Purebred dog breeding
Opinion piece
About 25 years ago, I saw a documentary about a pedigree dog show on TV. I remember very well how hideous I found that. Freshly petted poodles that ran after their owners in a circle. Afghans whose owners got a nervous breakdown because their dog shook itself and messed up the for many hours combed hairstyle. I laughed at the people, the dogs somehow made me feel sorry. At that time, I was very determined to belong to the group of people who found pedigree dogs superfluous and believed breeders breed just for profit. I was convinced that hybrids are the better and, above all, healthier dogs and I thought that a decent person should get a dog out of a shelter.
Over the years, some of these rigid views have disappeared and I now see pedigree breeding with others, albeit with very critical eyes. Purebred dog breeding per se is rather a modern invention of humans. In the past, dogs were exclusively bred according to their purpose and use. Now, when visiting a dog show, one might think that it is only about the appearance of the dogs, but not about their functionality.
What is purebred dog breeding?
What is this purebred dog breeing good for? A breeder I know told me recently that purebred dog breeding should be about one thing: preserving, shaping and improving. So that we preserve what we have and what the breed standard sets for us and to not create new creations of our own. I liked that statement a lot, but it also made me very think. Did we humans do that with "our" breed, the Shar Pei? Have we preserved, shaped and improved the breed? Personally, I believe that we have preserved them and also shaped, but improved? That probably not.
I am fortunate enough to know both worlds, the world of Chinese Shar Peis in China and the Shar Peis in Europe and other Western countries. I also know many breeders from both worlds and talk to them. In the end, I have found there are black sheep everywhere and there are those everywhere who are trying to do the best for the breed. But what is the best for a breed? Optically correct appearance according to the breed standard? Maintaining functionality? Health? Can you combine all of this? You can certainly, but it requires a very high motivation of each breeder, the willingness to constantly learn and draw conclusions with the help of new findings.
The FCI
The Fédération Cynologique Internationale, FCI for short, is the largest cynological umbrella organization in the world. It was founded in 1911 with the aim to support and protect cynology and pedigree breeding when needed in all respects. The other three major federations alongside the FCI are the British Kennel Club (KC), the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC). These four associations mutually recognize their registrations as far as the respective breeds are recognized and have concluded cooperation agreements. The FCI currently includes 99 member and contract partners whose national association is a member of the FCI. The international breeding strategies of the FCI have set a superordinate breeding goal, the execution and inspection is subject to the individual state associations, or, if available, the breed clubs.
Although these breeding strategies are well thought out and clearly worded, they can never be closely controlled or checked due to the large number of member states, countless clubs and the multitude of different recognized dog breeds. Ultimately, it is up to the seriousness and conscientiousness of each breeder and the individual breed clubs to know the breeding strategies and conscientiously implement them in their breeding.
Breeding
Reputable breeding involves many factors and much needed knowledge. An important point for every breeder should be a clearly formulated breeding goal. This breeding goal should not only be written down once and then forgotten. It should serve every breeder to check themselves and critically question their own breeding plan. If your own breeding is no longer in accordance with your breeding goal, then you should draw appropriate consequences. That would of course be the ideal case in a world where the dogs really come first in the breeding process.
The point that bothers me most in purebred dog breeding is the "sugarcoating" by some individual breeders. This often goes hand in hand with a misinterpretation of the breed standard, which is then used to justify one's own creations. If it is only about the look of the dogs, then that would be almost tolerable. But when we start talking about the dog's health, that's a big problem dogs might end up suffering from.
Understanding
A very important point for me in pedigree breeding is the understanding of the breed. But with the Shar Pei, this is often a bit more difficult. Much may be due to the fact that the country of origin has played no role in the last 50 years for Shar Pei breeders in the world. Our knowledge of the breed in China and their breeding there was very limited. However, we know more about the history of the breed in Hong Kong. Thanks to people like Matgo Law, we know about the general state of the breed when he first came into contact with them in the 1960s. We know about the beginnings of purebred Shar Pei breeding there and about the emergence of the first breed standard. Since we have the internet and social media, much more information has spread throughout the world. But as in all areas of life, not all the information we can find on the internet is true. A questioning of the sources is also very important here. And now we are at the next hurdle: how do you question information from a region that is very far away and whose language and culture are so different from ours? For the sake of simplicity, as far as the original dogs from China are concerned, some simply took the information from some breeders in Hong Kong and considered it to be accurate information. Because they have to know, right? But what do all those information, false and true, circulating on the internet about our breed do with us? They create a wrong understanding of the breed. And they serve to justify faulty dogs and the breeding with them.
Responsibility
And that is precisely the point where purebred dog breeding is so important and serious breeders carrying a high responsibility. It serves to maintain the correct type of breed, but leaves, depending on the breed, still individual scope. Breed standards have been developed to describe the typical breeds characteristics that distinguish each breed from others.
Before standards were established and dogs were bred primarily for functional reasons, no emphasis was placed on purebredness. It was all about the functionality of the dogs. It was the same with the Shar Pei in China, of course. Dogs with good hunting qualities were mated with each other to get more dogs with this quality. The same was true for guard dogs and unfortunately also for dogs bred for dog fighting. The functionality had a higher priority than the purebredness.
Breeder
Just as I know Chinese breeders who do not care about purebredness with the correct breed-specific traits, because the dogs are supposed to serve a specific purpose, there are breeders in the West who do not care about the breed standards and create their own new creations. However, the majority of breeders here and there have the welfare of the breed in mind and strive to breed correct dogs that meet the breed standard.
Insight
All this went through my head when I visited a dog show a few days ago and looked at in a circle running Shar Peis. And while I still find the procedure of dog shows very irritating, I now know why FCI dog shows are so important. A judge who knows and understands the standard and the breed gives the best feedback a breeder can get. A professional, independent review of the dog's overall appearance. In the end, it's about the dog's balance. The perfect dog will almost never be there. But there will always be balanced dogs where the overall picture and all the important characteristics are consistent. This is what purebred dog breeding is good for. That we preserve, shape and improve these unique characteristics.
