I'll show you how to walk the dog

So, that’s Crufts over for another year, and the TV presentation just gets worse and worse. The only improvement over last year was that they got Clare Balding back to try to keep that juvenile drip Ben Fogle more under control, and she managed reasonably well, though he did sneak in a few excruciatingly amateur moments when she momentarily dropped her guard. The main problem, though, is that the BBC doesn’t seem to realise it’s a dog show and viewers want to see the dogs, not the trade stands and listen to the presenters’ anecdotes. Imagine the furore if the Wimbledon coverage concentrated on chats with spectators, discussion of the quality of the strawberries and cream and a selection of the souvenirs available in the shop but only a cursory glimpse of the final game of the tournament. How narked would footy fans be if the only televised football they got was the edited highlights of the FA Cup, not even the whole match? There’d be riots in the streets.

To those who don’t know, Crufts is the only show that you can’t just enter – your dog has to qualify for entry by getting winning places in certain classes at a limited number of other shows throughout the year, so just being able to enter is an achievement. It’d be nice to actually see more of the classes being judged, and have knowledgeable commentators like Frank Kane explaining to the non-showing viewers what’s going on, what the judge is looking for, etc. A special programme about the other activities would be good; the gamekeepers’ classes, the obedience, the agility, the flyball. And, instead of Mary Ray’s now rather tedious and lack-lustre heelwork-to-music (I thought circus animal acts were considered to be poor taste nowadays?) as a warm-up to the final competition for Best in Show how much more interesting and educational (for example, not many people realise that the King Charles Spaniel and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel are two different breeds) would be a parade of all 208 recognised breeds with a commentary briefly describing the origins and history of each. That way the general public would get a better understanding of why the various breeds were developed they way they are; their functions dictating to great extent their form. Surely being taken seriously wouldn’t be too much to ask.