CavalierCampaign.com
Campaign to improve the health of Pedigree Dogs
My Campaign - First Steps
After the loss of Bonnie, I found two websites from other Cavalier owners whose dogs had been diagnosed with Syringomyelia.
One of these was a lady called Angela Baker whose own Cavalier, Chad, was put to sleep a month after Bonnie. Angela decided to set up an internet support group for owners of affected dogs. This happened in the summer of 2003. Membership grew rapidly much to Angela's surprise and dismay.
There were literally hundreds of other cases all over the world. These were mostly Cavaliers but a few cases in other small dog breeds also occurred.
My question at this time was, how could this have happened? How could Syringomyelia be so widespread in the Cavalier breed and yet breeders, breed clubs and the Kennel Club were doing nothing about it? I knew I had to do something.
My Campaign - The Cavalier Club
The first step I took was to join the UK Cavalier Club as I thought it would be better to try to do something from the inside of the system. I wanted to get to know some breeders and members of the Club Committee. I wanted to learn about the role of breed clubs, how health problems were being tackled, and also to learn about the role of the Kennel Club and its relationship to breed clubs.
Besides the national club I discovered there were nine other regional and autonomous Cavalier clubs in the UK. Surely the health and welfare of the dogs would be the priority in these organisations?
However, what I found was that although there were some concerned and compassionate breeders and individuals on the Cavalier Club committee, the system as a whole did not put the health and welfare of the dogs first at all. The Kennel Club referred the issue of health back to breed clubs and breed clubs were seemingly powerless to enforce its Code of Ethics on members.
The item 'No dog which has a known physical defect that could be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the offspring or the breed in general should be used for breeding,' was and still is being routinely ignored by many Cavalier breeders. I wrote on many occasions to the Cavalier Club with suggestions about raising the profile of Syringomyelia, encouraging breeders to MRI scan, working closely with the regional clubs, but progress was very, very slow.
Many of my suggestions were simply rejected out of hand, such as including Syringomyelia as a breed health problem on the Kennel Club's Accredited Breeder Scheme; limiting the use of 'popular sires'; and awarding a prize for Health. So many times I was told, 'You don't want to put people's backs up,' or, 'We can't make people do what they don't want to do,' or, 'We have to win hearts and minds.'
Whilst I agree with those statements in many situations, what do you do if so many of those hearts are hard, and so many Cavalier puppies are being born to a life of pain? There was no sense of urgency about this, even though the incidence of Syringomyelia is increasing in number and severity with each generation.
You are viewing the text version of this site.
To view the full version please install the Adobe Flash Player and ensure your web browser has JavaScript enabled.
Need help? check the requirements page.
