Just yesterday I met one of these “designer breeds.” A neighbor and I were out walking and saw a dog that looked sort of like a Bernese Mountain Dog, but not really. I guessed BMD??? and my neighbor guessed “some sort of doodle.”
When we met up with the dog and his owner we admired him and asked his breed.
“Berniedoodle.”
Yay we were both right.
He looked sort of like a caricature of a BMD. Maybe a child’s rendition of one. Or a stuffed toy come to life.
That said, he was very quiet and friendly and well behaved.
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I find it interesting that with most of these crosses, I cant see what the advantage is over either parent breed. Often both sides are hairy, or big, or very active. Or worse, have the same health issues.
With horses I can understand the thinking of more of the intentional crosses - adding a bit of bone, or a quieter temperament, for example.
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Breeding responsibly does come with extra expenses. I just got my Cardigan Welsh corgi’s OFA hips done for her second birthday. This was around $200. I still have to do genetic testing which could cost $50-150, depending on how many tests I want done. Then the breeding is going to be done long distance via cooled semen AI. Not sure how much all that is going to take out of my pocket book, but it doesn’t come cheap. Moxie will be bred to Aramis, a grand champion sometime in the next year.
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But most of these only have to be done once. They are typically less than the cost of even one puppy from one litter. So, in the general scheme of things, they are pretty small compared to other costs - especially putting titles on a dog.
I would support pet quality breeders who did not put titles on their dogs (or, at least, not conformation titles) because that can be extremely expensive and don’t necessarily make a dog a “good pet.” But there is absolutely no excuse for not doing basic health testing. And certainly not for any “breeder” selling puppies for $1K or more.
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Eeek. I saw one Facebook comment asking if they check hips, eyes, etc. and they straight up said “We don’t do any certifications”. Hopefully some potential buyers took note of that…
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I guess I am glad they were honest and did not try to twist things to make it sound like they were doing stuff they were not.
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Most dog breeds are highly inbred.
Study suggests inbreeding contributes to increase in disease and health care costs
Date: December 2, 2021
Source:University of California - Davis
Summary:The majority of dog breeds are highly inbred, contributing to an increase in disease and health care costs throughout their lifespan, according to new research.
Dog breeds are often recognized for distinctive traits – the short legs of a dachshund, wrinkled face of a pug, spotted coat of a Dalmatian. Unfortunately, the genetics that give various breeds their particular attributes are often the result of inbreeding.
In a recent study published in Canine Medicine and Genetics, an international team of researchers led by University of California, Davis, veterinary geneticist Danika Bannasch show that the majority of canine breeds are highly inbred, contributing to an increase in disease and health care costs throughout their lifespan.
“It’s amazing how inbreeding seems to matter to health,” Bannasch said. “While previous studies have shown that small dogs live longer than large dogs, no one had previously reported on morbidity, or the presence of disease. This study revealed that if dogs are of smaller size and not inbred, they are much healthier than larger dogs with high inbreeding.”
Inbreeding affects health
The average inbreeding based on genetic analysis across 227 breeds was close to 25%, or the equivalent of sharing the same genetic material with a full sibling. These are levels considered well above what would be safe for either humans or wild animal populations. In humans, high levels of inbreeding (3-6%) have been associated with increased prevalence of complex diseases as well as other conditions.
“Data from other species, combined with strong breed predispositions to complex diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, highlight the relevance of high inbreeding in dogs to their health,” said Bannasch, who also serves as the Maxine Adler Endowed Chair in Genetics at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
The researchers partnered with Wisdom Health Genetics, a world leader in pet genetics, to obtain the largest sample size possible for analysis. Wisdom Health’s database is the largest dog DNA database in the world, helping researchers collect data from 49,378 dogs across 227 breeds – primarily from European sources.
Some breeds more inbred
So, what makes a dog breed more inbred than others? Bannasch explained that it’s often a combination of a small founding population followed by strong selection for particular traits in a breed – often based on looks rather than purpose. While she has always had an interest in the population structure of some of these breeds, she became particularly interested in the Danish-Swedish farmdog several years ago. She fell in love with their compact size, disposition and intelligence, and ended up importing one from Sweden.
Bannasch discovered that Danish-Swedish farmdogs have a low level of inbreeding based on their history of a relatively large founding population of 200, and being bred for function, rather than a strong artificial selection for looks. And according to the insurance health data on breeds collected from Agria Insurance Sweden and hosted online by the International Partnership for Dogs, the farmdog is one of the healthiest breeds. The study also revealed a significant difference in morbidity between brachycephalic (short skull and snout) and non-brachycephalic breeds. While that finding wasn’t unexpected, the researchers removed brachycephalic breeds from the final analysis on effects of inbreeding on health.
Preserving genetic diversity
In the end, Bannasch said she isn’t sure there is a way out of inbred breeds. People have recognized that creating matches based solely on pedigrees is misleading. The inbreeding calculators don’t go back far enough in a dog’s genetic line, and that method doesn’t improve overall high levels of population inbreeding.
There are other measures that can be taken to preserve the genetic diversity and health of a breed, she said. They include careful management of breeding populations to avoid additional loss of existing genetic diversity, through breeder education and monitoring of inbreeding levels enabled by direct genotyping technologies.
Outcrosses are being proposed or have already been carried out for some breeds and conditions as a measure to increase genetic diversity, but care must be taken to consider if these will effectively increase overall breed diversity and therefore reduce inbreeding, Bannasch said. In particular, in the few breeds with low inbreeding levels, every effort should be made to maintain the genetic diversity that is present.
Other UC Davis authors include Thomas Famula, Kevin Batcher, Noa Safra, Sara Thomasy and Robert Rebhun. Contributors from Wisdom Health Genetics include Jonas Donner, Heidi Anderson and Leena Honkanen.
This work was supported by the International Canine Health Award and the Maxine Adler Endowed Chair Fund.
University of California - Davis. “Most dog breeds highly inbred: Study suggests inbreeding contributes to increase in disease and health care costs.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 December 2021. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211202162148.htm>.
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I would suggest that the whole (Dog Showing) business should change. It makes absolutely no sense to breed dogs for the way they look. It would help if it followed the practices of modern warmblood breeding.
Inspections and tests BEFORE being admitted into stud books, and valued for their ability to PERFORM.
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I belive that prior to their inclusion in the AKC studbook, this is how Jack Russell terriers were bred.
Well, in theory, the form and function are connected. The issue is obviously that if the function is “lap dog” it allows for all kinds of strange conformations, like a Pekinese.
There is no reasonable way to have inspections done for dogs, though. Too many dogs out there, and the price of a puppy never would cover the cost of actual inspections being done.
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Some breeds maintain their own registries and can create any kind of rule to be admitted. I think Border Collies also have their own register and it did not include a very specific conformation standard.
Interesting comments in your article regarding inbreeding in many popular breeds.
This agrees with information provided when I had my rescued German Shepherd DNA tested through Embark.
They periodically send you notices of ‘relatives’ of your dna’ed dog and I’ve probably received a couple dozen of fairly close relatives. Each “close relative” has had from 35% to 45% of same
DNA as my dog meaning I suppose that way back they all had some common relatives.
At least that’s how Embark explains it.
Nowadays, Border Collies have basically two schools - the AKC club that allows confirmation titles and the ABCA really does not so that the focus is entirely on working dogs. It’s rather heated from what I’ve heard (some sheltie friends have gotten BCs to work the big fields)
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Yes, and it is why there is sometimes a fair amount of difference in appearance between field-bred and show-bred BCs. Some field-bred BCs are somewhat slight in build and and have a more pointed muzzle and prick ears (almost fox-like in appearance), while show-bred BCs frequently have a bit more bone and substance and a type that is more similar to a Australian Shepherd.
(Or so says a friend whose FIL has bred “working” BCs for 10-15 years now.)
I went on their regular website and can’t seem to find what a “Newdle” is. I assumed it was a Newfoundland/poodle, but all they mention are golden, lab and bernie doodles and mini poodles. The subtitle to the webpage says “Newdles Poodles and Doodles”. Any insight?
Why would anyone want to name their kennel after Michael Jackson’s kiddie-fiddler ranch?
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Yes, Knubbsy is correct. Traditionally, a Border collie was a Border collie based on the style of herding. The ABCA’s goal is to preserve this.
My first Border collie was a big, rough-coated dog, but she learned to do an outrun, sort cattle, hold, and drive in an afternoon. She was like a good cutting horse. This is what the ABCA is trying to preserve.
My second Border collie was a beauty queen. She looked like the AKC breed standard. We got her for free because she was too high-strung and impulsive for ranch work. She would not have passed a performance test.
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I believe that the farmers who use BC as working dogs still prefer not to sell pups to non-working homes. They are not suitable pets in the average home: too clever, too energetic. I always have a faint niggle of worry when I see a BC on a leash walking along an urban street.
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Neverland was actually from Peter Pan way before Michael Jackson.
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