As a confessed dog-lover, I sat down last night and watched the first night's TV coverage of Crufts. I'm actually getting quite bemused by the whole idea of dog shows - what point is there to them - does it really matter how tall a particular breed is, or what colour of fur they have, or even the shape of their ears?
My dog Rolo is a crossbreed - half labrador/half golden retriever so I imagine that he'd be anathema to the "pot-hunters" who infest these shows. However, he looks lovely - not just my opinion because people have been known to stop me in the street and say so - and he has a very appealing nature. Now that we've done some training, he's also starting to behave very well. As a friend of mine pointed out this morning, some of the show dogs were pulling on the lead...
If this sounds like a rant against show dogs, it's not. In fact Rolo is descended from a show line, his great grandad was a champion labrador. My problem is with the idea of dogs as "objects", not forgetting the damage caused to so many of them by the chronic inbreeding their lines have suffered.
Dogs are for enjoying the company of, not for display as some kind of furry artwork!