In view of some of the replies on here, which seem to be attacking my use of the word Crufts......may I please just say that the thread heading is copied from the news headlines in a National newspaper, and was not made up by me! I agree with all those who say that animal cruelty is appalling no matter what the circumstances or who the owners are, of course I do, but the whole point of this thread was that Crufts has been trying to recover from previous bad publicity and an incident like this which is widely reported can do no good whatsoever.

No matter what the rights and wrongs of the reporting are, many people who read this sort of thing may once again turn against the showing world. Yes, of COURSE cruelty and neglect goes on in other aspects of the dog world - but that was not the point of this thread. When there is an article about cruelty, abuse or neglect of pet animals with no show connection, readers of the newspapers are disgusted and despise the people responsible; however, when the magic word Crufts is in the main heading and throughout the text then unfortunately people think back to previous incidents and the whole general distrust of this show is refuelled.

I was in no way having a go at Crufts, or the showing world - quite the contrary, because I felt sympathy for once and was merely asking what could be done to try to stop this happening again.

Unfortunately, nothing.

The press have latched onto the KC (and anything associated with it) and pitbulls (and anything that is remotely bull like) to add sensationalism to any and just about all dog stories they run.

If they folded the KC tomorrow and all bull breeds vanished off the face of the Earth, they'd move on to target another association, another breed.

At one time, newspapers reported news. Nowadays, they hype up the news so much that it's very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

Sorry but I do not understand this phrase:

and the whole general distrust of this show is refuelled.

Who is it that "distrusts" Crufts?

It is an EVENT, there is nothing and noone to "distrust".

If you do not like Crufts do not go, do not watch etc.

I am unaware of any "general distrust" amongst the population?!

I understand what is being said. (Although I agree with what you are saying).

Crufts maybe just an 'Event' but it is a Major one from a public perspective? I think really it is the only one televised (with regards to Showing?)?

Therefore the Public will view it as a representation of the showing world in general.

When Stories like this are shown it will make the GP question the validity of the whole showing world - because this is the tiny portion of that world that they get a glimpse of.

Yes thats it exactly. I think people who show often dont realise how little the general public know about the whole process
Crufts is ALL that most people see of the showing world so to them it IS the showing world, it is the BEST of pedigree dogs
So it reflects (to them) on all shows, all pedigree dogs and the KC

I have learnt alot about showing being on here - but even looking about my street there are at least 50 dog owners who still think like I used to

Excellent post, you have put it very aptly

As for the media - old saying " good news is no news, the controversial/bad news sells". Lets face it, if we, as general public didnt buy the papers, the media would be a lot less in focus!

I think it is very telling that the word Crufts makes it more news worthy than the news alone of those poor dogs being abused.

Priorities

Yes, you are quite right!