Kennel Club

Real reform required right away by the Kennel Club by Steven Seymour
03 Sep 2009 08:01


Just in case those at the Kennel Club have forgotten, let me remind them of a few valid points.
Who is it who has total control and operates a monopoly over the registration of pure bred dogs in the UK?
Who, by its own admission – even though it was a faint and weak admission – knew there were many health issues, yet sat back and chose to ignore them until they were revealed to the nation by Pedigree Dogs Exposed?
Who, to date, has not even implemented the most simple of reforms such as proper identification through microchips or tattoos, let alone any step towards proper health checks?

Poor management
Who has relied on those lovely words ‘self regulation’ and that other cliché ‘working quietly behind the scenes’, both of which mean ‘do nothing’? Then, when pushed into a corner, who doesn’t admit to its problem, but rather strikes out like an angry child?
This tactic has been a signature of the KC over the past few years. Nobody knows anything about an issue and then, suddenly, bang – they hit out like a school bully. The latest situation with the GSD people is no different.
Let me remind you that everything within that situation is a result of poor management by the KC. It has allowed the wholesale registration of puppies without any health testing or identification, despite the breed’s requests for hip scoring and the like on numerous occasions.
It has approved each and every judge who has ever awarded a CC in this country and it is at KC licenced shows where double handling has gone on unchecked.
In my eyes, the GSD folk have every right to be angry and feel victimised. Will the Bull Terrier breed be next on the KC’s hit list because some judges choose not to penalise bad mouths and the use of chalk is unchecked?
You cannot have complete control over something and yet not be responsible for its mistakes. The KC registers the puppies, it approves and controls the judges and the shows. Rather than accepting these are its problems, as much as the breeds’, it penalises them and lays the blame at their feet without any acknowledgment of its own part in this mistake.
It claims to have had numerous negotiations with the breed council, but most of us know just how open and equal such a meeting would have been, like sitting across a big table like a naughty school child meeting the headmaster.
Everybody makes mistakes and most are easily fixed, but the first step is to accept responsibility for the mistake.
All the problems and mistakes we are involved in now are partly as a result of the KC being too busy taking the money and trying to exclude people instead of looking to involve the dog world as a whole.
It is as if the KC has been absent from its post for quite some time and, as a result, the world has changed and people have new priorities and expectations. The KC has not met these changes with an open eye.
Even worse, when it has entered into consultation it has done so as the master and not on an equal footing. It has shot the messenger more than once and people now say, “What’s the point?”

Blame game
A little humility and some acknowledgement of its errors would go a long way. It is not the ordinary dog breeder or exhibitor, nor is it the judge or the show society, that have allowed this mess to evolve.
The KC is the top of the tree here and, as such, needs to come out and admit its part. It has denied both electoral and structural reform despite countless requests over many years.
Not once during the past few years have we heard from the KC the slightest admission of being responsible for anything. Each and every issue has been the result of the breed and the clubs rather than a result of its own actions.
Just imagine trying to operate a business and when anything went wrong you blamed the customer, it would not take long until you were out of business; that is unless you had a complete monopoly. Governments today do everything in their power to stop such practices and you can clearly see why.
When the findings are published for the upcoming enquiry into the situation, we all may be in for a big shock. As a result, the decent and serious breeder may have to suffer a new era of Government regulations, rules, fees and mindless officialdom to operate in their chosen hobby.
There is not even a faint glimmer of transparency coming from Clarges Street. The average dog person, as always, just sits there in the dark with no idea – and, worse still, no way of expressing any viewpoint.
Those who write in the press, such as me or those who dare to question by any other way, are often rightly or wrongly concerned that it may well affect their future.
Nobody dares to speak up. Fear of reprisal is an evil thing, it keeps ordinary people in their place but has it done the dog world any good?
The only right and proper thing for the KC to do is to reform itself.