Annual Report2017/2018

Welcome to the Kennel Club’s Annual Report for 2017/2018.As is traditional, this report reflects largely on another extremely busy and

important year for us, but it also looks ahead to a period of significant change which we are embarking upon this year.

We began an internal transformation programme back in 2016, which started with a Board review of our mission and strategic objectives. Once we had these in place, we began a process of looking at how best to meet this vision and the objectives going forward, and how we could align everything that the Kennel Club does for dogs to this.

We have spent the past two years identifying ways that we can adapt our operational practices to our goals, and identifying and mitigating the risks and challenges which face the Kennel Club like any other organisation in the modern age.

This process has culminated in a full internal restructure of the organisation to ensure that we can modernise the Kennel Club in such a way as to successfully manage the risks and challenges, whilst investing in new technology to enable us to adapt. We intend to make a significant investment over the next two years to refresh and modernise our systems.

All of this is being done without ever losing our focus on retaining the passion and dog-centric culture which make us unique. In the short term, we may need to divert some funds away from our usual charitable donations, but this investment will help us generate income in the future to be used to fulfil our wider objectives, all of which concern the health and welfare of dogs.

We look forward to the future with much optimism; our investment in new technology will enable us to modernise our processes to provide better customer service, and we have created a new team to focus on our various products and services to ensure that they meet the needs of our customers and that they provide value for money.

With our best wishes.

Simon LuxmooreChairman

Rosemary SmartChief Executive

A message from the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Kennel Club

Annual Report 2018 3

We completed the build and moved into our brand new offices in Aylesbury, which handles around 48,000 telephone calls, 20,000 puppy registrations, 14,000 transfer applications and 70,000 microchip recordings each month.

We achieved the highest number of puppy registrations for five years, with over 243,000 puppies registered during 2017, a 7% increase on the previous year.

We welcomed a record crowd of 166,000 visitors to Crufts 2018, the second year in a row that the show’s attendance record has been broken.

We were instrumental in lobbying for a ban on electric shock collars, which was announced in Scotland in January, and then by Westminster just six weeks later.

We ran the annual International Canine Health Awards, which recognise and reward innovative researchers, veterinary scientists and students who are significantly impacting the health and well-being of dogs.

We launched a new system for the education, approval and listing of every level of dog show judge, which is being piloted by 14 breeds on our behalf.

We introduced a series of reforms to revitalise open shows, which are the main introduction to dog showing for many new exhibitors.

We conducted almost 1,500 assessment visits of our Assured Breeders during 2017, an increase of 60% on the previous year.

We launched our Breed Health and Conservation Plans project, which will help ensure that breeders are provided with further information and resources to support them in making balanced breeding decisions that make health a priority.

We set up a working party with representatives of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed clubs and the Veterinary Cardiology Society to review and improve the heart screening of the breed in the UK.

We officially opened the Emblehope Estate as an investment into working-dog activities and all those who enjoy them.

We attracted the second highest attendance in the history of our Discover Dogs show in London, with more than 33,500 visitors.

We hosted a major International Congress of Kennel Clubs in London, which was attended by more than 60 delegates representing over 30 countries from all over the world.

2017/18Highlights

This report covers the last 12 months in depth, but these are

some of our main achievements from the past year:

4 The Kennel Club Annual Report 2018 54 The Kennel Club

Assured Breeder SchemeThe Kennel Club’s Assured Breeder Scheme (ABS) promotes good-breeding practice and aims to provide puppy buyers with an easily

identifiable, safe route to obtaining a puppy from a responsible breeder.Breeders joining the scheme commit to meeting and maintaining high

standards to better the health and welfare of their puppies and breeding stock. Assured Breeders are required to provide puppy buyers with a ‘Puppy Information Pack’ containing guidance to assist them with the ongoing care and socialisation of their puppy. They undertake to provide post-sales help and advice and, in the unfortunate event that a puppy buyer can no longer care for their puppy, will assume responsibility for rehoming.

Assured Breeders are required to allow buyers to view puppies with their mother, in the environment that they were reared, so that they are able to make an assessment of the puppy’s upbringing and likely temperament.

Agria Pet Insurance has collated data over the past decade and analysis shows that buying from an Assured Breeder increases a puppy buyer’s chance of acquiring a healthier dog. On average, people who buy from an Assured Breeder spend nearly 20% less in vet bills throughout the lifetime of a dog compared to those who don’t buy from one.

The ABS currently has about 5,000 members who bred more than 3,000 litters in 2017. These litters produced almost 18,500 puppies, an increase of more than 5% on the previous year.

Online toolsOur website has a Find a Puppy service which supports puppy buyers looking for a Kennel Club-registered dog and provides top listing to those

dogs bred by members of the Assured Breeder Scheme. This service was used nearly eight million times during 2017, with almost 700,000 searches for Labrador Retriever puppies alone.

The Find an Assured Breeder service allows people to access a list of Assured Breeders across all breeds, regardless of whether they currently have puppies for sale, encouraging buyers to wait for puppies from Assured Breeders to become available. This service saw more than 2.1 million searches carried out in 2017.

Our website also features a dedicated Breed Information Centre, which acts as a ‘one stop shop’ for prospective puppy buyers to find out about all 220 recognised pedigree breeds, including three new breeds recognised in the past year – the Russian Toy, White Swiss Mountain Dog and Barbet. This includes information on exercise and grooming needs, recommended health tests, breed club contacts, Kennel Club Assured Breeders, breed standards and breed rescues.

Puppy buyers can also make use of the Kennel Club’s online health resources (see Breeders section) to look up the health information that is available for every dog registered on our breed register, such as their health test results.

Crufts and Discover Dogs

The Kennel Club’s two biggest annual events, Crufts and Discover Dogs, act as

the ideal showcase to educate potential puppy buyers on how to choose the right dog for their circumstances and lifestyle, and how to go about buying a dog the right way. Discover Dogs is centred around nearly 200 individual breed booths which give visitors the opportunity to meet a wide variety of different pedigree dogs and find out about each from experienced owners. This is also one of the most popular features of Crufts with visitors, and research shows that many people looking to buy a dog visit these two shows specifically to find the right dog for them.

The Kennel Club recorded the birth of more than 243,000 puppies in 2017, up by 6.7% on the previous year and the highest total for five years. Helping prospective owners find the right one for them is a key part of our work.

What we do for...

Puppy Buyers

#1

35,068Retriever

(Labrador)

#2

30,887FrenchBulldog

#3

23,317Spaniel

(Cocker)

#4

10,783Pug

#5

9,958Spaniel

(EnglishSpringer)

#6

9,450Bulldog

#7

7,846Retriever(Golden)

#8

7,479German

Shepherd Dog

#9

5,735Dachshund

(Miniature Smooth-Haired)

#10

5,611Miniature Schnauzer

Top 10 registered breeds in 2017

Annual Report 2018 76 The Kennel Club

What we do for...

Breeders

Assured Breeder SchemeThe ABS recognises and rewards good breeding practice and aims to work with

breeders and puppy buyers to force irresponsible breeders out of business.

Assured Breeders are required to allow the Kennel Club’s trained Regional Breeder Assessors to visit their premises to conduct an inspection and a review of their husbandry practices and breeding records. For those scheme members who are new to breeding, this offers an opportunity to seek guidance and advice to develop their breeding programme, and for established members it is an opportunity to discuss any issues or ideas face to face.

Our team conducted almost 1,500 assessment visits during 2017, an increase of 60 % on the previous year. These included initial assessments to new joiners and return visits to existing members, as all Assured Breeders must be

visited at least every three years.Assured Breeders benefit from a range

of discounts including reduced-price puppy registration and free advertisements on the Kennel Club website and Find a Puppy service.

In 2017, the ABS introduced ‘supporter’ membership, which is ideal for anyone who is considering breeding as they can obtain the various discounts and benefits of membership, but more importantly can be guided and supported in order to adopt good practice from the outset. A ‘non-breeding discount’ has also been introduced, which offers Assured Breeders who have not registered a litter in the previous 12 months a £15 discount on their annual renewal fee.

Online toolsWe have a service called MyKC which allows breeders and owners to create a personalised

homepage that is linked, via their dogs, to our extensive pedigree database. This allows the account holder to view their dog’s heritage, including any siblings or offspring and offers easy access to our online health tools. There are now more than 235,000 MyKC accounts registered, with nearly 33,000 activated in 2017.

In 2017, the Kennel Club registered more than 243,000 puppies, an increase of 6.7% from the previous year. Of these, 69% were transferred into new ownership when sold to puppy buyers. The ability of breeders and new owners to carry out both registrations and transfers online through MyKC continues to grow in popularity, with 85% and 87% of transactions completed using this method respectively.

Health resourcesThe Kennel Club, in conjunction with the British Veterinary Association (BVA),

runs screening schemes for a range of inherited diseases, including hip and elbow dysplasia, eye disease, chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia. These four BVA/KC Canine Health Schemes enable breeders to make informed breeding decisions, with the aim of reducing the incidence of health issues in future generations.

We have an online health resource, Mate Select, which has a range of free services to help dog breeders make informed breeding decisions. Mate Select provides breeders, puppy buyers and owners with an opportunity to look up the health information that is available for every dog registered on our breed register.

Mate Select includes a facility to check a dog’s available health test/screening results (Health

Test Results Finder), a resource to help breeders avoid inbreeding (Inbreeding Co-efficient Calculator), and a service to assess the degree to which a dog may have inherited, or pass on, the genes associated with hip and elbow dysplasia (Estimated Breeding Values). The Mate Select website was visited more than 1.8 million times in 2017, with the Inbreeding Co-efficient Calculator used around 400,000 times over the same period, double the number from 2016.

The Kennel Club website provides extensive and detailed online guidance on important factors to consider when breeding dogs and how to use results from health tests and screening schemes appropriately. Additions to the pet health information pages during 2017 included articles on brachycephalic health, ear infections and dealing with long claws. These pages are

accompanied by a section aimed at helping breeders understand canine genetics.

The Kennel Club currently publishes the results of 71 official DNA testing schemes for 75 pedigree dog breeds, with 10 new schemes added in the past year. Each involves collaborative work between the Kennel Club, the breed clubs and DNA testing facilities, and under all of these schemes the breeder/owner agrees for the result of their DNA-tested dog to be sent independently to the Kennel Club by the testing laboratory.

The DNA tests used in official testing schemes can accurately identify clear, carrier and affected dogs, and can be used by breeders to effectively eliminate undesirable disease genes in their stock. Test results were recorded and freely published for more than 9,600 tested dogs in 2017, an increase of a third from 2016.

The Kennel Club believes that responsible dog breeding is the foundation on which the health and welfare of dogs is built, and offers a variety of schemes and resources which help dog breeders give every puppy the best possible start in life.

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Annual Report 2018 98 The Kennel Club

Breed Health and Conservation Plans

The Kennel Club has launched a dynamic new resource for breed clubs and individual breeders called the Breed Health

and Conservation Plans project. The purpose of this ongoing project is to ensure that each breed’s health concerns are identified through evidence-based criteria, and that breeders are provided with useful information and resources to support them in making balanced breeding decisions that make health a priority.

At the end of the first stage of a breed’s plan, a document is produced which sets out all of the evidence gathered. A meeting is then held with the Breed Health Co-ordinator and breed health representatives to discuss the evidence and agree priorities, an action plan and a review date to evaluate progress.

Almost all of the first 17 breeds to participate in the project now have a complete evidence base document. Priorities and action plans have been agreed with several breeds, meetings have been arranged with several more, and the remaining breeds are expected to complete the process in the next few months. 30 breeds have been identified and notified that they are in the second round of the project.

Kennel Club AcademyThe Kennel Club Academy is an online resource which offers a series of free films covering topics on what

breeders should consider before breeding. Among the films added during the past year are: a brachycephalic breeds health film, which focuses on Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome and what clinical signs may be presented in affected dogs; a canine bio-mechanics and movement film; and a genetics film which provides an overview of canine genetics to help viewers gain a basic understanding of how mutations in dogs arise, what health tests are available to search for specific conditions, and why a responsible breeder will use these tests.

Canine Health WeekCanine Health Week, which replaced the previous National Canine Health Testing Week last year, is an annual initiative

that uses social media to highlight resources, research and information to help make a difference to dog health, drawing attention to any known health issues. In 2017, Canine Health Week focused on the most common health issues affecting dogs in Britain, with the aim of enabling owners to familiarise themselves with these conditions in order to establish the healthcare needs of their dogs.

What we do for...

Scientific Research

The Kennel Club supports a wide range of scientific work to improve purebred dog health, with funding also supplied by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust (KCCT). In 2017, the Kennel Club Charitable Trust donated more than £500,000 to aid with scientific research.

Kennel Club Genetics and Cancer CentresThe biggest beneficiary of KCCT funding is the Kennel Club Genetics Centre (KCGC) at the Animal Health Trust (AHT), which develops

simple mouth-swab screening tests to determine affected, carrier and clear dogs. Together with breeding advice and our online resources, these improve the health and welfare of generations of dogs.

A large part of the KCGC’s activity over the past year was the ongoing Give a Dog a Genome (GDG) project. By the end of the year the KCGC had sequenced at least one genome from all but eight of the 77 participating breeds.

During 2017, just under 10,000 dogs were tested for a wide range of disease mutations at the AHT, a 20% increase compared to 2016. The AHT launched six new DNA tests in 2017, which is more new tests launched in a single year than ever before. The development of all the new DNA tests was facilitated by the GDG data. Using whole genome sequencing to compare DNA from affected dogs with DNA from dogs of other breeds that don’t

suffer from the same disease is a very fast and effective way of finding disease mutations, which means DNA tests can be developed for new diseases very early on in the disease emergence process.

In addition to the work being done at the AHT, GDG sequencing data has been or will shortly be shared with scientists at other research institutions who are also investigating inherited diseases in dogs, meaning the impact that this KCCT-funded project will have on the health of dogs is truly global.

Also based at the AHT and funded by the KCCT, the Kennel Club Cancer Centre helps pets to receive the latest treatment and invests in ways to better understand cancer, as well as helping educate veterinary surgeons treating canine cancer patients. Knowledge learned within the cancer centre feeds into research, helping to improve tests used to detect tumours at an early stage, or predict how a cancer may behave and respond to treatment.

10 The Kennel Club Annual Report 2018 11

In 2017, the Kennel Club Genetics Centre generated over 13 terabytes (TB) of sequencing data. To print just 1 TB of data, we would need both sides of about 250 million pages of paper, which would form a pile 10 miles high!

What we do for...

Brachycephalic Breeds

In the past few years, the Kennel Club has seen a huge increase in the popularity and ownership of brachycephalic

dog breeds, such as the French Bulldog, Pug and Bulldog. For example, registrations of French Bulldogs have increased

30-fold over the past 10 years and the breed is set to be the most-registered in the UK this year if current rates continue.

In 2017, we set out to improve the information available on health issues experienced by brachycephalic breeds. This

included providing information on the issues faced by each breed on the Breed Information Centre, which acts as a central hub of breed information on the Kennel Club website; producing a leaflet on brachycephalic health issues to be distributed at events such as Crufts and Discover Dogs; publishing detailed articles for pet owners on specific brachycephalic health concerns and producing a new film specifically concerning a particular breathing problem known as Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome.

We set up a Brachycephalic Breeds Working Group in 2016, which sees the Kennel Club working alongside breed club representatives, the BVA, BSAVA, Dogs Trust, the RVC, RSPCA, and the Cambridge

University Department of Veterinary Medicine. The group aims to improve the health and welfare of brachycephalic dogs and reduce the rising demand for these dogs. In 2017, the working group released a framework for a partnership approach to improving brachycephalic dog health and welfare and also issued an open letter to UK companies that use or may use brachycephalic dog breeds in advertising and marketing campaigns, or on products, urging them to stop using these breeds as it is fuelling increased health and welfare issues.

We also work with the veterinary profession and researchers to identify opportunities to translate research output into practical means which may assist breeders in selecting for health.

Other workThe Kennel Club manages the Bio-Acquisition Research Collaboration

(BARC) which is an online research exchange, bringing together researchers, dog owners and veterinary clinicians. Researchers are able to post requests on to the BARC webpage for biological samples, such as blood or DNA from a cheek swab to aid their research. BARC then alerts veterinarians and dog owners of the research and how they can get involved. In the last three years, the Kennel Club has promoted 30 separate research projects via BARC.

We utilise our registration database to contact registered owners of particular breeds,

asking for them to participate in scientific research. This may involve completing a survey, requesting a cheek swab, or asking owners of dogs suffering from particular conditions to get in contact. In addition to assisting with scientific research, the Kennel Club also emails owners to help promote breed club health survey participation. In 2017, the Kennel Club emailed around 140,000 dog owners and breeders to promote 40 different independent health surveys, research projects and health clinics, double the previous year.

We were represented at a number of major canine health and genetics conferences in 2017, including the BSAVA congress, International Working Dog Breeding Conference, the International Conference on Canine and Feline Genetics and Genomics and the 3rd International Dog Health Workshop. Attending such conferences enables the Kennel Club to be aware of cutting-edge research into dog health, as well as enabling links to be made with

organisations and researchers which might yield exciting future collaborations.

We also have a journal dedicated to the health of all canid species called Canine Genetics and Epidemiology (CGE). This is an open-access resource for the whole dog health community, and makes newly emerging genetic research more accessible to professionals and lay-persons, both in the UK and internationally. In 2017, the CGE published 16 articles, which were accessed more than 36,000 times.

A study published by researchers at the Kennel Club in 2017 shed light on the prevalence of certain health conditions in pedigree dog breeds. The study, published in the CGE, is one of the largest of its kind ever carried out, using data from more than 43,000 Kennel Club-registered dogs. The research aimed to determine the prevalence of varying health disorders among pedigree dogs, helping to identify disorders of particular concern in specific breeds.

Annual Report 2018 1312 The Kennel Club

We manage four canine health schemes in conjunction with the British Veterinary

Association, which assess the quality of dogs’ hips, elbows and eyes, as well as measuring chiari-like malformation/syringomyelia in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and other breeds. The Kennel Club recorded more than 25,000 health results in 2017, including more than 11,500 hip test scores and more than 8,500 elbow grading results.

We work with vets who carry out mandatory checks for specific breeds at all Kennel Club licensed general and group championship dog shows. Independent vets check the winning dogs in these breeds for visible conditions that may have resulted from exaggerated conformation. Any dogs that do not pass these checks are not awarded the highest accolades at dog shows. During 2017, a total of 265 vet checks took place and of these 260 were passes and five were fails.

In 2017, a working party consisting of the Kennel Club, representatives of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed clubs and the Veterinary Cardiology Society (VCS), was set up to review and improve the heart screening of the breed within the UK, to enable more robust collection and publication of data. As a result of the working party, a new heart scheme for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels is being developed by the Kennel Club and VCS in conjunction with Cavalier breed clubs.

To further communications with the veterinary community, each year the Kennel Club invites all veterinary students from around the UK to attend Crufts to listen to talks on relevant topics. In 2018, nearly 150 students from veterinary schools around the UK attended Crufts for lectures on brachycephalic health given by the University of Cambridge’s BOAS research group and the Chairman of the Brachycephalic Working Group.

We have a free quarterly e-newsletter called The Kennel Scope and this keeps veterinarians up to date with the latest health information and resources available. This interactive newsletter provides links that direct readers to useful websites, information and articles on our website and elsewhere. In 2017, the newsletter expanded its focus more towards pet owners, including articles on seasonal dangers and husbandry advice.

The Kennel Club has forged links with the veterinary profession over many years to further improve the health and welfare of dogs.

What we do for...

Vets

What we do for...

Breed Health Co-ordinators

The BHCs are individuals who work on behalf of breed clubs and councils as advocates for the health and welfare of their chosen

breed. The BHC acts as a spokesperson on matters of health and will collaborate with us on any health concerns the breed may have. BHCs are chosen and appointed by breed clubs and councils, and we assist them in this role by offering them the tools they need, an annual seminar and access to resources to help promote and improve the health of their breed where necessary.

BHCs are encouraged to complete an annual health report for the Kennel Club; in 2017 we received reports for 162 breeds, of which 128 listed up to three current health or welfare concerns. The most common concern listed by breeds was epilepsy/seizures, with 28 breeds listing

this in their top three health and welfare concerns. Unspecified cancers were listed in 21 breeds’ top three concerns and hip dysplasia was listed by 17 breeds.

We are encouraged to see an increase in breeds tackling these concerns in many different ways, such as engaging in research, conducting their own surveys and producing educational materials. There were 37 breeds which held health seminars in 2017, 133 breed club newsletters promoting health awareness, 59 breeds producing health leaflets, and 76 breeds using other forms of communication, such as social media, to raise awareness of health and welfare concerns throughout the last year.

The Kennel Club has more than 700 registered breed clubs, with the majority of breeds having more than one club, representing either national or regional interests. To help make the communication on health matters with each breed more efficient, we introduced the vital role of Breed Health Co-ordinators (BHCs).

11,788dogs were

screened for known inherited

eye conditions

8,747dogs were

screened for hip dysplasia

5,036dogs were

screened for elbow dysplasia

In 2017

Annual Report 2018 1514 The Kennel Club

What we do for...

Dog Health Worldwide

We are a founding partner and provide the secretariat to the International

Partnership for Dogs (IPFD), an international organisation which aims to encourage co-operation, collaboration and sharing of information and resources within the global dog community through its website www.dogwellnet.com.

One of the main areas of the IPFD’s work during 2017 was the development of the Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs project, a collaborative international effort in determining the overall quality of commercial entities undertaking genetic testing in dogs, and of the specific tests/products they are offering.

The IPFD has overseen the creation of an open access online resource which independently catalogues information provided voluntarily from providers of genetic testing for dogs. The resource describes expertise, quality assurance, activities and resources; offers searches by breed, test provider, disease etc;

and co-ordinates a programme for standardised proficiency testing. This project is being managed by a former member of the Kennel Club staff.

The IPFD organises a biannual International Dog Health Workshop and we have begun planning for the UK to host the fourth one in Windsor in 2019.

We run the annual International Canine Health Awards through the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, underwritten by a major gift from Vernon and Shirley Hill, founders of Metro Bank. The awards were developed to recognise and reward innovative researchers, veterinary scientists and students who are significantly impacting the health and well-being of dogs. The awards are judged by a panel of influential representatives from the veterinary profession and the world of scientific research.

The 2017 winners were given prize money to further their work

in the field of canine research. Professor Garden, Chair of Department of Clinical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine received the International Prize in Canine Health with a £40,000 prize for his outstanding contribution in the field of canine health and welfare; Professor Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Welfare Science at the University of Sydney, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award with a £10,000 prize; Andrea Strakova, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, was awarded the Student Inspiration Award (Postgraduate) with a £10,000 prize; and Harriet Davenport, University of Liverpool, was awarded the Student Inspiration Award (Undergraduate) with a £5,000 prize. What we do for...

Dog Showing

The Kennel Club plays a key part in leading collaborative efforts which support the health and welfare of dogs on an international stage.

The Kennel Club licensed more than 2,000 dog shows during 2017, almost half of all the events it licensed in the year. The year also saw significant changes for both judges and exhibitors aimed at enhancing the experience of both.

Dog Show Promotion Working PartyThe Dog Show Promotion Working Party concluded its review of the dog show scene in 2017, having looked at ways in which

shows could be improved in order to retain existing exhibitors and to attract new ones.

In response to concerns raised by exhibitors, the working party focused on open-show reforms in 2017, in order to make them more attractive and increase entries. A number of reforms were announced in October 2017, which resulted in a change to qualification for the Junior Warrant, with exhibitors now required to gain more points from open shows.

The changes also included the introduction of a Show Certificate of Excellence in place of the Show Certificate of Merit, which will require exhibitors to gain a number of points exclusively at open shows. If dogs gain both these awards they will become eligible for the new accolade of Open Show Winner. Another newly introduced award is the Veteran Warrant for dogs over seven years of age, with points claimed solely at open shows.

Following the success of the two-year suspension of the ‘beaten dog’ rule, we amended our regulations to incorporate the suspension permanently. Eligibility for Best in Show and Best Puppy in Show will remain consistent across championship, open and limited shows in order to simplify the criteria. Imported register breeds are now eligible

to go forward to the group competition in order to provide a platform to showcase and encourage entries for these breeds.

Among other changes, shows which schedule at least 50% of the breeds in each group will now be eligible to call themselves premier open shows, and dogs placed first to fourth in the group or the puppy group will qualify for Crufts, which should encourage entries and encourage show societies to schedule classes for numerically smaller breeds.

Champion classes are now permitted at breed club championship shows at the discretion of the club, in order to alleviate situations where a dominant winner in the breed may make exhibitors reluctant to enter. The winners of the Champion classes are eligible to go forward to the Challenge Certificate.

There have also been changes to the qualification for the Vulnerable British and Irish Breeds Competition and the Breeders’ Competition as well as the introduction of a Special Beginners competition. General and group championship show societies have been encouraged to schedule Special Beginner classes in each breed, with the winners being eligible for the Special Beginner Group, to give novice handlers the opportunity to experience a group environment. We will be providing sponsorship for rosettes and prize money in order to increase entries.

The IPFD organises a biannual International Dog Health Workshop and we have begun planning for the UK to host the fourth one in Windsor in 2019.

Annual Report 2018 1716 The Kennel Club

JudgesThe Kennel Club launched a new system for the education, approval and listing of every level of dog show judge during 2017. The Judges Competency

Framework is currently being piloted by 14 breeds and will be formally launched in the second half of 2019, to run alongside the current system for a three-year transition period, and be fully operational from January 2022.

The new framework will provide a logical sequence of learning, practising, peer observation and examination, and outlines a judge’s career path providing clear criteria for each stage. Each level will also confirm judging privileges, again making it clear to the judge and the show society who is eligible to judge which breed, and the number and the type of classes which may be judged. All judges will be required to remain up to date with their general dog show knowledge with a mandatory online exam to be passed every five years.

The framework will be administered through our modern online education platform, the Kennel Club Academy, which is available 24 hours a day and requires only a small annual subscription. The Academy provides an efficient and ‘paperless’ way for judges to record their experience on their personal KC Academy page, whether this be judging appointments or details of seminars attended, breed assessments passed and other education undertaken.

The Kennel Club Academy also contains essential pre-course learning for judges, with practice exercises, educational learning materials, and a growing library of breed-specific films, with experts in the breed giving their view of the breed. There are now 37 learning resources available online with more due to be added. There are more than 10,000 user accounts for the Academy from more than 70 countries, with almost 1,000 of these signed up to the Judges Education Programme.

What we do for...

Dog Activities

The Kennel Club supports a number of dog activities in addition to dog showing.

Our International Agility Festival was held at Rockingham Castle, Leicestershire in

August 2017, sponsored by CSJ Specialist Canine Feeds. There were 2,000 competitors from 21 countries entered over the four days, with 3,000 dogs taking part. Almost 2,000 spectators attended during the festival.

We once again organised the Olympia Agility Stakes Finals at the London International Horse Show in December 2017, supported by Skinner’s pet foods. The prestigious Olympia event provides an excellent opportunity for the Kennel Club to promote fit and healthy dogs to a large audience.

We sponsored Agility Team GB which competed at the European Open Agility Championships in Italy in July 2017 and the FCI World Agility Championships in Spain in October. Agility Team GB did very well, winning a silver medal in the large team at the European Open. The competitions helped showcase talented British handlers to an international audience, and generated positive promotion for this very popular activity.

Crufts 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of agility at the show, and played host to many competitions including the annual championships. The show also hosted the obedience championships plus finals for heelwork to music and freestyle. The ‘Obreedience’ final was won by the Labrador Retriever team, after 21 different breeds took part in 10 heats across the country during 2017. The number of heats continues to grow with 13 heats planned for 2018.

There were 730 licensed field trials in the 2017 season, including 12 field trials across all sub-groups directly organised by the Kennel Club. In addition, we licensed five championships and organised the 16th Hunt, Point & Retrieve

Championship which was held at Elveden Estate, as well as the 88th Cocker Spaniel Championships held at Sandringham Estate by gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen.

The Kennel Club Gundog Working Test was held once again at Chatsworth Estate and was kindly supported by Eukanuba, Lintran and Sporting Saint. This flagship event also hosted two training days as well as the two-day International Team Test for Retrievers in which nine teams from across Europe took part, with Ireland winning overall.

The Working Gundog Certificate continues to prove very popular with 100 dogs successfully passing their assessment in 2017.

The Kennel Club Working Trials Championships were organised on behalf of the Kennel Club by Essex Working Trials Society and held in October 2017.

The Heelwork to Music Team GB flew the flag for their country when they came first in both Freestyle and Heelwork to Music at the Open European Championships in Belgium in August 2017. It was the first time that Team GB has won both competitions.

Our venuesIn addition to its premises in London and Aylesbury, we manage a purpose-built show and events venue at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire and a large outdoor estate at Emblehope, Northumberland.

During 2017 works were undertaken at Stoneleigh to create a clinic room suitable for a wide range of health testing, to enlarge and reconfigure the small kitchen in the west hall, and to replace the audio-visual equipment in the meeting rooms.

The building welcomed around 78,000 visitors for activities it hosted in 2017, which included more than 100 dog shows and thrice-weekly training sessions for the Leamington Dog Training Club. A range of external organisations made use of the facility, including the likes of Dogs for Good and the Retired Greyhound Trust.

Emblehope Estate was purchased by the Kennel Club as an investment into working-dog activities and all those who enjoy them. The estate extends to around 7,550 acres, comprising about 136 acres of in-bye land, about 7,012 acres of upland grazing and 400 acres of woodlands. Our gamekeeper moved into a cottage on the estate in June 2017 and we are currently in the process of building a shooting lodge.

The estate was officially opened in September 2017 by Kennel Club Chairman, Simon Luxmoore, and the inaugural field trial at the estate was built around a training field trial organised by the Scottish Field Trials Association. The preceding weekend, we offered an opportunity for the press and field trials secretaries to take a series of guided tours of the estate to showcase what it has to offer.

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Annual Report 2018 1918 The Kennel Club

CruftsWe organise and manage Crufts, the world’s greatest dog show, which welcomed a record attendance of 166,000 over four days in

March 2018.The show took place at the NEC, Birmingham, with Eukanuba as its

principal sponsor. Around 26,500 dogs took part in many activities at the event, which was broadcast on Channel 4 on all four nights, with additional coverage on More4. A record 14 hours of coverage was broadcast from the show, with a cumulative total of almost 11.3 million people watching the broadcasts, and with almost 2.9 million watching live on Sunday evening.

Almost 21,000 dogs were entered in the breed classes, including more than 3,600 dogs from 48 overseas countries – a record international entry. Dogs competing in the Imported Register classes were eligible to progress to the group competitions for the first time, meaning that more than 200 breeds had the opportunity to become Best in Show.

This year’s Best in Show award was chosen by Jill Peak, and went to a Whippet called Tease (Ch Collooney Tartan Tease JW), handled by Yvette Short from Edinburgh and owned jointly with her husband David. The Reserve award went to a Pointer, Chilli (Sh Ch Canix Chilli), owned by Heather Blackburn-Bennett.

Crufts hosted the Eukanuba Champion Stakes and Pup of the Year competitions for the first time at the show. The Kennel Club Vulnerable British and Irish Breeds competition at the show was judged by Tom Mather and won by an Irish Wolfhound named Gordon (Ch Hydebeck Imperial Ruler JW), owned by Louise Pinkney.

The Kennel Club Friends for Life competition, which recognises and rewards the remarkable relationships between dogs and their owners, is decided by a public vote from television viewers. It was won by Sir Jack Spratticus, a Border Terrier owned by Vanessa Holbrow from Somerset. Jack had been to four homes before being rescued by Vanessa, and he is credited with changing her life, helping her to live with complex mental health issues by giving her confidence, companionship and stability.

The Scruffts Family Crossbreed of the Year competition, which is run by the Kennel Club and caters exclusively for crossbreed dogs, was won by Jack, a Shih Tzu/Maltese cross owned by 16-year-old Young Kennel Club member Josie Baldwin from Kent.

All of the activities in the main Arena throughout the show were streamed live and free on the Crufts YouTube Channel, with videos of this and past years’ shows available to view at www.youtube.com/crufts.

Our two major annual shows, Crufts and Discover Dogs, offer dog lovers the opportunity to share in celebrations of the special relationship between humans and dogs and the many varied roles which dogs perform across society.

Discover DogsDiscover Dogs is our second largest event, and takes place annually in London to promote choice, care and training when buying and

looking after a dog.The 2017 event, which was title-sponsored by Eukanuba, was the 22nd

in the show’s history and the third to be held at ExCeL London. The event attracted the second highest attendance in the show’s history, with more than 33,500 visitors, including the Kennel Club’s President, HRH Prince Michael of Kent.

The focus of the show was to help potential dog owners choose the right dog for their lifestyle and offer advice on how to go about buying a dog the right way; and for those already with dogs in the family, provide tips on how best to enjoy a long, happy life together through training, competing and fun.

At the heart of the show were nearly 200 individual breed booths which gave visitors the opportunity to meet a wide variety of different pedigree dogs and find out about each from experienced owners.

The Main Ring hosted an array of competitions, including agility, heelwork to music and flyball, as well as the final of the prestigious UK

Junior Handler of the Year competition and the semi-finals of the Junior Warrant Winner of the Year competition.

Among the other competitions held at the show were the semi-finals of the Scruffts Family Crossbreed Dog of the Year competition, sponsored by James Wellbeloved, which demonstrate the Kennel Club’s commitment to all dogs, whether pedigree or crossbreed.

The focus of the show was to help potential dog owners choose the right dog for their lifestyle

What we do at...

Events

Annual Report 2018 2120 The Kennel Club

What we do for...

Dog Training

Dog training is at the heart of a successful relationship between dogs and their owners, and the Kennel Club facilitates this by running the UK’s largest dog training scheme. It also offers dog training instructors and canine behaviourists the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised accreditation award, based on a robust standard set by the Kennel Club.

Good Citizen Dog SchemeWe encourage dog owners to train their dogs through our Good Citizen Dog

Scheme (GCDS), which is the country’s largest dog training programme. The GCDS celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017, having been founded at Crufts in 1992.

The scheme promotes responsible dog ownership through the training of dogs and education of their owners, and offers four levels of achievement – Puppy Foundation, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Since its inception, more than 600,000 pass certificates have been awarded and there are almost 1,800 organisations running the scheme across the UK and in several countries overseas.

We offer special show classes at Crufts for dogs which have been awarded at least their Bronze award, and these continue to be popular, attracting more than 1,000 entries in 2018. For the first time, a Newfoundland which won her GCDS class went on to win not only Best of Breed but also the Working group and competed for Best in Show.

GCDS classes were held at seven other major Championship shows during 2017 and GCDS Bronze testing was made available at 12 Championship shows over the year, helping raise funds for the Kennel Club Charitable Trust

in the process. The third annual GCDS

Supermatch competition was held in December 2017 at

the Kennel Club Building at Stoneleigh. Valentino, a 20 month-old Australian Shepherd owned by Joanne Such from Middlewich, Cheshire, and handled by Lucy Green competed against more than 60 other dogs which had won GCDS breed classes throughout the previous year, in a series of knockout rounds, and was declared Best in Match.

The final of the GCDS Pre-Beginners Obedience Stakes, including a specific competition for Young Kennel Club members, took place at Crufts 2018.

Run alongside the GCDS, the Kennel Club’s Safe and Sound scheme aims to promote safe interaction between children and dogs for the protection of both. This scheme continues to attract great interest from schools.

Kennel Club Accredited Instructors Scheme

The Kennel Club recognises the importance of providing dog owners with a wide and accessible choice of dog-training

instructors and canine behaviourists who have proven specialist knowledge, skills and experience.

We do this through operating the Kennel Club Accredited Instructors (KCAI) Scheme, whose members can gain accreditation to prove that they are able to provide quality dog training services and advice.

The scheme offers instructors and canine behaviourists who are members of the KCAI Scheme the opportunity to gain accreditation, based on a robust standard set by the Kennel Club.

There are currently 128 Kennel Club Accredited Instructors, which is 42% more than at the same point last year. The two most popular of the nine accreditation disciplines continue to be Companion Dog Training and the Good Citizen Dog Scheme.

During the year, one fifth of those scheme members still working towards accreditation successfully completed all nine of the KCAI online assessments, the first stage in the accreditation process. This was more than double the number who passed this stage the previous year.

The scheme continues to receive the valuable support of City & Guilds, whose continued involvement enables us to demonstrate that the scheme’s processes and delivery meet their quality standards. This ensures that the scheme’s content is always relevant and that its structure and support are of the highest standard.

Crufts 2018 played host to the annual KCAI Trainer of the Year award ceremony. Barry Harris from the Wirral won the award, which recognises the outstanding talents of dog training instructors who are members of the scheme.

Good Citizen Dog Training Scheme cumulative passes to February 2018:

262,459Puppy Foundation

Assessment

236,214Bronze

88,405Silver

40,737Gold

Annual Report 2018 2322 The Kennel Club

The majority of the YKC’s work is focused around providing opportunities for young people to train and compete nationwide

with their dogs. The YKC held 12 successful training days during 2017, double the previous year, which not only provided excellent training opportunities for members, but also developed the skills of older members by inviting them as trainers, photographers and organisers at these events. Sixteen training days/events are planned during 2018.

YKC members are offered numerous events and competitions in which to qualify for Crufts, and they were also given the chance to represent the YKC overseas at events such as the European Open Junior Championships and the World Dog Show.

In 2017, 15 young people were sent on Kingswood courses in the summer holidays. Kingswood delivers residential learning experiences that focus on team building, problem solving and fun, helping young

people to challenge themselves and bond with their peers, so that they are more engaged and can achieve more.

YKC members are also offered the opportunity to undertake work experience at the Kennel Club, and this programme was extended in 2017, with 21 members offered five-day placements over a three-week period, including two overseas members from Belgium and Greece.

The YKC Young Person of the Year was awarded at Crufts 2018 and was won by 14-year-old Lauren Ashby, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma Stage 3 in January last year, but has not allowed her diagnosis and treatment to stop her training and competing in her beloved agility with her dogs. The 2018 YKC Handler of the Year was awarded at Crufts 2018 and was won by Georgia Brown, aged 17, and her English Springer Spaniel, Toby.

What we do for...

Young Dog Lovers

The Kennel Club supports young dog lovers through the Young Kennel Club (YKC), which is for those aged from 6-24. The YKC covers many aspects of education and training and its mission is to engage and support young people within all dog-related activities by providing an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding programme centred on the love of dogs.

What we do for...

Dog Walkers

Over the past year we have responded to an increasing number of proposed Public

Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), concerning where dog walkers may exercise their dogs, how many dogs may be walked at a time, seasonal restrictions on walking and even proposals to register their dog’s DNA prior to walking in parks. As of October 2017, local authorities had to convert their existing Dog Control Orders into PSPOs. We continue to be successful in ensuring that the majority of orders introduced are reasonable and proportionate.

The KC Dog website was redesigned in 2017

to include briefings on topics we are commonly faced with, in order to assist dog owners responding to PSPOs in their area, and to aid local authorities wishing to introduce new PSPOs or review existing orders.

We achieved a significant lobbying victory in January 2018, following work we undertook the previous year, in putting pressure on the Home Office, the government department ultimately responsible for introducing PSPOs, to review their guidance to local authorities so that it is clearer to them how to introduce PSPOs fairly, and with consideration to dog walkers. As a

direct result of this, our rewrite of the dog-related guidance has now been approved and published by the Home Office, with the Kennel Club being the sole animal welfare organisation mentioned within this.

Despite the newly published guidance, and our numerous success stories in working positively with local authorities, at the end of 2017 we began our first legal challenge regarding what we believe to be unfair PSPOs being introduced by Richmond Borough Council. This is now being addressed by solicitors working on behalf of the Kennel Club.

The Kennel Club works to protect the rights of dog walkers to access open spaces around the UK through our KC Dog

initiative, in the face of threats of increased restrictions.

Annual Report 2018 2524 The Kennel Club

We offer support and advice to Defra and animal welfare teams in Scotland and Wales as well as government committees, through

regular meetings, written correspondence and input into committee inquiries. We are part of a number of groups and coalitions set up to advise government such as the All Party Group for Animal Welfare, the Pet Advertising Advisory Group and the Canine and Feline Sector Group.

We have achieved two major victories with our campaign to ban electric shock dog collars over the past year. Following many years of lobbying, the Scottish government announced its intention to ban these devices in January 2018. We had stepped up our campaign in 2017 by holding an event at the Scottish parliament and supporting MSPs with petitions in favour of a ban which were launched as a result of our event.

Following the announcement, we immediately set our sights on persuading Westminster to follow suit and secured a meeting with Michael Gove, the Secretary of State responsible. Following this meeting, a consultation on the terms of a ban across the UK was announced in March 2018.

Another major success in Scotland was the announcement towards the end of 2017 that tail docking would be permitted for working dogs, following a Kennel Club campaign over a number of years. Prior to this,

tail docking was banned completely and research had shown a rise in tail-related injuries to working dogs as a result.

Dog breeding remains a priority issue in terms of our national campaigning work. In England, we have met regularly with the Minister, civil servants, interested stakeholders and MPs ahead of Defra’s new breeding regulations which are due to be introduced later this year. We are campaigning for the Assured Breeder Scheme to be formally recognised within the local authority licensing regime by ensuring that ABS members are deemed ‘low risk’ and therefore subject to less frequent inspections and lower licensing fees.

In Wales, where new breeding regulations were introduced in 2015, we regularly meet AMs to promote statistics showing that fewer local authority licences were issued after the litter licensing threshold was reduced, and to share our view that incorporating the ABS system would help to remedy this.

We held our annual Westminster Dog of the Year competition and the first Holyrood Dog of the Year competition in Scotland in 2017, giving an ideal opportunity to speak with MPs and MSPs interested in dog welfare issues.

The Kennel Club lobbies at a local, national and UK-wide level on a broad range of issues on behalf of dogs and dog owners. Issues include breeding regulations, dog health, electric shock training devices, puppy farming, dog walkers’ rights, dangerous dogs, education, pet advertising, and animal testing.

We operate our Kennel Club Breed Rescue (KCBR) initiative as a means of promoting

and supporting the many breed rescue organisations that operate throughout the UK.

There are currently more than 330 KCBR organisations operating across the UK, covering more than three quarters of the 220 pedigree dog breeds which we currently recognise. This support provides the organisations with a recognisable identity to more effectively promote their activities. Over the 12-month period from August 2016-July 2017, KCBR organisations collectively cared for and helped to rehome more than 8,000 dogs.

Our online Find a Rescue service enables people interested in taking on a rescue dog to find their nearest KCBR organisation. There were more than 950,000 searches carried out using

this facility in 2017. KCBR organisations are also listed in the Kennel Club Rescue Directory which is available to download on our website.

The Kennel Club publishes a newsletter for rescue organisations biannually, which provides information, advice and news stories, and we produce an annual KCBR calendar, which features the stories of 12 dogs which have been helped by breed-rescue organisations. We organise a regular breed-rescue conference to provide information in areas of common interest, such as the law, fundraising and promotion.

The Kennel Club Charitable Trust (KCCT) provides significant support to rescue dogs, and in 2017 awarded several grants to KCBR organisations seeking assistance with kennelling and veterinary fees. The KCCT encourages breed clubs to match funding in some cases, to

show their support for the vital work that these organisations do in finding forever homes for the dogs in their care.

The KCCT actively promotes the work of KCBR organisations at the Kennel Club’s two flagship events, Crufts and Discover Dogs, by inviting representatives from a number of breed rescues to promote the work that they do and allow the public the opportunity to meet dogs looking for a new home alongside past success stories. The Find a Rescue Dog information stand is now an established favourite at both events.

What we do for...

Breed RescueSadly there are all too many dogs in the UK which need rehoming,

for a wide variety of reasons. Alongside our work to recommend that potential puppy buyers always buy from a Kennel Club Assured

Breeder, the Kennel Club encourages people interested in older dogs to consider taking on a purebred dog from a rescue organisation.

What we do for...

Lobbying

Annual Report 2018 2726 The Kennel Club

What we do for...

Lost Dogs

Since 2016, all puppies in England, Scotland and Wales must now be microchipped by their first keeper, usually the breeder, by the

time they are eight weeks old (Northern Ireland had introduced similar legislation four years earlier).

Petlog now has more than 12 million pets registered, of which 7.8 million are dogs. A total of 900,000 microchip records were added to Petlog in 2017, with 60% of these being for dogs.

More than 185,000 transfer of keeperships were applied for by pet owners, an increase of almost a quarter on 2016. We also supported welfare organisations by processing 70,500 applications free of charge to change keepership for pets that were gifted and/or rehomed.

Petlog operates to ISO standards for information security management and is the only UK database to be a member of European Pet Network which enables national and local associations based across Europe to share information on missing pets.

Having a dog go missing is many dog owners’ biggest fear, which is why the Kennel Club manages Petlog, the UK’s largest lost-and-found database for microchipped pets.

Total Petlog database (at end of 2017): What we do to...

Communicate

Press and marketingOur press office and marketing teams are at the forefront of our work in

communicating to a wide variety of audiences including the dog world, local and national media, specialist press and the public. The two teams were combined into a single department as part of the restructure which was launched in April 2018.

The press office team achieves press coverage across the media spectrum including national and regional newspapers and websites, consumer magazines, radio and television channels and specialist print and digital media. This increases awareness of our brands, campaigns and services and helps to position the Kennel Club as a leading voice and authority on all canine matters.

Throughout the year, the press office plans and executes media campaigns to proactively support and promote our business objectives and the work of different areas of the organisation. Our media campaign work includes promoting positive dog stories and case studies; organising media events, launches and photo opportunities; and utilising Kennel Club registrations statistics and commissioning research to develop news stories. The press office also works reactively by monitoring the current news agenda and responding to relevant breaking news by offering expert comments on a range of dog-related issues,

helping give us a good share of voice when canine matters are discussed in the media. Wherever possible, the press team pre-empts potential issues that could cause reputational damage to the Kennel Club or to dogs in general by planning strategies and communications materials to ensure that issues are dealt with before they can escalate. We develop and maintain solid relationships with journalists from a range of different media, from national newspapers and specialist writers to radio and television producers.

The marketing team supports all areas of promotion including printed materials, advertising support, social media, email, branding and website content and creation. The team ensures that each area of the Kennel Club’s work receives the awareness and

promotion that it needs.

First on the list of our strategic objectives is to promote the recognition of the Kennel Club as the leading national organisation for referral and advice regarding all canine-related matters. Our communications channels are key to achieving this.

2017 statistics:

6,745press articles

mentioning the Kennel Club

More than

2,000pieces oflocal and regional coverage Around

1,000TV and radio

items

almost

400pieces of coverage

in national newspapers

12,130,380mTotal petsrecorded

7,826,700mDogs (65%)

3,813,832mCats (31%)

489,848Other (4%)

Horses/donkeys/rabbits etc

Annual Report 2018 2928 The Kennel Club

Website and Social MediaThe Kennel Club is the largest online resource for dog care and advice in the UK. One of our main first contacts is with dog lovers

who want to find a puppy that will fit into their family lifestyle. They turn to us for advice on where to get a dog from – puppy or rescue dog – and how to look after and train their dog, and we then enthuse them to get active with their dogs and get involved in all sorts of canine activities; 88% of traffic to our Getting a Dog section is from search traffic – showing it is ‘the place to go’ to find a dog. The Kennel Club also ranks number 1 on Google for relevant searches around ‘finding a dog’ and ‘finding a puppy’.

Our social channels support a variety of products and services, providing advice, infographics, engagement and education. We utilise our channels to engage with a wide range of audiences, including puppy seekers, dog owners, young people, and those involved in a variety of canine disciplines including dog showing and agility.

Our channels have great engagement from pedigree dog owners and we have had many successes in 2017. Here are some of the achievements:

• More than 600,000 fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram• More than 74 million people reached across our main Facebook and

Twitter accounts• More than 1.3 million likes, comments and shares during Crufts• Almost 1 million people reached on Facebook during the International

Agility Festival

PublicationsThe Kennel Club publishes a range of print and online publications which address a variety of subjects and audiences.

Our monthly magazine, the Kennel Gazette, is largely put together by Kennel Club members for the members. The magazine is feature-led and contains personality profiles, a viewpoint column, historical features, health news and the popular Judges’ Choice. It was made available online to all in March 2018.

The Kennel Club Journal continues as a monthly online publication and contains all ‘official’ information with news from the Kennel Club Board on judges, Challenge Certificate allocations, AGM reports as well as show and seminar listings, Junior Warrant winners, KC Dog notifications and regulation changes.

We produce a series of Breed Record Supplements, a quarterly publication where all registration related applications such as litter registrations, lists of exported and imported dogs and health test results are shown. The Stud Book is an annual publication containing the details

of all dogs which have won specific awards at our licensed events in the previous year.

We have a total of 10 newsletters that interested parties can sign up to receive, and there are more than 20 different information guides available to download from our website, covering a diverse range of subjects such as managing your dog’s weight, choosing the right dog for you, breeding for health and introducing dogs to children and babies.

We produce an annual ‘What the Kennel Club Does for Dog Health’ brochure and in early 2018, we published a Breed Watch Illustrative Guide, aimed at judges, veterinarians and anyone interested in the health and welfare of show dogs.

What we do for...

International Relationships

In June 2017, we hosted a major International Congress of Kennel Clubs at our headquarters in London, which was attended by more

than 60 delegates representing in excess of 30 countries from all over the world. Promoting pedigree dogs in the modern era, the challenges posed by social media and the need to encourage the next generation of dog enthusiasts were common threads running through presentations, which featured speakers from six different countries – the UK, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Sweden.

Over two days, kennel clubs from around the world met to discuss their operations, policies, procedures and long-term goals for the success of their respective organisations and for the future of pedigree dogs.

The conference was conducted in an atmosphere of camaraderie and friendship and the attendees shared ideas about how to best promote the purchase, breeding and responsible owning of purpose-bred pedigree dogs.

Many overseas clubs also attended Crufts 2018 to enjoy the world’s greatest dog show. The Dutch and Polish kennel clubs had trade stands encouraging exhibitors to enter their forthcoming FCI shows. Similarly, representatives of the Kennel Club were warmly received at both the European Dog Show which was held in Kiev in the Ukraine in August 2017 and the World Dog Show in Leipzig, Germany in November 2017 to encourage entries to Crufts and other UK shows.

The Kennel Club is a leading light on the international stage with regards to all canine matters, and takes the responsibility of this very seriously.

Annual Report 2018 3130 The Kennel Club

Benefits for members include a membership card entitling them access to Crufts and Discover Dogs shows as long as

they remain a member, copies of the Kennel Club Year Book and Stud Book, the monthly Kennel Gazette magazine, a 10% discount on publications and Crufts and Discover Dogs tickets and use of the club’s premises. Members can hire meeting rooms at Clarges Street at very competitive prices.

Members also have voting rights and regularly help to shape the Kennel Club’s work through voting on resolutions, which they themselves are able to propose, at general meetings.

The Kennel Club held two general meetings during the past year: an AGM in May 2017, and an SGM in November. At the SGM, the members voted to remove the entrance fee for prospective new members and for the introduction of a lower household membership fee where two elected members reside at the same address. The members rejected a proposal to remove the cap on the number of members but voted in favour of increasing the number of overseas members permitted from 100 to 200.

In 2017, the Election Panel was created to meet prospective members which provides an informative overview of the Kennel Club to candidates and for the panel to learn more about the applicants. The Election Panel reports to the Board.

The members enjoyed a series of social events throughout the year, including two wine-tasting lunches and visits to the Museum of London and Tate Britain. A month-long programme of Christmas lunches proved to be popular as always, with the members’ dining room being fully booked for the duration, resulting in a total of almost 1,200 covers served over the period.

What we do for...

MembersThe Kennel Club has three levels of membership available and encourages dog enthusiasts to join either as members, associates or affiliates. Each receives a package of benefits tailored to the level of membership.

The Library and Collections department is responsible for the care and development

of the Kennel Club’s collections of dog literature, art, photographs, archives and ephemera, and for making these collections accessible to members, researchers and the wider public.

The Kennel Club Library is the largest canine library in the world and deals with thousands of research requests from visitors in person and by email and telephone each year. Library users include the Kennel Club’s own staff, members, journalists, authors, TV and radio researchers, breed historians, private researchers, university academics and students, as well as members of the public.

The library is involved in promoting the work of the Kennel Club Bark & Read Foundation which provides financial and practical support to 14 different individuals and charities, big and small, who take dogs into classrooms and libraries to assist children and young people to become confident and happy readers. Two new Bark & Read providers joined the foundation in 2017, including the first in Northern Ireland. Bark & Read dogs and volunteers attended Discover Dogs 2017 and Crufts 2018 to promote their work.

The Kennel Club Art Gallery maintains the largest collection of dog paintings in Europe; the permanent collection features works by a number of famous dog artists and includes the famous Crufts Best in Show trophy. The Gallery has received a number of notable new acquisitions in the form of donations, bequests and purchases in the past year.

The gallery hosted a regular programme of guided tours and put on four exhibitions over the past 12 months: ‘Magnificent Molossers’, ‘Dog Photographer of the Year, ‘Treasures of the Far East’, and ‘Significant Women who have made a Difference for Dogs’, which is running until late June 2018.

The Kennel Club Picture Library curates and supplies thousands of images for use by the Kennel Club and external customers each year. These are used for our website, social media and publications, to accompany press releases and on Kennel Club and Crufts licensed products. The picture library also oversees the world’s largest dog photographer competition, the Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year competition, supported by sponsors, SmugMug and Nikon School UK.

As well as members and their guests, the Kennel Club receives many other visitors over the course of the year. Our meeting rooms are used by a number of external organisations, and the library and art gallery are popular attractions.

Last year in numbers:

10,000entries for the Dog

Photographer of the Year competition

4,000+queries answered

by the library

1,500visitors to the gallery

679items added

to the library

80items added

to the art collection

What we do for...

Visitors

Caroline KiscoSecretary

Annual Report 2018 3332 The Kennel Club

The Kennel Club Charitable Trust (KCCT) is an independent charity, reporting to the Charity Commission. It was founded in 1987, and has since awarded grants totalling more than £10 million towards ‘making a difference for dogs’, the charity’s principal aim and tagline. During 2017, the Trust distributed in excess of £600,000 in grants to a wide variety of applicants.

The KCCT awards grants across three main areas:• Science – research into canine

health problems• Support – the training of dogs to

help human beings• Welfare – the rescue and welfare of

dogs in need of care and attention

ScienceMore than half of the money awarded by the KCCT was directed towards research into canine health. Of this, £195,000 was granted to support the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the Animal Health Trust (see Scientific Research, p11), the third year of a research agreement between the

AHT and KCCT. The Kennel Club Cancer Centre was also the recipient of a significant grant.

The KCCT funds a range of other scientific work to improve pedigree dog health. In 2017, the trustees agreed a grant of just under £14,000 to help fund research into an ‘Evaluation of Biomarkers for Assessing Response to Treatment and Outcome in Dogs with Immune-Mediated Haemolytic Anæmia’, which will be carried out by Dr Barbara Glanemann and Dr James W Swann at the Royal Veterinary College in Hertfordshire.

Immune-Mediated Haemolytic Anæmia (IMHA) is an autoimmune disease of dogs that results in a high death rate and considerable distress for affected animals and their owners. Sadly, several breeds are predisposed to

developing IMHA, including Cocker Spaniels, English Springer Spaniels and Maltese. The disease can be treated with immunosuppressive drugs but these have side effects which may compromise the health of the dogs. Whilst standardised protocols exist for dogs with IMHA, the researchers believe that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is no longer appropriate if more tailored treatment were possible.

The researchers propose to analyse left-over blood samples from dogs with IMHA to assess several novel markers of disease severity that could be used in future to refine and individualise treatment. They wish to determine whether the concentrations of inflammatory molecules and expression of particular genes in the blood can be used to predict whether dogs will respond to treatment, survive and maintain a good quality of life. They anticipate that the study will provide new and clinically useful tools to monitor the progress of dogs with IMHA, which can be used to refine the therapeutic approach for individual animals to maximise their chance of a positive outcome.

SupportAround 10% of the total grant money given by the KCCT was to fund the training of dogs to help human beings. In 2017, a grant of £10,000 was made to the charity Dog Assistance in Disability (Dog A.I.D).

The charity is based in Shrewsbury but has a national network of nearly 100 volunteer trainers, with more than 70 qualified assistance dogs and nearly 90 assistance dogs in training.

The main difference between Dog A.I.D. and many other assistance dog groups is that the physically disabled owner learns how to train their own pet dog. The charity provides its clients with an approved personal dog trainer, who coaches them using modern, safe, reward-based methods of training.

One pairing who has benefited from the charity’s work are police officer Brian Hickman and his Cocker/Poodle cross, Lily. Brian became disabled when he suffered major spinal injuries in 2009 and can only walk short distances with the aid of a stick. Lily completed her training to be an assistance dog with Dog A.I.D. in early 2017 and supports Brian in his day-to-day life. With Lily’s help, Brian is now in the police training unit, passing on his 23 years of experience to new officers.

WelfareThe KCCT awards grants to rescue bodies associated with specific breeds and general canine welfare organisations which work to rehome dogs given up by their owners.

One charity that benefitted from the KCCT in 2017 was Oak Tree Animals’ Charity, based near Carlisle in Cumbria, which helps to rehome hundreds of dogs because their

owners cannot cope with their behaviour.Oak Tree received a grant of £3,445 from

the KCCT so that staff can be trained to offer behavioural support to both dogs in their care, and to dogs in the community, who might be at risk of going into care if the appropriate training isn’t given.

Oak Tree plans to use this money to help more dogs like Kole, a one-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier/Rottweiler cross who was brought into the charity because his owner was unable to handle him. Although friendly, Kole was boisterous and regularly knocked people over.

The charity works uniquely with each animal in its care on a case by case basis; to help with this, each animal is assigned a dedicated caseworker. Gemma, one of Oak Tree’s small-animal rehomers, worked as Kole’s caseworker and supported him on a one-to-one basis, working to improve his behaviour and secure his forever home.

Happily, Kole was only with Oak Tree for 30 days. An interested family met with Kole, and Gemma worked with them before rehoming. This took several meetings to share training and behavioural techniques important to Kole’s continued development, including loose-lead walking as he pulled excessively, redirection activities to improve his puppy ‘mouthing’ and techniques to develop a ‘calm and focus’ on his trainer.

The charity is pleased to say that Kole has settled well into his new home in Cumbria. Oak Tree has been able to continue providing advice to his family in relation to crate training and socialisation to ease his transition and ensure a successful rehoming placement.

IncomeThe KCCT gets the income which it uses to make a difference for dogs from a variety of sources and welcomes all donations, however large or small.

The very substantial grants it makes can only be made because of the support from breed clubs, show societies and individuals, and especially the Kennel Club. The latter donated more than £196,000 in 2017, including the benefit of monies from Agria Pet Insurance, the Kennel Club’s pet insurance partner. The Kennel Club also pays all the KCCT’s administrative and publicity costs.

Crufts competitors made voluntary donations totalling almost £1,500, along with their entry fees to the 2017 show, with further monies donated by visitors at the event itself.

Heats of the Kennel Club’s crossbreed competition, Scruffts, raised more than £3,100 for the KCCT through class entry fees throughout the year, and the Kennel Club International Agility Festival in August raised almost £2,000 from entrants and spectators.

Other activities which helped boost the KCCT’s income over the course of the year included the launch of the 2018 Kennel Club Breed Rescue calendar at Discover Dogs in October, with the proceeds from sales going to the KCCT, and voluntary donations given with entries to the Kennel Club’s annual Dog Photographer of the Year competition.

The KCCT’s accounts can be viewed on the website,https://kccharitabletrust.org.uk/ and in summary form on the Charity Commission’s website.

What we do for...

Dogs in Need

Annual Report 2018 3534 The Kennel Club

What we do for...

Finance &Governance

Total Income – 2017

£21.546m

Total Expenditure – 2017

£20.614m

Registrations £12.403m

Shows & Events £4.348m

Health & Welfare £3.672m

Members £0.479m

Canine Activities £0.333m

Publications £0.311m

Registrations £5.601m

Shows & Events £4.346m

Health, Welfare & Charity £3.789m

Canine Activities £3.159m

Education £2.418m

External Relations £1.301m

The Kennel Club is managed in a business-like manner, though it is very much recognised that it is far more than simply a business; it is an institution with an important mission – to improve the health and welfare of dogs.

The Kennel Club made an operating surplus of £932K before depreciation of £1.609M and investment incomes and profits of £895K.

36 The Kennel Club Annual Report 2018 37

Mission &Strategic Objectives

The Kennel Club is the national body which exists to promote the general improvement, health and well-being of all dogs through responsible breeding and ownership.

Promote the Kennel Club as the

leading national organisation for

referral and advice regarding all canine-

related matters

Provide opportunities for

education and training through Kennel Club-

led initiatives

Encourage the responsible

breeding of pedigree dogs

Promote and regulate canine

activities and competitions

Facilitate the breeding of

healthy dogs

Invest in canine

health and welfare

Encourage responsible ownership

of dogs

Engage with the wider dog-

owning audience/fraternity

Promote the positive

benefits of dogs in society

38 The Kennel Club Annual Report 2018 39

AccreditedUntil 2020

Head OfficeClarges Street, London W1J 8AB

Telephone: 01296 318540

Aylesbury OfficeKennel Club House, Gatehouse Way

Aylesbury, Bucks HP19 8DBTelephone: 01296 318540

www.thekennelclub.org.uk

Design & Production: Red Giant / rglondon.co.uk