Exposing nothing

It has been a long time that I have posted to this blog. In the meantime I have started an international online magazine called The Universal Cavalier which takes up my time. This magazine should appeal to all who love the breed with articles ranging from breeders’ profiles, health articles, articles on Cavalier people who are artists, craftspeople and writers, historical and current events articles and up to date Cavalier news from around the World, with many beautiful colour photos of Cavaliers. The magazine is viewable by subscription at www.universalcavalier.com . It is published 6 times a year and up to 6 back issues are also viewable on the site to subscribers.

If you want to see samples of the articles in the magazine before subscribing you can visit the files section of http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/TheUniversalCavalierMagazine/ where listings and sample articles for each issue are located.

Currently in the Cavalier world, in fact the whole purebred dog world, is under attack after the broadcast of a BBC programme called “Pedigree Dogs Exposed” and the anti-purebred regimes are putting their own spin on things and strictly controlling what is said in public forums by removing or censoring any posts that are not in goose step with their message, so I felt it time to post to this blog.

The programme “Pedigree Dogs Exposed” exposed nothing that wasn’t already known but was merely a vehicle for the so-called animal rights groups (really they should be known as the anti pet ownership groups) to beat the drums for their anti-purebred dog campaign.

Personally I question whether the producers of this programme and the BBC should be up on cruelty charges. I have since heard that the Boxer usually only has seizures about once a month so unless the TV crew stayed with the owners for a month to get their “sound bites” it begs the question was the dog taken off his meds to induce a timely seizure? The Cavalier that was scratching while being dragged around the house on a leash – all owners of a Cavalier with SM are aware that using a collar and leash aggravates the condition and induces the scratching behaviour as seen in the programme. Did the owners initiate the scratching behaviour at the request of the producers? These same producers were approaching Cavalier people in the hopes to find a dog in the death throes of heart disease. Most Cavaliers can be made quite comfortable when in congestive heart failure through the use of very good medications, which is not quite as exciting as watching a dog thrash around in the throes of a seizure so I guess they gave up on that idea.

Are Cavaliers the “sickest breed” as the programme suggested? Certainly not! In fact from my experience as a professional dog groomer currently working at a vet clinic and ex boarding kennel owner I would say they are probably one of the breeds less plagued with health problems than many other breeds. Yes on average many do eventually develop Mitral Valve Disease at some point in their lives but many of those who do develop the disease still live out comfortable lives of average length (10-12 years). I currently live with 10 Cavaliers over the age of 9 years – 2 of the oldest are on heart medications but the rest have no or mild heart murmurs. This is really no different to the experience of many small dog owners, purebred and mixed.

The condition shown in the PDE programme - syringomyelia (SM) is actually rare in the breed with perhaps 2% of all Cavaliers actually being symptomatic for the disease, notwithstanding comments to the contrary in the programme. Some Cavaliers are indeed severely afflicted with this horrible condition and do need to be euthanised to prevent further suffering but other afflicted Cavaliers have it in a milder form and it can be managed through the use of medications or certain lifestyle changes such as using a harness rather than a collar on the dog to avoid aggravating the condition. Certainly I do not mean to trivialise the condition for those who own affected dogs as there is nothing more upsetting than to watch a beloved pet suffer and in a perfect world there would be no health conditions to afflict our dogs but these are living creatures and so, such is life.

The issue of health testing is not quite as simple as some would have you believe. Most of our current testing is inadequate with respect to preventing the health conditions being produced. And in fact some testing (eg MRIs for SM) is so much in its infancy that no one actually is sure what the results mean or how they can be used to reduce incidences of health conditions or if they can. Few health conditions in dogs have been mapped out with respect to mode of inheritance, environmental and other congenital factors which may be required to make a dog symptomatic for a disease. So even if a parent can be shown to be asymptomatic at the time of the testing it does not mean that 1) it will not later develop the disease 2) that it is not a carrier for the disease and can pass it on to the offspring. Only in the cases of diseases where DNA testing has been developed, can testing be made meaningful for a dog breeder to reduce actual incidences of health conditions in their breeds. At the moment the type of testing available is a bit like trying to put a finger in the dam wall. An example of this is the testing for Hip Dysplasia which has been going on in some breeds for nearly 40 years yet the incidences of HD in those breeds has barely decreased if at all. Some breeders having bred generations of cleared Hips still end up with affected offspring.

UK politicians, like politicians worldwide, when faced with truly difficult problems like a sinking economy, job lossess, growing welfare lines, etc. are doing what they usually do, involving themselves in these sorts of media induced “current event” where they can be seen to be “doing something” even though they don’t actually understand the issues. They will likely try to push through some legislation which will solve nothing but can be pointed to during the next election campaign when trying to deflect questions as to why the economy sucked and people lost their job and homes on their watch….

I’m not sure how they will try to get the puppy farmers/millers and those who breed their pet purebred dogs for some pocket money (those two groups probably actually produce the majority of pet dogs) in line, as any legislation that seems to be discussed, seems focused solely on show dog breeders.

The health problems and how to improve them in purebred dogs should be left to be resolved by The Kennel Club, breed clubs and unbiased specialists through careful study and consultation. If politicians want to be seen to doing something concrete to improve the health problems in purebred dogs they should set aside monies for research and development of meaningful testing like DNA tests.

There is a longer article on the November/December 2008 issue in The Universal Cavalier called “Exposing Pedigree Dogs Exposed” if you wish to read further about this issue.

I hope to have some guest authors add to this blog who have been unable to post their thoughts to other forums due to censorship.