Welcome to the Karlton Index

admin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:05:48 +0000

This entire project is dedicated to improving the health and welfare of our dogs. The health and welfare of dogs have become contentious issues of late so to help us all understand just what is happening I have established a way of measuring our progress.

The Karlton INDEX™ will highlight the breeds that are making the most progress, it will illustrate just how they are managing to do this, it will encourage the sharing of knowledge and understanding and champion those that persevere. It will flag up the breeds that lag behind too but with a view to identifying what is holding them back and assist them in overcoming the barriers they face.

Methodology

Methodology for this project was as follows:

February – March 2011 breed club related web resources were reviewed and catalogued

March – September 2011 published health related data was collated for each breed

Late August-Early September 2011 every breed club was reviewed against the Karlton Index framework and all web-based resources were accessed for a final time

10^th – 15^th September score moderation to ensure fairness and equity.

Context for this project

There are some very important considerations to bear in mind when digesting the results of this review.

It is a “snapshot” of breed health as at September 2011. Already the facts and figures mentioned here could be out of date – tens more dogs could have been DNA tested for various conditions, websites could have been updated, and new initiatives launched. I very much hope that to be the case. But snapshots are invaluable when plotting progress. The results map out where each breed is this autumn. Another snapshot, using exactly the same methodology, can be taken once again in say, eighteen months time and from that we can gauge how much progress is being made towards improving breed health.

Scores are awarded on the basis of published information and data. Many breeders have said to me that much more is going on “behind the scenes” to support breed health. But “behind the scenes” is not helpful anymore. If breeders have nothing to hide with regard to the health of their dogs then published data is not a threat to them whatsoever, in fact it is a useful tool.

The Karlton Index is designed to be constructive. This may be hard to believe if your breed is one that has scored just a handful of points but it is true. The review flags up excellent real-time examples of good practice to enable the sharing of workable ideas. It also does an important job of recognising the great effort and achievements that are being secured by the best breeders. Furthermore, following on from this analysis The Karlton Index will produce or signpost communities to useful tools and ideas to support their efforts. These will be available online and free of charge.

ALL WEBSITES WERE LAST ACCESSED BETWEEN MID AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 10^th 2011

UPDATES POST SEPTEMBER 2011

If there is a new development within your breed and you wish to update me use the comment form on the relevant breed page or email me on update@thekarltonindex.com

The scoring is explained here.