A body at rest tends to stay at rest.This is not just a law of physics -- it is also the law of the barnyard where an old milk cow may need a good whack on the ass in order to clear out of a winter stall.
And so it is with some small glimmer of hope that I read, on the Dog World web site, that Kennel Club Chairman Ronnie Irving says:
“If this programme [Pedigree Dogs Exposed] teaches us anything – I hope it will teach the ‘purists’ in some breeds that they simply must get a move on and realise that in these politically correct and well-informed days some old attitudes are simply no longer sustainable,” he said. “If they won’t sort things out voluntarily the Kennel Club is going, in the end, to have to step in with both feet or others will do it for us.
“For example the Pekingese clubs must start to work together and must stop pretending to deal with the many issues that face their breed. They simply must start to work together to take real action. The Bloodhound people, some of whom thankfully seem to be beginning to see sense – must also get a move on. All Shar-Pei breeders – not just some – have to waken up or their breed will end up ostracised by kennel clubs all over the world. Clubs such as the Rhodesian Ridgeback club which insisted – in what it called its code of ethics – that otherwise healthy puppies had to be culled because they have no ridge, simply have to move out of the 19th century into the 21st."
Right.
So there is (perhaps) the faintest sign of movement.
Ronnie Irving, to his credit, is naming breeds.
More importantly he concedes that the Kennel Club has the power to change the way it does business.
So lets get on with it!
After all, the problem is not "a breed club" or two stuck in the 19th Century and refusing to move into the 21st, is it?
The problem is that the entire Kennel Club is like a bug stuck in amber -- the desiccated shell of a bygone era when people like Francis Galton preached a new theory of eugenics in which Darwin's theories of natural selection could be put into hyperdrive by the hand of man.
If natural selection by the hand of God led to slow and ponderous perfection, Kennel Club theorists speculated, surely unnatural selection by the hand of man could speed things up?
Surely a closed registry system coupled to a conformation standard and a system of competitive shows would put things into hyperdrive? Surely the result would be "improvement without end, amen"?
It was not an intentionally evil idea; it was simply a misinformed one.
It was bad science from the get-go; a theory that simply did not work out.
Inbreeding animals for many generations within a narrow closed registry system did not produce better types; it produced defective, diseased and deformed dogs with astronomical rates of cancer, shattered hips and knees, wrecked eyes, astounding rates of deafness, and sobering rates of congenital heart defect.
The strange personalities and competitive nature of the show ring did not produce better working dogs; it produced extreme variations in coat structure, hip structure, ear structure, head structure, and body type.
The end result was breed after breed that that could barely walk, could barely breathe, and which broke down in pain and misery.
The Kennel Club knows that now.
And The Kennels Club's leadership knows what it has to do to set things right:
- Mandate a maximum coefficient of inbreeding of 6.25 percent (first cousins) over a four generation pedigree;
- Register dogs as adults with veterinary health checks, rather than as newborn litters entirely unexamined;
- Allow cross breeding so long as the resulting adult dog looks like the breed;
- Clarify or rewrite existing breed standards to eliminate health-impacting deformities such as dwarfism, extremely small body size, extremely flat faces, extremely large heads, extremely wrinkled skin, and coat patterns and eye colors that positively select for deafness.
The Kennel Club knows what needs to be done.
So let's get on with it!
That said, let me acknowledge that the Kennel Club has taken a hard shot to its soft bits.
No doubt that hard shot has not felt good.
But it was not like talking to the cow was doing much good, was it?
No, the stupid and stunned old animal was doing nothing but laying there and chewing its cud when you talked to it.
If you want that cow to move, you need to move the feed bucket and jolt it in the ass.
The good news is that both tasks can be accomplished by simply telling the truth about the miserable health, rising veterinary expense, and poor working abilities of pedigree dogs.
But don't take my word for it -- look at that old cow Ronnie Irving getting to his feet!
Yes, he is still a bit slacked jawed and not too well toned.
Yes, he has not yet moved out of the stall, and he is bellowing like a wounded animal.
But damn it, the old cow is on his feet! Let's cheer for that, eh?
Now let's open the stall door, give him another big jolt in the ass, and put a carrot or two just out of his reach.
We may yet get this old cow into the bright light of a new day!
And if we can get this old cow moving, we may yet save its life.
It would be a shame to send this cow off the farm in the back of a knacker's truck. That is not the goal.
That said, as every farmer will tell you, there comes a time for all things, and there is always a bullet in the chamber.
The cow decides when the trigger gets pulled.
One thing is for certain; resting in the stall and chewing its cud is no longer a Kennel Club option. Even Ronnie Irving knows that!
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