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Dog News Features
Prosposed Dog Legislation - a cause of concern to dog owners
by
News Feature Writer, Polly King
Posted: January 25th 2012
2012 blew in with gales and a whole raft of new proposed legislation of concern for all dog owners to be aware of.
A topic which sent alarms bells ringing over the new year and is still being busily debated is the report of the meeting held at the end of 2011 by the Dog Advisory Council. One section in particular has concerned breeders Lynda Heron and Anne Taylor, who feel that breeders and dog owners should be considered stakeholders in this as they are the ones who will be having to implement any changes required if the Advisory Council findings are adopted as minimum standards as part of the Animal Welfare Act. They have set up a web site which they are hoping as many dog owners as possible will visit and complete a short survey. The survey called dog breeding the responsible way can be found on http://dogbreedingtheresponsibleway.weebly.com/
Certainly having read through the section they are questioning I was left wondering if it had been written with only toy dogs in mind as many of the recommendations are not suitable for a larger or working dogs, I am sure owners of large breeds may well question some parts of this proposed minimum standards for keeping dogs. Other points seem unnecessary as any good owner or breeder will know how their dogs health is at any given time and does not require an annual vet check and many do not believe an annual vaccination is required since even the manufacturers of vaccines are now telling us that one vaccination booster given every three years is sufficient and as the vaccines keep improving the time between vaccinations will be longer than the yearly boosters most vets will administer.
The section that is concerning many owners and breeders is the breeding-standard-v3-2-clean.docx part which can be seen on the Dog Advisory Council website listed under the heading of Programme and in the drop down menu reports. In the report it lists 51 points which breeders must undertake to do. Most people think that breeders of dogs are people who show or work their dogs and have kennels. This is not the case, as soon as anyone mates their bitch or their dog they become legally breeders even if the dog is in their eyes’ “Only a pet and we wanted to have a puppy from him/her”. So it is important that anyone whose dog whether it is crossbred dog or a full pedigree will need to work within these 51 guidelines.
Lynda & Anne are hoping that if people fill in their survey it might prompt them, to look at the proposals by the Advisory Council and that it will raise awareness on the proposals in full.
As the New Year is traditionally a time when most breed clubs and show committees turn their attentions to their AGMs there will be much discussion on what the year ahead holds for them. With rising fuel and venue costs will a few show committees decide they cannot continue as entries fall? Others will be reviewing the direction they will be taking and no doubt many breed clubs will be looking at health issues and how their support for research is going. Let us hope that the straightened times we are in will not see a diminishing of funds available to go to this important work and that many new announcements will continue to come this year to improve the health and welfare of dogs as a whole.
There are moves afoot to bring vets in to help collect dog health data, so that as dogs are brought to surgeries they will be examined and their health recorded at a central base for use to identify particular issues in both pedigrees and crossbred dogs. While pedigree health is well recorded nothing is really known about crossbred dogs many of which are first crosses between two breeds, the labra-doodle being the most commonly seen. Both the poodle and Labrador have progressive retinal atrophy for example and if the parents of the labra-doodle pups are not health tested prior to mating the pups could be passed this inherited disease.
The KC have brought out a film called Dogs – A Healthy Future, which shows the work the KC has been doing to help promote health and welfare for dogs. The ‘green bible’ for vets high lighting the health status of KC registered breeds and tests that are recommended for them, has got to be a major step forward. The continuing challenges facing the KC and the world of pedigree dogs are being tackled, but as stated in the film the KC cannot force people to health test, they can only make recommendations. They also comment on the way dog’s health and welfare can suffer because of commercial puppy farming. The KC started a petition against puppy farming last year and it can be found here: www.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8557 please do take a moment to sign. The film is definitely worth watching, and I believe this film will be the first of many we will be seeing on You Tube and in the run up to Crufts this year.
Crufts tickets are now on sale, and on many internet forums the talk is about Crufts with many looking forward to what is considered the best dog show in the world. The show runs from the 8th to the 11th March and will as usual have a ‘Discover Dogs’ section invaluable for people who are considering purchasing a puppy, to find out what each breed is like and make a more informed decision about their choice of dog breed. The groups competing each day are Thursday March 8th toy and utility breeds, Friday 9th March the gundog breeds, Saturday 10th March Working and Pastoral breeds and finally on March 10th terriers and hounds. Many people go to Crufts to see a particular breed but unless they are part of the showing community often do not know which day to go and be able to see the breed they are interested in. If any reader has a particular breed they would like to see and are not sure which group they appear in then go to the Crufts website and look under judging-programme-breeds where each breed is listed under its group heading and beside the breed listing is the name of the judge who will be officiating at this year’s show. As usual there will be many other attractions to make the show a ‘grand day out’ as Wallace and Gromit might say, so see you there......
by
News Feature Writer, Polly King
Posted: January 25th 2012
2012 blew in with gales and a whole raft of new proposed legislation of concern for all dog owners to be aware of.
A topic which sent alarms bells ringing over the new year and is still being busily debated is the report of the meeting held at the end of 2011 by the Dog Advisory Council. One section in particular has concerned breeders Lynda Heron and Anne Taylor, who feel that breeders and dog owners should be considered stakeholders in this as they are the ones who will be having to implement any changes required if the Advisory Council findings are adopted as minimum standards as part of the Animal Welfare Act. They have set up a web site which they are hoping as many dog owners as possible will visit and complete a short survey. The survey called dog breeding the responsible way can be found on http://dogbreedingtheresponsibleway.weebly.com/
Certainly having read through the section they are questioning I was left wondering if it had been written with only toy dogs in mind as many of the recommendations are not suitable for a larger or working dogs, I am sure owners of large breeds may well question some parts of this proposed minimum standards for keeping dogs. Other points seem unnecessary as any good owner or breeder will know how their dogs health is at any given time and does not require an annual vet check and many do not believe an annual vaccination is required since even the manufacturers of vaccines are now telling us that one vaccination booster given every three years is sufficient and as the vaccines keep improving the time between vaccinations will be longer than the yearly boosters most vets will administer.
The section that is concerning many owners and breeders is the breeding-standard-v3-2-clean.docx part which can be seen on the Dog Advisory Council website listed under the heading of Programme and in the drop down menu reports. In the report it lists 51 points which breeders must undertake to do. Most people think that breeders of dogs are people who show or work their dogs and have kennels. This is not the case, as soon as anyone mates their bitch or their dog they become legally breeders even if the dog is in their eyes’ “Only a pet and we wanted to have a puppy from him/her”. So it is important that anyone whose dog whether it is crossbred dog or a full pedigree will need to work within these 51 guidelines.
Lynda & Anne are hoping that if people fill in their survey it might prompt them, to look at the proposals by the Advisory Council and that it will raise awareness on the proposals in full.
As the New Year is traditionally a time when most breed clubs and show committees turn their attentions to their AGMs there will be much discussion on what the year ahead holds for them. With rising fuel and venue costs will a few show committees decide they cannot continue as entries fall? Others will be reviewing the direction they will be taking and no doubt many breed clubs will be looking at health issues and how their support for research is going. Let us hope that the straightened times we are in will not see a diminishing of funds available to go to this important work and that many new announcements will continue to come this year to improve the health and welfare of dogs as a whole.
There are moves afoot to bring vets in to help collect dog health data, so that as dogs are brought to surgeries they will be examined and their health recorded at a central base for use to identify particular issues in both pedigrees and crossbred dogs. While pedigree health is well recorded nothing is really known about crossbred dogs many of which are first crosses between two breeds, the labra-doodle being the most commonly seen. Both the poodle and Labrador have progressive retinal atrophy for example and if the parents of the labra-doodle pups are not health tested prior to mating the pups could be passed this inherited disease.
The KC have brought out a film called Dogs – A Healthy Future, which shows the work the KC has been doing to help promote health and welfare for dogs. The ‘green bible’ for vets high lighting the health status of KC registered breeds and tests that are recommended for them, has got to be a major step forward. The continuing challenges facing the KC and the world of pedigree dogs are being tackled, but as stated in the film the KC cannot force people to health test, they can only make recommendations. They also comment on the way dog’s health and welfare can suffer because of commercial puppy farming. The KC started a petition against puppy farming last year and it can be found here: www.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8557 please do take a moment to sign. The film is definitely worth watching, and I believe this film will be the first of many we will be seeing on You Tube and in the run up to Crufts this year.
Crufts tickets are now on sale, and on many internet forums the talk is about Crufts with many looking forward to what is considered the best dog show in the world. The show runs from the 8th to the 11th March and will as usual have a ‘Discover Dogs’ section invaluable for people who are considering purchasing a puppy, to find out what each breed is like and make a more informed decision about their choice of dog breed. The groups competing each day are Thursday March 8th toy and utility breeds, Friday 9th March the gundog breeds, Saturday 10th March Working and Pastoral breeds and finally on March 10th terriers and hounds. Many people go to Crufts to see a particular breed but unless they are part of the showing community often do not know which day to go and be able to see the breed they are interested in. If any reader has a particular breed they would like to see and are not sure which group they appear in then go to the Crufts website and look under judging-programme-breeds where each breed is listed under its group heading and beside the breed listing is the name of the judge who will be officiating at this year’s show. As usual there will be many other attractions to make the show a ‘grand day out’ as Wallace and Gromit might say, so see you there......
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