How you can help
If you would like to help to change the existing system of dog breeding, here are some suggestions below.
If you missed seeing the BBC documentary film, 'Pedigree Dogs Exposed', a DVD of the film can be purchased from Passionate Productions website.
The current system of dog breeding is unregulated and it is this lack of regulation which has enabled dogs to be bred which suffer from, or are carriers of, genetic diseases and harmful traits.
I believe it should not be left to the breed clubs and the Kennel Club to self regulate. These organisations have a vested interest in breeding, selling and showing dogs, and in the case of the Kennel Club earn vast amounts of money from the registration and transfer of puppies.
The current Animal Welfare Act (2006) provides a 'duty of care' on all people who own dogs, but does not include a specific clause about breeding dogs and genetic health.
However, there is an opportunity under the secondary legislation of the Animal Welfare Act to provide greater protection for dogs from the suffering caused by inherited diseases and traits. The government department responsible for Animal Welfare is the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
- Write to the Administrative Officer, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) , Animal Welfare Division, 1a Page Street, London, SW1 4PQ or email hugh.togher@defra.gsi.gov.uk FAO Peter Hall, Graham Thurlow, Henry Hoppe. More information on the Animal Welfare Act 2006, secondary legislation and codes of practice is available on the Defra website. The Minister for Animal Welfare at DEFRA currently is Jane Kennedy, MP.
- Write to your Member of Parliament and/or Member of the European Parliament.
- Write to the UK Cavalier Club, either to the Chairman, Mrs Lesley Jupp, 60 Roundway, Copped Hall, Camberly,Surrey, GU15 1NU or Secretary, Mrs Annette Jones, The Old Swan, Carrog, Corwen, Denbighshire, LL21 9AL, or email: timsar@btinternet.com
- Write to or email Alan Waldron (Secretariat), the Companion Animal Welfare Council (CAWC): cawc@cawc.freeserve.co.uk or The Dene, Old North Road, Bourn, Cambridge CB23 7TZ
- Write to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare: Eric Martlew, MP, House of Commons, London SW1A OAA
- Write to or email the Kennel Club, 1-5 Clarges Street, London WIJ 8AB. People you may wish to write to at the Kennel Club include Ronnie Irving (Chairman), Caroline Kisko (Secretary) and Dr Jeff Sampson (Health and Genetics Co-ordinator). You can email the KC via the contact form on their website.
Funding for Cavalier DNA Research
- If you would like to make a donation towards Syringomyelia research, please send a cheque made payable to 'Syringomyelia DNA Research', to me at: Bradley Cottage, 5 Ellerncroft Road, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire GL12 7AX (Tel: 01453 843944). I will forward it to Dr Clare Rusbridge who heads this research in the UK.
Alternatively, visit For the Love of Ollie website and purchase a copy of 'For the Love of Ollie' by Sandy Smith. All proceeds from the sale of this book will be directed towards the syringomyelia Cavalier genome research fund established at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
Copies of 'For the Love of Ollie' are also available in the UK from me at the above address. A cheque for £7.99 should be made payable to 'For the Love of Ollie'.
- You can also visit the Audrey's Tale website. Audrey's Tale is a book for young children about a Cavalier puppy. A percentage of the proceeds of this book will be donated to the genetic research into Syringomyelia at the Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal, Canada.