On the Origin of Pedigree Dogs by Means of Manual Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life [2]

"Court decides that breeder is liable" was the captive content of three consecutive articles by Dick Wittenberg, journalist for the Dutch top-notch newspaper NRC (3 and 4 January 2013). I wrote about that exactly a year ago On the Origin of Dogs Races by Means of Manual Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

A lady bought a pedigree dog that within two years showed epileptic attacks. The dog was put to death because the attacks got worse and worse and genetic epilepsy is incurable.

In December 2012 the district court decided that the woman, complaining about the 'quality' of her pedigree, was right by claiming the dog breeder to be liable for delivering a sick and inbred dog. The breeder was sentenced for unfair business practices.

He claimed the medical faults in the dog were not his doing, but the court felt the breeder should have accepted that inbreeding does occur and he should have warned the buyer for the possibility of bad health. In this specific case he should have informed the buyer that this medical condition is well-known for this dogs pedigree.

Then, however, the court states that “A consumer of a relatively expensive pedigree dog must be able to expect a healthy dog”. That error amuses me and makes me sad. Of course any well thinking buyer should know: “Any consumer of a relatively expensive pedigree dog must be able to expect an inbred dog with built-in genetic faults”. Pedigree is a contradiction for healthy dog.

We inform consumers about overbred plopchickens (broiler chicks in English or 'plofkip' in Dutch is a pedigree chick to grow very fast in a minimum of time) but we do not teach them that breeders do the same to their beloved pets (dogs, horses, pigeons...).

The Dutch Kennel Club Council has even turned to a 'professional' spokesman to counter the offensive they expect on pedigree breeding. As I do, they seem to fear that people will call for a full halt on commercial pedigree breeding, but I feel that pedigree breeding will help solving detail questions from the theory of evolution.

So, please do not stop breeders from breeding to the extreme. They are running an experiment that supports evolutionary theory and could help to gain additional insights. Sorry for the dogs though but you don't need a permit. And people will keep buying pedigrees, just as they keep on acquiring guns, Hummers, rhino horns, bleached blondes and fa(s)t food.