A guppy is not a puppy

Image: Wikipedia Commons

But, nevertheless, a new study just out provides yet more evidence of how, given half a chance, nature goes to considerable lengths to avoid inbreeding.

It's been discovered that female guppies  - which practice polyandry (taking multiple mates) - have a mechanism by which they can slow down the sperm of closely-related mates. Amazing!

"It's new and interesting," said Bob Montgomerie,  an evolutionary biologist at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, who was not involved in the research. "If females can prevent fertilization by a close relative, they aren't wasting energy forming a zygote that will likely die due to the accumulation of harmful mutations."

Researchers have long suspected that polyandry evolved in some species as a strategy to reduce breeding with relatives, but lack of evidence for how the females bias paternity after mating has caused the hypothesis to remain simply that. 

Read more in The Scientist.

It's a wierd concept to some dog breeders who have grown up to believe that inbreeding is a good thing but there is a wealth of evidence that the females of many species avoid mating with close relatives.  Dog breeders also often try to justify inbreeding by swearing blind that male wolves inevitably mate with their daughters - but this simply isn't true. There's evidence that all wild canids avoid inbreeding.  And although they will mate with relatives if there's no option,  it appears some at least have the ability to limit the damage. A study of an isolated population of wolves on the Swedish peninsula found that females were somehow able to choose mates that were, genetically, the least related even if, on paper, they were similarly related (Report on Science Daily).

Wild African dogs also practice inbreeding avoidance. A study of a single population in Kruger National Park showed that male and female wild dogs that formed new packs did so only with unrelated members of the opposite sex (Girman et al). This was true even though most males and females dispersed to territories very near their close relatives. Indeed, the researchers found no evidence for inbreeding in the Kruger population.

The domestic dog, however, appears to have, largely, lost this ability - bred out of them by artificial selection imposed on them by us. For every story of a bitch turning her nose up at a brother or father's amorous advances, there is another of one absolutely determined to keep it in the family.

Of course, that doesn't make it right...

Fitness tests for the unfit fifteen

KC puts a lid on the Basset's baggy eyes. Ish...

In the face of continued strong criticism about the state of some breeds, and in response to campaigners who have long argued that the show-ring must reward something other than looks, the KC announced today that, from 2012, fifteen troublesome breeds must pass a vet-check before they will be awarded the big prizes. 

It is, of course,  astonishing to anyone outside the wierd world of dog shows that animals with obvious health problems could ever win. But it's a depressing fact that dogs that are lame, have sore eyes, skin problems and even breathing issues are sometimes rewarded by judges. This is sometimes because the health issue is so ubiquitous in the breed that judges no longer see it as abnormal (red and baggy eyes in Bassets and Bloodhounds, for instance), or because the judge believes that "type" (the essential "essence" of a breed as defined in the breed standard) in some way over-rides a corneal ulcer or obvious respiratory distress.

The KC announcement seeks to address this, and also - significantly - is designed to distance the KC from the damage that these breeds continue to do to the KC's reputation because of the fodder they provide to critics like me.

“The majority of people involved in showing dogs, including the 15 high profile breeds, are doing a good job in moving their breed forward and many judges are ensuring that health is paramount when they judge. This work should be applauded and recognised," says KC Chairman Ronnie Irving.

“Sadly though, a few judges in some breeds simply can’t or won’t accept the need to eliminate from top awards, dogs which are visibly unhealthy. Neither we who show dogs, nor the Kennel Club which must protect our hobby, can reasonably allow that state of affairs to continue."

In other words... It's them, sir, not us! Pretty outrageous, really, given the role the KC has played in the development of all these breeds - analagous to Henry Ford blaming a deathly fault in the Model-T on the workers that built it.

The 15 breeds are: Basset Hound, Bloodhound, Bulldog, Chow Chow, Clumber Spaniel, Dogue de Bordeaux, French Bulldog, German Shepherd Dog, Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff, Pekingese, Pug, Shar-Pei, the St Bernard and - da-daa - the Chinese Crested. I'll be demanding all the credit/blame for the inclusion of this last one as it was me who drew the KC's attention to the fact that breeders are resorting to ridiculous means to ensure their dogs are entirely free of hair in all the right places.

Still,  I'm not getting too excited. The vet checks are being done by KC-appointed show-friendly vets, not an independent group appointed by the British Veterinary Association. One of these, Andreas Schemel (seen right), is a breeder, judge and staunch defender of the right to breed pugs with ridiculously flat faces. What he would consider normal in brachycephalic breeds such as the pug, peke and bulldog is likely to be entirely different to a vet operating outside of the KC bubble.

Finally, it is only 15 breeds and there's nothing in the new initiative to stop a dog with a non-visible hideous genetic problem from winning rosettes and then (as we saw in Pedigree Dogs Exposed) going on to sire the next generation of sick pups. And why on earth do we have to wait another year before obviously sore, lame, squinting and gasping dogs are barred from being awarded prizes?

As one commentator on the Dog World reporting of the announcement this morning opines: "Listen to my one hand clapping."

The bald truth about the Chinese Crested

The top dog for 2010 in the Dog World/Arden Grange table (UK) is the Chinese Crested Ch Vanitonia Unwrapped (left), who clinched the title by winning best in show at the LKA, reported Dog World just before Christmas.  Vanitonia Unwrapped - pet name "Nora" - is believed to be the first dog to take eight Best in Show awards at UK all-breeds championship shows during one show season, and she is still less than two years old.

I've been having a low-level exchange with the Kennel Club about the 'Cresties" for a while now. My beef? That the dogs are being shaved and
depilated to look like they're hairless when they're not.

I spend enough on my dogs without having to buy them jumpers, too, so the hairless Chinese Crested is not a breed I have ever been interested in. But my hackles rose when I read an editorial about grooming them in Dog World a few weeks before Crufts last year. The writer wrote openly about how many of the dogs are not really hairless and so to meet the breed standard that calls for a smooth, hairless body the hair is removed.  She then went on to explain how to shave the poor little mites and then apply a depilatory crème as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Powderpuff

It isn’t - as you can see from the pictures of the very sore-looking Cresties below.

The Chinese Crested comes in two varieties. There’s the  ‘powderpuff” which has a full coat – and, indeed, is rather appealingly scruffy. And there's the "hairless" which can, in fact, be born with a varying amount of hair.  If it's sparse, they're known as a 'true hairless' and if they have more, they're known as a 'hairy hairless'.

True hairless  (Photo: Tommy Gildseth, CC-BY-SA)

The hairy hairless can be very hairy indeed...

It’s the hairier Cresties that have the best ‘furnishings’ – the luxuriant mane, tail and ‘socks’ that make the dogs look like My Little Pony. The ‘true hairless’ has much less hair in the 'right' places and so is nothing like as showy.  Indeed, the true hairless is usually pretty obvious in the ring because of this – and also because of the primitive dentition that comes with the hairless gene.  Certainly, a judge only has to look in the dog's mouth to tell the difference between a dog carrying the hairless gene and a shaved powderpuff (which sadly does happen).  So, the less hirsute ones are the genuine article and the ones with fluffy 'furnishings' are, mostly, dogs from which a lot of body hair has been removed. Sad to say, almost every bald dog I saw in the ring at Crufts was a fake. And the reason? These are usually the ones that win.

Worse, I was contacted shortly before Crufts last year by a groomer who told me that some breeders are waxing the dogs and even using epilators – both of which pull the hair out from the roots. Ouch.  It made the breed top of my watch-list for last year’s Crufts - and I'll keep an eye out this year, too.

I dream of the day when I contact the Kennel Club to tell them of such issues and they write back thanking me for drawing it to their attention and reassuring me that they will do everything in their power to make such abuses stop.  Oh, and then actually stop it.

It started off promisingly enough. This is the email I got back from the KC’s Sara Wilde: “We are very concerned at the suggestion that owners may be using depilatory creams and thereby causing harm to their dogs.  This is clearly against Kennel Club rules which are in place to ensure dogs’ welfare and we will be monitoring the situation at DFS Crufts.

“We have also recently written to the breed clubs to highlight our concerns.  You will, I am sure, be aware that our Breed Watch pages highlight the specific issues of clipper rash and razor burns in Chinese Crested Dogs and thus the judge at Crufts (as well as other shows) has had this matter highlighted to them.  At Crufts there will be clear notices displayed in all grooming areas reminding exhibitors of KC rules relating to preparation of dogs for showing and these areas will be monitored by the stewards as in the past.  Our policy of random testing for banned substances in the coats of dogs remains in place.”

Two hours after this email, another one landed in my inbox - this time a post from a closed Chinese Crested list, forwarded by a concerned Chinese Crested owner who is also horrified at the practice of denuding the dogs. It read: “…I have just had a member of the KC general committee on the phone and they have had insider info that Jemima Harrison will be targeting Chinese Cresteds at Crufts. They also have undercover cameras with the intent to film people shaving their dogs. This will be used in the next programme due to come out. PLEASE, i urge everybody, put differences aside and all pull together. For the good of the breed be on the look out and DO NOT shave at CRUFTS. please tell as many as possible.”

Now there IS no "next programme", we were not filming at Crufts and the KC had no reason to think that we were, although it’s certainly true that there are now any many people who will send me photographs and videos of things that alarm them.  But I did go to Crufts and I did visit the Cresties to see for myself what was going on.

I walked round with vet Pete Wedderburn, who writes a column and blog for the Daily Telegraph. Pete took the Crestie pictures above of very sore-looking dogs.  He was particularly shocked at this male's clearly raw testicles.

Afterwards, on one of the main Crestie internet lists, they chatted about how, although the KC had warned there may be spot-checks, there had been none on the Chinese Crested.  So much for the promised monitoring.  

I nagged the Kennel Club about this again recently. Their reply: "[It is] in hand, Jemima, and will be announced in due course."

But I will be surprised if they take steps to stop this because many Crestie exhibitors see absolutely nothing wrong with denuding the dogs. They don't want things to change.

I should say, by the way, that I have no evidence to suggest that Vanitonia Unwrapped is shaved and depilated for the show-ring.

But others most certainly are and, helpfully, one American exhibitor has posted a how-to-guide online.

The other PDE - Pug Dog Encephalitis

Some good news from UC Davis. They've developed a new DNA test for Pug Dog Encephalitis (PDE), a nasty condition also known as necrotising meningoencephalitis (NME). It claims the lives of about one in 100 Pugs.

PDE/NME is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that is usually progressive and fatal. Symptoms include seizures, depression, ataxia, abnormal gait and blindness.   Female, fawn Pugs younger than 7 years of age are more apt to develop NME than older, non-fawn males.

Last year, researchers found that pugs that have two identical copies of particular markers have an increased risk of developing the condition (an observed risk of 12.75 over  their lifetime compared to a risk of just 0-1.08 for Pugs that have only one or no copies of these markers). (Reference here.) Now UC Davis has made a test available to Pug owners and breeders.

It's important to note that this isn't a "definitive diagnosis" test, just an indicator of risk.  Only one in eight of those dogs with two copies of the risk markers will develop PDE. But it is useful nevertheless and, interestingly, the markers are located at or near what are known as DLA class II genes - genes that code for the immune system. Genetic diversity in this area of the genome is considered a particularly good thing, as I have documented here.

In other words, using this test to help identify dams and sires that won't produce pups that have two identical copies of the PDE/NME markers could prove to be beneficial in other ways too

More info from UC Davis here.

The Terrierman hangs up his blogging boots

For the past five years, Pat Burns' Terrierman blog has been compelling reading. He is, depending on your view, either a bold, sharp and provocative read for everyone interested in dogs, or an arrogant, opiniated sod who can be breathtakingly rude.

Yesterday, Patrick annnounced that he is moving on to pastures new. He is wrapping up his trail-blazing blog - he says maybe not permanently, but I fear this is a sop to devotees like me who are gutted that he's hanging up his blogging boots; akin to a jilting lover trying to dump you gently by saying they just need a bit of break. Honestly, it felt like a death in the family when I read the news this morning. Patrick's brilliant  Inbred Thinking, written in May 2006, is a seminal work and was one of the main triggers for my own dog reform journey. But there is very much more than this to treasure on his blog archive which I hope will be preserved. If you haven't already discovered him, get over there now.

Behind the scenes and from across the Pond, Patrick has also been an inspiration and motivator personally. He's made me laugh, often, and more than once made me wince with some sharp observation or (mostly deserved) criticism. I have learned a great deal from him.

I am looking forward to meeting him and his dogs for the first time in April when I go to a conference in Washington where I have been asked to speak on what's happened since Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

In the meantime... Pat Burns - thank you.You will be missed.

In tribute to the Terrierman who has a much stricter Comments policy than me, no anonymous comments allowed on this one... If you want to praise - or be rude - stand up and put your name to it.

Cavaliers - a leap too far?

www.mbishopphotography.co.uk

This flying cavalier is Minnie-May who will be five years old on 25th January and she is living proof that some dogs with syringomyelia (SM) can enjoy a reasonable quality of life.

"Her pedigree name is Miletree Minnie-May" says her devoted owner, Sandra Collins, who I met at Discover Dogs in November where she was helping to raise awareness of syringomyelia on the Cavalier Matters stand.  "Minnie was two years old she first visited the vet when she was unable to go up the stairs or jump up on furniture.  The vet said she had a muscle strain - probably from doing agility (which we do just for fun).   Over a 18 month period she had another two or three similar instances.  She also had several different quirky behaviours - rubbing her head, rolling, shaking her body, scooting, although none of these were being done with any significance.  I also noticed that she was becoming quite head-shy and a couple of times had yelped when being fussed by people.  I had seen Pedigree Dogs Exposed which brought the SM problem in Cavaliers to my attention.  At that time I was sure Minnie was not affected.  However, when she suffered a further instance of "muscle strain" in February last year, I mentioned SM to my vet. I was by now feeling uneasy as Minnie was starting to refuse to do a couple of obstacles on the agility course for no apparent reason.

"She had her MRI last April  and  you can imagine my feelings when Minnie was diagnosed with Chiari like Malformation (CM) and Syringomyelia (SM) with a 7mm wide syrinx at C2.  Although an MRI of her whole spine was not done it is envisaged that she probably does have more syrinxes.  A full MRI is due to be done soon.  

"Minnie is now on a cocktail of medication, which currently seems to be managing her pain quite well.   As well as the devastating emotional effect this diagnosis has on all of the family and the fact that it is progressive, there is the financial effect.  Thank goodness we have good insurance cover as her medication costs over £100 a month, of which we get back 85% from the insurance company.  There is also the main fact that we now have a dog that we are continually watchful of as she is going to spend the rest of her life with this condition and not being able to tell us when she is feeling pain or discomfort.   Then at some point we may have to make the decision of whether or not to undertake surgery. 

"I spoke to veterinary neurologist Clare Rusbridge about Minnie continuing agility.  Her advice was to treat her as normal and to let her do as much or as little as she wanted.  Minnie enjoys her agility - as you can see from the photograph taken at Chiswick House Dog Show in September last  year.  We were doing a display and a fun competition which Minnie went on to win."

Meanwhile, I hear that after months of effort by researchers, vets and the Kennel Club (the latter finally doing the right thing after years of stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of the condition), several cavalier clubs are refusing to endorse the new KC/BVA SM screening programme. But perhaps that's not surprising given that some top breeders continue to breed from under-age dogs.

In an effort to combat early-onset mitral-valve disease as well as syrinomyelia in cavaliers, the breeding guidelines ask that no cavalier is bred before they are 2.5yrs old and only then if both parents are a minimum of five years old, free of a heart murmur and, ideally, SM-free too (or at least only low-grade).

How depressing, then, to hear that that one high-profile cavalier breeeder has recently used one stud dog at least nine times before they were a year old.

Anyone know any more about this, or exactly why some of the cavalier clubs are questioning the validity of the new SM screening scheme?

Breed health: KC whitewash v iPhone honesty

Last year, and with no small fanfare, the Kennel Club launched its Veterinary Practice Guide to Dog Health, hailing it as "a resource to assist veterinary surgeons and all practice staff gain a greater familiarity with more detailed information on the two hundred or more breeds of dog recognised by the Kennel Club, and the health and welfare issues that you may encounter with each one."

In truth, it is laughable -  a PR exercise containing almost no health information at all. (To check it out for yourself, have a look at the 20 breeds here.) Also, with the exception of DNA tests for progressive retinal atrophy available from Optigen,  the manual only lists  DNA tests available from the Animal Health Trust, despite many other useful tests being available through other reputable centres worldwide.

The KC then further insulted the vets by insisting that ownership of one of these esteemed manuals, available from the KC's Marketing Department, was dependent on a visit from a KC representative. Bet they couldn't wait.

I know of one curious vet who asked for a copy of the manual way back in September and still hasn't received it, so maybe the KC is hastily revising it to make it less derisible.  In the meantime, vets (indeed anyone interested in finding out more about breed-specific health problems) could do worse than download US vet Craig Dixon's new iPhone app Breed Health for Dogs

Let's compare the two offerings.

Here's what the KC has to say about the Pug.

Apparently, the pug doesn't suffer from any health issues at all! And there was me thinking the breed was riddled with problems!

The new iPhone app is much more helpful. For a start, it covers 40 breeds compared to the KC's 20. And for the pug it lists no fewer than 15 health problems:

Demodectic Mange
Fold Dermatitis
Upper Airway Syndrome
Distichiasis
Hemi-Vertebra
Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease
Pug Encephalitis
Eyelid Entropion
Cataract
Atopy
Eye Exposure Keratopathy Syndrome
Periodontal Disease
Degeneratvie Myelopathy
Sick Sinus Syndrome
Keratoconjunctivisitis Sicca (Dry Eye)

It then goes on to make the following recommendations:

4-12 months of age
• Gene test for Degenerative Myelopathy
• X-rays of head, neck & spine for Upper Airway Syndrome and Hemi-Vertebra
• Surgical repair - for Upper Airway Suyndrome and Fold Dermatitis (if needed)

1 year of age
• Eye exam for Distichiasis, Entropion, Cataracts & Exposure Eye Keratopathy - repeat yearly
• Skin exam for Demodectic Mange

2 years of age
• Teeth Cleaning - repeat every 2-3 years
• Skin exam for skin allergy evaluation for Atopy and Demodectic Mange
• Eye exam for Distichiasis, Entropion, Cataracts & Exposure Eye Keratopathy

...and so on. The app also gives simple descriptions of all the conditions. Now it is not without some glaring errors and omissions - it doesn't list syringomyelia for cavaliers, for instance, and doesn't suggest checking for heart murmurs until a cavalier is 7 years old, which is way too late. It would also be helpful to know the prevalence data for particular conditions where known (even if just listed as "rare", "occasional" or "common").  But it's a useful start.

The Breed Health for Dogs App for iPhone and iPad costs £1.79/$2.99 - cheap enough to buy and send feedback to its authors via support@breedhealthfordogs.com. They promise support for other smart phones soon.