Interesting times….?
I always remember being told that one of the greatest curses you could inflict on someone is to say “may you live in interesting times”….. And I guess it is true. You can cruise along forever, happy and content in your own little world, when the waters are smooth, but when it gets a bit choppy and you get thrown out of your comfort zone, life begins to get a bit stressful - and ‘interesting’!
Certainly things in the dog world have got ‘interesting’ over the past few months. Pure bred dogs and their breeders have come under huge scrutiny, the BBC won’t be at Crufts (despite casting a show dog in EastEnders!) and the dog world is under the microscope like never before - from both the inside and the outside.
All this is definitely good….. Or at least it is good if it makes a change for the better for dogs. Good if it forces irresponsible breeders, or those who have become ‘breed-blind’, to really look at the health and happiness of the lives of the animals they are bringing into the world. It is good if it reminds everyone in the dog world that health (along with temperament) is the most important criteria to breed for. It is good if it educates future dog owners to insist that all possible health checks have been done on their prospective new best friend, and it is good if it encourages the general public to demand more from breeders as the norm - not as some ‘added extras’.
If however it demonises all breeders, and drives people into the hands of the puppy farms, the back yard breeders and the dog supermarkets, it is very bad indeed.
It is up to the professionals in the dog world, and to all those who can make a difference, to make sure that this revolution really does target the people it needs to, makes the long overdue changes to ensure the health and welfare of dogs, and comes out the other end with the world a better place for all dogs and for potential owners.
We have spent many years trying to promote the advantages of getting your dog from a breeder who rears their puppies in the home (the busier the better), who knows the importance of adequate socialisation from a very early age, and who makes sure these wonderful puppies go to their forever homes ready to become the safe, well-adjusted, happy members of canine society that we all want them to be.
I hope this doesn’t change, and that the dog world doesn’t throw the puppy out with the bath water!
There is much to be done - and I truly believe that the very best way to change things is if you are in a position to help drive it from the inside - and not just shout about it from the outside! As such, and having thought long and hard about it, I have become a Member of the Kennel Club…….. (thank you to Clarissa Baldwin OBE for proposing me, and to Annette Conn for seconding), and so I am looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and living in ‘interesting times’!