POSITION STATEMENTS
FDC Position Statements are intended to orient our group members and visitors to who we are and why we exist.
Position Statement on Shelters and Dog Breeding
The Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) has been asked: Do you think shelters should breed dogs? In short, no - FDC is not calling for animal shelters to breed dogs. The FDC does seek collaboration between shelters and breeders at the community level. Shelters are...
Position Statement: Support for Adopting Shelter Dogs
The mission of the Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) is to support the ethical breeding of healthy, behaviorally sound dogs. We have been asked: Don’t you want people to adopt shelter dogs?The answer? Yes, we do want people to adopt shelter dogs! We see shelters and...
Position Statement: Outcrossing
The Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) supports periodic outcrossing as a normal part of maintaining a purebred population. Genetic diversity is lost every generation in a closed population [Sources of variation - An Introduction to Genetic Analysis]. This means that...
Positon Statement: Cross-Breeding
The Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) supports responsible cross-breeding of dogs. Many pet owners today are interested in acquiring a crossbred dog. While many of them do not have enough information to know what they’re getting (as is also true of many owners...
Position Statement: Genetic Diversity
The Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) does not set a hard line at which genetic diversity for a particular breed is “too low.” We do encourage breeders and breed clubs to consider low genetic diversity as a potential contributor to breed-specific problems,...