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Kennel Blindness: A Closer Look
By Claudia Waller Orlandi, Ph.D.

A dog breeder¹s knowledgeable use of genetic principles is of paramount
importance to the success of a breeding program. But an all-too-common
phenomenon known as kennel blindness can stop some breeding programs dead in
their tracks. Most works on dog breeding devote relatively little space to
the concept of kennel blindness, although the seriousness of this ³breeder
defect² and the lasting harm it can have on breeding success merit a closer
look.

Found in many purebred dog kennels, kennel blindness is a ³disease² that
results in breeders¹ inability or refusal to admit to the failings in their
own lines of dogs, whether they relate to conformation traits described in
the AKC breed standards, behavior or genetic disease. Kennel-blind breeders
are given to justifying the dogs they breed by developing warped and
unrealistic interpretations of their breed¹s standard, said Ann Seranne in
her book, The Joy of Breeding Your Own Show Dog.

Prognosis
Because a kennel-blind breeder can become ³blind² to serious faults and
health defects in their dogs, these problems may become fixed in a couple of
generations. Unless quickly diagnosed and treated, kennel blindness can lead
to the demise of a successful breeding program.

Symptoms
Fortunately, most common symptoms of kennel blindness are easy to spot.
Following are three of the most pervasive symptoms:

Symptom 1
The tendency to ignore the virtues and focus on the faults of a competitor¹s
dogs. Kennel-blind breeders tend to focus on negative features in dogs that
are not their own. Oftentimes, what they view as a fault in someone else¹s
dog may be an acceptable variation of a style in that breed.

Treatment
Reread your breed¹s AKC standard and understand that standards outline the
essential aspects of a breed and that more than one style may be acceptable
in your breed.

Be sure you understand the difference between breed type and style. A dog¹s
breed type is defined by its breed standard, which is the written
description of the ideal dog of that breed. Style, on the other hand, is how
individual breeders interpret the standard and artistically express various
elements of breed type in the dogs they breed. Each breeder¹s interpretation
of the standard can therefore result in a variation of styles within a
breed. This may produce a range of excellence in a breed and allow dogs of
various styles to be correct and fit their breed standard.

Finally, pretend you are a dog show judge, and get into the habit of looking
first for the virtues in dogs bred and owned by others. If a dog is
consistently winning under a number of different judges, it usually means
that the dog has obvious virtues compared to its competition.

Symptom 2
The belief that you have bred the ³perfect² dog. No ³perfect² dog has ever
or will ever be bred in any breed. Even what you consider your best can
usually be improved upon.

Treatment
Realize that your concept of what is an ideal representative of your breed
may become modified with the passage of time. Experience with a breed may
gradually change the priority a breeder gives to certain features. A breeder
who is a stickler for correct heads may gradually start realizing that
angulation and movement are also important aspects in their breed.

Symptom 3
Blaming the fact that your dog is not winning on bad judging, politics or
anything except the possibility that there may be something wrong with your
dog. Bad sportsmanship and kennel blindness can go hand-in-hand.
Kennel-blind people always have an excuse for why their dog didn¹t win.
While some of their reasoning may be legitimate, consistently losing under a
variety of judges usually means a dog does not fit the standard in one or
more important aspects.

Treatment
If your dog is not winning, ask several knowledgeable people to objectively
evaluate your dog. Tell them to be honest, and listen to their comments with
an open mind.

Are you at risk?

Kennel blindness is more apt to be a problem for Š

Breeders who do not have an ³eye² for a dog.
An eye for a dog is an almost innate ability to view a dog as one piece and
to recognize balance, quality and correctness in any breed. Some breeders
are simply not born with an eye for a dog. Despite having read and studied
their breed's standard, they may be incapable of correctly evaluating
structure and movement in the dogs they breed. Hence, they are blind to
their dogs¹ shortcomings.

Novice or even long-time breeders who are strongly affected by a dog¹s
temperament and personality.
Many kennel-blind breeders think all puppies are cute. These owners usually
decide to breed their dog, not to improve the breed, but because they love
its personality and want more puppies just like it. Breeders such as these
are blinded by the love they have for their dog and can remain ³blind² to
the fact that their dog may lack quality.

Breeders who have produced quality animals in the past but are now
struggling to stay on top.
Breeders who may have had a superstar in the past are usually looking for
their next big winner. In some cases, their superstar may have resulted from
good luck as opposed to thoughtful breeding practices based on genetic
principles.

One scenario is a breeding program based solely on non-genetic breeding
practices, such as like-to-like matings. Offspring of like-to-like matings
cannot usually be counted on to pass on their traits because their
homozygous gene pairs are not identical by descent. It is an accepted
genetic principle that offspring that carry higher proportions of identical
by descent genes have a greater chance of passing on traits that are
influenced by these genes. As a result, there may be less consistency and
quality in the offspring.

A second scenario concerns the breeder who is confronted with inbreeding
depression but refuses to consider outcrossing (the mating of unrelated
individuals of the same breed) to bring in hybrid vigor. With each
generation, the quality of dogs declines. In both scenarios, a burning
desire to produce the next star may make breeders blind to the fact that
they are producing below-average dogs.

Breeders working with small numbers of dogs.
Because small breeders have less to choose from, there is more pressure to
make a litter ³work out.²

Breeders for whom every waking moment revolves around dogs.
Making dogs a live-or-die situation can hamper the breeders¹ ability to
objectively admit to their dog¹s shortcomings.

Individuals who were mentored by kennel- blind breeders.
In these cases, like may beget like.

Characteristics of the NON-kennel-blind

They are truly objective concerning what they produce and are always aware
of what they need to improve in their next generation.
Regardless of time and effort already spent, they are ready to remove dogs
from their program that do not pan out, even to the point of starting over
with new foundation stock.
They have an eye for a dog and can appreciate an outstanding dog regardless
of who bred or owns it.

Tips for correcting vision
If caught in time, kennel blindness can be cured before it has a lasting,
detrimental effect on your breeding program. Try these tips:

Avoid over-emphasizing a certain feature in your breeding program to the
detriment of overall correctness. Although many breeders try to emphasize
the excellence of the whole dog, it¹s human nature to be drawn to certain
features. In fact, the importance we give to a particular trait in our dogs
may be part of how we express our breeding style. One breeder may be a
stickler for fronts and another for backlines. The danger here is that by
focusing on just one feature we can become blind to other faults that may be
creeping into the breeding program.
To assess your kennel blindness level, ask someone whose opinion you respect
to objectively evaluate your dogs. Some of the best people to ask are
knowledgeable breeders who have produced good dogs and who are not kennel
blind themselves. Request they honestly critique the virtues and
shortcomings in your dogs. Ask more than one qualified person, and compare
their evaluations with your own.
Be prepared to make changes, even to the point of eliminating or adding new
dogs to your breeding program. As difficult as it is to admit we are not
succeeding, the realization that our dogs are not measuring up to our
expectations can be the first step in devising a plan to obtain what we
really want.