The figures for the entries for Crufts have now been published, as you will already know if you have read your copy of DW, Feb 3. The FS entry is just 27 dogs making 31 entries, a number far less than in many recent years, when the entry has been around the 40 dogs mark, or even more.

Also from this week’s DW I note that the puppy registrations for 2011 were just ten, which I know already were from two litters. As far as I know only three of these have been shown, and I believe they have all been entered for Crufts. From memory, I think the second letter was born just too late to gain a qualification in ’11. There seem to be many reasons for declining entries, such as the usual cost of entering, and getting to a show, the small number of shows which offer qualifying classes, and now the small numbers of puppies being born.

The figures published by the Kennel Club also show the numbers registered in ’10, ’06 and ’01, when the FS numbers were 36, 23 and ten respectively. So, after ten years we are back to the same number registered in ’01. If English Setters with a registration of 234 puppies are ‘at risk of extinction’ where does that put FS in the UK?