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BREEDS ON THE BRINK
By David Hancock 

  The British daily newspaper The Times had a worrying headline over one of its articles in its edition of the 1st of March 2018: "Time running out for breeds on the brink". The accompanying article lamented the decline of the Otterhound as a show breed without mentioning those in the packs. It listed the top six most popular breeds without setting out the loss of quality this so often brings, contrasting the French Bulldog with 30,887 registrations in 2017 against those of the Skye Terrier with just 40. It didn't warn against the bad breeding that goes into over-popular breeds or the unbearable length of coat that show breeders have inflicted on the Skye Terrier, putting off would-be owners leading busy lives and not wanting lengthy grooming sessions. With the Labrador Retriever, the Cocker Spaniel, the Pug, the Bulldog, the English Springer Spaniel and the Golden Retriever doing well, the piece went on to list those breeds fast losing favour: the Field and Sussex Spaniels, the Smooth Collie and the Curly-coated Retriever. The article claimed that the Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi has been lifted out of the Vulnerable Breeds' List by it featuring in the recent Netflix series "The Crown". It didn't mention the changing habits of shooting men, leading to the all-rounders from abroad being favoured, leading to our native gundog breeds being neglected. There was no reference to the narrow-headed Smooth Collie  being spoiled by an outcross to the Borzoi, condoned by the very Kennel Club now expressing concern at its pending demise!

  A responsible and worried Kennel Club should have explained the way in which show-ring fads have spoiled some of our pedigree breeds, whatever their current popularity. The short face of the Pug, Bulldog and the French Bulldog enriches vets but seriously inconveniences the dogs, which have respiratory difficulties and are unable to enjoy scenting - a great joy to a dog. The KC failed to admit that in the past it has never shown the slightest interest in disappearing native breeds, losing the English White Terrier and the English Water Spaniel from their breed lists without any recorded regrets. The KC didn't mention the fast-disappearing breed of Bloodhound, now so exaggerated that its ease of living is imperilled. With only 88 being registered in 2017, the Bloodhound has not received over a hundred registrations in a year for nearly a decade. Whenever I see this breed in the show ring I despair of finding a sound one, yet its exhibitors and its judges seem content; I have never seen a show exhibit with sound eyes, good movement, the amount of head wrinkle being acceptable and a mouth conforming to its Breed Standard. But the Bulldog is shown with similar faults and exhibits are even rewarded when they can hardly waddle across the ring!

  But then, as Crufts week looms, another national newspaper The Daily Telegraph printed a piece on Saturday the 3rd of March that recommended the giant Great Dane for your sofa, the free-running Greyhound for a leashed walk, the Shetland Sheepdog and the Old English Sheepdog, without mentioning their heavy coats that demand extensive grooming, and Jack Russells and Border Collies without pointing out their hyperactivity and essential need of considerable exercise. To be fair it did mention the breathing difficulties of the Pug, the tendency of the Toy Poodle to bark a lot, the boisterousness of Golden Retrievers, the stubborn nature of the Border Terrier, the timidity of Italian Greyhounds and that the Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier can be too much of a handful in a family with small children. But not a mention of our vulnerable native breeds badly in need of promotion and being so much better companion breeds. What a missed opportunity!

   All the Welsh native breeds of dog are now threatened, but where is the Welsh government or press when they are needed. Quite a number of Welsh pastoral breeds have been lost: the Welsh Hillman, the Old Welsh Grey and the Black and Tan Sheepdog. Soon the game little Sealyham Terrier and the handsome Welsh Springer Spaniel could join them in oblivion. The ever-vocal Scottish parliament has never fought for the Royal Dog of Scotland, the Scottish Deerhound, or the threatened Scottish terrier breeds. Where too is the voice of patriotic Ireland as their terrier breeds and most attractive Red and White Setter struggle to survive. Native breeds represent our sporting and working past: why buy a Pug for £850, then fork out another thousand or so on vets' bills, when you can have a charming Manchester Terrier, soon to be lost to us? Why favour a French Bulldog just because some so-called 'celebrity' is parading one? The latter can afford the vets' bills, can you? Perhaps we should pay our celebrity-stream to parade the native breeds of England, like the threatened Smooth Fox Terrier and our fading spaniel breeds!  

  Meanwhile, our ever-disloyal Kennel Club announces triumphantly their recognition of yet another foreign breed, the French Barbet, having promoted breeds from overseas quite shamelessly in the last century. You cannot limply mourn a lack of support for our own breeds whilst vigorously promoting the latest import from overseas. Some of the latter also soon fade from view and that is very bad for a breed with a limited gene-pool in its native country. The KC claims to speak for the world of dogs in Britain but have never shown any interest in our little-known but well-bred emergent native breeds like the Sporting Lucas, Fell, Patterdale and Plummer Terriers or the Victorian, Dorset and Sussex Bulldogs; those that I see at their own shows knock spots off much of the entry at KC-sanctioned shows. So much for their stated concern about our native breeds of dog! I admire quite a number of foreign breeds and welcome them to our shores but when they replace our native breeds, especially as companion dogs, and not for sound reasons, I question their additional value. Why import, say, a Cesky Terrier, created from Sealyham blood, when our own Sealyham is all but obsolescent? Why flock to the likeable Labrador when another charming and thoroughly appealing, even-older retriever-breed, the Curly-coat, is fast disappearing? But the rich can always indulge themselves; it's their dogs that get rehomed!