BREEDERS MAKING HEADLINES
(A quick repetition and some unexpected news)  

   Effective inbreeding population is nothing to do with the number of dogs in a breed. Or with the number of dogs actually used at stud in the breed. 

”Effective inbreeding population describes… how closely interrelated those dogs are that are actually used, and which impact that relatedness will have on the genetic variation with the breed. 

Ordinarily, it is estimated that a breed or a species is in serious risk of severe genetic damage, when the breeding basis (inbreeding effective population) falls below the level of 50.” (Per-Erik Sundgren)

    In May, 2008 the journal Genetics  published a study, which did create a bit of a dogworld stir. At least in Britain, where it made the headlines for a while. It attracted attention in connection with the BBC TV series on the health problems of pedigree dogs, which caused sponsors to back away from Cruft´s and had the head veterinarian of time-honoured RSPCA refer to that pomp-and-glory event as a “parade of mutants”.  

  The Genetics article summed up ten popular breeds in the U K. The number of registred dogs over two generations was counted for each breed. Kinship was calculated from the KC pedigree records. And the inbreeding effective population was worked out on that basis.

You will not  want to believe it – I didn´t at first sight. But this is a sample of how it looks for breeds in Britain today, I E P being the inbreeding effective population size:

   The Labradors – with a two generations number of well over 97 000 dogs – during the few years it takes to produce two generations of dogs lost as much of their genetic variation AS IF all 97 000 of them had been bred from 57 unrelated dogs and 57 unrelated bitches!

   I asked Dr. Sundgren to go over the figures for the British Rough Collies for me once more. Using a slightly different method for calculating the inbreeding effective population, he came up with a slightly different figure.

4 8 ! 

   That is the kind of figure one hears about, when an expiring variety of land race goat is discovered somewhere out in the distant woods. That´s when genetic rescue action is started to save the goats.

  We all know that Britain is the Collie´s country of origin. It is also the cradle of a tradition of breeding, which we had better bury in a hurry. Or it will bury both our breeds and the public´s remaining faith in them beneath a mountain of brightly coloured plastic show badges and a thick layer of disrepute for real, emerging or feared-for disease.

  The figures from the table in the Genetics article are absurd. They are preposterous.

  But they are not incorrect.

 They merely reflect absurd breeding practices and preposterous priorities among breeders.  

      Could this sort of thing change? Yes indeed, it can! And here is the surprising news.

The comparatively few Swedish Rough Collies during the five years between
2003 and 2007 produced 2 615 puppies.

  The inbreeding effective population was 500! How is that possible?

Swedish Collie breeders – not all of them, but many enough – have caught on to the threat of inbreeding and either import unrelated dogs for stud, or take their bitches abroad.

   They don´t make the headlines, of course. So let me at least give them this: 

   A big, sincere THANK YOU  for trying to secure the health and survival of our breed!!