Goldenstar
Well-Known Member
If I'm allowed to go outside the subject of Labradors specifically, I've read a book, and some articles, by Jan-Erik Sundgren. He was a Heredity researcher, and State agronomist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and for many years he worked as an advisor for the Swedish Kennelklubben, and different breed clubs.
Judging by his book, which came out 1990, he believed that the biggest causes behind today's dog's health problems is (in no particular order)
* inbreeding,
* too much line-breeding,
* too many overused stud dogs (so called Matadors) leading to a too small gene pool,
* that the thinking of reserving breeding for the best/too high standards for non health related issues can exclude too many potential breeding animals which leads to the narrowing down of gene pools,
* and regardless if we're talking purebred or not purebred dogs, bitch owners who breeds their bitches without enough knowledge about breeding.
Maybe if he had he written his book today, he would also have mentioned environmental pollution, and perhaps also additives in food, but who knows.
By the way, he's also said something about that even though first generation crossbreeds can be more innate healthy, not purebred animals do not have to be better than purebred animals as future breeding animals, since all that matters is if you're crossing two animals with the same damaged/weak genes or not.
Anyhow, it is his recommendations that is basis to for example the Lapphund breed club in Sweden's rules, and recommendations about that: A Finnish Lapphund stud dog is allowed to sire 25 puppies before he is 5 years old, and should not to be used at all after that he has sired 50 puppies in total.
That the total inbreeding for a 5 generation Finnish Lapphund pedigree should not exceed 6,25%. And that a planned mating between two Finnish Lapphunds should have an inbreeding of max 2,5%.
I'm sure the inbreeding percentage for Jonna's litter was below 1, if my vague recollection is correct, it was 0,2%. But of course, low inbreeding percentage is no guarantee neither against accidents, nor nature's lottery. Besides, sooner or later something has to start going wonky, or dogs would be immortal.
Another of course is that the rules/recommendations about trying to prevent Matador stud dogs currently only seems to work if the stud dog owner have a conscience. I know that the Swedish breed club for Rhodesian Ridgeback recommends that no stud dog is allowed to sire more than 40 puppies. Yet, I've heard one Swedish stud dog owner brag on TV about that his Rhodesian Ridgeback had sired over 200 puppies when you also counted in the puppies sired in other countries!
I don't know what the equivalent number is for Border Collie stud dogs in Sweden, but I've also heard an owner of a Border Collie stud dog basically say that he couldn't sire any more puppies in Sweden, so they were now hoping that bitch owners in other countries would want to use him.
Some years ago a breeder of a quite small breed proudly told me that a stud dog she had bred, and I had met, could now be found in the pedigree of every new puppy born in Sweden of that breed. It made me so sad to hear that, I didn't know what to answer her. I think I mumbled something vaguely about that he'd been a nice dog.
Talk about shooting herself, and the breed, in the foot, I can't imagine that it leads to anything good.
But back to Labradors, I know the Labrador breed is divided also in Sweden. I've heard that there was a few Labradors who managed to become both Swedish Show champions, and Hunt champions in the early 90's, but nowadays the closest I've been able to find is that some Labradors in the Nordic countries have managed to receive Excellent in individual quality at dog shows, at the same time as they have good results at different hunting trials.
Like the Norwegian: Djurbergas Second Ess For Brave
thats a beautiful dog
