The Kennel Club's Empty Chair

Over in the U.K. the Kennel Club continues to engage in one public relations blunder after another. Let's go straight to the Dog World "breaking news" story in order to save me a little typing:

THE KENNEL Club refused to turn up for an important House of Lords meeting about dog breeding on Tuesday evening after it heard that Passionate Productions would be filming it for the new Pedigree Dogs Exposed programme due to be broadcast early next year.

The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) had invited along the main players to hear what progress had been made in the three years since the first programme was aired and following the various reports into dog breeding.

The KC should have joined a panel comprising Dog Advisory Council (DAC) chairman Prof Sheila Crispin, former British Veterinary Association president Harvey Locke, DAC member and former Dogs Trust veterinary director Chris Laurence, and the RSPCA’s head of companion animals James Yeates for a thorough airing of the current state of play.

But at the start of the meeting APGAW chairman Neil Parish announced that the KC had declined his invitation, and read out a statement from the club instead.

So why the empty chair?

It seems the Kennel Club is TERRIFIED of appearing on camera talking about pedigree dogs, even when no dogs are in the room and even in a formal meeting in which nothing is going to occur but stale talk about what has occurred in the last three years... and what has not.

The claim, of course, is that Passionate Productions (Jemima Harrison and her camera man Jon Lane) will somehow be able to film... WHAT exactly?

What is the Kennel Club terrified of? What film horror is going to come from a bunch of stiff middle-aged white people reading off their talking points at a carefully controlled meeting of dog people in a lecture hall?

What horror is going on at a Kennel Club dog show that cannot be filmed?

Apparently quite a lot!

The Kennel Club's position seems to be "Who are you go to believe, your lying eyes, or our press release?"

The good news is that time for empty chairs and empty heads seems to have come to an end.

Dog World reports that:

[T]here was a consensus view that although a lot of progress had been made, including much work by the KC, there should be an independent and expert review of the breed Standards. Mr Locke [former British Veterinary Association president] said the KC should be more aggressive and radical with them.

Trust veterinary director Chris Laurence noted:

The person who sets the Standards has to realise that the way a dog looks will affect the whole of its life. Some dogs can’t breathe and walk freely because of the way they look. They have to realise that and modify the Standards accordingly.

Well, yes, that would be an obvious start. I suppose the Kennel Club was TERRIFIED they might actually be seen as having heard all of that!
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