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Jo Bian
Writing 39C
Dr. Lynda Hass
5/25/15
Dog Welfare in Danger: Extreme Dog Breeding Causing Genetic Defect
"All species are related biologically and through evolution. Instead of treating them like
objects, we should be treating them as our kindred. -Richard Ryder
Background and the Issue
The canine species, commonly known as dogs, have accompanied humans for thousands
of years. They are the animals humans are most familiar with, because almost every household
owns at least one or wants to have one. Dogs are evolved from wolves. To accommodate to the
human society, they underwent drastic selection pressure and evolved to change their behavior
and appearances. They went from being the savage predators who easily sit on the top of the
food chain, to the animal humans consider as best friend.
Dog domestication began long before any historical literature can record, but clear evidences
that show the evolution line from wolves to dogs have not yet been found. All scientists know for
certain is that humans definitely have played a huge role in this process. Early humans trained
dogs to hunt and work with them. In exchange, dogs are provided food and shelter. Thus, a longlasting bond called mutualism was formed between humans and dogs. However, as humans
gradually rely less on dogs functionalities, they begin to breed dogs for their appearances.
A dogs appearance depends on their behavior and their environment. Dog domestication
experts James Serpell, Darcy F. Morey, L. N. Trut, Leslie Irvine and Adam Miklosi have

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published research, tracing dogs journey of domestication. In their publications, they analyzed
how dogs behavior are related to their appearance and how big of a difference the humankind
have made on dogs. Once humans realize that they can change how dogs look through selective
breeding, pedigree dogs become more valuable and fashionable. In a lot of breeding clubs today,
profit made from a purebred dog or a trophy from the dog show is valued over the dogs welfare.
Breeders see puppies as objects; they modify dogs appearances through extreme breeding
process and neglect the disorders they bring to dogs by doing so.
Inheritable Change in Appearance and Behavior
Humans have always domesticated dogs to accommodate their own preference/convenience.
Dr. Darcy F. Morey is a zoo archaeologist from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. In his
journey published in American Scientists in 1994, he defines domestication as people isolated
individuals of a particular species from their wild counterparts and then selectively bred them to
exaggerate desirable traits and eliminate undesirable ones in a process known as artificial
selection (Morey 336). Morey noticed that compared to their ancestor wolves, dogs are smaller
in size; they have a shorter and more rounded face. Morey suggested that this phenomenon
indicates that during the evolution process, the domesticated wolves remain their juvenile form
even in adulthood, which makes them look harmless and submissive, therefore, it is a desirable
trait favored by their human owners (Morey 341). Also because dogs do not need to prey for
other animals and compete with other predators to survive anymore, they do not need the
camouflage fur coat. According to Russian Geneticist Dmitry K. Belyaevs experiment on
domesticating foxes, who are close kin to dogs, domesticated foxes start to have patches of

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discoloration on their fur due to lack of pigmentation, for example,

pie-bald is a common phenomenon among the domesticated foxes
(Trut 162). For the same reason, modern dogs have various fur color,
and different coat colors are preferred by different human owners.
Not only do their physical appearances stay premature,
domestication also causes dogs to behave differently than their wild
ancestors. Adult dogs act much like juvenile wolves (Morey 344).
They constantly seek attention from their human owners. Seen as a

Figure 1: domesticated fox

with white hair on their head,
known as Pie-bald. Trut, Early
Canid Domestication:
The Farm-Fox Experiment.

form of submissive, dogs play, whine, and bark; they kept the behavior that is only seen in
wolves pups, which wolves out grow when they reach their adulthood (Morey 344).
These premature behaviors are inheritable. Belyaevs experiment on farm foxes also shows
that the offsprings of two tamed foxes are usually friendlier and more willing to approach human
(Trut 163). The researchers categorize foxes that intentionally seek humans attention as
domesticated elite. In about 40 years and 30-35 generations, the population of domesticated
elite foxes increased from 18 percent to 70-80 percent of the entire experimental group (Trut
163). The domesticated elites display dog-like behavior, showing their eagerness to please
human by wagging their tails and licking visitors hands (Trut 163). From This phenomenon
combined with the phenotypical change displayed from wolves to dogs, leads Morey to questions
if the there is a cause-and-effect relationship between behavior and the physical appearance of
domesticated dogs.

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The evolution of canine species does not happen as soon as human encounter their ancestor.
Dr. DM MIKLSI, director of the Family Dog Project in Etvs Lornd University of
Hungary in his book Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition states that there has not been
enough evidences discovered to prove any long-lasting relationship between humans and early
dogs before 15,000 years (MIKLSI 126). He said that humans began to dwell in settlements
about 10,000-15,000 years ago, which is when they started to have excessive food to attract wild
dogs (MIKLSI 128). Individual hunters realized the benefit and efficiency of working with
dogs, so they start to domesticate and train them (MIKLSI 128). This could explain why dogs
appear relatively rapidly at western and northern European sites around 12,000 years ago, said
MIKLSI (128).
Humans originally domesticated dogs for hunting purposes (Morey 339). Since humans no
longer depend on hunting as the only way to acquire food, they began to train and breed dogs to
do other tasks. Serpell mentioned in the chapter Evolution of Working Dogs of his book The
Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People, new breeds of dogs are
created for herding and sledding. Herding dogs such as Australian Shepherd and Border Colie
are able to lead livestock and keep them together (Serpell 30). These dogs would display an
intrinsic predatory behavior during their juvenile phase (Serpell 30). Humans observed and bred
the dogs that possess outstanding behavior, and trained them to display these stalk and chase,
grab bite, and crush bite actions in the right environment and right time (Serpell 30).
Similar to herding dogs, humans also bred Sledding dogs as working aid. These dogs were
essential during the 1896 Alaska Gold Rush for they provided transportations in the extreme

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environment (Serpell 21). Sledding dog breeds are later glorified for they incredible ability in
distance running, as Serpell stated in the chapter, For distances of over ten miles, sled dogs are
easily the fastest land mammal (22).
Welfare/Ethical Issues behind Dog Breeding
Humans observe different behaviors within dogs and bred them to do different tasks.
However, as time goes on, hunting is no longer the only way humans obtain food. Humans
dependence on dogs has also shifted focus. Since dogs know human well comparing to other
animals, and they are willing to please humans for food and protection, they became the best
companion animals. Humans began to breed dogs for their appearances rather than for practical
reasons. It was even a fashion trend in the Victorian Era (Farrell et al. 2). Dog breeders and
owners take pride in having a purebred dog. They would die for a dog that has won a dog show
or is in the show champion bloodline. For this reason, a lot of closely related dogs are bred to
produce the pureblood offspring, which causes population bottleneck among dog breeds (Farrell
et al. 2). Little did people know, or rather care, was that purebred dogs are more at risk for
inherited genetic disorders due to the lack of genetic variation (Farrell et al. 2).
Why is Extreme Breeding an Issue?
Dogs breed-barrier is created when dogs are naturally or purposely kept in separated
populations and receives no further genetic mixture other than the founding population (Farrell et
al. 2). Early dogs are bred only for their functionalities, which can be sorted in seven categories:
hound, gundog, terrier, utility, working, pastoral and toy (Farrell et al. 2). Thousands of years
later, when human no longer need dogs to work efficiently, they begin to breed dogs for their
looks. This phenomenon was exaggerated during the Victorian Era when dog shows started to

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gain popularity (Farrell 2). The judges set standards for

how each breed of dogs suppose to look like. Some of these
preferred traits negatively affect the health and abilities of
dogs (Farrell 2). For example, todays Bulldogs are bred to
have shorter nostrils (flatter face), which cause them to
have respiratory problems (Farrell 5). In the fashion of dog
breeding, humans see themselves as higher beings. They
genetically modify dogs appearances to achieve the
aesthetics but neglect the life-long harm they bring to the

Figure 2: The seven categories of

purebred dogs. From The challenges of
pedigree dog health:
Approaches to combating inherited
disease

innocent animals.
Owner and breeders prioritize the pedigree of dogs, but know little about the disorders
purebred dogs often suffer. Paul McGreevy and Frank Nicholas are both Doctors from the
University of Sydney. Dr. McGreevy specializes in animal welfare and Dr. Nicholas in genetics.
Together, they listed several examples of how show standards conflict with itself and with the
health of dogs. According to the Kennel Club, an ideal Shar Pei dog has to have loose skin and a
frowned face, but its eyes should not be affected by the folded skin and hair surrounding them
(McGreevy 331). This standard is quite difficult to achieve, because the layers of skin are most
likely to push the dogs eyelid inward and cause entropion (McGreevy 331). In a similar case,
Miniature Poodles and Italian Greyhounds have an innate tendency of jumping, but dog shows
demand long and thin legs, which could be easily fractured or even broken when they practice
their natural behavior (McGreevy 331). Some intensive selective pressure can also result in dogs
mental defect. For example, as mentioned before, Border Collies are known for their herding
ability. They use their inherited predatory behavior show eyes to stalk sheep to keep them in

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the flock (Serpell 30). This

behavior is applause and
exaggerated by the breeders.
They purposely intensify the
stare by breeding dogs that
Figure 1: D, Chinese Shar Pei; A-C, western-bred Shar Pei. By Elizabeth
Preston.

performs a stronger stare

compering to others. Within

generations of breeding, this extreme breeding process eventually shows its downside. The
purebred Border Collies would show neurological defect by stare intensely at a blank wall
(McGreevy 332). These examples lead to a question: what is the purpose of dog breeding? If it is
only to satisfy humans aesthetics, why should dogs suffer to pay the price?
As said in the article The challenges of pedigree dog health, As early as 1963, the British
Small Animal Veterinary Association identified 13 conditions of concern in pedigree dogs which
resulted in several follow-on reports issued from the Council for Science and Society and more
recently, the Companion Animal Welfare Council (Farrell et al. 5). Because of the lack of genetic
variation, purebred dogs suffer as many as 322 inherited disorders (Amess 16). This is caused by
breeding dogs from the same sire in a short generation interval (Amess 21). Everyone knows
what happens to human incest; the offspring would have serious genetic disorder due to the
prevailing of recessive, disadvantaged genes. Therefore, incest is immoral and strictly banned by
the human society. Then why is it acceptable for human to encourage the incest among dogs?
People often think animal abuse is only defined as being physically violent towards animals.
They do not see that unethically breeding dogs is a bigger issue because the consequences have
lifelong effects on dogs. As Richard Ryder, an animal welfare activist said in the beginning of

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this paper, dogs are not objects. They are not artworks for human to judge their appearances
then overlook their wellbeing. We should treat dogs as our kindred. Inbreeding is morally
unacceptable in humans, and the same standard should be hold true to dogs.

Solution: Register Pedigree Dogs and Raise Awareness

Extreme dog breeding is not only harmful for dogs but also for their potential owners, since
the symptom might not display when the dogs are sold as puppies. People who seek for pedigree
dogs and do not know about their deficiency are at risk of spending a lot of money on buying the
dog, and spend even more on their dog's vet bills. For example, in the video Cavalier sequence
from Pedigree Dogs Exposed directed by Jamima Harrison, two cavalier spaniels display a
horrible condition 18 months after sold by their breeder. This disorder called Syringomyelia
causes them constantly being in pain and wanting to scratch themselves. Dr. Clare Rusbridge,
who is a veterinary neurologist points out that the scratching behavior is triggered when dogs
brains oversize their skull. Its like a size 10 foot shoved into a size 6 shoe. It doesnt fit, she
said, Its described in humans as one of the most painful condition you can have. Even a light
touch, [and] even the color of a clothing can cause discomfort. According to Carol Fowler, a
dog owner who has lost a Cavalier to Syringomelia, and is currently campaigning for purebred
dog welfare, the best solution to this issue is to have all the Cavalier puppies register with a copy
of MIR scan of their brain, so customers can be aware of the dogs health condition before they
purchase them.
MIR scan solution is targeted to the breeds that are tending to have neurological defects. It
reduces the risk of costumers purchasing dogs that potentially carry the genetic disorder, but it

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does not prevent genetically deficient puppies being produced. According to an article in The
Veterinary Journey written by animal biologists, Lisa Collins, Lucy Asher, Jennifer Summers,
and Paul McGreevy the most common suggestion on preventing extreme breeding is to amend
breed standard. Making it more lenient towards crossbreeding different dog breeds (Collins et al.
151). However, an opposing voice points out that cross breeding can cause lessening of existing
rear pedigree dog populations by diminishing their particular phylogenic trait. It can also cause
unknown rear and recessive disorders to increase (Collins et al. 151). Therefore, the
crossbreeding process needs to be programmed and closely monitored, and the breeding standard
should be regularly revised (Collins et al. 151).
In case to control the genetic defects among the pedigree dogs that are already born and sold,
Dr. Nicolas Rooney, a pathologist in Britain, and Dr. David Sargan, a pathology professor who
specializes in Canine and comparative genetics and genomics, suggested that they should all be
properly registered with a copy of their detailed health report (Rooney and David 43). Since the
Kennel Club is currently the biggest dog-breeding club, and is seen as official by many private
breeders and organizations, they already have majority of pedigree dogs documented. The next
step is to have the dog breeder and owners to report the morbidity and mortality condition of
their dogs, so that the ratio of pedigree dogs being affected by genetic disorder can be further
studied and prevented (Rooney and David 43). To increase the genetic diversity of pedigree
dogs, first and second-degree relatives should not be allowed to breed, and their offspring should
not be consider as pedigree dogs; also, inter-country mating should be encouraged since the same

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breed of dogs from another distinct environment could introduce new genes to a breed
population without changing the breeds phenotype (Rooney and David 44).
From a moral aspect, relative departments should issue Code of Practice (Rooney and
David 43). They should advocate for breeders to prioritize the health of dogs over their looks. To
do so, dog shows should consider dogs health condition as one of the most important judging
standards (Rooney and David 43). In case some dogs appear healthy in the show ring but can be
potentially ill, the judges should have the knowledge to recognize the slightest trace of these
illnesses.
Because breeding clubs are mostly private, government and legal regulations can only do so
much. To stop extreme breeding, one of the most effective ways is to raise peoples awareness
about this issue. Social media, therefore, plays a crucial role in getting the societys attention
about this urgent situation. Campaigning through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can reach to
people of all ages and social classes from everywhere in the world. By spreading information
about genetic effects pedigree dogs suffer on these social media, dog owners and people who
care about dogs welfare can join their forces so that breeding clubs have to reevaluate what is
truly important to dogs.
In conclusion, dogs appearances and behavior have always been changed to accommodate
humans preference. Before they are bred for aesthetics, dogs forms and behavior are changed to
suit the task so they can work better for humans, which is why they are kept closely to humans
comparing to other domesticated animals and are considered as humans best friend. Although
they developed various sizes and personalities during the early domestication process, they were

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still healthy. However, in the modern society, dogs are seen as objects. Their welfare is
overlooked by a lot of breeders. The temptation of a dog show trophy and the profit made from
selling purebred dogs blind people from seeing what harm extreme dog breeding can bring to
dogs. The genetic disorders a lot of purebred dogs are suffering are long lasting and life
threatening. This problem can only be resolved by peoples attention, governments regulation
and official organizations supervision.

Work Cited
Amess, David, Harry Cohen, Baroness Gale, Mike Hall, Lord Hoyle, Eric Martlew,
Baroness Masham, Eliot Morley, Mark Pritchard, Andrew Stunell, Andrew
Rosindell, and Roger Williams. A Healthier Future for Pedigree Dogs. Publication. Associate
Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, Nov. 2009. Web. 10 May 2016.

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Crispin, Sheila. "The advisory council on the welfare issues of dog breeding." The
Veterinary Journal 189.2 (2011): 129-131.
Collins, Lisa M., Lucy Asher, Jennifer Summers, and Paul Mcgreevy. "Getting Priorities
Straight: Risk Assessment and Decision-making in the Improvement of Inherited Disorders
in Pedigree Dogs." The Veterinary Journal 189.2 (2011): 147-54. Web. 24 May 2016.
Farrell, Lindsay L., Jeffrey J. Schoenebeck, Pamela Wiener, Dylan N. Clements, and Kim
M. Summers. "The Challenges of Pedigree Dog Health: Approaches to Combating
Inherited Disease." Canine Genet Epidemiol Canine Genetics and Epidemiology 2.1
(2015): n. pag. Web. 11 May 2016.
King Charles Spaniel. Dir. Jamima Harrison. Perf. Jamima Harrison. Pedigree Dogs
Exposed. BBC, Aug. 2008. Web. 26 May 2016.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7569521.stm>.
McGreevy, P. D., and F. W. Nicholas. "Some Practical Solutions to Welfare Problems in
Dog Breeding." Animal Welfare (1999): 329-41. Print.
Miklsi, dm. Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition. 2nd ed. Oxford, United
Kingdom: Oxford UP, 2015. Print.
Morey, Darcy F. "The Early Evolution of the Domestic Dog." American Scientists 82
(1994): 336-47. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.
Serpell, James. The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour, and Interactions with
People. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Trut, L. N., I. Z. Plyusnina, and I. N. Oskina. "An Experiment on Fox Domestication and

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Debatable Issues of Evolution of the Dog." Russian Journal of Genetics 40.6 (2004): Web.
20 Apr. 2016.
Rooney, Nicola Jane. "The welfare of pedigree dogs: Cause for concern." Journal of
Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 4.5 (2009): 180-186.