Andrew Higgins

The breeding of pedigree dogs: time for strong leadership.

A recent article in Genetics looked at population structure, genetic diversity and inbreeding in purebred dogs, not least as dogs are being used increasingly as models of human diseases (Calboli et al., 2008). The authors accessed the UK Kennel Club’s extensive registration database and analysed the pedigrees of 10 breeds with relatively large numbers of dogs registered over about eight generations. The timing of the report is important as its publication was followed a few months later by a BBC television programme, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, shown at prime time on 19 August 2008. This was a hard hitting documentary, highlighting diseases such as syringomyelia in cavalier King Charles spaniels, and bulldogs that have been bred in such a way that most can no longer give birth unassisted. The programme’s message can be summarised in the words of the RSPCA’s Chief Veterinary Adviser that ‘the welfare and quality of life of many pedigree dogs is seriously compromised by established breeding practices for appearance, driven primarily by the rules and requirements of competitive dog showing and pedigree dog registration’. The Kennel Club hit back stating that the programme appeared to have ‘a very specific agenda repeating prejudices, providing no context for the debate, and failing to put forward any constructive proposals’, and that it ‘left viewers with the mistaken impression that all pedigree dogs are riddled with a wide range of health problems and that the dog community is doing little or nothing to improve the situation’. The Club subsequently announced that it was to lodge a complaint with the UK’s broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, as the programme was considered to be unfair and had failed to reflect the Kennel Club’s ‘deep commitment to the health and welfare of dogs and responsible dog ownership’. The British Veterinary Association commented that this was an exposé of the very worst elements of pedigree dog breeding. The Association stressed that it continued to work closely with the Kennel Club in developing canine health schemes and in supporting the significant amount of genetics research funded by the Kennel Club’s Charitable Trust. So, despite the subsequent widespread outcry and publicity (and the understandable fury of a number of breeders), it does seem that at least the BVA and the Kennel Club are working towards the same end. But it has become increasingly clear that there are issues that need to be addressed now, and with some urgency. The stated primary objective of the Kennel Club is ‘to pro-

The bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin: the voyage of the Beagle continues.

As the year of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) draws to a close, it is fitting that The Veterinary Journal should pay tribute to the legacy of a scientist who heralded a new era in biology and transformed scientific thinking about the natural world. We have come a long way since Darwin’s seminal works were published 150 years ago (Darwin and Wallace, 1858; Darwin, 1859), but the Darwin–Wallace theory of natural selection is still highly relevant. As Darwin himself wrote, natural selection is ‘daily and hourly scrutinising throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers, at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life’ (Darwin, 1859). Darwinism has an impact on a diverse range of biological fields relevant to veterinary science and has major (and sometimes unexpected) implications for our understanding of neurobiology, behaviour and animal welfare in domesticated animals, along with competition for limited resources both between and within species. Another evolutionary biologist, John Maynard Smith (1920– 2004), saw Darwinism as game theory, a mathematical analysis of choices and strategies available in a given situation. Game theory was conceived by the mathematician John von Neumann in 1928 and initially applied to economics, where the concept of strategic decisions was developed extensively, generating eight Nobel

Effect of prolonged use of altrenogest on behaviour in mares [The Veterinary Journal 169 (2005) 113–115]

Oral administration of altrenogest for oestrus suppression in competition horses is believed to be widespread in some equestrian disciplines, and can be administered continuously for several months during a competition season. To examine whether altrenogest has any anabolic or other potential performance enhancing properties that may give a horse an unfair advantage, we examined the effect of oral altrenogest (0.044 mg/kg), given daily for a period of eight weeks, on social hierarchy, activity budget, body-mass and body condition score of 12 sedentary mares. It was concluded that prolonged oral administration of altrenogest at recommended dose rate to sedentary mares had no effect on dominance hierarchies, body-mass or condition score.