Deaf Dogs

it depends.  In dogs, deafness is many times related to color..or the lack thereof. Double merle issues, etc.  Those issues are known to be a concern (or should be) to the breeder, so if they go on and breed dogs that can produce deafness, well that's pretty irresponsible.

 In my state there's actually a rescue for Aussies of double merle breedings..dogs who are blind, deaf or both.

"poor breeding" is a twisted way of looking at it.

Any time you breed a merle to a merle, or try to breed for more 'white' in a coat and less 'spots' (like dalmatians) (and there are still coat types -- I'm just trying to say this "plain English";) the basic mathmatical chance works out to getting about 1-2 of that great preferred coat you are looking for (like in merle shelties or australian cattle dogs, etc.), 2-3 'normal' merles and usually ONE all white pup.

In the past, they would usually kill the white one.  It's called "culling" and there are many threads about this in the past.  (It's not all culling is, but it's one example of a dog typically culled out of a litter.)

Why?  Because it was long thought that because the white dog is technically an "albino" and it *will* almost certainly be deaf, that it is better to kill it because it could easily be aggressive.  That's not necessarily the case and we've come a LONG way in the last 15 or so years towards re-educating people that deaf dogs can lead VERY productive and positive lives.

Particularly breeds known to be more hyper, more drivey, and less 'laid back' (like dalmatians in particular) it has been a huge act of education on the part of breed rescue people to change the mindset that said they had to be destroyed.

In short of the 'why deaf' -- you know puppies are born blind, right?  That's why the eyes don't 'open' for a couple of weeks (the eyes are literally too immature to support sight so the eyes don't 'open' until the eyes are mature enougH TO see). 

Puppies are also born deaf.  They are so immature when born (they only have about a 2 month gestation -- compare that to humans who have 9 months and horses who have, what ... over a year??) that the bodies just plain can't do everything yet.

It is the pigment cells in the ears that grow to complete the neural transmitters that make hearing "happen".  But if a dog is an albino -- and that's really a misnomer - it's not exactly like in humans -- (and even a dog can have one 'white' ear and one colored ear and be deaf in that one ear) -- there is no pigment to help complete those neural transmitters for hearing in that 'white' ear so they never develop the ability to hear.  If all white, likely both ears are deaf.

Remember that cute little white dal on the cover of everything for the movie "!02 Dalmatians"??  Light blue eyes, all white?  Yep, that dog was deaf.

You can't just walk up to a white dog and assume it's deaf - it has to be "white" that results from no pigment -- not just a genetically 'white' dog (like a maltese -- it's a different kind of 'white';).

It isn't that the dog is 'badly bred' really -- but someone tried for a superior color coat, and just didn't 'cull' that white/deaf pup. 

Now, at the same time, some folks (and I admit I agree) just think you shouldn't TRY to pair that merle/merle and risk getting that all white pup.  It just feels too calculating and money-hungry to me.  So if you want to call that 'bad breeding' it would be a matter of opinion I guess.  But the "fancy" says that prized coat is a winner and will command higher prices.  But the 'cost' is that at least one of the dogs in that litter probably will be deaf.