Anyone watch this last night ? I couldn’t bring myself to, but am watching it now on bbc iPlayer.
Shocking. :crying:
Not nice watching at all and as you say shocking! 
Didn’t watch it. It annoyes me because being normal with the BBC all the facts are distorted.
Try speaking to people who actually breed dogs… It’s the irresponsible breeders that have created the health problems with certain breeds. My sister who breeds dogs, heavily researches the pedigrees of dogs that she plans to breed against to eliminate any of the associated health problems with the breeds.
Agreed it’s the unscrupulous breeders that cause the major problems, but the Kennel Club can’t escape a lot of blame, in the past at least, as many breeds had exagerated characteristics for show purposes.
My folks used to breed bulldogs (one of the most difficult) and where always careful not to overbreed the bitch or inbreed. Unscrupulous breeders, show breeders and dog fighters should be shot in the kneecaps and dropped in a fighting pit to fight each other.
end of.
i saw the programme, it was a bit of an eye opener but at the end of the day it was bound to be sensationalised to justify the airtime.
I have a British bulldog and had often wondered how my lazy cuddly dog couldve brought a bull down back in th day.
He gets out of breath walking to the bottom of the garden.
I watched some of it, was shocking!!
Wouldn’t say that it’s only the dodgy breeders who are messing things up, there was a woman on there who’s prize winning stud was diagnosed with some brain disorder and was advised that he shouldn’t sire anymore litters as it can be passed on, he went on the sire over 20 litters after that, not very responsible!!!
Most breeders are only interested in there bank balances and not the dogs welfare, things need to be done, give the RSPCA more power i say 
I doubt that all the facts were distorted - perhaps you should watch it. 
yeah when i was looking for my puppy i saw some shocking breeders.
Oh…right , i saw the title of this thread and thought it was dog porn , nevermind , moving swiftly on … 
I spoke to a guy i know who used to work for the RSPCA and he told me the Kennel club won’t allow anyone connected with dog welfare on the board of governors/directors , you’d think they would , but no , no chance.
Although I have never bred anything in my life I have been involved in the show circuit (not dogs though - much smaller animals) as a judge. In particular, what was only fleetingly mentioned is the programme was that the overriding consideration for these people is money. I know a pug breeder who can sell each pup for over £1000. That is why she is happy to put the one in four pups that has a cleft palet to sleep as she is still making a profit of about £5,000 a litter after all expenses. That is why that winner was going to breed her dog even though it had a serious neurological condition. By winning she can charge a fortune for stud. It is all about money and the prestige of winning is only a step towards more money.
Jackie and I deliberatly watched the programme last night because it is important for people who do breed or are involved in showing any animals to be aware of the pitfalls. I am glad to say that I have succesfully got the rules changed of the society I judge for to put animal welfare and suitability as a companion animal ahead of the breed standard when judging.
What has always amazed me is how much people are prepared to pay for something that is unusual simply due to its rarety regardless of other issues. For example, one person I knew in the mid 80’s was selling gerbils that had unusual white markings, but many of them had damaged balance organs and would hold their head strangely and run in circles. He was selling them because he could get £30-£40 a gerbil from people stupid enough to buy them. At the time any other gerbil from a breeder would cost about £2.50!
Same as that.
I’ve got a pedigree chocolate labrador, and I really wanted to slap some of the breeders and rescue the pups.
Although he’s bonkers, he’s in great health and I’ve been told by a few ‘experts’ (not sure what to believe now tbh) that he’s one of the best they’ve seen.
Having said that, he used to suffer with allergies and would puke for England if he was given anything other than basic dog food.
I think next time I would rescue a racing greyhound.
When my last dog died I rang a few Doberman breeders - all approved by the Kennel Club.
One wanted twice the usual price and when I said I just could not afford it he went on about its good pedigree and how many shows its ancestors had won.
When I told him I did not want to breed or show the dog, so the OTT qualifactions were not really necessary for me, his reply was “My dogs are far too good just to have as pets”.
Regarding the “pets” comment - I know that on the rabbit show circuit the ultimate insult is to describe an exhibitor’s rabbit as “a pet”. Jackie believes rabbit breeders try and encourage their rabbits before a show by saying “winner or dinner!”
Rabbits maybe, I don’t know, but you buy a dog to be a lifelong companion, not a breeding machine, that is the whole point of this thread.
But some people who breed for show think completly differently. That is my point. The ones that are no good are pets, the ones that are good are exhibition animals. In the minds of these people they are completely different things. For example, the documentary discussed destroying ridgebacks with no ridge - the make perfect pets, healthier than the show animals, but the breeders see them as an insult to dog and bitch that produced them.
In terms of buying dogs. Don’t go to the Kennel Club try breed associations. Most of them have Rescue branches that rehouse pedigree pets. That’s how we got two dogs.
My sister has never broken even on breeding dogs. For her it has never been about the money, it has been about the dogs. When the last little she breed, suffered complications (the bitch nearly died and half the litter were still born after being rushed to the vets), my sister took the decision to have the womb removed so the bitch would not go through the distress of the pregnancy again.
The woman who continued to use the dog for stud after diagnosis is highly irresponsible in my opinion and is not representative of the breeders I have met over the years. Very few make any money from breeding and are just as welcoming of those who want dogs as pets as much as those who want to show. So to tar all breeders and owners with the same brush is a little harsh.
The Kennel club is partly at fault for imposing such strict standards, but unlike Amercia they don’t allow plastic surgery on dogs (Great Danes, for instance have their ears clipped in US) and they finally allowed undocked dogs to be shown.
All my own humble opinion of course, and only based on my family’s experience (over 25 years). Feel free to flame me 
I love dogs but after having a pedigree Doberman and watching the poor bugger fall apart slowly I would never have a pedigree again.
Current boy is a German Shepherd/Ridgeback cross and fit as a fiddle.
If they banned mother/son father/daughter breeding like they have done in Sweden, wouldn’t everyone be playing off the same wicket?
A few years ago 365,000 dogs a year were being put down as they couldn’t find homes. Remeber the stink caused at Crufts one year when the RSPCA showed a poster of a pile of dead dogs about 25ft hight waiting to be incinerated?
I think we know who we have to blame for that. I think animal breeding for profit stinks.