Breeding dogs with deformities

Just like humans,  puppies are sadly occasionally born with deformities.    Facial deformities and deformities of the limbs and skeleton are some of the more common birth defects seen in both dogs and in people.

It is a tragic accident when a new life comes into this world without the ability to function normally like the rest of its species,  especially when the defect brings with it life long discomfort and multiple health problems.    How much more tragic it would be if society allowed dog owners to  engineer canine biology so that these defects were deliberately induced in our pet dogs.  

Sadly  this is exactly what has happened with some breeds of domestic dog in the world today.   Mutant dogs have been engineered by selectively breeding dogs with  deformities to other dogs with the same deformity,  in order to perpetuate and accentuate these physical defects.

Two of the most common deliberate defects that modern dog breeders have deliberately encouraged and selected for are Brachycephalic dogs,  and Achondroplastic dogs

Dogs that cannot breathe comfortably

Brachycephalic dogs have been bred with pushed in faces to give them a more flattened and human appearance.   In some cases, the pug is an example, the affected dogs have virtually no muzzle whatsoever.  This facial deformity results in severe malformation of the palate,  in narrowed nostrils and windpipes, and in many cases these in turn lead  to horrible respiratory problems which torment the dog throughout its entire life.  

Brachycephalic dogs also suffer from  eye problems (due to shallow sockets), overheating and birthing difficulties.    Their eyes can literally ‘pop’ out of their sockets and may get very sore because they cannot close them properly.   Some brachycephalic breeds can no longer give birth naturally due to their enlarged heads.

The degree of disability that comes with these deformities depends on how extreme the condition is in each breed it affects,  and may vary between individuals of the same breed.   The Pug is one of the worst affected dogs.  Other brachycephalic breeds you may have come across are the Pekinese,  the Bulldog,  and the Boxer

Dogs with shortened limbs

Achondroplasia is caused by a genetic mutation that causes dwarfism,  or very shortened legs.  This condition can arise spontaneously in any breed of dog.  However, in some breeds the condition has been selectively and deliberately bred for,  the dachshund is a well known example,  the welsh corgi another.  Achondroplasia is a serious deformity that is associated in dogs with a range of health problems,  including painful back and joint problems.

Welfare standards have changed

When these different dog breeds were first developed many years ago,  people paid a lot less attention to animal welfare.  Dogs  were generally either working animals,  or pets for the few wealthier members of society.   They were thought of as accessories or tools,  rather than respected.   Gradually over the last hundred years,  our attitudes towards dogs have been changing,  and this change has accelerated more recently.   Tremendous improvements have been made in animal welfare and we generally treat our pets a great deal better than our great-grandparents did.

Unfortunately the welfare of deliberately deformed dogs has ‘slipped through the net’  during this process,  and our modern breeding practices now need to ‘catch up’.   Hopefully the world’s dog breeders will soon get together to close this loophole in animal welfare.

How you can help

But in the meantime, you can play your part by refusing to buy a deliberately deformed puppy.   Every time anyone buys a puppy that is doomed to a life of pain and disability it encourages the breeder to breed again.

I hope that you will be able to pass on the message to your friends and family.   However cute these dogs may look it is important for the future of our dogs that we are not tempted to buy a brachycephalic dogs or any breed of dog that has been deliberately afflicted with achondroplasia.

And what about you?   Do you own a brachycephalic dog?  Are you tempted to buy one? Let us have your point of view

The Kennel Club releases a film on dog health

Those of you that have followed the Kennel Club’s progress in addressing the issue’s raised by Jemima Harrison’s Pedigree Dogs Exposed film may be interested to view the KC’s latest attempt to prove that they are doing their best for dog health.   The film is entitled Dogs – A Healthy Future

Those of you that have followed the Kennel Club’s progress in addressing the issue’s raised by Jemima Harrison’s Pedigree Dogs Exposed film may be interested to view the KC’s latest attempt to prove that they are doing their best for dog health.   The film is entitled Dogs – A Healthy Future

Initially the film focuses on canine health problems that arise incidentally.  Including diseases like hip dysplasia.

Though they may be more prevalent in closely bred dogs these conditions (genetic diseases) were never intended to arise and the Kennel Club is putting a great deal of effort into researching new means of diagnosis, prevention and cure.

Later in the film the problems of deliberately induced (through breeding for poor conformation) health problems such as those found in bulldogs, and Neapolitan mastiffs,  are discussed.    In this respect the film was less encouraging.

The film acknowledges that there is still some way to go to change those breeds which are in poor shape,   but sadly for the dogs it appears that the Kennel Club is happy with the current pace of change,  and fails to recognize the potential extent of its own powers.

For example the Kennel Club chairman states that ‘The KC cannot force breed clubs to change things’ .   He suggests that an attempt to do so would make breed clubs ‘do their own thing’.   A outcome which many would consider to be most unlikely.

What do you think of the film?  Have the Kennel Club addressed the issues effectively?   Should the Kennel Club be looking at ‘out crossing’  breeds like pugs and bulldogs to restore some muzzle.  Could they be doing more and doing it faster?

Ancestry DNA tests for dogs

Curious to know about your dog’s ancestry.  Well you need guess no longer!  A DNA test is now commercially available that could reveal a great  deal about your dog’s past.  The test is available in several different kits depending on the category your dog falls into.

Who might use the test?

Owners of rescue dogs, curious to know their ancestry,  owners of ‘designer dogs’  wishing to check that their dog is an F1 hybrid (first cross between two pure-bred parents)  Owners of purebred dogs without papers, that wish to check their dog really is purebred.

In fact anyone interested to know the ancestry of their dog,  whether out of general curiosity or out of a need to confirm a suspicion of some sort.

What use is this knowledge?

The test is not just for the paranoid.  The makers claim that it gives the owners of mixed breed dogs valuable information about the ideal weight for their dog when adult,  and the best way to feed and train him.

It can also alert owners to potential health risks related to the breeds identified in his genetic make-up

I suspect that the most of those using the test will simply be curious.  You can follow this link to the maker’s website

Pedigree dogs exposed 3 years on: what do people think?

I watched the Pedigree Dogs Exposed Three years on with great interest and have followed some of the online conversations that the programme has generated,   and read the comments on Jemima’s blog.

Jemima Harrison has been the target of a lot of abuse,  much of it from those that claim to be pedigree dog breeders.

Reading through the comments and forum posts, there seem to be two principle and genuine concerns from pedigree breeders

Breeders claim that  Jemima Harrison

Is denigrating all pedigree dog breeders
Is driving people to buy mongrels
Is Jemima Harrison attacking all pedigree breeders?

As an occasional pedigree dog breeder myself,  I have to say, it never occurred to me when I saw the first programme, to feel personally attacked.  Perhaps I would have felt differently if I were making a living from breeding dogs.   But then most of the breeders attacking Jemima claim that they are not breeding dogs for pound notes…

I do not feel that Jemima is attacking all dog breeders,  though she is asking us to question the effects that continuing with closed registry breeding may have in the long term.    It seems to me that the PDE campaign has focused primarily on dogs whose breed standards have got them into trouble.

Is Jemima’s PDE campaign driving more people to buy mongrels?

One breeder told me that PDE definitely caused a drop in dog registrations.  If so that may be sad for breeders.   But on the other hand,  PDE definitely forced the KC to reform some of its breed standards and in theory,  that should be great for dogs.

I believe that KC registrations did take a dip after the first PDE programme took place,  but that they also recovered fairly quickly.   This would suggest that overall,  people are still buying pedigree dogs in the same numbers.

It also begs the question,  does it matter if people buy dogs that are not purebred?  I am not so sure anymore,  that it does.   Of course it matters that puppies are raised and socialised appropriately, and that proper precautions are taken when cross-breeding dogs whose parentage offers a risk of conditions that we can now screen for.   Many so-called ‘designer dog’  breeders are now hip scoring their breeding stock,  so presumably the message that cross-bred dogs can get sick too,  is now getting through.

There were some other issues that breeders raised that I felt were less genuine concerns, and more attempts to deflect attention from their own shortcomings.  And these were

Why isn’t JH campaigning against puppy farms
Why doesn’t JH publicise all the good things that pedigree breeders do
Why doesn’t JH publicise all the good things that the Kennel Club has done
The Kennel Club should not have to police its breeders

1 Why isn’t Jemima Harrison campaigning against puppy farms

This is akin to asking someone why they are raising money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and suggesting that they should be raising money for the Sailors Families Society instead.    These are both charities concerned with protecting seafarers and their families, but in different ways.    Asking someone to stop working for one worthy cause and switch to another is a very odd and pointless tactic.  We all chose our own causes to champion.   If you don’t  like one,  then don’t support it.

2 Why doesn’t Jemima Harrison publicise all the good things that pedigree breeders do?

There is no doubt that good breeders are a great asset to the new puppy buyer.  They often provide a lifetime’s support for their buyers and will take a puppy back at any time if the buyer fall into difficult circumstances.   Buying a pedigree puppy gives you assurances about final size, appearance and some abilities that you can never have if you purchase a mongrel.   These are important facts.

But I am not sure why breeders would expect JH to promote them.  I certainly don’t expect her to promote me when I breed a litter of puppies.    Nor do pedigree breeders have a monopoly on good breeding practice.    But if anyone should be promoting pedigree dog breeders then it should be the Kennel Club, not Jemima Harrison.

3 Why doesn’t Jemima Harrison publicise all the good things the KC has done since the last PDE

Actually she does, and did in the new PDE programme.   She also notes that some of the changes that the KC have introduced, such as changes in breed standards,  have simply not been implemented by its judges.   People are still breeding from Cavalier King Charles Spaniels despite the widespread and serious health conditions present to some extent in a high proportion of breeding stock.  The KC had the power to stop this.  And they did not use it.   We could turn the question back the other way,  and ask ‘why doesn’t the KC say the good things that PDE has achieved, such as encouraging the KC to stop brother sister matings,  and to improve breed standards?’  It works both ways.

4 The Kennel Club should not have to ‘police’ its breeders

A number of breeders have said that the KC should not have to ‘police’ its breeders.   Of all the above statements I think this is the silliest.  The Kennel Club is a registry.   There is no point in being on a register unless that membership of that register means something.

Every registry has standards, and it is up to the registering body to enforce or ‘police’ those standards as so many breeders put it.   The normal way of enforcing standards on a register is to remove, or refuse admission to, applicants that do not meet its standards.

The Kennel Club itself has stated that it wants the government to intervene in controlling dog breeding,  a quite bizarre aim from a registering body that already holds the ultimate power to withhold or grant registration to every pedigree dog born in this country.  

Confusingly, the KC clearly accepts it does have a responsibility to  ‘police’ its register,  as it already enforces some of the standards it has set down.  For example, you can no longer register puppies from a brother/sister mating.   It would appear that the KC took the step of refusing registration to the offspring of brother/sister matings after the publicity that accompanied PDE the first time around.  

Taking this step is clear evidence that the KC is well aware of its responsibilities to ‘police’  standards in dog breeding and dog welfare.

This is the Kennel Club in action,  doing what it should be doing to protect puppy buyers from disaster and to promote the improvement of dogs which it claims as a priority.   Having taken this step,  what is needed now is many more steps in this direction.   But I am not holding my breath

Where do we go from here?

I do not have the answers to this one!  I am interested to see what the next step in Jemima’s campaign will be.  How about you?  Do you feel breeders concerns are justified?   Would you like to see the KC take more action to enforce standards?

You may also be interested in the following articles : Breeding dogs with disabilities  and:  Why do breeders oppose Jemima Harrison’s campaign?

Stem cell therapy progress helps dogs

I am seeing more and more articles about stem cell therapy being used successfully to treat dogs with arthritis.

Only last month Robert Harman DVM  chief executive of Vet-Stem ,  announced on his blog that over 8,000 animals had now been treated  with Vet Stem cell therapy.

Vet-Stem is a company developing these treatments for dogs and other animals in the USA.

Arthritis can be a crippling and very painful condition,  and there have been some favourable reports on the effects of these treatments.  Here is one from Australia

The stem cells are collected from the dog’s own body fat by his vet.  The  adult stem cells are isolated and concentrated in the laboratory and then returned  to the dog’s vet to be injected into the affected area.

‘Red’  a twelve year old Labrador and one of the last surviving search and rescue dogs to take part in the 9/11 disaster,  is a recent patient.    You can read about her on the Fox News website.  Hopefully she will join the many other dogs who are getting some relief from this exciting new treatment.

Vet Checks: the answer to extreme dog breeding

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the purpose and scope of the Vet Checks introduced at Crufts this year.

This article aims to clear up some of that confusion by looking at the origins and aims of these new checks. For many years, those that care for and about dogs, have deplored the exaggerated conformation of some of our dog breeds.

Way back in 1981 an article entitled ‘The Things we Do to Dogs’ by Simon Wolfenson was published in the New Scientist on this very topic. Here is the opening sentence: The squashed face of the Peke, the drooping eye and the long back of the Bassett, the giant size of the Great Dane – careful breeding perpetuates the special features of pedigree dogs in ever more exaggerated form.

Going back even further when I was a child in the 1960s I remember my mother and our vet deploring the state of Pekes and Pugs as they struggled to breath and pant effectively. This is nothing new.

Yet throughout the generations, the views of the average dog owner has been largely ignored. We have been expected to leave breeding to those that ‘know best’ ie, the breeders themselves.

And then along came Jemima Harrison with her hard hitting film Pedigree Dogs Exposed. Concerns about pedigree dogs swept the nation. And as a result, after losing the support of the BBC and its coverage of Crufts, the Kennel Club began to sit up and listen to what people were saying.

Changes to breed standards

In 2009 the Kennel Club proposed a raft of changes to the breed standards of many exaggerated dogs. Many of these changes were adopted, and a now interested public began to watch for a resulting change in the type of dogs being given awards at high profile shows.

There have no doubt been changes in the ways that some breeds are ‘judged’ as a result, but in other breeds it seems clear that the new breed standards have not been taken as seriously as was intended by the Kennel Club. It was time to get tough.

The introduction of vet checks

Determined to ‘get it right’ this time, the Kennel Club has launched a system of vet checks to take place at Championship dog shows.

The purpose of these very focused checks is specifically to search for clinical problems that have arisen as a result of exaggerations in conformation.

Because the checks are specifically concerned with exaggerated conformation, dogs belonging to the many breeds that are not susceptible to exaggeration do not need to be tested. This avoids expensive and unnecessary testing of dogs that do not have a problem. Fifteen High Profile breeds were chosen to be included in the new tests at launch.

This is a unique and clever approach. Unlike any health test previously introduced, it deals ‘head on’ with the problem of exaggerated conformation and the health issues generated by that problem.

But these dogs are already health tested aren’t they?

The failure to discriminate between existing health tests and the new vet checks is causing a lot of confusion. Many pedigree dogs are subjected to a raft of different health checks.

Eyes are checked for retinal problems and glaucoma, hips for poor bone formation, elbows the same. We have tests for diseases like CNM and of course dogs can be checked for soundness of movement, heart and so on.

But none of these previous health tests has addressed the issue of conformation exaggeration. In the past this shortcoming has led to dogs winning high profile awards when they are clearly uncomfortable or even in pain, as a direct result of their poor and exaggerated conformation.

Times change

Thirty of forty years ago, people took little notice of how dogs were treated. Training methods were harsh, and many dogs lived a fairly low quality existence. Nowadays we treat our dogs a great deal more kindly and compassionately.

Times have changed and people are no longer content to turn a blind eye to dogs that are bred with the grotesque wrinkles of extreme Neopolitan Mastiffs, the flattened faces of Pekes and Pugs, and the withered rear ends of the show German Shepherd.

It is just not appropriate anymore.

Change is hard

The new vet checks have undoubtedly upset a lot of show dog exhibitors. Some of these have formed an organisation called the Canine Alliance, and representatives of the CA met recently with the Kennel Club to put their grievances and demand the suspension of the new vet checks.

The Kennel Club has stood firm, and refused to suspend the new system.

Exhibitors in those breeds where unacceptable levels of exaggeration have taken place, will now need to decide on where their future lays. Some will probably give up showing.

Others will learn to adapt and breed dogs with a better conformation. Change is always hard, but these changes are designed with the benefit of dogs in mind, not exhibitors.

A better future for dogs

I find it exciting to consider that in the years to come we may now see Pekinese and Pugs with real muzzles, Bassett Hounds with tight eyes, and legs that give them a bit of ground clearance.

We may soon see Neopolitan Mastiffs, with a skin they can be comfortable in, winning dogs shows. And I am sure there will be more benefits to follow.

Both the Kennel Club and Jemima Harrison are to be congratulated. The Kennel Club for standing firm in the face of some determined opposition, and Jemima for being the catalyst behind many of these changes with her ground breaking film.

I very much hope vet checks are here to stay. Hopefully my beloved working labradors and cockers will never become so exaggerated that they need to be on the list. But if they do suffer from extremes of breeding, it is great to know that this system of vet checks is in place to protect them.

Crufts: a good weekend for dogs

This weekend has seen an extraordinary and unprecedented development in the history of dog showing,  as several dogs awarded Best of Breed certificates at the world’s most famous dog show were disqualified for health reasons by the examining veterinary surgeon.

A brave step

We  should not underestimate the magnitude of what the Kennel Club has set in motion this weekend.  Showing at Crufts represents the pinnacle of a show dog’s career and means everything to the breeders taking part.   The KC’s actions this weekend represents a new and brave willingness to enforce breed standards in the most challenging of circumstances.

And well done  to the KC for taking this stand which will no doubt cause them a lot of grief in the short term.   We can only hope that they follow this up firmly at future shows, and do not waver in the face of the inevitable backlash from angry and disappointed breeders who have seen the ultimate prize snatched from their hands.

The KC will be placed under a massive amount of pressure now to reverse this new system,  not only from breeders,  but also from the experienced judges who must feel humiliated by having awarded these certificates to dogs that vets subsequently found to fall short of the health standards expected of them.

Let’s support the KC in their stand!

The next few weeks and months will be tough for the Kennel Club.   If you want to see them stand firm on the actions they have taken this week,  let them know they have your support.  You can find their contact details here: contact the Kennel Club  and their Facebook Wall  here.

Well done Jemima

Well done to Jemima Harrison who can now see some concrete evidence of the success of her long and determined Pedigree Dogs Exposed campaign taking shape.    You can read more detail about the weekend’s events on her blog.

The photo at the top of this page is enlarged from a picture on Jemima’s PDE website.   It is not an ulcer or a wound,  it is the eye of a show winning Neopolitan Mastiff.   This weekend has shown that the KC is no longer willing to tolerate judges that turn a blind eye to ectropion, and other health issues that are endemic in some breeds.

Well done vets

The vets who carried out these checks and took the decision to disqualify dog after dog on health grounds have more than their fair share of courage.   They too deserve our support and thanks

It has been a good weekend for the future of our pedigree dogs.