Westie - I won't get the programme here in Cyprus but have read quite a bit about it on this forum. I've just been reading her Blog where it states:

I wish more could be done for the discarded hunting dogs here - every year it's the same.

I have to say that almost ALL who disagree with the programme making comments on the blog come across as very nasty and callous individuals. Can't they see the further damage they are doing to their kind? By 'their kind' I assume them to be breeders and I am sure so does almost every other person reading what they write.

From my understanding the Flatcoat (like many other breeds) run ongoing health investigations, and collect DNA from ALL dogs that are put forward (not only those who are ill, or being used in the breeding programme) , I agree though collecting any date that no one wants or has any scheme set up, is useless.

But, if one is shouting from the pulpit about health and well being, one would expect said person to be leading from the front.

I have no idea if she does or does not, but my point is simply that if one is shouting the loudest, one should step up to the mark and contribute to the data collected.

I think many already do, at their own expense,

It has nothing to with with "having to agree" it more about wanting to do their bit for their breed!

I think that the fact that you have picked this up means that other people will as well.

It is a question of giving people enough rope to hang themselves.

rune

Do they?

I would be surprised at that---can you quote any figures? If not it is an interesting assumption.

I happen to think it is a wrong assumption but I also have no proof either way.

I also happen to think that if a breed is in such a bad way that it needs all the dogs to be tested for potentially painful/uncomfortable conditions (which was what the original post from Tarimore suggested) then maybe the breed should be allowed to die out so that no more dogs have to suffer.

rune

Yes! to the first highlighted, and I am not surprised at the second.

Can you find a reference please. If you can't then it is called an 'assumption'.

And I am not surprised after watching some breeders on the programme and reading some posts attacking the programme that some people consider 'the breed' more important than the pain individual dogs might go through.

rune

I dont believe it shared/showed anything new. Most was spoken about on the old show!

However, I do believe breeders such as the cav breeder that 'outted' the breeder/owner of the suffering cav, placed highly in the ring is JUST the type of breeder I respect..and its very sad to see her out casted for caring about the welfare of the breed.

I regardless of my opinion on JH feel that MANY breeders in and out of the show world are breeding for the wrong reasons..resulting in dogs suffering, and thats a great shame.

Of course the looks of the dogs is a factor, but its not the only factor in breeding well adjusted puppies..and the blame can not solely lie with those breeding for the ring...
MANY people own and breed pedigree dogs, alot who dont compete...

As for working bred KC dogs being healthier than the show bred dogs-it's not true as very very few breeders of working bred Gundogs, Hounds & Terriers do any testing, the only exceptions are the HPR breeds where there is no divide between working & show.


So if there are no divides between the working & show FCR breeders there will be no pure working bred ones will there ? so what I wrote does not apply to FCR are you trying to say that FCRs are typical of all Gundogs ie little divide between the types ? FCR are atypical if there is no divide, off the top of my head-Labradors, Golden Retrievers, ESS, Cocker Spaniels have huge divides between the working strain & the show dogs. These are the most common working gundog breeds are they not ?

Another breed I have personal experience of is the Clumber Spaniel-the working ones are totally different in outlook the show ones.

How many dual champion gundogs are there ?

So what you are saying is that there in no Narcolepsy in Labrador Retrievers anywhere in the world & whilst some scientist somewhere was doing genetic research they spotted the marker gene for Narcolepsy & thought ooo good lets do a test for this condition in Labradors ???

Sorry but DNA research doesn't work like that.

Put simply, the researchers are given DNA samples from a specific breed & from examining affected & non affected dogs DNA they look for a gene that is present in affected dogs & isn't in unaffected dogs & if found, they do more research into more DNA samples(this time it is blind research-ie they do not know if the donor is affected or not)looking for the same gene & if the results show that the gene is present in samples that turn out to be from affected dogs, then they are on their way to having a DNA test.

The test would not be developed if there were no dogs of the breed affected.

There is currently research being done into epilepsy in Border Collies/WSD at the AHT, they are gathering DNA samples of dogs some of which have epilepsy, the non affected dogs I thnk have to be over 7 years of age. If epilepsy didn't occur in BC/WSD they would not be doing the research