Pedigree Dogs Exposed
Pedigree dogs are suffering from genetic diseases following years of inbreeding, an investigation has found. A BBC documentary says they are suffering acute problems because looks are emphasised over health when breeding dogs for shows. The programme shows spaniels with brains too big for their skulls and boxers suffering from epilepsy. The Kennel Club says it works tirelessly to improve the health of pedigree dogs.
Pedigree animals make up 75% of the seven million dogs in the UK and cost their owners over £10m in vets’ fees each week. The programme, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, says dogs suffering from genetic illness are not prevented from competing in dog shows and have gone on to win “best in breed”, despite their poor health. It says physical traits required by the Kennel Club’s breed standards, such as short faces, wrinkling, screw-tails and dwarfism, have inherent health problems.
Other problems occur because of exaggerations bred into dogs by breeders trying to win rosettes, it adds. The programme shows a prize-winning cavalier King Charles spaniel suffering from syringomyelia, a condition which occurs when a dog’s skull is too small for its brain. It also features boxers suffering from epilepsy, pugs with breathing problems and bulldogs who are unable to mate or give birth unassisted.
It says deliberate mating of dogs which are close relatives is common practice and the Kennel Club registers dogs bred from mother-to-son and brother-to-sister matings. Scientists at Imperial College, London, recently found that pugs in the UK are so inbred that although there are 10,000 of them, it is the equivalent of just 50 distinct individuals. Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, said: “People are carrying out breeding which would be first of all entirely illegal in humans and secondly is absolutely insane from the point of view of the health of the animals. “In some breeds they are paying a terrible price in genetic disease.”
Watch the full documentary now (playlist)
Very interesting documentary and still heartbreaking! Poor animals! This Qualzucht (torture like inbreeding) must really be stopped! This is cruelty!
Maybe the Kennel Club should change the way it registers breeeds thereby discouraging this type of inbreeding.
The problem will solve itself when extreme economic hard times come along where where it’s too expensive to breed these sick dogs and “mass extinctions” of breeds happen.
I think it is immoral to breed dogs that you know will have genetic problems later in life. I’m afraid to get any pure bred dog now; but I am partial to the Bostons which is America’s equivelent to the most problematic breed.
It is sad what people would do for their selfish pleasure. Dogs should be enjoyed no matter how they look like. I have always disliked pugs, bulldogs and dogs with flat faces because they looked somehow weird to me – not like a dog. I have also wondered why some breeds have extremely short legs which just did not suit its body proportions. Wow, I guess, instictively I knew there was something wrong with the way they look! They were deformed all along! I guess if people love their dogs more than makeing money or getting honour off of them through these shows, they would morally do the right thing for man’s best friend!
I have a pretty hard stomach for some pretty disgusting aspects of human behavior but this video just about made me sick to my stomach. I watched it the entire way through, despite that, and I find it intriguing how they relate this topic to the holocaust.
I think the reason that this makes me more sick than the holocaust is that people as compared to dogs, are able to make their own decisions based on their willingness to see the truth or lack thereof in the world around them, they are able to overcome and see differences between right and wrong and to make a stand for them. Such as other countries had done in protest to the holocaust, for example. We cannot hold a dog on the same level of intelligence and understanding as a human. These animals cannot control what we make of them, what we do to them. They do not understand. There is such beauty in the way the world works and in how genetics work, how variety is indeed the spice of life. This documentary is heartbreaking.
I just love it when someone uses false statistics to “prove” a point they’re otherwise unable to make and the general public falls for it. To begin with, 75% of the animals in UK (and USA) are NOT purebred–they’re mutts. If 75% of them were purebred, pet owners would be screaming from the rooftops if this was so prevalent.
In the USA, 75-80% of the dogs in shelters are MUTTS, yet you constantly see “adopt a shelter dog because purebred breeders cause pet overpopulation”. What part of that makes any sense?
One day, you’ll wake up and discover what their true agenda was. In the words of Wayne Pacelle, Pres. of HSUS, “We have no problem with the extermination of domestic animals.” ‘One generation and out’–when they’re all spayed and neutered and the dog breeders who know what they’re doing are legislated out of business, good luck trying to find a dog for your child or grandchild. By then, it’ll be too damn late.
Oh, and that geneticist, Steve Jones? A real thinker, that fellow! About as logical as the Mad Hatter:
“It’s true. Females are taking over the world. And in the next few 100,000 years, men will be redundant. At least that’s what London geneticist Professor Steve Jones thinks.”
http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/s682518.htm
How many mixed breed dogs did you check for health problems? How many pure bred dogs were tested before you found the ones that have some major problems? Why did you not show healthy pure bred dogs, which by the way are the vast majority!! This show was so very slanted it should be considered total fiction!
So because Only Some pure bred dogs DO have Major Health Problems-due to the way pure breds are bred-it shouldn’t be recognized as an issue??? What is the price for beauty?
I’ve been fascinated and studying canine genetics for a decade now. While my interest has mainly been color genetics and my focus lies with German Shepherds I still have some knowledge of genetic disease. It is quite true that genetic disease is prevalant in all purebred dogs and no, it is not true that “mutts” are exempt from disease. However, since many diseases are the result of recessive genes and some are primarily exclusive to some breeds, there can be a lower instance of disease in mixed breed dogs.
That is not to say I am against breeding purebred dogs! I agree with the makers of this documentary in that more breeders need to do genetic testing to ensure they are not passing on deadly diseases and inheritable conditions to the next generation.
In my breed (German Shepherds) what the show breeders have done is nothing short of criminal. I live in the USA and wouldn’t purchase an American Show Lines GSD if somebody paid me to take it. My female GSD that I hope to breed someday is out of German working lines and has correct structure. However she would NEVER win in the AKC show ring for that reason!!
Darlene: If you know, what breed of dog is the least likely to have genetic disorders and is still good with kids? I know that there are no “sure bets” but what are some good contenders. I like Bostons, but I’ve heard they are the most likely to get sick of all the American breeds. What about Retrievers? Labs?
Those who posted negative comments might be a little sensitive and not seeing that the producers of this documentary is just trying to show a problem that is happening that very little of the population even consider.
I have purebred dogs and specifically my Maltese has a highly sensitive stomach. In the natural world of survival of the fittest, she would certainly not survive, but yet we breed these dogs to fit our purely selfish needs. There are bound to be those who take that ‘privilege’ to extremes and think that dogs should be made a certain way. Not all breeders are like this but those who are and who have control of others perceptions must be made aware of the harm that are being caused. There are breeders who only do this for the money and status which is a shame. But then there are those who do it for their love of a specific breed and may not even consider how in-bred a dog could be.
One thing I know for sure after watching this, now there is more reason for owners like me to switch to adoption of mutts at pounds in the future, in fact even a handicapped animal if we can, unless a specific need is required… i.e. working dogs for the disabled or what not. I love all dogs for what they are, faithful companions that rarely have any intention of hurting us, while we manipulate them for purely selfish reasons.
I see dog breeds similar to the way I see people. Though we have many races we are all human. Though they are many breeds, they are all dogs.
This show just proves to show that the Kennel Club, like other standards creating organizations, can be very flawed. There’s always room for improvement. Showing dogs in their version of beauty pageants can be just as harmful as showing skinny girls on catwalks. None of those models are ever models of HEALTH. There are bound to be unintended negative effects.
I do praise those breeders who make sure to go out of their way to treat their dogs with love and respect. I hope by viewing this documentary those good breeders out there keep tabs on what NOT to do as what else they could be doing to improve the health of the dogs they love.
After watching this documentary, it has made me see that the human desire to be perfect has been distorted into something that really is sad. I was totally oblivious to this issue. It didn’t cross my mind and to be honest i think it doesn’t enters peoples minds. I owned a pedigree english bull terrier. Now that i think about it, he did have quite a few health problems and now i think about it, it makes me sad because i loved him so much.
This documentary is great because it exposes the issues and hopefully dog breeders will see it through proven science that things are going wrong quickly for pedigree breeds in the dog showing world. When they talked about culling ridgeback pups for having no ridge, i almost wanted to vomit!!
Thank you to the people involved for making this doco because now i’m more informed than i was before. I’ve been thinking about buying a new dog and i’m definitely getting a MONGREL.
This is a film everyone should see. Having had or known several of the breeds shown, it helps me understand why they didn’t “rise” to the breed “standard.” My basset hound couldn’t walk for more than 3 blocks. The pug couldn’t catch her breath after a short walk and was unable to withstand heat or cold. My sister’s English lab has had 3 major surgeries for hip and elbow problems.
It saddens me that breeders (and I’m not even talking puppy mill types) are intentionally breeding closely related animals and animals that are known to have genetic diseases. If these are people creating puppies they love, then they certainly would want the healthiest litters possible. So why not test for genetic problems BEFORE their dogs are allowed to mate? The Kennel Club could register only litters whose parents have been tested and shown to be free of genetic diseases…. and if they’re not, the puppies would not be registered and therefore ineligible for shows.
We have a 10 year old, mixed shepherd. He closely resembles his ancestor, the wolf. He’s never had a sick day in his life and can almost outrun the rabbits and squirrels. And yes, as I look back, every “mutt” we’ve had (many) has been pretty darn healthy.
Thanks to the BBC for a really eye-opening documentary.
I showed purebred dogs for more than 23 years. I gave it up 14 years ago, and do not miss it. I was “successful”, producing some lovely show wins, and required spay/neuter contracts on every animal I sold. However, this documentary only touches the tip of the iceberg on the Purebred Dog World. (Bluntly, it’s about spending money. The more you spend the bigger the win). As a magazine editor I interviewed numerous purebred dog breeders over the years and asked one specific question of them all: “If you have to choose between health and “show” quality, which are you going to breed for?” and Never did a single (Top of the group) breeder ever say that health was their first criteria. They don’t mind at all surgically correcting a poor tail carriage, for example, and I’ve actually heard so-called intelligent people claim that the puppies wouldn’t exhibit that *** tail, since “the sire has his surgically fixed”. It’s disgusting. The people who are posting against this documentary know nothing about genetics and more importantly, they do NOT want to learn anything.
After I left the dog show world, an old friend told me that it was her opinion that dog showing was the last step before committing suicide: when a person has failed at absolutely everything else: Show dogs. Sadly, that’s a TRUTH. I’ve witnessed countless marriages break up over The Dogs, and children abandoned by their crazed dog show addicted parent(s). I know of one toy judge who’s CHILD died because the mom was busy preparing for a circuit.
No more. Dogs are pets, but if they aren’t healthy first, they are only Profit. Shame on those of you who can’t see that.
What astounds me is that breeders can claim to care about their dogs, yet deny the suffering incured from thoughtless breeding.
Exactly why designer breeding is NOT a bad idea. IF I can get a healthy AKC mutt, over a ill pure AKC, the mutt wins.
I have a four year old dog with Epilepsy, so I can totally empathise with these owners. His father was a champion, and he inherited from both his parents.
Since this was aired, his father was mysteriously withdrawn from studwork and neutered.
Funny that.
I also had a pedigree lab, and a mongrel, both of which lived long, and happy lives
For those who deny Darwinian theories, this should be useful. What’s going on here is unnatural selection and it’s setting up an unsustainable survival of the least fit. Bred for appearance, not purpose. Extinction is next. I cannot understand what some of these folk think they’re doing. I find certain dogs: pugs, mastiffs, bulldogs,, even German Shepherds, sadly repugnant. They look wrong in a sick & twisted way.
i just spent $ 3000 on vet bills this week because my 2 year old dog started having seizures…
I agree with Charles B. and Susan.
Barbara Haines is totally blinkered on this issue. Only a few breeders will be affected, the main target is the standard.
Spaying and neutering prevents millions of painful and cruel deaths of animals a year. She doesn’t care, so long as there is a ready supply of dogs. Pet shops should be regulated, too many of them sell unhealthy animals at inflated prices.
Dog shows should be judged on vet health reports of the dog and its ancestors, as well as temperament, not appearance.
1st, they are comparing breeding dogs to human eugentics. that’s absurd.
2nd, people can look down their nose at at breeders, but until they start demanding more they won’t get more. That means, don’t buy from pet shops. And don’t just go to a breeder, go to one who has their dogs genetically tested for health and temperment etc. Don’t like inbreeding? ask to see the pedigree.
There are good breeders and bad breeders, don’t we think it’s up to us to know what we are buying~!
its cruel and barbaric the people responsible for this treatment should not be allowed to have animals
i think they should also be ‘disciplined’
ultimate selfishness
As a veterinary nurse who works in the emergency and critical care medicine in canada. I can whole heartedly agree with this documentary. In regard to Barbara Haines comment, it is infact, factual. 90% of the patients I see with critical illness, are in my hospital. My three dogs are purebred and I have them due to their owners being unable to cope with their genetic problems. And even so called good breeders have reoccurring animals in the bloodline one generation apart.
I began searching for a dialogue on this issue of my own accord, after seeing a basic Dogs 101 program on the bulldog. It occurred to me, when they explained that breeds with this shape of face have difficulty breathing, that something was terribly wrong.
It took me a while to find any sort of dialogue on the issue, because it’s largely not recognized as an issue at all. The status quo is so firmly imbedded that no one thinks twice about what we’re REALLY doing to these dogs. Heads too small for their brains, faces so smushed that they struggle to breathe every day of their lives, twisted spines, and hounds with legs so short they can hardly walk…what the hell are we doing?!
Allowing breeding like this to continue is the direct perpetuation of suffering. I will certainly never be able to watch another dog show (not that they’re that interesting in the first place). I do wonder if America has any better standards.
Even though I volunteer with a dog rescue organization, I had always considered breeders an acceptable alternative. It appears this is not so. People, if you want a dog: Adopt one. There are millions of dogs who are already here and looking for homes, plus your money won’t be going to support future generations of inbred suffering puppies by irresponsible breeders.
@Dottie
Did you actually watch this at all? In the case of the ridgeback for example, the breed standard is sutch that only the unhealthy animals are bread from. The healthy pups are killed. Prize winning animals are allowed to have any number of deformities. It is the norm, and infact actively encouraged that these breeds be unhealthy so long as they fit some archaic rulebook. And yes, of course desease and deformaty will always occur even in mutts, but the very nature of purebreads means that the gene pool has to become more and more restricted, concentrating the number of these defects to dangerous levels. In some cases these defects are even part of the breed, the distinctive look of the dachshund and basset hound is infact due to a form of dwarfism common also to humans. Eventually it will come to a point whare either every animal is infertile or the level of deformaty is so high that they all are afflicted by so many crippling illnesses you wont be able to keep them alive long enough to breed.
@knightrider
I wholeheartedly agree. Some of these poor dogs to me look like something out of a nightmare. If any of these breeders were to have a child with just a few of the problems a pug or bulldog have to live with I doubt they would be anything but devastated.
cosmetic facelift is very wrong on dogs.. seriously
This “documentary”, if you can call it that, had an purpose- to push the extreme Animal Rights agenda that wants all animals illegal to own. They gave out incorrect info and padded the film to their ends. There has been an uproar against this film, yet the CKC has to put it on, probably to increase their tumbling ratings. What better for ratings, then accusation, sensationalism, and mud slinging.
Every living thing, whether purebred or not, has health issues. The good thing with purebred dogs is that we can follow these problems and take steps over a long period of time to decrease them and/or eliminate them. Our breed has started a registry of information to begin the process of providing more information to breeders. And yes, more needs to be done, but that will take time and coordination. Technology has much to offer dog breeders, and over time, changes will be forthcoming to the benefit of breeders, their dogs, and owners alike. Given that ethical breeders don’t get rich on breeding, this will take time, and as usual, much volunteer work on the part of the dog fancy.
The Animal Rights people are great a criticizing, but have no intention to aid. They are always looking for the boogy-man and when he isn’t found, they create him out of any bits and pieces they can find. Then they call themselves the savours of dogs against the bad breeder. This is the same tactics that the vets have used . Rather than looking at their own unethical practices, like housing dogs for their vets to practice on and then destroying the dogs when they are finished, they want to blame ethical breeders for this, that, and the other thing.
The vets see nothing wrong with going beyond their knowledge base and have started throwing accusations at breeders when they know nothing about many breeds of dogs in the first place. They don’t consult to increase their information, they have created an arm of the Animal Rights groups such as Peta and HSUS and undertaken to take on issues they have little information about. They think they were so highly educated that they are qualified to comment on things d without doing their homework.
Our family has diabetes, back problems, knee problems and heart problems. That is life; every family has genetic problems. The good thing about purebreds is that it offers us a way to track and try to prevent problems, something that is impossible with mutts and people.
Instead of going after back yard breeds, these people go after the only group that has organized to try to improve the quality of their animals.