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Pedigree Dogs Exposed: part four

:rolleyes: And yet another change (they must have read Karlin's post) at CKCS Club UK

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING, 5TH OCTOBER 2008 **

SECOND NOTICE TO OVERSEAS MEMBERS

The recent website notice to overseas members was issued following advice received from the Kennel Club. This stated that overseas members could be allowed to vote at the forthcoming SGM.

However, the Club subsequently received queries concerning the absence of formal SGM Notices issued to overseas members. AGM Notices have never previously been sent to overseas members. The Club therefore sought further advice from the Kennel Club Legal Department to clarify the voting entitlements of overseas members. The following revised KC guidance has just been received:

‘.... the forthcoming SGM is specifically about the removal of a person from the club committee. As a general proposition, the removal of a person from office should only be effected by the body which initially confers this office. The benefits of membership listed in the club rule book limits participation in the annual elections to UK members. The committee is therefore constituted by the ordinary UK members. Therefore it would not be correct to allow overseas members to participate in this vote.‘

‘For the forthcoming SGM, it is suggested that out of courtesy the overseas members are advised of the meeting and of any changes in the committee as the club would ordinarily do so, in the normal course of business.’

We must therefore withdraw previous advice to overseas members on their entitlement to vote.
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re NCKSC Ch show Aug o7
and SHE had the b----dy cheek to criticise 'lack of muscle tone' amongst the exhibits. Makes me wonder why anyone would have valued her opinion of their dogs. But hey never mind, shes got the best interest of the breed at heart really she has.....Yep, and I'm a monkeys uncle!!
 
frecklesmom said:
:rolleyes: And yet another change (they must have read Karlin's post) at CKCS Club UK

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Having just returned from holiday I was disgusted to receive letter from The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club calling a SGM on Sunday 5th October to consider the removal of Margarte Carter from the committee of the above club.
I tried to read all the previous posts but wonder if someone can help me. As a member of said club can they insist that in order to vote you have to attend? It is almost impossible for me and my husband to attend this meeting but as a fully paid up member I would have thought you do not actually have to attend. We have never been asked to go when voting for a member to join committee so why this?
 
No, there is no postal vote.

However there are questions over whether an SGM can be held.

The Kennel Club's legal department certainly seems to be very confused these days!
 
The club must be a laughing stock worldwide by now....I wonder what the next change will be.....watch that space.

Holly Dolly, sadly we have to attend to vote :( hardly fair to members that cannot travel for many reasons....they havn't thought that out very well.

and hardly fair on people that have bought tickets....

but then the whole process of trying to remove Margaret is hardly right either.

Alison.
 
I'm annoyed that you only have the right to vote in person, when the yearly voting for Committee members can be done by post.

As I have said before, under normal circumstances I wouldn't hesitate to drive up there, but after my knee op I am not even allowed to put my right foot on the floor for a further 4 weeks and driving is right out of the question.

I am hoping that the legal issues will mean the meeting never takes place. Anyone who gets news about this please update asap. Fingers crossed.

PS Welcome back to the board HollyDolly - hope you had a good holiday.
 
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Just had a letter from the Kennel Club about my correspondence re: Pedigree Dogs Exposed:

Dear Mrs Bell

Thank you for your correspondence regarding Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, the contents of which have been noted.

Please find enclosed a press release which was issued by the Kennel Club last week to outline our position with regards to the breed and the health issues involved.

Yours sincerely
Caroline Kisko
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I suppose I should not be suprised at such a limited reply, but actually my letter covered a lot more than just Cavalier health - Margaret Clarke, the Kennel Club's defensive reaction to the show, their Accredited Breeders Scheme and lack of enforcement of breeding protocols, remark by Mr Irving about not being told what to do by scentists etc, etc.

So, acknowledgement from CKCS Club, this from Kennel Club, an e-mail (totally satifactory answer re: support message on KC website) from Dogs Trust.

No replies from Pedigree Dog Foods or James Wellbeloved yet, who I wrote to 10 days ago. Defra, CKCS Club re: Margaret Clark, Roger Helmer and Peter Ainsworth, MP still a bit early to expect a reply.

Will keep you posted.
 
I've also crossposted this to its own thread -- but it is relevant here to note that Dog World this week is full of opinion pieces on the documentary and knock on effects.

First off, the main opinion piece The Opinion column discusses the RSPCA and Dog Trust withdrawals and calls for discussions and then goes on to talk about the Cavalier Club, KC and Animal Health Trust working to combat the two major problems in the breed. Indeed the current EBV (estimated breeding values) programme is the most significant investment in breed health taken by the KC and CKCS Club and builds on and will work directly with the substantial work already done by many researchers, especially the genome work initiated and continuing now by Clare Rusbridge and Penny Knowler, which is directly connected to the EBV project.

It then states:

That is a positive note, but the same cannot be said about the parent breed club holding a special general meeting with the aim of expelling a member who appeared in the recent TV programme. We can understand how a great many of the members must feel, but surely this is not the way forward? We have said before that dog people have little idea how their actions may be perceived by the world outside. This is a case in
point.
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Exactly. The KC and club seriously need to discuss the damage this will cause the breed and the club, setting aside the fact that the club is using two completely different approaches to the same issue -- an ethics complaint -- with Margaret Carter and Beverly Costello. That fact alone will make this look like a pathetic public lynching of the whistleblower while protection is given to the breeder whose breeding practice is in question.

In addition see:

http://www.dogworld.co.uk/Features/38-atter?year=2008&month=09

Where judge Sheila Atter notes:

What we cannot do is assess the likelihood or otherwise of the dogs being shown under us carrying some serious inherited defect. I particularly like the idea of a ‘Veterinary Passport’ but it seems to me that this is something that needs careful consideration before it is implemented. Why limit its use to ‘certain breeds’?

According to the KC statement: “This would be designed specifically for particular breeds, confirming the status of a dog’s health and conformation in relation to certain prescribed aspects before they could be shown.”
Why not make it mandatory that every dog, of every breed, should have a basic passport before being entered at its first show. In most other European countries, dogs are now required by law to have an official passport, similar to the Pet Passport issued in the UK to dogs travelling abroad – and horses have their own passports. Why does the KC not issue each dog that is to be exhibited with a Show Passport? There could be spaces for recording health tests and their results – and the passport would have to be taken to all shows where random checks could be carried out by a Field Officer.
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And: http://www.dogworld.co.uk/Features/38-holm?year=2008&month=09

Which weighs up various angles and notes:

From what I have read I think that Andrew Brace’s piece, A wake up call from the BBC (DW, Sept 5) seems to hit the nail on the head. We cannot deny the validity of a lot of the issues that the programme tried to tackle and we need to pay stark attention to how we are perceived by the outside world.
The world of pedigree dog breeding and showing, like all human endeavours that involve competition and money, has its murky corners. We are foolish if we do not recognise that the job of television producers like those who made Pedigree Dogs Exposed is to draw in large audiences by rooting out and exposing that darker side. They can only do this if that darker side exists and we need to face the fact that it does. It seems to me that what we need is pro-active, high profile, efficient, well informed and highly visible promotion and regulation of good pedigree dog breeding so that the public can easily see the difference between this and the rogue element.
As a group we lay ourselves wide open to this sort of criticism when we have people operating in the world of pedigree dogs who persist in bad practice. How can it ever be right for a breeder to carry on using a brood bitch or a stud dog after it has had a serious health problem identified or is known to produce a debilitating condition in its puppies?
But, equally, how can they be prevented from doing so unless the governing body is able to control and police such practice with compulsory health testing and restricted registrations? As breeders we enjoy the freedom to register our puppies by supplying the bare minimum of information, but should we? We know that we simply cannot rely on the fact that all pedigree dog breeders have the good of their breed at heart, even if the majority do. That, I am afraid, is naïve nonsense.
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GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

HI

I work in central Birkenhead in our office and as the company is in the reinforced concrete section of the Civil Engineering field our lads on sites finish early on a Friday, so this evening i had an early dart at 4.50 and on the short way home i drive through an area called Hamilton Square which is a fine square of offices in some superbly kept Victorian buildings (am i rambling ) ,as i drive through i slowed to let a smartly suited gentleman cross the road .As he waved to thank me i spotted it was none other than Mr Frank Field our MP (Member of Parliament),so not to waste the opportunity i quickly drove on pulled over and parked ,and what a charming gent he is ,as some may know he is an ex Minister but is his own man and a man of the people . I thanked him on behalf of all Cavalier owners and mentioned that BBC programme and the horrid things that are happening to our breed ,to which he remembered my email contact and told me of his support and conversations with Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown and that he and others are endeavoring to do all they can in support of our work to change things for the better for all pedigree dogs .I further mentioned (i hope i am OK here) all the hard work that is done by all our forum members here in the UK and the USA and further and especially people like Karlin and Margaret C and all the many others who have such great knowledge and that are working so hard to change the breeding directives so its a far more stricter health based breeding structure and to refocus the Cavalier Clubs and especially the Kennel Club to healthy Cavs not cloned and unhealthy Cavs .He certainly gave me the impression he was interested and wanted to help and requested that i email some links from our forum to him so he can further understand the problems ,so i tried, and harassed a poor gent for twenty minutes when all he probably wanted to do was get home to London ,but irrespective of political parties (hes labour) he will get my vote. So is it alright to advise the links requested.
 
New website re Cavalier Health.

I have been e mailed today by another cavalier owner who I have known for over 30 years who is also amazed and disgusted at what is happening to our lovely breed and also has contempt for all those mating unhealthy dogs. She tells me that a new website has just appeared about cavalier health and what the programme pedigree dogs exposed did not tell us. It does not say who set the website up no names were mentioned but my dear friend gave me a very big clue, initials V.H.
A Link to this site will appear shorltly.
 
Thanks Pauline

Thanks Pauline for adding the link.

Perahps we all could set up our own web site "HOW NOT TO BUY A CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL FROM BREEDERS WHO DO NOT HEALTH SCAN. What do you think?????
 
Did anyone fill in the survey at the very bottom of the page?

What's the betting any negative result will be ignored.
 
The survey is a bit weird. The questions are very opinion-based, not fact based, and they lead you down a path to the answers they obviously want to hear. Not very professional.:-|
 
The survey seems to follow the general theme of many of the replies on Dogs World-mixed up science, everyone is an authority,pie in the sky. Hope the site crashes.
 
It does not say who set the website up
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Notice that they don't want their names public here, unlike Carol Fowler or Margaret C.

i spotted it was none other than Mr Frank Field our MP
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Well spotted Brian. Personal contact and he remembered your letter.

My brother, who I forwarded the petition to, said he has a recollection of Roy Hattersley, who is apparently a dog lover, talking about inbreeding of pedigree dogs years ago. He couldn't remember that much, but as RH is now in the House of Lords I thought I may as well write a letter to him as well. I will do a bit of internet reseach today and see if anything comes up.
 
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Looks like someone has decided to gather their own information. It's a great pity they don't have the courage of their convictions to say who they are :( I wonder why they chose the number 30% for the SM question??

I had to laugh at this bit :
We are carrying out this survey to learn more about SM in Cavaliers. All we ask is that the information you give is the truth.

Pity they can't do the same :rolleyes:
 
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