A few nights ago, I saw a story on Instagram – the person had x-rayed her young dog and the HD score came back as C/D. She was heartbroken. The replies were kind, but they carried a particular heaviness – a feeling that a line had been crossed, that certain lives or activities might no longer be responsible. I recognised that moment because I had been there myself.
Author Archives: Elina Halonen
Dog ethics, unpacked (Part 3)
The first two posts in this series were about mechanisms and limits: how breeding decisions shape populations over time, and what genetic testing can and cannot tell us when outcomes are uncertain. This post is about a different kind of question: what kind of future for dogs counts as better?
Risk and uncertainty of dog genetics, unpacked (Part 2)
Health discussions in dog breeding often sound more decisive than the evidence allows. Genetic information is probabilistic, contextual, and population-dependent, but it is repeatedly treated as categorical, individual, and decisive.
The language and mechanisms of dog breeding, unpacked (Part 1)
A lot of misunderstandings about dog breeding start with language. Basic genetic terms are often used loosely, and different ideas are treated as if they were the same thing, which makes it harder to judge risk and harder to ask good questions about the dogs people live with and breed from. This post unpacks a few of the terms that get most commonly tangled up, because clearer language makes better decisions more likely.
Dog breeding, unpacked
I’m writing a short series of three posts to separate some of the questions that tend to get mixed together in discussions about dog breeding. Each post focuses on a different layer, because treating all of these as one question is one of the reasons these conversations stall.
Fireworks, puppies, and why early life matters more than we realise
We ask modern dogs to tolerate noise, crowds, novelty, and confinement—often without asking how prepared they were to cope. Fireworks expose the cost. This piece explains why early life matters, why timing is the intervention, and why later training cannot fully replace foundations laid before a puppy ever comes home.
10 myths about hip dysplasia
Hip dysplasia remains one of the most frequently discussed yet misunderstood topics in canine health. Despite decades of research and screening programmes, misconceptions persist about what hip scores actually mean, how genetics and environment interact, and what constitutes healthy hips. These misunderstandings matter because they influence breeding decisions, how puppies are raised, and which dogsContinueContinue reading “10 myths about hip dysplasia”
Doing right by the dog
Breeding is one of the few areas where people make far-reaching decisions on behalf of a future life that cannot consent. “Ethical breeding” and “responsible breeding” are familiar phrases, but they can hide very different standards in practice. I find it more useful to treat breeding as a set of decisions with long tails, whereContinueContinue reading “Doing right by the dog”
The Fetch Continuum: understanding risks and making it safer
Fetch is one of the most heated topics in dog training: some guardians see it as an easy way to exercise a dog, while others (rightly) argue that it causes injuries and fuels unhealthy obsession. The discussion is often polarized but in reality the question of fetch is far more nuanced
Dogs as family: navigating the parent-child and adult-adult dynamic
Credit: Tytti Ojala Photography When I’m with my dogs, I’m never alone – I’m with my friends. However, it’s not a fully equal friendship: they live in my human world, and I control the vast majority of it. In this way, whether I like it or not, there is always a parental relationship with dogsContinueContinue reading “Dogs as family: navigating the parent-child and adult-adult dynamic”
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