You can buy/breed a dog without undesirable genes. This puppy buyers often demand and some breeders even will promise. Every dog alive likely carries some undesirable traits. In the breeds where this has been systematically studied, every breed individual is likely to carry for 3-5 unwanted traits(gene load). The question is less rather IF you will accept unwanted traits, than WHICH you will decree as most undesirable & which you (and your dog!) can accept and live with. Crooked tails or missing teeth sure beat heart disease and hip dysplasia---all are inherited. Which, if you had a choice, would you choose to carry in your line or have in your dog? This is rather hard for folks to swallow as they believe in myths#3-5 & think your genes are you destiny and that anything genetic is some sort of scarlet letter. We all need to learn a bit more of how biology really works & discard our erroneous ideas not based on the evidence of nature.

Genetic disease is not some sort of shame to be hidden and whispered about & it shouldn't be overlooked or forgotten. Genetic disease should be documented so the breeding of two carriers of something really scary can be avoided. One of the HUGE reasons purebreds have so many problems with genetic disease is this culture of "hide it, deny it, lie about it-while others whisper and gossip." Come on people--if we are not ashamed of what we are breeding, and if we are really concerned about the state of our 'beloved' breeds, then why are we not honestly documented the faults found out in our lines? (What we need is open registries, but this is another topic, sort of.) The result can be that honest breeders who admits to line faults may get bashed by their peers as well as puppy buyers, while those who hide their problems successfully often get rewarded with breedings and buyers. Let's all get a little more sophisticated, shall we? Treat each dog like he HAS three undesirable traits & try to prioritize what is and is not acceptable; what is and is not also in your/another line. Puppy buyers, ask what the line has & expect an answer that it does have some less than wondeful things-focus on what the breeder is doing to eliminate or control them & try to find someone with a list similar to yours (of traits bad, maybe, but at least liveable/acceptable). Puppy buyers can help out by not runnning away from an honest quality breeder who tells you his/her line carries for this and that & running to the ostrich-sort of breeder who lives with head deeply buried in the sand. They can also help enormously by ceasing to support those who breed casually and in ignorance. It's a lack of knowledge of how to properly set up a successful breeding program more than any evil designs or other nefarious motives than is destroying purebred dogs. Sadly this decline is larged funded by pet puppy buyers who often don't seem to think the quality of the breeding program is important when buying "just" a pet. It's the buyers that keep the sellers in business & it's often overlooked that current buying practices are largely responsible for the decline in the overall quality of pets for sale.