08/05/2022
It appears, the dust has covered the ”let's join our forces”-slogans, that were widely cultured at the time of the revolutionary Norwegian news. As it did happen earlier with Holland (Holland what???). The dust and the comfortable silence landed upon the pedigree dog world again, but I definetely eat my hat, if at the same time the activist opponents have buried their hadchets and given up THEIR agenda. Make no mistake; they haven't. More news keep coming. Germany has reached the top next level in their actions and stunned the pedigree dog people accross the borders. Their rules and regulations are already beyond the rational and will end up to be the final nail to the coffin of the German shows if the trend goes on. In my own brainstorming I have ended up to think that eventually someone just ”snapped” and decided to put full-stop to the back and forth pull between pedigree dog scene and the animal welfare people. I mean; the dog shows tend to get a plenty of criticism for being concentrated only to the looks. What else you can expect really; the judge's ”tools” are his eyes and the breed standard. Everything underneath – the pedigree with possible lousy ancestors, the non-visible hereditary diseases etc – become not evaluated in the show-ring. That 's just one part of the breeding game – the dog shows – the other part is health-testing and breeding decicions that are done outside the show-rings. But yes, when it comes to the looks, the shows can be the torch-bearers and point the directions for wanted features; both good and bad. Yet, the responsibility of the selection is at the breeder's. Isn't it tempting to skip the dull part and trust the CH initials in the front of the dog's name? Blindly trust that this show-evaluated quality means utmost quality in all aspects? We MUST know that this is an incompetent statement for our defense! So... Germany... I honestly think that someone just had enough, snapped and put the full-stop to the debate. For now. With the long list of requirements, the show organizer received masses of cancellations as all this vet certificate non-sense went far over-board. No doubt; it did. For the bravest ones this would have been a precious moment to enter with their dogs, have all the vet certificates in hand and win the tickets – and say; the show dogs ARE healthy. Many chose not to do that. I would not do that! That's the other side of the coin. Take all the time you need to think about it.
A couple of weeks back the Finnish CKCS club came out of the closet with their plans of starting the cross-breedings in their breed for tackling serious health issues like MVD and CM/SM that are covering close to 100 % of the breed. I'm not bringing this up with the pointing finger – vise versa! Facts are as they are, and I pay a plenty of interest to the actions of this breed club and how their plan is about to progress. It has been kinda heart-breaking to see the bashing and the criticism these people are getting especially on the foreign forums. Sure there must be opponents in this country too, but at least they are clever enough to keep their mouths shut in the front of the misery the breed is going through. It seems to be completely ignored that CKCS breeders in many parts of the world are in the fire and the inforced players in the game called ”all-or-nothing”. Every anti-pedigree dog list you can find these days and a long time before raises up the CKCS and their several serious health issues. These people are challenged all the time and the existense of their breed is questioned again and again in the whole educated world. What kind of steps this breed will take in the future, does it fail or does it survive, will lead the way to the other breeds endangered. That's why the possible failures ought to be monitored and learnt from together with the possible successes. Non-truthful speculations of moneymaking with mutts or the lack of science sounds like a diminishing of the Finnish cynology, that is worldwide known and respected by many. The moneymakers are deffo somewhere else, rather than these breeders – whoever they are – who will sacrifice next ten years of their pure-bred breeding by volunteering this project. Taking a big chance of failure in the hope of keeping the breed going and getting it away from the limelight and perhaps leaving a bit healthier breed for the future breeders to come. The blame-game; accusing the puppy-millers or pet-shop dogs that ”spoil the statistics” is not valid here. The statistics remain and the long list of problems exists even in the country like mine wherethere pet shop dogs are not sold and puppy-mill dogs are rare as well – depending what the definition is. From the entire dog population of ours some 70 % are registered pedigree dogs. True story. So, when the problem arises in our data, the problem exists, it is created by the pedigree dog breeders and also needs to be corrected by them. There's no-one else to blame.
I have an ugly feeling that I'm on my "winning ways" of deserving the crown of ”a dangerous person” in my chosen breed as I openly speak out my support to the CKCS people. :D Have I joined the hype and see that the mutts are all healthy and we should all do the cross-breeding to neighbour's Fido now just in case? No. The puppy-mill mutts, designer dogs and all kinds of ”love-puppies” can be anything between the earth and the sky and a lot of people are fooled to buy them with completely wrong arguments about the health (and a lot more). We all know it. But what I do think is, that some breeds simply have no other choice than give a try to the cross-breedings, if they want to even KEEP their breeds. No finger pointing again; just facts as they are. My gut sense says that the top three ethically most challenging problems are syringomyelia, boas and the DLV2 gene. Two of these involve my chosen breed in some extent and require us to stay awake. You may keep saying these are ”nothing” for as long as you want, but you_will_lose_the_debate. Full stop. Go ahead and talk to yourself pretending you are a layman. ”Noooo, it's nothing... just a little headache and the brains a bit out of the skull... happens all the time, no worries.” Or ”breathing issues..? No, not at all, but I keep the dogs in the basement in summertime; you know... just in case”. And as the cherry on the top we have this DLV2 gene in some breeds. In a couple of these breeds the gene covers the whole population because it creates certain characteristics. Google is for you, if you need to learn more – don't forget to see the pics of humans with the DLV2 and then make your own silent debate with a layman and try to explain ”why”. On the 21st century we cannot turn the blind eye to the ethics and morals. even if the breed seemingly thrives.
Another ethical wrestle is, how we should feel about the breeds that are covered with multiple issues that need to be monitored by breeders all the time, the generation after generation. Every now and again I bump into adverts presenting the list of up to 10 health-test results that this particular pairing has been through. Good for them. But does that actually mean these dogs are excelling in health? Sounds like mouth-to-mouth-breathing to the breed..
So... the dangerous me... Yes, I would be supporting the KC and scientist-guided cross-breeding project in my chosen breed, IF that was needed. From the view of the population genetics our breed IS having a small gene-pool. That is already an issue of its own. There'll be also the day, when we need to breed away the SM and acquire a longer nose. I hope, by that day we have enough suitable breeding material left. If not, yes, again I would be supportive to any toolbox that is needed.
Besides rolling eyes and OMG's I've seen in this CKCS conversation, I've felt – sorry to say it – absolute amusement reading the comments like ”PLEASE let us cynologists sort this out”. Wikipedia defines a cynologist: ”A specialist in the care and breeding of dogs”.
We are all among them: the professional breeders, the dedicated ones, the succesful ones, the lousy ones, the novices, the moneymakers, the educated ones and the uneducated ones. The ones that ask on breeding forums if a spayed bitch can lactate orphan puppies of the dead dam. The ones that ask if the cropped ears turn congenital in the generation three. True story. In the eyes of the public and the lawmakers we are the specialists, who were expected to solve the problems years ago. Look at us; saving our breeds with this set-up and keep the pedigree dog world thriving? Once upon a time there was a breed, whose breeders in NL, Norway and Sweden started a short fashion of x-raying hips for HD. One other country wanted to join the bandwagon and the HD data kept coming for some time in that country as well. Mostly with D and E gradings. The cynologists of that no-name-breed in the no-name-country agreed this doesn't pay off, decided to stay away from x-raying and lived happily ever after. Cynology at its best. The End.