Health Testing & Why
It's Important To You
by Kathy Ringering
March 3, 2009
Breeding
healthy, structurally and temperamentally sound
dogs is not as simple as putting two of the
same breed together... a lot of
breed knowledge, an eye for the dog, and
health testing of parents, (genetic and
conventional) goes into each and every
litter.
1)
Breed knowledge.
Breeders spend a good part of their
time continually learning about their breed.
They go to dog shows, dog seminars, evaluate
litters, share information, and generally
"they are a student" of their breed. The
learning never stops! Beware of any breeder
who claims to know it all!
2)
An eye for a dog.
This is something someone is born with. or
has to learn by evaluating many dogs of many
breeds. What does it mean? It means that a
breeder can tell their dogs' faults
and merits by looking at the dog's outline,
movement, and structure.
3)
References &
Support. A breeder should be willing
to provide you with references, people who
have dogs from them, and people in the
Kuvasz community that know them well. Your
breeder should be there for you long term,
to answer any questions that come up now, or
in 10-15 years, including taking back your
dog if your living circumstances change and
you cannot keep the dog for any reason.
4)
Health testing.
While the first two requirements must be
learned by the breeder, health testing is
what veterinarians do for us.
We test our dogs to find
out what kind of issues we may deal with,
then we can make educated decisions how to
improve our breeding line. There is NO such
thing as a perfect dog!
Currently, the Kuvasz
Club of America recommends hips, elbows,
thyroid testing. You should also inquire for
proof of Progressive Retinal Atrophy status
of the parents of any litter you consider.
Would you like to research a breeder and
the health of their dogs?
The Orthopedic
Foundation for Animals (OFA) database at
www.offa.org is searchable.
1. Go to the database and
enter a breeder’s kennel name in the name
field search box.
2. Select “As part of a
name."
3. Select “Kuvasz.”.
4. Go to the bottom and
select “Search.”
All of the dogs with
health testing from that breeder will be
displayed.
If a breeder has only had
one or two litters, you may not find many
dogs under their kennel name, but by
selecting the individual dogs of interest, you can find out about the parents of the
dog, and their clearances as well as
siblings, half siblings, and offspring.
A breeder who has had 55
litters should have pages and pages of dogs
entered there. If they do not, why not? What
could possibly be a justifiable reason?
The
OFA database
accepts hip clearances from sources other
than OFA, such as GDC, OVC and PennHip; as
well as health results for many other
things.
There is NO good reason for not
including health data on all dogs born after
January 1, 2005.
Dogs born after January
1, 2005
should have at least minimal testing
requirements completed. Dogs born prior to
January 1, 2005 may or may not have that
information posted. It was not common
practice to do Elbows and Thyroid testing on all
dogs prior to that date.
Minimal testing
requirements are hips, elbows and thyroid.
Beginning in 2006 there
is a genetic test available to breeders for
PRA, progressive retinal atrophy.
Conscientious breeders have been posting
their dogs PRA status on the OFA website.
Since it is a genetic test, there is no
reason to test offspring out of clear
parents. Those dogs may not be listed in the
database but the parents of the dogs should
be.
A breeder should be
able to and willing to prove to you the PRA
status of the parents of your puppy.
Conscientious breeders do
health testing and make decisions based on
those tests results in the hope that we can
continue to improve the health of our
breeding dogs and your puppy.
It is important for puppy
buyers to report any health concerns to your
breeder as those health concerns may impact
future breeding decisions. There is much we
do not know until genetic tests become
available for more health concerns. If we
all cooperate by sharing health data in the
OFA database, the health of the breed will
be better for it.
A conscientious breeder
should have the respect of their peers. They
should be willing to refer you to a quality
breeder, if they do not have any puppies
when you inquire, and you are unwilling to
be placed on their waiting list. AND their
peers should be willing to refer you back to
them.
Sometimes it is important
to listen to what a breeder doesn't say in
regard to breeders they may not have
recommended.
Everyone has negative
health data, the shame is in hiding it, not
openly sharing it.
Breeders who voluntarily list negative
health data as well as passing health test
data should NEVER have the negative health data
used as a weapon against them.
In fact, it is a glowing
reflection on the breeder's sense of
responsibility, integrity, and dedication to
the best interest of future generations,
that the breeder chooses to make the
information public instead of hide it!
Here is an excellent
article on the proper use of health testing
and the consequences of using health testing
as a weapon.
The Misuse of Health Testing
As stated by C.A. Sharp,
in his excellent article "Bad
Genes, Babies and Bathwater"
"Knowledgeable dog
people know there is no perfect dog.
Even the best of them have faults. The
faults are not only those conformation
or behavioral problems you can readily
observe, but also bad genes. Dogs have
at least 80,000 genes. No matter how
high the standards for selection of
breeding stock or how strict the culling
of offspring, every dog will have genes
for unwanted traits. Experts agree that
every individual - be he dog, human or
cauliflower - probably carries, three
"lethal equivalents." This may leave you
wondering why we aren't seeing dogs and
cauliflowers, not to mention each other,
dropping like flies all around us."
click here for the full article
Dr. Jerold Bell, with Tufts University,
is one of the leading canine geneticists and
researchers today. He has many excellent
breeding articles published on the internet.
Click here to read one of his most
popular articles: “Responsible
Breeding Management of Genetic Disease.”
Other articles by Dr.
Bell:
The Genetic Gamble
It’s All In The Genes
Developing a Healthy Breeding Program
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last updated on
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