Crufts 2011 Day One - good news story 2

Some of the Irish Setters had too much coat (but nothing like as bad as their US show counterparts).  Cockers (both) had  w-a-y too much coat. There were some over-chunky labs (just my opinion of course), and a couple of Clumber spaniels with droopy eyes. But Gundog Day at Crufts yesterday was a pretty good day for the dogs. There was the distinct impression that the judges were putting up more moderate dogs.

Have a look at the winning Clumber this year compared to last...

CHERVOOD'S SNOW BIBI OF KOLA - Best of Breed 2011 © The Kennel Club

SH CH VANITONIA U BET I AM - Best of Breed 2010 © The Kennel Club

Even allowing for the fact this year's winner is a bitch, she is a much more athletic-looking dog. I much prefer her more natural-looking coat, too - and how much better these dogs look without a docked tail.

I also got a chance to see Mate Select in action on the Health Stand - demonstrated by lovely Tom Lewis from the AHT who has played an integral part in its development and is clearly proud of the initiative's potential.  I "virtually mated" my flatcoat Fearless Freddie (who, in fact, died in 2001) with a flatcoat bitch plucked at random from yesterday's catalogue and at the click of a mouse discovered:

• that Freddie's co-efficient of inbreeding (COI) was just 1.9 per cent (very low - which I like to think may be one of the reasons he lived until the great old age of 15).
• the breed average for flatcoats is 7.2 per cent (making them, on average, more closely-related to each other than first cousins), reflecting their small gene pool.
• a mating with Caisbladd Kalmi would produce pups with a COI of 1.9 per cent (probably reflecting the fact that Freddie came from working/pet lines).
• the health test results for each dog going back three generations

In truth, Mate Select is limited at the moment. But I do feel that it is a start and its potential is obvious given the scope for including much more than just COI data. Good news too that it will be free.

Mate Select in action. Sorry a bit blurry... hard to take pix of a computer screen using an iPhone!

Also on the flatcoat front, of course, is that Sh Ch Vbos The Kentuckian won the Gundog Group - a waggy, beautiful-looking dog that will be 10 in August. This is good news in a breed where so many are taken too young by cancer. "Jet" is already a well-used stud dog, so here's hoping his longer-surviving genes will be passed down to his offspring. I cannot, however, find any references to Jet being a working dog (happy to be corrected if anyone knows otherwise) and if he isn't, that is a shame in a breed where there are, still, quite a few dual-purpose dogs.