Dalmatian Club of America - last throes of resistance?

Not much winds me up like the Dalmatian Club of America's resistance to introducing the backcrossed LUA/NUA Dalmatians. (Background here.)  The Club's eugenicistic obsession with purity is at a clear cost to the dogs who suffer a painful and sometimes fatal health problem. 

No longer able to ban discussion of the LUA/NUA Dals (yep, they really did that) the DCA is pulling out all the stops after experts commissioned by the American Kennel Club to examine the issue concluded:

"Because the introduction of the low uric acid dogs into the AKC registry gives Dalmatian breeders a scientifically sound method of voluntarily reducing the incidence of the condition, this committee strongly recommends some controlled program of acceptance of these dogs. Where the strict health and welfare of the breed is the over-riding concern, no other argument can be made."

Phew. Job done, then.

Er, not quite, because the AKC decided to refer the decision to the Dalmatian Club of America - the very people opposing this ingress of mongrel blood. (The current generation of backcrossed Dals is 99.7 per cent pure, by the way)

So what does the DCA do? It publishes an article suggesting that the 10 distinguished members of the AKC advisory committee got it all wrong.

Contrary to what those vets and scientists think, the DCA wants its members to know that:

• Descendants of the backcross project are not purebred enough.
• Abnormally high levels of uric acid do not often lead to the formation of crystals and stones.
• Urate stones are not a significant problem in the breed.
• High levels of uric acid is not a predisposing factor in the formation of urate stones.
• Introduction of LUA Dals into the AKC genepool could have a negative impact on the health and welfare of the breed.
• It would be extremely challenging to come up with any plan to safely integrated LUA Dals into the AKC population of Dals.

Bollocks, of course.

You can read more in the latest edition of The Spotter (from page 47 onwards...)

This is going to be an interesting one because the case for introducing the LUA/NUA Dals is just SO strong that I think the AKC might be able to make a stand on this one.  As the KC did in the UK, despite a lot of resistance from the purists here, too.

Or am I being a hopeless optimist?