Hill's Dog Food Pulls Out of Crufts

It's hard to keep up, but it seems that along with Pedigree Dog Food, the RSPCA, Dogs Trust, and the PDSA (the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals, Britain's leading veterinary charity), that Hills Dog Food has decided to pull out of Crufts along with the National Dog Wardens Association.

The British Veterinary Association, of course, has called for an independent review of the breeding of dogs, and the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) is forming a working group on the welfare of pedigree dogs as well.

Things are not looking up for the Kennel Club, but word has not yet been forthcoming as to whether the BBC will honor its contract to film Crufts in March, or whether it will pay a fine and simply walk away.

With Pedigree Dogs Exposed getting powerful reviews in Canada, and the show nominated for top documentary awards, it's hard to imagine that the BBC will simply proceed ahead.

Which is not to say that they will necessarily cut and run entirely.

My bet is that they will offer to film Crufts in 2009, but with a very different voice over.

Gone will be the canned puffery, the fake canine histories, and the silly commentary by prattling ninnies who never seem think once about mentioning the declining health of dogs.

Done properly, and with a proper announcer who has done his job and gotten up to speed on all the breeds, a Crufts show could go a long way to changing canine culture around the world by turning the spotlight on the deformed, defective and diseased dogs that are now so common in the show ring.

Not all the breeds are in serious trouble, to be sure, but so many are.

But will the Kennel Club allow a true accounting of what has happened to the dogs?

And will the BBC be flim-flammed and bamboozled into thinking genuine change is afoot, when in fact it may be nothing more than hollow language and pantomime?

Time will tell.

Stay tuned!


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