Fitness meaning: the condition of being physically fit and healthy.
Fitness is a term we are all accustomed to and certain images come to mind when we hear the word. It is with this meaning that we use the word fitness when we refer to dogs, the dog’s physical condition. This however is one meaning of the word. There is an other meaning of the word most people are not aware of , one that should not be overlooked especially by dog breeders.
Fitness is the animal’s ability to deal with certain circumstances and environmental changes. Darwin speaks of the survival of the fittest. The fittest doesn’t necessarily need to be the strongest, but is generally the one who best exploits the available resources at a certain time, such as terrain, food, presence of conspecifics and so on. It is always the fittest which has the greatest chance of surviving long enough to find a partner, mate and have offspring which will inherit their characteristics.
After some generations, the characteristics of the fittest will be most prevalent in that habitat.
The idea of the fittest is not a static concept. The fittest at a certain time and under certain circumstances in a population is not necessarily the fittest under different circumstances at another time. When man domesticated the dog he made the natural mechanism of selection redundant.
Occasionally, we observe pathological behaviour in dogs which is a direct product of selection. In natural conditions these individuals would die and the genetic information causing the pathological behaviour would disappear. These individuals would not influence the population they belong to. However, it is a mistake to breed these animals. For example, dogs lacking parental abilities, those that show extreme aggression, fear, or lack the ability to show social behaviour would most probably disappear in a world of natural selection.
In social animals the concept of fitness is very important to the development of social behaviour and especially the development of communication patterns. The fittest social animal is not normally the most aggressive or the most peaceful, but is the one that uses these traits to best advantage.
As far as pure bred dogs are concerned the responsibility of the status of future generations weighs a hundred percent on the breeders.
It is therefore absolutely necessary to consider all the aforementioned when we plan our breeding course. The purpose of breeding is to create the right conditions for the evolution of the breed in the long run regardless whether our short term aspirations are met.
It is also our obligation as breeders to maintain a certain amount of scepticism towards the guidelines of breed standards by kennel clubs, regarding our breed of interest. Following the guidelines and standards of kennel clubs has led many breeds to face serious health issues bringing a lot of trouble to dogs and dog owners. The most common example I can present is that of the German Shepherd breed.
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