Amen

WARNING: graphic image of a Bulldog having sex

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And here's dad, Bentley.

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Although some Bulldogs can mate naturally, the majority of breedings are done by artificial insemination. This is sometimes because their shape precludes a natural mating; sometimes because the effort/stress can result in a heart attack.

The KC's 2014 health survey found that almost one in five Bulldogs die from heart failure. Although some Bulldogs do make it to old age, they are dead, on average, by the age of 6 - much the same as it's always been, despite better nutrition/vet care.

Interesting to see the changes in the breed since he 1950s. The dogs in this archive mostly have terrible fronts... but are longer-legged and kept leaner than today's show dog.  

Tinned Dog Food Appeal.....

You have all always been so supportive of us, but I'm afraid its that time again when I have to ask our brilliant supporters to help us out. We have run desperately short of tinned dog food, I don't know why these things literally run in feast or famine, but whilst the dry dog food is ticking over the tins have gotten really short.

Please, if you can spare one tin of food it would be greatly appreciated. As I have said before, the dogs will not starve so please don't panic. We will starve before them, but every bit of help will be a massive boost.

There are a couple of ways you can donate..... dropping off at one of our drop off points, bringing some to'The Donation Drop Off' day at SHAK HQ on the 31st March or by ordering through out Amazon Wish List:

SHAK Amazon Wish List.....

Thank you in advance, below are some food drop off points:

Pets At a Home, Cramlington.
Taylor's Newsagents, Alnwick.
Moorview Vets, Backworth.
Sainsburys, Alnwick.
Carlton's Feed Merchants, Seaton Delaval.
Wilkinsons, Alnwick
Carlton's Feed Merchants, Benton.

Thank you.

Another Great Night..... And FREE Microchipping.....

We had another great night on Tuesday at HQ as our good friend Emily and her technical assistant Kerry travelled all the way up from Moorview Vets to give us a talk on 'Preventative Health Care and Canine First Aid.' It really was both informative and entertaining, and I have to say a huge thank you to another sell out audience!

We are already in talks with Moorview about planning the next talk, so I'll keep you posted on that, but in the meantime I'd just like to thank Emily and Kerry for giving up their own to to support us, not only on the night, but in all the time it took to put the presentation together!

Next up at HQ is a FREE MICROCHIPPING event and a Donation Drop Off day on Thursday 31st March between 12-3. In conjunction with the Northumberland Animal Welfare Team anybody who hasn't had their dog microchipped are very welcome to come and get it for done for FREE before the law changes on the 1st of April.

The doors will also be open to anyone who has any donations of bedding, food etc as a drop off point. We had a great success with such a day at Christmas time, so hopefully this one will be as big a success.

SHAK HQ is located at Greenwell Road, Alnwick, NE66 1HB and both events run from 12-3.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Petplan Awards.....

I came home to a very nice surprise yesterday to find that the charity, Joan and myself had been nominated in various categories of the 2016 Petplan Animal Charity Awards. In a period when things have been so difficult it is nice to know that people still recognise the work we do. Thank you to the people who have nominated us.

ASDA Green Tokens.....

I am delighted to announce that we have once again been chosen for the Asda Green Token campaign at the Ashington branch. Running from yesterday until the end of April, we really need your support to help win the prize money.

So if you shop in Asda and live near Ashington please ask for your green tokens and put them in our container. We've had such great support with this in the past, thank you in advance for helping us this time.

REVEALED: the GSD at Crufts that looked GREAT!

This is a German Shepherd bitch called Kenmil's Bellisima Of Danala.  She looks great, doesn't she? She is free-moving and balanced on the move.

Unfortunately, it wasn't this year - it was in 1982, 34 years ago, that this dog won Reserve Best in Show at Crufts.

A dog like this is no longer considered correct today by most in the GSD show-world - as we have seen in recent days.

I hope by now that most people have realised that the Best of Breed bitch at Crufts is not a one-off.

Cruaghaire Catoria is typical of what's being bred and shown in the UK and much of Europe - following the lead of Germany, the home of the GSD.

This was the top show bitch in Germany in 2015. This is what they're aiming for. Look at her and weep.

None of this has happened overnight.

And neither is it the first time that people have been horrified and demanded that something is done about it.  We shot this at Crufts in 2008 for Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

And there was a fuss again in 2010 when viewers reacted badly to the sight of Best of Breed, Ch Veneze Ellie in the main ring (deja vu performance from both Clare Balding and Caroline Kisko, the KC's head of communications, isn't it?).

The upshot, I think we can agree, is that the Kennel Club has been completely ineffectual in sorting out "the GSD problem".

The reason? 

The breeders don't think there is a problem.

Oh, they might admit to a little overangulation here... a bit of a wobbly hock there.. but as anyone who has tried to discuss it with them knows,  the bottom line is that they really think the dog is fundamentally correct. And when a bit of slo-mo footage breaks  through the cognitive dissonance, there is always an excuse. It was the slippy surface..poor handling...the size of the ring.. a non-representative unlucky moment... the dog was coming into/out of season... the noise (this from a dog that's temperamentally supposed to be as steady as a rock!).

There is nothing you can do to persuade them otherwise.

� You can tell them there is no precedent for this shape in a canid.

� You can tell them that it's no coincidence that the breed suffers spinal/joint issues

� You can tell them that the biggest canine locomotion study in the world found that the shape handicaps the dogs.

� You can tell them that anyone with eyes in their head can see it's wrong.

� And you can tell them that the breed's founder, Max von Stephanitz, would turn in his grave if he could see what had been done to his beloved shepherd. Because what he thought was a good dog was this....

1920

...and this...

1924, Donar von Overstolzen

..and this.

1925 Klodo vom Boxberg

No, today's show breeders will look you straight in the eye and ask you to believe that this...

..and this...

..and this..

...are better dogs.

Right now,  the Kennel Club is trying to work out what it has to do in order to regain some credibility in the eyes of a very disappointed public - without totally pissing off the GSD Clubs.

The KC's Caroline Kisko has already suggested (as she did in 2010) that withdrawing challenge certificates might do the trick. For those that don't know, this simply means that the dogs can still compete and still win, but won't be able to be called a Champion. 

But I suspect it will be taken out of the KC's hands. The GSD League of Great Britain is furious. How dare the kennel club throw one its own to the wolves as the Kennel Club did on television on Sunday night in a clunky attempt to save its own neck. (And it really did... this was no mea culpa hand-wringing... it was an attempt by the Kennel Club to absolve itself of any responsibility.)  

Not us, guv... it was the judge... the dog... the breeder... the runes... basically anything other than the fact that once the fuss died down after 2010, the Kennel Club has done very little to tackle the issue. (Although there is one bit of good news - a new biomechanics study, funded by the KC, is just beginning at the University of Surrey. Researchers there hope to recruit 260 GSDs over the next two years. I am waiting for more info on this and will blog separately.)

As I reported a couple of days ago, the KC delegated judges training to the GSD League of GB - the very body that thinks it's perfectly OK for the dogs to look like this. 

And as for the hope expressed by Caroline Kisko on Sunday night's broadcast that next year's GSD Crufts' judge won't give the top prize to a dog like Cruaghaire Catoria... well, his name is Malcolm Robinson and he gave Cruaghaire Catoria a 1st in a class in 2014.

My guess is that the GSD League will stick two fingers up to the KC and other GSD Clubs could follow. The League is affiliated to the WUSV and already runs shows in the UK under WUSV rules.  This way, it can continue to breed and show German Shepherds that look like hyenas without having to run the gauntlet of a prime-time television audience which, in its view, knows nothing.

This would solve the Kennel Club's immediate problem - although be a bit embarrassing. But of course it does nothing for the dogs.

So what's the answer?

Hah! You thought I was going to suggest something?

Nope. I'm right out of ideas. You need psychologists to sort this one - well, and some more conclusive science as there haven't been enough studies comparing the show GSD with the working-bred dogs that - thank God - you can still find outside the ring. Dogs like this one.

Or how about this Finnish dog - who actually has competed in the Finnish show-ring?

And then there's this dog, Super Trouper at Brightmeadow, who won well at Paignton Championship Show in Devon last year under top (but non-specialist) judge Jean Lanning. Lanning has been around long enough to not be afraid of going against the flow.  

The problem is that dogs like this rarely get a chance in the UK show-ring because the "Germanic" type rules.  Super Trouper is what they would call an Alsatian - what the breed was called during/post WW2 here in the UK (a time when anything German would be given a hard time). Anyone who likes them is called an "Alsatianist". It's not intended as a compliment.

So... how do we solve the "GSD problem"? Let me know your thoughts below.