22┆ Crufts Aftermath: The Good, the Bad and the Keyboard Critics

When Crufts trends online, the story rarely comes from the people actually there.

In this episode, I break down the controversy surrounding Crufts 2026, from the Best in Show result to the criticism aimed at breeders, exhibitors and the entire pedigree dog community. We look at how quickly narratives form online and why judging dog shows from the outside often leads to the wrong conclusions.

This is not about ignoring criticism. It is about perspective, context and experience.

In this episode, we consider:

• Why Crufts still matters to breeders and the future of pedigree dogs
• How public opinion is shaped by partial information
• Why responsible breeding knowledge matters more than viral headlines

If you have ever wondered what Crufts really represents, this episode offers the view from inside the ring.

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W: bulldogownersclub.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Bulldog Owners Podcast where I host a passionate conversation about pedigree dogs. I'm Sarah and here we cut through the myths and misinformation to talk honestly about life with Bulldogs. It's a walk and talk. Sun's out again. Yay! Walking two that shouldn't be walked together, Pearl and King. It is post-crufts. So I might put this out as a little cheeky bonus episode to be fair. Because it's all kicked off, isn't it? I was thinking, oh, I should call this like the controversy around Crufts. And um I'm just amazed at the amount of judgmental people that I'm seeing online. Quite surprising, especially unless you've been to Crafts, you shouldn't comment about it. Uh, because how can you comment on something that you've never witnessed first hand? I mean, you can have an opinion, but I don't think it should be a divisive one if you haven't actually witnessed firsthand. So, what's happened? Well, let's give you a little update. I um qualified King and Pell for Crafts. It's a four-day show, starts on the Thursday, finishes on the Sunday, which is also the day that the judge best in show. And typically the entries normally like 20 to 25,000 dogs spread over four days. It was actually down this year, even though apparently overseas entry is the highest it's ever been. It was down to 18,000, which obviously it's still a lot of dog. Now it's used to be uh it basically founded by uh basically the first PR guy of dogs, pedigree dogs, Charles Kraft. And um I'm sure it all started off down the pub when I think my dog's better than your dog type of attitude, and then people were like, Well, let's compete, let's find out. So Charles Kraft was like the guy that just made it appealing to the public, and and obviously two future dog owners, people that are considering breeding, improving the quality of dogs that they had. So I think it started off in Islington, London, um, and it basically started just after the Kennel Club was founded, so all very closely related. I think um the Kennel Club is 127 years old now, so yes, in the early 1900s. Uh started off at Islington, Elk Rood Avenue, no doubt, then moved to the Olympia in London, and it was there for a hundred years, and then it moved to LEC Birmingham, which is a bigger location and more central. Really, London is south of the UK, so more central for everybody in the UK to get to, and then it's just grown and grown and grown. So, Crufts is the Kennel Club's show, they host that show, which is to you have to pre-qualify. You can't any other show, you just pay your money, take your dog, and see how you do. But with Crufts, you have to pre-qualify. So you have to go to a championship show. Normally you get placed first, second, or third in an age-related class, or a qualifying class done on merit of the dog or how much they've won to that point. Um, they've actually opened up the or opened up, one might say it lowered the criteria, maybe another, of of what classes qualify for crafts because they're basically loosening out on entries. So they've just made it a little bit easier to get through the door, so to speak. But obviously, the calibre of dogs is the calibre of dogs, uh, which should be higher than any other show because of the pre-qualification. It's been ticking along, it is the biggest dog show in the world, attracts people from all over the world, it's just grown in size and scale, and so now I think it's like five halls. We've got the main best in show ring in one hall, and then pretty much rejudging in all the other halls, plus all the trade stands, so it's mega, mega, mega for trade stands. And nowadays the pet industry is so big, it some of the stores are so niche, it's crazy. So, like years ago, you'd just have grooming stalls, um, I don't know, kennel stands, bedding, dog food. Plus, they do a load of um human, you know, leather bags, coats, jackets, all that kind of stuff. Is it hair extensions or something rather than random? Used to be the mop display ones back in the day, which obviously was actually quite useful for dog people. But I think some of that stuff now you can just order it online, not so prevalent. But yeah, some of the stars are really niche now. So I was actually invited the Eve of Christmas, some people call it, because they're Christmas. The Eve of Christmas, there is a Porscers, obviously off of Oscars, dinner and dance, and it's an award ceremony that looks back over the last year, acknowledges some key players and efforts within the dog community, and um it's like a warm-up to crafts basically. The guy that founded it's Dabin Robinson, and he actually won Best in Show the year that I won Best of Breed with Lacey. He set up this charity that year of 2013, and um he said, I'm asking all the best of breed winners to walk a mile with me, and he was walking the length of the country or there or thereabouts. Anyway, so we did a mile with him. We had a nice surrey run, which was very idyllic looking, to be fair. That's called the Peekaboo Trust that he set up because the dog uh that he was campaigning at the time, I'm sure our kennel club name was Peekaboo, and then off the back of that, he then set up Porscas as this award ceremony. I was invited to go as a dog breeding educator with pet plan insurance. So who says no to a free meal? So I had been before, to be fair, um, with some friends one year. Might have been like 2000 and 2015 or 16, maybe. I took Lacey, she was a veteran, maybe even 17, maybe even 18, gosh. She was a veteran that year, so I was going to craft anyway. I think we were literally on the first day of crafts, it rotates around every year. So I was like, well, it makes sense to go up on the Wednesday, do the dinner, showing on the Thursday. Um, but this time I went up on the Wednesday, went to the dinner, did a load of shopping and um some work on Thursday, and then I was due to go back on the Saturday, because we were on the Saturday this year. So the good thing is next year we're on Sunday, and Sunday is when it's best in show day. So if you win best of breed, you haven't got to go back. You can just obviously it's a long day, you'll probably be tired, but you go straight on if you win the group into the best and show competition, which is actually what happened with the group winner this year, because he comes from the Dun Dog Group, Columbus Spaniel, basically, one best in show if you didn't already know, and that's the controversy I'm gonna come on to. But the dinner dance, um, like you know, the the top echelon of the dog showing community. There are people out there, you know, a lot of the high-level they're well the elites in in this world, you know, they do have many of them do own boarding kennels, um, higher staff, they're international judges, so they get paid to judge around the world. Gavin himself, as well as I said, best in show at Crufts, is also one best in show at Westminster, which is America's most prestigious show. Uh, not on numbers, but on how you have to qualify is a restricted number event. Um, so high quality, low numbers, which crafts meant to be high quality, high numbers, but don't know if that's possible. Anyway, uh the evening was hosted by two people, and there was loads of awards, such as topper, top of the groups, top all breeds, um, junior handling, um, special beginners, top exhibitar, loads of stuff, and it's all charity charity-based, so there was a lot of ruffle and money-generating activities, and equally there was giant chicks handed out for various charities as well. So basically, an all-round feel-good event, plus some dinner, plus a little bit of alcohol, plus a load of dog people, obviously. Um, the award was hosted by two people, a lady, her name Scapes Me, um Lisa Sankara. Anyway, and the other person was Lee Cox. Now I was aware of Lee Cox Anyway, is the name in the show world. Um, didn't know the ins and outs to be fair, but knew he was a big thing. Anyway, lo and behold. So on Sunday, Lee Cox takes Best in Show with his Columbus Spaniel, he's over the moon. Um what a way to start hosting a really top-tier um event and finish it by winning the highest possible award. Now, there was actually on the award evening, he was actually awarded an award because it seems like there's only four, maybe, I don't think there's two awards handed out, so I think now there's only six kennels. And when I say kennels, I mean kennel names. I don't mean they're massive kennel establishments. I mean when I refer to kennels, I mean a collective group of dogs that have a reputation because of the breeders that bred them. So there are now six kennels in the 100 club, and this is breeders that have bred 100 or more champions, which is insane. I just think I will never show 100 dogs. So to um to have a hundred champions, that probably means you've shown two, three hundred dogs. Monetary-wise, I dread to think how much of money that is campaigning those dogs, not to mention the time, energy, effort, and I tell you now, to keep a dog in show condition is hard work. Um that's what always petrifies me about Crufts. Imagine you won your group on the um Thursday, and you're invited back for best in show on the Sunday, and the dog launches itself off the sofa and goes lame. Could you imagine it? Oh my gosh. Um, so so to keep a hundred over a hundred dogs, campaign them in show conditions, absolutely phenomenal. And equally off the back of that, how many dogs that's in the show ring, how many dogs they've read, um you know, it's just it's a big, it's a big operation. Or not such a big operation, but done over a serious amount of time. You're like, you can't, there's no shortcuts to that. Yeah, it's just a crazy number for 99.9% of people that show dogs. There was a hall of fame as well that was given to Frank Kane, which when you listen to TV commentary, the most distinctive voice was Frank Kane. So he had the Hall of Fame award and he gave a whole long story about he's been going to Crust for 60 years. He first went as a kid on some trip, and he's been back every year ever since. And uh he just said Crufts never loses its magic in all those 60 years. The magic is always still there of just people getting together with the focus of high-quality dogs. And then Lee gets awarded uh the 100 club, and um the story behind that was he went to Crufts as a kid. Columbus were basically in his family, but he ended up working with a kennel down in Somerset that breed poodles and sure lots of other things, and they basically said, Could you handle their dogs? Obviously, once you get to a certain age, running around a ring is quite hard. So they've gone, can you handle their dogs in the show ring? He said, Yeah. He's become affiliated with their kennel, which happens not loads, but it happens for sure. Anyway, when you're dead and buried, it's kind of nice that if you've built up this huge legacy that someone continues it on. So obviously, whoever the original people are, I probably should know, but I don't, um, passed away. Lee's carried on with their kennel name, which is amazing, and over a hundred champions, which I'm sure they would be beaming ear to wear if they knew that he carried on their legacy. Anyway, he went to Best Inshow at Cross, and then the controversy hits. So it's quite good because you see on the build-up to Cross, everyone just gets a little bit aggie and everyone has their two pee to say about it. So Victoria Sitwell, the dog trainer, had already piped up hilariously, saying, I've been at Cross all these years, and I may have had a booth and I may have benefited financially from being there, and um I've presented, blah blah blah, but I think some of the handling there is absolutely appalling, and I can deem it as dog abuse. Now, isn't it funny that she waited all year? Well, she's waited all these years, and then she wants to get on her highest horse after she's financially benefited just before cross starts. So I find that timing interesting, slightly uh I wouldn't say degrading of her character, but there's probably a better, you know, just reflective of her character. Um, and also if you're seeing dogs being abused, like, wouldn't you say something? So obviously, it's all in the um kennel club's T's and C's of animal responsible dog ownership, and obviously that's not tolerated in the ring. I think I think what's got lost along the way is you do realise all these people that spend all this time, energy, effort to show their dogs are just normal people. I don't know, the outside in start thinking that they start growing a like third eye, two mouths, the second hairs, and like become these really trumped up, obnoxious people when they're not, they're just dog lovers that have moved their passion onto the next level where actually they're so committed to their breed. It's not about winning, it's about recognising quality dogs. I think people think when you compete, it's about winning, and obviously there are awards handed out, but like I keep saying, the judge is comparing each dog to the breed standard, they're not comparing them to each other, so it's not like a race and the best one wins, it's the judge going, this dog I think is the closest to the breed standard, so therefore I award it. So it's not about beating the other people when breeders go, it's about breeding the highest quality dog to the benchmarks that have been set. So it just drives me crazy. So if you see people intentionally or unintentionally abusing their dogs, as a professional, would you not pull them to one side and go, I've just witnessed you doing this? And it might be because you're in a highly stressed environment, crafts is stressful, any event where a lot of people get together, even a wedding is stressful, isn't it? Or the planning and effort, and that's meant to be like one of the best days in your life, it's still stressful. Dog showing is no different, you're putting putting yourself under additional pressures at the biggest dog show in the world. So sometimes a handler, an owner, might not act appropriately. That doesn't mean they do it all the time. So surely, as a professional, shouldn't she pull people to one side and say, I'll just watch you do this. If that's not suitable, maybe you consider going on one of my training courses. Maybe you should consider this as you're the professional. Offer some help rather than just slate a load of people that are actually just novice, they're not professionals. You don't get paid to show your dog. So she got to be in my bonnet anyway. And then the best in show. Obviously, people must have started searching his name, and he's come up as a previous animal neglect case. Now, wherever I've read, it's not abuse, it was neglect. I've not done loads of research, but it was a case 25 years ago. He was 29 years old, and the original Kennel people were still alive, but it happened within their care. From what I read, uh, it was an ex-show dog out of condition with an ear infection. Whoever found out about it, I I don't know, but normally when someone dobs you in like that, probably an ex-staff member, not happy with something that went on in regards to their personal circumstances. I thought that was an easy way to get back at them because I don't know how anyone would know, not that that's a good caveat. So, anyway, it goes to court, and sometimes you want stuff to go to court, don't you? When you think you haven't done wrong, you think, well, let's take it to court and everyone hear the truth. So, anyway, they were fingalty. I don't know what the upshots was, but from what I see, it was one dog. Obviously, it's not good. Like, I'm not I'm not condoning any of this. However, it was 25 years ago, and over those 25 years, he still continued to breed and campaign dogs to the highest possible level. So it wasn't just a case of just dogs at home, they're in top-tier condition. So I don't know what happened to commit the crime, serve the time, draw a line under it and get on with it. But that's obviously the approach that he had to it. And I'm just amazed, and I know this is what comes out in um when you see all these famous people, and then they dig out a tweet from however many years ago that was like racist or sexist or something or other. But remember, he's not a famous person, he's just a person that goes to dog shows and seems to be breeding and showing extremely high calibre of dogs. So he won't become rich and famous. He hasn't done this for the fame or the fortune, he's done this because of his passion for his breeds, and yeah, maybe his ego, maybe he likes winning loads. But you can have a big ego and not win with dogs, that's for sure. Because if your dog ain't good enough, then your ego ain't gonna cut it, that's for sure. So I'm I'm slightly flabbergasted at the vitral that I've seen online from people not only just slagging off crusts and saying, Oh, it's the most horrendous thing I've ever seen in my life. Like, well, if you've never been, how would you know? One person's like they're kept in crates all day long. Well, the annoying thing about crust is you have to be in early, and because it is a public event, people pay to go, they do make you stay there till 4 pm, which is annoying. Any other show, once you've done your judging, you can go. So I don't agree with that. However, their crates is so they have a safe environment to be in. Imagine if you had 18,000 dogs just free-for-all, doing whatever they wanted in a confined space. That's absolutely ridiculous. So, yeah, crates are ugly to look at, but they serve a very good purpose for a dog. It's a safe environment where they're not gonna get pushed around, poked around, unnecessarily petted. They can rest as long as it's the appropriate size for the dog, there is no problems with that. So that just made me laugh. And I'm like, eh my god, it's so horrendous. They crate their animals. Now, should dogs be crated long term at home? No, that's probably a different conversation, though. I agree with trait crating at home, but as I say to everyone, it's used as a bedroom, not as a prison. Unfortunately, they just look like prisons, that's the problem. I think that's more of a social construct about how they look, but they are a sensible thing to do. And look, I think all these years that's been going on, you don't hear about high like dog attacks, and I think all those humans there with those animals, like they have to have amazing temperaments to be in that environment. So I just think it's just ridiculous. Just because half of the pet people haven't trained their dogs, they couldn't take them to that type of environment, even if they wanted to. So that gets on my wick a bit. It gets on my wick a bit that suddenly show people some kind of monster, like some ego monster, when all it is is they're just hugely passionate about the breed that they got and they want to breed the highest possible standard. When when has that ever been a bad thing? And then there's also such a massive negative connotation around being a breeder and how suddenly you become some like egotistical, money hungry person. And if you do a job well that people deem it professional, then suddenly, like, it's the most worst thing you could ever do in your life, which anything else in the world, if you do professional, pretty much rewarded for. So I just find it all a bit crazy, and I know the argument, the pushback will be well, it They're animals, they're not products, they're like they're but live in biology. And yeah, like anyone knows, I don't like it when people re-home ex-breod bitches. To me, that is just a way of farming dogs. There's a better solution than that. Does the breeding license encourage that? Yes, it does. So hence why I don't like that either. So if there are things that people try and tick the paperwork to look like that they're breeding ethically, actually, sometimes it just formalizes farming, which I'm not into. So I tower this because it just goes to show when you're looking for a breeder how difficult it is. And I think what you have to remember is anyone can own a dog, anyone can breed a dog. So all types of people, like in the show community, if that all that is just society that happens to own a dog. It's not show people that are a certain status of society. You get the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think what it is is when people work with kids and animals, everyone assumes them to be these saintly people because they're working with kids that can't communicate at the same level, and they're talking and they're working with animals that can't communicate with us verbally in a way that we understand full stop. They do communicate with us for some different ways that we have to pay attention to. So I think because they have those restrictions, you think that the people that work with them are always going to be acting in that dog's best interest. And so, because of that, there must be some saintly, amazing, magical person. And I think what people need to do is they need to dial that down and go, these are just normal people that happen to like dogs or happen to like working with kids, and they are fallible as much as the next person, or human beings, we're not perfect. Do you remember the whole Caroline Flack thing? You just think this is people judging other people. Who are you, me, we, us, to judge someone else when you don't know enough about them? Yeah, you'll get presented with an image of them or a story of them. But if you can't meet them direct, ask them the questions and get the answers, then withhold judgment. No judgment is still a still a good choice. You don't have to be black or white, it's not one or the other. You can just go, I don't know enough about that, so I'm not gonna comment. So I just think it crazy because to me, I guess this is when you see famous people go through it, you kind of go, oh well, they kind of asked for it. You can't have the fame without the hypocrites, and so you know, when people say, Do you want to be rich or famous? Just go for rich. No one needs fame because especially in the UK, we have a very bad culture of we love an underdog, but then we hate someone that's consistently good at something, then they become annoying, and then we want to pull them down the tall pocket syndrome. Um that's the case in America. I think the attitude towards people being successful in their own ways encouraged in America. Um, yes, other people push back and go, well, yeah, but then look at look at the structure, look at the system. Does it just exploit some people and encourage creeds, blah blah blah? But I'm just saying the culture is different, and I feel quite sad for somebody that's just a normal person, achieved his biggest achievement to date, and something that happened 25 years ago, and so we went to the kennel club, and because a lot of people said, How can he win best in show? He should have been banned from dog shows forever. Well, did go to the kennel club, so the kennel club looked into the case and said, because this is a one-off isolated incident, it's not abuse, the neglect doesn't didn't seem to be over a significant amount of time, and it wasn't over and a significant amount of animals was not impacted. It's noted you've got a black mark against your name, keep your nose clean and carry on. Seemingly that's what they've done. And yet it gets kicked up. So the interesting thing is no one was talking before he went on to win Best of Show. People were gunning for other people that just happened to be show people. The Cavalier controls won the toy group. Um apparently he's like top-winning cavi. He won Best of Breed and the group, I think it was three years ago, they're still campaigning him. Um they're such a popular breed um within the pet owning community. I think everyone was kind of backing for him. They are such a nice little dog. I see a few of them, and I think actually they are a nice little dog. So everyone was kind of well, a lot of people were hoping that he would take best in show, which he didn't. But after he won the group, there was also the negativity around him. So apparently he signed like 41 litres. I don't know, he sighed, I'll make a number up. So he signed four litres before he was a year old. Some of his health testing might not be as up to date, but it has happened. It's just whether they've retested or they might not have got zeros, they might have got ones rather than zeros. So still a breedable dog, but with things to be aware of. Gosh, has this dog been slated and his own has been slated? And this is what cracks me up. These people have no idea about dog breeding, and they suddenly become sofa experts. Oh my god, it's shocking that this dog assired this many puppies. What would be shocking about that? It's the top-tier, highest quality male that's out there available for that breed. Surely you should want to use it to improve the quality of the breed as a whole. That's the whole point, isn't it? So, of course, he's going to have lots of litters. Yes, it will reduce the gene pool, but only for the people that show, because most other people aren't going to use him, they don't even know he exists, they're going to carry on getting obsessed with low COI, which I've already talked about in another podcast, because they think that's their be-all and end-all. So, one dog, and they do have significantly large numbers, there's a lot of them. So, in a vulnerable breed, yeah, that can make a huge impact. But when you're in a significantly high population of the breed, it's not going to be that massive of an impact. They don't even understand that. So, that conversation. But not only were these slated for all the health results, well, it doesn't matter. It takes two to ten go. So, as long as the female counterbalances any concerns they have on the dog, that's fine. As long as he's of significant merit, particularly going to add to the female's lines, that doesn't matter. The number of pups he side equally doesn't matter. Chances of that impacting COI is going to be not that large. And so I just thought it just goes to show. And the fact that he was used young. Well, if he's from multiple generated health-tested lines, it doesn't matter. Equally, someone used one of my dogs at nine months old in Norway once. And that and the puppy I kept, I think she's over 11 now. So that's a load of rubbish. I agree. When you're a total novice and you know nothing about bloodlines, then that's a massively risky thing to do. But they seem to be getting all these sofa warriors, seem to be missing the point that the people that are doing this are of high dog breeding knowledge. They're not just guessing. So yeah, if you went and copied and did the same, you're probably going to fall flat on your face. And all this does is highlight something that I've said about before, is that when you're buying a puppy from someone, you're buying their breeding knowledge. You're not buying a puppy. Anyone can go and buy a dog, anyone can go in their pets or homes. Um, anyone can scroll through there and buy a dog. But if you if you want to buy a healthy dog, bred right, reared right, you need to buy from someone that has substantial knowledge of their breed, which is why I always bang on about showbreeders. Well, obviously, uh not all showbreeders health tests, so massive caveat on that. But it's a little indication, so that's why I've always banged on about. Anyone can go and use a top-winning stud. So they can go and use that top-winning cave. If you've got a female that's substandard and you don't know what's behind her, then and typically a bitch can put in up to 80% of the quality of puppies that are born because she's the one that carries them, she's the one that rears them, so it's not 50-50 like everyone likes to think, then it can all fall over because of your bitch line. So that's why these people getting their first little dog, saying she's got an amazing little temperament and breeding it, and they're selling for too much money, they're overpriced for what they are. Um, people buying those puppies are encouraging that type of breeding for them to do it again. So it's not all these nasty people that hide in the in the corners of dog society lingering with these puppy farms. It's not it's not any of those, it's people breeding with no understanding of what they're doing. And I think what people have to understand is bulldogs are one, well, I'll say the most complex, but I might say that just because I'm in that breed. But even to judge, bulldogs are one of the most complex breeds. You can tell when a judge goes over a bulldog and don't know what they're doing because they don't know how to look in their jaw properly, and they they pat your dog on the head and ask it to move. And someone posted that recently on Facebook going, Do you think it's wrong when a judge says the dog has moved with drive? Which, for I'm sure 80% of predigree dogs, they move with drive, they push on the rear. But bulldogs do not do that, they are front-end dogs, they're in like front-wheel drive, so they don't push off, they don't move with drive, they tend to shuffle along the back legs, just skim, they don't do anything, they just skim along. So, this show person was highlighting like if a judge puts on a critique, should they even be judging the breeds because they obviously don't understand one of the main characteristics of the breed? And that is one of the reasons why we never do that great uh all breed competition. In America, they do because they have less stigma attached to bulldogs and how they're bred in their confirmation structure structure. In England we do, which I've talked about before, all the political powers that be. So that gives judges less confidence in picking them, and then because they're not super glamorous and they don't float around the ring, they're not meant to, they're not meant for that. Yeah, they tend not to win at the highest level. However, I'm pleased to say that they're best of breed at crafts this year, so to take it full circle. Um, sorry, this is an extra long podcast of me. This is a bit gossipy, really, isn't it? I've just realized this right little gossip. I didn't show on the Saturday, so I did all my shopping on the Thursday, and then I was meant to go on the Saturday, and I was so tired, and I thought, you know what? I don't want to bring any gems back from the biggest dog show in the world when I have more important things going on at home. So I decided not to go. Thankfully, there's a lot of people I know that live stream the event, so I could watch a lot of the judging, and um YouTube covered a lot of it, not the breed, but the group judging, they cover it live and then it goes out on TV, it's slightly delayed, so edited down more. But the good thing was the bulldog best of breed, which was her first CC and the breeders' first CC, and it was actually his birthday. What a way to celebrate. She took the female took best to breed, which doesn't always happen. It tends to go to the dog just because they look more powerful. But any good judge judges the bitch against the breed standard, and a dog against the breed standard, you're not comparing them. So the bitch took best to breed, her first ticket, massive win for her. So I'm sure she'll have two come along and they'll champ her up. Anyway, she looked amazing in the group ring, didn't puff, didn't pant, which is ridiculous. She should be allowed to. She's a dog to bulldog, she just gets this extra stigma, god forbid, if your dog looks like he's getting slightly hot under the ridiculously high power bowls. She passed all a health check as well, because you can't go in the group ring unless you pass your health check. So I know there was a lot of controversy over the German Shepherd. They get a lot of stick because of their sloping backs. So I don't even I don't even know the story behind all of that. But the bitch that put forward was an extreme in slope. She's moving soundly. However, unfortunately, when she went for a best of breed vet check to get awarded best of breed to compete in the group ring, the vet decided that he didn't like her and she wasn't awarded best of breed. So I don't think people appreciate that it's not just a case of someone giving judgment on your dog that you don't like, but it's happened at like the biggest platform. It's like, I guess going back to the wedding analogy, it's a bit like getting jilted at the altar. Don't not turn up when everyone's arrived. We've sent out these invites, we planned a whole day. If you're gonna bomb out, do it way before then. Let's not get this far down the line. So when you're at Cruz, which is such a massive platform, for anything to happen that's negative just feels like a massive gut punch. It just feels like why shouldn't I just sit at home like I did? Save money, not set my alarm for three o'clock in the morning to win. And like people think you win lots of money, you don't win money. If you um Craft's best in the show, I think you win 250 quid. That'll probably just cover the hotel room. Craft's best of breed, I think it was 25 quid. Uh, and the first year I forgot to even go and claim it. I think by the third year they actually started sending checks automatically to people. Fancy that. When they've got your address, that'd be a nice thing to do, wouldn't they? So it's not about the money, like it's so not about the money. When you just think of all those hours of commitment, dedication, perseverance, blood, sweat, tears, and that's the owners and the dogs. It's just, it's just, it's just frustrating that a crust is just taken in such a negative light. And so someone said online, trying to cover like a full holistic overview. Someone said online, like, is crust dead? Should we not bother with it anymore? Should we not just stop show competing at best of breed level, like just award the breed relevant awards and all go home? Now, I tell you now, I'm not too fussed about group level stuff. I find it all quite um political and all quite predictable. Um, and I'm just not one of those type of people. But when you're in best of breed, you're putting a quandary because you want to represent your breed, you want to go. I love my breed, this is what a good one looks like. So I understand why it exists, as much as I'm not overly keen on it. And if people don't stay for the group ring, normally their peers will give them a right ear bashing about why they didn't stay. I think once I didn't stay with um Lacey because it was snowing and I was in Stafford over three and a half hours away, and I needed to get home and not snowed out or in. So I think that's the only time that I'd never stayed at that level. I questioned my sanity sometimes. But there was this bit of rhetoric about should we just not bother anymore? And I thought, well, if you're gonna have that approach, should we just not bother with the Olympics? Should we just get rid of that as well? Like, does it matter if anyone beats you saying bolts 100 metres in 9.5 seconds? Because we've all got cars now, like no one's ever gonna run that fast. What do we need to do that for? What purpose does that that give in our lives that one human can run that distance? And while we're at it, should we get rid of rugby as well? What's the point in that? Get rid of all the football leagues, or the uh soccer leagues for the Americans, or the baseball leagues, basketball, just get rid of all sport, there's no point. Or just play at the park, keep yourself healthy, and just get rid of all the leagues, what's the point? Well the point is that one of our primal evolutionary traits is competition and survival of the fittest, the strongest, best wins. Like that's innate in us to try and decipher as part of a social status and structure. So just get rid of all of it. Should we just do that? Because you don't see no sense in it. I don't play football, let's get rid of it all. F1, let's get rid of that. Trying to be carbon neutral nowadays, let's spin it all off. What's the point of a load of people driving around a track in different parts of the world, flying every all the staff, everyone across? Well, what's the point of it? It employs a lot of people, it pushes forward technology, it changes how road cars are. There's a lot of purpose to it, is that engineering is massive, it's problem solving. So, but all of these things I'm comparing to are all professional, aren't they? Which but you're not allowed to be professional dogs, it's a bad thing. I'm a bad person if you do that. So that's my roundup of crufts. Get beer in my bonnet every year about it. I don't even um to be honest, loads of people don't like crufts because it's just so many people and it's so public focused rather than dog focused. I quite like it because it's a lucky show. I've always done really well. So I'm never gonna moan that much about it. But I get it. I see it from all points of view, but I just think people need to add some humanity back into their opinions, yeah, and understand that they're just people doing the best they can with the dogs they got. And what more can I say? So yeah, I think I've ranted on a lot. I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna stop now. This is a mammoth bonus episode, but I'm gonna drop it because um yeah, I just feel that it needs to be said on the platform somewhere. No, no doubt I'll blog about it. But uh, I've shared my thoughts with you. You can agree, you can disagree, doesn't matter. I just wanted to provide um a wide opinion of all what's gone on, and uh no doubt crash next year will carry on as it always has. I always think that um change is slow and it happens over time. I think we're dog showing is generations, so I do think that numbers will drop, like the attitude of people, what's said online is obviously a large opinion from a lot of people, and so I don't think stuff will be cancelled or banned or any of that extreme stuff, but I do think that numbers will deteriorate and decrease, and the momentum will get lost, and then it will slowly die, slip away, fade that way. That's what I think will happen. So I think I'll be long dead by then, which is pretty good, so I don't have to witness it and have to podcast about it again, but yeah, I think it's on the decline, and uh I know all these things have cycles and attitudes or change. I don't know, I feel like there's a lot going on in the world that um I think it's quite a large cycle, so let's see if it goes full circle. And I'll never be around to know, nor you probably, but maybe this podcast will be. Who knows? But that's it, I've yabbered on, I'm signing off. Um, have a good one, and I'll see you next week. Before you go, head over to bulldogownersclub.com if you fancy a bit of support with your dog, help finding the puppy, or joining one of our fortnightly informal chatty community halls.