Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Dog breeding have been focusing on exterior traits for hundreds of years. This has brought diseases and functional limitation. Every breed has its regulations controlled by the breeds’ breed standard. These breed standards describe how the dogs should look and which dogs that they are allowed to breed with. Rhodesian ridgeback has an iconic exterior trait, the ridge that is connected to the dermois sinus which is a very painful skin disease. This disease could be illuminated if you choose the right individuals to breed with, if you would breed an individual with “ridge” and one without, the disease would never affect any offspring. But the Rhodesian ridgeback breed standards regulations forbid individuals without “ridge” to be included in the breeding. There are other examples where the breed standard is in the way for a healthier dog breeding.
There are laws to direct the dog breeding, it states that it is forbidden to breed with individuals where there is a risk for inheritance of diseases or functional limitation. The law is controlled by Regional Office, the Swedish animal law control authority. This BSc thesis purpose is to research if the animal welfare inspections include checking dog breeders for if they breed on genetic abnormalities.
The results show that Regional Office are not controlling the rules regarding breeding, they don´t have the time or the knowledge. Without formal inspection on if breeding is done on individuals that should not be included in breeding. It´s also a sign that a control guidance is necessary. The paper presents suggestions on how the control can be executed better and how a control guidance should be written.