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 Genetic diseases in dogs

Just like people,  dogs are vulnerable to a number of inherited diseases.  Just like human medicine,  veterinary medicine has made tremendous advances over the years.  But sadly there are still a number of serious diseases in dogs that cannot be treated effectively.  In order to combat these diseases through prevention,  a range of screening tests has been and continues to be developed.  The way in which a disease is inherited is very important.  Some diseases have a fairly simple mechanism of inheritance.  Others are more complex

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You are probably aware that your dog inherits two copies of the 'gene'  responsible for each of many  characteristics that he has.  For many inherited diseases,  the dog needs to have two faulty copies of the gene (one from each parent) to get sick.  If the dog has one faulty copy, and one good copy, it won't get sick,  but will pass the faulty copy on to roughly half of its offspring.  This dog is known as a 'carrier'.  Some common eye diseases in dogs are passed on in this way. This method of inheritance is relatively straightforward to track and develop DNA screening tests for.  Our optigen test is an example of a successful test for this kind of inherited eye condition.  Screening for diseases of this kind allows us to accurately predict the outlook for the animal,  and even to breed from carriers (with just one faulty copy of the gene) provided they are mated to animals with no faulty genes at all (clear).

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Complex genetic inheritance:

Unfortunately, the mechanism of inheritance for many diseases is much more complicated.  Some diseases are controlled by a whole bunch of genes -  these 'polygenic' diseases are much more difficult to track and test for. Some genes are not simple 'all or nothing' genes, but can be diluted or 'switched off' by their partner gene. To complicate matters further,  some genes create a 'potential'  for illness or disability which is then developed further by the environmental factors to which the dog is exposed during its lifetime.  Hip dysplasia is an example of such a condition.  No single gene for hip dysplasia has been discovered and it is likely that a whole range of genes is responsible.  In addition,  the 'expression'  of these genes is profoundly influenced by exercise and growth factors,  which further disguises the root of inheritance and makes the disease very hard to track.  For diseases like these,  our 'best bet' is often to test animals for the 'symptoms' of the disease which can be measured,  rather than trying to discover the genes themselves. And then to breed from animals with few or  no symptoms.  This is exactly what our Hip Scoring system has been devised to do. It isn't a perfect system as the symptoms we can observe on a hip x-ray will be partly dependent on how the dog has been exercised and on how fast it has grown.   But it is the best we can do at the moment. 

Health Screening Links for:

• Retrievers

• Spaniels

• HPRs

• Setters/Pointers

The effect of testing on genetic diversity:

One of the concerns about genetic testing,  is its effect on the 'gene pool'.  If there are too few animals in a breeding group,  the pooled genes of all the animals put together may contain a great many identical genes and not enough diversity.  In a group of animals sharing many identical genes,  there is a much greater risk of their offspring inheriting two identical copies of a gene (one from each parent)  This is not a problem when the gene is a 'good'  one, it is actually an advantage as it ensures the the 'good' gene is not diluted or 'switched off' by its partner (this is the rational behind 'line-breeding').  But of course a proportion of all genes are 'bad' (cause defects) and when these come together problems arise.  

Why would testing make this problem worse?   Well, what happens when we test,  is that some animals fail the test and are removed from the gene pool.   If people panic and remove 'carriers' from the gene pool too,  we can end up a gene pool that is drastically reduced.  Whilst this might help the problem we are screening for, it immediately puts the animals in the  group at much greater risk of some new and possibly undetected disease. 

It is vital that genetic diversity is preserved in any breeding group of animals  and genetic testing needs to be accompanied by information and a balanced approach.   Many factors need to be taken into account and the animal assessed on a range of criteria,  not just on one individual factor

Different  breeds, different diseases:

There are now a number of different Health Screening Programmes available for our gundog breeds depending on the diseases to which they are susceptible.   At the moment these schemes are not compulsory,  but are run on a voluntary basis.  Some have been more widely embraced than others. 

The current health screening programmes test the 'breeding animal'  not their puppies.   Buying a puppy from parents that have been screened under all the appropriate schemes for that breed is not a guarantee of a healthy dog,  but greatly increases the buyer's chances of getting one

The fact that a puppy is KC registered does not mean that puppy has necessarily come from health screened parents.  At the time of writing the onus is on the buyer to check that their puppy comes from  parents that have been screened for all the relevant diseases for that breed.   To find out more about the health schemes available for your breed click on the breed links above.