Content research

Documentary Content Research.

Kennel Club

The Kennel Club is an organisation that dedicates themselves to maintaining the welfare of dogs and educating dog handlers and owners about dog care. Breeders can be Kennel Club registered, which maintains that they are a reliable breeder with healthy and well-looked-after dogs and puppies. They are also one of the main event organisers for the biggest dog show in the world, Crufts, with many other Kennel Club registered dog shows across the country.

We have gone through their website to find events that we can include in our documentary or even just people we can contact for information on who we can talk to. They have a very comprehensive list of dog shows in the UK  with the contact details of the organisers of the events so we will be able to use this in order to find people we can talk to and possible events we can contact to film at. Other than actual events, there is a list of dog clubs in South East England that we can contact for people to interview and if they hold classes, we can get cut away shots and talk to any breeders or just dog owners.

Breed Standard

For dog shows, The Kennel Club have what is called a 'Breed Standard'. A Breed Standard is regulations that a dog of a certain breed must fall under to be awarded when taking part in a show. An example of a Breed Standard can be seen here, for a Labrador Retriever. It will take into consideration their temperament and appearance, in such detail as the colour of their eyes and the shape of their toes. This is what dogs must live up to when taking part in dog shows like Crufts.

South West Essex Canine Association (SWECA)

SWECA is a club in Essex involving people interested in exhibiting their dogs for entertainment, and they hold yearly events to showcase dogs. They also hold weekly ringcraft training classes. Ringcraft training is the practice of teaching the trainer and the dog what is expected of them at shows, such as teaching the dog to trot in a straight line. [1] 

I have been looking into this Association as we would like to attend a dog show so that we can talk to breeders and get shots of the dogs performing for cut-aways and an intro sequence. It would also be great to speak to a breeder that we can later interview. This particular Association is the closest one based near to Rochester, that is also near our shoot week. One issue is that the show isn't during the shoot week, but it is on a Sunday (22nd April '18) so we should be able to film that day, given that the equipment is available.

We will need to get in contact with the organiser, who's contact details I have accessed through the Kennel Club Events page on the Kennel Club website. There weren't any shows that were accessible during shoot week which is an inconvenience, but if SWECA allow us to film during their show it would be great. If they don't, we are going to have to research other options for this kind of content because there weren't many other places we could have gone. Even if we aren't able to attend the event, it would be great to attend one of the ringcraft classes so that we can show what goes into creating a show dog.

Rescues

47,500 dogs were left without homes in the UK in 2015. 

102,300 stray dogs were handled by local authorities between 2014 and 2015. 

5,142 dogs were put to sleep in the UK 2014-2015. [7]

Dogs end up in shelters all over the UK for various reasons. Some, the owner was no longer able to care for them. Some had been abandoned and made stray. 

We will be visiting a dog rescue to talk to someone about why dogs end up in shelters and to learn to stories of some of the dogs there. 

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

PETA is the largest Animal Rights organisation in the world. They focus their attention on animal welfare in the food industry, clothing trade, laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. [2] They represent animals where they can't speak for themselves, and also give evidence for the mistreatment of animals in these areas. They have a selection of GIFs made with undercover footage from the Westminster Dog Show (no date provided) here, where it appears dogs are tied up and PETA wrote that the dogs were given makeup to help them achieve the Breed Standard. 

This year, PETA representatives ran onto the show ground at Crufts, demonstrating for the dogs' rights, with one man holding a sign reading "Crufts: Canine Eugenics". A video can be seen here.

Canine Eugenics

Eugenics:

noun, ( used with a singular verb)

1.

the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics)or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics) [3]

Example of the effect of selective breeding on dogs- 1915 vs. 2015. [4]

The term "canine eugenics" refers to the practice of breeding particular dogs because of their appearance and traits, to breed out undesirable features and to create more desirable features for a pedigree dog to match the Breed Standard. It's mostly viewed as a negative factor to purebred dogs, due to factors such as incest (that can cause serious health risks in puppies), and culling of puppies that do not meet desired standards (which is strongly forbidden by The Kennel Club). Modern dogs are dramatically different from their historical ancestors of the same breed, and this is down to Breed Standard and eugenics.

Pugs

Pugs are a dog breed originating in China and are thought to have come with traders back to the Netherlands, where they gained popularity because of William of Orange's pugs who came with him after he succeeded the English throne. [5]

Pugs are friendly, small dogs that are well-known for their flat, wrinkly faces and fawn or black coat. They have a good temperament and can either have boundless energy or be the perfect lap-dog. They can be known to try to be feisty towards much larger dogs despite their smaller size.

Because of their unique features, pugs can face a lot of health problems. These include but are not limited to:

• Pug Dog Encephalitis (PDE)
• A serious brain inflammation disease that is exclusive to pugs. The cause is not known and it is invariably fatal.
• Canine Hip Dysplasia (CHD)
• Incorrectly formed hip joints, meaning that the ball portion of the joint doesn't properly meet the socket.
• Brachycephalic Airway Syndrome (BAS)
• Dogs with BAS may have an elongated palate, which means a part of the mouth that partially blocks the airways and/or stenotic nares, which means narrow nasal passages. Brachycephalic dogs encounter these problems, and this refers to dogs with the 'pushed in' face appearance.
• Legg-Perthes Disease
• Spontaneous degeneration of the top of the femur bone (in the hind legs of the dog). This can cause disintegration of the hip joint.
• Entropion
• Abnormalities in the eyelids of the dog causing them to 'roll' inwards. This is common in pugs because of their bulging eyes.
• Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca (KCS)
• This essentially causes dry eyes, and this is also because of pugs bulging eyes.
• Hemivertebra
• Deformed vertebrae that can cause twisting in the spine.
• Obesity
• Some owners are under the impression that because pugs are small lap dogs, they don't need as much exercise, or they feed the dog the wrong kind of food. This can cause the dog to become overweight.
• Skin Infections
• Skin Fold Dermatitis is an infection that is common in pugs because of the wrinkles on their face. If the dogs aren't regularly cleaned, infections can affect their wrinkles.

[6]

Before pugs are considered as a pet, the owner must think about the risks that come with pugs. Owning a pug can be very expensive as they will likely need operations on their airways, at least. However, pugs are great with children and very friendly and charming, so if an owner is looking for a dog that can be around young children and won't need too much exercise, a pug may be a good option.

Bibliography

[1] http://www.toller-club.co.uk/activities/ringcraft.php [Accessed 28/03/18]
[2] https://www.peta.org/about-peta/ [Accessed 28/03/18]
[3] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/eugenics [Accessed 28/03/18]
[4] https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/04/02/dog-breeds-1915-vs-2015.aspx [Accessed 28/03/18]
[5] https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/breed/display.aspx?id=6164 [Accessed 02/05/18]
[6] https://www.petmd.com/dog/breeds/c_dg_pug [Accessed 02/05/18]
[7] https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/news-events/news/over-47-000-people-heartlessly-abandoned-their-dogs-in-one-year [Accessed 02/05/18]