Likewise if you were interested in finding out more about a breed, you could talk informally to the people manning the breed booths instead of having to trawl the benches in search of a friendly face. It was a success right from the start and the Crufts experience led to the stand alone event held at Earls Court 2 in November each year.

The KC run this latter event at a loss each year and full credit to them for supporting us all.

This year the London event moves to main hall at Earls Court, the one which used to house Crufts, and this led me to wondering what British Heritage Dog Breeds could do to make this London event a more effective promotional and PR opportunity for everyone.

At the moment the KC try and give a booth to every breed they recognise and the booths are laid out in neat lines by the group system. When the KC initially formed the Vulnerable Native Breeds Committee back in 2004, one of the very first suggestions put forward was to look at the possibility of having a specific VNB section; that is to say removing these breeds from their group aisles and grouping them together in some way.

The initial research suggested some resistance to the idea and it was discretely dropped. However that was in the very early days of the project and I am wondering what the feeling would be from our British Heritage Dog Breeds to reviving this idea? I can see reasons both for and against it. It might work, then again it might not, but the only way to find out is to give it a go. If the worst came to the worst, after one year we could return to the present system.

I do feel that we are an amazing group of breeds, facing a unique challenge, for some breeds greater than others, and we need to do something to make us stand out, to make the public and potential breeders understand the unique history and qualities our British Heritge Dog Breeds can offer.

Let us have your thoughts on this idea, either by posting a comment on this article or on the forum pages. You could make any other suggestions of how we can use the Discover Dogs concept more effectively and we are particularly keen to hear from anyone who regularly “staffs” a breed booth at either event.