Genetic Diversity

We've been spending a lot of time discussing the effects of the health checks at Crufts, which will also be extended to other KC shows.
The Canine Alliance in the UK has voiced support of health testing for show dogs. It's clear that dog lovers want to breed healthy and fit dogs, but are veterinary exams at dog shows an effective method to improve breeding practices?

 

Science tells us that genetic diversity is needed for health. How will we achieve the goal of promoting diversity for health? This is an important area, and one that cannot be "judged" visually.

Austrian canine expert Dr. Hellmuth Wachtel has given permission to share this statement, in which he shares his opinion about the state of dog breeding today:

 

It is somewhat strange that nobody seems to know the basic reasons of

defect breeding, too much inbreeding and overly use of champion sires.

All of that is due to a breeding system that is not commensurate with

longtime breeding of healthy animals, though a main reason for this was already

recognized in 1965 by John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller, that wrote: "Thus

current dog breeding practices can be described as an ideal system for the

spread and preservation of injurious recessive genes."

 

It began in showbred pedigree dogs with the origin of the British KC

when standards where introduced. At this time, population genetics was

unknown and no changes introduced after 1930 when it was known. The

standards were based originally on a breed anatomy enabling the dog to

fulfill its then breed-specific function, called soundness. This definition

 can be found as late as  in 1982 (Harold R. Spira, Canine Terminology,)

but at this time many working breeds had already lost their occupation.

So soundness lost its original meaning and judges became free to assess

dogs according to their own taste, specifically in the breeds that had never

been working dogs before.

 

This opened the door to fashionable preferences and changing

appearances. As a result, inbreeding and sire overused increased

and in several breeds even defect breeding appeared.  All this happened

in spite of forums like especially cangen and other endeavours for

breeding according to the rules of populations genetics.

 

Yes, it took me long to understand the fundamental reasons of

this decline, for the main underlying cause are not the breeders,

but the judges acting in absence of vets, and this in a confusing show atmosphere

within 5 minutes or less so.

  

In order to try to stop the present bad direction dog breeding is taking,

I would suggest using a team of three specialists, a vet, a judge and an

experienced owner/breeder outside of a show, or the vet checks the

dogs first of all. Anyway, shows still remain important for information on dogs

 and dog breeding of every kind. Besides, vitality tests must become

mandatory.   

 

Otherwise, I am afraid, no thorough change of the present decline can ever

be expected, for all endeavours for showdog breeding as a whole so far are

 in vain when judges continue to determine alone the destiny of breeds, and the

decline will increase.

 

Hellmuth Wachtel    

 

There is good reason for concern about the current state of the health of many of our breeds. Many health problems are breed-specific, like high uric acid in Dalmatians and retinal dysplasia in Collies. These problems became entrenched within breeds due to the established systems of breeding to popular sires and inbreeding to create "lines" with consistent type. When dogs of a less popular "type" are excluded from the gene pool, so are many of their beneficial genes as well!

 

Even if we can escape doubling up on recessive disease genes, through narrowing the gene pool to few individuals, we also tend to double up on genes for the immune system. This predisposes our dogs to all sorts of problems....autoimmune disease, poor tolerance to vaccines, and susceptibility to infectious disease. Diversity in the genes for the immune system is essential to maintain health, but our current system does not encourage variety and diversity...it only rewards breeding to a narrow definition of "type" as delineated in a standard. Further narrowing of the gene pool happens due to the selection of a few "noteworthy" individuals in a breed in each generation...and many of them are already related to each other. The gene pool continues to shrink!

 

 AKC delineates the purpose for dog shows:

 

"Dog shows (conformation events) are intended to evaluate breeding stock.....The dog's conformation (overall appearance and structure), an indication of the dog's ability to produce quality puppies, is judged."

 

http://www.akc.org/events/conformation/beginners.cfm

Is it a good idea to tighten up the requirements for a championship in the various kennel club systems? On the surface it seems wonderful; almost necessary. After all, the dogs who win the most are inevitably bred the most.

 

Probably, requiring a dog to pass not only a conformation exam but also various health exams as well as functional exams to become lauded or certified as a "champion" (and therefore ideal breeding material) would definitely narrow down the number of titlists from what we now see.

Then we would be breeding mostly desirable typy, functional dogs with good health.

Or would we?

 

Would we instead be narrowing down the gene pool to fewer and fewer individuals? This will eventually lead to poor health due to genetic impoverishment...pretty much the same undesirable system that we currently use.

Of course individual breeders would still be free to go outside the system and use their own discretion in selecting individuals to use in their breeding programs. They could still select mates to complement each others' weaknesses, regardless of their show-ring success.

It seems logical to want to breed the very best dogs, no? Can you envision the day when not only kennel clubs, but the government also will insist that only those individuals who pass a battery of conformation, health and functional challenges can be bred? Believe me, working on the legislative front I can say with certainty that this is exactly where we are heading. Iif it is decreed that dogs with weaknesses cannot be shown, or bred, we have a real problem. This requirement will start within Kennel Clubs and then the government will pick up the banner and extend such breeding requirments into law.

That's when we may really find ourselves in a worse genetic pickle.

 

This is not "paranoia"; it is already happening. Just check the laws in Los Angeles County if you don't believe me.

 

In LA County, one cannot get a breeding permit unless your dog is actively being shown or has a title. The dog must be registered within a registry approved by the county. The owner must belong to a breed club with an enforced code of ethics. Only one litter per household per year, as well.
 

This essentially means no cross-breeding and very limited breeding of only approved purebred dogs, by a very few approved breeders.

We need a system in place that embraces MORE individual dogs for recognition...not fewer. That allows breeders the creative license to crossbreed judiciously if necessary. And this is just how most all modern breeds were created in the first place....through creativity, not restriction.

 

And, the more restrictions placed on breeding by kennel clubs, the more restrictive laws we will see as a result.  HSUS is setting up a "Dog Breeders Advisory Council" to try to delineate breeding practices. You can be sure, they will continue to support severe restrictions based on any parameters they can come up with.

For the gene pools of the dogs, this would be disastrous! We need to use MORE of the dogs in each breed's gene pools. Not fewer. We need MORE people to breed and show dogs, not fewer.

 

Perhaps we could start to use a system more like the IABCA....where the strengths and weaknesses of the dogs are written on an evaluation form, and all dogs who fit the standard pass the conformation muster test. Then include the health checks as needed and the functional tests on a breed-by-breed basis. Any good dog can pass all these areas, not just "the best". With standards and judges less apt to reward only the so-called "best", we become more inclusive. More dogs will be bred, and gene pools will not narrow to produce disease as readily in the population.

I am scratching my head as to why so-called "welfarists" are promoting policies that would likely make our current dog show system worse. Rather than add to the numbers of dogs bred and shown, they wish to harshly restrict the playing field.

 

PETA and HSUS also claim to promote what is "best" for animals by actually killing them and pushing for legislative policies that result in decimation of domestic animal populations.

Actions speak louder than words. If we wish to promote health and diversity, then we need to work toward a playing field that is broader and more inclusive. While breed standards that encourage moderation are a great step, I don't see how vet checks at dog shows will change the current system to one that will broaden the gene pools, or stave off the attacks in the popular media against dog breeding in general.