Pekingese feel the Kennel Club’s wrath

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THE PEKINGESE breed clubs are the first to feel the force of the Kennel Club’s new get tough policy.
It has written to all the secretaries telling them that it is going to change the breed Standard ‘with health issues in mind’ and ‘as a minimum’ remove reference to ‘profile flat’ from the head and skull clause.
The KC’s Breed Health and Welfare Group is also to make recommendations regarding a possible ‘veterinary passport’ – as mentioned in DOG WORLD last week – which would be designed specifically for the breed. This would confirm the status of a dog’s health and conformation in relation to certain points and if introduced would be required for all dogs before they can be exhibited at KC shows.

Provide evidence

The KC has also decided that ‘supporters’ of the Pekingese breed should be given a set number of years – the number has not yet been agreed – to provide evidence of progress towards meeting the necessary changes to conformation. Failure to do so within the timescale could result in the withdrawal of CCs from the breed ‘and/or a requirement for a veterinary passport,’ said the letter from the KC’s Caroline Hallett.
The letter stated that the General Committee was not convinced that ‘continued consultation’ with the clubs was resulting in ‘adequate progress being made in moving towards improvement of the health of the breed.’ The committee had noted: ‘Considerable disagreement among Pekingese breeders and clubs as to the way forward; evidence that some breed clubs are really only paying lip service to the required improvement process and even fail to accept that there is a problem and requests from some breeders who believe that breed clubs will ‘never agree’ that the KC should simply indicate how it wishes breeders to proceed.’
The KC has given the clubs until October to report back to it. But some prominent people in the breed have been at pains to point out the work carried out in recent years to improve the breed’s health. Some feel they are been ‘picked on’ by the KC, that a veterinary passport is unworkable, removing CCs draconian and changing the Standard ‘the thin edge of the wedge.’
The strength of feeling in the breed was such, Andrew Brace believes, that Pekingese breeders might break away and form their own club.
“At a time when everyone involved with the hobby about which we feel so passionately feels under threat I find the Pekingese situation doubly distressing and have great sympathy for the breeders who have worked so hard with this, the most beautiful of breeds,” he said.
“First, I am not convinced that the breed has a major heart problem, the minimal survey being hardly conclusive. It is true that some Pekingese have – and always have had – individual dogs who display heavy over-nose wrinkles and pinched nostrils which may affect their breathing, these being faults that have always been penalised by conscientious judges.
“Most of the Pekingese I know personally – and I know many – are happy and healthy dogs who are not in the first flush of youth. When I owned the breed the only cause of death in my own dogs, without exception, was old age.
“I believe the Pekingese has been unfairly targeted and can understand why the breed people are feeling somewhat victimised. This is not the only small brachycephalic breed that may be perceived to experience ipso facto problems, but others have not been similarly treated. As regards the apparent reluctance of the Pekingese clubs to work together, I think you will find that this is down to a clash of personalities on its health committee rather than any lack of genuine desire to move the breed forward – unfortunate but true.
“The suggestion that the requirement for a flat profile may be removed from a breed Standard that has been in force for generations is the thin end of the wedge.
“Thanks to the underlying actions of a very aggressive animal rights movement whose ultimate aim is to see all domestic animals running free and wild, tinkering with breed Standards in this way could herald the beginning of the disappearance of many breeds as we know them.
“How long will it be before some bright spark suggests crossing Tibetan Spaniels with Pekingese in pursuit of longer noses and ‘health’? It would be interesting to learn exactly what committee suggested the removal of this important phrase and whether those who sit on it have a thorough understanding of Pekingese breed type.

‘Unworkable’

“The prospect of a vet passport is in my opinion unworkable, unless all the vets involved have a personal knowledge of pedigree dogs and familiarity with the breed Standards. And then who is to say that what one vet will accept another will not?
“Clarges Street’s threat of the removal of CCs from the breed is draconian and foolish. Believe me, there is enough strength of feeling in the breed at the moment to see Pekingese breeders breaking away from the KC, forming their own breed club and running their own shows totally divorced from the governing body – is that really what our ruling body would want to see? And believe me, if they did break away several other breeds would soon follow.
“Pekingese breeders are doing their best to improve the facial details, the amount of coat and the general soundness of their dogs but Rome was not built in a day.
“They should be treated like adults, not naughty schoolchildren, and the breed that is part of our heritage allowed to prosper and move forward.”
Breed liaison officer Joyce Mitchell, of the famous Micklee Pekingese, stressed the work carried out by clubs, and cited a judges’ workshop being held in November on the subject of ‘Fit for function fit for life’ – the KC’s new initiative. The KC’s health and breeder services manager Bill Lambert will attend to give a presentation on the Accredited Breeder Scheme and an interpretation of the Standard is to be given by a member of the KC’s Breed Standard and Stud Book Committee.
“Since being elected to the Kennel Club Liaison Council in 1982 I have found that the majority of proposals and suggestions and other relevant problems have come from the older breeders who still have the breed at heart and are willing to share their knowledge with today’s fanciers, We must never forget that experience has made the breed what it is today; it is not perfect but we do not have all the problems that are being circulated about. The advantage of having age on your shoulders is that it gives you confidence to make your views known, especially when it comes to health problems, many off which over the years have been eradicated wherever possible. 
“It is common sense – the breed needs to enjoy good health, for which breeders are responsible. They should know where the problems came from and avoid going down that path in future. The breed can and must pull together, but the ship must be in experienced and safe hands and maybe a new coat of paint to sail again at full steam.”
Liz Stannard, whose Shiarita kennel produced many top winners, said the breed’s problem with pinched nostrils and heavy over-nose wrinkle was largely solved.
“We have worked hard at this,” she said. “We are told the breed has a heart problem. This was a surprise to us and there seems to be no evidence of one. Even our own vets have no knowledge of it. I don’t think we have any more, or as many, health problems as people think. I have lots of oldies all running around here at home.

Intimidate

“I’m not sure what the veterinary passport is or what it involves. We have set up a workshop for November, which the majority of breed clubs are supporting. We have taken the ‘Fit for function, fit for life’ initiative and are working on it. “None of us is perfect but our breed doesn’t have the problems that the KC seems to want to bring to the fore and intimidate people with. Changing the ‘profile flat’ clause in the Standard could turn the Pekingese into a Tibetan Spaniel.
“That BBC programme kicked everything into play and as a result things may be being done in haste – and perhaps not the right things.”