Breeding dogs...

Kennel Club - the largest registry of purebred dogs (in England) - exposed by a BBC documentry claiming that inbreeding has led to serious health problems in some pedigree dogs.To read more:http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/501287

So these few weeks, talking to my partner - we both feel that we are really missing our dogs! (They are in quarantine until dec :( _......uk regulations! )  Anyway, we've started to get really into working dogs, that is big dogs that work all day, and have all the energy in the world.... that is: german shepherds, and malinois'. These types of dogs are used in police forces around the world, protection dogs, and also sport (competition) dogs.

Soo... she thought that we should breed them.

I personally have SEEN a lot of breeders, but I've never done this before. And from my experiences of seeing (and hearing) what goes on in China, I always thought that breeding is a sort of thing I don't want to get involved in.

I've seen breeders who are literally making dogs like they are a factory for mobile phones. In fact, there's probably less care taken with dogs than there are with commodities..... saying that, there ARE good breeders out there, so I can't be generalising - it's just you have to take the time to look around and find them.

On that topic, last month or so, the BBC (Biggest English TV Station) showed a program Pedigree Dogs Exposed about breeding in England and to put it simply: an attack and insight and investigation into the breeding of 'pure bred dogs'.

The Kennel Club is the largest dog organisation in the world. One that 'regulates' a breed's standards e.g. what they should look like.

The program, in brief, showed how some breeders were so focused on 'beauty' that dogs were often inbred (e.g. keeping it in the family) causeing high levels of deformity physically and mentally. Illnesses such as epilepsy, breathing problems, hip/structure problems are to name a few... In result, two major charities withdrew their support for the Crufts dog show (the biggest dog show on earth?).

It's sad, really sad. And I've worked with a few dogs in Shanghai that showed symptoms of these 'in-breeding' problems. I'm not sure if the breeders don't care and are in it for a quick buck, or they simply don't know.

This is the type of dog I would breed, ((if you were to force me to choose  ))

Malinoisaka Belgian Shepherd [Google 'Malinois' if you wanna find out more about them, cuz I've secretly fallen in love with these dogs]