Of course the article is quite good too, as it centers on the current Crufts winner and the problems that come from dominant sire selection.
Yogi, a Hungarian vizsla from Sydney, was last month crowned Best in Show at Crufts, the world's most prestigious dog show.
More virile than a coach load of Contiki tourists, Yogi has fathered 525 pups since emigrating to the UK almost five years ago, records show.
That translates to more than 10 per cent of vizsla pups registered in the same period - and his popularity is set to soar with his Crufts win.
Jemima Harrison, who prepared the documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed and obtained the figures, is alarmed at Yogi's gene pool dominance.
"Yogi is an absolutely beautiful dog who deserved to win," Ms Harrison said. "However the concern is that this dog has been massively overused as a stud dog already.
"As far as the breed is concerned it's a genetic time bomb."
True too. Every dog carries within it negative recessive genes, and if those genes are doubled up on long enough and often enough, things can slide into the abyss for an entire breed.
.
Reminds me of a big winning stud dog in oh - every breed. Such a shame.
ReplyDeleteThe Vizsla is "my" breed. One of the reason that I chose this breed was that it is a little known breed in Canada and the breeders are very meticulous with their breeding practices. No inbreeding, overbreeding etc..
ReplyDeleteI am really disturbed that Yogi has sired over 500 pups. At an average of 5 pups per litter, that would have been at least 100 breedings!!
I find this lack of concern for breed genetic health very sad. Every breed that gets popular with show clubs always gets ruined.
Maybe it's time to play "Beat the Reaper" the canine version.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete