The Myth of Broken Bones in Silken Windhounds
Every now and then I see some mention of the supposed fragility of the breed. Detractors will say that there have been 40 Silkens with bone breaks. For a rare breed with a small population, this certainly seems significant. I want to put some context to the numbers
The Parent Club for Silken Windhounds, ISWS, surveyed owners and received reports on approximately 1000 silkens. Of these, there were 40 affirmative responses pertaining to broken bones, not just legs, in Silkens. This included being kicked by livestock, hit by cars, stepping in deep holes, pups stepped on in the whelping box, and jumping from high (10ft+) points.
I don’t want to say these numbers are insignificant. For the owner of any of these dogs, 1 broken bone is too many.
Please just understand when someone is speaking up about one of the negatives of the breed being their propensity for bone breaks, that they are exploiting the tragedies of car accidents, livestock attacks, and other such traumatic injuries that are so wildly outside of the scope of a reasonable definition of ‘fragile’ to make it absurd.
