What is a Breed? And Then…
Picture this: a golden-coated, floppy-eared dog with a heart as warm as its fur, and a knack for fetching stuff. If you live in North America, you probably recognize it as the Golden Retriever, a breed of dog.
But what exactly makes a breed? Defining “breed” or “purebred” isn’t a cut-and-dried affair; in the 1550s, the term “breed” was thrown around to mean “race, lineage, stock from the same parentage.” Essentially, it’s a label that describes individuals from the same species (in this case, dog) with very different traits which were selectively bred for.
Many like me see “purebred” in the same light, just that it has different grammatical rules. Many will use this word as an umbrella term for all breeds of dog, or it may be used as an adjective. The simplest way we describe a breed to children is a dog that looks and acts a certain way, that was named after a person, country, or purpose. However, it truly is a little more than that. For example, how do we know if a breed is legitimate or not?
What is their purpose?
Many breeds today are developed specifically for the purpose of companionship. Other purposes are herding livestock, hunting down pests, assisting hunters, tracking down people, guarding people or property, pulling sleds, and more!
Some purposes are very unique, such as the Dalmatian whose job was to trot alongside horse carriages to help keep them safe from bandits or other dangers. Even today they make great visual deterrents, they’re hard to miss! There are niche purposes within purposes too, like the herding style of a Border Collie and that of a German Shepherd. A Border Collie’s purpose as a herding dog revolves around generally gathering and moving the livestock with an intense gaze and a wolf-like stalk, while the German Shepherd’s is more focused on being a living fence — keeping them from entering certain places and protecting them from predators or thieves.
In order to make sure these breeds stay good at their jobs (whatever it may be) and are recognizable, breed standards were written and established along with their respective parent breed clubs (ex. Collie Club of America). If you’re not familiar with this, a breed standard is like a breeder’s blueprint — it covers structure, personality, and the overall look of a breed. Eventually, they went on to nationally recognized by national and worldwide organizations such as the American Kennel Club (AKC) and Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI).
Since this is an introductory post, I decided to keep this section a bit simpler to make it less daunting — so if you want to learn about what dogs were before dog breeds (as we know them today) were established, see my continuation post, Breed Standards: How & Why? after this post.
How Does a Breed Become a Breed?
Most breeds we have today are old. Like, very old. Sometimes their origins span as far as a few thousand years ago, others didn’t get started until the 1800s, and some today started way after your parents were born (if you’re a Millennial or Gen Z).
Generally, people think the founding of a breed is very easy, however, true recognition takes decades. As mentioned earlier, all breeds have a breed standard and this is a major step any breed needs before its development can truly take off. If you look at what Dobermans were before a breed standard was established, you wouldn’t have guessed that they were supposed to be Dobermans (you can see their history here.)
Another thing a breed-in-development needs is an official breed club that I mentioned earlier. They can have different variations of club names but they will usually have the breed name in it along with words like “Association” or “Club”. There can be multiple of these, especially across different countries.
After a breed club is established (they function a lot like non-profit organizations as far as structure goes), a studbook, breed standards, code of ethics, general regulations, and other complicated things come along with it. Some parent breed clubs aim also to be recognized by a national or international breed club like the AKC and the FCI. There have been many cases of people making up or planning breeds that sound convincing, without any decent establishments, documentation, or standards to start them off with, and I plan to cover these in the near future.
Lastly, I would like to note that a breed isn’t always established in this order. Usually, it will exist as a general concept (generic appearance, purpose, etc.) before they finally gain support and develop into a real breed. Some breeds start off rough (ex. breeders not committing to required health testing or having bad management) but I’ve seen many like Silken Windhounds rise from the ashes of a rough start. If you would like to confirm that a breed is “real”, your best bet is to look at any established parent club and read up on the practices, standards, and breeders — and you can cross-reference the documentation of well-established breeds like Labrador Retrievers (ex. their code of ethics) if you are unsure about any shadiness.
Breed Health
Breeding purebred dogs properly is a tricky balance. The top priority is the health of our dogs, and what many people don’t know is that with modern technology we can now health test for hundreds of different carriers and even conditions like hip dysplasia. A breeder should always be proud of the health testing completed on their dogs (among other things) and be happy to share them with you, this article by Ethos Veterinary Health briefly goes over what those are and why.
Inbreeding is (or should be) for improving genetics while not skimping out on health which is why people shouldn’t be careless with breeding decisions.
Many people think it’s best to breed dogs within a breed that are the least related possible to avoid these issues, however, you are dealing with many measurements and many shades of grey like predisposition to cancer, lifespan, behavior, and complex diseases. Such diseases that aren’t well studied yet or are controlled by more than one genetic marker, don’t always show themselves even with generations of inbreeding, and by then it is widespread and difficult to breed out once they are really common in a breed (such as Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Dobermans). Breeders (at least the ones who know and care) have figured out ways to (mostly) avoid health and genetic diversity issues from inbreeding, which is mentioned in this article by BetterBred. Their other article, “What’s “enough” diversity in a breed?” specifically goes in-depth on the nuances behind genetic diversity and why that question isn’t easy to answer.
I also found a study with some great findings about inbreeding: Recent breeding history of dog breeds in Sweden: modest rates of inbreeding, extensive loss of genetic diversity and lack of correlation between inbreeding and health. Of the 26 breeds involved in this study (over 330,000 dogs), they found that despite the lack of genetic variation and moderate levels of inbreeding in all breeds, inbreeding does not seem to be a main cause of health issues. This does not mean inbreeding can’t cause health issues, but that inbreeding itself isn’t the problem: it’s poor breeding choices (and possibly other factors too).
With all that said, it’s important to note that not all breeders are doing things they should be doing, and that has resulted in millions of dogs today being notoriously unhealthy. Inbreeding absolutely can be bad for health but if a breeder knows what they’re doing, they can use it to their advantage without sacrificing health. When looking into a breed, your best resource is the breed’s parent breed club mentioned earlier, they’re usually happy to help teach and find the right breeder or rescue for your needs.
“It is worth mentioning that low levels of genetic diversity are not inherently bad for the overall fitness of a breed, as long as breeders make informed mating decisions to avoid further loss or imbalance in diversity and eliminate potentially deleterious genetic traits.” — Animal Geneticist , Dr. Felipe Avila
Why They Are Important
I like to call breeds living monuments, relics, and heirlooms — they are to some people like the Holy Cross is to Christians. They may not be important to nature, but they are important to people all around the world.
Dog breeds often serve as an important piece of a culture and tradition rather than just a companion that fits a certain lifestyle, although that’s important too. As mentioned earlier, they served as hunters, herders, protectors, and even status symbols. They remind us of our roots and of history, which keeps us humble and prevents us from repeating history.
The large, white, fluffy dogs that westerners call the Samoyed, are important to Russia’s Nenet people as bison are to North America’s indigenous communities. They were bred for herding reindeer (essential for survival), hunting, pulling sleds, and they even kept their people warm. My culture’s monumental breed — Asong Gubat of the Philippines, aka the Philippine Forest Dog — serves as a hunting partner, pest control, and protection dog that my mother still reminisces about to me often.
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Sources
- Golden Retriever Club of America (grca.org)
- Introducing the newest researcher for canine genetic diversity: Dr. Felipe Avila — BetterBred.com
- Contributing positively to the future — BetterBred.com
- What’s “enough” diversity in a breed? — BetterBred.com
- breed | Etymology of breed by etymonline
- About Breed Standards | The Kennel Club
- What’s a Stud Book? (nationalpurebreddogday.com)
- Purebred Dogs: What is a Breed Standard? — American Kennel Club (akc.org)
- Dalmatian History — Dalmatian Club of America
- Love & Marriage — Dal & Carriage (nationalpurebreddogday.com)
- Tests Reputable Breeders Perform with Veterinarians — Ethos Veterinary Health
- Recent breeding history of dog breeds in Sweden: modest rates of inbreeding, extensive loss of genetic diversity and lack of correlation between inbreeding and health
