Pedigree dogs exposed day 4
I thought I was angry at the KC. Then I read Terrierman, one of the best bloggers in America.
It's probably just as well there's an ocean between him and Clarges Street!
I'd heard that Ms Kisko had discounted all sorts of health probs to get to her 90% of pedigree dogs are healthy figure that she trotted out on every media interview she did.
It would seem that when in a tight corner saying something to get you out of it can come back to haunt you. Although Terrierman seems to have other ideas of how to bring home the suffering of our dogs.
I'd like to make it very clear I would not wish the same pain and suffering of eye problems, hip or knee surgery on anyone - even Ms Kisko although she must believe they'd not be very debilitating or else why did she discount them from her figures?
Click here for a link - really they need to face the probems and react. This is just making them look not bumbling but something a whole lot more sinister.
It's probably just as well there's an ocean between him and Clarges Street!
I'd heard that Ms Kisko had discounted all sorts of health probs to get to her 90% of pedigree dogs are healthy figure that she trotted out on every media interview she did.
It would seem that when in a tight corner saying something to get you out of it can come back to haunt you. Although Terrierman seems to have other ideas of how to bring home the suffering of our dogs.
I'd like to make it very clear I would not wish the same pain and suffering of eye problems, hip or knee surgery on anyone - even Ms Kisko although she must believe they'd not be very debilitating or else why did she discount them from her figures?
Click here for a link - really they need to face the probems and react. This is just making them look not bumbling but something a whole lot more sinister.
Comments
Mutthouse xx
I'd call Caroline Kisko an uncaring bitch if it didn't give female dogs a bad name.
I reckon Mark Evans, chief vet for the RSPCA, along with our Beverley & a few other intelligent, caring people could turn the KC round.
Something drastic needs to happen soon.
If the KC are going to keep pushing their '90% are healthy' line then, apart from ignoring hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, patellar luxation, atopy and a variety of inherited cancers, they presumably also believe that every single walking example of the bulldog, pug and peke are 'healthy'...
Which goes a long way to explaining the current state of british dogs.
All that said, we do need to work with them, not against them - and it seems to me there are two areas that need urgent attention.
1 - the re-writing of breed standards away from extremes and back towards a physiognomy that supports health, rather than supporting chronic ill-health.
2 - an immediate drive towards increased genetic diversity in every single breed. Malcolm Willis said in Dogs Today that the Coefficient of Inbreeding shouldn't be greater than 10%. A genetics populations expert speaking at a recent breed congress, said we should be aiming for 2-3%. That'll take time, but we need the education to start now - this isn't about winning arguments, particularly, it's about changing the atmosphere.
Breeders tend to think that 'if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got' - which is NOT the case in dog breeding. If we keep reducing genetic diversity at the current rate, we're heading for mass extinction - this is *not* an exaggeration.
so we need education at breed level of breeders and the lay public to stop believing that 'line breeding' is useful.
to that end, the KC could easily publish on line databases of pedigrees for each breed *together with* software that allows the calculation of CoI in any anticipated mating. They could publish the results of all tests done and refuse to register litters from dogs that fail those tests.
Finally, they could instigate the '7 year rule' where stud dogs may only be used when over 7 years old and then only to limited numbers of bitches.
it'd be a start
go for it, Beverley. You can make this happen!
Manda Scott
I would love to know: are any breeders breeding back to any of our island breeds orginal form? I know, of course, that you would eventually end up with a cousin of the wolf but what that be such a bad thing?
Brown beardies are beautiful!! I found this out as I was after Beardie no2 and to find a brown one was so difficult. My lovely breeder who bred our puppy, told me about this, which is a real shame as she agreed Browns were so striking.
And the brown would make you less aware of the mud they collect...... :-)
thanks
Manda
She wrote very sensible and reasoned letters to the KC asking for these working Beardies to be included - but they declined - so she's carrying on regardless.
There are pockets of people working Beardies still. Most of the brighter conventional Beardies I have owned have still had great natural working ability, and from the pet people I've heard from who have Lynne's Beardies temperament doesn't seem to be a problem with them either.
I was always told teh way Beardies work is different than Borders and that their purpose was more to drove ong distances bringing the sheep/cattle to market often long distances away from the hills. They'd be expected to catch their won dinner as well as work unsupervised when needed.
One of my old Beardies when I was kid was super bright, he would catch rabbits without a problem if he felt like it but he'd also dig up carrots and watch the berries ripen and then eat those, too. He could open any door and was such a character. I think that was the kind of qualities that made the Beardies worthwhile for the farmers - dogs that could think for themselves, but were tremendously loyal and fun to have around. That dog had such a sense of humour. Making me smile remembering him now.