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Originally Posted by yorkielady06  I will have to disagree on a point or 2. Illnesses or diseases may be related to the standard but not always. Is the brain issue with the Cavalier due to standards?
And if, as you stated, the breeders that bred willy nilly are to blame for all the diseases then how are the show breeders dogs coming up with the same problems? I can not picture a show person buying a pup from a puppy mill or BYB. And where did the BYB and puppy mills get their dogs from?
I was not saying that I believe that the standard of the Yorkie is the problem. What I am saying is, that like in the video, line breeding should not be allowed and the health of a purebred should be within the standards of the governing body. A show dog should be screened prior to ever entering an arena. That dog should not only be pretty to the eyes, he should be in perfect health. A dog may have perfect "structure" and still have a BAT off the charts. |
I'm not sure, but I believe it is, weren't they breeding for smaller heads? The skull is now too small for the brain. This happens with yorkies concerning teeth, on dogs under 4 pounds, the jaw is sometimes too small for the teeth.
The problems are a breed wide problem, but a reputable breeder will not repeat the pairing that caused the problem or may even neuter the dogs involved. A backyard breeder probably doesn't even know if one of her pups has a problem and that dog's offspring is probably already producing pups, so it just goes on and on. Lol, I can't picture a show breeder buying from a byb or puppy mill either, but I think many will tell you that they have been burnt in the past as well.
I think the video was an informative one, but I don't think we should take it as gospel. For you to decide that line breeding should be prohibited because of this video may be rushing the gun a little. We really don't know much of the real science behind it. They had one person that was an expert on genetics, and I'm not sure he said that line breeding should be prohibited. Remember when producing a show, they don't always get the full side of the picture. However, the video did point out that certain breeds have very real problems due to the way their standard is written and the breed clubs are not open to addressing these things. I do agree with you that dogs with a known genetic issue should not be judged or bred. I don't know exactly the best way to go about it, remember that a dog can have a perfect BAT score and still have liver shunt. So we could have a rule that the BAT score must be within this range, the dog could have liver shunt and the breeder could know about it. However, it would be unethical for the breeder to still show the dog, and that's where ethics become more important than all the rules. We are on the same page as far as health, I want to be clear with that, I just don't know the best way to go about it. I do know that a breeder who is breeding for money is more likely to breed unhealthy dogs, and I also know that there are some breeders who have high ethics, and would neuter a champion, if it were found to be passing a hereditary illness.