Kathy Yonkers's post said (snips): <"Testing is to gain knowledge"> <"but
it does not offer any guarantees or absolutes"> <"Even breeding
nonsymptomatic to nonsymptomatic (...) does increase the odds">
(Kathy, I hope by snipping I haven't distorted your intent, but I don't
think I have, and the above still makes sense.) I don't think anyone
participating in this thread disagrees with this, even though some
list-members seem to be at others' throats. I haven't read anyone saying
that testing *guarantees* anything!!! As I've understood Laura, Anne, Myra
and others, genetics (and genetic testing) is about PROBABILITIES. All
probabilities are of limited use if one is looking only at one instance (one
litter, or one child, or one roll of the dice). The reason why
"probability" has become an accepted tool to use in medicine, mathematics,
and many other sciences is that the higher the numbers (of litters, or
children, or rolls of dice), the more the rules of *probability* kick in and
prove themselves.
As far as the concerns expressed re perceptions of "advertising testing,"
well, in buyers (like any subset of the population, of which breeders are
another subset), there's a range... One would have to be grossly na�ve or
gravely ignorant to believe (PRIOR to a conversation with a responsible
breeder) that if a breeder publicly states s/he tests, the puppies are
"guaranteed" to be healthy. ( Some breeders state it prior to being asked,
some don't; I'm not talking about those who don't test at all.) I have
NEVER gotten the impression, from this list or from personal conversations,
that a breeder who publicly promotes the value of testing is doing so to
imply ANY sort of "guarantee," nor to denigrate the health-probabilities of
anyone else's puppies. Whether or not you publicize your testing policy,
it's part of YOUR job (each individual breeder) to clarify this to every
prospective buyer, in an educative, non-defensive and non-condescending way.
Parts of this thread have been informative. Much of it has been reminiscent
of the travesty in Afghanistan - as soon as the Taliban wasn't a threat,
members of the Northern Alliance started behaving just like the Taliban
toward whoever they decided deserved it. I would think that the love for
Cavaliers and devotion to the betterment of the breed would mean everyone
here is on the same "side," and that it wouldn't be necessary to start
attacking each other (even though that's a lot easier to do than attacking
MVD).
Alida
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