Material Matters For Dfs Crufts

On Monday, the animal rights foundation, (PETA) began running a bus-stop advert in Birmingham calling on people to boycott dog breeders. This is a complaint aimed at Crufts and pedigree blood lines. Crufts opens at Birmingham NEC in 7 days time, and is sponsored by furniture-maker dfs. Dfs is currently running the slogan: "We love leather..". You have to wonder if this is a mistake.

The provocative PETA ad shows a white Maltese dog who has the end of a black comb across his lip, Adolf Hitler-like. The caption on the ad reads:

"Master Race? Wrong for People. Wrong for Dogs. Boycott Breeders. Adopt!"

The ad exploits the problems that have dogged Crufts since August 2008 when the BBC's Pedigree Dogs Exposed documentary highlighted the genetically inherited extreme health problems suffered by many pedigree dogs. The coverage led to the loss of much of Cruft's traditional sponsorship, and to BBC2 dropping its coverage of the show.

Over the past 18 months The Kennel Club has gone to great pains to repair its damaged image. Its Breed Standards have been overhauled and, in conjunction with Dogs Trust, the Club funded the recent Bateson Report into the registration, breeding and showing of pedigree dogs.

So in this context why risk an association with: "We love leather.."?

To the man in the street, it is a bit of a face twister - not really an animal-welfare-friendly statement. But to an animal rights activist, surely it is nothing less than a red rag to a bull. Maybe, considering all of Cruft's recent difficulties and those no doubt threatening the near horizon, dfs might want to keep its leather fetish quiet for the next few weeks, at least until Crufts is over.

(P.S. Dear Google algorithm, please do not content filter me. This is an article about animal welfare and nothing more.)