I guess, being a dog breed website this topic is bound to come up at some point. What did you think about it? Did you think it helped? Hindered?
I thought it was a real eye opener. I've never understood the abuse Jemima Harrison got. Mostly from dog breeders who were up in arms. However in my mind anyone who loves dogs, is enthusiastic about their breed, and cares about the future welfare of the breed as a whole, wouldn't take offense to what was shown but would have been as horrified as any other dog lover. Of course, the good breeders out there HAVE made changes and continue to do so. I've seen a great number of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breeders testing for the severe diseases that effect the breed. Those who want to sweep the problems under the carpet or insist there is nothing wrong that needs fixing within their breed are delusional and not true dog lovers IMO. As an example of some breeders/exhibitors of Dalmatians. There was quite a fuss kicked up about Fiona the Dalmatian winning at a champ show. Of course Fiona is a LUA Dal as the result of the Pointer/Dalmatian outcross programme. Yet despite the outcrossing being of great benefit to the breed , there was quite a few out there who was calling the dog nothing more then a mongrel and that she was not deserving of her win as she's not a purebred Dal. Despite the fact Fiona is every bit a real Dalmatian. Like to me, WHY on earth, as a Dalmatian breed lover would you not be jumping for joy at the prospect of a healthy gene bred into your breed? It's those kind of breeders/exhibitors that gave the "pedigree dog world" a bad name and continue to do so. I think the tide has changed toward that particular outcross programme now with them being now registered the same as any other Dal, although it was very controversial and I should imagine some Dalmatian people still being aghast at the idea. But the progressive, caring, ethical, breeders out there are not the problem and contrary to what SOME breed people like to say, Jemima Harrison has never branded all breeders the same, or my personal favourite "advocated people going out and buying a designer dog". The whole programme was about exposing the bad breeding practices that was/still are going on. That can only be a good thing in my mind, and it has resulted in some changes within breed clubs/the KC itself that can only be seen as a positive, no matter how small those might be. So on a whole I thought it was a much needed and well thought out documentary.
Can't remember when it was exactly shown, 2008/9 maybe? But you can watch it all on Youtube I believe.
I think she caused more problems, now people believe if it isnt KC reg its healthy or if its a crossbreed it doesnt have health issues the increase in so called designer dogs and unregistered pedigree breeds was dramatic Also in my breed it took her over 2 years to get the cleverly edited footage
I agree with the above, JH did far more harm than good, lets not forget she is a reporter and as such she knew that a mild documentary would not get her name noticed... the cleverly edited programme did not give the true facts, the footage of the Boxer that was shown was edited to show a very poorly dog , bred by reputable breeders in fact it was bred by a byb , and from my memory the owners of the dog also got abuse for allowing their dog to suffer so many fits, when in fact that was not true, JM just edited the footage to make it look that way. There were so many other aspects of the programme that were done for sensationalism, and it DID give out the impression that ALL breeders of KC dogs were breeding mutants for profit with no care to their animals, and sadly this DID imprint on members of the public, you only had to trawl through the free add sites after the programme to see the ......." not KC registered so will be healthier" garbage jumped on by unscrupulous breeders. Many pedigree dogs ended up in rescue due to their owners being frightened they were going to end up with horrendous vets bills after watching the programme, my local one being one of them. We all know some breeds have problems, but those in the breed who care about their dogs are the ones doing everything to eradicate these problems, if they know its there they can do something about it, you can bet those byb anf pf are not interested at all, but the impression the programme gave was "if you want a healthy dog don't buy from a breeder who KC registers there's". I think from my memory, that some of the claims she made , had to be retracted , from reading on the web, as out and out lies...... Sadly this is the time of year she gets her name in the public domain with the programme, thankfully people are a lot wiser now to her intent and she does not get the naïve response she once did.
has anybody visited her blog? or atleast the blog called pedigree dogs exposed. i gave it a quick glance last night
I just can not see for a minute how she caused any "harm". Someone quote me her direct words that she's advocated buying a designer dog or that all KC breeders are to be avoided and I'll eat my hat! Yes the good breeders are doing all they can to breed healthy dogs, but the show was about exposing the bad within the pedigree world. Would people be happy with father to daughter matings still? Or close inbreeding in general? That is just one of the changes that was as a result of the show. Should dogs be allowed to show with serious health conditions as was the Cavalier? I'm not sure how anything would have changed had there not been PDE. The KC would continue to do what they do, breeders and breed clubs would continue to bury their heads in the sand and the general public would be none the wiser. If anything I feel it has taught people to be MORE vigilant when choosing a breeder.
I don't agree, the majority of people still don't do any research when buying a dog, hence popularity of the byb and pf`s...if people where more vigilant these unscrupulous breeders would be out of business... the trouble was the show concentrated ( quite a bit) on the dog show world, if it was purely to educate the public on the pitfalls of buying from the wrong breeder, they would not have focused on the show world. The popularity of the show did do pedigrees harm due to the rise in people buying unregistered dogs. The show world are only responsible of around 2% of pedigree dogs being bred, the rest come from pet , PF and byb`s... Yes the KC acted on certain things after the programme, mostly to pacify , no one wants unhealthy dogs being bred, who do you think funds and activates any health testing in their breeds, its not the BYB who contributes to any health testing, its the clubs and members, that take the time to collect data and fund what needs to be funded. The programme kept on about "incest" and to close mating's, but quiet frankly I don't know that this/was a problem to begin with, its very rare a mother to son or such mating would be done these days... there is no need, and its not as simple as outcrossing , unless you can research a dogs history, complete outcrossing can be as detrimental to a breed as any un-researched breeding. I may be wrong it was a long time ago, but the cavalier in quest was a carrier I think, not a sufferer, there is a difference, and with careful breeding ( to a clear) there is not risk to offspring's. It is also important to know, that the cavalier that was shown to have Syringomyelia was bought from a PF, yet that was failed to be mentioned, the good JH could have done in bringing THAT to the attention of the public, may have done some good, but that did not fit in with her intention for the programme.
I remember when it first came on, and my immediate thought was they did the dirty on the KC. But then I thought about it, and sometimes, a kick in the teeth can do some good. The KC has come along strides since it was aired, and if anything, it helped them push changes through to those that might have otherwise been resistant - because there was no denying there was a problem (even if that was a public perception problem). However the downside is unscrupulous breeders started to use it as an excuse to promote their byb/puppy-farmer cross-breed business, and we've seen large increase in people buying crosses and almost none of them selected based on health testing, or other checks that seem to have increased in pedigree dogs. So I think pedigree dogs definitely won here, and while cross breeds got some exposure, unfortunately it seems to have helped the bad breeders more than anything.
I did'nt know the Cavalier was from a PF. Any links to that info? Which leads me on to my next question, why on earth do the KC allow PF dogs to compete at Champ shows? I know they register PF/BYB dogs, but didn't know those dogs went on to show. Very worrying. Would also like to see stats that back up this claim that more unregistered puppies were bought as the result of the show? How does one make that connection? Unregistered puppies/PF/BYB's have been a constant for years. They will never cease to be a problem while there is a demand for them and as we know, some people simply don't want to learn how to go about buying a puppy from reputable breeders. Inbreeding was obviously going on though still within some breeds, and while I'm sure most progressive breeders wouldn't use such breeding's, some obviously do/are. Not to mention the KC chairman? thought there was nothing wrong with such breeding's anyway, which spoke volumes really. It's still pretty common in the States from what I understand. It was highlighted as a problem and as a result a positive change was made. That can only be a good thing.
I will have to pull the information off the hard drive of my broken comp as then I would be able to give you her admissions which I have, she also used old data in her research in particular to health of mongrels if I remember off hand it was about 20 years out of date
katygeorge asked "has anybody visited her blog? or at least the blog called pedigree dogs exposed. i gave it a quick glance last night ". I subscribed to the blog after watching PDE on the TV over here. Its very interesting and well worth reading IMO. Personally as the owner of a breed whose genes have been thoroughly messed up by breeders trying to produce a dog with more and more wrinkles, I welcome programmes like PDE. Although I was aware of the possible health problems, having watched the programme, it certainly made me far more careful in my choice of breeder when I bought Georgina. I was also fortunate that before I bought her I could trace her line back more than 5 generations on the Shar-Pei Archives.
