Nightline - tonight - exposes "dark side" of showing dogs

[yorkiesmiles]

Here is the link for the Nightline story ABC News: Best of Breed? Pedigree Dogs Face Disease

I'm going to copy the text below, for those that can't watch video -- also online lots of viewers comments


Best of Breed? Pedigree Dogs Face Disease
Critics Say Purebred Dogs Have Health Problems Because of Inbreeding, Show Standards
By NICK WATT
March 11, 2009

The Westminster Dog Show is the showpiece for a multi-billion dollar industry, a festival of primped pooches, prestigious prizes and perfect pedigrees. This year's big winner, a Sussex Spaniel called Stump, became an instant celebrity.

The owners love it. But whether such competitive shows are good for the dogs is debatable.

Consider the Bulldog ring at Madison Square Garden last month, where the show's smushed-face dogs were getting a cooling spray.

"In the heat and the lights of the show, they can overheat and actually go down in five minutes," one handler said. "They have, instead of a long snout where it's an open airway, it's smashed ike a Coke can and the breathing has to go through many, many curves and many turns." That's the desired look for a Bulldog to win ribbons at dog shows. In other words, it's a world in which dogs are bred with exaggerated features to please the judges, features that can cause extreme discomfort and serious distress, some veterinarians say.

Backstage at the Garden, a German Shepherd breeder explained how show-winning traits can be passed from generation to generation. Something called "line breeding" is common practice. That's breeding, for example, a grandfather with his granddaughter. Mating of direct relatives, or inbreeding, also happens.
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"That dog I kept, out of the brother-sister breeding," Susan Legg, the German Shepherd breeder, said. "[It] was one of the best stud dogs I've ever owned and produced over 80 champions."

Competitive dog breeding has been a popular sport since it was imported from England more than 130 years ago. The first Westminster Kennel Club show was in 1877.

"These dogs are some of the most pampered pooches that there are," Tony Carter, a Chinese Shar-Pei owner, said at Westminster.

Every breed has specific genetic defects. "All Cavaliers are carrying the potential for mitral valve disease," said Jennifer Wehking, a breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

According to the Web site CavalierHealth.org, half of Cavaliers will suffer this heart-valve defect before their fifth birthday.

Similarly, Meg Callea, a Dalmatian breeder at Westminster, said, "We have a very unique stone-forming disease in our breed. It's uric acid, which is very similar to gout in people."

Male dogs that suffer from the condition can't urinate properly.

Breeders and the American Kennel Club have long admitted that pedigree dogs do face health issues. They say they do all they can to tackle them.

The club declined to be interviewed for this story. The organization also e-mailed its members and recommended "politely declining" requests for interviews, although it said in a written statement that the group conducts hundreds of kennel and breeder inspections each year and donates millions of dollars to improve dogs' heath.

The club and some of its members appear to be circling the wagons largely because of a British documentary called "Pedigree Dogs Exposed," which aired last year. The filmmakers showed dogs in distress, allegedly stricken by genetic diseases. They likened pedigree dog breeding to the eugenics principles of Adolf Hitler and questioned the practices of inbreeding and breeding to a "standard."

[yorkiesmiles]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

I just watched all of Pedigreed Dogs Exposed on YouTube. So heartbreaking to watch. I don't like that it portrays showing dogs as all bad because I believe there are great intentions in the show wold. But some of the breeds are just overall unhealthy, unnatural and deformed. The caveliers with syringomyelia was so sad. It made me do angry that so many breeders weren't acknowledging the huge and aweful problem it is in the breed. And one breeder had a cavalier diagnosed with the aweful disease and was still showing and breeding him. He had sired almost 40 litters, most of which were after his diagnosis! What a piece of sh*t for knowingly passing such a painful defect on to so many puppies! It makes me think of all the yorkies affected with liver shunt and mvd. Aweful.

Did you watch all of "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" on youtube? I saw 6 different parts of the documentary. Watching this now I understand why I have always heard that the Cavaliers life span is so short.

[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by yorkiesmiles

Did you watch all of "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" on youtube? I saw 6 different parts of the documentary

Yes, it's in 6 parts 10 minutes at a time

[yorkiesmiles]

This is heartbreaking to see these German Shepherds - they look in pain just to move - this does not make sense to me. Will we learn that liver shunt in yorkies also comes from inbreeding & over breeding?

Interesting that this BBC documentary interviews a Univ of Penn professor. The eugenics info was interesting - while I know the breeders are wanting certain traits - some of it is very scary. The dog historian was interesting - pointing out how much of this has to do cosmetics - but in turn endangers the dogs health & lifespan. To point out the bulldog would die by the hands of the bull if the dogs wasn't agile enough (ok -don't know much about bulldogs - didn't know that they once ever faced off with bulls )

How heartbreaking that this gal puts down her ridgebacks if they don't have a ridge - even when though know it's a deformity - a mild form of spinabifada

I don't know that I buy or believe that a "common mutt" lives longer than a pure breed dog. From my personal experience that is not true.

For most of my life, I always thought inbreeding was something most people wanted to avoid - really in recent years, in part to what I have read in YT, I have come to learn how much of inbreeeding is considered somehow acceptable - I understand breeding for a certain trait - but the continuous inbreeding is mind-boggling

Of all the dogs they showed changes in - the Pug was the most drastic - really very sad - I didn't realize. How incredibly sad to hear that a dog is more endangered than Giant Pandas - not because they aren't a popular breed but because of health issues inbred into the breed.

I know that frequently we hear how good a yorkie breeder is because they test every pup for liver shunt & other issues -- but I had never stopped to think that AKC or YTCA should require or demand these health screenings. It does make sense although I am not on for over regulation on anything in this world. But after reading so many heartbreaking stories here on YT, I think all yorkie breeders should be testing for liver shunt.

I also had no idea that some airlines refuse to fly certain breeds because they so easily overheat - basically because they can't breathe correctly.

It doesn't make sense that a dog with a serious defect - like in the cavillers - that they can still win a dog show & that these breeders are so irresponsible to continue breeding these dogs knowingly with syringomyelia - THAT IS TRULY GREED, GREED, GREED

This was just really educational.

I'm going to watch some of the Kennel Club's response that is also on youtube

[manolos mom]

Oh shucks, I missed it. Was it anything like the movie BEST IN SHOW. I just love show dogs and show owners...Kinda reminds me of that show Little Miss Perfect...Smile

[yorkiesmiles]

Originally Posted by manolos mom

Oh shucks, I missed it. Was it anything like the movie BEST IN SHOW. I just love show dogs and show owners...Kinda reminds me of that show Little Miss Perfect...Smile

Uh, no! You need to go read & watch the links that have been posted. This is not pretty or a comedy

[manolos mom]

Wow, Let me grab some coffee and see this..Thanks. Lissette

[hartygirl]

Wow.....

[yorkiekist]

Originally Posted by yorkiesmiles

This is heartbreaking to see these German Shepherds - they look in pain just to move - this does not make sense to me. Will we learn that liver shunt in yorkies also comes from inbreeding & over breeding?

Interesting that this BBC documentary interviews a Univ of Penn professor. The eugenics info was interesting - while I know the breeders are wanting certain traits - some of it is very scary. The dog historian was interesting - pointing out how much of this has to do cosmetics - but in turn endangers the dogs health & lifespan. To point out the bulldog would die by the hands of the bull if the dogs wasn't agile enough (ok -don't know much about bulldogs - didn't know that they once ever faced off with bulls )

How heartbreaking that this gal puts down her ridgebacks if they don't have a ridge - even when though know it's a deformity - a mild form of spinabifada

I don't know that I buy or believe that a "common mutt" lives longer than a pure breed dog. From my personal experience that is not true.

For most of my life, I always thought inbreeding was something most people wanted to avoid - really in recent years, in part to what I have read in YT, I have come to learn how much of inbreeeding is considered somehow acceptable - I understand breeding for a certain trait - but the continuous inbreeding is mind-boggling

Of all the dogs they showed changes in - the Pug was the most drastic - really very sad - I didn't realize. How incredibly sad to hear that a dog is more endangered than Giant Pandas - not because they aren't a popular breed but because of health issues inbred into the breed.

I know that frequently we hear how good a yorkie breeder is because they test every pup for liver shunt & other issues -- but I had never stopped to think that AKC or YTCA should require or demand these health screenings. It does make sense although I am not on for over regulation on anything in this world. But after reading so many heartbreaking stories here on YT, I think all yorkie breeders should be testing for liver shunt.

I also had no idea that some airlines refuse to fly certain breeds because they so easily overheat - basically because they can't breathe correctly.

It doesn't make sense that a dog with a serious defect - like in the cavillers - that they can still win a dog show & that these breeders are so irresponsible to continue breeding these dogs knowingly with syringomyelia - THAT IS TRULY GREED, GREED, GREED

This was just really educational.

I'm going to watch some of the Kennel Club's response that is also on youtube

I love German Shepherds but I have never gotten one because of the back legs being ruined, in my opinion. I dont even like to look at them anymore. Some lines are much better than others. I do like Covy-Tucker Hills Shepherds. I had a Shepherd as a kid and I dont remember the back legs having any problems or looking deformed like they are now.

The only Pug to go Best in Show at Westminster died on a plane, on the tarmac. It got too hot for him. He was the grandfather to a couple of my Pugs. Another thing that runs in certain Pug lines is Pug dog encephalitus. There is no test that I am aware of(I had Pugs 15 years ago) and you will not know if you have it in your line unless, 2 years later, one of your puppies dies from it. In the mean time, you may have produced many litters that unknowingly have that problem. I would love to show Pugs again someday. Hopefully there has been more research done on this horrid health problem.

[MyFairLacy]

I was thinking about the Yorkshire Terrier...nothing is extreme about our breed except maybe the long coat which shouldn't affect health in anyway. We have a nice-sized toy breed (if people aren't breeding the 1-3lbers), with a moderate length muzzle, moderate erect ears, level topline, etc...if we have yorkies that conform to the breed standard they ought to be sound, well-structured dogs. We get things like Luxating patella and hip dysplasia when structure is off. And we have major problems with liver disease (shunt and MVD) but that's not from the breed standard we conform too..that's from genetics and even a yorkie with perfect structure could carry the genes for liver disease. I guess like cavaliers carrying genes for mitral valve disease.

It's very sad that there are breeds that must have such extreme features according to their standard that it hurts them..ie the bulldog's extreme head and face, the dachshunds long back and short legs, bassets long back and short legs, pekingese short snout, etc.

[manolos mom]

It's very sad that there are breeds that must have such extreme features according to their standard that it hurts them..ie the bulldog's extreme head and face, the dachshunds long back and short legs, bassets long back and short legs, pekingese short snout, etc I agree, this is very sad. Bulldogs only live about 8 years, bassets about the same. With bassets thou you must keep their weight under control because of their long backs and short little legs. I was taken by this show. We do seek Perfection in the dog show world and in the human world. I saw a show last night about little pagaent girls. The little girls had fake teeth fake tan and fake hair. Tons of makeup. Dresses that were in the $1000. Unfortunately this is the type of world we live in. Perfect bodies, homes,cars and of course the perfect dog or cat..

[QuickSilver]

I just watched the YouTube videos. I was shocked to hear that many dog lines carry only 10% of the genes they did fifty years ago. I'm not sure how you would be able to determine that, but's it's clearly a recipe for disaster. Imagine if that happened to humans.

The show implied that breeding for extreme traits has mainly occurred in the past 150 years. If this is true, then I believe the experts who said pedigree dogs could be doomed. You can't continue a species without genetic diversity.

I see so many Cavaliers in my area, and they all look so happy and playful. I hope they are in better shape in America than they are in the UK.

[QuickSilver]

I also had no idea that the ridge on a Ridgeback is a deformity! How sad that the breed standard is defined by a genetic problem.

It really surprises me because Ridgebacks are so athletic.

I'm also glad that so many Yorkies don't meet classic standards, because I believe that indicates a good number of genes out there. The more uniform a breed looks, the more uniform it must be genetically. You can see this with pugs.

And, just to tie another controversial topic into this, I wonder if small-time BYBs will end up saving many breeds

[QuickSilver]

Oh, forgot one big thing that I wanted to post.

I think it's extemely revealing that pet insurance premiums are lower for mutts. In the documentary, it said premiums for mutts are 1/2 what they are for bull dogs. Insurance companies are all about (1) money and (2) statistics. The fundamentals of their business rely on the facts.

[yorkiesmiles]

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy

I was thinking about the Yorkshire Terrier...nothing is extreme about our breed except maybe the long coat which shouldn't affect health in anyway. We have a nice-sized toy breed (if people aren't breeding the 1-3lbers), with a moderate length muzzle, moderate erect ears, level topline, etc...if we have yorkies that conform to the breed standard they ought to be sound, well-structured dogs. We get things like Luxating patella and hip dysplasia when structure is off. And we have major problems with liver disease (shunt and MVD) but that's not from the breed standard we conform too..that's from genetics and even a yorkie with perfect structure could carry the genes for liver disease. I guess like cavaliers carrying genes for mitral valve disease.

It's very sad that there are breeds that must have such extreme features according to their standard that it hurts them..ie the bulldog's extreme head and face, the dachshunds long back and short legs, bassets long back and short legs, pekingese short snout, etc.

Am I wrong in thinking though that over the years the structure of the yorkie muzzle has been changed? I know people love that teddy bear look - but were yorkies not originally a longer snouted dog - making them able to chase out rodents, etc? I'm not saying I see anything wrong with the shorter snout now -as it's not a feature that effects their breathing, eating, etc. But I do think yorkies have changed too - also weren't they once a but larger than the 4-7 lb standard?