Crufts. I'm fed up of seeing dog's featuures becoming more exaggerated each year.

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Just watching this on playback watching the Terrier group. Half of them can't see because of the long hair over their eyes. eg wheaten terrier. 40 years ago I'm sure this wasn't the case with those breeds. I mean they were hunters of vermin - they wouldn't have got very far with hair in their eyes not being able to see where the rats were running!.

We got a dog when I was about 8 and I remember looking at that time at a dog breed book that my dad had had when he was young. It must have been from about 1950. Even then, in the 80s, many of the dogs in the book looked very different to the supposed "breed standard" of the 1980s. It just seems to have got worse over the years.

I know this is commented about every year, eg the brachycephalic dogs, the ones with folded skin, or the sloping back of the German Shepherd. But I thought that the Kennel Club and breeders were more enlightened these days. I'm not so sure....

I always want to weep for most of the dogs with their ridiculous trims/hair.

I've got 2 spaniels, who are only ever truly happy when wet and muddy. Most of the dogs look like they never even get let outside

It varies. I know quite a few crufts exhibitors. Their dogs are fit, healthy and live very normal lives with mud and filth. Some are horrific.

I think a lot of the hairy faces is to protect their eyes if they are ferreting about in bushes and brambles. That's what the Bedlington terrier owner I know claims.

I know I used to be able to see out of my too long, ill advised, teenage fringe. There's a difference with a bit of fluff, puffed up for a show and not being able to breathe. A lot of the dogs will also spend time in the mud.

Dh and I said exactly the same thing when we were watching it! How the heck could those dogs see? It made me cross.

I know three Crufts exhibitors.

One has a gundog who is habitually outdoors working, covered in mud and bits of stick, but gets a good wash the night before a show (and is filthy again 5 minutes after).

The other two have hounds, and they're very very much family pets the 99% of the year they're not showing.

One of mine has been to Crufts, albeit to perform and not show. She was all white and fluffy in the ring, because she'd rolled in dead deer carcass the afternoon before, and had to have an emergency bath.

I agree with the broader point that the drift in breed standards has done few breeds any favours. But it's a long way from that to saying that because they've been primped and pumped for the show ring that they are like that the rest of the time.

I think a lot of change has occurred in breed standards-less wrinkling in bloodhounds and frenchies for example. Which is good.
But the German Shepherd was dreadful, the best of breed GSD could barely trot his back end was so sloped. Poor love. How is that 'fit for function'?
Some of the show types of breeds are so different from the working types. Cocker spaniels-working types are spaniels with great hairdos, strong bodies and they look like spaniels from past times. the show types look too polished, eg american cockers with their domed heads.
Same with labs, working ones are lean, fit and healthy, show ones look too heavy, chunky and again whilst I'm sure they're lovely pets, they do seem prone to lots of breed related issues that are less common in work breds.

We have selectively bred these exaggerations into some breeds to the point of causing suffering. theres still so much to do before the demand for designer dogs completely destroys popular breeds.
Don't even start me on brachycephalic dogs, I hate seeing one trotting past barely able to breathe and gasping. Poor sods.

We had golden retrievers when we were young in our family. We both work full time so have never had a family dog ourselves but that is the breed I'd still choose. So I do fantasy golden shopping ha ha! Even the so called reputable breeders, their dogs appear to have much shorter legs than I recall. Fluffier coats. Their ears are much lower down and further back. They just look a bit less "doggy".

I tried out a 3-paragraph rant and then thought, no one wants to read all that.

Suffice it to say that Crufts COULD be a real force for good. Mandatory health tests, mandatory maximum COI, and an requirement that a dog has to have passed a basic check of ability(where relevant) and temperament would be a fabulous start. Can your basset track a scent for however many miles? Is your Pomeranian fit to be a pet - solid temperament, happy in new locations, confident etc. Codify the show/work split if you want, and for the working line perhaps include the dog's working awards as part of the overall judging.

One can only dream.

*typed out. FFS. Tired.

Oh, and @CurlyhairedAssassin working line GRs have a different look from the show line. Harder work though!

I remember (40+ years ago) when Yorkshire Terriers were much larger than the rats they were bred to kill. These days?

I have to disagree. If your spaniels are springers then chances are they are over the moon pretty much all the time you are there. They just hide it well so you give them more walks to "cheer them up" 😉

After about 3 minutes I thought exactly the same. It's wrong. I turned it off.

I have a cairn. They haven't changed in 100 years (I can trace back over 100 years through family photos).

But they're not a "fashionable" or "popular" wee dog at all. I'm the only person that I know with one.

The German Shepherds make me really sad / angry. They struggle to walk and large breeds have a hard enough time as they age anyway. It’s animal cruelty.

I only realised recently what lovely dogs standard poodles are now that people just trim their fur sensibly and don't have the utterly hideous IMO lion cut and shave a lot of their fur off. They look like massive adorable teddy bears and a proper dog, not a fancy toy.

I love cairns. We looked into it for a long time before getting a mongrel rescue. They are great dogs.

@MrsTerryPratchett I'm sure your dog is great though!

I deliberately picked a cairn because it's all I know and because they aren't fashionable they're hard to get and I don't want the breed to die out.

They really hard the most hardy wee dogs with a big personality in a little dog body. Fiercely independent, protective, would dig for Britain 😂 but I absolutely love them.

If they can have no ridiculous breed standard for a cairn why can't they fit other dogs? The cairn I saw yesterday was just the double of one of my previous cairns with a bath and a brush.

*for

I liked the cairn when watching last night. It was noticeably unexaggerated and looked most like a natural dog to me compared to some of the others! Nobody should be congratulated for breeding unnatural exaggerated features, but crufts often does just that.
And the wolfhound that won the hound class moved so stiffly.

This is a bugbear of mine.

I have a mixed breed, and often see a lot of hate towards them (online, not face to face) due to them being unethically bred - I see 'no purpose' a lot, and the fact there are no breed standards (because they aren't a breed).

I could bet my bottom dollar that my mixed breed dog will live a healthier, longer life than a lot (not all, obviously) of the pedigree dogs you see now.

Depends. The health is only as good as the parents. I’ve got a pedigree now (2 years of trying to rescue) but my last dog was a true mongrel (rescue). She had hybrid vigour. First, or even second crosses do not. Lots of crosses I know have awful problems - I help run a dog training club so I meet my fair share!

My pedigree terrier is still young but her relatives and breed line are known for their health and temperament and the breed is long lived generally. All health tested.

I mean they’re at a show, I doubt they have their hair like that all the time.

also I have a cross breed (not a fashionable type, a mongrally type) who has two sep health issues each associated with one of his constituent parts he is proof (if it were needed) that you’re not “diluting” or erasing hereditary or genetic issues by randomly crossbreeding

@Newpeep I was thinking more about the breeds that generally have issues - brachycephalic breeds etc. A lot of work needs to go in to ensuring some breeds are bred for health, rather than standard. I don't see the uproar for it, as much as I see the anger at some mix breeds.

The issue with mixed breeds mostly stems from the poodle crosses. They’re bought for looks, largely, and there is little if no consideration when breeding. They often create a mess of a dog in temperament, and also physically. I personally do not know a poodle cross without significant health and or temperament issues. The best I know are rescues who have been adopted by savvy people who have been able to turn them around as they know what they are doing.

Poodles are wonderful. Spaniels are wonderful (if you like spaniels). Together, with no health testing and indiscriminate mating sold to someone who doesn’t understand they have a mix of highly intelligent working breeds - mess.

The KC is a massive contradiction. My breed says ‘essentially still a working terrier’ in the first line of the breed standard. Yet you get the flat faced (top early to spell the B word 😂). It would be so easy to enforce health testing for registration. But they don’t. We viewed multiple litters before we found our pup and all bar one were obviously a puppy farm front. All KC registered.