Sandy, there was much talk on both the UK and the US lists long before PDE that puppy sales were way down and in crisis -- more likely due to the economy. There was a discussion on the L-list at least once and also elsewhere and I know this was raised within the UK club at least 6 months before PDE was on. It is convenient now to claim a falloff was due to PDE but it had begun well before. But even so -- so what? BYBs always have a current reason why to buy from them (usually, price). If buyers are so undereducated to think they should buy from a BYB then surely it is the clubs' and collective breeders' job to educate, get better info on their (frankly, crappy and poorly organised) websites? For example, the national sites and many (sparse!) regional club sites are still using *frames* :sl*p: -- the worst possible approach to finding info for the visitor, getting onto Google and to help people get direct URLs. No wonder
www.cavalierheath.org comes tops when people google health issues, not club websites. There's almost no helpful information or guidance for pet buyers on club sites, which generally look like someone's 17 year old geek son designed them for the most part. Get a proper designer to do those sites, folks!.
For my part: I've seen no fall off whatsoever in Ireland in demand for cavaliers and we got PDE twice -- from the BBC and then it ran again on Irish station TV3. I have no problem homing dogs of unknown breeding evn with a full briefing on health issues. I've never had a single person decline to take a rescue dog on the basis of learning of health issues. Maybe the clubs and more breeders need to take that approach -- being upfront and providing full information and background on health -- as a starting point?
And again -- the problem is
the health of the breed, not PDE making more people aware of it! The basic breed health statistics remain shocking. I hardly know of a single cavalier that has lived beyond 11 -- I have owned and have friends who own large breeds that have long exceeded cavaliers in their lifespan.
As for the widespread influence of PDE -- as much as I would like to believe this is true, I still find it hard to find vets who are aware of SM or have read a single thing about it if they have heard of it, and many who dismiss it. My own excellent vets have, almost solely because of PDE, learned to be sensitive to it and spot possible symptoms and have, since PDE, referred many dogs to the vet school for positive diagnosis and care -- dogs that would have suffered years of being treated for allergies and nonexistent ear infections. That some dogs will suffer less, and that clubs and breeders are being pushed towards better breeding practice, is an obvious gain from the show.