Dogs Today UK – Issue 375 2025

Summary

The Kennel Club's 2024 accounts declare £2,970,000 of losses, and Dogs Today UK issue 375 2025 spends its news pages asking whether the 151-year-old registry can survive Doodlemania — while the Swedish Vallhund breed profile proves roughly 30 UK puppies a year can out-charm any designer cross.

Editor Beverley Cuddy opens with £2,970,000 of Kennel Club losses for 2024 and traces four decades of decline — from the fallout of Pedigree Dogs Exposed in 2008 to a crashed registration computer and the closed Assured Breeder Scheme. Rumours of a crossbreed registration U-turn via PetLog frame the Australian Cobberdog feature: Myrtle, the cover star, belongs to Annette Courtney, one of only three UK breeders.

The welfare agenda runs deep. Dr Dan O'Neill of the Royal Veterinary College explains how the Apgaw Innate Health Assessment will phase out extreme brachycephalic conformation — two extremes permitted for five years, then one, then zero. RVC VetCompass data puts Boxers at 3.61 times the tail-injury risk of crossbreds, while the CMA vet-market review gets a bruising audit: six corporates control 60 per cent of practices, and remedies amount to price lists and prescription-fee caps.

Practical service fills the rest: Dr Ian Dunbar's stay-training protocol, DogLost's 4,260 missing-dog caseload and what to do in the first hour of a bolting, Heather Stevens on misunderstood 'defender' dogs, Downton Abbey's Lesley Nichol on rescue, plus a Swedish Vallhund profile reporting around 30 UK puppies a year. The 35-year celebrations continue with reader GOAT nominations and Years.com giveaways.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Story

p.12 · All right, Cobber?

Meet Myrtle, the five-year-old Australian Cobberdog on the cover, owned by Annette Courtney — one of only three UK breeders of this blend of up to eight breeds, from Labrador to Irish Water Spaniel. The MDBA registry passed 31,000 dogs in November 2024; hip and elbow scoring has been mandatory since 1 July 2024, and buyers get a two-year genetic health guarantee. If a breeder can't show scoring results and guarantee terms in writing, walk away.

p.54 · My Dog Crush: Swedish Vallhund

A 'tiny furry Viking' revived from near-extinction in 1940s Västergötland by Count Bjorn von Rosen, recognised by the UK Kennel Club in 1984. The owner survey is refreshingly honest: 23 per cent nip in play, 42 per cent hate fireworks, coats blow twice a year, and only about 30 puppies are born in the UK annually. Sharon Sibley of the Swedish Vallhund Society waited two years for hers. Join the society's breeder waiting list now, and start noise socialisation early.

▸ News & Investigation

p.6 · The KC is broke!

Beverley Cuddy reads the 40-page accounts so you don't have to: £2,970,000 of losses in 2024, a £129 million Mayfair HQ swapped for a grouse moor nobody wanted, a crashed registration computer, and the Assured Breeder Scheme closed with nothing replacing it. Pets4Homes reports 1,000 searchers per Goldendoodle puppy — money the Kennel Club refused by snubbing crosses. Watch for the rumoured crossbreed U-turn via PetLog; the promised 2027 profit currently rests on selling assets.

p.14 · Who neutered the CMA review?

The Competition and Markets Authority's provisional decision asks vet practices to publish price lists, issue itemised bills, cap prescription fees and warn clients that medicines cost less online — while two of the biggest online pharmacies are owned by CVS and IVC. Six corporates already own 60 per cent of practices. BBC Panorama is preparing a documentary. Your move costs nothing: always request a written prescription, and compare it against online prices before you pay.

p.66 · Confessions of a dogaholic: assistance-dog boom

Beverley Cuddy recalls the assistance-dog scandal she helped expose: an Irish company sold dogs in smart jackets to desperate families — dogs that bit autistic children, failed insulin alerts and died young — because no legal definition or proficiency test for assistance dogs existed. She ended up advising the Department for Work and Pensions on owner-trained dogs. Before paying thousands for any assistance dog, demand written evidence of training standards and health screening.

▸ Health & Training

p.18 · Tail injuries: what breeds are most at risk?

RVC VetCompass reviewed records of more than two million UK dogs: roughly one in 435 suffers a tail injury each year. Boxers run 3.61 times the crossbred risk, English Springer Spaniels 2.46, Cocker Spaniels 1.86; amputation followed in 9.1 per cent of cases. Lead author Dr Camilla Pegram advises closer monitoring during high-energy activity. If you own one of these breeds, check the tail tip after every hard play session.

p.18 · How do you teach rock-solid stays?

Dr Ian Dunbar's method is pure arithmetic: praise after one second, then two, three, five, eight, ten — and you have a ten-second stay. Randomise sit, down, stand and beg with variable-length stays, keep a leaderboard on the fridge, then add distance one step at a time before adding distractions. Free courses and ebooks live at Dunbar Academy; full video access costs $20 a month. Start tonight with a five-second sit before supper.

p.34 · The defender

Heather Stevens continues her functional-character series with the dog most often mislabelled 'aggressive': loyal, quick to bark at perceived threats, and deeply sensitive underneath — her own defender Ava slinks off when voices rise. Growling is communication, not dominance; suppressing it fuels reactivity. Manage thresholds, teach alternative behaviours, use force-free methods, and give scent and search work as outlets. Next time your guard dog barks at the door, redirect him to a search game instead of telling him off.

p.48 · Should I get a dog?

Behaviour consultant Kelly Oldaker asks the question honestly and answers it for herself: despite passing every test, she stays dogless. Her checklist is blunt — one to two hours a day, lifetime costs estimated between £6,000 and £85,000, force-free training non-negotiable, and a named guardian agreed for emergencies. Run her six questions before you visit any breeder or rescue; one 'no' means the timing is wrong, not the dog.

▸ Real Life & Rescue

p.30 · On the run

Andrea Darby assembles the first-hour playbook for a bolting dog, built around DogLost's 4,260 missing-or-stolen cases last year. Walk in pairs, not noisy groups; use a red torch, not white; leave unwashed clothing and bedding at the escape point; sit still rather than shout. Real cases anchor it: Whippet Missy was found after four days near Ascot, Podenco Jenga is still missing in Gloucestershire. Update your dog's microchip details today, not after the escape.

p.38 · There ain't nothing like a Dane

Niki Roe's Jack's Giant Journey faces a litter of Great Danes already near full size at 11 months, and partners with National Great Dane Rescue — founded 1982, now rehoming around ten Danes a year — to place them. Between homing trips she meets MP Richard Holden at Westminster to push for UK rescue regulation and prepares a neutering campaign in Gambia. Support the GoFundme, or apply to a breed-specific rescue if you can offer a giant a sofa.

p.46 · Patmore dogs

Bernard Bale visits Lesley Nichol — Downton Abbey's Mrs Patmore — at her Chiswick home, where Poodle Freddie and Tibetan Terrier Bertie hold court between London and a Beverly Hills bolthole. She backs the Mayhew, Animals Asia and Medical Detection Dogs, whose dogs detect cancers and type 1 diabetes before machines can. Having loved rehoming Freddie, she says she would only take a rescue dog in future — and she introduced a second dog carefully, so the first never felt displaced.

▸ Regulars

p.40 · Great Debate: should third-party pet insurance be compulsory?

Readers vote 55 per cent no. The objections stack up: the microchipping law goes unenforced, many owners already hold cover through Dogs Trust membership or house insurance, and premiums would punish exactly the people who behave responsibly — Lisa-Marie Prior even found one of her dogs uninsurable by breed. Check your home contents policy today; you may already be covered, and standalone third-party cover costs less than you think if you attend dog shows.

p.44 · Postbag

The Dog Breeding Reform Group's open letter demands pet-selling sites stop equating DNA tests with the phrase 'health tested' — heart, hip, elbow and eye scores are the evidence that matters, and registered parent names should be published so buyers can verify. A second letter attacks Rover.com's oversight after a Jack Russell was injured in a sitter's care. When puppy shopping, ask for hip and elbow scores and eye certificates by name; never accept 'DNA tested' alone.

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Editor's Take

This issue works best when Beverley Cuddy stops being polite. 'The KC is broke!' is the sharpest Kennel Club post-mortem you will read anywhere — £2.97 million of losses, a grouse moor nobody wanted, and the Assured Breeder Scheme quietly killed — and the CMA piece lands real punches on a regulator that asked independent vets to send clients to corporate-owned pharmacies. The Vallhund profile is the best thing in the magazine: real survey numbers (23 per cent nip, 42 per cent fear fireworks) instead of breeder folklore. Weakest stretch is the Q&A section, where sponsored 'experts' pitch products mid-answer — Dog-G8 gates appear twice in one issue. That is the deal with a small independent title: the campaigns journalism punches far above £5.99, the advertorial padding does not. Buy it for the campaigns; skim the shopping.

Strengths
• Cuddy's Kennel Club forensics: £2.97m loss traced across four decades
• Vallhund profile built on real owner-survey statistics, not breeder folklore
• Practical, dated numbers throughout: 4,260 DogLost cases, one-in-435 tail injuries

Weaknesses
• Q&A section doubles as product placement for sponsors such as Dog-G8
• Brachycephalic IHA story split across letter and news, leaving questions unanswered

Verdict: Recommended — Campaigning journalism and a data-rich breed profile outweigh the advertorial padding; worth £5.99 for UK dog-welfare watchers.