Crufts 2016: KC admits GSD shouldn't have won... But...

Faced with widespread concern about the German Shepherd Best of Breed at this year's Crufts, the Kennel Club did the right thing: it went on TV on Sunday night and admitted the dog shouldn't have won.

But don't be fooled by the suggestion in this clip that this win was a one-off aberration by a rogue judge. Nope, this dog has actually won dozens of times under many different judges - all under Kennel Club rules.  And no one has batted an eyelid.

Here are a couple of judges' critiques of the dog - the second one, incidentally, by the daughter of the judge that awarded the dog Best of Breed at Crufts on Saturday.

1st - CRUAGHAIRE CATORIA (MR & MRS S CUTHBERT)This bitch is so correct throughout, lovely feminine head & good expression, neck well set on to body. Very good front angulation, lovely topline & good croup, very balanced hind angles. Correct height to length ratio, super underline. In movement she is outstanding so clean coming & going & her profile movement was really excellent.. Very pleased to award her the CC & BOB. Later I was informed that I gave her 1st award as MPB, which pleased me & thinking back I recalled a very moulded shapely little pup of quality and a real baby but what a bitch she has grown in to now!
Mr W Armstrong ( Corn Stalk ) Working & Pastoral Breeds of Scotland 7th November 2015

1st Cuthbert CRUAGHAIRE CATORIASire: Ch. Conbhairea Waro Dam: Korzwin Zynti3 years black and gold female of ideal middle size and strength, excellent general proportions, feminine expressive female with well shaped head dark eye and excellent ear carriage, normal wither into straight strong firm back, well laid croup which could be a touch longer, very good forehand with very good underline, excellent hindquarters with strong broad thighs, in top show condition, this female shows a willingness to perform in all phases, demonstrating excellent reach and drive, this was a super class of females, in my opinion this is a female who deserves the highest of accolades, a pleasure to judge. BEST BITCH AND BOB.
Ms Samantha Hall ( Gayvilles) North Eastern Open Show October 2015

The problem here is not this one dog. There are hundreds more just like her being shown in the UK (and in many other countries) because no one has called "Stop!" to the train-wreck that is today's show German Shepherd.

The problem is the mass delusion among show German Shepherd breeders that what they've done to the breed is an improvement.

The main reason for the hand-wringing on TV last night is because the awful truth was suddenly evident to the public, mostly via this blog, and because the Kennel Club's social media was over-run by so many shocked people.

The Kennel Club had no choice last night. It would have been PR suicide to try to defend the dog.

Of course, some people have praised the KC for its willingness to admit there was a problem with the dog,  but it is important to know that the Kennel Club also said it would act after Pedigree Dogs Exposed in 2008 highlighted the problems in German Shepherds - and again in 2010 after there was criticism of another top-winning GSD at Crufts.

Very little has changed.

Sure,  the problem is complex. There are thousands of German Shepherd breeders out there who will look you in the eye and tell you there's nothing wrong with their dogs.

But we've got to try to tackle this.

Please... can we use this opportunity do something for this breed?

See also:

REVEALED: The Crufts GSD footage they didn't want you to see.

GSDs at Crufts: the continuing travesty

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Recalling Off Prey, Seabirds!

Believe it or not, while we were at the beach, the dogs could not have cared less about the seabirds. They trotted around and for the most part ignored them! At one point Phoenix did decide they might be fun to chase but I was able to immediately call her back. Thanks to Premack!




Phoenix half hearted attempt at chasing the birds was a great opportunity for me to practice calling her off

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REVEALED: the Crufts GSD footage they didn't want you to see

This is the footage of the German Shepherd that was edited out of last night's  TV broadcast on Channel 4.

As I reported in this post last night, GSD Cruaghaire Catoria was the only dog in the Pastoral Group that wasn't seen moving  - with the reasons why perhaps being obvious.

Of course a dog this stressed is not going to show at their best, but "Tori", as she is known, is just dreadful and it is so sad to see her - especially given some small improvements seen in the UK show-ring in the past few years. (Top winning Elmo von Hühnegrab, while not to my taste, was a small step in the right direction in terms of structure/stability compared to the dogs we filmed in 2007/8 for Pedigree Dogs Exposed.)

As I mentioned last night, the  KC's Facebook page has been inundated with posts/comments from people expressing their dismay that such a dog could have won Best of Breed.

The footage above is clipped from the Day 3 Live Stream that the KC uploaded on to their dedicated Crufts YouTube channel - so it is available online, albeit buried in a very long video.

But, at the time of writing, the KC has not made available its extended video of the Pastoral Group judging which is likely to contain even more damning footage of the dog - despite the judging of all the other Groups being available.

Or rather the KC did make the video available. But it has now hidden it.

If you click on the link, here's what you get. 

Probably not the best PR move. 

You can let the Kennel Club know what you think about the BOB GSD by leaving a comment on the Crufts Facebook page - here.

Every voice counts.

See also: 

GSDs: the continuing travesty

KC admits GSD shouldn't have won.But...

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Silhouette Sunday!

Zoe having a fantastic time running on the beach!

So this isn't my best attempt at doing a silhouette. The lighting and the wind made photography very difficult on the day we were at the beach. I think it's okay but I probably could of done better!

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

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GSDs at Crufts 2016: the continuing travesty

The above clip was all Channel 4 showed of the GSD in the Group judging at Crufts on television tonight. It was the only dog in the Group that wasn't shown moving.

The only explanation, surely, is that the Kennel Club - which claims no editorial control  over the TV footage - vetoed it being shown, embarrassed at the state of the dog.

The bitch, Cruaghaire Catoria, really was a shocker, and very stressed by the occasion. She was nervy in the breed ring earlier in the day, too.

But of course it wasn't just her temperament.

Below is footage of her winning Best of Breed at Crufts today - alongside the just-as-awful Best Dog,  Ch Yupp Vom Hammelsbacher Hof.

The Crufts Facebook page is being bombarded with complaints.

It is just heart-breaking. 

How much longer can we stand by and not insist that something is done about the state of this breed?

See also: 

REVEALED: the Crufts GSD footage they didn't want you to see

KC admits GSD shouldn't have won.But...

Read More

Good Gordon! Keeping it in the family

Ch Lourdace Fulcrum - winner of the Gundog Group, Crufts 2016

My inbox is full of emails this morning from show peeps who wouldn't normally say my name without spitting venom.

The reason?

The Gordon Setter that won the Gundog group at Crufts last night was bred and is co-owned by the judge's sister.

But really... so what?

Amusingly, there was an item on the TV coverage last night that present the show world as a lovely little community where everyone looks out for each other.

The reality is that it's a nest of vipers and people can't wait to stick the boot in.

But I fail to see the great scandal here. The showing bug often runs in families and it's a small world. Inevitably, loads of people are related to each other or in relationships with each other.

Indeed, you've got to ask what judge Di Arrowsmith was supposed to do - ignore the dog because of the relationship? That would surely be unfair.

James, as Ch Lourdace Fulcrum is known, won Best of Breed under a different, independent judge. He is clearly a lovely-looking dog and my personal tip for Best in Show because he ticks a lot of boxes - beautiful, a vulnerable breed and his handler co-owner came over well on TV last night.

This might just be my wishing thinking, though - or perhaps the fear that I will self-combust if that disgraceful ball of fluff that won the Toy Group waddles off with the top prize.

Of more concern to me is that Ch Lourdace Fulcrum has a hip score of 27. He is the son of a sire with a hip score of 17 and his dam's score was 27; hardly surprising his hips aren't great.

A score of 27 is almost triple the breed average (the 5y rolling median is currently 10).  James has also already sired three litters, two of them to bitches with hip scores also above the breed median (18 and 11).

The BVA advice is to not breed dogs with hip scores above the breed median.

I hope James is used judiciously at stud from here on in.  I've met a lot of older Gordons who look terrible on the move - clearly stiff and sore. It is, I'm afraid,  one of the consequences of a breed that is no longer kept fit and functional by the work it was originally developed to do. (Very few Gordons in the UK are working gundogs).

I have suggested, several times, that dogs should come to the ring with some existing points in the bag - e.g. for good hip scores/health tests/working qualifications/lower than breed-average inbreeding etc. I can't see that it would be anything other than a win-win situation - for the dogs and for Kennel Club PR.

But no. Crufts and other dog shows remain primarily about outside appearance and not inner health.

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Guess what I saw at Crufts?!

Well, I wish. What the T-shirt actually said was this.

Most show Frenchies have terribly stenosed nostrils. It is a potentially life-threatening fault and yet it's non-standard colours that get the French Bulldog show peeps hyperventilating. They are obsessed with the increasing popularity of French Bulldogs that are the 'wrong' colour - and loathe that non-show breeders take advantage of the recessive colours that lurk in the breed. 

Now there is certainly reason to worry about merle - it's a gene in a double-dose that can certainly cause defects and it was almost certainly introduced into Frenchies from another breed. But chocolate, blue and black and tan? These are just cosmetic issues. The genes are there recessively in the breed. 

(Blue in some breeds can by associated with a condition called colour dilution alopecia, but there's no evidence of it in blue Frenchies.)

Both the UK and FCI standards call for open nostrils - and in fact "totally closed nostrils" is a disqualifying fault in the FCI standard.  And yet this is routinely ignored. This dog, shown at Crufts on Thursday, is absolutely typical of what you see in the ring. No wonder that, according to recent research, 50 per cent of Frenchies have problems breathing.

Yep. You guys do indeed need to read the breed standard.

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Beach Day! Shipwreck of The Peter Iredale!

The Girls and Me! Totally Crazy Windblown Look!


The beach is one of our all time most favorite places to go. It's one of the first trips we ever took Zoe on when we got her and it was the first trip we took Phoenix on, too! We have a lot of really awesome memories and it's a place that brings me a feeling of peace. I love going to the coast!

I've been dying to get to the beach for a long

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EXCLUSIVE: Crufts winner Bert Easdon breeds crossbreeds

Isn't it just great when you discover that a top show breeder is willing to embrace genetic diversity?

There was I thinking that the breeder of the winner of the Crufts 2016 Toy Group would be a dyed-in-the-wool purist. But no! Here are just some of the ads placed by Peke breeder Bert Easdon and his partner Philip Martin, of the famous Yakee kennel, on the internet site Pets4Homes in the past two years.

Of course, they breed purebred dogs too. Lots of 'em!

Given that their 70-acre country estate in Dumfriesshire, which they bought for £975,000 in 2002, is rather remote, they even kindly offer to save you the journey to collect your puppy.

How do I know it's them?  Well, helpfully, there's this...Same basket... same blanket.. same stuffed toys. Plus although the contact details have been removed from these ads because the pups have been sold, the name listed when the ads are live is Philip Martin, Bert's partner.

Click to enlarge

Now I'm genuinely pro-crossbreeding when it's done well. I have no inherent objection to people making money out of dogs as long as their dogs are carefully bred and well-raised/kept. Maybe, although they don't mention it, all their stock is fully health-tested. Maybe pimping your puppies in cutesy-pie wicker baskets surrounded by soft toys is just fair-enough marketing these days. And while I am not a fan of breeding kennels, maybe these ones are exemplary and all those dogs get to run about their 70 acres every day.

I hope so.

Last night, the TV coverage of Crufts on More4 had a repellent piece of pro-purebred propaganda which said it was a myth that crossbreeds were healthier and implied there was no reputable crossbreeding - singling out the Cavachon as one designer cross being flogged on the internet by people with no morals for loadsamoney. The item also blamed the rise in the popularity of the designer dog for a 70 per cent increase in imported puppy-farmed pups from eastern Europe. (The reality is that many if not most of those imports are purebred pups - French Bulldogs, Pugs etc)

Here's (some of) the offending footage (NB: may not be available in every country).

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Crufts 2016: watery-eyed, exercise-intolerant maggot wins the Toy group

Tonight, the Toy Group at Crufts 2016 was won by a Pekingese, Ch Yakee Ooh Ah Cantona.  I confess I yelled "Nooooo!" so loudly that all my dogs ran out of the room.

But at least they could.  Poor Eric had to be carried in the ring tonight by his rather creepy joint-owner Bert Easdon; and when the poor little thing was made to waddle for the judge, out popped a U-shaped tongue (seriously, can any Peke move at all without panting?) and the dog did his best to take a short-cut.

Afterwards, a tired Eric sat watery-eyed on the sofa with Easdon, who explained that his top show-dogs didn't actually live in the house because if they were allowed to mix when in full show-coat, they would chew each other's ears.

Thus denied even this one act of revenge on the humans who have bred them, Eric and his fellow hostages are doomed to spend their show careers crated or kennelled on their own. I bet they don't get out much, either.

The judge was awful too, making a point of dipping her pasty face into every dog's face, even pursing her lips to kiss one or two of them.  She may love her dogs, but she should know better than to do this with strange dogs - even the supposedly fondle-friendly runway models at Cruft's. The Italian Greyhound , the Crestie and the Pug recoiled visibly.

For those that don't know, Eric is the grandson of Yakee A Dangerous Liaison (aka Danny the Peke) who won Crufts in 2003,  After Danny's win, a rumour spread that Danny had had "a facelift". Owner Easdon denied it, saying that the dog had had an exploratory operation for tonsillitis.

In fact, as we revealed in Pedigree Dogs Exposed, Danny had had surgery to treat BOAS (brachycephalic obstructed airway syndrome) before his big win. I've never published this before, but now seems as good a time as any to show you this statement from Glasgow Vet School.

Despite this, the Kennel Club allowed Danny's win to stand. 

Danny sired over 49 puppies from 19 litters. His grandson Eric has already sired 59 puppies from 22 litters. 

There are no necessary health tests for Pekingese - and none listed for either dog on the KC's database.

Eric celebrated his win by chewing off what remained of his legs

Related post: Crufts winner Bert Easden embraces genetic diversity

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