Helping dog breeders combat inherited diseases through understanding genetics.

Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club call for dog breeding review

This week the two leading dog organisations in the UK, the welfare charity Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club announced that they will be calling for Government support for an independent review into the registration, breeding and showing of dogs to ensure their long term health and welfare. Read more...

Kennel Club to clamp down on breeders to safeguard health of pedigree dogs

The Kennel Club is launching a complete review of every pedigree dog breed in the UK in a move that will have far-reaching benefits for the health of many breeds. It has also called on the government to give it the statutory powers to clamp down on breeders who fail to make a dog’s health their top priority. Read more...

Kennel Club Answers Back

Join Caroline Kisko and Dr Jeff Sampson from the Kennel Club as they answer your questions and dispel concerns over pedigree dog breeding

Chat date: 27th August
Chat time: 12.00pm

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Statement about the forthcoming BBC programme "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" - BBC1, Tuesday 19th August, 9pm

8th August 2008: For more than two years now the Kennel Club and others have been co-operating with a TV production company called Passionate Productions who have been making a film on the subject of canine health. We agreed to take part entirely on the basis of that company’s written assurance that the programme’s ultimate message was “intended to be a hopeful one, showing how science and breeders can combine to preserve our purebreds for the future.”  That message fits precisely with the view of the Kennel Club, and so we set about giving information and interviews to the production company, and encouraging others to do so as well. Read more...

New DNA testing schemes

7th July 2008: At the request of the Cocker Spaniel Breed Council, the General Committee of the Kennel Club has recently approved two new official DNA testing schemes for prcd-PRA and FN (familial nephropathy). Read more...

DNA test control scheme for Irish Red & White Setters

19th June 2008: The Kennel Club would like to remind all breeders of Irish Red & White Setters that new rules regarding the DNA Control Scheme for CLAD (Canine Leucocyte Adhesion Deficiency) for the breed are now in place. Read more...

New DNA testing scheme for English Springer Spaniels

17th April 2008: An official DNA testing scheme for PRA (cord1) mutation in English Springers has been announced. This means that all results for Kennel Club registered dogs will now be routinely recorded on the database and published on registration certificates and in the Breed Records Supplement. Read more...

Pekingese health scheme

2nd April 2008: The Kennel Club has announced that a heart-testing scheme for the Pekingese breed has been set up, with the help of the Kennel Club’s Canine Geneticist, Dr Jeff Sampson and the Veterinary Cardiovascular Society. Read more...