RSPCA campaign
The Kennel Club has expressed concern that the RSPCA’s ‘Bred for Looks, Born to Suffer’ campaign focuses entirely on breed standards, which already highlight the importance of health and good temperament, rather than on the need for higher standards for all dog breeders. The Kennel Club believes that improvements to ‘breeding standards’, which would include a set of regulations requiring that breeders put health above a dog’s saleability and looks, such as those in place for Kennel Club Assured Breeders, have a far greater part to play in a happier, healthier future for all dogs than further changes to the breed standards.Improve breeding standards Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary, said: “Whilst the Kennel Club shares the RSPCA’s belief that too many people are buying dogs without undertaking research and demanding certain breeding standards are met, we feel that their new advertising campaign is completely misdirected and fails to address the real issues affecting dogs. “By focusing on the Kennel Club’s breed standards, which only apply to those purebred dogs which compete at dog shows, which amounts to a small percentage of all purebred dogs, they have ignored the far more critical area of how dogs are bred. “With the exception of Kennel Club Assured Breeders, who sign up to standards that ensure that they put their dogs’ health and welfare first, the rest of the dog breeding market is effectively unregulated. There are sadly large numbers of dogs out there, both pedigrees and ‘designer’ crossbreeds, being bred entirely for looks by puppy farmers, often in terrible conditions.“We believe that the RSPCA would have been far better to have invested in a more focused campaign to educate potential buyers to only buy from responsible breeders, such as Kennel Club Assured Breeders, who have their dogs health screened, socialise them and provide excellent after care and advice. “The Kennel Club already has a campaign in place calling for regulation of the dog breeding market to ensure that health is every breeder’s primary concern, whether they breed crossbreeds, such as Labradoodles, or pedigree dogs, in a market where looks and fashion too frequently come first. We would welcome the RSPCA’s recognition and support for such a fundamentally important campaign.Health comes first “Instead they have chosen to focus on the Kennel Club’s breed standards, which are simply the description of how different pedigree dog breeds look and their likely temperament and characteristics. These standards make it absolutely clear that health must come first and that good temperament is all important. “We are further confused by the RSPCA campaign as they themselves recently acknowledged in their report into dog breeding that ‘breeding to accentuate specific physical traits is unlikely to be problematic when performed in moderation.’ Every breed standard already highlights that moderation is key, stating that breeders must ‘avoid obvious conditions or exaggerations which would be detrimental in any way to the health, welfare or soundness’ of the breed. “The current breed standards were all written in conjunction with leading members of the UK veterinary profession and are under continual review. There are no similar guidelines that highlight the importance of health and temperament when breeding crossbreeds and mongrels, therefore the call to action behind the RSPCA’s campaign seems to be misguided and targeted in the wrong direction.”
