Animal Protection: Stop inbreeding, open registries, ban unhealthy breeds, curtail shows

[Henk ten Klooster]

Ban unhealthy breeds, attack inbreeding by opening up of registries permanently, stop breed standard exaggeration, curtail shows.

That is the advice of the Animal Protection the Netherlands (Dierenbescherming). With more than 40% of purebred dogs something is wrong, states the organization. Main source of that according to Animal Protection: dogshows.

Most Dutch media were focusing on this these days, after broadcasting of the British documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed on television.

How is that in your culture and what is your opinion?

[eva ciechonska]

Can I point you in the direction of the Forum on Bloat which is running in tandem with this Forum and ask you to read Rosie Dudley's comment. In this instance the ISAE is ahead of the ISBC because it is actively collecting blood samples, buccal swabs and pedigrees and submitting them to the AHT to produce DNA markers for each submitted dog. These DNA markers are being catalogued and stored for future research. The ISBC are just collecting information.
I wish I could have a litter for financial gain. After the stud fee, the food bills, the vet, the registration fees etc etc and all the hours spent bringing up and nurturing a litter I am lucky if I break even.
In answer to Eva - Stud dog owners are just as careful and do turn away bitches where there are concerns. However, every puppy has a father AND a mother and breeders have to be just as careful, after all they make the choice of stud dog not the other way round.
I agree with Ursula, Forums and discussions, sharing of information all contribute to education and there is always someone who, whether by experience or by research can know more about a subject than you. That is how we learn.

[Rosie Dudley]

thanks Eva, but It's actually in the forum for Websites / DataBases

[eva ciechonska]

Sorry Rosie, senility creeping in. I do actually read all the Forums.

[Garrech and Canagan]

Eva,

The ISBC are actively pushing for information and data to be sent to the AHT sending out forms and DNA swabs etc.
The problem is that if one isn't a member of a club how does one get to hear of the want and need for the AHT to collect meaningful data?
I'm sure that many animals purchased for "pets" that subsequently might get to suffer from any chronic illness don't get called upon to provide the data. Plus isn't it as important to obtain a balanced view to get data from healthy animals which I think is would be even more difficult?

[eva ciechonska]

I spoke to Lynn Dale only the other day and so far all the ISBC is doing is collecting and cataloguing data, forms and Buccal swab kits are being sent out by the ISAE and forwarded onto the AHT. That is not to say that the ISBC will not do it in the future. However, if we are to do this properly I feel the Breed Clubs need to join together, co-ordinate research and use one specific body, whether it be the AHT or the AHT together with Professor Edward Hall who is the leading authority on canine gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease, particularly relevant with these discussions. I understand there is a joint Breed Clubs meeting about health issues within the next few weeks with Professor Hall attending.
I agree with you regarding "pet" puppies and I think that here, if breeders followed up their progress than they could contribute to data collection, the healthy ones as well.

[Susan Stone]

Eva, I am surprised at what you say. I had thought the breed clubs were really working together here. Does this mean we should send any information we may have to ALL the breed clubs individually so that it gets included in their particular research? I understood Prof Ed Hall to be the KC Health Liaison Representative for the whole breed, not just for individual breed clubs?

[Garrech and Canagan]

Hi there,

You are correct Prof Ed Hall is the KC Health Liaison Representative for all six breed clubs but I'm sure if you were to feed back to any of them but possibly specfically the ISBC or the ISAE the information will land up in the correct place. I think it's important to use the provided swabs and when sending them back supply as much info regarding the pedigree as well as detailed clinical history. Perhaps the clinical history should be updated every so often as obviously its relevance will change.

[eva ciechonska]

Thank you for correcting me on the status of Prof Hall. I am sure they will all come together, that is the point of the all breed meeting. I would hope that this will be thrashed out then. Perhaps Rosie Dudley could come in on this point. I also think that the outcome of this meeting would be reported to the membership for our information.

[Rosie Dudley]

It was the KC’s directive that each breed must have a joint health committee. Prof. Hall is the clubs’ elected representative and is our interface with the KC. There are 9 breed clubs, 8, each appointed a health representative from their committee, who represents the views of their committee at the joint meetings and report back from the joint meetings. The 9th club, The Ulster Irish Setter Club chose not to appoint a club health representative or to attend meetings, they are a small Field Trial club in Northern Ireland, their membership is small and I think all of their members are likely to be members of at least one of the other clubs.
Each club discusses the health of the breed at their committee meetings and can place any concerns or matters arising on the agenda of the joint meeting, so information, proposed action plans, cases brought to the attention of one club, can be share and moved forward. If any member of any club wants to raise a health concern, or offer a viewpoint, by contacting one club, the matter will be shared with all the clubs. Each club has it's own way of feeding back to it's members, the matters addressed at the meetings.

[eva ciechonska]

Thank you Rosie, it is a help to know.

[Garrech and Canagan]

Eva,

Totally agree with you that all the breed clubs must act together plus doing so would give the spinoff of less duplication, better directed effort, efficiency and accuracy. Yes the one centre of data wherever is also important and a certain aid to any research project.
Also agree with you re involving the breeders even if it needs a little financial support. As you know in many cases the "pet" owner doesn't even have the KC registration updated so one just doesn't know where these animals are or how to contact the owners.
And it is a must to obtain the records of the healthy as well to enable a fair balance and get accurate stats.

[Cheryl Gorey]

Hi Eva and/or anyone else

"I understand there is a joint Breed Clubs meeting about health issues within the next few weeks with Professor Hall attending."

Do you know who the representatives on this joint Breed Clubs meeting are? It would be great for someone from this Network to be able to provide some feedback back to this forum on the outcome of the meeting.