FORT MOTT STATE PARK, New Jersey: When mutant, muscle-bound puppies started showing up in litters of champion racing whippets, the breeders of the normally sleek dogs invited scientists to take DNA samples at race meets here and across the United States. They hoped to find a genetic cause for the condition and a way to purge it from the breed.

The mutation behind muscle-bound "bully whippets" makes some dogs faster.

It worked. "Bully whippets," as the heavyset dogs are known, turn out to have a genetic mutation that enhances muscle development. And breeders may not want to eliminate the "bully" gene after all. The scientists found that the same mutation that pumps up some whippets makes others among the fastest dogs on the track.

With a DNA screening test on the way, "We're going to keep the speed and lose the bullies," said Helena James, a whippet breeder in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Free of most of the ethical concerns - and practical difficulties - associated with the practice of eugenics in humans, dog breeders are seizing on new genetic research to exert dominion over the canine gene pool. Companies with names like Vetgen and Healthgene have begun offering dozens of DNA tests to tailor the way dogs look, improve their health and, perhaps soon, enhance their athletic performance.

But as dog breeders apply scientific precision to their age-old art, they find that the quest for genetic perfection comes with unforeseen consequences. And with DNA tests on the way for humans, the lessons of intervening in the nature of dogs may ultimately bear as much on us as on our species' best friends.
"We're on the verge of a real radical shift in the way we apply genetics in our society," said Mark Neff, associate director of the veterinary genetics laboratory at the University of California, Davis. "It's better to be first confronted with some of these issues when they concern our pets than when they concern us."

Some Labrador breeders are using DNA tests for coat color to guarantee exotic, silver-coated retrievers. Mastiff breeders test for shaggy fur to avoid "fluffies," the long-haired whelps occasionally born to short-haired parents.

Next up, geneticists say, could be tests for big dogs, small dogs, curly-tailed dogs, dogs with the keenest senses of smell - and dogs that cock their heads endearingly when they look at you.

Scientists who recently completed the first map of a dog genome (of a boxer named Tasha) are now soliciting samples from dog owners across the world to uncover the genetic basis for a slew of other traits.

But even before the entire genome was decoded, breeders were making use of DNA screening tests to make more informed decisions about which dogs to mate.

Some discoveries grow out of government-financed research aimed at improving human health. Others are paid for by breed clubs carrying out their mission to better a breed.

But because genes are often tied to multiple traits, scientists warn, deliberate selection of certain ones can backfire. The gene responsible for those silver-coated Labradors, for example, is tied to skin problems.

With the genetic curtain lifted, breeders also take on a heavier burden for the consequences of their choices. Whippet breeders who continue to mate fast dogs with one another, for instance, now do so knowing they may have to destroy the unwelcome bullies such pairings often produce.

Moreover, the prospect of races being won by dogs intentionally bred to have a genetic advantage may bring new attention to the way genes contribute to canine - and human - achievement. Inborn abilities once attributed to something rather mystical seem to lose a certain standing when connected to specific genes.

A mutation similar to the one that makes some whippets faster also exists in humans: a sliver of genetic code that regulates muscle development is missing.

"It would be extremely interesting to do tests on the track finalists at the Olympics," said Elaine Ostrander, the scientist at the National Institutes of Health who found that the fastest whippets had a single defective copy of the myostatin gene, while "bullies" had two.

"But we wouldn't know what to do with the information," she said. "Are we going to segregate the athletes who have the mutation to run separately?"

For the moment, it is whippet owners who find themselves on the edge of that particular bioethical frontier.

It was not exactly news to breeders that speed is an inherited trait: whippets were developed in the late 1800s specifically for racing. But knowing that one of her dogs was sired by a carrier of the gene, said Jen Jensen, a whippet owner in Fair Oaks, California, makes its championships seem "less earned."

DNA testing vastly extends dog breeders' reach - International Herald Tribune

I know this deals with dogs, but ... where does it end?

And what side effects, long term health problems, behavioural problems, etc are associated with it? That thing is frightening looking.

Having been involved in Greyhound rescue, I've known for some time that breeders have been experimenting with introducing Pit-Bull blood to Greyhound lines, so I'm not surprised that Whippet breeders do it too. Around ten years ago beefier, more heavily muscled dogs started to show up. More muscle combined with the light bone structure of the Greyhound makes for faster dogs. Faster dogs=more money for the owners and breeders. Never mind the cost to the animals, their only purpose is to make money.

Must say I've never seen an example of an extreme throw-back like this though, you'd almost think it was a doctored photo. Positively disgusting, which means they will probably become extremely popular. What the bloody heck is the matter with us??

It's real


This is apparently not confined to dogs

BUILT REPORT - Schwarzenegger Cows Photo Gallery

I couldn't find anything on Snopes but did find a whole lot of scientific articles, including in Nature, on this particular research. Here is the wikipedia link for this Myostatin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia