Last week, we mentioned a new Norwegian court ruling that outlawed the breeding of bulldogs and Cavalier King Charles spaniels.
When we left the discussion, there was reference to a new position paper issued by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association, or WSAVA, calling for “health-conscious” breeding. What does that mean and how can it be reasonably achieved?
With slight edits, the paper calls on veterinarians and breeders to select breeding animals based upon the ability to reproduce naturally and for breeders to exclude anatomical characteristics that predispose animals to hereditary disease, such as extreme conformations including size, skin folds, angulation and extremely short faces (brachycephaly).
If a breed demonstrates a disease-predisposing anatomy, then selection should be towards a moderate and less extreme anatomy. The WSAVA also calls on breeders to utilize prebreeding health screening to select animals that are likely to produce healthy offspring.
Prescreening procedures include an examination of the medical history, veterinary physical examination and breed-specific genetic testing.
That all sounds good and represents honorable goals. And at the same time, it ignores human behavior, monetary concerns and greed. Consider the venerable firehouse dog, the Dalmatian.
Dalmatians are known to be predisposed to congenital deafness in one or both ears. Research from the 1970s looked at the parents of deaf Dalmatians and found there to be a moderate rate of inheritance. A paper published last year looked at the same issue using advanced genetic testing.
The two studies, decades apart, came to nearly the same statistical conclusions. The 2020 study looked at 26 years of data and determined, “…17.8 percent of Dalmatians tested were affected by deafness (13.4 percent in one ear and 4.4 percent in both ears).”
More importantly, during the 26 years of data that were looked at, “the overall number of dogs with deafness fell by about a third — the number of dogs that were deaf in one ear decreased by over a quarter, while dogs with deafness in both ears decreased by a half.”
Dr. Tom Lewis, quantitative geneticist and genetics research manager at the Kennel Club said of the study: “Analysis shows that for decades, Dalmatian breeders have been actively reducing the incidence of hearing loss in the breed by carefully selecting dogs, not only based on their ability to hear, but also other traits known to influence this. The breed clubs and breeders have done an incredible job at reducing the prevalence of hearing loss and with data from our new study, we hope can help find ways to help make an even bigger impact on the health of the breed.”
That’s good news. The fact remains however that people and agencies still want a white dog with black spots called a Dalmatian and if nearly 18 percent are deaf … meh.
Additionally, I think the more noble thinkers of dog breeding overlook the often cruel, always profit-driven black market for animals. If you have the archetype for a breed, there is a ready market that doesn’t know or care at all about breeding but will be the first to complain to their veterinarian about costs of care.
Food and skin allergies, conformation-related injuries (think Dachshunds that jump off the bed and injure their back), cancer and shortened lifespans, etc., are all too remote in cause and effect genetically for an owner to have sought out a better-bred dog. But a deaf dog, oh yeah, there are a lot of folks who will ask ahead of time.
With apologies to conscientious breeders, and there are plenty, many if not most of the rest will lie about how good their line is to make a sale.
Powell is the public information officer for the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, which provides this column as a community service. For questions or concerns about animals you’d like to read about, email cpowell@vetmed.wsu.edu.
