|
Us humans of course want to produce healthy puppies all the time, and try to eradicate all the nasty diseases that afflict our Leonbergers. We do this with the greatest of intentions, but have we stopped to think about the long term consequences of our actions. Within a limited number of dogs (approx 2,000 for the Leonbergers), by eradicating one disease, we are making another more likely to appear because we have reduced the number of breeding dogs available. We have often heard that other diseases within Leonbergers are on the increase, and could this be due to our eradicating Canine Hip Dysplasia from our dogs for example? We have done this of course to prevent distressed dogs being crippled on terrible and painful hip joints, but have we inadvertently increased other diseases coming through?
I have had this conversation with several older vets who all broadly agree with the analysis, they have seen the same thing happen in other animals such as pigs and cows, where humans have interfered with the breeding patterns, tried to eradicate one problem, only to increase the incidence of another. Us humans seem to have this arrogance that we can always change things for the better, and can always solve a problem we have created with another solution. Not so with genetics, not for the next century at least with a limited gene pool. It is the lack of dogs to breed with that is the problem.
Is there an answer to the problem of inherited disease within pedigree dogs? At the moment no matter what we like to think we are doing to improve health, in reality we are just storing up problems in other diseases for later on. We do not have the genetic technology to solve the problem, and are using just guesswork and supposition and rumour to use what we think are healthy lines. If we injected new blood every so often from other breeds related to ours, like Newfoundlands, St.Bernards etc then we may improve the gene pool, but you cannot guarantee that you have not injected a whole new bunch of bad genes instead as these breeds have their own health issues due to a limited breeding pool.
Our Leonbergers are relatively free from major disease problems as yet, but then we are young in this country at only 30 years old, and have only just started to screen our dogs in the past 10 years or so against CHD, ED and cataracts. Unfortunately, there is a real possibility that our health problems will increase like all other pedigree breeds as time continues as the effects of limiting our breeding pool continues. So maybe we should stop at the current health screening requirements? We have great hips, great elbows and great eyes, to go any further starts to make me nervous for the reasons given. This is a very interesting topic for debate!
When they DNA tested the 10,000 pugs in this country, they discovered that only 50 had unique genes!! Interpolating, that would leave Leo’s with just 10 unique dogs for the whole country! …. Not a lot to work with ….. But it is going to be roughly the same for all pedigree breeds.
The only temporary solution I can think of at present is for us breeders and owners and potential owners to take a share of the responsibility for wanting a pedigree dog. We are all guilty of wanting a Leonberger because they are fantastic …. big, cuddly, funny, loyal and beautiful. Nothing compares. But we have created a very unnatural but magnificent dog, and are keeping it selfishly the way we want it because they are so brilliant. Nature would not give us these dogs, but we can produce them time and again through selective breeding. We must take responsibility for the risk we are taking in owning or buying one. We must inform all new potential Leo owners of the risks in owning this beautiful dog and they must accept them or not get a pedigree dog! The risks are not huge, we should not overplay them, but they are there. Insurance companies know the extra risks and increase the premiums accordingly compared to a mongrel (sometimes double).
Everyone must understand that they come with in-built health issues by definition, and we must stop slandering and slighting the poor breeder who occasionally gets the 1 in 16 litter and produces heart problems, or 1 in 44 litter that produces Kidney disease because with a recessive gene problem they had no way of knowing it was going to happen. They could use the same bitch with a different dog for the next 15 litters to produce litters with no problems whatsoever (please do not comment on this as obviously no one will breed their bitch this many times!).
It is very easy to slander a breeder who has had these problems, especially when you are smug and have never experienced them yourself…… YET!! (the laws of probability will catch up with everyone given enough time).
There are no excuses of course for the breeder who knows they have a dog with itself a health problem and then still uses them for breeding; for example an inherited heart condition, hips of 106, inherited Polyneuropathy etc.etc This is very different from the breeder who has potentially a recessive gene in their dog/bitch, because as I have already stated at the present time we cannot afford not to breed from these dogs as the vast majority of Leonbergers will be affected in some way.
We should not start complaining when our beautiful Leonberger at 3 years old suddenly comes down with an inherited disease that neither parent has got. We have to accept the heartache and sadness and be grateful for the time we had with them. For all the reasons stated above, you have to do your own homework and accept the risks …… otherwise don’t get a pedigree dog, and stick to a mongrel.
Many a time you come down in the morning to see your beautiful Leonberger lying motionless on the floor at peace, having unusually not heard you, then you suddenly panic that he could have died in the night from giant breed sudden heart failure with no warning ….. And then suddenly he moves and realises you are there, he wags his tail, gets up, and your stomach goes back to normal, you take a deep breath and grab hold of him and give him a big hug! This is just one of the risks we know exist with our beautiful Leonberger, we either chose to live with it, or we don’t get a Leonberger……..but then think how empty your life would be…….
|