Claybrook Farm
Longhaired Whippets
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A
Perspective On Dog Breeding
To truly understand where we are currently in the breeding of dogs, we must look back in history. We will examine briefly the last 120 or so years, since this period in time has dramatically altered general dog breeding practices that were previously employed for millennia.
People
have been keeping and breeding dogs for thousands of years.
We can probably safely say that none of the 'breeds' of dogs we have today
dropped from the sky preformed. Nearly all of the dog breeds that we know today were 'created' by crossing
individual dogs with certain traits to other dogs with other desired traits,
with the intent of creating offspring which combined the desired traits of both
parents. The resulting offspring
with the desired traits were then bred with other dogs that had the same desired
traits. In some circles today this
is called 'Breeding to a Standard', since the desired traits have been written
down and endorsed by a given group of people who call themselves a 'club'.
Once
puppies with the desired traits could be reliably, and repeatedly, produced out
of parents that had the same desired traits, voila, a new 'breed' was formed.
It could then be called a 'purebreed', possibly, since these dogs would
breed pure, or 'like to like begets like'.
Then, the aforementioned group of people would select a name for the new
'breed', possibly using words from the names of the parent 'breeds', or possibly
these people would invent a totally new name based on what the new breed was to
be used for, or on a geographical location.
They
might then decide to make a list of dogs that conformed to their ideas of what
this new breed should look and act like. Only
dogs that were on this original list, or were subsequent offspring of dogs on
the list, aka 'stud book', could be called the new breed name.
This is called 'closed registration'.
This listing, a 'closed registry', is a relatively new theory in the
ancient history of the majority of dog breeding. Closed registration only dates in our country (USA) back to the late 1800's, barely over one hundred years ago.
Perhaps after awhile some of the people in the club would decide that they would like to compare the appearance of their dogs with the dogs belonging to other people in their club. So they would all get together and look at each other's dogs. They would lead their dogs around in a small enclosed area, called a 'ring', and make their dogs stand still in a nice pose, called 'setting up your dog'.
Then they would try to assess
how their dogs trotted, called 'movement', compared to the other dogs present on
that given day. It was decided that to make the effort worthwhile some other person, a
'judge', should decide which dog/s were really the best looking, in his or her
opinion. This activity is called a 'conformation (beauty) show'. To pay for the expenses involved with a show and to
obtain the judge's opinion, the dogs' owners would pay money,
called an 'entry fee', and the winners would be given a piece of colored cloth, called a
'ribbon'. Sometimes the winners would get
an object, like a small glass or metal bowl, called a 'trophy'. The losers would get
nothing. Some of the winners would
be assigned an imaginary thing called a 'point', and if a given dog accumulated
enough points, the club would assign a word to add on to the dog's name, called
a 'title', such as: 'champion'. In Europe this is called 'Champion of
Beauty'.
To help give a historical perspective regarding the direction taken by much of dog breeding in the last 120 odd years, due to the formation of closed registries and dog shows, let us quote extensively from A. Croxton Smith's book Dogs Since 1900, 1950, by Andrew Dakers Ltd. Regarding the founding of the Kennel Club in England in 1873, Smith says:
"Naturally a great many quite honestly objected to restraint in any form,…talking about autocracy and tyranny." He states that "…when in 1903 the Club decided to take a step that then seemed to be momentous," which was "instituting a system of registration for show and pedigree dogs," there was an outcry from some people.
Smith further states:
"The object was to give every dog an identity, so that one
could not be shown under several aliases, or allowed to imitate the name of a
famous prize-winner. On the
introduction of this rule, the Club was not strong enough to insist that it
should be applicable to all shows, but only to those which were held under
Kennel Club rules. This led to a
very unsatisfactory state of affairs, the shows under rules, and therefore
subject to supervision, being fewer than those conducted on the
'go-as-you-please' principle. The
unrecognized shows, not being subject to any kind of authority, were not always
conducted in a manner that could be approved by the majority of exhibitors.
I can remember executives defaulting and never paying their prize money,
while others would send round a request, begging exhibitors to accept a reduced
amount.
"At the opening of the century members of the Kennel Club were becoming convinced of the necessity of bringing all shows under its jurisdiction, although it realized that there might be a danger of secession and the establishment of a rival body. In 1900 they set up a Council of Representatives that consisted of delegates from clubs registered at the Kennel Club. It was intended that it should act in an advisory capacity and so bring the Club in closer touch with the feelings of exhibitors generally."
Smith further states that this Council passed:
"a resolution in 1903 to the effect that all dogs shown under Kennel Club rules or license must all be registered. This gave the lead for which the Club was waiting, and at their annual general meeting that year, they agreed that universal registration should come into force after July 31, 1904. Second thoughts led to the conviction that this rule should be enlarged, and at an extraordinary general meeting of the Club in November of 1904, it was decided that all shows must come under Kennel Club rules.
"The outcry that had been expected occurred, and efforts were made to start a rival organization in Lancashire. Fortunately the Club stood by its guns and proceeded to suspend all persons who exhibited at unrecognized shows, so that it was not possible for them to compete at the shows held under Kennel Club rules and regulations."
While the above describes an initial good idea that then developed into a very heavy-handed concept, the Club was still not a closed registry. Smith continues:
"I have mentioned the registration rule which perhaps deserves a little elucidation. Before a dog can be shown, it must be registered at the Kennel Club under a name that has not been duplicated in its breed for the previous fifteen years. Wherever possible those making registrations must give the date of birth, the name of the breeder, and the immediate parentage. Where these are not available, before registration, a dog must be submitted to the examination of an expert judge of the breed, who certifies that in his opinion it is entitled to be registered under this breed.
"It must be stated emphatically,
however, that by accepting a registration, the Kennel Club does not make itself
responsible for the accuracy of the details published."
The above is a brief overview of how the 'sport' of breeding and showing 'purebred dogs' has developed over the last century or so. Please realize that prior to the late 1800’s and the formation of the closed registries for dogs, dog 'breeds' or types, including Whippets, were maintained or developed by crossing them occasionally with other 'breeds' or types.
An example of this type of crossbreeding in the sighthound group that immediately comes to mind is the crossing of Bulldogs on Greyhounds, done many years ago. Bulldogs were added to give the Greyhounds more aggressiveness on the field in pursuit of game. It is believed that today's Greys have this Bulldog blood behind them.
This type of crossbreeding was done to bring in desired traits from other types of dogs, but it also promoted ‘hybrid vigor’. This occurs when unrelated, but inbred individuals are bred together. It usually, but not always, results in offspring that are more vigorous than either parent. Another effect is that the offspring may vary widely from each other and it may be difficult to 'set type' this way, unless those offspring are bred back into the desired parent breed for several generations, as was done with the Greyhounds.
Crossbreeding also represses ‘inbreeding depression’. Of course, breeders in the previous centuries did not know the molecular basis for inbreeding depression, and probably did not call it that, but they knew that it existed. This is why crosses to other breeds were made regularly so as to maintain the health, vigor and usefulness of the animals being bred.
Simply put, inbreeding depression is the accumulation of negative recessives that cause the health problems which we see today increasing at an alarming rate in dogs registered in these closed registries. When no outcrosses are allowed, as in a closed registry, a population (breed) becomes more and more closely related, or inbred, as successive generations are bred together. This reduces the amount of genetic variation in the given breed.
In dogs this process is accelerated when many people use a top winning stud dog, further limiting genetic variation in the following generations. It is called 'inbreeding depression' because the health, or performance, of the animal or plant that is inbred is depressed due to the genes matching up for a recessive negative trait that was inherited from both parents, who did not necessarily express the negative trait themselves. However, even though they may not have had the particular health problem themselves, they were carrying it genetically.
Since
genes occur in pairs, (see Mendelian
Genetics Simplified)
with one half coming from the mother (egg) and one half from the
father (sperm), if the parents are related closely, some of their genes may be the same
and will match up when paired at conception. When that happens, recessives
(sometimes negative ones which affect the individual's health), which would usually be masked by a normal dominant gene, can pair up and
the negative trait, often a health problem, is expressed in the offspring.
An excellent example of this molecular fact is hypothyroid dwarfism, which seems to be controlled by a single gene. A dog may be normal, a carrier, or affected. A normal dog does not have the negative recessive at all. A carrier does not show the negative recessive 'phenotypically'. In other words it looks normal. But genotypically (genetically) it carries the negative recessive, because it inherited the recessive from only one parent and the normal gene from the other parent. This normal gene masks the negative recessive. If the recessive is inherited from both parents (who were obviously carriers themselves), then the individual is affected, i.e. it is a hyopthyroid dwarf that is stunted and normally dies at several months of age. This is an extremely simplified explanation of a genetic fact, that is 'inbreeding depression', that has long been known to breeders of all types of livestock and plants, as well.
Unfortunately for dog breeders in countries with closed registries, there have been more and more genetic health problems in individual breeds of dogs over the last number of years than there were many years ago. In fact some breeds of dogs have so many health problems that they are doubtless already on their way to extinction.
Why? The answer is blaringly obvious and amazingly simple. Inbreeding depression. The genetics of a breed in a closed registry are always becoming more and more related with each generation. That is the nature of a closed registry.
What can be done? Once again, the answer is simple. Allow some crossbreeding to reintroduce healthy genes and hybrid vigor. But, will this ever happen? Probably not, since dog breeders with the closed registry mindset refuse to allow such a thing. In their minds it would make their breeds 'unpure'. Too bad they do not think scientifically, on a molecular level, and historically, instead of just back to the 1880's. ©
For
more information contact:
Claybrook Farm -- Michelle Henninger -- Shippensburg, PA 17257
717-263-0932
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