New England Toy Show photos by Kim Langlands
The announcement by the Kennel Club in the U.K. that it intends to monitor judges at all levels in a bid to provide value for the time, training, effort, and money which exhibitors and competitors put into competing, more often than not on a weekly basis, was contained in the July 27 issue of OUR DOGS, a weekly publication there. According to this report, the KC has also indicated that it will watch carefully the decisions of championship judges in particular, choices it feels will ultimately affect the future development of a particular breed and/or respective discipline concerned. In its role as the governing body for all competitions held under its regulation, it was further stated that the Kennel Club is under no obligation to notify judges in advance in order to observe and/or evaluate their judging. Sources in the U.K., when asked who would be implementing this program, indicated this feature had not yet been determined. On the other hand, people in the U.S. familiar with the inner workings of TKC indicated that “breeders of note” have been contacted to act in that capacity. I'll keep you posted as I learn more about this most interesting development.
I thought Lisa Peterson's Letter to the Editor of THE NEW YORK TIMES was a good answer, most worthy of repeating here. It was in response to the July 30 article (which I wrote about last week) by PETA apologist who sits on the TIMES Editorial Board, Verlyn Klinkenborg:
To the Editor:
The real thrust of the American Kennel Club's opposition to California Assembly Bill 1634 as stated in “Should Most Pet Owners Be Required To Neuter Their Animals?” (Editorial Observer, July 30) is not economic but rather that creating a one-size-fits-all law such as mandatory spay and neuter is not a workable, enforceable solution to reduce the diverse demographics of the state's shelter population.
Lawmakers, animal control officers, and animal welfare organizations need to work together and delve into the origins of shelter subgroups—such as stray, feral, or surrendered pets—to address the issues that bring them to the shelter.
California's shelter populations have declined in recent decades, and most pet owners (70 percent dog, 84 percent cat) are acting responsibly and spaying/neutering their pets without government involvement. Targeted programs that address specific segments of the companion animal population and broad public education programs have been and can continue to be effective.
Lisa Peterson
Director of Club Communication
American Kennel Club
New York, July 31, 2007
Good answer, Lisa! Keep it up!
You know, on this issue of commercial breeders and how to handle them, I totally agree with Connie Vanacore's position. Sari Tietjen, of course, makes some good points, but not only does she twist and overstate Connie's position, I find her to be totally unrealistic about how to handle the problem. No one is espousing an “embracement” of these people, least of all Connie. The commercial breeder is a fact of life, strengthened in a way by our rightly insisting that AKC police them more harshly. Sort of unifying the enemy against a common foe. The real loser, of course, in these kinds of disputes is the middle person or thing. In Iraq, the common man is the loser, in our case the people feuding are the AKC breeder and the commercial breeder. Unfortunately, it is the dog itself which ends up with the short end of the stick. I say if there is any chance in helping out the commercially-bred dog—which is going to exist, so long as the American enhancement with owning dogs continues, we have to bend over to help these dogs out. The dogs end up suffering eventually, and it's our obligation not to let this happen, no matter what our personal feelings towards these people are. •
