Companion Dog Project

27/07/2026

One requirement of membership in the Companion Dog Project is that breeders register all of their litters with a recognized registry, either CDR or another accepted registry.

Today we are highlighting one of the accepted alternates, the International Working Dog Registry.

The IWDR is an online database where breeding programs store and maintain records on their dogs, including pedigrees, health records, behavior records, production outcomes, and placement details. It is not affiliated with any kennel club and places no restriction on breed.

The registry developed out of guide dog genetics work. Dr. Eldin Leighton spent the later part of his career at The Seeing Eye holding the Jane H. Booker Chair in Canine Genetics, where he was responsible for roughly 500 to 600 puppies a year. The database software traces back to Kevin Kubista, who wrote record keeping programs first for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, then for organizations globally, and finally for the IWDR.

The registry is owned by the International Working Dog Association, a nonprofit whose members include military, guide, detection and assistance organizations, along with sport, show and conservation breeders, academics, veterinarians and breed clubs. The IWDA has hosted the International Working Dog Conference since 1999, now held in countries around the world. It also runs the Early Socialization Project, a socialization guideline for working dog puppies developed in collaboration with Southeastern Guide Dogs, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and Guide Dogs Queensland.

The IWDR uses the Behavior Checklist, a behavior scoring system developed by Dr. James Serpell at the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with guide dog organizations including The Seeing Eye and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Dogs are scored at multiple points from puppyhood through training rather than once. The system has been validated to measure behavior consistently enough for analysis, and scorers can certify through the IAABC by scoring a set of videos against a gold standard, so that a score carries the same meaning across organizations.

Behavior and health data in the registry are used to calculate estimated breeding values. An estimated breeding value is a number that estimates a dog's genetic worth as a breeder for one specific trait, calculated from measurements on the dog and on its relatives, including littermates, siblings, parents and grandparents. The method comes from livestock genetics. It requires accurately recorded pedigrees and traits measured the same way across most of the population, which is what the registry and the Behavior Checklist are structured to provide.

We are grateful to have Marina Hall Phillips, retired breeding manager for Assistance Dogs International, on the CDP advisory panel. Marina worked with Dr. Leighton using the IWDR database for many years, and she generously offers her insight into this work and into the function and structure of a database to us through her role on the panel.

Link to the IWDA in comments for those interested in learning more.

07/07/2026

CDP is developing a temperament assessment for adult dogs. It’s in a draft stage right now and we’d love feedback especially from anyone with behavior experience. It’s live on the site with opportunities to make suggestions on each question and on the accuracy of the scoring model. Thanks in advance for trying it out!

The CDP Temperament Assessment assesses your dog's qualities in relation to companionship in the home and as a training partner — its drives, motivations, and daily behaviors. Thank you for helping us by filling it out!

02/07/2026

It’s good to see so many humans trying to do what’s right for dogs and challenging some of the traditions that have dominated the dog world. The UK has been ahead of the US for a long time in both regulating breeding and legislating against breeding that produces animals who suffer. Sounds like they took a step backward here.

IAN SEATH online statement:

12 months ago, I was elected as Chairman of the Royal Kennel Club. It was not something I was expecting but I was pleased to have the opportunity to serve. It has been the privilege of a lifetime. For the avoidance of doubt, I did not “step down” as Chairman. A small majority of the Board chose not to re-elect me. At that point, there was no way I could continue to sit on the Board and I have also resigned from the RKC’s Health and Breeding Advisory Group.

I don’t think anyone could be prepared for what the role entails and the breadth of areas of the RKC’s work where the Chairman makes a contribution. In some ways, that’s what made the role so interesting.

It’s felt like a 24/7/365 role, albeit as a volunteer, and I have had incredible support from Jannine Edgar (Chief Executive) and her professional team of Executives and their staff. Over the 7 years I have been on the Board, I have also worked with some amazing Director colleagues, whose commitment to the RKC and its mission have been constant. I should also thank the many RKC Members for their support and encouragement through some difficult times.

I won’t miss the relentless negativity and, in some cases, toxic and bullying behaviour from a minority of people in our community. Some of that happens face-to-face as well as online and none of it makes our world welcoming to newcomers, let alone longstanding exhibitors and participants. The world of pedigree dogs is under scrutiny like never before and all that negative energy could be so much better spent on addressing the issues that are spurring on ever more legislation.

My highlights have been the meetings with grassroots dog people at shows and other canine activities around the UK. I’ve been invited to so many occasions that celebrate the best of our canine world. The time and effort put in by so many dedicated volunteers is what makes our world work.

Without wishing to sound too much like Kier Starmer, I’ll now be able to enjoy more time with Sue and our dogs. I will also be able to devote more time to the Charity which I chair, Dachshund Health UK.

For me, it’s all about the dogs. Always has been; always will be. We are at their service.

26/06/2026

This.

24/06/2026

Breeding dogs well requires knowledge, judgment, good character and… an incredible amount of bravery.

There is no health test, breed standard, or code of ethics that can replace an individual breeder’s discretion, honesty, and the need for courage to accept responsibility for decisions in the face of public criticism.

The internet dog world treats breeding as though it can be reduced to a list of rules. We see “Ethical Breeding Advocates” everywhere claiming to be “educating” the public on the morality of selective breeding methods by reviewing criteria like numbers of dogs owned or bred, age of breeding, CHIC numbers, and titles.

But ethics is not a checklist.

To be ethical is to decide what is right. Moral. And then act accordingly. For many breeders this means asking oneself deep questions about what responsibilities we have to animals, what we value, and how our way of selective breeding dogs should align with our own moral choices.

Regardless of those moral choices- whether you align with traditional preservation breeding or something else, breeding decisions are full of competing priorities.

We value predictability, but we also value genetic diversity.

We value waiting for dogs to age and gathering more information, but we also recognize that sometimes delays come with costs. A guardian home’s circumstances may change. A breeder’s life may change. A valuable breeding opportunity may disappear. An older female may no longer be available to breed.

We value health, but also temperament.

We love certain colors and looks. We want sound structure.

And in front of us sit actual dogs. None of whom are perfect.

Health testing sits near the internet dog experts’ list of criteria to determine who is an ethical breeder. But health testing is vastly over rated in its ability to assure good outcomes.

A dog bred at one year of age with no testing may live a long, healthy life. A dog bred at three years of age with every available health test may die prematurely of cancer or any number of other conditions for which there is no test. Testing serves only to improve the odds. There are no guarantees.

Recommended minimum ages for health testing vary around the world. Some health schemes in Europe and the United Kingdom accept evaluations performed at one year of age. In the US, OFA uses 2 years as the gold standard.

These differences do not exist because one group is “ethical”, and one is not. They exist because people have weighed competing priorities differently.

A wise person once said, “What keeps breeders from making any progress toward goals? They fail to actually breed dogs.”

Without breeding dogs, there is no improvement. There is no selection. There is no progress.

If we are serious about improving dogs, or even just maintaining them as a viable domesticated species, we must eventually breed the best dogs available to us based on the information we have at the time.

Waiting forever for certainty is itself a decision.

Many preservation breeding communities now face shrinking populations, genetic bottlenecks, and declining registration numbers. In some breeds, strict exclusion rules have contributed to gene pools that are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.

Every exclusion has a cost.

Every time we decide a dog cannot be bred, we remove genetic material from the population forever. Sometimes that cost is justified. Sometimes it is not. But the cost remains.

The Companion Dog Project has invested heavily in building the infrastructure for long term outcome tracking. We have built a robust database that can track diagnoses, ages and causes of death, and behavioral data. We believe this is at least, if not more important to breeding dogs ethically as health testing.

But we won’t arrive at this future without culture change.

Breeding is emotionally demanding work, and not just because puppies sometimes die. Good breeders carry the weight of all the lives they bring into the world. They worry about puppies years after they leave.

They carry responsibility for things they cannot control.

At the same time, many breeders now operate under constant public scrutiny. Every decision can be questioned. Every outcome can be judged. Every failure to complete a checklist, every unexpected result can become the subject of public discussion.

Criticism of ideas is healthy. If we care about dogs, we should be willing to debate breeding practices, challenge assumptions, and examine evidence.

However, if we continue to have a culture in breeding where good people continually face public moral condemnation of their character, we should not be surprised when thoughtful people leave and the breeding of dogs is left to those who don’t care enough to be bothered.

Many good breeders burn out after only a few years. Others choose to stop sharing information publicly.

When that happens, dogs lose.

Progress depends on breeders who are willing to be transparent. That requires a degree of courage that is rarely acknowledged.

It is very easy to become paralyzed as a good breeder. To find a reason why any given dog should not be bred.

What is harder is to leap forward anyway, knowing it won’t always work out and bad things will still happen.

CDP is striving to create a culture that celebrates the courage to take those leaps of faith.

Photo of a yellow lab leaping into a pond.

10/06/2026

06/06/2026

This is what it’s all about. 🐾💜

21/05/2026

Our feed is filled with people “educating” on dog breeding ethics. Often this “education” consists of snarky recitation of breeder reg flag lists or the mocking of doodle breeders and their owners. So creative. So unique. 🙄

None of them have any relevant credentials. Most of them have never bred a litter of puppies.

Breeding is hard, it’s complicated, and the choices are never easy or straightforward.

These people have confused having strong opinions and memorizing talking points from a particular side of a debate with “educating.”

Repeating the same thing over and over to get views is not the same thing as presenting scientific facts in the name of education. Experts in genetics, veterinary medicine, animal welfare, and behavior actively disagree on many of these issues and lots of them support responsible doodle breeding.

Deleting every thoughtful comment and blocking inconvenient experts that disagree with you is not the behavior of an educator. It’s the behavior of someone protecting the money and/or the ego gratification they are getting from their content and their echo chamber of followers.

You diminish the role of actual educators in every field by fraudulently claiming the title.

Shame on you. Do better.

Picture of a wire coated mixed breed puppy for tax.

19/05/2026

Yes!!

WELFARE FACT 💡
Genetics can shape welfare long before a life has even begun.

Not all health and fitness challenges come from care or lifestyle.
Some are inherent.

Within the Five Domains, Health and Fitness (Domain 3) reflects not only what is provided, but what the animal is biologically equipped to handle.

Modern dogs show extraordinary physical and behavioral diversity due to selective breeding.

But selection for specific physical traits can come with significant trade-offs.

In some cases, exaggerated traits can:
• Compromise breathing, movement, or thermoregulation
• Increase risk of chronic pain, disease, or allergies
• Limit the expression of natural, species-typical behaviors

These are not temporary challenges, they are lifelong welfare constraints.

Because behavior is inseparable from the body, these constraints often show up as:
• Irritability or avoidance
• Reduced engagement
• Lower behavioral diversity

These are not simply “behavior problems.”

They are expressions of underlying welfare conditions.

Animal welfare science emphasizes that health includes both current state and future risk.

Genetic selection plays a direct role in shaping both.

WELFARE HACK 🚨

Be intentional about the breeding you support

Do your homework on the health implications of the dogs you bring into your life from breeding programs - and those you recommend to others.

This includes:
• Understanding common breed-related health risks
• Asking critical questions about breeding practices
• Being willing to gently challenge breed norms when they conflict with welfare

Supporting dogs means looking beyond appearance to function, health, and lived experience.

We all play a role in creating demand for dogs as “products” to be bred. Putting our money where the welfare is (and gently encouraging others to do the same) can be a powerful way to improve the welfare of dogs in our lives for the future.