A year in dog politics

It's almost a year since Pedigree Dogs Exposed invaded five million living rooms and made lots of people angry and sad.
It was a wake up call and some things have changed and after the big reviews into breeding hopefully much more will happen.
But by the looks of it Crufts is becoming a little less toxic from a marketing perspective.
True, it's lost its meaty sponsor Pedigree (although they do all claim this was just a coincidence) and instead they have secured the somewhat unlikely discount-sofa-manufacturers-with-the-extensive-credit-terms-and-annoying-adverts DFS.
And it looks like we all need to learn to say 'DFS Crufts' in future, which doesn't scan well and makes me whistle slightly as I say it - which probably upsets lots of collies.
Makes it sound a bit like a ship, too. But I guess they are paying to be an 'above the title' sponsor. (HMS Titanic, DFS Crufts, HMS Spirit of Free Credit?)
And no longer the luxury of luscious BBC2 big-budget outside broadcast coverage with the lovely Ben Fogle and Claire, instead it'll be the guys who filmed it for the Internet last year and it'll be shown on channel who-knows-what More4.
Will the coverage be so sickeningly positive that we'll all need to hide behind our non-DFS sofas? Will they try to make it business as usual as if this last year never actually happened? (A bit like Dallas where Bobby wakes up and it was all just a bad dream?)
We all missed the good stuff - the dancing dogs, the agility all the positive stuff - but I didn't miss the phoney reportage that looked at the show world though very unhelpful rose-tinted spectacles.
2010 DFS Crufts, god bless all who sit on her.

Comments

alfmcmalf said…
Funnily enough my first sofa came from DFS. It fell to pieces quite quickly so ended up on a skip. Likewise my first puppy was from an accredited breeder, bred from show lines. He too did not last that long sadly, what with his inherited health conditions. At last Crufts has a sponsor which speaks volumes about its content.

Philippa
Anonymous said…
Speak for yourself, I didn't miss the heelwork to music, agility, obedience at all. This year I watched it live, all day, every day. No annoying presenters, almost as good as being there (but less temptation to spend money).

I don't think anyone but you will be referring to it as DFS Crufts, just as no one used to say Pedigree Crufts.
Beverley Cuddy said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beverley Cuddy said…
I took my lead from these guys...

http://www.crufts.org.uk/news/more-4-broadcast-crufts

"More 4 has signed a deal with the Kennel Club, organiser of DFS Crufts, to broadcast the event for the first time in 2010."

To be honest I have never seen the Kennel club call it Pedigree Crufts - hence me highlighting it!
Anonymous said…
we have a lovely pair of British made DFS sofas! I have no problem with the Internet coverage but miss the heelwork to music etc on the TV. Also - lots of Accredited breeders try really hard, it's unfair to make remarks suggesting both DFS and the ABS are sub standard. There is a lot wrong with Crufts but it's also a great place to see some truly wonderful doggie stuff. Personally I'd like to see the show split - ALL the judging and show dog stuff on a different day to all the trade stands. Much less crowded for the dogs that way.

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