The Kennel Club

Barry won the award in 2024, having been a runner-up in 2023 and 2025.

The winners will be announced at the Kennel Club's headquarters on Friday, November 20, St Edmund's Day.

Barry has its own dog-friendly scheme, which helps residents and visitors know where their furry friends are welcome, with more than 150 businesses having signed up.

Mark Cordell, the BID's chief executive, said, We were absolutely delighted to win the UK's most dog-friendly town title in 2024 and to finish as a runner-up in 2025 was another fantastic achievement.

or four people who definitely wanted a pup, so that was great.

And then the others, I think I, first of all, the Kennel Club were really helpful.

And so they were my first point of call and they were reassuring by saying, don't worry, they will all go.

I believe it when I see it.

So you have to be sensible.

And if you do have to go down that road to go to kennels, make sure they go to a kennel where they really are for working dogs, where they can be trained at the same time, not just sitting in a kennel But I think time is one of the best things you can give.

And also look at the breeders, look at the health of the dog, the line of the dog, go to the kennel club.

I would definitely have a pedigree without doubt.

Yeah.

So they have the Kennel Club.

I think that there are quite a few other organizations that I really haven't delved into.

They do a fair bit of Hoopers and there's different associations in agility as well.

Wealthy landowners kept detailed notes on the lineage of their hunting hounds, pairing them for speed, scenting ability, or endurance.

This was not yet modern dog breeding, no glossy kennel club standards, but it was moving in that direction.

The average working dog, however, lived a life much like its medieval predecessors.

They herded sheep, guarded property, and walked alongside carts on muddy roads.

Many working-class families still kept dogs for more practical reasons, guarding, herding, hunting, and would have found the idea of a dog that couldn't catch a rat, or at least bark at the postman, faintly absurd.

But in the drawing rooms of the Victorian elite, the idea of the pet dog as a family member was firmly established, and it wasn't going anywhere.

Part eleven, in which the Kennel Club and the dog show arrive.

By the mid-nineteenth century, the British had formalized almost everything: rail timetables, postal delivery, and inevitably, dogs.

I hadn't seen the dog myself and I've not examined it, but a lot of people who are much more expert than me said that that was a that was a dog which had confirmation problems and so if if a dog like that can can win crufts and become the overall champion what does that say about our ability to try and improve the welfare of of every dog particularly you know brachycephalic dogs which which have huge challenges um and we know that if you look at the The number of French Bulldogs, for instance, that have been bred from 20 years ago, hardly any, went up to tens of thousands.

And that was, I think, all generated by the fact that Crufts were encouraging these smaller, flat-faced French Bulldogs who couldn't breathe to, you had some bizarre um instagram posts of people posting their french bulldog snoring and saying isn't it cute well it's not cute it's snoring because it can't breathe um and it's snoring because it's got health and welfare problems so there's an awful lot of education we need to do not just to the public who are buying those animals but also to to the royal kennel club and and and crofts and i'm hopeful that things are moving in you know i'm giving the kennel club a um A bit of a pat on the back because they are starting to move slowly.

Not fast enough for the RSPCA, but we are starting to move slowly.

And it's not just a personal issue for the RSPCA in terms of improving the dog's health and welfare.

And I think finally, last year, I was like, enough.

I cannot support a show that puts profits and puts ratings over the welfare of dogs.

And so we did have some discussions with the Kennel Club.

But it was really clear with those discussions that...

But yeah, I think when we are definitely looking more at the dog rather than forcing the dog to do what we want to do.

Had to write an open letter to the Kennel Club a few years ago because it was talking about dogs wearing yellow signs weren't, um, allowed at events anymore.

So I wrote an open letter to them.

I tried to speak to them, and it was really, really hard, and I got passed from pillar to post.

Edward Malcolm succeeded the Countess as the club's second chairman.

Kennel Club recognition followed in nineteen oh seven, and the breed appeared at Crufts for the first time in the same year.

The Westie was imported into the United States in nineteen oh seven to nineteen oh eight.

Initially, it was also known at the time as the Rosenith terrier, and the Rosenith Terrier Club was recognized by the American Kennel Club in nineteen oh eight.

The club was renamed during the following year to the West Highland White Terrier Club of America.

The breed spent the period that immediately followed as being in vogue, becoming popular almost immediately upon its arrival in the US.

Canadian Kennel Club recognition followed in nineteen oh nine.

Until nineteen twenty-four in the UK, Westie pedigrees were allowed to have Cairn and Scottish terriers in them.

Watching them with their dogs and doing heel work and that connection with the dogs, it really appealed to me so I was really interested in competitive obedience.

I joined the Young Kennel Club, which was the KCJO at the time.

Got a little badge and you got information newsletters throughout the year.

I didn't actually compete with Bex because we didn't have a car.

Do you do what I do? So obviously you get notified by the BVA- Yeah ...

but I keep checking the Kennel Club website- Oh, yeah.

I do ... because it goes on there first.

Yeah, I do.