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The Holistic Breed

Now I would like to evoke a vision of the future -- but not the distant future. I want to describe how dog breeds might be in the twenty-first century. Instead of all breeds being subjected to arbitrary structures not equally well suited to them all, each breed would get whatever special measures its breeders thought necessary. Instead of a fragmented canine fancy with ghettos of show, fanciers, obedience buffs, and working-dog specialists, dog breeds would have the benefit of a holistic outlook, integrating the various aspects of canine: activity and producing well-rounded, versatile, mentally stable animals. Let me stress that the suggestions which follow will be fully practical and down-to-earth. They involve no technology we don't already possess. They require no knowledge that isn't already generally available. All that is needed is a proactive attitude and the will to make necessary changes in an obsolescent structure. This vision could become a reality within ten years time.

At the beginning of this brief I stated that the three distinct axes along which breeds are distinguished -- ancestry, purpose, and typology -- had to relate fully and cooperatively, or the fullness of breed identity would be missing or marred. Let me now describe how such a relationship might he achieved.

To begin with, we absolutely must open CKC stud books, in every breed, to new genetic inflow. There can be no long-term genetic health in small populations such as our registered breeds without the periodic infusion of new genetic material. The one big "sacrifice" we shall have to make, if it is really a sacrifice, is to abandon racist attitudes and the concept of rigorous breed purity. We must recognize that first of all, a dog is a dog, species Canis familiaris, and that is his true identity. He is a dog first, before he is a Siberian Husky or a Foxhound or a Doberman; breed identity is subordinate to species identity. We must stop treating breeds as if they were species, abandon the rigidity and narrow typological thinking which has heretofore characterized the canine fancy. We must recognize that dogs are unique individuals and that there is no positive value in trying to create groups of dogs which are all clones or photocopies of a type specimen represented by a breed standard. This should not be too hard, since breeders and judges have never been able to arrive at agreed and consistent interpretations of breed standards anyway. Why, then, should we pretend that a standard, which as it now exists evokes a different imagistic interpretation in the mind of each individual breeder and judge, describes a single ideal type?

Canine breeds can and should be differentiated, bred and maintained on a dynamically balanced, heterozygous population basis without restriction to a closed, historic founder group. The closed studbook and the breed purity concept are, from a genetic point of view, simply unnecessary. Indeed, as we have seen, from the standpoint of maintaining a genetically healthy limited population, they are thoroughly counterproductive. Where is the logic in submitting each and every CKC breed to a registry system which guarantees ongoing, progressive genetic degeneration, loss of species vigor and hardiness, and saddles every breeder with the unwanted, unhappy responsibility of producing more and more unhealthy, flawed stock as time goes by? The notion that genetic disease can be controlled, much less eliminated, by screening programs and selection has not been borne out by general experience. Those who promote such a notion are engaging in a cruel, self serving deception. It may be that a breeder can sometimes improve his odds against producing defective stock in a given mating by screening the parents, but experience has proved that screening will not solve our genetic problems in any wider sense. Despite generation after generation of "clear" stock, bloodlines can still produce more and more affected animals. That is because our problems are inherent in the closed studbook/incest breeding system. In order to restore genetic health we shall have to adopt a different system.

It will be asked, "Just how will the opening of our studbooks to outcross stock bring about the elimination of genetic defects?" The answer is that it will not eliminate genetic defects. That need not be the end in view. If we could somehow eliminate all the various genes now known to produce harmful anomalies, plus all of those yet to be discovered, we would almost certainly find that the remaining genome was non-viable, that healthy reproduction and growth to maturity could not reliably take place. Genetic defects are not "eliminated" in nature. Instead random mating and behaviour patterns that discourage inbreeding take care of the problem by ensuring high levels of heterozygosity and the consequent rarity of defective homozygotes. If we take steps to set up similar patterns in purebred dogs, we shall be able to reduce the level of expression of defective genes greatly, which is all that is required. The end in view is healthy stock, not "racial purity." Purged and purified bloodlines would be weak for other reasons, as has been explained. As the mapping of the canine genome progresses and RFLP allozyme or microsatellite "markers" for common genetic defects are found, we shall probably then be able to use DNA studies to recommend matings that will avoid the production of defective homozygous progeny -- provided that we have made enough genetic diversity available through outcrossing to give us the genetically distinct lines from which to choose! As things stand now, most breeds are so homozygous that it could prove extremely difficult to find matings which would avoid one genetic defect without reinforcing another!

New Structures for the Dog Fancy

Very well, then, if we eliminate the closed studbook, how shall we decide what stock to admit for registration? One must begin, of course, with the existing body of registered stock. Thereafter, one way of proceeding might be to strengthen and empower the breed clubs. They should be granted responsibility and autonomy: responsibility for the welfare of their breeds, and autonomy to make the judgments and decisions necessary to fulfill that responsibility. It should also be ensured that the breed clubs are fully representative of all breeders, by making breed club membership a requirement for anyone wishing to register stock he has bred or imported.

The first task of the breed clubs would then be for each of them to determine what sources of genetic inflow might best be employed in their breed. Breeders alone can command the collective expertise to make that decision and it ought to be theirs alone, but the designation of outcross sources should be obligatory, not optional. The Siberian Husky Club of Canada, for example, would have to decide where outcross animals might best be obtained for restoring heterozygosity to that breed; they might decide, for example, that dogs imported from Russia and perhaps even an occasional outstanding individual carefully selected from the present "Alaskan husky" gene pool of racing sled dogs (which was derived largely from 1910-era Siberia imports that remained in Alaska) are two logical sources. Breeds which do not have their origins in autochthonous populations would have to seek outcrosses in similar related breeds, as Spaniels (English Springer) and Spaniels (Welsh Springer), or Retrievers (Labrador) and Retrievers (Flat-Coated). They would then have to set up inspection and test-breeding procedures for admitting outcross animals. Once the outcross sources had been designated, selection of candidate animals would in most cases be best left to individual breeders, who might then apply to the breed club for preliminary inspection of their outcross -- which inspection ought not to be excessively rigorous. General soundness, reasonable temperament, proven working ability, approximate size and physique, and acceptable overall type should be adequate criteria, none of the foregoing to be rigidly interpreted. The outcross should then be registered provisionally by CKC, subject to breed club inspection of two generations of its progeny. The registry should remain permanently open to new outcross animals. It might prove desirable to set limits to the number of outcross dogs registered in any given year proportionate to the overall breed population, in order that small populations not be swamped by excessive outcrossing. Some regulation of the process would obviously be necessary, but the best regulation would probably be breed club oversight and guidance of the process, backed up by CKC supervision.

Advantage should be taken of DNA analysis techniques by using them to monitor heterozygosity and relative kinship in major breeding lines. (It would also be a good idea for the Club to offer DNA profile parentage certification.) This technology already exists and is in use: it is rapidly becoming much more affordable. Limits should definitely be set on inbreeding, preferably by the breed clubs, but CKC should decide maximum allowable limits of inbreeding as a default setting. Only by the outright prohibition of excessive degrees of inbreeding will it be possible to make the transition to a balanced-heterozygous state for purebreds; otherwise old ways will continue through inertia and persistent typological thinking. Assortative mating can and should become the norm for the preservation of type, mating individuals which are phenotypically similar but unrelated or at least not closely related. The Club would have to monitor registrations, possibly performing occasional DNA spot-checks, to ensure that inbreeding does not take place; otherwise many would continue to breed from whatever dogs were in their own backyard rather than seeking breed club advice to find suitable individuals from unrelated lineage.

A Healthy Balance, for Breed Identity

The responsibilities of the breed club should not end with the designation of outcross sources and the inspection of outcross candidates. If the fullness of breed identity is to be achieved overall in each population, then the breed clubs should take on responsibility for balancing the various facets of that breed identity. Realistic, meaningful and workable systems should be introduced for monitoring temperament, for proving working ability and trainability, and for evaluating, type and appearance. Championship shows would then become breed-club events, since the methods of evaluation and the various events required to test such qualities as temperament, vigor and endurance, working ability, and trainability would be breed-specific and under the breed clubs oversight. That is not to say that a number of breed clubs might not band together to stage events for several breeds simultaneously at the same venue, but the all breed show with all-rounder judges, under CKC rules for CKC Championship points, would eventually be history. To ensure wholehearted support and participation by breeders, it would probably be necessary for CKC to evolve some means of making clear on the papers of every dog the extent to which that animal had been submitted to the testing and evaluation procedures of the breed club and with what result. Breed club input of information to the Clubs database could be done by e-mail on the day of the event. Strong incentives for participation should be arranged and breed clubs should be so structured that they could not be autocratically ruled by individuals or cliques.

Registration certificates produced by CKC would carry much more detailed information under the new system than they now do. The computer power is now available to make this quite feasible. A certificate of registration should once again carry a pedigree of at least four generations. A two-tier certificate system would be necessary, as no dog would be eligible for breeding registered progeny until it had been inspected and evaluated by the breed club. Rating and measurement protocols are already being worked out by proponents of the Advanced Registry proposal. Broodstock certificates should carry a summary of the breed clubs rating and evaluation of the animal, together with evidence of proof tests for temperament, working ability and trainability. All certificates should identify outcross lines and bear a quantitative estimate of the relative heterozygosity of the animal identified by the certificate.

Breed standards would require revision under the new system. The concept of disqualifications should probably be dropped in favour of a detailed rating system in which all breeding stock would participate. In the case of quantitative characteristics such as height and weight, a simple Bell curve statistical description of the desired mean and range ought to be sufficient, without disallowing occasional extreme examples. Working abilities ought to be clearly defined in the breed standard and a basic performance standard given where possible. Clearer and more detailed descriptions of desired temperament and of qualities bearing on trainability ought to be part of the new standards. Prescriptive minutia should be minimal; it should be sufficient merely to describe the general distinguishing features of a breed, without an excess of cosmetic and conformation restrictions, except where indispensable breed points are involved. Type stringencies should be relaxed considerably, allowing most breeds to become moderately heterotypic; if qualities of working ability, hunting instincts and similar traits achieve greater emphasis, there will be correspondingly less need for extreme type requirements to distinguish breeds. Standards should be holistic descriptions of the breeds they identify, brief statements of essential breed qualities, rather than typological blueprints. It is imperative to subordinate typological thinking to considerations of utility, genetic health and hardiness. First a dog should be healthy, balanced, of sound mind in a sound body, able to fulfill his breed purpose; after that can come points of beauty and type but never again in the bizarrely exaggerated fashion that now prevails in the breed rings of championship shows.

It might eventually be found desirable to quietly merge scarce and consistently unpopular breeds, as well as closely similar breeds, with populations nearest to them in general characteristics, possibly initially designating them as breed varieties. Reasonable numbers are necessary for the maintenance of a healthy population. The number of breeds recognized has continued to grow, yet the total number of dog owners in the country may not have grown proportionally. A rare breed is not the same thing as an endangered species; breeds can come and go without damage to the canine species as a whole. Breeds known to be of low viability due to their dependence for breed identity on anomalies such as achondroplasia, may have to be dropped from the registry unless evidence is advanced that they can be upgraded to certain minimum standards of health and structural soundness.

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