Do No Harm

The Scandinavian canine realm is often held in high esteem among other dog people around the world, from their breeding practices to the transparency of their kennel clubs. 

Unfortunately, I seem to have found out the hard way that they have the same chinks in their armor as everyone else. 

A few days ago I wrote on FB Mudi groups about a litter that was created in Finland with a sire we co-own but we did not agree could be used for this litter.  Actually, we were not even asked, it was all done covertly by the Finnish breeder and the other Czech co-owner of the stud.  I found out about the litter from the FKK website shortly after it was listed.

Yesterday I found a discussion on the Finnish Mudi FB forum about how the sire of a Finnish litter was not being named publicly and some forum members wondered why this was?  The discussion took place in March of this year.  Someone asked was this some new kind of fashion?  Others also asked what the reasons would be for doing this as it was rather unusual not to list both parents?  Why the secrecy some asked?

The discussion went on to cover the need for transparency in all things Mudi and surely the breeder had a good reason not to tell who the father of the litter was.   

Well the truth is, it was not for a good reason the sire was not named and not only the breeders, but many other people were involved in the secret keeping as well.  It was shocking to learn of the widespread deception. I thought something like this would not happen in Scandinavia.  I was pitifully naive.  People are people all over the world, none should be thought of as better than others as everyone is still a human underneath that proud exterior and our nature is to do what benefits us, even at the expense of others or doing what is right, even those we put on a pedestal.

The reason behind this conspiracy was to prevent us from contacting the FKK before the registration of the pups was complete, otherwise they could cancel it.  Not only did the two breeders involved falsify documents, but the FKK broke their own rule by not making sure all 3 co-owners of the sire signed the litter registration form, when they had the proof in their hands, on the back of the sire’s pedigree.  The FKK refuses to take responsibility for the falsified documents they failed to catch, even after the deception was brought to their attention.   Or was it purposely overlooked for a friend?  This is the damage that gets done by one little lie that snowballs into a sizable scandal.  People see collaborators in every corner.   

I was shocked that so many other people knew what was going on and did not tell me about it.  Why would so many become accomplices to something they surely knew was wrong. Even the breeders knew it was wrong as they worked so hard to keep it a secret.  How could so many people go along with this?  This is the biggest disappointment of all.  I am sure I counted some of these co-conspirators as friends.  This is perhaps the most hurtful part of this whole issue to be knowingly deceived by friends. I hope that at least some of the conspirators are ashamed to have participated in this plot to defraud other people.  

Finally, it became clear with this incident that the Scandinavian superiority is not reality, they are just like everyone else. I really hoped they were the light in the darkness we could all follow, but now I see they are also following a light at the end of a tunnel they also cannot reach, just like the rest of us.

So where is the world’s Mudi community to go from here…. we need to realize, now more than ever, that we are all equally good and bad and no one, absolutely no one, is doing a better job than anyone else and deserves to be put on a pedestal.  Perhaps we should all strive not to make things better, but just to not make things worse, then we can all move forward at the same pace via a shared path, not in separate directions.  ‘United we conquer, divided we fall’, ‘there is no ‘I’ in team’…. über corny sayings, but maybe it’s time to take them to heart and do the right things or at least do no harm.  Now that we are all standing on level ground, I think this is something we can all agree on.

"Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient".
Thomas Inman