices will cease."
Animals Count welcomes yet another decision to turn away from the exploitative dog-show industry, a move which constitutes reinforcement of the philosophy espoused in our articles of last month, and recognises this as furher confirmation that the sands of time are running out for the notion that the welfare of such animals should be subservient to the vanity of their owners.
8 November, 2008 
Another blow against show-dog exploitation
The latest in a series of blows to the world's premier dog show has been announced, with the confirmation from manufacturing giant Mars of the termination, via its pet-food branch Pedigree, of its forty-year-long sponsorship of Crufts. A spokeswoman for the company cited the prioritisation of "initiatives that support the broadest possible community of dog-owners."
The move from the principal backers of the industry's blue-riband event constitutes the most financially-damaging in a series of setbacks to the organisers, the Kennel Club. August's BBC documentary, alleging that best-in-breed winners were unhealthily inbred, was followed by last month's announced boycott by the RSPCA on the grounds of the encouragement, by judging criteria, of "deformed and disabled" dogs.
If the BBC's appointed scientific panel backs the evidence of the corporation's documentary, the BBC will end its broadcast of the event, after more than four decades. Earlier this month, the Kennel Club itself announced that it was to review breeding standards, with the aim of rearing healthier animals (see below).
Animals Count strongly opposes the exploitation and consequent disablement of show-animals for the personal gratification of their owners, whose thought for the well-being of their charges extends little beyond how this can inflate their egos. It must be hoped that such high-profile announcements reflect some shift towards a public endorsement of this viewpoint.
29 October, 2008
Kennel Club responds to animal cruelty criticism by changing breed standards
The Pekingese dog will be the first dog breed to undergo changes in breed standards to address their short muzzle causing breathing problems. The Kennel Club came under fire after a BBC investigation into pure breed health problems in August, and has now responded by changing standards. Animals Count believes that breeding of companion animals to meet breed standards or for other purposes that result in hereditary anatomical, physiological or other impairments potentially contrary to animal welfare should be banned.
Times Online, 8 October, 2008