The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

I just noticed that Crufts disqualified the winning Bulldog and Peke (who won Westminster) and did not let the compete in the Group competitions. I'm sure this is old news to some of you. I think it's a good 1st step in discouraging breeding for extremes that hurt the health of the dogs. However, seems like the judges might need some retraining since both these dogs won their breed.

DISQUALIFIED: BULLDOG AND PEKINGNESE FAIL CRUFTS VET CHECKS

No dog representing the Pekingese and Bulldog were allowed to compete in Thursday evening’s Best in Group competitions at Crufts after they failed the new veterinary checks that have been introduced to the show.

The Best of Breed award was not given to Pekingese, Palacegarden Bianca, or Bulldog, Mellowmood One In A Million, following their veterinary checks, which were carried out by an independent veterinary surgeon. This means that the dogs will not be allowed to continue into the Toy or Utility Best in Group competitions respectively.

The Kennel Club has introduced veterinary checks for the Best of Breed winners at all Kennel Club licensed General and Group Championship Dog Shows from Crufts 2012 onwards, in 15 designated high profile breeds. This measure was introduced to ensure that Best of Breed awards are not given to any dogs that show visible signs of problems due to conditions that affect their health or welfare.

The fifteen high profile breeds are as follows: Basset Hound, Bloodhound, Bulldog, Chow Chow, Clumber Spaniel, Dogue De Bordeaux, German Shepherd Dog, Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff, Pekingese, Shar Pei, St Bernard, French Bulldog, Pug and Chinese Crested.

Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary, said: “We are determined to ensure that the show ring is a positive force for change and that we help to move breeds forward by only rewarding the healthiest examples of a breed.” “The veterinary checks were introduced to ensure that dogs with exaggerated features do not win prizes. The independent veterinary surgeon decided that the Pekingese and Bulldog should not pass their checks and therefore they did not receive their Best of Breed awards and will not be representing their breeds in the remainder of the competition.”

That's a bit of a shock. I wonder what the vet felt was exaggerated features in these breeds? How could they get so far in the show world and get the boot at Crufts?

See my recent post and related BBC documentary clips from Pedigree Dogs Exposed in link below. The clips should give you some insight into the reasoning behind these new vet checks for curbing extreme traits breeding. For example, with bulldogs, the latest BBC documentary (not yet posted on YouTube) highlighted a poor bulldog whose face was bred so flat that it barely had any room for air to travel through it's nearly nonexistent snout to breathe properly..the dog's airways had to be surgicially corrected to ease it's breathing. I'm not sure that's why the Crufts dogs may have been disqualfiied, but that may the kind of screening/thinking that may be increasing now at Crufts, to encourage breeding of healthier dogs fit for purpose rather than designed for appearance to detriment of canine health.

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7308

As one might expect, this is a hot topic. Information from the show community is that 6 of the 15 targeted breeds were disqualified by the show's vet. Owners took their dogs to other vets, specialists in the areas of concern and the dogs passed. The show vet determination of eye problems is attributed by some to the show site's conditions: dusty and dry. Not to an inherited problem.

One article on topic -- there are many others http://www.dogworld.co.uk/product.php/67210

Lawsuits are pending by the owners. Animal rights are upset because the winners of all 15 targeted groups were not disqualified. Look for more breeds to be targeted next year.

Colleen Keough

There's a lot of discussion going on over here, that's for sure! Problem is, although some of these breeds are exaggerated, the judges had mostly tried to put up less exaggerated examples. You can see clips of the winning bulldog on Youtube for example, and relatively speaking she looks able to breathe, sound in movement, etc. So it's a bit hard when the breeders and judges had tried to find healthier specimens. There's also a huge outcry going on because some of the dogs, like the Clumber, have clear eye certificates from opthamologists and are threatening to sue because the decision of a general vet, who isn't even a dog specialist, was thought more important. And the KC said that the judges would just do a short hands on exam without special equipment that a judge would not have, and this didn't happen, they used instruments to look in the eye. Apparently one of the dogs was failed because this instrument showed up some old eye injury which was not causing any problems and was nothing to do with breed exaggeration. It's a mess, that's for sure! I think they should have tried it out at a general champ show before doing it at Crufts!

Lucy you make important observations and I agree with you.
From a perspective of a dog buyer who expects a healthy and good behaving dog, dog shows should serve a purpose of evaluating breeding stock, it shouldn't be a beauty peagant. So if it has become a beauty peagant is should be made clear and it shouldn't be confused with anything else by the breeders or by the show community. As it is right now, it seems that a perfect dog will not pass unless it is over-groomed and over-handled. By that I want to point out trickery, which means knowing what to do and how to do it to give an impression that you have a perfect dog, whether or not it is actually perfect. For example, over scissoring of working breeds, or sheepdogs doesn't make sense. These dogs are supposed to be showned for their rugged nature, ability to withstand severe climates, good coats that don't require much work, and they shouldn't be shown after a time-consuming haircut. So lets make the purpose of a dog show clear, and let's not give so much credit to Champions since their ribbon represents beauty not hardiness, health, etc. I don't know why it is so difficult and expensive to show a dog in some places, whereas in other places average owners of pure-bred dogs usually show, handle and groom by themselves and even win at international competitions.
In the US, dog showing is a sport, with polics, and a business aspect. All the narrowing of the lines by breeding champions only, not having regard for average lines (in terms of looks, but with emphasis on health, with exceptionally low inbreeding ratio) does disservice to any breed. I have began to think that breeder requirements of spaying and neuting are not really about protecting breeds, but it's more about politics and profits. I'm not protecting puppy mills, by any means, but maybe the dogs they produced would be better off if the owners of puppy mills could actually get access to healthy dogs. Same goes for other types of breeders. There are so many people that could be more interested in showing and breeding, but they are not encouraged to show pure bred dogs because of spay and neuter requirements and for the same reason they are not allowed to breed. I understand why, but at the same time this narrows the lines and produces breeds with exadurated features and many problems. It will take decades to undue the bad practices of many breeders, just because they didn't show interest or they didn't support others in keeping average, but otherwise very healthy lines.