A month on, how has the Kennel Club reacted to the damning Pedigree Dogs Exposed documentary? I had hoped it would take the criticisms to heart and start trying to sort out all the mess. But no, it has already wasted lots of valuable time trying to convince everyone that there is really nothing to worry about.

Still, at every opportunity, Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club Secretary, continues to maintain that 90 per cent of Kennel Club- registered dogs are healthy.

Sadly, this statistic does not capture the full picture. The “statistic” came from the club's own British Small Animal Veterinary Association/Kennel Club health survey, which revealed that 37.4 per cent of all dogs had at least one serious health problem at age five. Ms Kisko achieved her 90 per cent figure by discounting all the dogs with conditions such as hip dysplasia, slipping patellas or hereditary cataracts. She reasoned that these dogs (presumably often post-surgery or with strong drugs) had a reasonable quality of life.

That did rather compound the Kennel Club's post-show image problems. It was not a good time for the Kennel Club to be minimising dogs' suffering and it revealed how badly out of touch the club still was with its primary customer — the pet owner.

The RSPCA has stolen a march on the other animal welfare charities by being so forthright and saying exactly what the man in the street is thinking. Where they lead, the others will have to follow or fear the public taking their sizable donations and legacies elsewhere.

In its “live” stage-managed web chat — designed to calm those silly panicking pet owners — the Kennel Club did at least acknowledge that its public image was at an all-time low. I liken the club to an alcoholic or a drug addict: it has to stand up and admit its problem before it stands any chance of recovery. While it maintains that inbreeding is fine it should not be allowed back in the same room as any dog welfare organisation with ethics.

Perhaps it will start listening when Crufts loses all its charity stands and perhaps a major sponsor or two? Days before the documentary aired, Pedigree Petfoods, Crufts biggest sponsor, disbanded its entire pedigree breeder service without giving anyone — even its own staff — any notice. Its exhibition unit was taken down halfway through the Bournemouth Championship Dog show — days before the much-feared TV documentary.

Officially Pedigree Petfoods is saying it will still support Crufts — and its financial input has been considerable in the past. As the club claims only to make approximately £500,000 profit at the show, could it survive losing its main sponsor?

Why does it take all this fuss to get the Kennel Club to listen? It would have taken just hearing one Cavalier scream for me to want to stop the suffering.

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