Everywhere you hear about cruel breeding of dogs and cruel breeding traits in dog breeds, about defective breeding, and that dog breeding is in a major crisis. And indeed, you have to agree with the critics. We explain why.
The Beginning of the End
It wasn't long ago that dog breeding changed fundamentally. With the founding of breed associations, among other things, visual standards in dog breeding became mandatory, and the working ability of an individual became less and less important in many breeds over time. More and more attention was also paid to purebredness, inbreeding was practiced to quickly consolidate special traits, and crossbreeding with other dog breeds was prohibited. This leads to the dead end in which dog breeding finds itself today.
The special dog and its consequences
It may be understandable that many people want a dog that is visually appealing and that is, of course, the most amazing, intelligent, or beautiful puppy in the entire litter. However, this has led to supposedly particularly beautiful males being used excessively as sires, traits being over-typified, and the already narrow gene pool of the breeds becoming even narrower. Ultimately, we are faced with popular breeds that are simply sick, thus resulting in the cruel breeding of dogs.
Examples:
- 77 or more hereditary diseases in a breed
- Over 90 percent of individuals in a breed suffer from a hereditary disease – sometimes with severe symptoms
- Breeds in which a large proportion of individuals struggle to breathe
- Breeds whose individuals barely live to the age of 6 before dying of cancer.
Unfortunately, this is not an exaggeration, but a harsh reality. In some countries, breeding with certain visual characteristics or even entire breeds is already prohibited.
Problems without a solution?
Now, one could say that one simply tests and sorts out all sick dogs, and only breeds the healthy ones so that the breeds become healthy again. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
Genetic Tests and Examinations
Unfortunately, genetic testing for all diseases or predispositions to diseases is not yet possible. Examinations only help to identify infected dogs. This means that, on the one hand, carriers of the disease (they do not develop the disease themselves, but can pass on the predisposition) cannot be identified and continue to be used for breeding. On the other hand, there are hereditary diseases that only appear at an age of approximately 8 years or later – so by the time an examination shows that a dog is infected, many offspring have already been born and the genes have already been passed on many times.
Some breeding associations require health tests (genetic tests and examinations) for breeding approval, but not all of the possible ones. The requirements vary depending on the association.
Selection of sick individuals and inbreeding
But even if everything could be tested and examined, and indeed would be done, the problem of inbreeding still remains. Many breeds are already very closely related, so that it is almost like brother-sister mating. As already mentioned above, there are breeds in which hereditary diseases, which are associated with a significant reduction in quality of life, are present in well over 90% of the individuals. If you then sort out all the sick animals, depending on the breed, only a very small remainder remains. Too few for a good and healthy breeding base.
We must also not forget the current trend towards an increasing number of breeding associations. The "old" ones are not strict enough for some, too strict for others, and so new breeding associations are constantly being founded. Therefore, today we have an unmanageable number of clubs and breeders of one and the same breed, each subject to a wide variety of regulations regarding which health tests they must undergo, how these tests are monitored, etc. Furthermore, individuals of a breed from different clubs may not be mated with each other (or only with extreme effort over generations). This further narrows the gene pool.
Appearance and Hereditary Diseases
We now know that selecting breeding dogs based on appearance creates many problems. If selection is not based on health, hereditary diseases can spread more easily. Many visually desirable traits are also directly related to hereditary diseases. Nevertheless, extreme traits are often still selected for, with judges at shows giving these dogs particularly high marks, even though they often suffer from traits of cruel breeding.
Furthermore, breeding, or rather reproduction, also takes place outside of clubs. People breed what they like, without health tests; the main thing is that they are beautiful and inexpensive. From exaggerated characteristics to special colors, there's everything the buyer will like. Here, too, it's proven time and again: appearance is painful!
Is there a way out?
There are different opinions and approaches here, some of which overlap, some of which are extremely contradictory.
Breeding associations that don't see any problems, or rather want to slowly investigate for a few years how frequently a disease occurs in the breed before taking action and only conduct a few tests. A breeding association is a private organization with members and member meetings, where breeding regulations are also voted on. Therefore, on the one hand, they are slow, and on the other hand, extreme measures also mean the end for some breeders, who then naturally vote against such measures, even if they would make sense.
The approaches of veterinarians and researchers go much further, even if they don't agree on everything either. Here are a few points:
- Rethink breeds and move away from "purebred"
- Conduct all possible tests and examinations to exclude sick dogs
- Partially or completely exclude carriers of diseases from breeding
- Observe breeding lines and, if diseases accumulate over generations, remove this line completely from breeding
- Open stud books and allow other breeds to be crossed
- Backbreeding with the help of crossbreeding with other breeds
- Ban some breeds where further breeding would only lead to more suffering
- Ban some traits that lead to extreme animal suffering
The fact is that we as buyers have a say in the market. If we all want even more extreme dogs – smaller, larger, flatter faces, more colorful colors – then these will be bred, regardless of the consequences. Yes, we as buyers share responsibility for the current situation!
Breeds and Dog Types at HonestDog
At HonestDog, we also allow the breeding of dogs that many breeders consider mixed breeds because they are not purebred. Nevertheless, it is important that the parents have genetic testing of the breed(s) to which they belong. This includes, for example, so-called designer dogs, such as Labradoodles.
Furthermore, we are using the word "breed" less and less, replacing it with the term "dog type." A dog type in the sense of a dog that has a certain basic tendency regarding its characteristics, but which does not have to be purebred, but can also be mixed. Just as we did successfully for thousands of years before the establishment of the major pedigree dog associations. There were many different types, with similar characteristics within each dog type, that were healthy, long-lived, and well-suited for their respective work.
In the article: "Dog Breed: What is it?" you can learn more about this topic.