What an interesting experience to visit Crufts at the NEC this weekend.  Great to be around so many lovely dogs but I must admit to being a little uncertain about some elements of the event.  To watch the arena displays was absolutely captivating and exciting.  So enjoyable were the agility competitions, the RAF working dogs display and the ‘Fast Ball’ relay races which were as exciting as anything I'd seen (or participated in) at the Royal Tournament.  These events showed how humans and dogs can work in harmony with each other.  Those dogs were evidently having the time of their lives.

On the other hand seeing the breeders showing off their prize specimens left me with an uneasy feeling.  This is not an attack on selective breeding; that is a different story altogether.  It is about how thousands of dogs were penned into small areas waiting for their owners’ moment of glory.  Secondly was the way in which the owners held the leads to keep the dogs’ heads raised in an obvious attempt at point scoring.  I am only just learning about dog behaviour so can’t comment whether this is acceptable or not from a canine perspective.  The biggest disappointment to me was the way that owners were conditioning their dogs in this way outside of the arena.  They were tying their leads to specially constructed stands or gantries in order to condition them to keep their heads raised.  Bad enough on its own, but is actually a terrible example of leadership.  The owner is enforcing behaviour from their dog but is using mechanical restraint rather than putting in the effort themselves to encourage behaviours.  I thought the basic rule of leadership is not to expect your followers to do what you can’t do yourself.