Years ago, when my Boxer was still a pup, I met a vet on the street. “I love Boxers,” she said, scratching my best buddy’s ears. “Too bad they’re such tumor factories.” Inelegant language aside, she was right. When I adopted my guy, I knew his breed was cancer prone.
And breed-specific problems aren’t exclusive to Boxers. It seems every dog, has a signature sickness: Golden Retrievers have bad hips, Dalmatians can’t hear, Cocker Spaniels – and we’ll get mean letters for printing this – have terrible tempers. There are at least 400 genetic disorders associated with purebreds. The main reason for this, unfortunately, is human vanity.
Because of their unique relationship with humans, domesticated dogs are unusually exempt from the race for survival. Dogs, as we know them, have been shaped by selective breeding over thousands of years to meet human needs. In most cases, those needs have been conducive to healthy breeding practices; security, friendship and labor of all sorts; from pulling sleds to guiding the blind.
When dog shows began, the English Kennel Club formed in 1873 and American Kennel Club shortly thereafter, competitions reflected this; focusing on traditional canine virtues like intelligence, obedience, skill and temperament. Sadly, over the past hundred and fifty years the standards by which dogs are judged have changed. The dog world has increasingly become fixated on a single trait: looks.
Perhaps in this age of humans getting lifts and tucks, injections and suctions, it shouldn’t be a surprise, but recently the 3-year-old Pekingese who took Best in Show at Crufts was accused of having had an illegal face lift. “Danny” was exonerated, but can nose jobs for Collies and facelifts for bulldogs really be too far off? When dog shows have become little more than beauty pageants, it’s easy to wonder. Don’t get us wrong. There is nothing inherently bad about beauty pageant, but when meeting those standards of beauty results in bringing millions of unhealthy animals into the world, something is definitely wrong. When some 25% of the 20 million purebred dogs in America have a genetic illness, something is most definitely wrong.
It isn’t that purebreds have more defective genes than other dogs, but those they do have tend to be expressed more often. Why? Let’s just say dogs shouldn’t paddle in a shallow gene pool. Genetic health is based on diversity.
In nature, any valuable trait, an acute sense of smell, for example, will help the animal thrive. If a trait is harmful, like bad hips or blindness, the animal dies and the gene, or combination of genes that caused the illness goes with it. Problem solved. The more DNA in the mix, the more chance of successful dominant genes overcoming weak recessive traits. It’s what botanists call “hybrid vigor” and it allows all living beings to adapt and survive.
Breeding dogs for appearances we have essentially turned natural selection upside down. These days, it’s survival of the cutest. The emphasis on breed standards means that attractive, but not necessarily healthy dogs get bred. An especially prized sire may unknowingly pass a genetic defect on to countless generations. Worse, to produce a dog with the right look, breeders resort to “line breeding.” Sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of plain greed, breeders mate cousins, grandparents and grandchildren, even brothers and sisters.
It’s ironic that the very sort of snooty dog owner who might make fun of hillbillies for being “inbred” has no problem when canine cousins meet. In fact, from the Hapsburg Lip, to the Czar’s famous battle with hemophilia, the snootiest old families of Europe offer ample evidence that humans are no exception to the genetic law: Whether Russian Wolfhounds or Romanovs, inbreeding has nasty results.
How to solve the problem? Animal Fair is, of course, pro mutt. Or, to use the politically correct jargon, we support randomly bred dogs. What could be more all-American? Isn’t our “melting pot” national ethos another way of saying we’re a bunch of happy mongrels? And remember Bill Murray’s inspirational speech in Stripes: “There’s no animal that’s more faithful… more loyal… more loveable than the mutt!” For those who do favor purebreds, education on proper breeding will help. One place to start is the Canine Diversity Project (http://www.magmacom.com/~kaitlin/diverse.html).
For hard science, check out: The Dog Genome Project, their mission is to map every canine chromosome (http://mendel.berkeley.edu/dog.html). This kind of research is already producing new tests that screen for genetic disorders.
For their part, the AKC could increase vigilance about the integrity of puppies bought and sold. They, and their brethren groups around the globe, could also donate more time and money to canine genetics research. Perhaps most importantly, the clubs could begin changing the nature of dog shows to reemphasize traits of intelligence and character as well as physical beauty.
Frankly, it wouldn’t hurt if we humans did a little of that ourselves. That is, maybe we could ask Miss America candidates to compete in a hundred yard dash and take a calculus quiz as well as look dazzling in a swimsuit.
Ah, well. For the time being, we’ll start small.
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