Lies.. damn lies

Last year, I upset the Flatcoated Retriever  community by taking them to task - on a private Flatcoat list - over misinformation about health being given out at Discover Dogs,  the KC's annual meet-the-breeds show at London's Earls Court.  Instead of being cross with the Flatcoat representative for giving out wrong info on the breed stand, the breeders got very cross indeed with me. As ever, my criticism was labelled as trashing the breed.

Well it's Discover Dogs again this weekend and this time I'm going to upset the Flatcoat community publicly. Again, someone manning the Flatcoat stand has given out misleading and dishonest information about the extent of cancer in the breed. "Less than 10 per cent" said the man pictured on the right to one visitor who asked yesterday.

The truth? Over half of Flatcoats will develop cancer by the age of 8 and it kills many of them.

Last year, I gave the Flatcoat representative the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she simply didn't know how much cancer there is in the breed?

But this year I am naming and shaming.

Let me repeat: it is unacceptable to lie about health to pet-buyers thinking of spending £700 or so on a pedigree puppy.