Faults Archives - Edie MacKenzie

A responsible Labrador Retriever breeder should realize that certain matters of health are his responsibility. Such a Labrador Retriever breeder should do everything possible through his breeding to keep certain known inherited serious faults from becoming widespread in Labrador Retrievers.

He should also try his best to understand what to do about inherited faults detrimental to the breed that have already become widespread within the breed.

There seems to be two extremes among persons interested in breeding dogs. There are those who are over-cautious and others who will breed anything to anything and trust to luck. The more intelligent approach is to investigate and leave the final decision to the weighing of various aspects of each particular problem. Elimination from the breeding program of every dog falling the slightest bit below perfection is not the intelligent approach.

Various breeds of dogs have their own particular inherited problems, some of which are a matter of physical beauty, such as eye-color. Light eyes in Labradors are frowned upon, but since there is no basis in fact that the color of eyes in a dog has anything to do with his vision, color becomes an aesthetic choice. Dark eyes are dominant in inheritance in most breeds; if a breeder prefers not to have that color, he should take care never to breed to a yellow-eyed dog or he will develop “carriers” for light eyes in his strain, if not light eyes themselves. This fault of appearance is not widespread in the Labrador breed and is a far lesser fault than progressive retinal atrophy (PRA).

Progressive retinal atrophy leads to complete blindness and is widespread in many breeds, including Labradors in England. It is not a serious problem at the present time in this country but any signs of it becoming on the increase should be watched for by breeders.

The danger of it becoming widespread is the fact that blindness develops slowly and a Labrador cannot be declared free of affliction until he is four years of age. This age factor varies with different breeds. Any case of blindness should be diagnosed by a qualified doctor or veterinarian.

Kennel owners should obtain the services of an expert in eye diseases and have all dogs checked. Temporary certificates are issued for those dogs proved clear under four years of age and permanent certificates after that age. The British Kennel Club lists all dogs holding such types of certificates in their monthly official magazine. They also do this for their hip dysplasia program.

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Effort is being made to bring progressive retinal atrophy under control, but it will be difficult since many Labrador Retriever will be bred from under four years of age without knowledge of whether or not they are passing on the genes of inheritance for this blindness.

The Dalmatian is a breed of balance and moderation. You do not want a big head on a little dog or a small head on a big dog. Similarly, you do not want an extremely elegant head on a male dog or a very “doggy” head on a female dog. The females are generally more feminine versions of the males and this male/female difference should be quite apparent. The head should have clean lines and the Dalmatian should have a clean mouth, not drooling or loose-lipped. The standard does a good job of describing eyes, ears, stop, muzzle, nose, lips and scissors bite; and it also notes appropriate size and angle relationships.

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With regard to eyes, the major faults of ectropion and entropion eyelids refer to lids that turn into (entropion) or out/row, (ectropion) the eye. Trichiasis is a condition of one or more misdirected eyelashes, causing corneal or conjunctival irritation. These conditions are extremely rare to find in the show ring, but the fact that they have been carried forward in our breed standard indicates that these conditions have caused trouble in the past. Also, they are serious enough to be used as screening factors when making current breeding program selections.

The important thing to keep in mind is that the more you deviate from what the breed standard describes, the more you move away from symmetry, balance and intelligent expression. Picture a Dalmatian with close-set, yellow eyes, no stop between the forehead and top of muzzle, and uneven planes between the top of the skull and his pointy-nosed muzzle when viewed from the side. If, for example, a line drawn across the top of the skull was parallel to the ground and another line drawn across the top of the muzzle pointed more toward the ground, the dog would be “down-faced” and less intelligent looking than one with parallel planes. Such a dog does not have the intelligent expression desired in a Dalmatian. Not even perfect spotting could save the conformation standard shortcomings of a head like this.

The neck, top line, body segment calls for a smooth throat with no excess skin folds and a nicely arched, fairly long neck. The word “arched” denotes a curved structure. The top line should be smooth, without a dip or break between the withers and the back. The chest, back, loin and croup descriptions are clear. Tail docking refers to removing any portion of the tail, whether it is done at birth or later for any reason, through surgery. The front legs are to come straight down from the elbows to the pasterns, whether looking at the dog from the side or the front. Cow-hocks occur when the points of the hocks are closer together than the heels of the pads in normal standing position. The feet, coat and color and markings sections of the Dalmatian are reasonably clear.

Common Hereditary Issues In A Labrador Retriever

What Does A Dalmatian Look Like?

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