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Is Crufts going to the dogs?
FOR competitive dog breeders, the peak of their career is to lead a pet onto the show ring at Crufts.
However, this year's contest is in danger of being overshadowed by debates about how, and why, dogs are bred to look as they do.
Last year's withdrawal from the show by the RSPCA on the grounds that too much inbreeding was cruel for the dogs, has been followed by the BBC pulling its coverage for this year's event.
TV bosses made their decision after the furore that followed a documentary it showed last year called Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which revealed some breeds of dogs were prone to abnormalities because they were being bred from an ever smaller pool of genes.
It wanted the Kennel Club, which oversees Crufts, to ban certain breeds, but when it refused, the BBC went walkies.
Perhaps the most famous example of 'over-breeding' is that of bulldogs, whose large jowls and wrinkled skin have been selectively bred into them over generations.
Though quintessentially British, these features often leave the dogs unable to eat or breathe properly.
So is this selective breeding acceptable?
Kirsty Young, who owns Pawfect Style Dog Grooming Salon, on Wharton Street, South Shields, is someone who knows all too well about the pressures involved in competing in dog shows at the highest levels.
A competitive handler since the age of six, the 23-year-old has taken part in dozens of tournaments, culminating in her winning the best in show for the junior class at Crufts in 2000, and an appearance on kids' TV show Blue Peter.
She said: "I've been involved with showing dogs all my life. My mam bought a miniature poodle about 18 years ago and decided she wanted to show her and learnt how to groom. She started to show dogs and did quite well.
"On one particular show in Peterlee, she talked me into taking the dog in the show ring and I ended up winning four classes on the day.
"I'd never done it before, never handled a dog in my life. Eighteen years down the line, here I am."
Kirsty, who is taking five dogs to this year's event, is saddened the BBC has decided not to cover the show, but thinks it will survive, be it with much stricter guidelines from the Kennel Club.
She said: "Crufts is the best dog show in the world. Everything we all do in the dog world all comes down to Crufts.
"We prepare all year, we go to every show, campaign all the dogs. That's the mad world of showing dogs."
In a bid to quieten its detractors, the Kennel Club has this year introduced standards for 209 types of dog to stop inbreeding, however, this is seen as too little, to late, by many animal lovers.
Kirsty said: "Over the years the Kennel Club has listened to what people wanted rather than what's good for the dog."
Though the RSPCA chief veterinary adviser in Mark Evans, recently said the ban on breeding was "brilliant news", he felt the new rules didn't go far enough.
Kirsty similarly believes more needs to be done to stop such practices, and thinks pedigree dogs should be able to function as working dogs, as they were originally intended.She said: "I've got two standard poodles, and a Tibetan terrier. Poodles are gun dogs and work – they do retrieving.
"The standard should be what the dogs were like 100 years ago. It should be to do with how the dog can work.
"If you take a Bernese mountain dog, it might look fabulous and move like a dream, but it would be too small.
"It's supposed to pull a cart. If it can't do that, then it's not standard.
However, she is quick to point out that irresponsible breeders are the exception, rather than the norm.
"There are good breeders who are doing it to breeding standard, but they're getting a backlash," she said.
"They're not doing anything wrong, but because the emphasis is more on what people are doing wrong, people don't want to buy that particular breed."
For Kirsty, a dog should look good, but not at the cost of its health.
She said: "People can't look past a good dog. If you know what you're looking for, you'll know you've got a good dog.
"It should be healthy. A dog that looks good in a photograph, when you put your hands on it could be too skinny.
"It's unhealthy if it's not muscular and hasn't got the capacity to breed, like bulldogs."
Clearly obsessed by all things canine, Kirsty is enjoying life as her own boss since she was made redundant from Northern Rock last year, setting up her grooming salon in November.
"It's been going really well," she said.
Kirsty is equally optimistic about her chances at this year's Crufts, taking place at the NEC, in Birmingham, from March 5 to 8.
"At the moment with the standard (larger) poodles, we're winning every show.
"My standard poodle, Punch, has a good chance in the limit dog class, but KT, my Tibetan terrier has more of chance in the limit bitch class."
Let's hope it's a good year for her.
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Weather for South Shields
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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