In August 2008 the subject of pedigree dog breeding hit the headlines in the form of a BBC documentary entitled ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed. Although the issue of abnormalities in pedigree dogs has been recognised since the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) carried out an investigation in 1963 (Crispin, 2011), ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed’ was described as a wake-up call for everyone involved in canine welfare (Laycock, 2012). The public response to the documentary led the RSPCA and Dogs Trust to withdraw their support for Crufts (Carter, 2009), and the BBC subsequently refused to televise their annual coverage of the show (Bateson, 2010).

The issues raised by ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed’ also led to the commissioning of three separate studies on pedigree dog breeding. All three concluded that welfare issues relating to exaggerated conformation and inherited disease were present in pedigree dogs (Rooney & Sargan, 2009; Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare 2009; Bateson, 2010).

Author

Nicola Hopkins RVN BSc(Hons) CertEd V1 D32/33

Nicola started working for the PDSA in 1996, qualified as a VN in 1999 and went on to become Head Nurse in 2002. In 2003, she left the PDSA and moved into education, combining teaching animal-care students with working for the out-of-hours provider Vets Now. Her interests include dog training and behaviour

Keywords: Clinical, Welfare, Pedigree

To cite this article: Veterinary Nursing Journal • VOL 30 (05) • April 2015 •pp108-110

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