too many dogs nowadays have inbred defects:Why,who is responsible?

Question

Many German shepherd dogs and their crosses have weakness in the hindquarters and are lame crocks while fairly young:Many English bulldogs have breathing problems connected to their deformed faces,Dacshunds have overlong backs which cause them problems.
I suppose there are many more of these problems which are clearly hereditary and inbred.I have been thinking about this for awhile and it seems to me that the kennel clubs policies must play a strong part in the U.K.For many years now it has been illegal to breed from crosses and crosses are always neutered.No doubt some do breed but most crossbreed pups must surely now come from pure bred parents and that must mean that breeding is coming from defective parents(unsuccessful showdogs being made to earn their keep before the final jab?)I think its scandalous,Im 73 years old and I never saw such horrors before the last 20 years.
Any body agree with me or otherwise:If you agree any idea what can be done ?

Answer 1

Some dogs are very popular and anyone can breed them. The kennels where I leave my dog occasionally breeds their German Shepherds but the sire and the dam are hip scored and the pups too when they are old enough.

Some breeds need to be banned until they are genetically good. I have a cavalier and his hip score is excellent, however his heart is in a poor way and his lungs have problems too. There are a lot of other defects he could have had too. He is a rescue, I could never have a cavalier pup it would be too heartbreaking.

Some of it is down to the Kennel Club that sets breed and show standards. But the majority of the public are simply unaware of the problems and breeders do not tell them.

Answer 2

The reason so many dogs have genetic problems is because of irresponsible breeders. You have the breeders who think they are good breeder, but they aren't health or temperament testing their dogs, so they are just passing on any genetic flaws to their pups. There are also the Back Yard breeders. An example is someone who has a dachshund knows someone down the road who also has a dachshund. They think it would be cute to have puppies, so they breed the dogs, Knowing nothing about breeding, temperament testing, or health testing. They end up with genetically flawed pups. The other reason is because of puppymills. Puppymills are large operations where they keep dogs in small cages, with no human interaction, other than getting a bowl of food thrown at them every once in a while. They are just bred at every heat cycle, for their entire life. The people who run puppy mills only care about how much money they are going to make off the puppies, so they just want them to be cute. They don't care about the animals health.

To help stop this we have to educate the people around us, and encouage people to adopt their pet from an animal shelter, or research breeders until they find a REPUTABLE breeder! A breeder who is truly trying to better their breed by only breeding the best examples of their breed. This means they temperament and health test all the dogs, and don't over breed them.

Answer 3

For many years now it has been illegal to breed from crosses and crosses are always neutered.
What? Where? Certainly not in the UK.
As for blaming the Kennels Clubs, in the Uk at least, many breed standards were comprehensively overhauled about 10 yrs ago to get rid of features such as small eyes which led to eye problems and other exaggerated features which could be seen as detrimental to the dog such as over or under angulation. True, many breeds do have problems, but these problems have only been truly understand for around 25 yrs (some still aren't) and many, many more people are aware of hereditary health problems. Good breeders are spending a fortune on health tests which simply weren't available 5, 10 or 20 yrs ago.
They are not necessarily "inbred" problems. If you "inbreed" from 2 healthy individuals, you will get healthy, often outstanding, offspring. Problem is with breeders who know nothing about the dogs in the pedigrees of their breeding stock. Too many people who don't have the least idea of what used to be called stockmanship decide to breed their pet b1tch and then "inbreeding" is blamed for the resulting defects.
You choose the German Shepherd as an example:
Would it surprise you to learn that the GSD has a far better average hip score than the Beagle and only half that of the Otterhound? (Hardly breeds with the sloping topline which supposedly gives the GSD such bad hips)
Responsible breeders do their very best to ensure that they breed only from healthy tested stock. The backyard breeder and pet dogs breeders do not. Educate people that dog breeding is a serious business and you may get somewhere.
Dachshunds are no longer in back (in fact they are probably shorter) than they were 20 yrs ago and Bulldogs are no shorter in face than they were.Yes there are health problems with dogs but don't forget that dogs are living longer than ever and are taken to the vets more than they ever were so we are more aware of the problems than we were 20 yrs ago.

Answer 4

K. Just because your dogs are AKC registered doesn't make them breeding stock. Chihuahuas have patellar luxation issues, hearing and sight, yet you have a purebred Chi? Do I think a pretty dog that has arthritis, ataxia, dysplasia, etc should be bred? Absolutely not. If the dog is not functional then the dog should be altered regardless of how much a judge likes the dog. My breeder - who has show dogs - had her first two show dogs altered. One had ataxia and heart murmurs and the other one had heart murmurs. What has been done to German Shepherds is just shameful and I think smushed faces are digusting. The issue with this news story is that every breeder does not line-breed. Breeders that line breed don't line-breed generation after generation because it's unhealthy (correction: show breeders don't, bybs do). This new story represents a very small portion of show breeders, highlighting a portion of problems. Because only the small portion is represented and not the portion that, like my breeder, refuse to breed champion dogs with genetic defects makes the story biased. Not every GSD breeder wants super low hocks, not every Bulldog breeder goes for the face that the dog can't breathe. Not every breeder values form over function. This is stereotyping without presenting the other side. Who are the researchers stating that breeding mutts is healthier? Taking a breed known for patellar luxation issues and breeding it with a dog that had arthritis and eye problems just makes a dog that might have arthritis issues, eye problems and patellar problems. The way genetics works one bad trait in one breed won't cancel out the bad traits in another breed. The problems will be compounded. The only way to stop genetic issues is to stop breeding dogs with genetic problems, whether it's a purebred or a mutt. (At least with a purebred you know what to look for - a mutt you'd have to have EVERY test). If you find out where the "mutts are healthier" research came from please let me know, I'm interested. :) Add: The poor woman who was locked in her father's cellar and forced to have several children with him - the kids are fine (as fine as you can be when your grandfather is your father and you grow up in a cellar)

Answer 5

Sloppy breeding is heart breakingly unfair on the dogs and I think there should be stricter laws on dog breeding. I think the reason so many breeds have problems today is because originally a lot of dogs were bred to look good without sparing a thought to the dogs' conformation.
These days, the problems continue to exist mainly due to inconsiderate breeders who are more concerned with making money, rather than breeding good quality pups. So many large breeds are prone to hip dysplasia due to many breeders failing to hip score their dogs. Thankfully, most concientious breeders will have their dogs hip scored and won't breed from them unless they are sound.
However, I think there are some defects that it is very difficult to eradicate. For example, I own a dalmatian and they (along with other white animals) are very prone to deafness, not as a result of sloppy breeding, but it is something to do with the white gene. Good breeders try to lower the risk by only breeding dogs with full hearing in both ears but it still seems to be largely down to pot luck unfortunately.

Answer 6

Lots of people are in dog breeding for the money, they do not register the pups so no one knows what is being bred from and what mixes are being concocted under the heading designer breeds. These people are never going to be around to help or advise when the dogs hips go hip displaysia) or PRA etc.It makes decent breeders ashamed to be associated under the heading of breeder with so many unethical people having litters of genetically poor and inapproariate breeding.

Answer 7

Most common breeds are usually way over breed and healthy pups are honesty mutts, mutts have the best chance of living a long problem free life, even though I own a pure breed black lab and a pure German, both breeds have certain problems the german more than anything, but the problem is once bad breeders find good stock they use it over and over and over again even if its with there own mother brother sister what have you, and in-breeding no matter what type of animal it is isnt good, I owned a pure golden and her parents where show winners one of wich won best in show but her grandfather was the same on both sides, needless to say we had to put her down when she 12 years old due to cancer in tumors

Answer 8

When people begin to breed for extremes rather than for the original standard and purpose of a breed it is ALWAYS a bad thing.

GSD (German Shepherd Dogs) have a standard that asks for a slope from front to rear. I sincerely believe that the exageration of that slope has increased the incidence of hip dysplasia.

It really is a case of people believing MORE is better. More hair, more length of back or more length of leg... more more more... or in the case of size BIGGGER is better.. or smaller is best. Its all about human ego and the need to improve on what someone else has done.

What needs to be done is to encourage people to breed responsibly. Breed only dogs with health clearances. Breed only dogs that fit the breed standard.

Answer 9

Here in the U.S. anyone can breed any dog they want to any other dog. It's disgusting to me.

Breeders that only care about the $. I breed Pembroke Welsh Corgi's and I never breed any dog if there are genetic problems in the bloodline.

I've seen the German Shepard's today and I think they are deformed and ugly. Not the Rin Tin Tin of the 60's.

Only my personal opinion.

Answer 10

Actually, the main reason dogs have inherited problems is because of BYBs and other uneducated "breeders" who allow their pets to reproduce either at will or with the "most convenient" or "cheapest" mate without regard to health, structure or temperament.

A conscientous, knowledgeable breeder will be doing their best to breed a dog that is NOT exaggerated, and is healthy and sound in both body and mind.