The Unnatural Pursuit of Perfection in Dog Breeding
by Nancy Hopkins

I think we can find a dog that "seems" to be free of genetic
problems, but actually finding a genetically perfect individual would
be highly unlikely. Living organisms are far too complex to expect
them to be perfect. When it comes to popular sires, I think the
problem is not so much what overt problems this animal may be
carrying, but what is covert. A dog may be bred to twenty different
bitches and produce no discernible genetic problems, but this does
not necessarily mean that the dog is free of disease causing genes.
The dog may be carrying one or more recessive genes for diseases that
are very very rare in a particular population. These genes by virtue
of over use of the sire will have just become far less rare. One may
not see the impact of a popular sire until several generations down
the line when his descendants who are carriers are mated with other
descendents who are also carriers. This would be especially true if
the problem gene is linked in some way to some admirable
characteristics the popular sire possessed. I suppose it could also
be a problem more quickly in those kennels that inbreed on the
popular sire. Of course there are the late onset problems, threshold
problems and problems that have incomplete penetrance, which might
not show up in a recognizable way until generations later.

Also, the popular sire may not carry any horrific or even minor
genetic disease, but may carry a heavy load of minor vigor reducing
genes which could later cause more severe inbreeding depression
should I choose to inbreed on this dog. These too can become more
frequent in the population and at the very worse eventually cause the
overall vigor of the breed to decrease.

The belief that a dog can be perfect is IMHO what drives many
breeding decisions I witness. It goes hand in hand with the belief
that one can scrub a gene pool until it is clean of all traces of
genetic imperfection. Such beliefs allow us to feel safe in spreading
rumors about an animal who is found to have a genetic problem (or a
breeder who produced such an animal). It is this belief that allows
people to feel justified in removing any animal with a defect from
the gene pool because only perfect specimens need apply. It also can
cause people to deny the possibility that a genetic disease showed up
in a supposedly perfect sire's offspring. If a dog can be perfect,
and you have had the insight to discover him, then any problems that
show up must be either environmentally caused or the fault of the
bitch. One would need absolute proof that a problem is genetic before
acting on it because to act without absolute proof would be
prematurely admitting that this perfect sire is not perfect. It is
the belief in the perfection of a favored sire that drives the laws
of secrecy that so pervades the dog breeding community. One must
maintain the illusion of perfection at all costs or endanger
the "reputation" of the cherished sire.

It is the belief in the perfect organism that leads people to be so
horrified by the diversity message. After all, by following diversity
breeding tenants one would automatically be breeding imperfect
animals, and spreading imperfect genes throughout the gene pool,
thereby tainting it. The belief, as it has been explained to me over
and over again, is that through in/linebreeding one can find
the "bad" genes and get rid of them. In/linebreeding is therefore the
only way to maintain or achieve perfection. In this mind set,
diversity is irresponsible.

We need to always keep in mind that no organism is perfect. No matter
how perfect an organism seems to be, it will always be carrying some
imperfect baggage.

Copyright © 2001 by Dog Breeders Guild.