Crufts Gundog Group  qualifications for Irish Setter 8 March 2024

Crufts Gundog Group   8 March 2024 at The NEC, Birmingham.

The following are the qualifications an Irish Setter must have for entry into the breed classes at Crufts 2024.  

A dog is eligible for entry in breed classes where Challenge Certificates are offered if it has qualified in any of the following ways under the rules and regulations of The Kennel Club.

(1) If it is a Champion, Show Champion, Field Trial Champion, Working Trial Champion, Obedience Champion or Agility Champion under the rules of The Kennel Club.
(2) If it is entered in The Kennel Club Stud Book, or qualifies for entry in The Kennel Club Stud Book by 22 January 2024.
(3) If it is entered in The Kennel Club Stud Book, or qualifies for entry in The Kennel Club Stud Book by 22 January 2024 through Field Trials or Working Trials.
(4) If it has won any of the following prizes in a breed class (as defined in The Kennel Club regulations for the Definitions of Classes at Championship Shows) at a championship show, where Challenge Certificates were offered for the breed between 23 January 2023 and 22 January 2024.

i. First, Second or Third in Minor Puppy Class
ii. First, Second or Third in Puppy Class
iii. First, Second or Third in Junior Class
iv. First, Second or Third in Yearling Class
v. First, Second or Third in Novice Class
vi. First, Second or Third in Graduate Class
vii. First, Second or Third in Post Graduate Class
viii. First, Second or Third in Limit Class
ix. First, Second or Third in Open Class
x. First, Second or Third in Veteran Class
xi. First, Second or Third in Special Beginner Class

(5) If it has won a First Prize in any breed class at Crufts 2023. (NB This is in addition to those dogs which have qualified in classes listed under a. (4) above).
(6) N/A refers to beagles

(7) If it has been placed 1st – 4th in each Group or 1st – 4th in each Puppy Group at a Premier Open Show held on the Group system between 23 January 2023 and 22 January 2024.

8) If it has won Best in Show, Reserve Best in Show or Best Puppy in Show at a General or Group Open Show between 23 January 2023 and 22 January 2024

For the full list, including overseas qualifying shows go to:  crufts.org.uk

Benching at General and Group Championship dog shows

The Kennel Club would like to announce that following its recent Board meeting it has been agreed that the requirement for benching for General and Group Championship dog shows will be relaxed for a two-year trial period commencing the 1 January 2023.

This decision has been taken having listened to feedback from exhibitors and due to concerns expressed by show societies about the strain on shows’ finances at this present time.

Applications for exemption from benching will now be considered by The Kennel Club for next year’s shows. Those show societies which wish to apply for exemption from benching will be required to submit revised show plans and risk assessments. The Kennel Club will be contacting show secretaries direct with further details.

The Show Executive Committee will be regularly monitoring the impact on shows and Field Officers will be assigned to report on those shows for which exemption from benching has been approved.

The Kennel Club can confirm that it will continue to provide benching at Crufts.

For further enquiries please contact our Breed Shows team.

KC Hereditary clear status

Published on15 July 2022 at 9:13am

The Kennel Club has announced that it is unfortunately necessary to pause the changes to its policy on ‘hereditary clear’ status, which were due to become effective from the start of next year.

The Kennel Club previously announced that, from January 2023, the assignment of ‘hereditary clear’ status of registered dogs would be limited to two generations, unless lineage is verified by DNA parentage profiling. Unfortunately, technical challenges have meant that we have needed to pause this complex project, which requires extensive testing before it can be implemented, and allow further development work to be carried out.

Therefore, The Kennel Club’s current policy for assigning ‘hereditary clear’ status to progeny – if their parents are known to be clear for the same autosomal recessive condition, either because they have both been DNA tested as clear, or because they are hereditary clear themselves – will remain for the foreseeable future.

‘Hereditary clear’ status is given to dogs that are determined to be free of specific genetic material linked to a particular inherited disease.

Following on from a Kennel Club study, published in the journal of Canine Genetics and Epidemiology, a decision to restrict hereditary status was made by The Kennel Club Board on the recommendation of the Dog Health Group. This change was put forward to safeguard against the impact that dogs with an incorrect ‘hereditary clear’ status could have on health issues within a breed. Dogs could be mistakenly given a false ‘hereditary clear’ status for several reasons e.g., if there has been a failure of laboratory protocols, pedigree errors or incorrectly recorded parentage.

In these instances, it is unlikely that the inaccuracies would be noticed immediately but instead several generations later, and the well-intended mating of two apparently hereditary clear dogs risks producing affected puppies. To mitigate the risks faced by a population following the incorrect assignment of hereditary status, The Kennel Club previously announced that, from January 2023, the assignment of ‘hereditary clear’ status of registered dogs would be limited to two generations, unless lineage is verified by DNA parentage profiling.

The Kennel Club continues to strongly recommend that all breeding dogs, including apparently ‘clear’ lines, are retested every two generations to reduce the impact of errors and ensure the ‘hereditary clear’ status is as effective and reliable as possible, thereby reducing the risk of unintentionally breeding affected puppies.

Bill Lambert, The Kennel Club’s Health, Welfare and Breeder Services Executive said: “DNA tests help breeders to eradicate health issues in dogs and we want our registration system to maximise the impact these tests are having. Therefore, we still plan to implement the limitation of ‘hereditary clear’ status and will release further communications regarding this in due course. In the meantime, we encourage all breeders to DNA test their dogs to ensure that they can remain confident that the puppies produced are free from the relevant inherited disease.”

Update:

Following the recent announcement pertaining to the hereditary clear status being put on hold the Kennel Club wish to clarify that upon implementation this will be for every third generation, i.e. after two generations the next will need to be DNA tested in order for the hereditary status to be enacted. At the time where we are able to give a timeframe for launch we will issue regular communications .

KC Stud Book Bands changes

The Kennel Club has announced changes in Stud Book Bands and Irish Setters have now moved from Band D back to Band E

Band E 

1st/2nd/3rd Open Class and 1st/2nd/3rd Limit Class

The new stud book bands are effective between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2025 and will be reviewed in 2026 and then at four-yearly intervals.

See Kennel Club Press release for further details:

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media-centre/2021/december/stud-book-bands-for-2022/

KC UPDATE ON CANINE HEALTH SCHEMES

UPDATE ON CANINE HEALTH SCHEMES AS ENGLAND ENTERS SECOND NATIONAL LOCKDOWN

 

In light of the national four-week lockdown that began in England yesterday (5 November), the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and The Kennel Club (KC) have announced the following changes to the Canine Health Schemes (CHS) in order to follow the new guidelines and restrictions, and also continue to process submissions.

As of Thursday 5 November the CHS office will be closed and the team will be working remotely.

Impact on veterinary practices

England: As part of BVA’s guidance to veterinary practices, how practices are able to operate and which services they will be able to offer in terms of health testing will be dependent on individual practice factors such as staffing levels, building layout, as well as the vets’ professional and clinical judgement, and we would urge all owners to respect their individual vet’s decisions in this matter.

Wales: During the firebreak lockdown (23 October – 8 November) veterinary practices must only undertake essential and urgent services and practices may need to delay x-rays and eye screenings. At the end of the firebreak lockdown, practices in Wales will be able to deliver veterinary services in line with Covid-safe requirements. However, during the England national lockdown, CHS is only able to process online submissions to the Hip and Elbow Schemes (see below).

Scotland and Northern Ireland: Veterinary practices are able to deliver veterinary services in line with Covid-safe requirements so x-rays and eye screening can go ahead. However, during the England national lockdown, CHS is only able to process online submissions to the Hip and Elbow Schemes.

Eye Scheme 

In England, under the new guidance for the national lockdown, group screening cannot take place. In Scotland, NI, and Wales (after the firebreak lockdown) group screenings can go ahead but Panellists must adhere to additional requirements to work in a Covid-safe manner.
Some CHS Eye Panellists may be able to offer eye screenings as long as government guidance on working safely, practice polices, and any local restrictions are adhered to.

We are asking all animal owners and breeders to respect their vets’ clinical and professional judgement and be patient during this time. The list of eye panellists offering testing can be found at: www.bva.co.uk/canine-health-schemes/eye-scheme/find-an-eye-panellist/

Hip and Elbow Dysplasia Schemes

As the CHS processing team is based in London, during the England national lockdown, processing and scoring of hip and elbow submissions will be as follows:

Online submissions:
  • Hip and elbow submissions can be made by a veterinary surgeon via the CHS online portal
  • The CHS team can process and score online submissions, however, online scoring is slower than in-person scoring, and this means there will be reduced capacity for scoring during the lockdown
  • Unfortunately, this will further impact turnaround times and both BVA and The Kennel Club ask for your patience
Postal submissions:
  • CHS cannot score postal submissions during the national lockdown in England
  • CHS can process postal submissions, ready for them to be allocated to an in-person scoring session after the national lockdown. Unfortunately, this will impact turnaround times, which CHS are unable to estimate until the office reopens
  • CHS is asking veterinary practices to assist by not sending postal submissions during lockdown as there is already a significant backlog of submissions that are unable to be scored until the offices reopen. Consequently vets are advised to hold on to submissions if at all possible

Anyone presenting dogs for hip or elbow x-Ray for submission to the Canine Health Schemes at this current time is advised to confirm that their vet is able to submit these via the online portal.

Turnaround times

Due to the uncertainty caused by the national lockdown in England, the CHS team are currently not able to provide accurate turnaround times. The team is working hard to process and score online submissions in order of date received and is unable to fast-track any submissions.

BVA and the KC is asking all owners and breeders to please respect the CHS team and their vets’ clinical and professional judgement and to be patient during this time.

Payment

CHS is unable to take payment until the submission is received, so please wait for at least two weeks before calling to make payment.

To make a payment by card for postal submissions, please call the office on 020 7908 6380 (please note that this line is for payments only).

When calling please provide the following information: Date of radiography; Kennel Club/microchip number; name and address of the veterinary practice.

Contacting CHS

For all non-payment related enquiries, please email chs@bva.co.uk and if possible include the dog’s Kennel Club or microchip number, date of radiography, and the name and address of your vet practice. The team will get back to you as soon as possible.

The BVA, Kennel Club and CHS teams thank you for your patience and understanding in these exceptional circumstances.

For the latest guidance and advice on Covid-19, please visit the BVA coronavirus information hub: www.bva.co.uk/coronavirus/. If you have any questions or concerns relating to canine health and welfare, please email health@thekennelclub.org.uk

 

ENDS

[xxx.20]

5 November 2020

For journalists who would like further press information, images or interview requests please email press.office@thekennelclub.org.uk

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Notes to Editors

The Kennel Club is the largest organisation in the UK devoted to dog health, welfare and training. Its objective is to ensure that dogs live healthy, happy lives with responsible owners.

BVA and the Kennel Club (KC) work in partnership to provide a number of health screening programmes – the Canine Health Schemes. The Canine Health Schemes enable breeders to screen for a range of inherited diseases so they can make informed decisions as to whether those dogs should be included in breeding programmes. For more information on all of the Canine Health Schemes visit www.bva.co.uk/Canine-Health-Schemes/

BVA is the largest membership community for the veterinary profession in the UK. We represent the views of over 18,000 vets and vet students on animal health and welfare, and veterinary policy issues to government, parliamentarians and key influencers in the UK and EU.

KC 2019 Stud Book Banding Changes

The Kennel Club has announced changes in Stud Book bands for 2019 for some breeds, which will apply for all shows from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019. The Stud Book band for each breed of dog is calculated on the average number of entries for that breed over the preceding years and this year it includes Irish Setters:

  • Irish Setter from band E to Band D

Band  D – 1st/2nd/3rd Open Class or 1st Limit Class

See Kennel Club Press release for further details:

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/press-releases/2019/january/kennel-club-announces-changes-in-stud-book-bands-for-2019