This article is part of the supplement: The role of the veterinarian in animal welfare. Animal welfare: too much or too little? The 21st Symposium of the Nordic Committee for Veterinary Scientific Cooperation (NKVet)

Oral presentation

Animal welfare in modern dog breeding

Astrid Indrebø^1,2

¹Norwegian Kennel Club, P.O. Box 163 Bryn, N-0611 Oslo, Norway

²Department of Companion Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, P.O. Box 8146 Dep., N-0033 Oslo, Norway

author email corresponding author email

from The role of the veterinarian in animal welfare. Animal welfare: too much or too little? The 21st Symposium of the Nordic Committee for Veterinary Scientific Cooperation (NKVet)
Værløse, Denmark. 24–25 September 2007

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2008, 50(Suppl 1):S6doi:10.1186/1751-0147-50-S1-S6

Published:	19 August 2008

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

During the last few years a growing number of European kennel clubs have made an increasing number of rules and regulations for dog breeding, mainly concerning hip dysplasia (HD), elbow dysplasia (ED) and diagnoses based on DNA tests. However, despite the good intentions for improving health through strict regulations, the results can often be harmful to many breeds. Too heavy restrictions promote too heavy selection, thereby leading to matador breeding, inbreeding and decreased gene pools, and may result in an increased number of unregistered dogs with no health policy at all. Strict rules against certain diseases may also lead to an increase in other serious diseases which can not be detected through screening tests or DNA tests, consequently not being subject for eradication programs.