Poodle Pulse: Kennel Blindness Can Occur in Any Breed

Kennel Blindness: Protecting the Future of Our Breeds

As preservation breeders, we bear the immense responsibility of safeguarding the health, structure, and purpose of the breeds we love. Yet even with the best of intentions, there’s a silent threat that can undermine our hard work and passion: kennel blindness.

What Is Kennel Blindness?

Kennel blindness happens when a breeder becomes unable—or unwilling—to see the faults in their own dogs or breeding program. It clouds objectivity and leads to poor breeding decisions, often rooted in emotional attachment or pride. Left unchecked, kennel blindness can cause a decline in type, structure, and function within a breeding program, ultimately harming the breed.

How Does Kennel Blindness Happen?

It often starts subtly. We become attached to the dogs we raise, train, and love. That’s natural! But when emotion overrides critical evaluation, we may convince ourselves that obvious faults “aren’t that bad” or that they’ll “fix themselves” in the next generation.

Other contributing factors include:

Echo Chambers: Surrounding yourself with people who only offer praise can create a false sense of security about your dogs.
Success Breeds Blindness: Winning in the ring doesn’t always mean your dog is structurally sound. Trophies can sometimes blind breeders to underlying flaws.
Over-reliance on Pedigree: A strong pedigree doesn’t always guarantee quality in conformation or health.
Sentimentality: Breeding a beloved dog who isn’t structurally correct because of emotional attachment, rather than evaluating based on the breed standard.

Why Is This Dangerous?

A dog’s conformation isn’t just about looks. Structure directly affects function. When we compromise on correct conformation:

Movement and Efficiency Suffer: Poor structure limits the dog’s ability to move as the breed was designed to, which can impact performance in work, sport, or daily life.
Injury and Wear Increase: Faults in angulation, topline, or gait can contribute to premature joint deterioration, arthritis, and pain.
The Breed Loses Its Purpose: When form and function are neglected, we risk losing the traits that make the breed capable of doing the job it was originally bred for.

Not my dog; image sourced from the internet.

How to Avoid Kennel Blindness

Stay Ruthlessly Objective: Regularly evaluate your breeding stock against the breed standard—not just your interpretation, but the actual standard.
Solicit Honest Feedback: Invite experienced breeders, mentors, and unbiased judges to evaluate your dogs. Listen to constructive criticism.
Prioritize Education: Attend seminars, read veterinary studies on canine structure, and continue learning about movement and health.
Compare Outside Your Kennel: Watch dogs at shows, especially those bred by others. Study what other successful programs are producing and why.
Health and Function First: Ensure breeding dogs are not only health-tested but also structurally and temperamentally sound for their intended purpose.
Have a Clear Vision: Know what your program aims to preserve or improve and stick to that vision without compromising on essential traits.
Cull for the Right Reasons: Not every dog should be bred. Be willing to place a beloved dog in a pet home if they don’t meet the structural or temperament goals of your program.

Best Practices for Clear Vision Breeding

Develop a circle of trusted breeder peers who will give you honest opinions.
Watch your dogs move on video—often flaws show up in slow-motion review that are missed in real-time.
Keep a written record of faults and virtues for each dog. It’s easy to focus on the positives and forget about areas that need work.
Judge your dogs as if they belonged to someone else. Would you still breed them?

Our duty as ethical breeders is to prioritize the long-term health, functionality, and preservation of the breed—not just what’s popular or what’s in our backyard. Kennel blindness is a risk for everyone, but by staying open, critical, and committed to the standard, we can protect our programs and leave our breeds better than we found them.

Using Photo Analysis and Breed Standard Overlays

I never evaluate my own puppies. Someone with no stake, who is experienced in the breed, does my structural evaluations. It usually coincides with my choice(s), but I don’t ever want to become lax or complacent in this so the third-party evaluation is critical to my program. In addition to hands-on evaluation and observing movement, I use a visual tool that has become invaluable: overlaying the breed standard’s outline onto photos of my dogs. This method provides an objective view of how closely a dog’s structure aligns with the standard.

How It Works

First, I take a stacked side-profile photo of the dog, making sure they are standing naturally and square. The dog should be fully weight-bearing on all four legs, with the head and tail in a relaxed yet alert position. No leaning, no stacking tricks—just honest posture.
Then, I upload the photo into a graphics program or app that allows for layering images.
On top of the photo, I place an outline of the ideal poodle silhouette, proportion guidelines, or skeletal references that align with the breed standard.
By adjusting transparency, I can see where my dog fits the blueprint—or where they deviate. It’s a fantastic way to objectively evaluate proportions, angulation, topline, tail set, head planes, and more.

Tips for Accurate Photos

A poor photo angle can distort what you’re evaluating, so consistency and precision are key:

Camera Height Matters: The camera lens should be at the same height as the dog’s midline (approximately the height of the dog’s elbow or brisket), not shooting from above or below. Shooting too high can shorten legs, while shooting too low can exaggerate them.
Shoot Straight On: Position the camera perpendicular to the dog’s body—no tilts or angles. A slight turn can make fronts look wider or narrower and skew proportions.
Avoid Wide-Angle Lenses: Use a standard lens (50mm is great for full-body shots) to prevent distortion, especially around the edges of the photo.
Level Ground is Essential: Take photos on flat, even surfaces. Uneven ground throws off balance and proportion.
Good Stacking: Have someone help you stack the dog correctly or use a grooming table for young puppies to maintain proper positioning.
Lighting: Even lighting prevents shadows from hiding structure or exaggerating features.

This is a Daphne x Deacon offspring.

Why This Matters

By combining hands-on evaluation with this visual overlay process, you get a fuller, unbiased picture of the dog’s conformation. It’s an excellent tool for tracking and documenting development over time, comparing littermates, and making educated breeding decisions rooted in the breed standard.