Hereditary Problems of Pure Breed Dogs

Hereditary problems of pure breeds: If you are thinking about breeding a dog with determined qualities and features, you will have to very carefully choose the parents. However, artificial selection also increases the risk of transmitting the hereditary defects of that breed. One example of a hereditary defect is hip dysphasia which is a very common malformation that bigger breeds get; however, there are some breeds like greyhounds that hardly ever run into this kind of problem. When flat faced dogs were bred, it became so popular that people started to breed dogs with even flatter faces, so much so that it actually shorted these dogs' respiratory passages and these dogs now tend to suffer breathing problems if not taken care of the right way. Selective breeding of certain breeds has concentrated on enhancing dogs physical beauty, leaving aside the dogs character, and the result of this is usually very gorgeous dogs, but they might develop some type of behavior problem. There are certain moments when a certain breed becomes popular and the demand for these breeds is high and sometimes breeders decide to produce a massive amount of them by using parents that would otherwise not be acceptable. This type of thing has happened to German shepherds, cockers, and a few others. Even though most people are aware of the different type of hereditary defects a pure breed can get, it is not always easy to see when a pure breed has one. There are certain types of blindness that occur in pure breeds which are detected when the dog is well into his older age for example, and worse yet, when that animal has already been used to reproduce. It is even more difficult to detect possible carriers of genetic malformations when these dogs do not even have them themselves yet. It's also difficult to know if a dog is going to develop some type of behavior or mental problem. It's very important to never allow a dog with health problems reproduce since these problems can and most likely will pass on to the offspring. There are some hereditary defects that can be detected at a young age by doing certain tests on the dog. There is a Foundation in the United States called AOF (Animal Orthopedic Foundation) which offers to study hip morphology of pure breeds that are most likely to suffer from dysphasia and they offer certificates which specify the most or least probability of transmitting the defect.