The British documentary, "Pedigree Dogs Exposed," which aired in Britain in August 2008 and caused a national uproar, is set to premiere in the U.S. on Thursday, December 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the cable channel BBC America. (There will be a repeat broadcast later in the evening.)
The controversial documentary explores for the very first time, a narrator explains, the "extent of health and welfare problems in pedigreed dogs."
"Dogs are falling apart," one expert claims in the documentary. "The number of genetic problems are increasing at a frightening pace." Another expert says that the "disability, deformity and disease" seen in purebred dogs are startling.
The documentary led BBC last year to refuse to carry television coverage of the annual Crufts dog competition (akin to the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in the U.S.), according to the Guardian. It also incited Britain's Kennel Club and two experts to file a complaint with Ofcom, the regulatory agency that oversees the communications industry in the United Kingdom, claiming that the documentary was distorted and unfair in its depiction.
This week, Ofcom ruled that the documentary was edited fairly, but that the Kennel Club had not been given an adequate opportunity to respond to the allegations in the film, reports the Guardian. It also ruled that two experts interviewed for the program -- Dr. Jeff Sampson and Virginia Barwell, a breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels -- were not represented fairly in the documentary because only snippets of their interviews were used.
"We stand firmly by the program, which was clearly in the public interest, and we stand firmly by its conclusions," a spokesman for the BBC told the Guardian. "The broadcast has accelerated unprecedented reform in the way pedigree dogs are bred, including new limits on inbreeding, changes to the written standards of 78 breeds of dog and a new code of ethics which prohibits the culling of puppies for cosmetic reasons." (Go to DogMagazine.net for a detailed list of changes that resulted from the airing of "Pedigree Dogs Exposed.")
Watch a video of the entire program, below.
Comments
30 years ago I bought 2 teacup Poodles. I showed the smaller male successfully in Europe and bred him to my female. The puppy she bore was so big she required a c-section and the puppy died during the surgery. I contacted the breeder and learned about how she "restricted" the diet of the pups to keep them small. I was horrified! Basically she stunted the dogs' growth by starving them. It is sad that some people will do anything to a helpless baby animal in order to make money!
it is cute
I can't seem to find when this show will be aired again,. Help!
THANKS!
The entire video is posted above.
I wonder, if this applies to other forms of life as well, interesting,huh--what a concept?
i am in a bad mood!
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