The breeding of pedigree dogs: time for strong leadership.

A recent article in Genetics looked at population structure, genetic diversity and inbreeding in purebred dogs, not least as dogs are being used increasingly as models of human diseases (Calboli et al., 2008). The authors accessed the UK Kennel Club’s extensive registration database and analysed the pedigrees of 10 breeds with relatively large numbers of dogs registered over about eight generations. The timing of the report is important as its publicationwas followed a few months later by a BBC television programme, PedigreeDogsExposed, shownat prime time on19August 2008. This was a hard hitting documentary, highlighting diseases such as syringomyelia in cavalier King Charles spaniels, and bulldogs that have been bred in such a way that most can no longer give birth unassisted. The programme’s message can be summarised in the words of the RSPCA’s Chief Veterinary Adviser that ‘the welfare and quality of life of many pedigree dogs is seriously compromised by established breeding practices for appearance, driven primarily by the rules and requirements of competitive dog showing and pedigree dog registration’. The Kennel Club hit back stating that the programme appeared to have ‘a very specific agenda repeating prejudices, providing no context for the debate, and failing to put forward any constructive proposals’, and that it ‘left viewers with the mistaken impression that all pedigree dogs are riddled with a wide range of health problems and that the dog community is doing little or nothing to improve the situation’. The Club subsequently announced that it was to lodge a complaint with the UK’s broadcasting regulator,Ofcom, as the programmewas considered to be unfair and had failed to reflect the Kennel Club’s ‘deep commitment to the health and welfare of dogs and responsible dog ownership’. The British Veterinary Association commented that this was an exposé of the very worst elements of pedigree dog breeding. The Association stressed that it continued to work closely with the Kennel Club in developing canine health schemes and in supporting the significant amount of genetics research funded by the Kennel Club’s Charitable Trust. So, despite the subsequent widespread outcry and publicity (and the understandable fury of a number of breeders), it does seem that at least the BVA and the Kennel Club are working towards the same end. But it has become increasingly clear that there are issues that need to be addressed now, and with some urgency. The stated primary objective of the Kennel Club is ‘to pro-