Ahhh, one of the favorites for the backyard breeders and designer breeders in my area—purebreds and ‘cutesy’ crosses—Cavapoo, anyone? I’m sure that THEY take into consideration the ‘too large brain for the skull’ when breeding THEIR dogs… /s
I started reading this last night and stayed up way too late to finish. Hubby and I are down to one dog currently, she looks exactly like a black mouth cur but I’m sure she’s probably a pit mix of some sort. She’s a lovely dog but definitely neurotic. She was a roadside dump that we took in 11 years ago. The dogs that she grew up with were my husband’s chocolate lab (wonderful dog, unpapered, unwanted at 18mos old by his original family) and a “teacup” yorkie rescue (backyard breeder had him as a stud in a horrible situation, he was close to death when we got him) that was almost assuredly a high percentage of chihuahua. The yorkie had a stroke and passed at 13 years old in 2020, the lab was humanely let go last year at 14 due to cancer.
Hubby and I have been looking for our next furry family member. We work long hours currently, although my job is transitioning to remote. We have been told by so many people to get an Aussie, a GSD, another lab, a heeler, a dane, etc etc etc. This is from people who know our lifestyle. Who know that we have a toddler grandson who is with us a lot. People who know that we’re wanting a low maintenance, laid back family dog. The constant barrage (and FB tags) of dogs that are everything we don’t want or need is amazing. This is where IMO buyer responsibility comes in. If we chose a dog that was a bad fit for our family then that’s on us.
I grew up with lovely cocker spaniels and we had dalmatians when we were a younger couple. I don’t know what we’ll end up with next, but our goal is to look for the individual dog that suits us, be that purebred or mixed.
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That’s a gross oversimplification of syringomyelia.
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those experiences pretty much define ANYONE who is breeding animals for sale. It’s not like HYPP was openly talked about either. And not for ONE RED HOT SECOND do I think designer breeders are some how majikally exempt from this trait. So your point, while absolutely true, is just an observation about the nature of humans rather than some sage advice abut one type of dog breeder.
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Totally agree with this.
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for a vet - probably quite crude, but… off the cavalier king charles club page a cut and paste quote…
SM occurs when a Cavalier is born with not enough room in the space in the skull that contains the back of the brain. Damage is caused when fluid (CSF) surrounding the brain is forced through a smaller than normal opening, into the spinal cord.
so in the crudest sense… brain too big for the skull; watched a TV show (again, maybe not expert on the TV) that described it as a result of breeding for the dome shape of the head. I have no idea if that is true either… just that this purebred is getting very bad press over this…
That is a political issue – the AKC is famous ruiner of working ability, and the Jack people fought to keep their breed out of it. They won to the extent that AKC couldn’t use their name. Hence the Parson Russell. The Border Collie people lost their hard-fought war to keep their name out of the AKC, sadly.
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I don’t think it is caused by breeding for a shape, but by a genetic mutation in an inbred population. I haven’t followed it but there are a lot of breeds with domey heads.
That was my understanding of it, as well. Many years ago now, a working JRT breeder was a client of the clinic I worked at.
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AND the Russell Terrier. (I believe the difference is that the Parson Russell Terriers are longer-legged.)
This was an interesting article on a breeding ban on bulldogs in Norway. I never knew that Dalmatians were crossed with pointers in the past in order to alleviate bladder stones in the breed.
Got to wonder how the guy from American bulldog club can claim that the breed is fine the way it is with a straight face. Hard to believe they are breeding for health when you can’t walk a bulldog 50 feet in 80 degree weather without worrying it might drop dead from heatstroke. Or having to drill out the nasal passages just so the poor dog can breathe.
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I think a lot of reputable breeders recognize that there are health issues in various breeding lines, and try to eliminate them.
I don’t think enough of them do it as openly as they should. I know of several breeders in my breed that have had significant congenital/hereditary issues and have made them known and publicly discussed them. But I know of others who have made decisions to stop breeding a dog/bitch or line for specific reasons, but chose not to publicize why.
I think both examples were open to criticism, so it’s sort of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Social media has been a blessing and a curse. As a breeder I know often says “we eat our own.” 
My older stud dog’s dam went blind at 12 with SARDs. We made that publicly known, but continued to allow him to be used for breeding after discussions with the specialty ophthalmologist. She did not feel that it made any sense to remove him from a breeding program, as it has not been documented that SARDs has a direct hereditary profile. In her words - “we would prefer that it did - because then it would be so much easier to eliminate.”
A breeding that was scheduled was cancelled because of this. Which is too bad, but that’s definitely a personal call. There has been no other occurrence of SARDs anywhere in the line - in any direction.
But, people still talk.
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There’s always going to be the exception, the truly ethical breeders who are up front and transparent and as a result, probably learn the lesson that no good deed goes unpunished (because that’s also human nature), and more who may remove an animal from breeding while not getting into much detail why they removed the animal… But the bias will always be to not talk about it.
And yes, people who are inner circle types are going to hear things, do the math and probably come to the correct conclusion. But that’s a small group of insiders, and generally not the pet quality buyer. That’s not a knock against akc dog breeders, it’s not like I expect them to have a higher standard than the rest of the human race.
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Got my puppy. I had a whole litter to chose from, great luck. Rat terrier cross, 11 weeks, $300, included up to date vaccs and deworming records, 2 weeks worth of puppy food, 2 toys, collar/leash, 2 week general health guarantee, 3 years on hips/elbows, 5 years cancer, epilepsy, temperament (?), blah blah yada. Cash and carry. I was pleased with the 2 week general health guarantee but I’m not returning a dog for any reason much less any of the above reasons so I couldn’t care less and just signed there. A dog is for better or for worse. Thank goodness you can still buy a dog in America. Yay puppy 
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Breeders know this, which is why they don’t bother health testing the parents instead of offering a “return” policy.
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There is long haired too.
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I don’t believe it is considered an actual variety.
The Wire-haired Vizsla is considered a different breed than the standard Vizsla - at least here in the US. There are other conformational differences between the wire and the standard other than coat. So they are two separate breeds, not two varieties of the same breed.
As far as I know, there is no separate registry for the long-haired type, and I would imagine that long coat is actually a fault in judging. So, you can get it, but you wouldn’t want it.
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This LINK has some information about the long-haired coats in Vizslas which stems from a recessive gene. According to the article, the long hair trait can occur in either wire-haired or smooth coated dogs.
I have a rough collie. If you want something with some herding instinct but less sharp than an aussie, that’s a collie.
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Yes - but a recessive trait does not equal a breed or a variety. That was the only point I was making.
Some recessive traits are defects, so they are specifically avoided. Others are just to maintain the look of the breed, and/or were identified as faults before there were ways to detect these by genetic testing - sometimes to guarantee that there was no cross-breeding. In my breed (in the US) black is a DQ. Presumably because it could indicate that there had been cross-breeding with setters or pointers.
