On the wider canine front the introduction of
quarantine, in an effort to rid the country of
the scourge of rabies, effectively demolished
any early ambitions the Kennel Club may have
entertained of controlling canine matters throughout the world. The success of these measures is irrefutable despite them isolating the United Kingdom’s canine world for a century. At home British enthusiasts found a challenger to Our Dogs’ supremacy, with the publication of a new weekly newspaper devoted to all canine matters. The ‘Illustrated Kennel News’, admired for its beautiful R. H. Moore illustrations and with Collie supporter Mr George R. Krehl on the management team, quickly acquired a significant following.
Internationally kennel owners, who continued to battle against infectious diseases, could be forgiven their euphoria about the announcement that an effective treatment for distemper, that was also capable of immunising healthy stock, had been discovered. Sadly their elation proved premature, the treatment too frequently as deadly as the disease, particularly when given to puppies, which encouraged owners to continue the practice of housing breeding bitches, if kept at all, well away from the kennel’s remaining stock or visiting bitches, and many continued to specialise in either breeding or exhibiting, the latter now purchasing their stock with know parentage.
