Endangered Native Breeds

Hello all,
i was browsing one of my many dog websites, and i came acoss a list of our native endangered breeds. Now i know that, at Crufts 2005 they did the big parade of the endangered native breeds. But it is shocking some of the breeds that fall into this, some are my favourite breeds:
Otter Hounds,
Curly Coated Retriever,
Irish Water Spaniel,
Irish Red and White Setter,
King Charles Spaniel (not the cavalier)
Bloodhounds,
Cardigan corgis,
Lancashire Heelers,
and finally the dandie dinmont terrier my babies

This has really shocked me, and also has shocked the breeders of these breeds. Radical measures are being taken, such as import studs, the inport of frozen semen and where florrie came from the rare breeds being crossed out to very similar breeds of dogs, of the same original heritage.
This crissi in the dog world is due to us, and our fads in breeds of dogs, in the 70s it was afghan hounds, the 80s was the bull breeds, and right now the fad seems to be heading for toy breeds.
Give me your views on the proposed steps that will be done, or give me your suggestions, or if you own any of the above dogs, then let me know your views on the present day crisis?

I know its very sad i went to crufts this year and alot of these breeds are gorgeous and it would be a real shame for them not to exist, the kennel club is promoting them well but this could lead to people buying these vunrable breeds to breed from and make money and not because they care about the breed.

It would be sad to lose these breeds, but I also think we need to be careful not to advertise these dogs as rare as you know what people are like when it comes to "rare" dogs, everybody and his granny will want one. Alot of the breeds on the vulnerable list are terriers, including my own breed. Some of these breeds could be considered "high maintainance" and not for everyone, so there needs to be a fine balance made betweeen promoting these breeds while ensuring that they are homed to serious and informed homes only. Puppy farms are always on the look out for the next fad breed, and could seriously cash in on the "rare" tag .

i cant understand why greyhounds are on the list.
it seems the racing dogs have their own register.

my solution would be for the government (as if) would insist that the racing dogs be KC reg also,before they colud even set foot on a track.

what do others think?

If I remember correctly, my breed is also on the list... There are few WFTs around but to be perfectly honest I'd rather see them in the 'endangered' list than in the 'most popular' list. In the case of my breed, I don't think there's a danger of them dying out, they're just not fashionable but there are many breeders and showpeople in the country who have them, and quite a few in pet homes.

As Tuti said, alot of these breeds are not necessarily going to die out, it is only that the general public aren't looking to buy. However, the breed fanciers and breeders are usually very devoted and often pups have been booked ages in advance. In most of these breeds there will always be a demand for pups among the enthusiasts and this will keep the breeds alive . That being say some of the breeds stats do look quite critical and steps need to be taken to raise the awareness of these breed..

Tuti, Olive i agree certain people just cant put the work into some breeds. And some people just do not go for, as they are no longer popular.
And some are just not very practical for peoples situations, it is very very sad.
What is worse that the breeds that do have numerically small registers, do not often go on to be bred from. For instance only 81 dandies were registered in 2004!
It is getting to a stage wgere the Kennel club are even thinking about brining some unregistered dogs onto the registered list so they can be bred into the gene pool.
Some breeds are just ata anatural disposition, some breeds do often not kennel well therefore many breeders pass, as few do breed in their own homes.
It is a cold fact that certain breeds of dogs may not be around in the next thirty, thirty five years!

You could be right there Lu . Irish Terriers before the 1940 were the 9th most popular breed in the UK , they are now the 120th or thereabouts. This is partly because there is no longer any work for them, they are still essentially a good all round terrier with strong working instinct, so are always on duty - something many families would find difficult to manage.

Here's the full list:

Bloodhounds, Deerhounds, Greyhounds, Otterhounds. Gordon Setters, Irish Red & white Setters, Curly Coated Retrievers, Clumber Spaniels, Field Spaniels, Irish Water Spaniels, Sussex Spaniels. Dandie Dinmont Terriers, Smooth Fox Terriers, Glen of Imaal Terriers, Irish Terriers, Kerry Blue Terriers, Lakeland Terriers, Manchester Terriers, Norwich Terriers, Sealyham Terriers, Skye Terriers, Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers, Welsh Terriers. Smooth Collies, Lancashire Heelers, Cardigan Welsh Corgis. English Toy Terriers (Black & Tan), King Charles Spaniels.

:smt017 I was sure wires were on that list.... ??