Koimme roturisteytystoimikunnassa, että on kohteliasta kysyä rodun alkuperämaan rotuyhdistykseltä eli the Cocker Spaniel Clubilta mielipidettä roturisteystysprojektiin. Alla kirjoittamamme kirje ja the Cocker Spaniel Clubin vastaus.
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Dear Miss Sue Kettle, The Hon. General Secretary of The Cocker Spaniel Club
We are approaching your club as a parent club of our beloved breed. As a breed club in Finland, we have voted in our AGM to apply for a crossbreeding program under the supervision of The Finnish Kennel Club. In modern times we feel that this is a breeding tool we need to use to achieve acceptable levels of animal welfare and sustainable breeding practices.
After we started DNA testing English Cocker Spaniels for 12-FGF4 so called retrogene we soon found out that the gene is unfortunately fixated in the breed, throughout both show and working lines worldwide. Recent studies show that the approximate retrogene allele frequency in the breed is between 88 % – 95 % depending on the laboratory source. That means that almost all Cocker Spaniels are chondrodystrophic (one or, in most cases, two copies of CDDY), which causes discs to prematurely degenerate and significantly increases the risk of Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD). In IVDD, the degenerated discs can rupture, causing pain and, in the worst case, paralysis
Our main goal is to better the health of the breed by introducing a healthy variant of retrogene into the breed from other breeds and improve spinal health. As a side product we will hopefully lower the COI percentage as well and get some healthy genetic diversity into the breeding programs. We were happy to notice that genetic variety was one of the three key areas in The Royal Kennel Club’s breeding for health framework.
When our crossbreeding program starts, we want to assure you that everything will be documented and public. Our breed club together with The Finnish Kennel Club will manage this project and no decisions of the future use of next generations are made by individual breeders. Only after 5 generations may the progeny be registered back to the breed records without individual and strict health, conformation and behaviour assessments at two years of age. It will be voluntary for all breeders in Finland to either participate or not participate in this project. We will keep you informed how this project proceeds.
We hope to get your club’s support and we hope to hear from you soon.
Respectfully yours,
On behalf of Cockerspanielit ry, Cross Breeding Committee Chairman Hanna Heinonen
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Hi Hanna
We have now held our Committee meeting.
I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to support you at this time for two reasons.
Firstly our Club’s Code of Ethics prevents us from carrying out cross breeding.
Secondly, the main problem we have is that the vast majority of Cockers bred in this country are not bred by reputable breeders, but by backyard or commercial breeders. Many of these are not health tested, and barely even resemble Cockers. Our aim is to educate the general public so that they only buy from reputable breeders.
Kind regards
Sue Kettle
Hon. Secretary
The Cocker Spaniel Club
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