Kennel Blindness: A Closer Look
By Claudia Waller Orlandi, Ph.D.
A dog breeder’s knowledgeable use of genetic principles is of paramount importance to the success of a breeding program. But an all-too-common phenomenon known as kennel blindness can stop some breeding programs dead in their tracks. Most works on dog breeding devote relatively little space to the concept of kennel blindness, although the seriousness of this “breeder defect” and the lasting harm it can have on breeding success merit a closer look.
“The breeder, to be successful, must look his dogs…not only in the face, but in the body, front and running gear. Even to themselves many breeders will not acknowledge their failure when they fall short of their objective (p. 179)…and in an effort to convince others of the perfection of their dogs, [they] convince…usually only themselves”
--From The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs by K. Onstott
Found in many purebred dog kennels, kennel blindness is a “di...