The Functional Breeding Podcast

The podcast is going on a short hiatus, and then will resume broadcasting biweekly. Meantime, catch up on what is happening with the Functional Dog Collaborative, including breeding cooperatives, news on the long awaited database, and more.

Sarah Stremming 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 agility dogs, particularly the ubiquitous border collie, and what is going on with them in terms of health and behavioral issues. Looking for your next agility prospect? This interview is a must listen. Find podcast transcript here.

Elinor Karlsson, Ph.D., is the director of the Vetebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and (incidentally) my boss. She has a deep knowledge about both population genetics and what we call "complex trait genomics," or the genetics of hard to pin down things like risk of developing cancer or a behavior problem. Elinor talked with me about a recent paper that looked for genetic variants associated with diseases in a large number of dogs from many breeds and mixes. She discusses what this paper found and some ways to intepret those findings. The paper is 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?rev=2&id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007361. Elinor also discusses a paper about genetic testing that she published recently, and that paper is Moses, Lisa, Steve Niemi, and Elinor Karlsson. "Pet genomics medicine runs wild." (2018): 470-472 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05771-0. Find this episode's transcript here.

Oluademi James-Daniel is a force for change in the dog world. Her Facebook group, Inclusivity in Dog Training, has become a major player in the conversation about whether the dog world is inclusive (spoiler: there's lots to work on) and what we can all do to make things better for minorities. In this episode, Oluademi talks about bias in the dog world generally and especially in breeding and in how breeders pick their puppy owners. Find this episode's transcript here.

Eldin Leighton has a PhD in animal breeding, and after a long career at The Seeing Eye, has founded the International Working Dog Registry, or IWDR. If you didn't listen to last week's episode where Eldin talked about his career before the IWDR, definitely check that out first. In this episode, he tells us all about the IWDR, how it helps gather large populations of dogs together to provide more data - and analyze that data! - to help breeders improve their breeding decisions, and whether it's useful for more than just working dogs. (Spoiler: yes it is.) Find episode transcript here.

Eldin Leighton has a PhD in animal breeding and has wound up a long career managing the breeding program at The Seeing Eye, which is the largest guide dog organization in the US. In this episode, Eldin talks to us about how he got where he is now and gets super nerdy about the ins and outs of selecting breeding animals for the traits you want, from cattle to seeing eye dogs. (We love nerdy.) Eldin had so much good information that this ended up being two episodes, so stay tuned for part two next week. The papers Eldin mentions in this episode are: Leighton, Eldin A., et al. "Genetic improvement of hip-extended scores in 3 breeds of guide dogs using estimated breeding values: Notable progress but more improvement is needed." PloS one 14.2 (2019): e0212544. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212544 Kealy, Richard D., et al. "Evaluation of the effect of limited food consumption on radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis in dogs." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 217.11 (2000): 1678-1680. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.204.1848&rep=rep1&type=pdf Find this episode's transcript here.

Marina Phillips is the breeding director for the ADI (Assistance Dogs International) Breeding Cooperative. A breeding cooperative is a group of breeders with similar goals who exchange animals to form a larger breeding population than they could on their own. In this episode, Marina gets down and dirty with the details of how to put together and run a breeding cooperative, and wraps up with some insights on how she makes guardian homes (placing dogs in pet homes but keeping breeding rights) work for her. If you're a breeder who has ever struggled with how to keep enough potential breeding dogs in a house with limited space, this episode may be for you. You can learn more about Marina's breeding program at http://www.eirlysgoldenretrievers.com/. Find this episode's transcript here.

The podcast is going on a hiatus of a few weeks. I'm leaving you with this update on what's been happening with the Functional Dog Collaborative over its first months and where we're going next - guidelines of purpose, outlining our educational curriculum, T-shirts, and laying the groundwork for some big things in the future. Find this episodes transcript here.

Kim Palermo owns BlueDog, a multicentric dog walking and training company, with her husband. There she runs manners and puppy classes for pet dog owners, and has her hands on quite a few doodles. In this episode, I talk with Kim about her changing perceptions of doodles, what she sees in doodles and doodle owners, and what she wishes first time dog owners knew before bringing their new puppy home. You can learn more about BlueDog at https://www.bluedogpetcare.com/ and you can follow Kim on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kimanddogs/. Find this episode's transcript here.

Alicia Hobson, of Bear Lake Bearded Retrievers, is the founder of the Bearded Retriever Project. The Bearded Retriever is a breed in development, based on poodles, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden Retrievers; the dogs have a classic doodle look and F1 poodle/retriever crosses can be Bearded Retrievers. In this episode, Alicia and I talk breeder education, client education, coat genetics, and the social challenges of breeding doodles. You can learn more about Bearded Retrievers at https://beardedretrieverclubofamerica.org, and about Alicia's breeding program at https://www.bearlakebeardedretrievers.com/. Find this episode's transcript here.

Amy Lane is the founder of the Goldendoodle Association of North America and the creator of the mini goldendoodle. GANA acts as a breed club for goldendoodle breeders, providing a registry, health testing guidance, and education. In this episode, Amy tells us all about goldendoodles, covering the genetics of shedding, what it means to call a doodle "hypoallergenic," and how GANA provides some really exceptional support to its members. You can learn more about GANA at https://www.goldendoodleassociation.com/ and about Amy at https://www.goldendoodles.net/. Find this episode's transcript here.

Sophie Liu, DVM, is the founder of the Doberman Diversity Project. The DDP seeks to collect information in a single place about Dobermans for use to researchers who want to better understand the genetics of Doberman health issues. Sophie has some very cool specific, actionable plans for helping improve the breed's health, and in this episode, we talk about those plans, why Dobermans are great, what their health is like currently, and how hard it is to organize dog owners to get you the data you need. Find this episode's transcript here.

Linda Seaver is the founder of Berner University, a two-day educational conference which convenes once each year at the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America National Specialty. Berner U aims to educate Berner owners and breeders about their dogs, including information from veterinarians, behaviorists, and experienced breeders, among others. Berner U couldn't happen in person this year due to the pandemic, but they are putting educational materials online. You can learn more about Berner U at http://berneru.org. Find this episode's transcript here.

Jenna Dockweiler, DVM, DACT, is a theriogenologist working at Ethos Veterinary Health in Wheat Ridge, CO. What is a theriogenologist, you ask? In this episode, Jenna tells us what a theriogenologist does, how she became one (hint: lots and lots of school), and what theriogenologists have to offer breeders. Find this episode's transcript here.

Sara Reusche, CPDT-KA, CVT, ANWI owns Paws Abilities Dog Training, LLC in Rochester, Minnesota. Sara writes, teaches - and is the happy owner of two intentionally-bred sport mixy-mix dogs, one of whom she bred herself. In this episode, Sara talks about getting a dog who was bred to be a fabulous pet first, a sport dog second, and her experiences with her first breeding. Find this episode's transcript here.

Jane Russenberger is the Senior Director of Genetics and Breeding at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, one of the largest guide dog schools in the United States. Over her decades working at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Jane has shepherded a population of hundreds of guide dogs (mainly Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds) in the direction of increasingly solid genetic foundations for doing their jobs. In this episode, Jane talks about her job and management strategies for selective breeding. Find this episode's transcript here.

Trish McMillan is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, and an Associate Certified Cat Behavior Consultant. She is also an internationally known speaker and behavior consultant who has been involved with animal sheltering for more than twenty years. Trish is one of the founding board members of the Functional Dog Collaborative. You can find Trish at https://trishmcmillan.com/. Find the episode's transcript here.

This week we talk with Deb Jones, PhD, about the behavioral traits that make a good sports dog, particularly a sports dog who you can live with. Deb has a PhD in social & behavioral psychology, and worked as a professor for more than 20 yrs at Kent State University. She has been in dog sports for more than 25 years, competing in obedience, rally, and agility. Deb is the author of 12 books about dog training, and currently teaches both online and in person. You can find her at http://k9infocus.com. Find this episode's transcript here.

Julie Norman Jenkins runs Quicksilver Dogs, where she breeds border collies and border collie mixes. Her dogs have gone on to achieve top titles in flyball and agility, but are also fabulous pets. Julie talks about perceptions of breeding mixes and what she does with her own breeding program. You can learn more about Julie's breeding program at http://quicksilverdogs.com/, her internationally recognized flyball team Fur Fun Flyball at at http://furfunflyball.com/, and her training facility Quicksilver Canine in Julian, NC at https://quicksilvercanine.com/. Find this episode's transcript here.

What is the Functional Breeding Podcast about? In this episode, Jessica says hello, and introduces the podcast's parent organization, the Functional Dog Collaborative (http://functionalbreeding.org). Find this episode's transcript here.