Will Patrick Bateson Lead the Way Forward?

The latest issue of Dogs Today arrived in the mailbox, and the two lead articles are on: 1) Whether the Dalmatian outcross will be allowed in The Kennel Club (article by Claire Horton-Bussey) and; 2) What has occurred in the last year since the BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed blew the doors off the dog world last August (article by producer Jemima Harrison).

I also slip in a small piece on dog food, noting that the quality of the dog food matters far less than the quantity, as more dogs are wrecked by obesity than any single cause, while no study has ever shown than one dog food is better than another.

Jemima Harrison's article about the Kennel Club is excellent (I have not yet gotten to the Dalmatian article - that is for tomorrow's read). I especially liked it where she compares problems at The Kennel Club to the problems faced by the old London Zoo "which not so long ago was down on its knees, a relic of the Victorian age, run by people in the entertainment business, not conservation."

She goes on to note that the London Zoo is now a completely changed place. And what changed? The leadership at the top! Ms. Harrison goes on to note that:

"Coincidentally, it is the president of the [London Zoo], Sir Patrick Bateson, who is heading the most critical review into dog breeding prompted by Pedigree Dogs Exposed. This is the review commissioned by The Kennel Club and Dogs Trust, and so they are likely to take heed and act on its findings."

On a personal note, I have to give a huge hat tip to Dogs Today illustrator Kevin Brockbank. His art work is absolutely smashing. Jemima Harrison's piece has Kennel Club Chairman Ronnie Irving crying at his desk as he reads the Crufts press headlines following the BBC documentary. A border terrier (Irving's own breed) is chewing on his cuff, and there is even a Kennel Club logo on his coffee cup! Perfect! My own article is illustrated with a very nice homage to the breeding (and painting) of enormously fat "square" cattle during the era of Robert Bakewell, albeit with a dog as the subject of the portraint, instead of a cow. Nice!

Now let's see what Kevin can do with next month's article, tentatively entitled Counterfeit Collies and Transvestite Terriers. There's a lot of potential there!

To read that article (and see the art that will come with it), however, you are going to have to subscribe to Dogs Today.
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The Kennel Club: Paying for Both Trial and Verdict?

Sir Patrick Bateson, Emeritus Professor of Ethology at Cambridge University and president of the Zoological Society of London, has been tapped to review the registration and showing of dogs in the U.K.

To what end?

Who knows!

Suffice it to say that this "review" is being set up and funded by the Kennel Club and Dogs Trust, but we are told that "it will operate independently of both organisations."

Right! Could be.

Might happen. Strange and unexpected things do occur! I once saw a man eat 22 ears of corn at a single sitting and wash it down with a gallon of beer.

But back to the facts. What's an Emeritus Professor of Ethology you ask?

Simple. The "emeritus" part simply means he is retired. Bateson was born in 1938, which makes him 71 or so.

An ethologist is simply a ten-dollar word for an animal behaviorist.

The science of ethology is based around four core issues and questions:

1. Function — How does behaviour impact survival and reproduction?

2. Causation — What makes the animal respond and learn?

3. Development — How does behaviour change with age?

4. Evolutionary history — What behaviors are common (and different) between related species, and why?

The good news is that Bateson clearly does not hold science in contempt as so many in the Kennel Club do. Apart from that, I will reserve judgement and hope for the best. Who knows? Maybe this is not a simple job of window dressing as public relations. You will pardon me, however, if I keep my expectations low. Does Bateson have a mandate to do something other than look busy? What is the goal? What does success look like? How will anyone know if it is ever achieved? No word on any of that.

I should note, in passing, that Bateson is a distant relation of geneticist William Bateson and anthropologist Gregory Bateson.

William Bateson was one of the earliest geneticists (he actually coined the term "genetics") and he was smart enough to shun the idea of eugenics -- the core idea upon which the Kennel Club has built its rickety theories of canine improvement through breeding within a closed registry system.

Does that mean anything?

Not a thing. Drift occurs in perspective and ideas, as well as genetics.

At age 71, we can only hope that Patrick Bateson is his own man, and that he will tap others who will put common sense and sound science front and center in order to improve the long-term health of dogs. Knock on wood. But keep your expectations low.

• Possibly Related Posts:
  ** The Eugenics Man and the Kennel Club
  ** The Francis Galton Dog Show
  ** Inbred Thinking
  ** Rosettes to Ruin
  ** Making and Breaking Dogs In the Show Ring
  ** Is There a Kennel Club Road to Reform?

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