The Good News Only - thread...

[Ian H]

As of January 2018, police figures have shown a sharp increase in violent crime and sex offences rates over the last few years. This has coincided with the results of a critical national inspection conducted by HM Inspectorate of Police, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in 2014 which found substantial under-reporting of crime across forces. The subsequent mandatory improvements introduced a profound statistical discontinuity, and the resulting sharp increase observed in recorded violence volumes between 2015 and 2017 should be interpreted primarily as a reflection of improved police reporting rather than an immediate, sharp increase in victimisation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[matticus]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/22/crufts-bans-breathless-pugs/

 

[briantrumpet]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/22/crufts-bans-breathless-pugs/

About time. I'm afraid I haven't got any time for the Kennel Club and the pursuit of extreme traits, mostly at the expense of animal welfare, all through generations of inbreeding to fix those traits. Shorter snouts, shorter legs, heavier jowls, etc, all come at the expense of animal welfare and longevity. It's worth looking at how breed have 'evolved' over 100 years, and in almost all cases, the cosmetic changes have come at the expense of welfare.

Give me a healthy mongrel with a brain any day.

https://www.boredpanda.com/dog-breeds-100-years-ago-and-today/#_

 

[secretsqirrel]

About time. I'm afraid I haven't got any time for the Kennel Club and the pursuit of extreme traits, mostly at the expense of animal welfare, all through generations of inbreeding to fix those traits. Shorter snouts, shorter legs, heavier jowls, etc, all come at the expense of animal welfare and longevity. It's worth looking at how breed have 'evolved' over 100 years, and in almost all cases, the cosmetic changes have come at the expense of welfare.

Give me a healthy mongrel with a brain any day.

https://www.boredpanda.com/dog-breeds-100-years-ago-and-today/#_

Of all those breeds I prefer the NOW Doberman as at least she has her ears and tail.

 

[briantrumpet]

Of all those breeds I prefer the NOW Doberman as at least she has her ears and tail.

I know that this is the Good News thread, and don't want to derail it, but tail docking is another thing that *really* pisses me off, given how important the tail is in communication to dogs.

 

[Bazzer]

About time. I'm afraid I haven't got any time for the Kennel Club and the pursuit of extreme traits, mostly at the expense of animal welfare, all through generations of inbreeding to fix those traits. Shorter snouts, shorter legs, heavier jowls, etc, all come at the expense of animal welfare and longevity. It's worth looking at how breed have 'evolved' over 100 years, and in almost all cases, the cosmetic changes have come at the expense of welfare.

Give me a healthy mongrel with a brain any day.

https://www.boredpanda.com/dog-breeds-100-years-ago-and-today/#_

Another one here who has no time for the kennel club's rules about the designer appearance of dogs. Tens of thousands if not more, of dogs have suffered because of the stupid rules of that organisation.
My parents were registered breeders of Old English Sheepdogs. Every pup's tail had to be "docked" otherwise it could not be registered and more importantly for some, could not be entered into dog shows.
The same rules almost certainly applied to Dobermans, who IIRC also suffered ear clipping.
Edit: cross posting.

 

[secretsqirrel]

While you get a sham like Crufts where you have displays of high performing working GSDs, along side the sorry ‘best in breed‘ examples that can barely walk without waddling.

 

[Ian H]

While you get a sham like Crufts where you have displays of high performing working GSDs, along side the sorry ‘best in breed‘ examples that can barely walk without waddling.

We are still talking about dogs, are we?

 

[Pross]

While you get a sham like Crufts where you have displays of high performing working GSDs, along side the sorry ‘best in breed‘ examples that can barely walk without waddling.

As a GSD owner I was very careful to stay away from the horrible slope backed show breeds. Why would you want to turn a powerful, intelligent breed into something that constantly looks like it's trying to deal with worms? I might have ended up with something a bit calmer had I gone for one from show lines though!

 

[briantrumpet]

As a GSD owner I was very careful to stay away from the horrible slope backed show breeds. Why would you want to turn a powerful, intelligent breed into something that constantly looks like it's trying to deal with worms? I might have ended up with something a bit calmer had I gone for one from show lines though!

I was mindful of you and your GSD. Even 35 years ago hip dysplasia was the known weakness in GSDs. I've no idea if that had a part in the complete final failure of the back end of my GSD x collie, but as he got to 15½ with total vets bills of about £50, it wasn't bad going, even for a mongrel crossbreed.

 

[Pross]

I was mindful of you and your GSD. Even 35 years ago hip dysplasia was the known weakness in GSDs. I've no idea if that had a part in the complete final failure of the back end of my GSD x collie, but as he got to 15½ with total vets bills of about £50, it wasn't bad going, even for a mongrel crossbreed.

The 'then' image of a GSD could almost be a black and white photo of mine. Relatively lightly built and very straight backed. I was definitely aware of hip and elbow dysplasia when I was looking although I didn't bother getting him scored.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Long story short, my brother rescued a GSD from the idiot factory owners next door to ours a couple of years ago. She does look like a prime candidate for hip dysplasia sadly although at the moment she is fine. Slight hesitancy with stairs but nothing dramatic.

 

[laurentian]

Slight hesitancy with stairs but nothing dramatic.

This is me

 

[briantrumpet]

Long story short, my brother rescued a GSD from the idiot factory owners next door to ours a couple of years ago. She does look like a prime candidate for hip dysplasia sadly although at the moment she is fine. Slight hesitancy with stairs but nothing dramatic.

Ha, reminds me, at the opposite end of the scale, when I shut my dog in an enclosure at a farm one time, when I needed to do something sans chien - I walked away, and there he was by my side again. I went back and put him back in, to see where the hole was he must have squeezed through. I walked away again, but watched. Turns out he could comfortably jump up about 4ft and briefly balance on top of the gate, in order to return to my side. I gave in. Too clever for me.

 

[BoldonLad]

I have never owned a dog, and, have no desire to do so, so no personal experience of dogs.

Is the "Crufts breeding" exclusively for physical characteristics, or, are mental/intelligence characteristics (intentionally) involved too?

In Humans, there is debate regarding the nature vs nurture balance in terms of behaviour/personality, isn the same true with dogs?