PEKINGESE COLUMN FOR AKC GAZETTE. SH-H-H-H-H-H-H-H |
It has long been said that silence is golden; sadly, this is not always so. Silence, understood as intent to hide facts and to deceive, can be very BLACK – like the strokes of a censor’s pen. The gene pool for the Pekingese has become very small, worldwide; thus, it has become easier and easier to pick up faults hidden on both sides of a pedigree when breeding. I address the Pekingese here, because that is my breed; however, I believe my words apply to other breeds, as well. We all hope to breed the perfect dog – or at least, close. Every dog has a fault of some sort, in varying degrees of severity. One new to a breed may very well not see faults in a dog they purchase and/or breed, thus unwittingly perpetuating a fault when breeding that dog. Faults in one or the other parent may not show up in the puppies, and can remain hidden, sometimes for generations. This is where things can get sticky! If the breeder of a dog with a serious fault chooses to breed that dog and “hide” his or her awareness of such fault, a potential time bomb is created. Puppies from that dog may go on to be bred to another of a lineage which has the identical hidden fault…and on and on, until the fault is compounded and “set”. Certainly, all breeders would like to have the reputation for breeding flawless dogs…in a perfect world. Until this becomes possible, we MUST begin being honest with ourselves and with our fellow breeders, if we are to have wonderfully healthy animals which are able to reproduce their kind. NO individual can be blamed for a fault which shows up – apparently out of the blue – and hiding the existence of such a fault only compounds the problem. Some breeds which have known health problems also have breeders which have banded together to shine a bright light on these problems, thus working to eradicate them. Perhaps the rest of us could learn from these people, to the benefit of our own breed. How are they researching health problems, and how are they disseminating vital information to everyone in their breed? It is so important to the future of our breed that we establish and maintain a clear perspective on these matters. We must strive to get our egos out of the way and remember why we are “in dogs”. It must be all about our beloved four-footed companions, not about how we appear to others. Jacqueline Ragland |