I do not want to get sucked in to this tit for tat stuff that is going on here.
Of course up to date research is vital when we try to do our best for our dogs.
However I feel the whole ethos of Champdogs is
based upon the experiences of individuals some of whom have been breeding for many years. That is why I joined - to exchange experiences with real people.
I have lived with 30 whippets over more than 30
years and sometimes I read things written by “experts “which bear no resemblance to my own experience of the breed, so  I value anecdotes on this forum. I sort of feel that’s why we’re here

There will always be opinions because you can interpret research in different ways and you can come to different conclusions from the same set of statistics.  But those kinds of discussions remain based on science, albeit interpreted differently.

I don't value anecdote at all, because you can offer an anecdote involving one dog and I can offer another which conflicts and counters yours with another dog.  Then someone else can offer a further example of one dog... What then?  We can all just continually offer single examples of things to counter and dismiss each other - and no one is any nearer understanding and the person who asked the question originally, is not helped at all in being able to decide who to listen to.  Even if the examples involve multiple dogs, it's not going to be the hundreds or even thousands that can be involved in research.

There are so many variables behind things that we only see cause and effect when we look at large scale populations and statistics.  Not just throwing anecdotes around endlessly...

Having said that, there are some subjects where we don't have the research available yet and have to make an educated guess and rely on experience more.  But if research is available, ignoring it or favouring single individual's opinions, makes little logical sense.