Pedigree dog health education day
Image: Kennel Club High Profile Breed Education Day
Event highlights progress in breed health The Kennel Club (KC) has held its first ever High Profile Breed Education Day, which enables discussion on the state of health in "high profile" breeds – those that commonly suffer with certain health issues.
The KC says it works closely with the clubs of those breeds in identifying the key issues, obtaining the opinion of breed experts, advising breed clubs on how they can effectively address the issues and investigating how the KC can assist.
In so doing, the KC launched its education day at the beginning of February. The event gave representatives of 14 high profile breeds the opportunity to explain the health work that has been undertaken by breeders, judges and veterinary surgeons.
Attendees were able to see the progress already achieved with a visual demonstration for each breed. Dogs that boast good characteristics, moving away from exaggerations, were shown beside those that have typical conformation and movement problems.
Penny Rankine-Parsons, breed health coordinator for French bulldogs and KC judge, said: “The idea of a high profile breed education day is an excellent one. It gives the high profile breeds the chance to talk to each other and exchange ideas and in certain cases, work together.
“At the event I made contact with a number of breeds about collaborating together on certain research projects and organising seminars between us. It’s a wonderful day for developing a collaborative approach to breed health. I think it’s a brilliant initiative.”
Commenting on the "fantastic" work being undertaken, Charlotte McNamara, the KC's high profile breed coordinator, said the event provided an opportunity to highlight the incredible progress that has been made.
“We were extremely impressed with the turn out on the day, and believe that by bringing together judges, breeders and vets, we can help give everyone a better understanding of the unique challenges faced, and the results achieved within each of the fourteen breeds."
She added: “We were impressed with the dedication and passion we saw from the breed representatives and are confident that by continuing with a unified approach we can all help to further improve the health and happiness of these breeds.”
The KC defines a high profile breed as one that has been designated by its general committee as requiring particular monitoring by reason of visible condition(s), which may cause health or welfare concerns.
Current high profile breeds are the basset hound, bloodhound, bulldog, chow chow, clumber spaniel, drogue de bordeaux, French bulldog, German shepherd dog, mastiff, Neapolitan mastiff, pekingese, pug, St Bernard and shar pei.
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