Managing mutations of a species: the evolution of dog breeding

For most of the roughly 15,000 years since their domestication, dogs were selected by humans for their usefulness as hunters, retrievers, herders, guards or companions. As modern breeds became recognisable, the extent to which a dog aligned with the expected shape, size and coat for its breed (known as “conformation”) became more important. This has led to the development of breed standards, but even without these, many inherited disorders would still occur. Indeed, most inherited disorders have nothing to do with conformation.

So what can we do? Up-to-date prevalence data are needed to allow researchers to identify and monitor these disorders. VetCompass Australia is one of the systems in place that researchers are using to analyse how commonly these disorders are seen, and giving them the ability to track them over time.

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Managing mutations of a species: the evolution of dog breeding