THE Kennel Clubs and all specialized breed clubs need to take a stand now and begin to repair the chaos caused by the completely ineffectual way they have handled their rules on breeding, registration and conformation.

The Kennel Club in Britain is currently feeling the sting from a recent television programme that exposed many of its shortcomings. In the aftermath of that programme the Dogs Trust - a very high profile British rescue organisation, the SPCA which of course needs no introduction, and Pedigree dog foods, have all dissociated themselves from the annual Crufts Show and other events run by The Kennel Club and specific breed clubs. This ban will operate until the clubs show a concentrated effort to make the health of dogs their priority rather than conformity to a debilitating, but demanded, breed shape.

Kennel Clubs worldwide are notorious for their lack of control where their breeders are concerned - after all, the breeders are their meal tickets. Take away the breeders and there are no membership fees, no registrations, no show entries, and no very lucrative business. So they have largely taken a background stance, registered dogs and accepted memberships on application, and done not much at all about the often questionable practices of their members. Many such clubs are seen by the more money-hungry breeders as a tool with which to legitimise the underhand way they run their businesses.

One rather prominent anomaly internationally is that in some countries the conformation standard of the breeds is set by the Kennel Club. In other countries the standard is set by each breed's specific official breed club. This has led to situations such as that in New Zealand at present. The New Zealand Kennel Club sets the breed standard for all breeds, and has accepted the "silver Labrador" as a pedigree under the 'chocolate' classification, because "the American Kennel Club has accepted it". However, the anomaly is that the American Kennel Club does not set the standard - the national Labrador Club sets the standard and states it will "never accept a silver Labrador, as that colour does not exist in the pedigree Labrador gene pool". The American Kennel Club may have accepted the colour, but 'silver' Labradors will never be able to compete in the showring there.

So the New Zealand Kennel Club has made a clown of itself by accepting and registering 'silver' Labradors that are now being sold as show dogs to unsuspecting buyers. At their first attempt at showing such dogs the owners have been told "Sorry, weimaraners are the next group" by their usually international judges. This situation the Kennel Club in that country has brought upon itself. It is responsible because it did not question anything but blindly followed the lead of a similar organisation, not bothering to find out whether the rules under which they operated were similar.

Over-all the breed standards are in need of a huge revision to counteract the harmful expectations that are presently part of the breed standards. For instance, the dachshund breed has now become so long that its back often collapses; the German shepherd's back has become so rounded that its spine and hips are badly connected and often see the early onset of chronic arthritis; the small dome-headed breeds and the thin skulled collie have such badly shaped skulls that their brain has no room to grow; dogs with squashed noses such as bulldogs, pugs and boxers often have breathing difficulties and left to their own devices could not breed as they are unable to break the sac surrounding their puppies. Many such dogs also have undershot jaws that can mean problems with eating and digestion. Breeders, owners and club members and officials all are very aware of the faults and unhealthy futures they are breeding into their lines but they blindly follow the showdog "breed standard".

Breeders without even a basic knowledge of genetics are adding to the huge mess by allowing inbreeding and by not bothering to investigate the family of a potential mate for their breeding bitches. Because of their lack of knowledge they are breeding hip displaysia, progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) and hundreds of other genetic conditions into their lines rather than breeding to keep such conditions out of their lines. Most such shoddy breeders just do not care. The kennel clubs should be operating a database listing all cases of genetic conditions and pinpointing their origin - what a huge help they could be to all breeders as a reference point for potential matings. Many genetic conditions can now be classified by testing and where such tests are available all breeding stock should be tested and should not be used for breeding unless they are certified as clear from infection.

And for breeders who regard their breeding animals as nothing more than earning units the club rules need to be enforced as well as enforceable. It is no use a club putting new expectations into place if there is nothing they can do to stop a corrupt breeder breaking those rules. They must be able to expel the breeder from the club and reduce his or her status to that of a 'backyard breeder' until any dogs owned by that person are cared for and bred in a healthy, clean and caring manner. Breeder premises should be regularly inspected to make sure the standards are maintained.

The kennel and breed clubs are now beginning to feel the first stirrings of protest at their lack of action over the health and welfare of dogs, which should be their top priority above that of making money. It is time for responsible breeders, interested members of the public and caring club officials to put rules in place - rules that can be enforced. Many clubs need to elect younger working people onto their boards - people who can be strong, active and work for the good of dogs first and their owners second. Too many clubs are run by long-retired dinosaurs of the canine world who were breeders and owners in times long past. Most of them have not kept abreast of new developments and expectations. Perhaps like a presidency, a limit of two terms on club board of trustees members or office holders would prevent that difficult and time-consuming job turning into a permanent armchair by the fire for relicts of the 'old school'.

That rule would also prevent the all-too-familiar face of the self-appointed "top breeder in the country" (every country and region has at least one of these) serving on the committee or as president or secretary term after term because nobody is brave enough to vote them off. These people mould the rest of the members to their will. They are the people clubs can do without but fear of their power over club activities and the price that could be paid by getting on the wrong side of such people keeps them firmly installed.

These are the parasites of the dog breeding world who can only be restricted by office-holding limitations (standing as president, treasurer, secretary, or any other available office in turn is often a ploy such people use to beat the one-term or two-term rules). Until the clubs can move on and put the health and welfare of dogs above all else, they will continue to decline in credibility until they stand for nothing. Perhaps the clubs all need to go back to the beginning - start with the Kennel Club concept and work forward from there. It would be an interesting project in the light of all we now know. - Elezabeth