Since it aired on Tuesday evening, almost every client to come into my consulting room has been asking me what I thought of BBC1's 'Pedigree Dogs Exposed' (BBC press release, BBC iPlayer video of episode - only valid for 7 days from initial broadcast). It was a very well put together exposé of the darker side of dog breeding, dog showing, and the health down-side that can occur when dogs are bred thoughtlessly, callously, and with their health and well-being somewhere down the priorities list after the breeder's showing success and financial considerations. It's fair to say that there was shouting at the telly going on in my living room on Tuesday evening. It was a good piece of investigative, issue-driven, campaigning broadcasting - I'm sure the breeders and the Kennel Club won't think it even-handed, but the science and reporting was on the whole sound, and well understood and explained. And the things it covered were not much of a surprise if you're in the veterinary world.
Before I start, let me just say I'm not knocking pedigree dogs here, or those who buy pedigree pups as pets and companions. I understand exactly why people choose pedigree puppies rather than picking up a mixed breed pup. In fact, I am the owner of a pedigree dog myself, and so are several of the vets and nurses I work with. And our reasons for choosing them are the same reasons our clients give - when choosing a pedigree puppy, you have a degree of certainty about what the physical - size, strength - and temperament (good and bad!) - likely intelligence, trainability, aggression - which will determine the requirement for exercise, and suitability for certain sorts of activity and lifestyle of the dog your pup will grow into. A mixed breed pup will in most cases be a completely unknown quantity - often wonderful, but very hard to predict when looking at a small bundle of fur at 8 weeks old.
I'm sure lots of people will be picking apart the claims, assertions, arguments and allegations in the programme. Instead, let me talk about the problems with pedigree dog breeds and breeding today in the UK as I see them. Although they tend to be bundled together and jumbled up to some extent in the arguments about dog breeding, there are as I see it three separate but connected issues.
- Extreme breed characteristics which compromise the health and welfare of 'healthy', 'normal' animals of a given breed. Things like the extremely flattened noses of the so called 'brachycephalic' breeds - bulldogs, mastiffs, pekinese, pugs, and the like, who commonly have difficulty breathing and staying cool. The short legs of dachshunds and basset hounds, which due to their abnormal anatomy predispose them to orthopaedic disease and crippling arthritis in old age. The desirable 'diamond eyes' of bassets, St Bernards, and certain other giant breeds, which cause the eyelids to fold out or in rubbing the eyelashes against the surface of the eye causing pain and predisposing to infection. Excess of skin and abnormal skin folds on the bodies, legs, and heads of shar-pei, bassets, bulldogs, mastiffs, etc, which predispose these dogs to painful skin infections where the skin is folded back on itself forming pockets. The malformed spines of pugs and other 'screw-tailed' breeds which can cause extreme pain and paralysis. I see one or more of these conditions in my consulting room every day. Sadly this list is a very very short sample of the breeds with health issues of this kind. Even more distressingly, all of these characteristics will perversely gain rather than lose these dogs marks in the show ring.
- Genetic diseases in certain breeds. These are distinct from those above in not being desirable characteristics as such, rather illnesses and conditions which have hitched a lift in the breed's genetics. Examples include syringomyelia (a painful neurological condition) and endocardiosis (a debilitating degenerative heart abnormality) in cavalier king charles spaniels, hip and elbow dysplasia in labrador retrievers which cause lameness and arthritis at a young age, progressive retinal atrophy (a genetic form of blindness) in setters, allergic diseases in west highland white terriers. Again, the full list is much much longer than this.
- Finally, line breeding. This is the frankly distasteful habit among some pedigree dog breeders of breeding close relatives back to one another to keep the line 'clean' and preserve and enhance 'desirable' characteristics. Breeding litter-siblings to one another, or mothers to sons, half-siblings to one another, grandfather-to-granddaughter, are all regarded as acceptable and even desirable by a minority of pedigree dog breeders. The consequence of this is a greatly enhanced risk of seeing (particularly autosomal recessive) genetic disorders in the offspring, compromised immunity, and a great reduction in the genetic diversity of the breed.
The simplest first, then - line breeding is easily solved. It would be the matter of a decision from the Kennel Club to refuse to register first and second degree matings (first degree is sibling matings, mother-son, father daughter, second degree is grandfather-to-grandaughter, half-siblings, aunt-to-nephew, and so forth). However I fear there is very little hope they will do so.
Breeding for extreme, harmful type requires action from all quarters - the Kennel Club must re-write the breed standards to prioritise health over absolutely everything else (they claim that they care about health, there is a mealy-mouthed bit of lip service in the breed standards now that faults must be judged in relation to the effects on an animal's health - however there is no consensus among breeders and the Kennel Club that harmful characteristics should be bred out). Of course the KC can write what they like in the standards if the breeders and judges (generally these are the same people for a given breed, leading to a nasty incestuous arrangement where relationships - human and animal - are highly entangled and nepotism rules in both species) aren't prepared to go along with it. While the majority of dog breeders, I have to believe, are good people with the health of their animals at heart, the minority unfortunately are numerous enough, vocal enough, and in controlling positions in so many breed societies, that good intentions struggle to out.
Genetic diseases will become easier to manage as genetic testing, and other detection programmes, become more widely available for these conditions. It will then come down to the puppy-buying public to demand these assurances of breeders to whom they are handing over large sums of money, and to decline to take pups from breeders who have not, or will not, screen their breeding animals for these harmful conditions. And it will come down to the veterinary world, the RSPCA, and others, to educate the public on the reasons to make these demands of the breeders from whom they buy dogs. Good progress has already been made with hip and elbow dysplasia in the retriever breeds, but there is still a long way to go with other conditions.
The causes and solutions of these issues are certainly complex and interrelated, and require action from a combination of the Kennel Club, dog breeders, and the puppy-buying public if we are going to see the necessary improvements in the health of the pedigree dogs in this country. It may very well be that, sadly, some breeds have been bred beyond the point of no return, with their genetic variability now so low as a consequence of inbreeding that the variability to re-create a sound, healthy dog has simply been lost. However in most cases I think there should still be hope, if action can be taken quickly and effectively by all concerned. My fear is that the Kennel Club and breeders will be far too stuck in their ways and wedded to their flawed orthodoxy to react in time.
I see pedigree dogs every so often who could only be described as genetic, health and temperament train-wrecks. And, yes, my heart falls when I see the name of one of our (thankfully few) lunatic dog breeders on my consulting list. On a positive note, I see happy, healthy pedigree puppies who grow into happy, healthy adult dogs every day, greatly loved by their human families.
What I would love more than anything would be to see the monopoly the Kennel Club has on pedigree dog registration in this country challenged, and an alternative registry introduced, divorced from the showing world, and placing an absolute priority on the temperament, health, and welfare of the animals it represents. Perhaps...
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