# Restricted gene pool



## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

Quote from Dog Sense by John Bradshaw:
"about 8,000 new golden retrievers are registered in the UK each year, with a total population of perhaps 100,000. Over just the last six generations, inbreeding has removed more than 90% of the variation that once characterized the breed" (Mr Bradshaw attributes this to a 2008 article in Genetics "Population structure and inbreeding from pedigree analysis of purebred dogs"). 

Mr. Bradshaw states, 
"In many individual breeds, the amount of variation within the whole breed amounts to little more than is typical of first cousins within our own species."

On another page, he makes this observation regarding hips:
"In some breeds, there are enough individuals with "good hip genes" that preventing dogs with poor hips from breeding might eventually remove the defect from the breed. In others, such as the golden retriever, the main factor determining whether the hips fail turns out to be how the dog is exercised when young: in other words, virtually all members of this breed have the genetic potential to develop hip dysplasia, and therefore it cannot realistically be "bred out" unless the rules of pedigree are broken.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

I thought he was a behaviorist, not a geneticist.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

The authors of the 2008 article that Mr Bradshaw referenced from Genetics were F. Calboli, J.Sampson, N. Fretwell and D. Balding. I assume they were geneticists.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

I wonder what he means by the exercise comment. Too much exercise? Not enough? The wrong kind? ...I don't know that I trust those comments. There are most certainly lines that have good hip health.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

I am thinking the reference to exercise is what has been discussed on this forum: to not let your puppy jump down from heights, to not exercise your puppy by running him, etc.


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