Global Breaking News - Monday, December 23, 2024

The Ethics of Raising Purebred Dogs
Not all preparation for the dogs at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show took place in the runup to the competition. The creation of a Best of Show affenpinscher or a champion bichon frisé begins before they are born, with selective breeding for the traits the judges prize. But does the breeding of a pedigreed dog create genetic problems that a lovable mutt avoids?
* runup(run-up) = (~ to sth) (중요 행사의) 준비(준비 기간)/ affenpinscher = 독일 원산의 털이 긴 애완견(아펜핀셔)/ bichon frise = 흰 곱슬털의 소형 애완견(비숑 프리제)/ selective breeding = 선발 번식(選拔繁殖)/ pedigreed = 혈통이 분명한, 순종의/ mutt = (특히 잡종의) 개

 순종개의 교배는 사랑스런 잡종개도 피하는 유전적 문제를 만드나요?

1. Make Health, Not Show, the Standard
Rules for breeds could be revised to reduce the incidence of disorders common to many types of dogs.

2. Good Reasons for Some Purebred Traits
We've found that mixed breed dogs just don't have the type of temperament need to be guide dogs.

3. Stricter and Better Criteria Are Needed
Many breeding standards have led to the creation of dogs with severe problems, especially among those certified by the American Kennel Club.

4. It’s Not Just About Competitions
Breeding dogs that fit a written standard isn’t just about appearance. Dogs are bred for certain tasks and certain personalities.

5. Cross-Breed to Avoid Inbreeding
Selective breeding with small numbers of champion sires lead to genetic defects. Breeding in outside traits is a cure that is shunned.

Sample Essay

Stricter and Better Criteria Are Needed

Ideally, a breed standard describes the physical, mental and psychological attributes of representatives of a specific breed of dog, cat or other domestic animal.

Unfortunately, in the dog world, many written standards have led to the creation of dogs with severe problems rather than shining examples of the breeder’s art. This has especially been the case among breeds certified by the American Kennel Club, or the A.K.C., the largest dog registry in the world.

Breed standards for A.K.C. registered dogs are largely based on physical characteristics — weight, length, height, coat type and color, gait, bite, ear configuration and head shape among them. The standards usually carry some language about temperament, intelligence and traditional use, but dogs are not tested for those attributes before they can become A.K.C. champions. Many breeds of working dogs have distinctive styles that tend to be concentrated in that breed through selective breeding. Often a working dog will not show its talent until it is mature -- around 18 months or 2 years. So too a dog's adult temperament -- whether it is overly aggressive, for example, or shy or fearful or anxious or bold and eager to work -- cannot be predicted when it is a puppy.

Arguably these and similar characteristics should be in all breed standards and dogs should not be bred until their conformity to those standards can be judged. But the A.K.C. will judge a show dog a champion before it has reached that age with the result that over time those characteristics are lost. Thus, when the military here and in England were looking for dogs for World War II, they specified farm collies, bred for working ability, and bluntly said that "show collies" need not apply because they had lost the ability to do anything.

No one knows to what degree behavior and personality are related but they know those traits can be lost without constant attention.

Reliance on inbreeding and over use of favored sires to fix desirable traits have also concentrated life threatening or debilitating conditions in particular breeds. A.K.C. standards are lax in that they do not require dogs to be certified as free of inherited conditions like hip dysplasia before being bred.

In more than a few cases, A.K.C. breeds are characterized by physical extremes or deformities of the legs, back and skull that can bring the dogs constant suffering. Looked at objectively the dogs are rewarded for enduring pain.

Criticism of purebred dog standards is not new. In its March 3,1934, issue, the science journal, Nature, wrote, after detailing some of the problems with the Kennel Club’s standards for purebred dogs: “No show standard should be allowed to continue which inevitably demands a high lethality in the breed or an obvious discomfort to the individual.”

It is long past time to make changes to standards that improve dogs’ lives or discontinue their breeding.