Good grief! Glad Kali eventually went on to get his wins! Well done Kali!

Have you contacted the Scrufts organisers at the top so to speak ? Might be an idea to give them right to reply

Not yet, but I will do. I complained there and then to the organisers, nothing was done and I made it very clear that it should be sorted out. Something should have been done today, but nothing was.

This wouldnt happen in your show would it miss show secretary

I am in full agreement with you, Westie_N. This makes a complete mockery of the whole Scruffts competition.

If I were you, I would make as much fuss and bother for them as you possibly can - they have it coming! Write to the press - you might strike a chord with someone there, e mail the BBC, and write personally to Claire Balding (I rate her). Don't stop stamping until you make an impact! You are absolutely right.

Thanks for your support, Mandydog, glad you understand my points. It does make a mockery of the show.

I may do what you suggest and take it further.

So far, I have emailed the Hearing Dogs Regional Fundraiser for Scotland, the person who realeased the website and details about the Dogs Dinner and Scruffts 2008.

This is what I said, I hope it's ok as I'm not always good at writing down how I feel:

Dear Evie,

Having been to the Dogs Dinner show today at Chatlerhault, I am appalled at the way in which the Scruffts heats were ran and judged.

I suspect there were numerous full pedigrees in each of the four classes, including an English Springer Spaniel (complete with docked tail and obvously from show stock, might I add), a Whippet and a Dachshund - all of which were placed though did not win 1st Place, but of course, that is not the point. There was also a West Highland White Terrier in one of the classes, and an older woman in the Childs Best Friend class. I am well aware that many crossbreeds can look strikingly similar to the breeds they are crossed with, but these were obviously pedigrees and if the organisers and judges could not tell the difference between a crossbreed and a pedigree then they should be not be running and judging this contest.

I informed an organiser that there were pedigree dogs in the Childs Best Friend class that should not be entered, she said that it was Childs Best Friend, to which I informed that yes it was, but all dogs must be crossbreeds. She seemed oblivious to this fact, even though the competition title is "Family Crossbreed Dog Of The Year"! Nothing was done about this today.

Something must be done about this travesty as it makes a complete mockery of the Scruffts competition itself. Having a footballer judge the dogs in he competition is a joke in itself!

I await a response from yourself.


Regards,

Nicola Bowers.

Definitely not ! Quite often entries are sent in for the wrong classes, but out of enthusiasm I must say not out of intent to do wrong, [ enthusiasm is the main reason for entry info not always being read ], and the collators are always on the ball to make sure the right classes have been entered.

I wonder if sometimes organisers of fun shows just don`t want to upset anyone by telling them they are not eligible for this or that class but to me it`s better to tell someone that unfortunately their dog can`t go in x class but please do enter y which they can go in, otherwise a win when technically not eligible means nothing and in the long run, and cheats never prosper, they always get found out eventually.
Anyone making a genuine mistake would surely not be offended or upset at being guided to the correct classes be it real show or virtual

Im going to have to ask,, was it enter on the day at the show you were at? if so poss people who dont really know how its all ment to work just thought they would go in for a laugh,,

Its the kind of thing a pet owner may do when passing a show, kinda thinking oh lets have a laugh,
just a thought

I agree, Patch. People should be informed if they are about to enter a class that they are not eligible to enter. It's not right. There were other classes these pedigrees could have been in, they might have even been in them for all I know! They probably were. I wasn't around the pedigree ring for long watching, I was mainly only there to enter my classes.

I said to them that I may just enter Roxy in pedigree classes then as a Basenji. They didn't have much to say about that! Obviously I won't though as she's a crossbreed!