Re: [pyrnet] Dwarfism

["Barb Bowes" <bamb@monmouth.com>]

Joe, from what I've been told by those who know a heck of a lot
more than I on the dwarfism issue, there is not a problem with
dwarfism in strictly working lines. At least, none has been
identified. The only explanation that I can logically come up
with for this is that none of the dogs in the pedigrees behind
these dogs have a dwarf carrier. And they have not experienced
the spontaneous mutation for the dwarf gene. What one must
remember is that years ago, no one knew how the gene was
transmitted. If you produced a dwarf, you had it euthanized and
never bred the same two dogs together again. You just bred both
dogs to different dogs. Once the fact that a single carrier would
produce litters where 50% of the pups were carriers, things got
more serious. I can remember that about 10 years ago I had a
conversation with a long time breeder on the subject of breeding
test litters to clear breeding stock for dwarfism. The breeder
was dead set against (I was for test litters) producing litters
of strictly "pet" puppies, as the dog in question would have to
be bred to or breed to a known producer or an actual dwarf.
Therefore all pups produced would have to be spayed/neutered even
if no dwarfs were produced. I really wish that the "powers that
be" had gotten behind this all those years ago as I think we
would have seen a reduction in the number of dwarfs produced
instead of an increase. Of course, breeder honesty has a lot to
do with it also. Some of those out there were very much behind
doing "test" breedings to clear their stock, but evidently there
were not enough of them. I had a bitch with a high potential for
being a dwarf carrier that I wanted to do a test breeding with. I
was going to AI her with sperm from an actual dwarf. Boy was I
jumped on! So, instead of going the way that many others had gone
when faced with the situation, I decided to not breed her at all.
She was a lovely bitch with front and rear movement that is far
too uncommon in the Pyrs I see shown and bred today. It was a
real shame to lose what she could have offered, but, for the good
of the breed as a whole she was never bred. Lines of
communication are more open now and people are more honest if not
downright outspoken if and when they produce a dwarf. This is a
good thing that can only help the breed as a whole.

Barb Bowes
Bo & Chelsea (Pyrs) & Flopsy (Pyr Shep)
The more people I meet, the more I like my dog!
bamb@monmouth.com