I think a meticulous breeding programme is one
that has to include MRI scanning -- or people should not be in the breed. If anyone is buying puppies, do NOT assume
anyone has a meticulous health focused breeding programme unless you SEE the MRI scan results and the cardiologist certs and KNOW the breeder is doing both.
If they aren't scanning, then breeders have NO idea what the state of their dogs is and are simply breeding blind. Given how long it can take symptoms to begin to show, and given how few owners are willing to go back and tell their breeder or the person they bought their dog from that it has SM (I survey people on this and it is a tiny, tiny fraction especially if the breeder is nice and people don't want to 'disappoint' them), and given that vets will not do so as it is not their role to report back the health status to breeders, it is an utter nonsense for any breeder to say their lines have no SM because they have never heard of an affected dog.
At any rate I know of breeders who have posted this publicly for years and where I KNOW pet owners who have written to them about affected dogs of their breeding -- some of these people simply lie -- which in turn causes all the rest to come under criticism. Breeders should not be blaming pet owners' frustration on 'breeder bashing' but their own colleagues who have openly lied and whom pet owners know have lied; who deny SM in their lines, who deny SM is a problem... STILL... and who *don't MRI their own dogs, in some cases, not a SINGLE dog yet continue to breed. For that matter no group 'breeder bashes' more than breeders themselves -- just listen in on the L-list for any length of time and read the archives for proof or get involved in showing yourself. So I for one am really tired of this artificial division being drawn up, which is just a diversion away from the actual issues of SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS, AND WHETHER PEOPLE SCAN AND SUPPORT RESEARCH. Pretending like the 'problem' is pet owners making breeders feel bad -- pet owners who have so little influence over breeding programmes!! -- is just ridiculous. The health focused breeders I talk to have few issues with pet owners, & welcome the scrutiny of their programmes. But they have MAJOR issues with the route their clubs take, many of the breeders, especially the big names, in their clubs, the attacks on researchers, the behind the scenes bitching amongst breeders, the
omerta which covers up what is really going on with some affected dogs being used -- STILL! -- in breeding programmes and shown in the ring, the refusal to share scan results or support a health registry to make it easier for scanning breeders to find each other.
Yes, of course pet owners and breeders need to be working together -- but so far I see a lot of distraught pet owners, a tiny group of scanning breeders who also work openly with other breeders on these genetic issues, and the vast majority of club breeders who either don't scan, or do scan and hide the results except amongst a small group (including top club officials who state they do this as if it is a badge of honour not to let anyone know whether they have dogs that could be helpful to saving this breed :sl*p:. How strangely twisted is the logic of that? Or is it just about holding down little sad fiefdoms of power while the breed gets worse and worse?). Well-- that will help keep many scanning breeders -- who generally include the smaller breeders not in their inner circles -- of finding A dogs for their breeding programme. I do not know a SINGLE scanning breeder who finds it easy to find dogs to use BECAUSE OTHER BREEDERS DO NOT TALK ABOUT THEIR RESULTS, EVEN FOR GOOD DOGS, which means good genes are being lost, despite some prominent breeders constantly complaining that the grading system means genes will be lost. The same women who scan and hide their results, directly contributing to the loss of their lines' good genes! Not a single breeder can honestly deny that everything I have said is true. I know enough breeders to know what the situation is. Not everyone follows the vow of silence at least privately.
Breeders, it is YOU who need to work TOGETHER, for the breed's sake! It is time to stop using whatever pet owners say as an excuse to do nothing or become indignant over your own guilt for not scanning but still wanting to breed and finding the excuses to yourself for doing so (thus do good breeders go bad. Good intentions are not enough!). Start scanning, work towards cheaper scanning programmes in your region of the world if you don't have them (how is it that the UK can have many and the US almost none? Stop complaining and get out there and work to change this!!), support research, scan older dogs which are now the critical dogs for understanding progression and finding clearer lines.
To argue that you cannot scan because you cannot afford to even though you do 'believe' in scanning means one thing: you are risking the health of every puppy you breed and the breed's overall health as you may be selecting all the dogs most prone to syrinxes for your breeding programme, with no awareness that you are doing so. You are breeding blind and the fact that cost is an impediment cannot be an excuse to go on breeding any old way you want in willful ignorance of your lines' health. How risky is this? Very! Talk to your own fellow breeders who have scanned and I doubt you will find one who wasn't taken aback -- if not outright shocked -- at some of their results on some of the key dogs in their programmes.
If you aren't scanning, you are breeding blind for a widespread, devastating, painful condition which will cost your puppy buyers in the majority of cases, thousands over the dogs' lifetimes to diagnose and treat, even if the most conservative approach is taken. How is this excuse of cost any different from the willful disregard of breeding for health that you accuse the puppy mills and BYBs of doing? Who are you kidding?
I'd ask those breeders internationally who are complaining about pet owners: what right have YOU to make these criticisms?
Do YOU scan? Do you make your results known to your fellow breeders outside your group of friends? Do you support research? Have you sent swabs and scans and cardio certs to researchers? If not,
what grounds do you have to criticise pet owners?
So please dont go out and buy the first puppy you find pls do your research and insist that these are the minimum recommendations that need to be met before you commit to your precious purchase.
