Irrespective of the animal species, collective living enhances the development of some diseases, increases their severity, and may cause specific pathologies.
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Veterinarians are now fully aware of this phenomenon due to the developpement of the industrial farming of calves, pigs, or poultry. Initially disorientated, they must now adjust to a different way of practicing veterinary medicine since their role is no longer limited to treating a diseased animal but to dealing with a disease likely to have serious economic consequences in a livestock system.
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Conversion to new practices has been very successful, and made easier because affection between breeder-animal is less intense and both veterinarians and breeders are concerned by the same problems in terms of quality and optimisation of production-related costs.
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Dog breeding, which also abides by the laws of group diseases, requires a more complex and subtle approach. In effect, the "world" of dog breeders is quite heterogeneous and includes, besides rare professionals, a majority of amateurs who have a real passion for dog breeding and for the aesthetic or sporting pleasure it provides, or having a highly affectionate relationship with dogs.
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Veterinarians should therefore pay particular attention to individual medicine as much as group diseases. They should give quality treatment while limiting medical sophistication since economic constraints cannot be disregarded. Finding the right balance is not so easy and very often results in a misunderstanding between veterinarians and dog breeders which should be ended.
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Besides the specific relational aspect, breeding diseases greatly differ from what a veterinarian, specialised, in pets is usually confronted with on a daily basis.
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In addition to viral and parasitic diseases that must be dealt with through prevention and prophylactic plans, neonatal diseases are an essential but often poorly controlled part of veterinary medicine.
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In natural conditions, twenty percent of puppies do not reach the age of three months and mortality within the first two weeks amounts to eighty per cent of this already high percentage.
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The pathology is complex and of multifactorial origin, in which the following factors play a significant part: genetic pole of parents, diet of pregnant bitches, whelping conditions, physiological immaturity of young female dogs, furbishing and equipment of whelping premises, kennel microcosm, etc.
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In addition, the small size of newborn puppies limits semiological investigations and requires the veterinarian to have an acute sense of observation and solid clinical knowledge and forces him to resort almost systematically to post-mortem and laboratory examinations. Diagnosis accuracy and rapid implementation of treatments are essential for the protection, if not survival, of the breeding facility.
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The advantage of the present Practical Guide to Dog Breeding Diseases, whose authors should be vividly congratulated on their initiative and quality of the work achieved, is to provide veterinarians not only with essential knowledge to deal with pathological events that are more or less specific to dog breeding but also with specific data distinguishing dog breeding from production animal breeding. This Guide provides the keys to open the doors of breeding facilities and provides the opportunity for an interesting activity, away from the daily veterinary surgery or operating theatre to approach dog medicine and health differently.
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Lastly, enhancing the development of dog breeding by providing highly skilled technical support comes down to protecting future dog buyers from a market often and quite rightly considered immoral.
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This book should become a reference tool to enhance the production of quality puppies and, while supporting this objective, an essential element of the veterinarian’s social guide in terms of consumer protection.
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Honorary Chairman of the Conférence Nationale des Vétérinaires Spécialisés en Petits Animaux (French National Conference of Pet Veterinarians).
Founder and Honorary President of Groupe d’Etudes et de Recherches en Elevage et Sports Canins (Canine Breeding and Sport Medecine Research Group).
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