Pedigree Pulls Out of Crufts After 44 Years

Samoyeds at Crufts


The Telegraph (UK) reports:

The future of Crufts is in doubt after the show's sponsor, Pedigree, pulled its sponsorship after 44 years.

The move could spell disaster for the show, which has been embroiled in controversy since a BBC documentary claimed that Crufts supports unhealthy breeding practices which lead to disease and deformities

Last month, the RSPCA severed its ties with the event, claiming that Crufts' emphasis on pure breeds was "morally unjustifiable". The BBC may not cover next year's show.

The Pedigree deal was worth £1,500,000 per year. A brief statement from the brand's parent company, Mars, said: "After careful consideration, Pedigree has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Crufts. The Pedigree brand has evolved and we are prioritising initiatives that support the broadest possible community of dog owners such as our successful programme to help homeless dogs - The Pedigree Adoption Drive - and our online service for breeders. We look forward to working with The Kennel Club on other projects in the future."

Pedigree's one-time slogan was "top breeders recommend it", but the BBC documentary, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, highlighted the life-threatening genetic conditions in many of Britain's five million pedigree dogs including popular breeds as the bassett hound, German shepherd, bulldog and pug.

All I can say for Forest Mars and family (who happen to live up the road in Arlington, Virginia, and who own Mars which owns Pedigree) is God bless, and "Thank You."

Taking a pass on Crufts is not only good business sense, but it puts Pedigree in the forefront of the New History of Dogs which is being written right now.

Let the record show that Pedigree dog food put dogs first when the facts where brought to them.

Let the history show that instead of stuffing there hands in there pockets, this venerable dog food company said "Enough is enough; let's change the way things are done."

Instead of saluting only the narrow, cramped and inbred world of show dogs, Pedigree has decided to market to the larger world of dogs which includes pets, muts, working dogs, and yes homeless dogs too. Is there a better dog food ad in the world than this one? I think not!

The BBC is another company that will make it into the history books.

They have already done a lot by commissioning Pedigree Dogs Exposed (click here for the links to the documentary loaded up to Youtube), but they can still do more, by pulling out of Crufts alltogether (the best idea) or requiring an alternative narrative to announce the show if it must go on due to contractual considerations.

The idea here is simple: Instead of the tired, and almost entirely fictional, prattle that is repeated ad nauseum about the dogs, let's hear the truth for every breed. Let's hear about the the incredible inbreeding coefficients, the cancer rates, the breathing and whelping problems, the skin conditions, the liver diseases, and the epilepsy.

Let's also note that none of the working breeds actually work.

The lady parading a Finish Spitz around on a string lead not only cherishes a breed with frightening levels of epilepsy, but she also does not hunt birds with that dog, nor does she even own a shotgun!

The fox terrier may have been a working terrier 150 years ago, but it has not been since the day the Kennel Club got hold of it in 1873. The modern dog has a chest as deep as the keel of a war ship. The only time a show ring fox terrier will go to ground will be its last day on earth when a headstone is slipped over the top.

The true story of what has happened to dogs, thanks to shows like Crufts, is so much more interesting than what we have been told!

If "the show must go on" due to the two-year contract the BBC has already signed, let it at least go on as a teaching tool.

If the BBC thinks it must sponsor this travesty for at least once more year, let them at least "teach the controvery" and not in some sideshow tent where it will not be heard, but on air as part of the main television broadcast event!

• Related Links
  ** BBC: Pedigree Dogs Exposed
  ** Making and Breaking Dogs in the Show Ring
  ** Inbred Thinking
  ** The Kennel Club: When Truth is Incovenient, Lie
  ** BBC Considers Cutting Crufts Coverage
  ** Kennel Club Inbreeding: Data Revealed
  ** The AKC, Facing Extinction, Banks on Misery Pups
  ** The Kennel Club's Ham-Fisted Power Grab

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