Report out tomorrow on UK Kennel Club breeding standards

Magenta

Long overdue!
If only backwards old Ireland could catch up.. but then again, we only regulated driving instructors last year :rolleyes:

From the Telegraph

New rules to end inbreeding, which critics say is rife in the pedigree world, and an end to the Kennel Club's 137-year oversight of the industry have also been proposed by Professor Sir Patrick Bateson, the president of the Zoological Society of London.

Professor Bateson was commissioned by the Kennel Club, which runs Crufts, and the charity Dogs' Trust to make recommendations to improve dog breeding practices after the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which was broadcast in August 2008.

The programme claimed that decades of inbreeding had resulted in larger numbers of pedigree dogs being born with inherited debilitating conditions.

It featured a prize-winning Cavalier King Charles spaniel whose skull was too small for its brain, a condition known as syringomyelia; boxers suffering from epilepsy and pugs with breathing problems.

The programme led to the BBC refusing to broadcast Crufts last March unless 14 breeds deemed at risk of genetic deformities were excluded from the competition.

That led to a spat with the Kennel Club, which described the demands as "insupportable". Crufts went ahead, the first time it had proceeded untelevised in 40 years.

The Kennel Club insisted that 90 per cent of dogs registered with it were healthy and claimed the documentary makers were biased.

However, the documentary was given credence by the RSPCA after Mark Evans, its chief veterinary adviser, described the "show world" of dogs as "a parade of mutants; a freakish beauty pageant". The charity also described current breed standards as "morally unjustifiable

The Kennel Club subsequently changed some of its breeding rules.

Insiders say the Kennel Club then brought in Prof Bateson in the hope that he would provide the organisation with a clean bill of health.

However, his review, to be published on Thursday, will advocate tough external regulation by a new statutory body.

He believes the Kennel Club should not be both judging competitions and regulating the business.

Last week he told a newspaper: "I think regulation is the only way to do it. The public need to insist they know the pedigree of a dog and that it has been properly looked after, and only go to accredited breeders."

There should be an "enormous change" in the way people purchased dogs, he added.

Among Prof Bateson's proposals are that only registered dog breeders who accept random inspections on their animals and premises will be able to advertise and sell puppies, whether they are breeding pedigrees or not.

At the moment the Kennel Club runs a voluntary accreditation scheme, but only 10 per cent of the 150,000 pedigree registered with it every year are from breeders who belong to the programme.

Prof Bateson will also call for much tougher restrictions to effectively outlaw inbreeding.

While the Kennel Club has banned the mating of parents dogs with offspring and siblings, he believes this should be extended to grandparent and half-sibling dogs. All dogs should also be microchipped, under his plans.

The Kennel Club declined to comment on the review ahead of Thursday's publication.

There are thought to be about seven million dogs in Britain, of which three-quarters are pedigrees. The documentary makers claimed these pedigrees cost their owners £10 million a week in vets' fees.

lrushe

Brilliant, now if only Ireland could follow suit................!!!

terenc

lrushe wrote: »

Brilliant, now if only Ireland could follow suit................!!!

I agree but the Irish kennel club and the powers to be would never manage this, which is a pity because inbreeding is rampant in Ireland with greedy people trying to make as much money has possible and the pedigree suffers in the end but these people are allowed to operate freely in this country:mad::mad:.