Irene Sommerfeld-Sturdy

Irene Sommerfeld-Stur is an Austrian population geneticist . She is an expert in the field of dog breeding and is an associate professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna .

Life

Sommerfeld-Stur studied from 1968 to 1973 at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, where she did a thesis in 1975 to investigate the relationship between slaughter age as a measure; for the profitability of a cow and the degree of heterozygosity estimated from marker genes for Dr. med. vet. PhD . Since 1973 she has been working there at the Institute for Animal Breeding and Genetics. In 1985 she obtained the Venia legendi for animal breeding and genetics with a thesis on heterosis breeding in domestic animals . Irene Sommerfeld-Stur is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research into the Human-Animal Relationship and the editor of the Vienna Veterinary Monthly.

Her work focuses on cynological genetics, especially hereditary defects and how to combat them. In particular, she dedicates herself to genetic defects that result from certain requirements or interpretations of the breed standard , such as the so-called torture breeding . Her range of tasks also includes individual advice to breed associations, breeders, dog owners and buyers. In addition, Sommerfeld-Stur has dealt intensively with the problem of dog breeds classified as attack dogs in recent years and has established that the "definition of dangerousness based solely on breed affiliation is objective nonsense".

She sees the "preservation of genetic variance as one of the most important goals of modern dog breeding" and points out that "breeding decisions that are in the interest of the health of the offspring [] lead to an aggravation of the situation of genetic diversity", to the need to “develop special solutions for each breed population, specifically tailored to the respective population situation” (Irene Sommerfeld-Stur).

Sommerfeld-Stur published numerous scientific articles on cattle, pig and dog breeding. In 1987 she received the advancement award of the Austrian Veterinary Association, in 1997 the medal of honor of the Austrian Association of Cynologists .

Works

• Walter Schleger, Irene Stur: Dog breeding in theory and practice; a genetic guide to successful pedigree dog breeding. Verl. Jugend u. Volk, Vienna 1986, DNB 860790398 , ISBN 3-224-17000-8 .
• Heinz Jürgen Ficus, Klaus Loeffler, Michael Schneider-Haiss, Irene Stur: Hip dysplasia in dogs. Enke, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-432-98551-7 .
• Irene Stur (Red.): Pet primer. Norka-Verlag, Klosterneuburg 1997. DNB 969830815
• Ralf Alef, Günther Bloch, Uwe Friedrich, Michael Grewe, Jan Nijboer, Dorit Urd Feddersen-Petersen , Ádám Miklósi , Marc Bekoff, Jürgen Zentek, Irene Sommerfeld-Stur, Holm Schüler: From hand to world - the AZ of the dog. The encyclopedia about the Canis Lupus Familiaris. Dogtale-Movies, Bad Münstereifel 2011, ISBN 978-3-937322-18-6 . (3 DVD-ROM)

Web links

• Private homepage
• List of publications until 2003

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Institute for interdisciplinary research into the human-animal relationship: Scientific Advisory Board ( Memento of the original dated December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Austrian Society of Veterinarians: Vienna Veterinary Monthly
3. ↑ Irene Sommerfeld-Stur: Attack dogs - do they exist? ( online )
4. ↑ Irene Sommerfeld-Stur: Genetic variance - what does that actually mean? ( online )