If you have a an hour or two to spare and are really interested in the history of dogs, dog shows and all things ‘dog’, a visit to the British Pathé film archive online is well worth those mis-spent moments.

When the British Pathe news agency was closed in 1972 all their films were thankfully stored and saved for future programmes makers to use clips and for those interested in historical clips they are free to view online. The original newsreels which were played in cinemas throughout the UK have been broken down into individual clips and related clips are grouped together.

The dog shows featured include Crufts, of which the earliest was filmed in 1923, The Ladies Kennel Association (LKA), Westminster in the USA, The Irish Kennel Club shows, and many others including smaller shows like the Hastings dog show held in 1961. Many of the clips have sound and the dogs featured are named by proud owners, these include several well known kennels of yesteryear, and many of the named dogs are champions and are very likely to be behind some of today's top dogs.

Here is the link to the 1923 Crufts dog show which is silent, but interesting nonetheless http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=20181

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