{"id":117,"date":"2010-04-14T17:07:42","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T22:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/?p=117"},"modified":"2010-04-14T17:07:42","modified_gmt":"2010-04-14T22:07:42","slug":"thoughts-on-dog-politics-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/2010\/04\/14\/thoughts-on-dog-politics-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Dog “Politics” & Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health Issues in Purebred Dogs –<\/h3>\n

When breeders encounter a health problem, why must it be kept so hush-hush?\u00a0 \u201cPolitics\u201d<\/h3>\n

With any activity, it is good to reflect from time to time in an attempt to organize thoughts, evaluate outcomes, and examine possible future directions.\u00a0 When I look back at my experiences, both positive and negative, associated with purebred dogs, three main topics come to the forefront; politics, technology, and health.\u00a0 All three are related for the purpose of this \u2018Health\u2019 article in that we can use technology in a positive way to outline health concerns in the breed; however, politics will undoubtedly interfere with the process in the long run.\u00a0 It seems that when some breeders are informed of a potential health problem in their lines, they either ignore it or down-play it.\u00a0 More importantly, they\u00a0may try to hide it.\u00a0 And why wouldn\u2019t they?\u00a0 The politics are cruel and cut-throat.\u00a0 Even on some of the email lists, which are supposed to be \u2018educational\u2019 in nature, when some potentially worthwhile discussion begins on topics such as epilepsy or eye defects, it eventually turns into to finger-pointing.<\/h3>\n

One example of a situation I have experienced:<\/h3>\n

I purchased a puppy from a breeder\/judge.\u00a0 Some months later, I received an email from a complete stranger, a pet-owner, telling me her story about purchasing a puppy from this breeder that was diagnosed with ectopic ureter.\u00a0 The pet-owner had been going online, and using search engines to find anyone with dogs from this breeder, and then informing them of her situation.\u00a0 My luck!\u00a0 It just so happened that her affected dog was a littermate to mine.\u00a0 The pet-owner claimed that when she picked the puppy up, the breeder\u2019s facility was filthy and smelled horribly of urine, as well.\u00a0 This point also goes back to the information provided to me by a veteran in the previous article (on technology – see left column)\u00a0regarding the importance of actually visiting the breeder first.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t done that, so I had no way of knowing if the pet-owner\u2019s statements were true, or if this was just an exaggeration due to her anger surrounding the whole situation.<\/h3>\n

Needless to say, I contacted the breeder, and she was in the process of threatening the pet-owner with legal action, as the pet- owner had also created a web page (again,\u00a0gotta love technology<\/em>)\u00a0outlining her complaints.\u00a0 The breeder said that she had offered to take the puppy back when it was first diagnosed, but the pet-owner refused, and now wanted\u00a0the breeder\u00a0to pay for an expensive surgical procedure required.<\/h3>\n

Why the breeder\/judge had not informed me and the owners of the other four littermates that I knew had gone to show homes, I am not sure, but I would bet it had something to do with \u2018politics\u2019.\u00a0 And in her defense, I believe that many other people would’ve handled it the same way.<\/h3>\n

Another example:<\/h3>\n

A few years ago with one of my more anticipated breedings, I brought in a 6 year old male stud dog, and bred him to my finished female (yes, yes, hips and eyes were done<\/em>).\u00a0 I got two puppies; one absolutely stunning male\u2026 everything I had hoped for, and one tiny, goofy-looking female, who was about half the size of the male.\u00a0 The sire had been bred quite a few times, and this was the dam\u2019s second litter.\u00a0 \u00a0 The mother was continuously licking the bottom of the female puppy, and I surmised she may have had a urinary tract infection.\u00a0 However, when I took her to the vet, despite my insistence that something was not right, the vet reported that the puppy was completely healthy.\u00a0 So, I sold her to a nice pet home.\u00a0 The new owners did just as our contract suggested and took their new puppy to the vet within 3 days.\u00a0 Their vet immediately diagnosed the puppy with ectopic ureter.\u00a0 This puppy was unrelated to the puppy I\u2019d purchased in the first example above.<\/h3>\n

Hoping to learn the source of this problem, I contacted the breeder of the stud dog, and the breeder of the dam.\u00a0 You guessed it – neither had that in their lines.\u00a0 However, each could site specific dogs that had been owned by the other breeder in question that had produced that same problem in the past.\u00a0 The first thing the owner of the dam said was, \u201cAnother __(sire\u2019s name)____ kid\u201d, but did not elaborate further.\u00a0 She was more concerned about why I didn’t just put the puppy down when I suspected a problem.\u00a0 I tried to explain that first, I didn’t even realize she had a serious health problem, and second, that I couldn\u2019t have done that to the puppy even if I had known.\u00a0 As time went on, I was informed by the co-owner of the stud dog of approximately 4 cases of epilepsy showing up in his past litters, so we had him neutered and pet-homed him. I pet-homed that beautiful male puppy, as well.<\/h3>\n

I did not spay the dam, though.\u00a0 Now, maybe that makes me no better than any other breeder in the world who has down-played a potential issue.\u00a0 But, there is a spectrum of what people consider appropriate ranging from conservative to liberal, and ultimately, we are all also forced to make decisions based on the information available at any given time.\u00a0 Some breeders suggested to me that I shouldn\u2019t \u2018throw her out with the bath water\u2019 when it was the sire of the litter known to be producing lots of other issues.\u00a0 Some breeders noted that it could have been just a \u2018fluky\u2019 kind of thing.\u00a0 The decision I made was be cognizant of that possibility, and to collect information.<\/h3>\n

So,\u00a0I bred her two more times and she produced 14 puppies.\u00a0 In all of her future offspring, plus the one puppy she\u2019d had in her first litter, there were no other cases of ectopic ureter.\u00a0 Now, unfortunately, the stud dog I had chosen for her final two litters eventually turned out to have a littermate with epilepsy.\u00a0 I did not opt to carry on with any of those offspring myself.\u00a0 But, one of them had been bred once already, and produced no ectopic.\u00a0 None of those went to breeding homes. \u00a0I had also kept the offspring from dam\u2019s very first litter, (unrelated to the male with the epileptic littermate).\u00a0 That daughter did not produce any cases of ectopic ureter either in 4 litters.\u00a0 Will it show up further down the line?\u00a0 Hopefully not, but if it does, I also hope to find out.<\/h3>\n

I have countless other examples, from low-thyroid to zinc to eye defects (and I’ll bet most readers do, as well<\/em>).\u00a0 Oh, and I must thank those breeders that were honest, and informed those of us\u00a0with offspring about the defects, despite much political-drama in the fancy as a result of their efforts to do the right thing in that respect.\u00a0 Nonetheless,\u00a0their positive actions\u00a0do not detract from the fact that there appears to be no line of purebred dogs completely free of health defects.\u00a0 It\u2019s only a matter of when\u00a0the problems will present themselves and to what degree of severity.\u00a0 Was my first decade so plagued with health issues because I was just that unlucky, or because I paid attention?\u00a0 I worked with dogs from some 25 different breeders \u2013 so it wasn\u2019t that I had picked the wrong group to hang-out with<\/em>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they were all responsible for ruining the breed, as was once suggested to me.\u00a0 So, is it just the breed?\u00a0 Is the breed not as \u2018clean<\/em>\u2019 with respect to health problems as I was originally lead to believe?<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m certainly no expert, but there appear to be a number of contributing factors; all five of which appear intertwined:<\/h3>\n

Genetics, Statistics, Ethics, Politics, and Education (or mentoring)<\/h3>\n

Subcategories would include \u2013 research, seminars, technology, data collection and analysis, honesty, responsibility, inbreeding\/outcrossing\/linebreeding\/, etc.<\/h3>\n

Each of the contributing factors above could be outlined at length; however, the bottom line is that we don\u2019t have sufficient knowledge and research about the modes of inheritance of many of the health problems in the breed.\u00a0 Plus, due to a fear of the politics, many breeders do not do a sufficient job of alerting others about the health issues that surface.\u00a0 \u00a0 On the other hand, I have heard some breeders say that their lines are completely free of defects\u2026 and they\u2019re maybe basing this claim on the fact that they\u2019ve bred two litters for 10 puppies that didn\u2019t exhibit any health problems, or that they inbred and did not find any health problems, or that their pet-owners never told them any bad news.\u00a0 But, based on what I\u2019ve read and seen, that\u00a0doesn’t always tell us\u00a0much about what the dogs may carry, or what they may exhibit if bred to just the \u2018right\u2019 (or more appropriately termed<\/em>, \u2018wrong\u2019) dog.<\/h3>\n

– I know of one breeder who found out about epilepsy behind her dog\u2019s pedigree, and waited 7 years without breeding him in hopes that a genetic marker would be found before getting him neutered.<\/h3>\n

– I know of one breeder who inbred her lines, kept very good data, and felt that they were safe; however, upon out-crossing to three different (but not completely unrelated) males, produced epilepsy with varying rates of incidence for each male.\u00a0 Does that mean that her lines truly weren\u2019t safe even though nothing showed up with the inbreeding?\u00a0 Or does that mean that the stud dogs were to blame in all 3 cases?<\/h3>\n

– I know of one breeder who claims to have gotten rid of half of her kennel in the 80\u2019s due to problems with epilepsy.<\/h3>\n

– I know of one breeder who was told of two offspring produced in the same litter with epilepsy and claims that one was hit by a car and that the other one was forced by her owner to drink anti-freeze.<\/h3>\n

– I know of a breeder who informed folks about the health backgrounds on her dogs as health problems were brought to her attention, and as a result, it was publicly suggested that she was not reputable.<\/h3>\n

– I know of a stud dog that was used, literally, hundreds of times, and is in the pedigrees of many show lines you\u2019ll find today, and I know of at least 2 cases of epilepsy that he produced having talked to the owners of the offspring personally.\u00a0 Were there more?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know. \u00a0When he was bred hundreds of times and possibly only produced it twice, is that a good statistic when you compare that to the total number of puppies produced?\u00a0 What if we had more data on the grandchildren?<\/h3>\n

Would people be willing to step out from behind their curtains, or out from under their rugs, and report any issues they encounter?\u00a0 Realizing that there would be about a million and one barriers to this including honesty and proper diagnosis, I still think it would be great if we could have a resource where honest breeders could go to post health backgrounds on dogs, both good and bad.\u00a0 Or maybe each breeder would be willing to maintain proper data and present it to prospective buyers, just the same as they would the dog\u2019s pedigree?<\/h3>\n

Can a health information clearinghouse be created?\u00a0 I\u2019ve toyed with creating a webpage to display my health records, and always been advised by others not to do it.\u00a0 I was told that I\u2019d be creating political suicide\u2026 that nobody would follow suit\u2026 that novice people would not understand it\u2026 etc. \u00a0But, I can\u2019t help but wonder if just maybe one person does it, others WILL follow suit?\u00a0 Maybe novice folks could use it as an education tool or model for collecting their own data?\u00a0 In my case, I\u2019ve already jumped off the highest story of the Political Agenda Building repeatedly, so the suicide part is less of a concern\u2026 but as a general rule, breeders do fear the \u2018MOB\u2019 that is the fancy, and simply won\u2019t disclose information.<\/h3>\n

From what I understand, there are \u201cInternet Police\u201d that have get to sit in front of the computer and tally up the number of litters folks are breeding \u2013 seeking out potential puppy mills (see Technology Article, left column).\u00a0 This suggested practice of disclosing all litters and health reports would save them all that trouble! If people would be expected to present their information, preferably in a public format, then those self-proclaimed police could go get a real hobby ;).\u00a0 Oh, but wait!\u00a0 We still don\u2019t have a clear, concise definition of what constitutes a puppy mill yet, so I guess those concerned citizens would not become completely obsolete!<\/h3>\n

So, we have before us \u2018politics\u2019, \u2018technology\u2019 and \u2018health\u2019 \u2013 the three issues with which I have struggled, (among others including the whereabouts of Elvis and life on Mars).\u00a0 \u2018Politics\u2019 can negatively affect any positive outcomes that could be generated from both of the other topics – technology and health.\u00a0 Rather than elaborate further, and have the reader be further subjected to my lame sense of humor, let\u2019s cut to the chase and consider whether or not it is possible to fix this?<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re talking about major over-haul here.\u00a0 \u201cPolitics\u201d are threaded through every aspect of purebred dogs.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a mere matter of disassociating with anyone who \u2018talks about\u2019 another breeder\u2026 or their crummy dogs\u2026 or their crummy breeding practices\u2026 or even their crummy new hair-dos.<\/h3>\n

Is it possible for the fancy to simply accept the concept that there are health problems in the breed, and be open about it?\u00a0 Can there be the expectation that all breeders list their breedings and subsequent health findings publicly and honestly?\u00a0 Or maybe even to just submit them to the parent-club for data collection at the very least? \u00a0I had read that the SHHF is compiling health data from breed club members \u2013 and stresses the fact that individual submissions would not be shared with any other \u2018siberian people\u2019, <\/em>which<\/em> <\/em>only further reinforces the\u00a0notion of the \u2018MOB\u2019 and its power.\u00a0\u00a0But,\u00a0submitting information to their research is\u00a0optional.\u00a0 What if it was expected<\/span>, just like getting an OFA done?\u00a0 I realize that some folks will not keep in contact with owners of their dogs\u2019 offspring.\u00a0 I realize that there may be alternative veterinary opinions on some health concerns.\u00a0 I realize that not every breeder is going to \u2018accurately<\/em>\u2019 represent what they may or may not be producing.\u00a0 But, shouldn\u2019t that all be automatically occurring on a broader scale?…<\/h3>\n

Well, at least\u00a0what they’re\u00a0attempting is\u00a0a start!<\/h3>\n

Okay \u2013 I’d love to hear your thoughts?<\/h3>\n

Thanks!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health Issues in Purebred Dogs – When breeders encounter a health problem, why must it be kept so hush-hush?\u00a0 \u201cPolitics\u201d With any activity, it is good to reflect from time to time in an attempt to organize thoughts, evaluate outcomes, and examine possible future directions.\u00a0 When I look back at my experiences, both positive and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-dog-breeding-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sibped.com\/jalerran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}