{"id":556,"date":"2011-10-27T07:20:14","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T20:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=556"},"modified":"2021-08-02T14:43:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T04:13:07","slug":"mcgreevys-thoughts-on-dog-breeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-breeding\/mcgreevys-thoughts-on-dog-breeding\/","title":{"rendered":"McGreevy’s Thoughts on Dog Breeding"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Throughout Paul McGreevy’s two day seminar, he expressed a number of opinions regarding dog breeding. Being a dog breeder myself, I anticipate I paid particular heed to his comments. \u00a0I find that, in the current climate of dog rescue and puppy farms, dog breeders are constantly under scrutiny and, in general, I find myself a little defensive to conversations surrounding dog breeding.<\/p>\n

However, McGreevy had some very interesting and thought-provoking ideas surrounding dog breeding, and he presented them in a very amenable way. \u00a0That is: McGreevy didn’t breeder bash! \u00a0He approached matters surround breeding dogs in a matter-of-fact way. \u00a0Indeed, he spent more time blaming the system of dog breeding (i.e. breeding purebred dogs to a standard) for the problems in dogs today than critiquing breeders themselves. \u00a0Fundamentally, McGreevy believes that the system for breeding dogs need to change in order to emphasise the health and temperament of dogs, and not their physical appearances.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bitch

Couldn’t resist including a photo of my current singleton litter. \u00a0See here border terrier mum with her 2 day old puppy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Domestication and dog breeds<\/span><\/p>\n

Domestication and selective breeding have changed dogs from their wolf ancestors. \u00a0For example, dog skulls have changed a great deal from the skull of a wolf, and there is also much variation between dog breeds. \u00a0Not surprisingly, the brains of dogs have changed too, with a wolf brain weighing three times as much as a dog brain. \u00a0Considering that the dog’s brain is part of its central nverous system, it is reasonable to assume that there may be implications for the dog’s entire nervous system. \u00a0McGreevy said, “We are only just beginning to learn what we’ve done.”<\/p>\n

One thing is for sure: We don’t <\/em>have a wolf in our lounge room<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In times gone by, breeding dogs were selected on the ability to perform tasks, such as herding, retrieving, carting, or any other purpose. \u00a0These days, selection is mostly based on conformation, and emphasis is being place on ‘beauty’ traits such as coat and colouration instead of structure. \u00a0McGreevy believes that this current system ineffective, as 150 years of breeding dogs ‘to standard’ has resulted in a host of inherited disorders. \u00a0Considering this, McGreevy believes that the dog breeding system needs to change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Current dog breeding practices are cruel<\/span><\/p>\n

McGreevy asserted that inherited disorders are a form of cruelty. \u00a0He also put forward that, considering that the main reason dogs are\u00a0euthanised\u00a0in shelters is due to their temperament, breeding for good temperaments is imperative. \u00a0Neither of these traits are overly considered in the current breeding system.<\/p>\n

McGreevy believes that breed standards often are in contradiction to animal welfare. \u00a0He used the British Bulldog as an example. \u00a0He criticised the standard for asking for a head that is \u201cthe larger the better\u201d, while at the same time calling for a narrow pelvis \u2013 an obvious problem for the whelping abilities of the breed.\u00a0 Furthermore some of the points in the standard are actually unhealthy (for example, loose skin in Shar Pei has been found to correlate with joint problems, and the skull shape of a dog influences its vision).\u00a0 In McGreevy\u2019s opinion, dog breed standards have been written in a manner that is sometimes contradictory to dog well being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Diversify genetics<\/span><\/p>\n

Controversially, McGreevy suggested that inbreeding and closed studbooks (i.e. no crossbreeding) is a big problem for purebred dogs. \u00a0He described the example of the Dalmatian to explain how open studbooks could potentially improve the health of some breeds. \u00a0Dalmatians are affected by hyperuricemia<\/a>. The only way to eliminate the condition in the breed was to introduce new genetic material, and this was achieved by breeding a Dalmatian to a Pointer, and then backcrossing the resulting offspring to Dalmatians. (For more information, visit Low Uric Dalmatians<\/a>.) \u00a0The result is Dalmatians which are not affected by hyperuricemia. \u00a0Clearly, there is a health benefit for the Dalmatian breed to introduce Pointer genetics into the breed. \u00a0Certainly, cross breeding can have benefits when undertaken in a deliberate and thought-out way. \u00a0(A similar process was undertaken in Boxers, to produce the bobtail Boxer<\/a>. \u00a0However, this was a more cosmetic-motivated project.) \u00a0These examples prove the process: Cross breeding can be used to make beneficial changes in breeds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Increased regulation<\/span><\/p>\n

McGreevy, equally controversially, called for more regulation in regard to the breeding and sale of dogs. \u00a0He advocates an accredited breeder scheme and compulsory microchipping.\u00a0He also wants more education for the public, and thinks an independent council should be established for advice for all breeders.\u00a0 He thinks that perhaps the breeding guidelines<\/a> put forward by the FCI<\/a> may be of use.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Increased research<\/span><\/p>\n

McGreevy is big into research. \u00a0He believes that there should be more collection of data regarding health ailments affecting certain breeds, and is keen to have vets involved in the project. \u00a0He mentioned\u00a0LIDA<\/a> (\u2018Listing Inherited Disorders in Animals\u2019, an inherited disorder database maintained by the University of Sydney, Paul McGreevy is the main developer of the site) and a generic illness severity index for dogs as tools for this research. \u00a0(This is just some of few of McGreevy’s thoughts on dog science<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a similar discussion, you may be interested in reading Patricia McConnell’s Inbreeding in Dogs<\/a>\u00a0or a summary of a webinar by Dr Jacqui Ley Can breeders breed better?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analyiss of Paul McGreevy’s seminar in Adelaide, talking about the domestication of dog breeds, the curelty of current dog breeding practices, concerns regarding genetic diversity, and calls for increased regulation and research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[38,235,236,12,233,11,135,234,205,232,219,154,204,220,57],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-breeding","tag-breeding","tag-dalmatian","tag-dalmatians","tag-dog","tag-dog-breeding-2","tag-dogs","tag-domestication","tag-genetic-diversity","tag-genetics","tag-mcgreevy","tag-paul-mcgreevy","tag-research","tag-selective-breeding","tag-seminar","tag-welfare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4896,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/4896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}