Continued from page 5

Can it Really Work?

I can hear someone objecting, after having thought about the idea of a breeding and registry system in which outcross breeding was actually encouraged, "Surely this system will produce some dogs which are not even recognizable representatives of their breeds! What happens then?" Typological thinking dies hard. I used to worry lest my Siberian breeding program should one day produce a dog or dogs whose ears were not fully erect. It never happened. Instead something much worse happened when I found that I was producing some dogs who ran a high risk of being unable to lead a healthy, normal canine existence, through endocrine malfunctions, immune system weakness, and the risk of blindness. To think I had worried about the possibility of a tipped ear, something which would not handicap or bother the dog in the least! Let me say the following, then, to those who worry that a balanced-heterozygous breed will engender "untypical" examples. It is far better that our breeding occasionally engender a dog deficient in breed type, than that we should consistently produce large numbers of dogs guaranteed to lead lives of suffering, creating anxiety, large veterinary bills, frustration and unhappiness for their owners. That is what we are doing now. Over sixty percent of Golden Retrievers, for example, will suffer from hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis or osteochondritis in their lifetimes. Is that to be preferred to the possibility of producing an occasional robust "mutt" lacking in breed type but who will nonetheless still make someone an excellent happy, healthy companion? I am sure that it would take awhile for all of us to learn how to breed in this new and different way; I suppose we might produce occasional oddities in the process. Yet I am absolutely convinced that the good results we would quickly achieve would more than make up for the embarrassment of our failures. At the very least we should all have clean consciences once again, knowing that we were making our best efforts, using up-to-date genetic knowledge, to produce sane, healthy, robust canine companions. Let us not forget that as DNA mapping procedures advance (there are at least two canine genome mapping projects now under way) our tools are going to improve and our ability to predict what our breedings may produce will be greatly enhanced.

As things now stand, the dog fancy is in a position which is frankly untenable. The CKC Board of Directors has unilaterally committed "reputable breeders" to the proposition of guaranteeing the "future genetic good health" of the dogs they sell. Yet those same breeders have no means of protecting themselves from the looming specter of financial ruin should they be held to such a guarantee, otherwise to the loss of public credibility. Other than the continued elaboration of screening programs and the Advanced Registry proposal, both of which are somewhat like applying an adhesive bandage to a severed artery, nothing is being done about making guarantees of genetic health a workable proposition. At present, purebred breeds -- all breeds -- show levels of genetic defects totally inconsistent with the practical maintenance of the Boards policy. Many honest, caring breeders are racked by torments of guilt and self-reproach brought on by the suffering of defective dogs, yet it is really no fault of the breeders themselves! The fault, as has been demonstrated in this brief, lies with the closed studbook and the inbreeding system. If the consensus of the Club is truly that purchasers of purebred dogs have a right to expect genetically healthy animals, then the Board has no choice other than to do everything in its power to change the existing system so that healthy animals may once again be reliably produced! That will never happen just through Advanced Registries, higher Championship point requirements, more screening programs, and Board policy pronouncements. The Club must take to heart the lessons of population genetics. It must open its studbooks to outcross stock on a permanent basis. It must take measures against the obsessive pursuit of breed type and the worship of breed purity, measures which will increase the health, utility, trainability and sanity of purebred dogs, measures which will balance the elements of breed identity. There are no credible "soft options" left.

One unfortunate reality which must be faced, however, in order to bring about any major changes involving the CKC will be the conservatism and resistance to change of the Board and of the "old hands" -- the ruling oligarchy of the Club. The CEO and the Board will almost certainly aggressively defend the status quo no matter how urgent the need for change. At present, for example, they turn down requests for the registration of new foundation animals with statements such as this one: "The CKC takes pride in registering dogs based on accurate and complete information and we will continue to strive for these high standards." Yet when that statement was written, the Club was still registering Canadian-bred litters whose parentage information was supported only by a signed registration application form filled out by the owners of the dam and sire. Under that system of information gathering it is regularly necessary for the Board to cancel litter registrations when it becomes evident that the parents of some litters are not both of the same breed. No one knows how many litters go unchallenged which, although purebred with both parents of the same breed, have their parentage misrepresented because the actual sire of the litter is not the dog entered on the application form. In the absence of DNA testing, how can the substitution of sires be detected?

Meanwhile the United Kennel Club, a "dissident registry" in Kalamazoo, MI, USA, which now registers about a quarter of a million dogs annually, has already instituted a process for the verification of parentage by DNA profiling! This is the first time that DNA profiling has been made routinely available to dog breeders, and UKC is the first canine registry in the world to offer such assurance of verified parentage. Innovations such as this make the Clubs defensive statements about its high standards sound rather hollow.

Anyway, those of us who seek reform will have to contend with a Club establishment which will attempt to make a virtue of the very things which most threaten the genetic health of CKC dog breeds: the closed studbook, the breed purity concept, the endless inbreeding, the constant refinement of type, the preeminence of the Championship show, Those who dare to challenge the existing system will have to put up with being made to look foolish or even villainous by the solemn pronouncements of the old guard. We should all realize that the Club establishment is unlikely to initiate serious action for change in the absence of grassroots pressure from the general membership. It is up to us to initiate serious dialogue along the lines outlined in this brief, to research ways and means to promote a different, healthier method of purebred dog breeding, and to raise the consciousness both of novices and of old hands regarding the genetic dilemma which now faces us.

Deep structural change cannot occur without widespread debate among fanciers, because new and different concepts sound threatening when they are first described. Once the reasoning behind them has been adequately discussed, the threat often disappears. Someone may ask, for example, "What about these open-ended Breed Standards? A Bell-curve statistical description of a breeds height standard may be an adequate formula, but what if the mean is set at 22.5 inches and you don't disqualify the 25-inch dogs. Then maybe in a few years the mean may drift upward to around 24 inches, with hardly a single dog under 22 inches. What then?" My answer would be that the whole point of the balanced-heterozygous system is its healthy flexibility. A stubborn insistence on narrow tolerances in matters such as height at withers usually involves the sacrifice of other worthwhile qualities anyway, as too many otherwise good animals must be discarded only because they are a shade over standard. In the balanced system described, nothing at all need be lost. If the height mean of a 22.5-inch breed should drift upward to 24 inches, it would be because most of the breeders wanted a taller dog! Since the breed club would be advising breeders, measuring and rating dogs, maybe even suggesting matings, this sort of gradual change would occur only with the knowledge and acquiescence of the breed club, representing all active breeders. Under a heterozygous plan with mainly assortative matings, nothing whatever is lost in such a gradual change. Should the height drift upwards and, later on, the breeders decide upon a return to the original mean, a simple shift in the emphasis of assortative mating will accomplish such a return easily, smoothly, with no genetic loss and no disturbance of other traits.

The whole idea of a dynamically balanced heterozygous breeding system is the retention of as much healthy genetic diversity as possible. Such diversity makes it easy for a breed to develop and progress in whatever direction its breeders wish. It also ensures that genetic problems are kept to a minimum no matter what changes of standard may occur. In the statically balanced homozygous system now in force, the more homozygosity increases with time and selective breeding, the harder it becomes for major change to occur naturally and easily, and the more pronounced genetic problems become. Once an allele has been "fixed" in homozygosity, no amount of selection can change that trait; only radical outcrossing can restore the lost alleles and such outcrosses will always upset the static balance completely, necessitating years of remedial inbreeding and selection, probably creating new genetic problems. I am convinced that a system based on a dynamic equilibrium of healthy dominant genes must inevitably be better than one which throws away most of the healthy genetic diversity in order to achieve static stability for homozygous recessive traits.

It is worth noting that the new system, if carried out at all conscientiously, would mean more work per dog for everyone. Breeders would necessarily invest more time and effort in their breeding stock in order for it to pass breed club requirements. This is by no means a negative factor. One ongoing problem in our society is that of large numbers of unwanted pets. Another related problem for the purebred fancy is substandard dogs produced by the non-serious "backyard" breeder and the puppy-mill profiteer. The suggested reform measures would discourage exploitative factions and reduce considerably the overall number of purebred dogs, while raising greatly the overall quality levels and ensuring that practically all purebred dogs were valuable, cherished, and wanted by their breeders and owners. The new system would greatly increase the inherent value of purebred canine stock. Purebred would then mean much more than just a paper certificate!

A Canine Revolution?

The foregoing prescriptions may sound like a canine revolution. If so, the revolution would consist mainly of integrating many facets of the fancy which now exist in ghetto isolation, or of importing good ideas from other parts of the cynological world. In Europe, for example, many breed clubs have long held responsibilities for their breeds similar to those described above. The only really revolutionary features of this new vision of purebred dogdom are the permanently open studbook and the abandonment of incest breeding, and those represent simple, inevitable acquiescence to genetic reality. If there is one thing we can do which will be of lasting benefit to the dogs we breed, it is to endow each and every one with a healthy, heterozygous genetic outfit. If that is to become possible, the closed studbook must go and inbreeding must go. There are no effective alternatives.

These reforms would require considerable cooperative effort on the part of breeders, breed clubs and the CKC in order to bring them into being. A major part of the job would be to convince Agriculture Canada of the desirability and feasibility of these proposals, followed by amendment of the Animal Pedigree Act to facilitate them. Yet when we consider the threat to the very existence of purebred dogs posed by genetic disease, the economic loss caused by genetic defects, and their widespread unhappy effect, on peoples lives, can we deny that radical and decisive remedial action is required? The goals of a balanced-heterozygous breeding system producing healthy, hardy dogs and a balanced breed identity structure coordinating all the delightful activities of purebred dogdom, would be worth any amount of effort. Let us begin work now to bring those goals into existence! Future generations of breeders and fanciers will be grateful to us for so doing and what is more, we shall be doing the best and kindest thing for our very best friends - our dogs.

Postscript

Inevitably some will feel that the suggestions contained in this brief are unrealistic and impracticable, that ideas such as breed autonomy and balanced-heterozygous breeding "will never fly" in Canada. It may be that this brief is slightly ahead of its time; nevertheless, we are about to embark upon a new millennium. Already this country has seen the acceptance and adoption of many concepts that would never have been practicable fifty years ago. The Charter of Rights, settlement of aboriginal land claims, the Internet, the Quebec referendum -- none of these current realities would have been acceptable or seriously foreseeable in the first half of the twentieth century.

Many breeders will reject outright the mere idea of deliberately trying to increase heterozygosity, after so many years in the pursuit of homozygosity through "linebreeding" and frank incest breeding. Others will be horrified by the thought of dismantling the apparatus of the CKC Championship Show. Almost everyone, myself included, will be nervous and dubious about increasing the power and autonomy of breed clubs, based on the past performance of many such clubs. Yet needs must when the devil drives! The genetic situation is dire and the present outlook for many breeds is grave. Something will have to be done. Just now most of the hope and effort rests upon research towards detection of DNA markers for major genetic diseases. Yet those who promote this approach to the problem of genetic defects invariably seem to have a very narrow outlook, treating each defect in isolation. The approach is no different from that of traditional hip x-rays and eye examinations, except that it may be more efficient. The proponents of disease marker detection do not, however, explain how we are going to deal with the problem of diseases which are already widespread throughout a breeds population, or how our gene pools will stand up to successive waves of severe culling as we strive to "eliminate" one widespread genetic disease after another in our small populations bred from tiny founder groups. The population genetics aspect of marker detection, screening and subsequent selection is simply being ignored. As we have already found to our sorrow, those aspects of breeding and genetics which we ignore as being inconvenient at the time emerge later to work us woe.

Now is the time when we must begin a full and open dialogue among ourselves on the topics that have been mentioned in this brief. Now -- before we embark upon a devastating new wave of genetic attrition which could be the "killer wave" that sinks the ship of purebred dogs.

If the more advanced reforms suggested in this brief prove too unpopular for implementation, then so be it. What cannot be done now we may perhaps achieve in time. But at the very least, an irreducible minimum of reform must take place soon if we are to have any hope for the future of our dogs. The most critical item is relaxation of the closed studbook to allow for admission of new foundation stock. We cannot go on selecting rigidly forever and a day from a closed foundation, particularly not if we are to embark upon an era of new selection criteria based on marker research. A breeds gene pool may be likened to a bank account: one cannot go on making withdrawals forever without an occasional deposit (no matter what deficit-spending politicians may think). That some breeders are dead set against outcrossing does not imply that the rest of us should be prevented from introducing new genetic material if we feel it is needed in our own bloodlines. Likewise I think that the restoration of balanced breed identity is also a high priority item, which many people in the fancy are already well-prepared to welcome. Fanciers interest, for example, in useful working dogs instead of mere beauty contestants has never been higher than it now appears to be.

It must also be pointed out that it would be extremely unwise for the CKC to ignore the need for genetic renewal. The Clubs adoption of a hard-line position would carry a high risk of major schism within the ranks of purebred dog breeders. Already independent breed associations and alternative registries exist, promoting genetic excellence and asserting the need to "protect their breed from the kennel clubs"! CKC terms these organizations "dissident registries" although the associations themselves seem to feel it is questionable who is more dissident in view of the hostile position CKC adopts towards their pedigrees and stud books! In any case, the absence of a proactive, cooperative and open-minded response from the Club to the genetic crisis will almost guarantee the creation of alternative associations and stud books, dedicated to the pursuit of genetic excellence on a more practical basis than that offered by CKC. This author, for instance, fears that in order to incorporate new Siberia import stock into his bloodline of working sled dogs he may ultimately be obliged to adopt an "evolving breed" scenario under an independent association. Schism of this kind is perhaps in no ones best interests, but may be unavoidable should the CKC prove intransigent in refusing to reopen stud books to new foundation, as it has done to date. If more "dissident registries" should in fact arise and succeed in producing canine stock to a higher standard of genetic excellence than can be done within CKC, it would greatly damage the Clubs credibility in the public eye.

What is of paramount importance is that we all recognize the true dimensions and gravity of the problems we now face. It is far too easy to ignore genetic diseases, to make excuses, to pay the vet bills and say nothing for fear that others will accuse one of breeding defective stock -- I think practically all of us live in fear of the smear tactics that are so common in the dog world. Yet the truth is that we are all breeding defective stock; the system itself virtually guarantees that. If we believe that to breed defective stock is a bad thing, then we simply must discuss ways and means of altering that system to allow us to restore genetic health. Too many breeders are now reluctantly deciding that "health must be the paramount concern" and abandoning their usual selection criteria in favour of breeding for hips, eyes, blood, etc. A few decades of that sort of breeding will surely do greater harm to breed characteristics than could ever be done by outcrossing. We must now seek to evolve a system which will naturally, almost automatically, produce healthy animals -- so that we may continue on with, or return to, our selection for temperament, working ability, conformation and breed type. Most of all, it is imperative that we start now to discuss and work on the new structures that are needed to facilitate genetic health for our dogs. The next millennium, close as it is, may be too late.

NetPets® Main Page

contact information Healthspa

The Dog Center