well my poor show dogs sleep on the bed with me and are taken to the beach, the woods etc where they can run free and get nice and dirty.
Certainly arent pampered and kept in a box and only taken out at show time - and Im not the only one like this - my firends are the same

Laura
its not preaching - we could all say the same

I dont know why there is this continual pettiness between EVERYONE
each to their own and lets just drop it

I never said showing dogs was cruel. I said it may be more intersting bringing more events as to me some of the dogs seems stressed. I also said, from my own experience, the majority of bull breeds tend to be overweight (teh winning ones anywa) and over exaggerated. Your arguing points I aint even raised lol.

I have said many a time, I dont find keeping dogs outdoors cruel even though my own dogs are housedogs I dont have a problem with kennel dogs having been brought up with them.

lel is right, arguing doesnt solve anything
these are things people will never agree on.
I prefer to see slim dogs which are very finctional looking, I dont like short, stuffy, fluffy, fat or waddly dogs, and being honest now you do see a lot of them at crufts dont you?
thats why I dont really watch it, except for the activities like obedience, agility heelwork to music etc, that is more my thing

If we go back to the original topic I think the KC has some benefits but is also easily manipulated
Whos to say a pup was actually bred from a certain sire without dna testing

I also think they could do more with regards to improving health and reducing litters too (but then thtas how they make their money isnt it )

Good post Lel.

Laura

thats very true lel

KC affiliation or no KC affiliation, is really what you are getting at. Taking aside those breeds that do not have the choice (ie import breeds/new breeds/other non KC recognised breeds), then all those other breeds who are recognised by the KC are better off - the facts speak for them selves: if you took all the badly bred/unhealthy dogs out there who suffer genetic disorders or other forms of disease, you would probably find that around 90% are from NON KC REGISTERED breeders (largely made up of: puppy farmers/ wannabee breeders/get rich quick idiots/I know best fools/etc) In addition, you'd probably find the rescues also hold more non kc registered than kc registered dogs.

So from the dogs point of view - it would prefer to be a KC dog because it knows the rules are more stringent for it's own conception - meaning it has a better chance of being bred healthier.

Obviously the KC is not perfect as you can see what has happened to the English Bulldog (re it's health problems), however the breed clubs and jugdes are more to blame for that really and on the whole the above statement ecompasses the wider spectrum of breeds.

I feel it is a HUGE mistake when some people try to portray that non-KC dogs (in particular staffs) as 'fitter' versions, because in my own experience I have found non KC staffs to be absolutely dreadful!! two of Rockys friends are non KC Staffs (and we see many more of them around here) one is heavily overweight and way too wide for a staff and the other is too short with a head that does not fit in proportion with it's body! (According to the owner they are pedigree staffs but not KC reg ). Now what Im not saying is that those non-kc staffs that some of the people here talk about, are unfit, unhealthy, diesease ridden animals, but what I am saying is THOSE are an exception and you probably should start classing them as something else ( I forgot, some people already do as 'gamrbred staffs' - but then that opens up another can of worms) because for most people, when you mention non KC staffs they get recollections/images of staffs that have been bred by the non KC breeders I mentioned above ie, those that end up looking nothing like the breed standard (and sometimes they almost look like cross breeds ).

So KC affiliation or non KC affiliation? From a buyers prospective I would always suggest if possible for the breed they are after, the KC affiliation route unless I knew a breeder perosnally and knew 100% the dogs were being bred to a high standard. You simply have a better chance of a better animal from a KC reg breeder, especially from the point of view of an unexperienced buyer.

Regarding the show dogs are always fatter - I believe this is a myth started by people who 'breed/support those above mentioned dogs', they put 2 and 2 together and come up with 19 (because they believe what they want to believe and so after seeing a 'few' poor specimins out of the thousands out there, they brand 'all' the same - in addition it fits in with their 'cause' so they are glad they found this 'proof'). Also and this is human nature - most of the people who we get to talk to who have those views, probably have never been to crufts! but they just repeat what they've been told/fed regarding 'oh there were so many overwight dogs there this year', nomatter how untrue it is - but like I said it's human nature - we believe what we want to believe bcos is suits our methodology, and we are too lazy (and not really bothered) to go and make sure whether there really is any real substance to it all.

jmho.

Thankyou Erase...excellent post and you explain things so much better than I ever could!

He does have a way with words doesnt he