Re: [pyrnet] Pyr eyes (now dwarfism)

[darrell goolsbee <dgg@star-telegram.com>]

<<    .  I'd rather have dwarfs
>      any day of the year than most of these others.
> 
> I think thats where we part ways in a major area.  I cannot make that
> choice.
>  Sort of like picking your terminal disease.  Not an acceptable
> choice.>>


Of course, the preference and the goal is to have none of these things,
including dwarfism.

But dwarfism is NOT a terminal disease and whatever serious damage it
has done to the breed, in my opinion, is more from a political and PR
perspective rather than health.

Most dwarfs are for the most part healthy, according to the survey of
owners done by the GPCA.

I have had a blind dog (non-Pyr) that bumped into walls and doors and
got lost in the back yard if you didn't look out for him.

I just a few months ago completed the end game of a Pyr's year-long
battle with a terminal heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathy.

I am currently fostering a puppy that probably has distemper, which I
know is not hereditary but is likely to be terminal.

I have been around dwarfs, and believe me, dwarfism just doesn't compare
to the heartbreak of these other problems. In fact, it's not even in the
ballpark. Once a breeder gets over the shock of having produced the
dwarf, life can go on. Life does not go on normally for dogs with these
other diseases. 

I certainly wouldn't want to have dwarfism, but it is one helluva lot
easier to live with than a blind dog or a dog that is dying of heart
disease.

Darrell Goolsbee
Fort Worth, TX