Unbelievable Claptrap From UK Kennel Club

In a December 21, 2011 press release, the UK Kennel Club attacked the RSCPA for its "Bred for Looks, Born to Suffer" campaign. The KC wrote:

“We believe that the RSPCA would have been far better to have invested in a more focused campaign to educate potential buyers to only buy from responsible breeders, such as Kennel Club Assured Breeders, who have their dogs health screened, socialise them and provide excellent after care and advice.

“With the exception of Kennel Club Assured Breeders, who sign up to standards that ensure that they put their dogs’ health and welfare first, the rest of the dog breeding market is effectively unregulated. There are sadly large numbers of dogs out there, both pedigrees and ‘designer’ crossbreeds, being bred entirely for looks by puppy farmers, often in terrible conditions. ...

"Health comes first

“Instead they have chosen to focus on the Kennel Club’s breed standards, which are simply the description of how different pedigree dog breeds look and their likely temperament and characteristics. These standards make it absolutely clear that health must come first and that good temperament is all important. ..."

--------------------

So it is true: KC's lame response to its failure to really put health first is to claim that its breeders are not as bad as the rest of them -- so lay off of us and pick on the others!

Second, KC tells you to not believe your lying eyes! It claims that its official breed standards don't really mean anything, because, no matter what, health must come ahead of those breed standards.

Did you know that?

Tell that to all of the wobbly-legged German Shepherd dogs you see being forced to run in the KC's conformation rings, or likewise to the English Bulldogs that hardly have the breath they need to make the full ring circuit. And, tell that to the conformation judges who pick and praise hounds with cherry eyes and ears that practically drag on the floor.

When is KC going to get that message to the judges, and when are the judges going to have to graduate from veterinary school to be able to know when a purebred dog is unhealthy, or just happens to come closest to the breed standard that day?

Another of the Kennel Club's little gems in this rebuttal of the RSPCA's criticisms is........ “too many people are buying dogs without undertaking research and demanding certain breeding standards are met.”

This is called blaming the victim, and the Kennel Club should be ashamed of themselves.

When you buy your first dog how do you know that you need to check for problems that no one in the dog breeding world will tell you about?

How do you know that the breeder is not being honest when they say you must just be unlucky to have a sick puppy, because none of their dogs are affected.

How do you know when you go onto the KC website and there is no indication of any health issues on the breed pages that health insurance is essential for that breed you have chosen.

How do you know when the breed website says that there is "no recognised health problems" that is breeder blindness and denial, not the truth about the health compromised breed of dog you are thinking of buying?

"demanding certain breeding standards are met"
That statement by the Kennel Club is somewhat puzzling? Surely they cannot be referring to the ABS breeding standards?
How can anyone know if those breeding standards are met?

There is an 85% backlog of Assured Breeders yet to be inspected, and 56% of breeds have no required tests under the Scheme, which still makes it a puppy farmers' delight.
Annual membership entitles Assured Breeders to use the online 'Find a Puppy Service' free of charge for as many litters as they like, which explains why breeds like pugs have so many ABS breeders.

When the KC can guarantee that every member of the ABS has, at the very least, ensured that their breeding dogs have passed a vet check before they are mated, then the Scheme and its breeding standards may be worth promoting.

What unbelievable crap

I'm surprised they could even spell "health and welfare", as they certainly haven't a bloody clue what it means! It's the Kennel Club’s breed standards, and their unwillingness to open their eyes, that has so many "well bred", pedigree dogs suffering so much. Yes, back yard breeders churn out a huge amount of unhealthy poorly bred litters, but to churn out "well bred" litters of Bulldogs that need operations to breath properly, or GSD's that nearly fall over when the judge runs their hands down their back end is equally as despicable.

Their whole "it isn't our fault" attitude is doing sod all to help any of our beloved breeds