Here are my answers,

1) Can’t talk for anybody else, but I’m not scared of out crossing, but I haven’ used it. Out-crossing will, by its very nature, produce unpredictable results. You won’t get a uniform litter, the puppies will have features from both the dam and the sire but in various amounts and of course if the grandparents were crosses then features of those dogs will also be added into the mix. To improve a breed by outcrossing you would need to stable lines and then use backcrossing to the breed you were improving. This takes lots of dedication.

2) I didn’t think that dog breeding was a science. Genetics is a science and it is not fully understood. I’m not sure what you mean by highest breeding standards – do you mean only breeding from animals with no health or behaviour problems? If you do – doesn’t that reduce the gene pool even more that it is at the moment – shouldn’t we be a bit more intelligent than that?

3) I suspect that the average dog breeder knows quite a bit about the health and reproduction of their breed, I suspect they don’t know a large amount about genetics, but I also suspect that only people who have studied it formally would know alot about it. As for what breeders REALLY know about dogs, well what an odd question – do you mean their behaviour? Training them? Working them? Treating their illnesses?, What nutrition they require?, How they develop? or something else? (If this is what you mean, where can one find up-to-data, unbiased and current information?)

4) Depends what you mean by improved – hip scores are generally coming down, dogs that had reputations for being aggressive (e.g. GSD) have become less aggressive surely that is an improvement?

5) Breeding to a standard doesn’t directly help the dog, except that it allows the dog to be more predictable, whether that be in size, coat type, behavioural traits, trainability, exercise needs etc, etc. This allow the prospective owner have a better chance of choosing the right dog for them!

6) Why isn’t health testing compulsory? I think that it would be a good idea if it was, but for those who don’t agree they would still breed and not register their pups – possibly go into breeding “designer dogs” charge more money and do no health testing – because as we have been all told cross-breeds have no health problems! (of course this is not true!)

7) I think this is the same question as 5) people want the standards to know what type of dog they will get!

A little bit about me:

I have bred one litter – pedigree Labradors. I did all the health testing, ensured that the sire had too. Investigated the sires behaviour and the other litters he had produced. I charged a reasonable rate for the puppies – not to cheap and not too expensive and only advertised with the breed club (not in the paper or shop windows!) We had a large litter and made a small loss!!

I am a dog training instructor and I have an HNC in Canine Behaviour and Training, and I am currently studying to enhance this to a foundation degree..

I don’t work for the Kennel Club

Hope this widens the debate