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Nederlands (Dutch)
17th of August 2020
A few days ago meetings were held between representatives of the Dutch Kennel Club, and the judges. During those meetings, the following emerged:
When drawing up the enforcement criteria for short muzzle dogs, the Minister talked about a breeding ban for 3 brachycephalic breeds. The Dutch Kennel Club proposed to the Minister to make the ban for 12 breeds.
In short, the initiative for the breeding ban for 9 short-muzzle breeds comes from the Dutch Kennel Club. Yes, you read it right, …….the Dutch Kennel Club.
The veterinarian of the Kennel Club made the list of the 12 breeds for elimination. That this was supported by the CEO of the Kennel Club could be understood from a statement made by the CEO himself at a previous judges meeting at which he announced that he would sacrifice the short muzzle breeds for the preservation of the other breeds.
In our opinion it looks a lot like, a period in Dutch history, where some Dutch citizens tell-tale, on people, sending them towards elimination in fear for self-preservation. This kind of collaboration for reasons of self-preservation has caused collective shame in the Netherlands for decades. And we still can’t shake that off.
The question that gradually needs to be asked and that we still don’t dare to ask ourselves in the Netherlands is clearly answered on the other side of the ocean. In the United States I read the following in the American ‘Chronicle of the Dog Magazine’ (August 2020), written by Amy Fernandez:
‘It is impossible not to conclude that the Raad van Beheer has truly gone over to the dark side’.
To the open letter from the FCI to the Dutch Kennel Club about their attitude towards the short muzzle breeds with a request to all kennel clubs and breed clubs worldwide to respond to this, the Dutch Kennel Club replied as if stung by a wasp.
However with this letter a shock wave went through the world. Ante Lucin ‘Our Dogs Online Show/Talking Dogs’ and Vince Hogan’s ‘Our Dogs’ from Great Britain have given extensive attention on the subject. The Dutch breeders have been showered with letters of support from all over the world. Everywhere there is discussion about this topic. A large part of the disgust concerns the ambiguous attitude of the Dutch Kennel Club, trying to keep on board with the FCI, by proclaiming deceptions and half-truths. The FCI does not know what to do with this hot potato, which causes great commotion in the pedigree dog world. The fact that a large part of these letters of support goes to Breeders and Breed Clubs shows that abroad there is great doubt about the Dutch Kennel Club. However, if we list the facts again, what else can you conclude than that Amy Fernandez is right with her statement?
1 – Introduction is the change of name from ‘Raad van Beheer for pedigree dogs’ to ‘Raad van Beheer keeping dogs’.
2 – Cross breeders take over Griffonya, the Griffon breed Club, and MvB as a crossbreed fan uses the empty breed club, without the necessary number of paying members, as a vehicle for numerous key positions within the Dutch Kennel Club. She takes over the crossbreeding program of the president of Griffonya HvB who died in 2016 and continued the program, which has nothing to do with BOAS, within the Dutch Kennel Club where she holds numerous positions including one in the health committee. Finally, Griffonya disappears after complaints that the Dutch Kennel Club does not enforce its own rules.
3 – Breeders of cross-breeds take over Commedia, the breed club for Pugs, in a surreptitious way and get in contact with the faculty of veterinary medicine at the University of Utrecht. MvB is also involved in this. The cross breeders of Commedia have also had meetings at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. The question is with which mandate of the Kennel Club they spoke, or were it informative talks that the Board members of the Kennel Club could not conduct itself? Lots remains unclear. A year later the Pug breeders get back in charge of the Club.
4 – Cross breeders take over the Poodle Club under the supervision of a member of the Board of the Dutch Kennel Club who presided the meeting. MvB is also involved in this. Members who do not want to crossbreed with their Poodles leave the club. Remarkable here is the involvement openly of one of the board members of the Kennel Club.
This action of the Board of the Dutch Kennel Club shows that it’s not just concerning short muzzled breeds as Doedijns tells the judges in the meetings. After all, Poodles do not have a short muzzle.
Question is which country has had so many breed club hijackings to introduce the crossbreed into the Kennel Club?
5 – The breeding ban from the Minister comes at March 2019 for short muzzle dogs for all breeds with a CFR < 0.3. All breeds with CFR < 0.5 may continue for a while, however, they are the next ones to get a breeding ban. The Board of the Dutch Kennel Cub reacts as if they don’t know anything about it. They even state this in Raadar, the kennel club magazine. They ignored 2 invitations to come and talk about the enforcement criteria during the set up, but the minister and apparently also the faculty of veterinary medicine were convinced sacrificing 12 breeds with CFR < 0,3 to ban breeding instead of 3 which the minister originally had in mind. The only way out is crossbreeding a dog with CFR <0,3 with a dog with CFR >0,3, So crossbreeding again!
6 – Under great pressure from the short muzzle breed Clubs, an alternative plan for this breeding ban is being organised. The breeding guidance plan for the 12 breeds is send to the Minister on August 1st and was created under the usual ‘omerta’ of the Board of the Dutch Kennel Club. The breeders knew nothing about it. Originally it stated that using cross breeding and look-a-likes should be possible. The breed associations did not agree with this. The minister puts this plan aside, three quarters of a year later, without any substantive explanation. The response of the Dutch Kennel Club was a very weak defence. Nothing changed. The enforcement criteria remain.
7 – However, after the Minister’s response the Kennel Club immediately stopped issuing pedigrees for short muzzle breeds in May 2020. This was partly under pressure from Dier&Recht. This decision has been taken without the approval of the General Meeting of Members and will not be submitted for approval at the next General Meeting of the Kennel Club. With or without rules, the Dutch Kennel Club dissociates itself from its (paying) Members. Again the FCI responds. Again the FCI is fooled by the RvB. After all, the minister has not decreed anything about pedigree issuing and it is not forbidden by law to register.
8 – The Raad van Beheer is openly talking about a ban on import of short muzzle breeds. After an angry/questioning letter from the FCI, the RVB nuances this by stating that this only concerns non-pedigree dogs, which is again a half-truth. In the Netherlands we have known for a long time that in this country no distinction is made between pedigree dogs and non-pedigree dogs, which we have already experienced in the enforcement criteria. The length of the nose determines, whether it is a pedigree dog, look-a-like or even crossbreed, it doesn’t matter. But the FCI has been misinformed, by the RvB, yet again. (Advice to the FCI: just ask for laws and the numbers of the laws involved?)
9- After some commotion around the globe on the attitude of the Dutch Kennel Club who wrote in its draft breeding guidance plan for the 12 short-muzzled breeds that crossbreeding should be possible, there is great unrest about the reliability of the Dutch pedigrees. The RvB states that crossbreeds do not get pedigrees. The FCI has once again been misinformed. The whole truth is that the crossbreeds can get a pedigrees by a detour. The way to get there is that the crossbreeds first come in a special register and after a few generations they can be judged for a breed as they plan to do with look-a-likes. When they are judged they can still be entered as G0 in the studbook. In short, crossbreeds can get a pedigree in the long run. All kinds of countries become sceptical about the Dutch pedigrees while the administrative procedure to approve look-a-likes has already been started by the Dutch Kennel Club
10 – Judge R. Doedijns was chairman of the VKK (association of judges) and during this time obtained his judges diplomas, which were issued by the VKK itself. Judge Doedijns exchanged his chairmanship of the VKK for the position of CEO at the Dutch Kennelclub.
The judges are strongly against the adjustments proposed by the RvB for judging short muzzled breeds which clearly deviate from the FCI breed standards and demand that the RVB declare in writing that the judges have to judge according to the FCI breed standards. The RvB refuses to do so.
The Kennel Club refuses this and sends a message into the world on 17th of August from which the FCI breed standards are subordinated to article 5 of the judge’s code about health. In short, reservations are made again. Article 5 is multi-interpretable and will be reasoned towards muzzle length by the Kennel Club. In principle, they stick to their original position.
The judging committee under the RvB suddenly takes over all kinds of tasks from the VKK, which is thereby functionally eroded.
11 – A member of the Board of the VKK -who also is in the judges committee of the RvB and is not trusted in this double function because of a different point of view had to give up his double function. After some discussion and under the threat of a motion of no confidence, judge Coppens chooses for the judges committee of the RvB. On his Facebook page he immediately announces ‘new’ policy. On Facebook he is congratulated by MvB, which immediately makes his position clear as a judge. The judges who want to deviate from the FCI breed standards have now retreated behind the walls of the RvB and will try to make a new policy deviating from the FCI.
12- Dutch best breeder and only winner of more than 300 best in shows including the Westminster Dog Show, is told by the veterinarian of the RvB that she has to put a Spaniel on her Affenpinschers. The long nose will be on her Affenpinchers. The rest of the pedigree world doesn’t understand why the RvB treats their pedigree breeders in such a disrespectful way.
13 – The enforcement criteria state that the breeding of short-muzzled breeds is only a beginning. The NVWA (enforcement of the Minister) already issues a warning: Hereditary epilepsy, Pituitary dwarfism, Heart disease, Hip and elbow dysplasia, Eye disease, Excessive aggression or anxiety, Deviations of the spine, Very short legs, Long back, Excessive hair, lots of skin wrinkles, Extremely small bred animals with possibly small skulls.
Veterinary Medicine of the University of Utrecht gives the solution for all these disorders in a presentation concerning the first enforcement criteria for short muzzled breeds: ‘outcross’ (cross breeding) with an exclamation mark, stated under the logo of the FCI.
If we list all these points we can only conclude that Amy Fernandez must be right. The Board of the Dutch Kennel Club has changed its position 180 degrees and wants to solve all hereditary problems within the pedigree dogs with crossbreeds as the action group Dier&Recht wants. How is this possible within an association founded and paid for by breeders of pedigree dogs and which can be expected to fight for the interests of breeders of pedigree dogs, their customers. We are at a stage where the true face of the RvB sees the daylight. The ‘omerta’, so loved by the RvB because it was the way deception works, is being broken everywhere.
Also the breed associations for breeds with ‘longer snouts’ have to make themselves heard and cannot expect it to stop after the short muzzled breeds as the RvB has already proven with the Poodle Club. Every hereditary disease can expect the overtake of crossbreeding and the end of the breed. Maybe they think behind the fortress walls of the Emmastraat that this is the cheapest solution?
It is also remarkable that the CEO of the RvB and judge of also short-muzzle breeds is still being asked for judging in dog shows abroad, so that the cross-breeding virus can spread? The domestic and foreign dog shows should be aware that if they are bringing in judges like Doedijns, who might try to persuade or force judges to deviate from the FCI breed standards and to judge the short muzzle dogs on the length of the muzzle, as been done in Kiev with the Griffons for example. That this judge allows himself to be guided by this has already been proven several times at shows and presentations. Foreign judges will avoid judging in the Netherlands.
The result could be that breeders and handlers worldwide will select the shows on the basis of the absence of this judge and his accomplices. Another big risk is that every time, the discussions about the short-muzzled breeds will continue on these shows. Also the organizers of the dog shows should be aware that with this choice of judges they could implicitly make a statement against the FCI breed standards. In any case, breeders could interpret this as such. Might need some consideration.
Problem is not directly that the RvB makes a statement concerning the health of the breeds. After all, it is clear that there are breeds where something has to be done. Problem is the way they do it. The fact that they hand over 9 breeds for elimination to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht, which they know little or nothing about, does not testify of breed knowledge and or trust in their breeders. The letter from the British BOAS scientist par excellence, Jane Ladlow, to the RvB, in which she states that within two short muzzle breeds of their list of 12, one rarely sees dogs with BOAS, is indicative of their wrong choices.
Finally, the attitude of the RvB is only an enormous stimulus for puppy mill breeders of look-a-likes who are currently pushing up their selling prices. But isn’t that what the RvB is trying to avoid with an import ban?
The question is whether the two new board members of the Kennel Club proposed by Doedijns are acceptable to the members, if so we will have to raise the pain threshold considerably.
The question is whether the members of the Kennelclub want to continue with this board at all? A board that has lost confidence and is responsible for a lot of discord.
Stichting Ras en Recht (Foundation for justice for the pedigree dogs)
Ir. Edwin Meyer Viol
Our fight against the CFR is the beginning of the fight against the elimination of pedigree dogs. Support us in our fight by donating on www.rasenrecht.nl .
Ps. Most sources are already mentioned in previous publications of the foundation.