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Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

ucdavis.edu

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Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#91

Post by drakonka »

JadoJodo wrote: post #76

I've often wondered why breeders don't do more cross-breeding across areas. Travel time aside, I think it would be a good investment into what is literally a business. e.g. If I'm a Border Collie breeder in Nevada, I could meet up with another Border Collie breeder in Arizona or Idaho and do an "exchange". While this does water down the lines, as each breed is probably generally in the top-tier form of whatever they'…

I think the problem for now is more pronounced with dogs than cats, but I just checked my Maine Coon breeder's site. Out of their two current litters, only one is from one of their own cats; two are from other breeders in the same country, and one is from Holland. On their planned litter page, only two cats out of six are from their own lines. The rest are from other Swedish lines, Holland, and Italy. I think responsible breeders do already do this. I worry that as cat breeding progresses, standards will slip like they have with so many dog breeds. It's already started with some breeds.

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#92

Post by latchkey »

NDizzle wrote: post #40

Hopefully less inbreeding is one of the positive outcomes of the current "designer mutt" fad. I was thinking about this the other day actually...

This should be the top comment. I don't fault people who do get designer dogs, but I just got a "covid rescue" dog... a 5 year old something or another and given all the amazing dogs that need happy homes, I can't imagine buying a specially bred dog.

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#94

Post by pessimizer »

h2odragon wrote: post #44
resters wrote: post #28

It's sort of strange that everyone thinks that an aggressive eugenics program for animals is completely normal and morally acceptable (just because it's been going on for a long time). In my opinion, purchasing a purebred pet is cringeworthy at best.

Eugenics gave us much better cows, pigs and chickens. We've continued that to freakish levels in some instances. You morals are your own; mine are just fine with short lived chickens and $2/lb chicken breast. The angus and longhorn enthusiasts better police some of their nuts or they're gonna get the Aurochs back.

The purpose of dog breeding isn't health or usefulness, it's to match a picture and description.

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#95

Post by an1sotropy »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #61

I resent the idea of some third party organization setting the standard for whether my dogs are an official breed or not. So I've been making up breeds whenever people ask. My current dog, Eloise, is fairly obviously a mutt with a lot of St. Bernard and a lot of Great Pyrenees. So when people ask I say, "Oh, she's a new breed that people are calling St. Pyrenees. Her ancestors included some Great Pyrenees and some St…

This is a great! We have a rescue dog picked off the streets of Stewart, FL (near West Palm Beach), so I say "oh he's a West Palm Beach Itinerant". People who take breeds seriously get confused, everyone else has a laugh.

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#96

Post by bluedevil2k »

f6v wrote: post #72

Dog breeding is mostly a net-negative for the society. Kind of like jewelry and luxury cars.

What a negative and downright wrong thing to say. Dog owners are happier and healthier than non-dog owners.

https://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4870796/dog-o...

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#97

Post by djsbs »

f6v wrote: post #72

Dog breeding is mostly a net-negative for the society. Kind of like jewelry and luxury cars.

This seems like a judgement call from someone who doesn't understand any of the three topics and therefore sees only the negatives.

As an example, dog breeding which I know least of the three topics, provided society (the object in your sentence) with very specific work dogs that have served society for centuries. Imagine the Inuit without their sled dogs.

Jewelry and luxury cars are easier to justify, but Im so bewildered I’ll just ask “what problem you can possibly have with luxury cars and jewelry?”

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#98

Post by etempleton »

h2odragon wrote: post #4

Going on 30 years, I have had a pack of working hounds, usually from 4 to 12 strong. We have rural land surrounded by large plots of more rural land, 4,000 acres+ of tree farm and private hunting preserve, so our hounds are necessary for keeping coyotes and etc off livestock and other pets. In that time we've had many litters of puppies, usually trading them with neighbors to improve the local landrace and pass aroun…

We had a Beagle, or perhaps Beagle x similar hound (it was on the upper end of size for a beagle). I loved him, but he was a psychopath while also being the smartest dog I have ever had. I firmly believe some of the smartest dogs are some of the least trainable.

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#99

Post by takk309 »

323 wrote: post #32

I vaguely remember reading that if you randomly bred dogs they slowly revert back to the "original" kind (strays). Is that true?

That does bring up a good question, if one were to breed dogs at random from a very large pool of dogs, how many generations would it take to revert to a wolf-like dog? Of course some care would be needed to ensure the dogs were a compatible size, that is no St. Bernards crossed with corgis. For the sake of argument let's say 1,000 randomly selected medium (30 to 70 pounds) dogs as the initial pool and taking care to avoid inbreeding at least 5 generations back.

Re: Study: Most Dog Breeds Highly Inbred

#100

Post by ok_dad »

pimlottc wrote: post #85
bArray wrote: post #25

This is well known. Sometimes people breed the grandfather with the bitch or even the father. I think 'Pedigree certificates' has a lot to answer for in this regard. It doesn't encourage any kind of genetic diversity and people are actively discouraged and punished for trying to introduce new blood into lines. Another group to blame are 'puppy farms', people who breed merely to make money and take no responsibility f…

> Generally you want your dog to be smart enough to read your queues and work around you I think you mean "cues" here. For reading queues, a rabbit is more popular.

> For reading queues, a rabbit is more popular.

I chuckled and woke my wife, thanks a lot!

Reference for those who don't get it: https://www.rabbitmq.com/

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