Explore every episode of the podcast The Functional Breeding Podcast

In this Breeder Spotlight, Ezri Silverberg of Apsara Windsprites & Lurchers, joins interim host Jess to talk their Windsprites, lurchers, and the realities of breeding within—and beyond—a small gene pool. They explore intentional outcrossing, genetic diversity, health, temperament, puppy raising and evaluation, and creating accessible pathways for puppy homes.

Support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative on Patreon: Functional Breeding Patreon

In this Breeder Spotlight, interim host Jess Sedivy Gunderson talks with breeder Tara Doherty of Figment Vulpine Spitz and the Vulpine Spitz Project, and her goal of producing easy-to-live-with companion dogs with strong temperaments, health, and plenty of personality. Tara shares how her service dog experience has shaped her approach to evaluating puppies and breeding dogs, why temperament comes first, and how she balances genetic diversity with thoughtful, purposeful breeding decisions. They also discuss mentorship, the importance of community, and how Tara uses guardian homes as she grows her program.

Support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative on Patreon: Functional Breeding Patreon

In this Breeder Spotlight, Jess Sedivy Gunderson welcomes back Dr. Laura Sharkey of the Bosun Dog Project. Building on Laura's previous conversation with Perry about what puppies are capable of, this episode explores how her breeding program has evolved—from lessons learned fostering nearly 25 litters before breeding her own dogs to the role of mentorship, transparency, and continual learning in shaping thoughtful breeding decisions. Together, they discuss what it means to raise puppies with intention and why sharing both successes and challenges helps strengthen the broader breeding community. Support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative on Patreon: patreon.com/c/functionalbreeding/membership

We're revisiting one of our favorite conversations with Dr. Mary Peaslee, exploring what functional, sustainable breeding looks like in practice. Drawing on the English Shepherd community's approach to genetic diversity, open registries, and functional breed standards, Mary shares thoughtful insights into balancing health, predictability, and collaboration. It's a conversation that continues to challenge us to think beyond individual dogs and toward the long-term future of their breeds.

Support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative on Patreon: patreon.com/c/functionalbreeding/membership

In this episode, interim host Jess Sedivy Gunderson welcomes back Dr. Rowena Packer to discuss new research examining how puppies' earliest experiences—including age at sale, seeing the mother, and sourcing decisions—can impact health outcomes later in life. Together, they explore what the findings mean for breeders, puppy buyers, and the future of canine welfare. If you'd like to support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative, find us on Patreon: Functional Breeding Patreon

In part two of this conversation, Jess Sedivy Gunderson continues her discussion with Jane Lindquist, diving into Jane’s newer work around weaning, early nutrition, and the puppy gut microbiome. The episode explores how breeders are beginning to think more deeply about gut health during developmental periods, the role of maternal influence and early diet, and how weaning practices may shape long-term health and resilience. The conversation also emphasizes that there is no single “perfect” approach to raising puppies, and that breeders across feeding philosophies can benefit from understanding the emerging science in this area.

Note: This episode focuses on weaning strategies and the puppy microbiome. However, discussion of diet is closely connected to any discussion of the microbiome. The Functional Dog Collaborative does not endorse a single feeding approach; listeners are encouraged to evaluate options based on current evidence, veterinary guidance, and their individual program goals.

Support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative on Patreon: Functional Breeding Patreon Decoding the Foodome: https://barabasi.com/media/2024-Menichetti-Decoding.pdf 

In this two-part conversation, Jess Sedivy Gunderson sits down with Jane Lindquist to revisit and expand on one of the Functional Breeding Podcast’s most downloaded episodes.

Together, they explore what has evolved in puppy raising over the past several years, including socialization, resilience, developmental periods, breeder observation skills, and how the pandemic shaped conversations around raising puppies. Jess and Jane also discuss what has stayed the same, what has shifted, and why thoughtful puppy raising continues to require flexibility, curiosity, and adaptation as new science emerges.

Part 2 of the conversation drops a few weeks later and will focus on Jane’s newer work around weaning and the puppy microbiome.

Support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative on Patreon: Functional Breeding Patreon

A transcript for the show is available here:  Jane Lindquist Part 1: Puppy Culture Revisit - Functional Dog Collaborative

To learn more about Jane and her courses, visit puppyculture.com or madcapuniversity.com

In this episode from our archive, we revisit an important conversation between Perry and Dr. Jane Ladlow, VetMB, DipECVS, MRCVS, on brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), functional health, and the future of brachycephalic breeds. Their discussion explores the real-world welfare impacts of extreme conformation, the challenges of balancing breed type with health, and what meaningful change could look like moving forward.

Though this episode originally aired in 2024, the conversation remains deeply relevant for breeders, owners, veterinarians, and anyone interested in functional health and ethical dog breeding.

If you're like to support the podcast and the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative please visit our Patreon: Functional Breeding Patreon

 

Before stepping in as interim host, Jess Sedivy Gunderson joins Sarah Stremming (Cog-Dog Radio) alongside Xan Latta to share the story behind the Flatcoat Conservation Project. From the cancer crisis in Flat-Coated Retrievers to the promise of genetic rescue, this episode explores what happens when breeders choose dogs over tradition—and what that could mean for the breed’s future. 

If you'd like to support the FDC podcast, please visit our Patreon page.

This episode, I am being interviewed by Sarah Stremming about a recent scientific article about the genetics of behavior in herding breeds and specifically in border collies. I talk about the study's methods and what it all means, and Sarah grounds it in her deep practical experience with herding dogs. Sarah has been on the podcast so many times that she hardly needs an introduction but for new listeners, she is an internationally known dog behavior consultant and speaker. You can learn more about her at sarahstremming.com and I encourage you to check out her podcast, cog dog radio, where this episode is being jointly released.

On a personal note I want to let you all know that while I haven't been releasing episodes, this podcast has been very much on my mind. I continue to suffer from chronic fatigue which makes this kind of effort really difficult for me - after recording this episode I was unable to work for the rest of the day. I'm improving but it's very slow going. I am deeply grateful to those on Patreon who continue to support the podcast during this hiatus - that support goes straight to the Functional Dog Collaborative and is much needed and appreciated. 

Jeong, Hankyeol, Elaine A. Ostrander, and Jaemin Kim. "Genomic evidence for behavioral adaptation of herding dogs." Science Advances 11.18 (2025): eadp4591. https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.adp4591

 

This week I'm talking to Dr Laura Sharkey, dog trainer turned dog breeder, who runs the Bosun Dog Project. This project produces lovely mixed breed dogs who are bred to fit well into homes as companions. This episode was actually recorded in person with me and Laura in the same room. We started talking about what we would talk about and then I realized she had already said some really interesting stuff, so I hit record and prompted her to start over, and away we went, talking about some of the fascinating discoveries she's made with her analytical brain while raising many litters of foster puppies and five litters of Bosun puppies! If you want to know more about the Bosun Dog Project, you can go to bosundogproject.com.

This week I'm talking with Dr Micah Halpern, a geneticist who has worked with many species including zoo animal population health, and is currently the pricipal scientist and owner of GenSol Diagnostics. Micah and I got nerdy about genetic testing for canine health and other traits - what are some of the different technologies involved, and how do we think about what "accurate" means in terms of results?

I've had a long break from recording podcast episodes and I'm coming back gradually. My series of unfortunate injuries seem to be coalescing into chronic pain that makes working difficult. The Functional Dog Collaborative is a high priority for me but sometimes I do have to take a break from this podcast while I recover a bit, and this was one of those times. I hope to have episodes coming out more regularly, but also a bit more slowly than previously, for a while, while I improve and ramp them back up. I appreciate your patience.

Dr. Hille Fieten is veterinary researcher and clinician specializing in internal medicine. She is is the coordinator of the Center for Expertise in Genetics and Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University. I have received multiple requests to talk to her about her research into the genetics of copper toxicity in dogs. Some of her research has been used for new genetic tests, and the dog loving community is asking how to interpret these tests. Buckle up for a lot of information coming at you!

Full transcript can be found on our website: https://functionalbreeding.org/dr-hille-fieten-copper-toxicity/

A new paper, "The prevalence of behavior problems in dogs in the United States," is getting people upset - is it true that 99.78% of owners think their dog has a behavior problem? That's not actually what the paper says, and I'm here with Sarah Stremming of Cog Dog Radio for a joint episode. We talk through the paper's findings and what it means for those of us trying to make the world a better place for dogs.

 

Beaver, Bonnie V. "The prevalence of behavior problems in dogs in the United States." Journal of Veterinary Behavior 76 (2024): 34-39.

Hsu, Yuying, and James A. Serpell. "Development and validation of a questionnaire for measuring behavior and temperament traits in pet dogs." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 223.9 (2003): 1293-1300.

Dr. Paula Boyden is the veterinary director of Dogs Trust UK, an animal welfare organization that, among many other things, investigates illegal importation of animals to the UK. Paula and I talked about puppy smuggling - why it happens, how it happens, the animal welfare implications, how hard it is for puppy seekers to detect it, and potential solutions to stop it.

You can learn more about Dogs Trust UK at https://www.dogstrust.org.uk. You can find the puppy smuggling reports that Paula and I talked about at https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/our-views/puppy-smuggling .

This week I welcomed back Sara Reusche (she/her)! Sara is a CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CVT, and owns Paws Abilities Dog Training, LLC in Southeast Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro. Sara and I talked about what we mean by the term sports lite versus sport bred, what the sports lite dogs she's bred look like - and how everyone deserves an easy dog, even those who want to do sports. To learn more about Sara's training program go to https://pawsabilitiesmn.com/ (they have online offerings so you don't have to be local!) and to learn more about her breeding program check out https://www.facebook.com/puzdog.

In this episode we talk a bit about where people might go to find a sports lite dog and what kinds of questions to ask a breeder. If you're looking for a puppy or adult dog, I highly recommend checking out the Puppy Seekers Project. They have a group on Facebook which is incredibly helpful in the puppy search, and when you get there, ask them about how to get recommendations for specific breeders. If you're interested in learning more about breeders who prioritize the goals of the Functional Dog Collaborative, that is the place to go!

Carm Aufderheide, CSAT, KPA-CTP, CTDP-KA, MS-CRES, is a dog behavior consultant with a master's degree in conflict and dispute resolution. In this episode, Carm and I talk about conflict in the dog breeding world - and in dog training, human politics, and other parts of life. Why are we as humans so likely to fall into conflict with others? Why is it so hard to convince others of your viewpoint when you're in conflict with them? How can we do things differently so we can start having meaningful conversations with others in which we and they are able to think deeply about why we believe what we believe?

To learn more about Carm, check out https://www.northstartraining.info/ - note that in addition to dog training services, she does consults to help with conflict resolution.

In this episode, Carm and I talk about a lot of books that she recommends. They are:

• Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg
• How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion, by David McRaney
• High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, by Amanda Ripley
• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, by Chris Voss
• Street Epistemology (check out YouTube for examples)

Dr. Rowena Packer is a Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science at the Royal Veterinary College in London, where she studies dog breeding with an eye to maximizing physical and emotional health of dogs. She also studies how health affects canine behavior and welfare, and - the reason I asked her on for this episode - how companion animal owners make decisions about their dogs, and how to improve those decisions in line with animal welfare. Rowena and I talked about why people love brachycephalic dogs so much and why so many people seem to have trouble recognizing when their dog has breathing issues. We also talked about hope for the future and the way forward to maintaining the characteristic look of shorter muzzled dogs without such a high risk of welfare compromise.

This episode is just me (Jessica Perry Hekman, DVM, PhD) - talking about a new genetic test for the risk of mitral valve disease in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Cavs are at incredibly high risk of this disease and get it at much younger ages than other breeds. What does this new test mean in terms of predicting if your Cav is at risk, and whether a particular Cav should be bred?

I talk about several papers in this episode. If you want to check them out yourself, they are:

• Mead, Sophie E., et al. "Genetic Variants at the Nebulette Locus Are Associated with Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease Severity in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels." Genes 13.12 (2022): 2292. - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9778376/ 
• Mattin, M. J., et al. "Prevalence of and risk factors for degenerative mitral valve disease in dogs attending primary‐care veterinary practices in England." Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 29.3 (2015): 847-854. - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jvim.12591
• Keene, Bruce W., et al. "ACVIM consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of myxomatous mitral valve disease in dogs." Journal of veterinary internal medicine 33.3 (2019): 1127-1140. - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6524084/ 

Kim Kavin is an award-winning freelance writer who is also passionate about better understanding where dogs come from in the United States. Her book, The Dog Merchants, is a fascinating read for anyone who wants a look at places few of us are able to go, such as a dog auction or a high volume kennel-based breeding operation. Kim and I talked about the ins and outs of the complex industry that has grown up around puppy production, including large scale breeding and rescue operations.

In this interview, the two of us are describing a system that is absolutely sub-optimal with regard to canine welfare. While we did discuss how some parts of the system may not be as abhorrent as they've been described elsewhere, I want to be clear that one of the goals of the Functional Dog Collaborative is to make change in exactly this area. So please do not confuse our descriptions of what is existing for our approval of it.

You can find Kim at kimkavin.com. In addition to her book The Dog Merchants, you may also enjoy checking out her book Little Boy Blue (also discussed briefly in this interview).

This week I'm talking to Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln and director of the University Animal Behaviour Clinic. Daniel is internationally recognized as an authority on companion animal behavior, cognition, and welfare. His lab studies, among other things, the association between untreated pain and behavior issues. I asked him to talk about his research and his insights into the challenges of assessing pain in dogs - and why it's so important to do so.

This week I'm talking with Dr. Cat Henstridge. Cat, who is a primary care veterinarian in the UK, has been on several TV series, including the Pets Factor. She writes for veterinary and non-veterinary publications, and is known as Cat the Vet to her many, many social media followers. Cat and I talked about the rise of unlicensed fertility clinics in the UK - why they have sprung up, what the problems with them are, and some thoughts about how many veterinarians interact with breeder clients.

 

You can follow Cat at catthevet.com, on Instagram and TikTok as cat_the_vet, and on Facebook as catthevet.

This week I'm talking to Dr Jane Ladlow. Jane is a veterinary surgeon who is widely known as an expert on BOAS, or brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome. BOAS is the umbrella disorder that covers a variety of different airflow obstructions in different flat-faced breeds such as the pug, French bulldog, and English bulldog. Jane developed the Respiratory Function Grading Scheme, a straightforward clinical exam which allows grading of a BOAS-effected dog. Jane works with the Kennel Club in the UK to promote this scheme, which is also being rolled out in other countries including the US. I was really pleased to get to talk to Jane about BOAS, her grading scheme, and what this means for breeding healthy brachycephalic dogs.

Today I'm talking with the researchers who recently published a paper that's been getting a lot of social media buzz. The paper's title is "The doodle dilemma: How the physical health of ‘Designer-crossbreed’ Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo dogs’ compares to their purebred progenitor breeds." This interview was a big party featuring Gina Bryson, the first author on the paper, as well as two researchers from Royal Veterinary College, Dr Rowena Packer, and Dr Dan O'Neill, who has been a guest on the podcast before. Gina, Rowena, and Dan walked me through what the paper does and does not tell us about the health of some specific common crosses compared to the parent breeds, and also let me know about additional data that they collected that we'll be seeing in some future papers from the group.

A quick side note that they refer a few times to the RVC, which is the Royal Veterinary College, the institution where they work.

And another side note - I've started going by my middle name, Perry, because I like it better. My pronouns are still she/her. You'll hear Dan call me Perry a few times during this episode and I didn't want anyone to be confused by that. Jessica is still my legal and professional name - if it helps to contextualize, you can think of Perry as a nickname.

On with the episode!

Bryson GT, O’Neill DG, Brand CL, Belshaw Z, Packer RMA (2024) The doodle dilemma: How the physical health of ‘Designer-crossbreed’ Cockapoo, Labradoodle and Cavapoo dogs’ compares to their purebred progenitor breeds. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0306350. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306350 

 

This week you get just me (Jessica Perry Hekman) talking at you! I'm talking about the coefficient of inbreeding (COI), a measurement of genetic diversity that's commonly mentioned in discussions of individual and breed health. I talk about what it is, how to interpret it, how to get the measurement done for your own dog(s), why we care about it, and give the take-home messages from some papers with evidence for its importance in dog specifically. COI is not the only thing you should be breeding for, and it's rarely even the most important thing - but it's something we should keep in mind when we are working in closed gene pools.

NOTE: Oops, I said in the episode that the MDR1 mutation is recessive. It's not - it's incompletely dominant, meaning that dogs can be affected even with only one copy of the mutant allele. I apologize - please note the mistake as the correct information is important here.

• I mention some previous podcast episodes with related material - you can find them here: Alison Skipper, PhD on the history of breed registries: https://functionalbreeding.podbean.com/e/alison-skipper-phd-the-history-of-breed-registries/
• Mary Peaslee, MD, MPH, on breeding for population health: https://functionalbreeding.org/breeding-for-population-health/

The papers:

• https://functionalbreeding.org/the-impact-of-inbreeding-on-litter-size/ - Chu ET, Simpson MJ, Diehl K, Page RL, Sams AJ, Boyko AR. Inbreeding depression causes reduced fecundity in Golden Retrievers. Mammalian Genome. 2019 Jun 1;30(5):166-72. - "The least inbred dogs had an average litter size of 8 puppies, while the most inbred dogs had an average litter size of 6-7 puppies. On average, with each 10% increase in inbreeding, the litter size decreased by one puppy."
• https://functionalbreeding.org/inbreeding-depression-and-lifespan/ - Yordy J, Kraus C, Hayward JJ, White ME, Shannon LM, Creevy KE, Promislow DEL, Boyko AR. Body size, inbreeding, and lifespan in domestic dogs. Conserv Genet. 2020 Feb;21(1):137-148. - mixed breed live on average 1.2 years longer than size matched purebreds
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090023313004486 - O'Neill DG, Church DB, McGreevy PD, Thomson PC, Brodbelt DC. Longevity and mortality of owned dogs in England. Vet J. 2013 Dec;198(3):638-43. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.09.020 - again, mixed breed live on average 1.2 years longer than size matched purebreds
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40575-020-00086-8 - Urfer SR, Kaeberlein M, Promislow DEL, Creevy KE. Lifespan of companion dogs seen in three independent primary care veterinary clinics in the United States. Canine Med Genet. 2020 Jun 16;7:7. -   breeds with lower COI have 3-6 month longer expected lifespans
• https://functionalbreeding.org/size-genetic-diversity-lifespan/ - Kraus C, Snyder-Mackler N, Promislow DEL. How size and genetic diversity shape lifespan across breeds of purebred dogs. Geroscience. 2023 Apr;45(2):627-643. - + 1% heterozygosity -> + 31 days of life
• https://functionalbreeding.org/the-effect-of-inbreeding-body-size-and-morphology-on-health-in-dog-breeds/ - Bannasch, D., Famula, T., Donner, J. et al. The effect of inbreeding, body size and morphology on health in dog breeds. Canine Genet Epidemiol 8, 12 (2021). - 30kg dog: 0->40% COI -> 10% increase in veterinary care visits; 5kg or 60kg: 37% increase
• https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007361 - Donner, Jonas, et al. "Frequency and distribution of 152 genetic disease variants in over 100,000 mixed breed and purebred dogs." PLoS genetics 14.4 (2018): e1007361. - purebred more likely to be affected, mutts to be just carriers

I will have new content for you all soon - but for now, enjoy one from the archives!

--

Jane Lindquist is the founder and owner of Puppy Culture, a widely used educational resource for raising and socializing puppies. She herself breeds and competes with bull terriers. As it turns out, she is very thoughtful when it comes to how to apply science to the raising of puppies. We had a wide ranging conversation, at times nerdy, at times philosophical. You can learn more about Puppy Culture at www.puppyculture.com, and more about Jane's breeding program, Madcap Bull Terriers, at www.madcapbullterriers.com.

Find this episode's transcript at functionalbreeding.org/jane-lindquist-puppy-culture/

This episode I welcome back Mary Peaslee, MD, MPH, to talk about a breeder's perspective on all the advice Dr Dan O'Neill gave us in his recent episode on how to approach disorder testing. Mary works in population health and brings that perspective to her breeding practice. So what does all this stuff look like in the real world? How can breeders focus on the future health of the dog population they work with? What are some challenges they'll encounter? Mary has some great advice and perspective that I hope will help people think through their breeding goals and approaches.

You can learn more about Mary's breeding program here: https://englishshepherds.net and you can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mary.peaslee.9

 

Detailed summary: https://functionalbreeding.org/breeding-for-population-health/

 

We have a flipped episode this week with Sarah Stremming of Cog Dog Radio interviewing me. We're talking about the new paper out of the Dog Aging Project, "Lifetime Prevalence of Owner-Reported Medical Conditions in the 25 Most Common Dog Breeds in the Dog Aging Project Pack." There's been a lot of buzz on social media about this paper and we wanted to dig in to its findings. For those who saw our live Q&A about the paper, this interview covers very similar ground, although we go into some more detail. I'll include links to this study and others below, and if you want to ask questions about the paper, the Functional Breeding Facebook group is a great place to do it!

 

Forsyth, Kiersten K, et al. “Lifetime Prevalence of Owner-Reported Medical Conditions in the 25 Most Common Dog Breeds in the Dog Aging Project Pack.” Frontiers in Veterinary Science, vol. 10, 3 Nov. 2023.

• Original: https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1140417
• FDC summary: https://functionalbreeding.org/common-conditions-seen-in-primary-care-visits/ 

 

Do purebreds live longer?

• Yordy, J, et al. “Body size, inbreeding, and lifespan in domestic dogs”. Conserv. Genet. 21 (2020): 137-148. - https://functionalbreeding.org/inbreeding-depression-and-lifespan/ - “For a given body size category, mixed breed dogs lived on average 1.2 years longer than purebred ones.”
• Urfer, Silvan R., et al. "Lifespan of companion dogs seen in three independent primary care veterinary clinics in the United States." Canine medicine and genetics 7 (2020): 1-14. - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40575-020-00086-8 - DAP authors before DAP started - “We did not find significant differences in lifespan between purebred and mixed breed dogs; however, breeds with larger effective population sizes and/or lower inbreeding coefficients had median survival times 3–6 months longer than breeds with smaller effective population sizes or higher inbreeding coefficients”
• Mata, Fernando, and Andreia Mata. "Investigating the relationship between inbreeding and life expectancy in dogs: mongrels live longer than pure breeds." PeerJ 11 (2023): e15718. - https://peerj.com/articles/15718/?f...gzQO4ualQE4De4iuO6RmqokNKNTRYdxORkaYEMBwDx_0I - VetCompass data - “mongrel dogs had the highest life expectancy, followed by cross-bred dogs with only one purebred ancestor and purebred dogs had the lowest life expectancy”

Increased inbreeding correlates to decreased lifespan

• Kraus C, et al. “How size and genetic diversity shape lifespan across breeds of purebred dogs”. GeroScience (2022). - https://functionalbreeding.org/size-genetic-diversity-lifespan/
• Bannasch, D., Famula, T., Donner, J. et al. The effect of inbreeding, body size and morphology on health in dog breeds. Canine Genet Epidemiol 8, 12 (2021). - https://functionalbreeding.org/the-effect-of-inbreeding-body-size-and-morphology-on-health-in-dog-breeds/

Are there specific disorders of concern that are more common in purebreds?

• Bellumori, Thomas P., et al. "Prevalence of inherited disorders among mixed-breed and purebred dogs: 27,254 cases (1995–2010)." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 242.11 (2013): 1549-1555. - https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/242/11/javma.242.11.1549.xml - UC Davis, 24 heritable (genetic) disorders - “Purebred dogs were more likely to have 10 genetic disorders, including dilated cardiomyopathy, elbow dysplasia, cataracts, and hypothyroidism. Mixed-breed dogs had a greater probability of ruptured cranial cruciate ligament.”
• Donner, Jonas, et al. "Frequency and distribution of 152 genetic disease variants in over 100,000 mixed breed and purebred dogs." PLoS genetics 14.4 (2018): e1007361. - https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007361 - “Mixed breed dogs were more likely to carry a common recessive disease, whereas purebreds were more likely to be genetically affected with one, providing DNA-based evidence for hybrid vigor.” (i.e. it isn’t a problem if you don’t inbreed on it)

There's a lot going on behind the scenes of the Functional Dog Collaborative and I have a lot of plans for upcoming podcast episodes. I also have had a bunch of people say they can't record this summer and so it may be a few weeks until I get the next episode out. So here's some stuff to tide you over - explanation of what's going on and what episode topics I have coming up! (If you want to suggest episode topics, or get a chance to have your questions asked during an interview, head over to join our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/functionalbreeding.)

Last episode I talked with Dr. Dan O'Neill, a veterinary epidemiologist who studies canine disorders that have an inherited component - what the rest of us might call "genetic diseases." During that interview he mentioned that he didn't think disorder testing - what most of us call health testing - has been workinig to improve canine health. I cut that section because I felt we needed to go into a lot more detail on it to understand what he meant by that, since I knew he didn't mean we should entirely stop health testing - I mean disorder testing. So here is the followup interview. I want to emphasize that he isn't saying disorder testing shouldn't be done as an aid to choosing how to breed dogs. He IS saying that the way we approach choosing and interpreting tests could use a revamp. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

Dan O'Neill, MVB, PhD, FRCVS is a veterinary epidemiologist who studies canine disorders that have an inherited component - what the rest of us might call "genetic diseases." He is the author of more than 95 papers, mostly on the prevalence and risk factors of disorders in dogs based on data drawn from VetCompass, the large scale veterinary database and research tool that he co-leads. Dan was awarded the Kennel Club Charitable Trust "International Canine Health Award" in 2021, and is passionate both about the health of purebred dogs and about saving breeds.

Danika Bannasch, DVM, PhD returns to the podcast to talk about the Dalmatian Outcross Project. Danika's laboratory found the genetic mutation that was targeted in this outcross, and she had a front row seat to the project's path to acceptance by the AKC and the Dalmatian Club of America. She is also herself a past breeder of Dalmatians. Danika walks us through the genetic, social, and practical implications of high uric acid in Dalmatians, why the outcross was necessary, how it worked, and which populations with different mutations could be helped today by a similar approach (spoiler - one of them is the population of dogs in breeds with high frequency of the chondrodystrophy mutation that we discussed in the previous episode).

Danika Bannasch, DVM, PhD is the owner of Pint, the famous UC Davis football tee retrieving dog. She also happens to run a genetics lab, also at UC Davis, where she studies the genetics of inherited diseases in dogs and other animals. She is known for her work associating genetic variants with a variety of traits including coat color and skull shape. On this episode we're talking about a genetic mutation that she discovered - known to genetic testing companies as CDDY - for a trait she feels passionately about, chondrodystrophy. Most of the dog world knows this mutation as "that risk gene that makes your dog more likely to get IVDD," but in this episode, Danika talks us through the difference between disc herniation and IVDD (intervertebral disc disease), noting that all dogs with CDDY have IVDD, and therefore disc degeneration, whether or not they actually herniate. I hope you learn as much from this discussion as I did.

 

Find this episode's transcript here.

Lisa Gunter, PhD, CBCC-KA is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech in the School of Animal Sciences and directs the Laboratory for Animal Behavior and Welfare. Lisa’s research explores the behavior and welfare of companion animals, specifically our interactions with them, as it relates to animal sheltering, behavioral issues, and training. Lisa combines a love of research with hands-on dog training skills. I wanted to have someone from the shelter world on the podcast because, depending on what you mean by "source," shelters are a source of dogs. Lisa and I talked about how shelters can best help dogs cope with the shelter experience and what the future of sheltering might look like.

For those interested in the Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare online MS program at Virginia Tech, where Lisa and Jessica both teach, check it out at https://www.cals.vt.edu/academic-programs/online/omals-program-virginia-tech.html.

Carolyn Kelly is a registered nurse with over 30 years of experience in human health including in labor and delivery, and in mental health. She also holds a Masters Degree in Nursing Leadership. She runs a mixed breed companion dog program, Old Mission Retrievers. Erica Pytlovany, KPA CTP, is an experienced behavioral consultant at WOOFS! Dog Training Center in Virginia. She runs the Boson Dog Project, a mixed breed companion dog program, with her wife, Laura Sharkey. I got together with Carolyn and Erica to talk about what companion personalities look like in dogs and why they focus their breeding programs on achieving them.

This week I'm talking to Drs Claire Wade and Sophie Liu about their paper on genetic diversity in the Doberman breed. Dr Claire Wade is the Chair of Computational Biology and Animal Genetics at the University of Sydney, where she studies canine behavioral genetics. Dr Sophie Liu  is a veterinarian specializing in behavior and the founder of the Doberman Diversity Project, about which she's spoken previously on this podcast. Both of them are passionate about dogs not just as part of their careers but as part of their lives. They joined me to talk through the findings in their paper, which sheds some light on the complicated story of health and genetic diversity in Dobermans.

Wade, Claire M., Robin Nuttall, and Sophie Liu. "Comprehensive analysis of geographic and breed-purpose influences on genetic diversity and inherited disease risk in the Doberman dog breed." Canine Medicine and Genetics 10.1 (2023): 1-17. https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-023-00130-3

I've wanted to interview Lisa Wagner about her breeding program for a while now. I keep hearing about the great work she is doing to address health issues in her French bulldogs, and I was so enthusiastic to get a chance to ask her for more details. Lisa is a CKC registered breeder. Her breeding program is called Of Autumn, and you can most easily reach her on Facebook.

This episode is jointly released through the Functional Breeding Podcast and Cog Dog Radio, which is hosted by Sarah Stremming. Sarah is an internationally known dog behavior consultant with a special niche working with sports dogs. She consults at The Cognitive Canine, teaches online courses on dog behavior, and hosts the Cog Dog Radio Podcast. I sat down with Sarah to talk about the recent news that SPCA Tampa Bay has partnered with a pet store and a puppy broker - and what we think this means we all should REALLY be talking about. Although the shelter's pilot program was paused due to community feedback before we released the episode, we feel the issues we discuss in here are still critical ones to ensuring the welfare of the dogs we share our lives with.

This episode, Ji Khalsa is interviewing me, Jessica Hekman, DVM, PhD. I'm a veterinarian turned behavioral geneticist turned teacher and founder of the Functional Dog Collaborative, or FDC. I graduated from Tufts Veterinary School in 2012 with a dual veterinary and master's degree, which was on stress in hospitalized dogs. I completed a veterinary shelter medicine specialty internship at Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida. I completed a PhD in Genetics, Genomics, and Biomedical Sciences in Kukekova Lab at the University of Illinois, studying genetic differences in the stress system in lines of foxes bred to be less afraid of humans compared to foxes bred to be aggressive. I did post-doctoral work at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and now teach online for Virginia Tech and run the FDC. Ji asked me to talk about the FDC - how it's coming, what we're doing, what we need help with. So here it is!

This week we have Laura Sharkey and Carolyn Kelly back on the podcast. They are the co-founders of the Copilot Pet Dog Breeding Cooperative, and I always love to talk to them because of their fascinating insights into breeding dogs to be really good pets. We're talking about social media culture and how we love it and hate it - and how all of us love dogs and have the same goals even if we have such different perspectives sometimes on how to get where we're going.

Below are some links that were mentioned in the episode:

• Morrill, Kathleen, et al. “Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes.” Lay summary at https://functionalbreeding.org/2022/06/03/breed-behavior-and-mutt-genomics/ with a link to the original paper.
• Chen, Frances L., et al. "Advancing genetic selection and behavioral genomics of working dogs through collaborative science." Frontiers in Veterinary Science (2021): 1017. https://frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.662429/full
• The Copilot Breeding Cooperative: https://functionalbreeding.org/copilot-coop/
• The Companion Dog Project: https://www.companiondogproject.com/
• Ji's essay about temperament testing: https://www.midwoofery.com/amp/is-temperament-testing-really-worth-the-effort

 

This week we have Ji Khalsa back on the podcast. Ji is the founder of Midwoofery, a highly respected science-based educational resource for responsible dog breeders. She has a Masters degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry from Arizona State University, including independent studies in the link between canine genetics and behavior. She has decades of experience in breeding, including working dogs and companions. I asked Ji to talk to us about guardian homes - why are they useful for breeders and how do they help improve dog welfare?

This week we welcome back Dr. Alison Skipper to talk about the history of breed registries. Dr. Skipper is a veterinarian and historian at the Royal Veterinary College, London. She has an interest in the history of the health and welfare of purebred dogs. She works as a veterinarian at Crufts, has been on Kennel Club committees, and is very involved in the purebred dog world. Her perspective on the history of breed registries was a much demanded followup from her previous episode with us!

This episode is jointly released through the Functional Breeding Podcast and Cog Dog Radio, which is hosted by Sarah Stremming. Sarah is an internationally known dog behavior consultant with a special niche working with sports dogs. She consults at The Cognitive Canine, teaches online courses on dog behavior, and hosts the Cog Dog Radio Podcast. I sat down with Sarah to talk about fear periods - do they exist? What do we know about them scientifically? What do we know about them anecdotally? What do puppy raisers and breeders need to know about them?

Carolyn Kelly is a registered nurse with over 30 years of experience in human health including in labor and delivery, and in mental health where she witnessed the power that animal assisted interventions can play in the healing process. She holds a Masters Degree in Nursing Leadership and runs a small mixed breed companion dog program, Old Mission Retrievers. Along with Laura Sharkey, Carolyn heads up the Co-Pilot Pet Dog Breeding Co-operative, which is the Functional Dog Collaborative's first breeding co-op. In this episode, Carolyn and I are talking about her most recent litter. If you're interested in getting into the nitty gritty about health testing, mate selection, and some of the hurdles facing mixed breed breeders, you should enjoy this one.

This is the second part of my epic interview with Mary Peaslee about hip testing. As I said in part one, I highly value Mary's insights about hip testing for a whole bunch of reasons. She's a medical doctor with an additional master's in public health, specializing in preventive medicine, so she has extensive training in understanding screening tests just like the kinds of tests we do for hip health. As for her dog cred, she has been breeding English Shepherds for over 20 years, with a focus on growing and sustaining a healthy breed population. She's been very involved in the breed, earning herding trial championships, and serving on the the board of directors for the English Shepherd Breed Conservancy, English Shepherd Club, and the American Herding Breed Association. Mary has volunteered for FDC for several years and we've had many discussions about health testing and breeding. We've talked a lot recently about hip testing and I asked her to come onto the podcast to tell us her thoughts. If you haven't listened to part one yet, I recommend you check that one out first!

This episode I'm talking to Mary Peaslee about hip testing. I highly value Mary's insights about hip testing for a whole bunch of reasons. She's a medical doctor with an additional master's in public health, specializing in preventive medicine, so she has extensive training in understanding screening tests just like the kinds of tests we do for hip health. As for her dog cred, she has been breeding English Shepherds for over 20 years, with a focus on growing and sustaining a healthy breed population. She's been very involved in the breed, earning herding trial championships, and serving on the the board of directors for the English Shepherd Breed Conservancy, English Shepherd Club, and the American Herding Breed Association. Mary has volunteered for FDC for several years and we've had many discussions about health testing and breeding. We've talked a lot recently about hip testing and I asked her to come onto the podcast to tell us her thoughts.

This is part 1 of 2 parts.

Dr Alison Skipper is a veterinarian and historian at the Royal Veterinary College, London. She has a particular interest in the health and history of brachycephalic dogs, and has authored multiple peer-reviewed articles about the subject. She works as a veterinarian at Crufts, has been on Kennel Club committees, and is very involved in the purebred dog world. I very much respect her nuanced approach to the question of brachycephalic health and welfare.

This week we have Ji Khalsa back on the podcast to talk about her highly regarded breeder educational resource, Midwoofery. Ji has a solid science background herself and has built a science-based curriculum (and we'll talk about what that means). Ji and I talk about how Midwoofery came to be, how it works, what courses she has, and what to expect from a course. We also explore how Midwoofery fits in to the Functional Dog Collaborative Breeder Curriculum.

To learn more about Midwoofery, check it out at midwoofery.com, and use the code fdcbreeder for 15% off your courses. To learn more about the FDC Breeder Curriculum, visit it at https://functionalbreeding.org/breeder-curriculum-outline/.

We are pleased to have Sara Reusche (she/her) back on the podcast! Sara is a CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CVT, and owns Paws Abilities Dog Training, LLC in Southeast Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro. Sara is back to update us on her multigen mixed breed breeding program and her new litter. She talks about transparency in breeding and making hard decisions and tells us all about her latest litter of dogs bred to be excellent companions and sports-lite partners.

Link to this episode's transcript here.

This week we're getting nerdy about the genetics of dog coat color and type with two breeders, Ji Khalsa and Alicia Hobson. Ji has a Masters degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry and has done additional work in genetics. She has bred and trained working dogs most of her adult life. She is the founder of Midwoofery, a highly respected science-based educational resource for responsible dog breeders. Alicia is the founder of the Bearded Retriever Project, which is developing a breed based on poodles, Labrador retrievers, and golden retrievers with the goal of creating great companions. Both love teaching and are very good at it, and have a lot to teach about the genetics behind dog coats!

Link to this episode's transcript here.

 

For more information about coat type and color, as well as Ji and Alicia's teaching, check out Midwoofery.com.