shortstep

RSPCA senior scientist Claire Calder said: "Anyone thinking of getting a dog needs to be aware of the serious health and welfare problems affecting pedigree dogs and should understand that this is one of the biggest challenges facing dog welfare in the UK today. Any kennel club breeders in the UK or Australia that think this is going away, sadly mistakened. Same message as all the other times. Kennel club = Shows + Standards = bad breeders and sick dogs = one of the biggest welfare problems for dogs in the today.

RSPCA: Seen a dog you like at Crufts? Wednesday, 09, Mar 2011 12:15 Sixty per cent of dogs bought in the last two years were pure-breeds, an RSPCA-commissioned survey shows1. The RSPCA is concerned that if dog owners aren't doing their research, they may be buying puppies that are prone to health and welfare problems. Many pedigree dogs are vulnerable to unnecessary disease, disability, pain or behavioural problems. This is because they're bred primarily for how they look rather than with health, welfare or temperament in mind. Dog shows like Crufts use breed standards to describe how a 'perfect' example of each breed of dog should look as the main judging criteria. We believe these standards encourage the breeding of disabled dogs with exaggerated features. They also encourage breeding from closely related animals, which can result in puppies that have a higher chance of inheriting diseases. RSPCA senior scientist Claire Calder said: "Anyone thinking of getting a dog needs to be aware of the serious health and welfare problems affecting pedigree dogs and should understand that this is one of the biggest challenges facing dog welfare in the UK today. "It's now more than two years since the BBC One documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed was broadcast. Some progress has been made by the dog world, but it's not nearly enough. "The RSPCA is making big steps forward by funding a three-year research project to develop a new system to collect, analyse and interpret data on inherited disorders in both dogs and cats. We are also working with the British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation to develop a puppy sales contract, to help the public to make properly informed decisions when buying a puppy. "But these measures alone aren't sufficient to solve the problem. We will continue to urge everyone involved in dog breeding to take urgent action. If this progress isn't made, it's pedigree dogs and their owners who will end up paying a high price."2 An RSPCA animation, launched as part of our Get Puppy Smart campaign, helps puppy buyers find out how best to go about getting a dog and explains the problems exaggerated features and inherited diseases can cause. You can watch the animation at: www.getpuppysmart.com. Claire Calder said: "Sadly far too many people are living with the consequences of buying a puppy on impulse. A cute-looking puppy or dog can be hard to resist, but the result of not looking beyond this can be hundreds of pounds spent on vet bills and a pet with long lasting health and welfare problems - in some cases for a large proportion or even all of its life. "The RSPCA's Get Puppy Smart campaign aims to help prospective puppy buyers make the right decision by thinking about what type of dog best suits their lifestyle, how to find a good breeder and how to select a happy and healthy puppy that's less likely to have to exaggerated features and inherited disorders. "We hope that More 4's coverage of Crufts will also help inform the public in a responsible way and reflect deep concern about the health and welfare of pedigree dogs. It is vital the coverage is open and honest about the serious health and welfare issues that continue to affect many pedigree dogs, without glossing over the issues." The survey also shows that 46 per cent of dogs (both crossbreeds and pure breeds) bought in the last two years have suffered health problems, so it is especially important that prospective puppy buyers do their research before choosing the right type of dog for them. Just 26 per cent of people said they researched the diseases common in the breed of dog they were thinking of getting, and only 17 per cent of dog owners saw the disease screening test results for their puppy's parents. -ends- Notes to editors: 1. The research was conducted by TNS via OnlineBus, an internet survey. A sample of 7,272 GB adults aged 16-64 were interviewed. Of these, 848 people had acquired a puppy in the past two years. Interviewing was conducted by online self-completion from 23 November 2010 to 20 January 2011. 2. The RSPCA urges the dog breeding world to take forward the recommendations made by the RSPCA-commissioned report. Here is a small selection of the recommendations yet to be actioned: - changes to current Kennel Club registration rules to prevent the registration of puppies born from the matings of close relatives. The RSPCA welcomes the fact that the Kennel Club will no longer register puppies from matings between mother and son, father and daughter or brother and sister. However, this does not go far enough and the authors of the RSPCA-commissioned report called for this to be extended to include matings between grandparents and offspring and half siblings. - changes to current registration rules to allow new genetic material to be introduced into breeds - the development of detailed management plans for each dog breed - only registering puppies from parents which have both undergone compulsory health screening tests for prioritised disorders and are considered suitable for breeding. Please note the puppy contract project is underway but incomplete so we are not releasing further information at this time. 3. The RSPCA decided not to attend Crufts 2009 to send a clear message that urgent action must be taken to improve the health and welfare of pedigree dogs. Several other leading animal welfare charities and show sponsors followed suit, and the BBC decided not to broadcast the show. The RSPCA did not attend Crufts 2010 and will not have a presence at Crufts 2011. RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS

When I am looking for a pup and there is a dog (or bitch) I really like, I always first consider going to the source, the same breeding (parents) that produced that dog. Often good breedings will be repeated, so there is always this chance of another litter. If there were other pups in the first litter that also had the same qualities I liked in the dog, then this would indicate there is a good chance you will see those same traits again in the next litter. In my mind this will give you the highest chance of getting a dog most like the one you liked. Dogs do not always produce pups like themselves and often do not. Who they are bred to will also greatly influences the pups. The offspring of a dog or bitch is only half them so to speak. Where as full siblings have the same parents and the same opportunity to inherit the same genes. Just a thought.

In border collies Smooth is dominate = S, a smooth dog can be recessive for rough. SS or Sr Rough is recessive = r, a rough dog can only give a rough gene. rr Rough to rough always gets rough 1. rr+ rr= rr Smooth to smooth can have either smooth or rough depending on if they are recessive for rough 1. SS + SS = SS 2. Sr + Sr = SS or Sr or rr 3. SS + Sr= SS or Sr Rough to smooth can have either smooth or rough depending on if the smooth is recesive for rough. 1. SS + rr = Sr 2. Sr + rr = Sr or rr I also understand it is believed the length of hair is also controlled by other yet unknown genes, these can cause some shotening or lenghting of the coat also. So a rough might have slighty longer or shorter hair then average and a smooth might have some slight feathering or slightly longer hair. There are also other genes that control the amount of undercoat and yet others that control the textrue of the coat.

I am not surprised to hear that, in fact I expected you to say you knew a bad vet.

Not an expert, but the lighter reds, the creams, I would think indicate they are already being affected by c. c I would guess, is well represented in the breed and has been there as long as there has been any lightening of red. No surprise a white would eventually result and yes they can certainly be bred for, lots of white dogs are e and c based. you might want to check and see if e or c can be DNA tested for in labs. BTW I can think of at least one standard that flies in the face of modern knowledge about colour genetics when it comes ot coat colour. Worse, everyone knows it is wrong, yet there is strong opposition to change the standard to reflect modern genetics, instead they want to keep culling dogs for colours that will keep appearing in the breed and reducing the gene pool of possible valuable dogs for no good reason.

so if a breeder wanted more from you, you would or wouldn't provide it? For instance, your being a MDBA member means very little to me, I'd want to know about you not just what clubs you are a member of. A very common reference is a Club membership. Not just for getting puppy but for almost anything you might give a reference for, like getting into Uni, even some banks for home loans take Club memberships as a reference and so forth. No where did she say it was the only thing needed. Lighten up please. I wasn't asking you, so don't tell me to lighten up. I asked a valid question. Membership of a club tells me nothing about how a person might treat/care for an animal. Lots of clubs you only have to tick the boxes and pay a fee. Well she wasn't asking you if you approved of her statement either, but you let your feelings known. Maybe lighten up was not the right word to indicate what I was trying to say, I am sorry. I can think of club membership (as in your first statment) which might tell me more about them and (as in your second statement) how they might treat animals. If they belong to the AVA then I would assume they would make sure their pet had good care. If they belonged to the Pick a city or breed Animal Rescue group and were an active member then I would assume they would not dump their pup at the shelter and so on. Sometimes club membership can be a very good indicator of what people hold dear and important to them and what their values are. Just wanted to add, Club membership in a dog club such as ANKC or MDBA would indicate to me that they are invloved in dogs as a part of their their life.

so if a breeder wanted more from you, you would or wouldn't provide it? For instance, your being a MDBA member means very little to me, I'd want to know about you not just what clubs you are a member of. A very common reference is a Club membership. Not just for getting puppy but for almost anything you might give a reference for, like getting into Uni, even some banks for home loans take Club memberships as a reference and so forth. No where did she say it was the only thing needed. Lighten up please.

Not knowing the colour genetics of the breed, my guess would be recessive red (ee) with phaeomelanin dilution (cece)??? Here is a link about c = chinchilla http://abnormality.purpleflowers.net/genetics/albino.htm

That would be a great way to introduce yourself a make a good impression on this breeder. LOL Does this breeder do health testing? You said you really liked their dogs, so I take they are well groomed and look well taken care of. Do they talk about their breeding goals or why they breed, anywhere on the web site? Do they show the parents and talk about them at all? Do they mention the types of homes they think would be suitable for the pups? Do they show or speak about pups from previous litters that have gone on to other homes? Do they mention what the personalities of the parent dogs are like? Is there anything, anything at all about the web site, that makes you think they are not caring breeders? Yes to almost everything above except it mentions nothing about health testing and nothing about pups that have gone to other homes. All comentary regarding their own dog's personality/nature all sound so loving and caring with a little humor at times. I get the impression that this breeder mainly breeds for themselves first and not often. They have four dogs from other breeders (they are champions and some being shown at the moment.)and the other three are champions with their prefix. Well they sound alright even good from what you can get from the web site. You may already be so, but if not you need to know exactly what health tests are needed and how to read the results. If it were me, I would sent them a nice email and say how you have been looking at their dogs on the web site and have fallen in love with them or what ever is what you would say. I would also mention /repeat back, some of the things they say about their dogs that you think are good traits, or things they are doing which you think indicate they are good breeders. A little truthful honey never hurts. Then I would state you would like to express interest in the up coming litter. Tell them a bit about your self. Then see what happens. Once you start talking with them then ask about the health tests. if you think they want to know too much about your personal life then just fade out and forget it. I would not write them off for wanting to check out their puppy owners and I would hope that they do all the right health testing and have just not mentioned it on the web site. BTW do they have pedigrees on the web site? If they do then you might want to research those too.

That would be a great way to introduce yourself a make a good impression on this breeder. LOL Does this breeder do health testing? You said you really liked their dogs, so I take they are well groomed and look well taken care of. Do they talk about their breeding goals or why they breed, anywhere on the web site? Do they show the parents and talk about them at all? Do they mention the types of homes they think would be suitable for the pups? Do they show or speak about pups from previous litters that have gone on to other homes? Do they mention what the personalities of the parent dogs are like? Is there anything, anything at all about the web site, that makes you think they are not caring breeders?

I named every rescue dog I have every taken it to be rehome, What would call them #4456 ?

What does too much condition mean? Should be leaner. Polite way of saying "fat". I won't say it, I won't say it. LOL

What does too much condition mean? Should be leaner. Ah I thought so but did not want to be rude. I would pick the first dog, it looks the most athletic and like it could get out there and find the bird and bring it back, all with a smile on it's face. Very nice dog.

What does too much condition mean? Yes and spell check with a bad speller makes for lots of mistakes.

Thank you. Province is everything.....! Without it, it is impossible to comment. Talk about jumping to conclusion eh! Any time someone puts up something, they need to put the link.

Hey you guys, I did not say this was how docking got started. All I was saying was this was what the word 'curtail' originally meant, to cut short the tail of a cur. For all I know the first time a dog had his tail docked was back in the cave. Maybe they wanted it to hang off their Mammoth skin hat so they could look like Davy Crockett. Just like in America.

I am pretty sure I read that changes will be underway soon. That before a dog can be a field champion it will have to get a breed ring championship first. No thats wrong, it was the other way around, before a dog can get a show champion it has to have a field championship. Something about function can only follow form, no that is wrong too, it was the other way around, form can only follow function, yes that was it. I have no idea where these strange ideas come from. I just wish everybody would stop bagging each others dogs before we end up with laws that dictate if we can breed show type or field type, gosh just think if the Uni of Syndey can decide if a show or field champion can be bred. But for those who want to take it right down and push it to the wire to find out..I am game to watch you at your work and see what happens. I have been to Labrador, nice place.

Thanks for putting that up. I'm curious about this (highlighted by me) part. I understand (note : definitely don't agree with it) the mutilation of dog's feet to prevent them being used to poach royal game. I also understand why they'd have to agree to not enforce this on dogs used for shepherding etc. But how would docking a dog stop those dogs poaching royal game? Or would it simple be something about making the dogs more identifiable? Anyone know? NB: Apologies to the OP for going OT but this is quite interesting. So they stood out and were in effect also curtailed in their activites? You might find something on this site. Lot of old stuff about dogs, herding, lurchers and curs. She also used to publish a magazine about dog lore, The Shepherds Dogge, you could email her and see if she has information about it. I just have it in the back of my mind it was some where in her stuff I first saw it. But I could be wrong. http://www.gis.net/~shepdog/BC_Museum/index.html

I have no idea, this is just what I was told some years ago about the word curtail and dogs, I think it was the gal who runs the border collie museum (not sure about that), and I just searched it again today to make sure before posted it. Here is the site I looked at today, but heaps of sites come up if you search Cur Tail docking England. During one period around the 10th century peasants were only allowed to keep small dogs for the destruction of vermin. Hired keepers, shepherds and herdsmen were also allowed to keep their dogs, but all dogs were required to be mutilated in some way to prevent poaching of the royal game. Some of these mutilations were quite severe (usually to the feet), but the herdsman's dog was required only to have his tail docked, or cur-tailed, so as not to interfere with his working ability. The people tried to evade this law, but penalties were severe and the monies from these fines were a welcome source of revenue to the crown. When these laws became unworkable, the crown then levied a tax on dogs. Realizing that the peasants could not pay these taxes, nor could they live without the help of a dog for certain tasks, an exemption from tax for dogs used for a purpose was provided. The shepherd or herdsman's dog was still exempt from this tax if his tail was docked. This interesting history is often put forward as to why the Pem has a docked tail, but these laws dealt more with the English Forest laws than with the Welsh. Since much truth is often found in legend, it is also told that the Pem was docked so as not to confuse it with the fox. The most probable reason for docking Pems is that the Pembroke had a naturally occurring bob-tail and since many pups in a litter would be born with natural bobtails, the others were docked, as well, for the sake of uniformity. This bobtail gene is being specifically bred for again, especially in the United Kingdom and also in the Scandinavian countries where docking has been banned by the government. (Please note: docking has NOT been banned in the UK! Docking may be done by a licensed veterinarian in that country.) http://www.pwccwr.org/pembrokehistory.html

Nope I say again this applies to all breeders and groups and indivuduales, it is almost an automatic response with different levels of severtity. Go look at Refferences require post. Just count the assumptions, count the negative thoughts or comments and note the general postion of judging the breeders motives and behaviours. When in fact we know nothing bad about the breeder who states she wants a referrence prior to handing someone a pup. Granted if you don't want to give a reference then go elsewhere where they do not ask, but there is no reason to bash the unknown breeder for wanting them. BTW if they said on their web site no referrences required, what would we say then about this breeder?? This is what I am talking about and it has nothing to do with just show breeders or any group of breeders, it seems just about everybody has to judge everybody about everything. On that note we should curtail this converstation..that was a joke.

I would just speak to them. I don't see it as awful, till you know what they want to know about you. If it feels uncomfortable just say thanks but no thanks. I would guess they are just trying to be careful to assure their pups have good homes and it is nothing more than that.

Appropriate word of the day. Curtail To cut short. We should curtail our visit and return home. Cur is an engish word that means dog, a working dog and usually depicted with a docked or bob tail in art work from the time. During the 10th century people could keep dogs but they had to be mutilated to they could not steel game from the royals. For small dogs they would have their feet mutilated. Livestock dogs would have their tails docked. They docked the tail as this would not interfere with their ability to work. Docking was known as Curtailing, to cut short the tail. Later they applied taxes to dog ownership, but curtailed dogs owned by farmers were exempt. I thought I read this history of docking was also true for gun and hunting dogs but could not find that said today. Perhaps someone else knows.

Bobtail lines do not, in themselves, have a gene for ARVC. And you could mate a NBT to a non BT from NBT lines without any fear of ARVC Boxerheart And you shouldn't have any trouble avoiding them, as all pedigrees in Aus are notated "NBT" where a bobtail appears in the pedigree, so if you can read a pedigree, you'll be right. Better than the rest of us. I don't want CM etc in my lines, so I have to work through lots of pedigrees without notations, to avoid those things Shortstep, the pedigrees are notated so the RSPCA doesn't drag the owner off, and presumably so that when the exhibition of docked dogs is forbidden, the owner can prove the dog is a NBT. I understand the other reason is that people who do not like the bobtail gene can avoid it more easily. I have no idea whether they are required to be DNA tested or not. I hadn't heard it was a requirement - but who knows? Ok just called the lab. Here's the story. Dog has tail = no bob tail gene. Dog has bob tail = dog has one bob tail gene. Dogs has 2 bob tail genes = he would not be alive. There is no such thing as a recessive gene for bob tail. There is no reason what so ever to test your dog to know the DNA status of the dog for bob tial gene, you know by looking at his tail (no gene) or bob tail (one gene). People test to prove they did not dock the tail, that is it the only reason. And thinking more about this, just because the parent/s was from dog with pedigree that goes back to bob tail dogs or even if they have an inherited bob tail, that alone would not prove that their pup's bob tail was inherited or docked. So I would think under the current tail docking ban, all dogs with inherited docked tails would still need the DNA test to prove it.

Like in the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog where long tail pups are only put on limited register????? Are they really? Do you know why they do this?