Writing in Dog World, Steven Seymour notes that the Kennel Club continues to salute inbred thinking at every level.
I was deeply disappointed to read Kennel Club chairman Prof Steve Dean’s replies to some of Sheila Atter’s questions on her article titled ‘In the hot seat’. It really does seem that we are destined for more of the same.
Most upsetting was the answer to her question on membership of the KC. When asked “Would you like to see KC membership open to all who are actively involved with pedigree dogs,” we have the reply, ”It is not open to everybody as this carries risks: if you do not filter the applicants then any group of people can join and thus effectively change the entire organisation.”
Oh dear maybe our new chairman would like to explain exactly who the right sort of person is. Go back and read the question again and you will see it says “to all who are actively involved”.
There seems no logic or reason other than absolute arrogance to think that anyone who is actively breeding or showing or participating in any other canine activity would not be the right sort of person to join the KC.
Right. There's the problem as I noted in a 2006 blog post which led to my first email and telephone call from Jemima Harrison who later went on to produce the 2008 BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed:
The Kennel Club is a huge money-making bureaucracy dependent upon selling people on the "exclusivity" of a closed registry and a scrap of paper that says a dog is a "pure breed"....
[T]he Kennel Club is not primarily about dogs. Dogs do not care about ribbons, pedigrees, titles, and points. These are human obsessions...
In the end, [the Kennel Club] is a closed registry in every sense of that word. It continues to embrace the failed genetic theories of Victorian England because it is incapable of serious reform within the Club itself
Of course, as deep as the Kennel Club's problems are, and remain, they have been made worse by the complete hash that its public relations department has made of things. As Steven Seymour notes:
2012 will no doubt be another year of challenges for the KC on the health front and with the way dogs are bred and shown. Instead of playing silly games and sulking in the corner over Jemima Harrison, now is the time for the KC to stand up, act its age and accept that anyone, who has an interest in dogs for whatever reason, is entitled to have a voice.
What we have happening now is something that was initiated by our democratically elected government (I know that’s a hard one to swallow). Let me explain it. In a democracy, everyone is entitled to have a say. They may not get the result they want but we all are able to express our point of view.
The KC’s policy of not showing up at such an important meeting as the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) one is the same as what happens when a business has a monopoly or when a head of state is unelected by the people. Slowly over time they think they are invincible and irreplaceable.
The KC has sent that message direct to Prof Crispin and her committee not once but now twice. The problems which pure breed dogs are now facing are not because of Pedigree Dogs Exposed and not because of Jemima Harrison. The more the KC acts like a spoilt teenager, the longer it will take to correct and improve the health of dogs. There are no winners in such a silly game. Maybe it is ego and pride or maybe it is just outright bad advice, but whoever is directing the KC along such a path needs to be sent packing quick smart. This is not the time to point-score or play hard to get.
Perfect, and right as rain at every turn. Read the whole thing!
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