But this is the point as far as I am concerned. How many families who just breed once or twice understand the massive impact their two little litters could have on generations of dogs to come? How many truly understand even the basics of genetics and recessive traits their vet won;t see? How many understand how to interpret 5 generation pedigrees and research the health issues in all the lines that feed into the sire and dam? How many will actually pay to see the *specialists* needed to diagnose some existing conditions -- and instead just think a quick vet check is enough? (it is well proven for example that vets miss HALF of all early onset heart murmurs -- which means that if people breed only having had their vet check their cavalier's heart, there's a 50/50 chance they are breeding a dog with a murmur that will pass along the tragedy and pain of early onset MVD and early, painful death to some sad dog and grieving family).
With cavaliers: how many families breeding a litter or two will xray hips, or MRI?
How many of the puppies they sell go on spay/neuter contracts that the family enforces to make sure those dogs in turn are not bred?
It is hard enough to get club breeders to do much regarding health -- most seem focused on either winning in the ring and to hell with health, or to selling puppies and to maximise profit, so health is endlessly sacrificed (thank goodness there are many who also are not this blinkered and self-serving, primarily many small breeders whose dedication I really admire as well as their bravery as many of them have had to stand up against some of the big breeders and have therefore suffered in the ring). If it weren't, we wouldn't be in a situation where half of all cavaliers have a murmur by age 5-6, a tragically young age for an an elderly dog's disease to appear. Too many members here have dogs that have died from heart failure at only 4,5,6,7... that is like 30 and 40 year old humans collapsing from congestive heart failure. It is just WRONG.
I'd like to see health frameworks guiding how dogs are bred and given all the dogs in pounds and rescue -- I feel the world can happily do without the families breeding one or two litters. There's simply too little genetic diversity now in many, perhaps most, breeds and too many genetically-linked health issues that seem to be increasing in the wake of "popular sire syndrome"... to have haphazard casual breeding going on.
