Going to the dogs ......

D

Dewi

Active member
 A tripe shop doorway somewhere in Lancashire
A mate of mine who's involved in the doggy world asked if I'd like to go to Crufts with him on Friday, he had a couple of press passes going spare so I grabbed the camera gear and off we went.

No offence to anyone here who shows dogs, but I came away feeling really sorry for some of the poor pooches. They looked really bored and fed up most of them, and by late afternoon some were obviously getting quite distressed and had started chucking up. The only really happy dogs I saw there were the agility and obedience contestants. I much prefer to see dogs runnng free over the fields chasing sticks and rabbits than to see them pampered to death and being treated like an innanimate object.

Some photos, I was quite pleased with these as I used a 40+ year old Pentax lens on my Canon DSLR, purely because I didn't want to use flash and it's the widest aperture lens I own. Another plus was it gave some nice shallow depth of field to some shots.






















 
Dewi said:
No offence to anyone here who shows dogs, but I came away feeling really sorry for some of the poor pooches. They looked really bored and fed up most of them, and by late afternoon some were obviously getting quite distressed and had started chucking up. The only really happy dogs I saw there were the agility and obedience contestants. I much prefer to see dogs runnng free over the fields chasing sticks and rabbits than to see them pampered to death and being treated like an innanimate object.

Some great shots there Dewi :thumbsup:
Apart from the rabbit bit I agree with you, they look bored to tears.
Click to expand...
 
None of my dogs have ever caught a rabbit, Grumpy. They wouldn't know what to do with it if they did! :D
 
I agree with you Dewi. Crufts and the Kennel Club have a lot further to go to improve the whole dog show thing. A very large number of perfectly healthy dogs are out down simply because they don't meet the breed standard.

Our dog's Dad was a champion show dog, but we got him because we wanted a dog that would enjoy walks and runs and worked on the basis that because his Mem and Dad both had good hips that he would, and he has - still capable at the age of 12 of a very fast sprint in the event of squirrels in the garden!

I went to Crufts one - won't go again.
 
I'd go again RickRob and probably will, there are some great photo opportunities to be had there.

On the more positive side, I liked the idea of the "Discovering Dogs" displays, where different dog breed groups had put up stands with their paritcular breeds on them. It gave potential dog owners a chance to go and chat to owners of different breeds to get an idea of what a breed would be like to live with - suitablitiy for kids, health risks etc. They all looked happy healthy dogs and the theme through that part of the show was that each dog on the stand spent no more than 4 hours there before it was replaced by another. It was just the show dogs I felt sorry for.

Our Spaniel girl, Jo, was being kept back by her breeder for possible showing, she was her first tri coloured Spaniel. The idea was to break tri colours into the show ring - the K.C "establishment" dont like tri colours so she was intending to make a point. In the end though she chickened out and kept back an orange / white girl instead, so we got Jo when she was about 4 months old. She had a lucky escape!

Meet josie :)

 
Lovely intelligent looking pooch Dewi, I bet she's full of character. :thumbsup:

likewise RickRob , I bet he/she's a well cared for happy dog (if not a bit scary!)
 
"Crufts dog death: Poisoning probe after Irish Setter dies"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-31787558

Bloody hell :(
 
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