The Kennel Club

The Kennel Club ("KC") is the official kennel club of the United Kingdom. It is the oldest recognised kennel club in the world. Its role is to act as governing body for various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials. It also operates the national register of pedigree dogs in the United Kingdom and acts as a lobby group on issues involving dogs in the UK. Its headquarters are located on Clarges Street in Mayfair, London, with business offices in Aylesbury.

The Kennel Club registration system divides dogs into seven breed groups. The Kennel Club Groups are: Hound, Working, Terrier, Gundog, Pastoral, Utility and Toy. As of 2011, the Kennel Club recognised 210 breeds of dog.^[1] This was increased to 211 breeds with the addition of the Turkish Kangal dog in 2013.^[2]

The Kennel Club licenses dog shows throughout the UK but the only dog show actually run by the KC is the Crufts conformation show. The show has been held since 1928 and attracts competitors from all over the world. Crufts is held every March at the NEC, Birmingham. The Kennel Club also holds the dog event Discover Dogs in London every November, featuring the Scruffts dog show for crossbreed and mixed breed dogs.

History

Sewallis Shirley, the founder of The Kennel Club.

The Kennel club was founded in 1873 after Sewallis E Shirley became frustrated by trying to organise dog shows without a consistent set of rules to work with. Since the first dog show held in 1859, shows had become increasingly popular during the Victorian era. Shirley is listed as an exhibitor of Fox Terriers at the Birmingham Dog Show Society show in 1865. Together with a group of other gentlemen he organised the First Grand Exhibition of Sporting and Other Dogs held at Crystal Palace in June 1870. The show was not a financial success and the gentlemen of the committee had to make up the loss.^[3][4]

This seems to have been the trigger for Shirley calling a meeting with twelve others who had deep seated interests in judging and exhibiting pedigree dogs. The Meeting was held at 2 Albert Mansions, Victoria Street, London, a small flat with only three rooms. All business was conducted from there until a move to Pall Mall in May 1877.^[5]

It was decided they would be responsible for publishing a Stud Book and the first volume was published and ready to be distributed in December 1874. It listed pedigrees of dogs competing at shows from 1859 and also included a "Code of Rules for the guidance of Dog Shows and Field trials"^[6]

Shirley was appointed as chairman at the first annual general meeting of the KC on 1 December 1874.^[6]

The Kennel Club saw particular change under the chairmanship of John MacDougall during the period 1981 to 1996. Among the changes he helped introduce were the revamping of the Club’s constitution, the development of the Junior Organisation to encourage youth to participate in the sport of dog showing, and the creation of the library and the charitable trust. It was also under his stewardship that the registration system became computerised.^[7]

Charles Cruft, the founder of the Crufts conformation dog show

Crufts

The Kennel Club acquired Crufts dog show after the widow of Charles Cruft was unable to devote the time to running such a large undertaking. No shows were held during the Second World War. The first Crufts show held by the Kennel Club was in 1948 at Olympia, London. The show was first televised by the BBC in 1950. The show moved to Earls Court in 1979 where it remained until staging its centenary show in 1991 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. From originally being a show for the exhibition of purebred dogs, it has expanded over the years and now incorporates most other canine disciplines such as Obedience, Agility, and Flyball.^[8]

Discover Dogs/Scruffts

Initially the Discover Dogs event was staged as a part of Crufts dog show, but as its popularity increased it became a stand-alone event. Established in 1996, it is described as a canine extravaganza and a show-piece event. Discover Dogs gives the public an opportunity to meet representatives of all pedigree dog breeds and chat with breed experts about the suitability of the breed as a pet. It also hosts the Scruffts Family Crossbreed of the Year competition which is a dog show for cross breeds. Mixed breed dogs can compete in classes like prettiest bitch, handsomest dog, golden oldie and child’s best friend. In 2012, four heats of Scruffts were staged at the Discover Dogs event and the winner of each heat will go forward to compete in a final being held at Crufts 2013 for the first time. Heats of Scruffts are held at canine events throughout the UK in the previous year but only one heat is held in Scotland.^[9] It is held over two days at Earls Court, London in November each year and the 2012 event drew a crowd of over 30,000, an increase of ten percent on the previous years attendance figure.^[10][11] The event also includes the semi-finals for the Kennel Gazette Junior Warrant competition, which is a competition for pedigree dogs aged between six to 18 months, the National Junior Handling UK final as well as displays by police dog teams. There are also a large number of trade stalls selling everything for dogs, from treats to beds.^[12][13]

Kennel Club Charitable Trust

The Kennel Club Charitable Trust is a dog charity that looks after the welfare and health of dogs. They fund a wide variety of work, including supporting research into canine diseases, dog welfare organisations and the promotion of service dogs.^[14] Set up in 1987, it was first registered with the Charity Commission in May 1988.^[15] The Duchess of Cornwall became the first patron of the Trust in October 2007 when it celebrated its twentieth anniversary.^[16]

Many donations are made to charitable causes by the KC. The Animal Health Trust (AHT) has frequently received donations from the KC and in 2012, a £1.5 million interest free loan was granted to the AHT to enable it to complete the building and equipping of a new animal cancer treatment and research centre at its base in Suffolk.^[17][18] The AHT also regularly receives funding to enable work to continue at the Genetics Centre run in conjunction with the KC. The sum of £250,000 was donated to the Genetics Centre in 2010. During 2010 the Kennel Club Charitable Trust had provided almost £800,000 to help non pedigree as well as pedigree organisations.^[19]

The Kennel Club Trust also funded a new building at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, which was opened by Prince Michael of Kent in February 2009. The facilities are used for various canine related competitions, training, seminars and charity events.^[20][21]

Kennel Club Dog Art Gallery

Richard Ansdell's 1865 painting, The Poacher At Bay

The Kennel Club Dog Art Gallery is located at the Club's headquarters at 1 Clarges Street, near Green Park tube station in London.^[22] The gallery is devoted to fine art about dogs and features themed exhibitions, as well as a permanent collection. Artists in the collection include Maud Earl, George Earl, Richard Ansdell, Arthur Wardle and Cecil Aldin. The gallery is open by appointment.

The art gallery opened in 2003 and was the idea of former Kennel Club Chairman John McDougall. The Club had accumulated quite a large collection of canine artwork, including 130 oil paintings,100 works on paper, nearly 100 engravings and prints, the same number of sculptures and trophies. The collection is still being added to. Various exhibitions are held covering a variety of breeds, such as English setters and Gordon setters, Irish setters. To gain more awareness of the collection available at the art gallery, it sometimes stages exhibitions at art and design fairs. Former Kennel Club chairman Ronnie Irving is quoted as saying "The great thing about the Kennel Club Art Gallery is that it's a way of encouraging those people interested in dogs to learn a bit more about art and those people interested in art to do likewise about dogs."^{[23][24][25][26]}

Assured Breeder Scheme

The Accredited Breeder Scheme was launched in 2004 but was later renamed as the Assured Breeder Scheme (ABS). As the ABS membership grew, a number of regional advisors were recruited to inspect breeders premises and paperwork to ensure adequate standards were being met.^[27] Breed specific recommendations were added to some breeds for the first time in January 2010 after consultations with breed clubs.^[28]

The scheme was meant to help potential dog owners identify responsible breeders, but has been described by Dogs Trust as "full of pitfalls, the main one being that it's self-certificating".^[29] The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare report indicates that the low breeding standards practised by some in the ABS may allow the public to be "falsely led into thinking a puppy they buy from an accredited breeder registered with the KC will have no health or welfare problems associated with its breeding history." It called for more random checks and robust enforcement of the scheme and states that "the use of the word ‘pedigree’ should be tied to a high standard of breeding (for health and welfare) across the board with the KC not just with the few that decide to join the Accredited Breeder Scheme (ABS)."

A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, one of the breeds featured in Pedigree Dogs Exposed

The report warned that if the health measures implemented by the KC fails, government regulations might be necessary. The Kennel Club has issued a response to the report.^[30] Pedigree Dogs Exposed producer Jemima Harrison condemned the KC's response, stating that they are downplaying the criticism of the KC in the report and misrepresenting the findings.^[31]

In April 2013 it was announced that the ABS scheme had secured recognition by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). Various changes were made to the scheme to gain accreditation, which included ensuring inspections were made of all new members premises and that those who were already members would be checked within a three year time period. In January 2010 Prof Sir Patrick Bateson had advocated seeking UKAS accreditation in his Independent Inquiry into Dog Breeding.^[32]

Other Programmes

In February 2013, the Kennel Club launched a programme called "Get Fit With Fido", which encouraged dog owners to lose weight by exercising with their dogs.^[33]

Pedigree Dogs Exposed

The organisation was criticised on the BBC programme Pedigree Dogs Exposed for allowing breed standards, judging standards and breeding practices which are said to compromise the health of purebred dogs.^[34] The programme led various sponsors to withdraw their participation in Crufts and the BBC eventually dropped Crufts 2009 from its coverage. The Kennel Club initially defended their practices,^[35] and criticised the programme as "highly biased".^[36] It also lodged a complaint to regulatory authority Ofcom claiming "unfair treatment and editing".^[37]

Due to the strong public response, the Kennel Club started rolling out new health plans. Breed standards for every breed went under review and show judges would be required to choose only healthy dogs.^[38] New breed standards were announced in January 2009, and close inbreeding was to be banned.^[39]

References

Bibliography

External links

• The Kennel Club
• The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, Registered Charity no. 327802 at the Charity Commission

• Discover Dogs