Functional Dog Collaborative
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Position Statement on Kennel-Based Breeding Programs

by Functional Dog Collaborative | Dec 4, 2022 | Position Statements

The Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) recognizes that well-run breeding programs come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Blanket statements about kennel-based breeding programs leave no room for nuance and fail to distinguish between poorly managed “puppy mill”...

Position Statement on Shelters and Dog Breeding

by Functional Dog Collaborative | Mar 7, 2022 | Position Statements

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...

Position Statement: Support for Adopting Shelter Dogs

by Functional Dog Collaborative | Feb 23, 2022 | Position Statements

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

by Functional Dog Collaborative | Sep 1, 2020 | Position Statements, Uncategorized

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...

Positon Statement: Cross-Breeding

by Functional Dog Collaborative | Sep 1, 2020 | Position Statements, Uncategorized

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

by Functional Dog Collaborative | Sep 1, 2020 | Position Statements, Uncategorized

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,...