This year’s Crufts has been something of a doggy disaster with one canine competitor dead from an alleged poisoning and six more cases being investigated. Now, Mr S has got wind of a new scandal engulfing the dog competition.
A petition has been launched calling for the winning Scottish Terrier Knopa to be stripped of her Best in Show award. However, rather than Knopa, who beat 21,000 dogs to the title, being at fault, it is the Scottie dog’s handler Rebecca Cross who has provoked ire from the public. Viewers have complained after Cross, who is American, appeared to pick the dog up by the neck and tail.
This is forbidden in Britain under show rules, and many see it as unnecessarily cruel to the animal.
The Scotty dog owner at #crufts just carried the dog off the table by it’s neck and tail! Awful.
— Scott Brown (@Scottie_Brown) March 8, 2015
@Crufts one of many complaints I know but that woman just picked up her dog by it’s tail and the lead around it’s neck! Surely that’s not on
— Jo ¨̮ (@All_Time_Jo) March 8, 2015
The Kennel Club have issued a statement to make clear that they do not condone the behaviour.
‘It was made clear to the handler at the show that it is not acceptable to pick a dog up in this way, and despite repeated requests not to do so, she went ahead. The handler is from the USA where it is customary to pick up terriers in this way, but it has no place at Crufts and this is put in writing to all handlers before the show.’
With the petition now at over 80,000 signatures, Mr S suspects that this shaggy dog story won’t be going away any time soon.
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