Pedigree dogs exposed 19th August BBC1

[Foxisle_crazy]

I got an email today about a programme on BBC1 called Pedigree Dogs exposed
Its about genetic diseases and breeding unhealthy dogs for ‘fashion’

This is what the KC have to say on it
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/1976/23/5/3

Why do i have a bad feeling about this?  ::)

[Anonymous]

For the life of me I cannot understand why the KC helped them, the researcher was a ***** how come breeders knew and the KC did not  :-\
Am sure they will have the cavies on as she caused a scene at their champ show she’s tried to join loads of dog forums thank goodness most are members only
Val

[Foxisle_crazy]

[quote author=Val link=topic=12209.msg235892#msg235892 date=1218476668]
how come breeders knew and the KC did not  :-\
Val
[/quote]

Is that surprising though?  :-\  They’ve obviously been very naive

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how an organisation as large, old and experienced as The Kennel Club could have been so gullible.  Any one with any experience of the media in all it’s forms, knows that they never listen and print/show what is actually said!

Many years ago, my daughter and I were very flattered that the large local newspaper wanted to come and interview us about our success at Crufts.  What actually appeared in print bore no resemblance to what was actually said and we decline their approaches in the future.

A friend was almost sucked in recently when approached to make a TV program about making our gardens more friendly to wildlife.  He was sure that because it was the production company was making the series for the BBC, it would be OK but I wasn’t happy with the secrecy of the subject after being asked “If there anything that we could do that would upset him?”  I replied that as long as it didn’t upset his neighbours or be detrimental to his property, then he’d be happy with anything to support the wildlife.  After MUCH probing, it turned out that they were going to build a badger sett in his garden!  For those who don’t know, if he wanted to sell, it would be a disaster as you need a licence to move a badger sett!

I was told a couple of weeks ago by an old Cavalier breeder that there was a program coming out that was going to expose their syringomyelia problem!

[Anonymous]

She’s been all over the Cavalier breeders for months think there will be a big backlash with pedigree dogs especially the Cavies, If I had to pick a breed it sure would not be them they do so much research for their problems, she was an evil cow at a Cavalier Champ Show.
Aways have said the KC are a bunch of wallies they have so many spies on the net how come they did not pick up on this, on the members only sites the researcher was named over and over again.
These sites had open letters to the KC warning them did they listen to the breeders did they hell
Val

[Prem2Pram]

On the BBC’s website today

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7569064.stm

Pedigree dogs are suffering from genetic diseases following years of inbreeding, an investigation has found.

A BBC documentary says they are suffering acute problems because looks are emphasised over health when breeding dogs for shows.

The programme shows spaniels with brains too big for their skulls and boxers suffering from epilepsy.

The Kennel Club says it works tirelessly to improve the health of pedigree dogs.

Pedigree animals make up 75% of the seven million dogs in the UK and cost their owners over £10m in vets’ fees each week.

Poor health

The programme, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, says dogs suffering from genetic illness are not prevented from competing in dog shows and have gone on to win ‘best in breed’, despite their poor health.

It says physical traits required by the Kennel Club’s breed standards, such as short faces, wrinkling, screw-tails and dwarfism, have inherent health problems.

Other problems occur because of exaggerations bred into dogs by breeders trying to win rosettes, it adds.

The programme shows a prize-winning cavalier King Charles spaniel suffering from syringomyelia, a condition which occurs when a dog’s skull is too small for its brain.

People are carrying out breeding which would be first of all entirely illegal in humans and secondly is absolutely insane from the point of view of the health of the animals
Professor Steve Jones
University College London

It also features boxers suffering from epilepsy, pugs with breathing problems and bulldogs who are unable to mate or give birth unassisted.

It says deliberate mating of dogs which are close relatives is common practice and the Kennel Club registers dogs bred from mother-to-son and brother-to-sister matings.

Scientists at Imperial College, London, recently found that pugs in the UK are so inbred that although there are 10,000 of them, it is the equivalent of just 50 distinct individuals.

Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, said: “People are carrying out breeding which would be first of all entirely illegal in humans and secondly is absolutely insane from the point of view of the health of the animals.

“In some breeds they are paying a terrible price in genetic disease.”

Breeding practices

RSPCA chief vet Mark Evans was interviewed for the programme.

He said: “The welfare and quality of life of many pedigree dogs is seriously compromised by established breeding practices for appearance, driven primarily by the rules and requirements of competitive dog showing and pedigree dog registration.”

But Kennel Club spokeswoman Caroline Kisko said it is “working tirelessly” to help improve the health of pedigree dogs.

“Any dog may be shown but it is up to the judge to decide if it fits the breed standard.

“It is when characteristics become exaggerated that health problems can occur. This is something that the Kennel Club does not encourage and actively educates people, including judges, against doing as part of its ‘Fit For Function, Fit For Life’ campaign.”

[Anonymous]

[quote author=Rough link=topic=12209.msg235895#msg235895 date=1218477190]
I don’t know how an organisation as large, old and experienced as The Kennel Club could have been so gullible.  Any one with any experience of the media in all it’s forms, knows that they never listen and print/show what is actually said!
[/quote]

Whilst i agree that this can happen – not all media are bad  😉 The worst offenders seem to be documentary makers… when I worked at Great Ormond Street we had hundreds of requests from doc film makers – we did do one with channel 5 and they were made to sign an explicit contract  ;D

But speaking as a former member of the press and as someone who works with them on a daily basis – they aren’t all bad  :-\ 

I’ve just had a fantastic expereince with BBC online covering some of our research  🙂

apologies for going off topic a bit.  :-[

[kizkiznobite]

i just watched the interview with carol …the bbc reporters body language spoke volumes…carol help her own good tho clearly nervous….this about politics me thinks…but the %’s offered and the huge gap between them need some clarity…from someone for heavens sake…even a moderator..it valuable stuff but if the bbc are descending into gutter press mode and the KC are on the run then we wont learn anything in MHO

as far as i understood then it still on…i guess the bbc are happy to risk losing the cruft contract  ::)

[Anonymous]

Did anyone hear the interview on radio 4 this morning? Where they had someone on talking about the research they had been doing into the health of dogs and inbreeding?

Incidentally – the reporters aren’t BBC reporters – the prog is made by a production company called passionate productions. I know the BBC bought the programme tho….

[kizkiznobite]

yeah i know …i meant it was on bbc news…it was the bbc news reporter i was saying re body language…she had clearly been primed

[Anonymous]

ah – haven’t seen that…

This is the thing I heard this morning:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7569000/7569498.stm  scroll down to 7.23am

[Anonymous]

I shall be very interested to read the credits at the end of this program. I wonder if we will recognise any of the names that were involved in the making of it?

[Foxisle_crazy]

I heard the phone in on jeremy vine on radio 2.  I wasn’t very happy, out of all the calls, txts and emails they read out there was one actually for pedigree dogs.  It was a load of rubbish i thought  >:(

[Foxisle_crazy]

Argh!! its been on for 5mins and already im annoyed!

The woman with the cav said she had no idea about syringomyelia, the woman on the sun website said ‘We had no idea Pugs could have such bad health problems’

People aren’t talking about pedigree dogs here, like Vals dogs, they’re talking about dogs who have pedigrees not worth the paper they’re written on!  Selfish people want a dog now so they go out and get one straight away, without having any knowledge of them.
I wonder why the woman who owns the pugs got them, simple, she likes the look of them.  and thats all she cares about, as long as there’s people out there who are willing to buy dogs off the back of this, there’ll be people wanting to make money off it, not the good breeders out there.

And I noticed Beverly on there, didn’t mention that on here  ::)  You make a living out of dogs Bev, pedigrees making up a huge percentage of that, so why are you crapping on your own doorstep?

[Foxisle_crazy]

And OMG mark evans rspca vet says ‘its morally and ethically wrong to kill a dog simply because of the way they look’  Isn’t that what the RSPCA has been doing for years now in regard to so called pit bull types?!!  >:( >:( >:(

[Author]

Posts