ARE EVOLUTION COLORS THE RESULT OF LABORATORY GENETIC EXPERIMENTS? (DEBUNKING ANOTHER FAKE NEWS)

In circles opposed to non-standard French Bulldog colors, it is often claimed that Evolution colors were created through unspecified and extremely painful laboratory genetic experiments, supposedly causing the dogs involved to suffer terribly.

This fake news is easy to debunk, and we will do so directly:

1. Animal genome modification experiments are extremely complex, requiring very high expertise and exorbitant costs. No dog breeder in the world could afford such expenses, and even if they could, it would not be economically viable.

2. All canine colors are already encoded in the dog’s DNA, so there is no need to modify it to introduce a new color into a breed. It can simply be achieved through selective breeding, as is always done to introduce any desired trait.

3. Some argue that it is unclear which breeds were crossed to produce Evolution-colored Bulldogs. But is this really important, given that the exact breeds used to create the French Bulldog itself are also not definitively known? Moreover, Evolution colors have existed for many generations, and many Evolution individuals are structurally within the standard French Bulldog guidelines (apart from color, of course), so the objection loses its weight.

It is clear that those opposed to introducing new colors into the breed do so out of prejudice or a reluctance to face a new challenge where breeders in other countries, such as the UK or USA, are already years ahead in selecting dogs with non-standard colors.

Breeding Evolution-colored dogs is not just about selection using genealogy, bloodlines, or structure, as standard Bulldog breeders currently do. It also involves adding a third parameter—color, which requires deep knowledge of the genetics behind this trait and significantly increases the complexity of the breeding program. Challenging years of work and essentially starting almost from scratch is understandably difficult, especially for those who feel established in their methods.

However, avoiding this challenge only means falling behind. The longer it is delayed, the harder it becomes to catch up. We are convinced that there are highly skilled standard Bulldog breeders capable of doing excellent work, potentially making Italian Evolution Bulldogs among the most beautiful and healthy in the world. Yet, as long as this “witch hunt” continues, achieving this goal will remain impossible.

By Paolo Claudio Rossini fondatore AA Allevatori Arcobaleno