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Inbreeding in dogs

Joshua Carrillo
Davey Mills
English IV
10/14/16

When thinking of a purebred bull dog, what are the first things that pop into mind? Is it
their compressed nose or maybe all the folds on their face? Maybe the unique structure that their
body has from being very muscular. There are many types of dogs that are inbred for certain
traits to show more dominantly. The process is very ugly and unorthodox for animals. This
process leads to unhealthy dogs and sometimes horrible deformities.
There are many pure breeds of dogs that use two parents from the same gene pool.
Breeders use this strategy of breeding to keep the bloodline rich and make the dogs have very
defined feature that are wanted in that breed of dog. In Pet MDs article Problems Common to
Purebred Dogs they explain how after a while of breeding purebred dogs the gene pool begins
to shorten. Which later makes them want to inbreed to keep the bloodline intact. The process can
be done by breeding dogs closely related or even siblings. The reason that breeders are
sometimes forced to take the action is to be able to gain money from selling purebred dogs.
There are many common pure breeds of dogs that have been inbred such as the pug, German
shepherd, English bulldog, golden retriever, and Dobermans. Breeders have no intention to stop
with ten thousand puppy mills that produce around one million dogs a year, many in industrial-

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scale puppy mills that supply pet stores and online consumers. (Allen). The dogs that are not up
to par to their standards or can no longer breed are euthanized. The breeders need the dogs to
serve a beneficial function for them that is either breeding or being able to sell. The ugly truth
about purebred breeders are that they have no regard for the animals health. They mostly care
about the amount of money they can get from selling a dog.
The purpose of inbreeding dogs is to keep desired traits in a blood line through their kin.
The most common types of inbreeding in dogs is shown in the pug and bulldogs. With pugs are
desired to have a very flat face referred to as brachycephalic and to have very bulgy eyes that
seem like they are close to popping out. This effect can sometimes affect their sleep by not being
able to close their eyelids or sometimes even pop out of the socket from being patted too hard on
the back. In bulldogs, a liver colored nose is a deal breaker by American Kennel Club show
standards, and a brachycephalic face that impairs breathing is essential (Allen). When people
buy these types of breeds, they look for very specific traits that they hope to find when they think
of the breed. Sometimes they're willing to pay a pretty penny for just a certain feature. Some
certain breeds that are registered as purebreds can be sold for a high amount of money. As shown
in the article were are breeding dogs to death they talk about how much a pure-bred dog can go
for. Registered golden retrievers go for up to $3,000, English bulldogs for $9,000, and a
Cavalier King Charles spaniel can cost $14,000 (Allen). The richer the bloodline the more it
will cost to have that breed. Currently the most expensive breed is the Tibetan mastiff with
minimum cost of five thousand dollars and a whooping maximum price of one million six
hundred dollars. The price can vary which could also be a reason animal breeders chose to breed

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dogs of the same genepool. So, they can ensure that they can get a high-priced dog from the litter
of puppies. This incentive is what created puppy mills and still thrives them to continue. Many
breeders are focused creating a good showcase dog so that their breed can become richer and sell
dog from the same blood line for more money. It is very for breeders to sell dogs to showcasing
people so they can register their dogs and have it in some sort advertised in front of people at dog
talent shows. The grand scheme of thing is just breeders trying to gain money from prize
winning dogs and their kin.
The health problems coming from inbreeding dogs is the worst result from the process.
Many puppies become very sick and die or are to deform too function right. Many breeders
know this from the beginning and they have no regards towards the small puppies. In many
cases, they even kill them if they serve no purpose for them. In this chart from Beuchats article
they show the likely hood of puppy beagles dying depending on how inbred they are. Most dog
breeds that are inbred to be purebred tend to have a lot health problems, such as pugs having
breathing problems from their squished up faces and bull dogs having the same problem. These
problems become more serious when inbreeding is continued and the gene pool is becoming
smaller and are forced to breed siblings and the deformities start to happen. On average
purebreds live two years less than mutts (Allen). There are some advantages to breeding such as
uniformity, predictability of traits, and the ability of passing traits to offspring (Beuchat). The
disadvantage is very high such as lower fertility, lower vigor, birth defects, smaller size, fewer
offspring, slower growth, higher offspring mortality, shorter lifespan, increase in genetic
diseases, reduced genetic potential ability to improve a trait (Beuchat). It is obvious that the

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risk outweighs the advantages, but some breeders do not see it that way so they continue to breed
them. Other health problems would be the many structural defects that happen to inbred dogs,
such as the German shepherd. They have a very high risk of hip and elbow dysplasia which is
very painful for dogs (Gallaher). Dalmatians are predisposed to deafness; many Boxer dogs have
problems with heart disease (Gallaher). Without the chance to breed with different dogs and keep
being bred with the same blood line they will have no chance of resolving the many problems
contained within the breeds. The reason that inbreeding become such a problem when trying to
find different dogs that are the same breed and not the same bloodline, it makes it becomes
increasingly harder to find a mate without the same blood line. Gallaher said in her article that
inbreeding is happening so often because people will pay a lot of money for dogs with certain
traits. To get those specific characteristics, they will breed the animals with a father dog over and
over with different female dogs. Because of this process the possibilities of that breed breeding
with a dog not related to it is very slim. Which explains why trying to breed is such a difficult
process now a day. Inbreeding has been used so much some breeds it has become almost
impossible to tell the difference between them when presented with many dogs of the same
breed, such as the Boxer and Rough Collie. In Gallahers article, it describes the mathematical
analysis that scientist have took of the Boxer and Rough breeds. The researchers' analysis
showed that, for example, Boxer dogs were so closely related and had such little genetic
variation between them that genetically, 20,000 dogs looked like a population of about 70. In the
Rough Collie breed, 12,000 dogs looked in genetic terms like a population of about 50.

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Meaning that they look so close to each other that they can hardly see the difference between
them. Inbreeding has been done so much that they have somewhat of clones because of it.
Many of the inbred puppies are very high maintenance because of the deformities. They
can get sick more often because of having a lower immune system, leaving them very weak to
common disease that can
be easily avoided if they
were healthy. Golden
retrievers have been
affected by inbreeding
heavily Some 60 percent
of sweet, loyal golden

Beuchats Graph

retrievers, also an AKC


healthy breed, die from cancer (Allen). Very expense purebred dogs may not be worth to buy
at times because of all the medical problems that come with them. But neither price nor
pedigree can shield a dog from the pain, breathing difficulties, cancer, mental illness, and a
shortened life span that plague purebreds (Allen). This statement is explaining how if people are
willing to buy a purebred animal, just know that they will most likely be spending more money
on it to help it function as a normal dog and may even witness an early death of a companion. It
seems to be wiser to get a nice mutt or also known as a mixed breed dog. Because not only do
they come with a probability of having less medical care needed to them but they will averagely
live two years longer than a purebred (Allen) and make a great companion for the long run.

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The good thing that can come from inbred purebreds is that is that it will keep the
heritage intact. Dr. Jackson had said that the benefits of inbreeding are very few but include
having uniformity with animals and being able to keep desired traits. Though many people think
that this way of breeding is very nasty and unorthodox. The breeders could argue with it by
saying that they are preserving the legacy of the animals. It is somewhat similar of how king and
queens having children with people related to them so they can keep the throne in their family.
Reasons to keep the best characteristics in one family is to make sure no other dogs of the same
breed could reach their superiority. In the article by Beuchat she says that another benefit is the
ability have a huge impact in manipulating dominant and recessive traits, to make the best
outcome for a puppy. This can be observed by how many dogs of a certain pedigree tend to look
the same one of the most famous cases is the Hulk Pitbull family. They are a breed of Pit bulls
from the father Pit bull named hulk. The dogs are enormous in size and can be seen that they all
come from the same father. Hulk is around 175 pounds and is trained by his owner to be an
attack dog (Schweig). This makes Hulks litter much more expensive because their father shows
genes of being more on the aggressive side and being able to defend people being such a big
size. This has made his litter cost approximately 500,000 dollars (Schweig). That is a big amount
to have for one litter of puppies but they increase in value when having such desirable traits.
Because they are getting lots of money from this process of breeding animals to be big he might
be tempted to breed the animals within the family to make them stay of big sizes, or get even
bigger. Dr. Jackson suggest that the biggest reason for animal breeders to make these dogs
inbreed is to keep the prices up. This is because when thinking off a one hundred percent

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purebred animal compared to a mixed animal people will more likely to pay more for the more
prestigious breed of the two.
The effects of inbreeding dogs increase more when the inbreeding percentage is high.
This is shown on the coefficient of inbreeding percentage to fitness graph in Beuchats article.
In the chart, it shows how
the animals fitness or health
is decreasing just as fast as
the dogs inbreed percentage
increases. Inbreeding will
shorten or even completely
ruin an animals chances of
living a strong and healthy life. Dogs are meant to be lifelong companions but inbreeding is
preventing the dogs that have been effected by it to live up to that expectation. It is crazy to
imagine that when purchasing a purebred dog for a child that the odds of them growing up with
their dogs to their teens are slim. Not only due to the fact of a shortened life span but also to the
amount of harmful diseases they can catch with a weakened immune system.
Adopting a mutt is one of the most humane and smart things people can do. They will not
be as sick all the time and they will likely not be inbreed. Many people know that many mutts
are being euthanized because they are not being adopted, but they still will purchase a high
maintained pure breed animal. In some animals shelter they begin to start euthanizing animals
because of over population at the shelters. Many animals being brought in from the street are not

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taken care of or even given a chance to find a new owner, they will most likely be killed in order
for the population count to stay down. If they show a slight sign of not being completely some
shelter will euthanize them instead of treating them. The problem with euthanizing is that people
use it too lightly. They think because the animal is not at a showcase level they have to consider
putting them down. In reality they could help and take care of the animal and find it a home.
With a little care and grooming any dog can look good and be able to find love with a new
owner. But just because a shelter is a No-kill shelter does not mean they are accepting to all
animals. So-called no-kill or turn-away shelters, have the luxury of not euthanizing animals
because they turn away needy ones whom they deem unadoptable. (Animal shelter). Which
mean that they can reject to take animals depending on the condition they are in. They can say
that they are at full capacity at the shelter and not accept the animal. They can also charge a
surrender fee of up to one hundred and fifty dollars depending on the shelter. Because it cost so
much and not being able to afford that or not being able to take care of the animal anymore and
the shelter is full, they will sometimes take the duty of euthanizing them their selves. Some
people have killed animals because no shelter would take them. In Michigan three dogs were
found dead on a dirt road because the owner was turned down by no less than three shelter
(Animal shelter). The type of shelter that can ensure that the animal will be accepted and not be
euthanized are No-kill and Open admission shelters which are uncommon (Animal shelter).
It is a sad knowing that animals that are not adopted at a shelter will not help with the over
populated problems at shelters.

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When people are thinking about adopting they should always consider the type of actions
they are promoting. If they purchase a purebred from a breeder or pet store they are helping the
overpopulation of shelters, euthanizing of other animals, and puppy mills. Which will keep
breeding more puppies for purebred lovers. Which will be maintained by inbreeding the dogs to
keep all the desired features in the litter of puppies. Make the conscious decision and adopt an
animal form the shelters not from the breeders.

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