100 Years of Breed “Improvement”
Mus Musculus, Ph.D. / 2012/09/29
For the sake of honest disclosure, I will admit to owning “purebreds” (the ‘pureness’ of
purebreeds is a discussion for another time) but I also have mutts. All the dogs I’ve had since
childhood had a few things in common, they were crazy, prey driven, ball-crazy, intense,
motivated, athletic (crazy dogs are easier to train) and none had intentionally bred defects. I
would never buy/adopt a dog whose breed characteristics exacted a health burden.(Asher 2009).
That just incentivizes people to breed more of these intentionally unhealthy animals.
The dogs on the left are from the 1915 book, ‘Breeds of All Nations‘ by W.E. Mason. The
examples on the right are modern examples from multiple sources. To be able to make an honest
comparison, I’ve chosen pictures with similar poses and in a couple of cases flipped the picture
to get them both aligned in the same direction. I had to skip some breeds I wanted to include
because of the lack of detail in the older photographs.
It
seems incredible that at one time the Bull Terrier was a handsome, athletic dog. Somewhere
along its journey to a mutated skull and thick abdomen the bull terrier also picked up a number
of other maladies like supernumerary teeth and compulsive tail-chasing.
The Basset Hound has gotten lower, has suffered changes to its rear leg structure, has excessive
skin, vertebra problems, droopy eyes prone to entropion and ectropion and excessively large
ears.
A shorter face means a
host of problems. The modern Boxer not only has a shorter face but the muzzle is slightly
upturned. The boxer – like all bracecyphalic dogs – has difficulty controlling its temperature in
hot weather, the inability to shed heat places limits on physical performance. It also has one of
the highest cancer rates.
The English bulldog
has come to symbolize all that is wrong with the dog fancy and not without good reason; they
suffer from almost every possible disease. A 2004 survey by the Kennel Club found that they die
at the median age of 6.25 years (n=180). There really is no such thing as a healthy bulldog. The
bulldog’s monstrous proportions makes them virtually incapable of mating or birthing without
medical intervention.
The Dachshund
used to have functional legs and necks that made sense for their size. Backs and necks have
gotten longer, chest jutted forward and legs have shrunk to such proportions that there is barely
any clearance between the chest and floor. The dachschund has the highest risk of any breed for
intervertebral disc disease which can result in paralysis; they are also prone to achondroplastic
related pathologies, PRA and problems with their legs.
The German Shepherd
Dog is also a breed that is routinely mentioned when people talk about ruined breeds; maybe
because they used to be awesome. In Dogs of All Nations, the GSD is described as a mediumsized dog (25 kg /55 lb), this is a far cry from the angulated, barrel-chested, sloping back, ataxic,
85-pounders (38 kg) we are used to seeing in the conformation ring. There was a time when the
GSD could clear a 2.5 meter (8.5 ft) wall, that time is long gone.
The Pug is another
extreme brachycephalic breed and it has all the problems associated with that trait – high blood
pressure, heart problems, low oxygenation, difficulty breathing, tendency to overheat, dentition
problems, and skin fold dermatitis. The highly desirable double-curl tail is actually a genetic
defect, in more serious forms it leads to paralysis.
Once a noble working dog, the modern St. Bernard has been oversized, had it’s faced squished
in, and bred for abundant skin. You will not see this type of dog working, they can’t handle it as
they quickly overheat. The diseases include entropion, ectropion, Stockard’s paralysis,
hemophilia, osteosarcoma, aphakia, fibrinogen deficiency.
It is unrealistic to expect any population to be free of genetic diseases but show breeders have
intentionally selected for traits that result in diseases. Conformation breeders claim they are
improving the breed and yet they are often the cause of these problems. If “improvement” in
looks imposes a health burden then it is not a breed improvement..
No dog breed has ever been improved by the capricious and arbitrary decision that a
shorter/longer/flatter/bigger/smaller/curlier “whatever” is better. Condemning a dog to a lifetime
of suffering for the sake of looks is not an improvement; it is torture.
Further Reading
Dog Breed Historical Pictures.
REFERENCES
Asher L, Diesel G, Summers JF, McGreevy PD, Collins LM. (2009). Inherited defects in
pedigree dogs. Part 1: disorders related to breed standards. Vet J. 2009 Dec;182(3):402-11.