We absolutely take
the breeding of healthy dogs as a critical aspect of
being a successful breeder. We are pleased with the great
advances in
genetic research that have moved us along so quickly in such a short
period of time. At the same time, one must be cognizant of what
these
"tests" mean and their significance. We do not confuse the good
faith
effort of breeding healthy dogs with some notion that we are going to
eventually breed
"perfect" health in dogs. We are always vigilant in working to
eliminate
unhealthy genetic patterns in our stock and perform whatever tests are
required to help us in identifying issues. However, we have
become
more and more wary of trends of pressuring breeders to use
certain "tests" marketed by labs
because we feel many of these procedures are more focused on revenue
generation for the laboratory or non-profit organization than truly
aiding breeders with significant
and useful diagnostics.
The point has been made by researchers that making an effort to
eliminate
all dogs
who carry certain genes from the gene pool will likely result in other
diseases surfacing as the gene pool narrows and the chance for those
combinations increase. We therefore must be certain we
eliminate dogs who will truly harm the breed's population and not
be duped into believing marketing spin.
Here is our current position on publishing test results on the
three "main" areas (which, by the way, are driven not necessarily
by prevalence or risk in the breed, but
by the mere availability of a "testing" procedure):
1)
PRA - we have
complete confidence in the genetic testing to identify the presence of
the gene which in its double recessive form causes progressive retinal
atrophy in the Cardigan. We
therefore will always test puppies intended for breeding or show if one
of the parents is a carrier of this recessive gene. We see no
need to
remove a carrier from the breeding pool as long as genetic testing
demonstrates 100% accuracy in identifiying carriers.
2)
Canine Hip Dysplasia - the
information on CHD is confusing at
best. We feel there is a wildy misunderstood belief by many
breeders
that dogs who are OFA rated
"excellent," "good," or "fair" can be considered "unaffected" and
that dogs scoring lower should be removed from a breeding
program. Research
demonstrates that dogs who show ANY imperfection (i.e., not
"excellent") most likely carry at least some genes for this disease and
even
"excellent" dogs can carry some genes. In short, we believe we
are all
fooling ourselves into believing we are making inroads into the
presence of this disease by obtaining OFA ratings when, in fact, we are
not. Statistics show little to no improvement over generations of
radiographed dogs. Obviously, the impression that this diagnosis
is somehow beneficial is flawed.
Only by
strictly
limiting a breeding program to "excellent" dogs would a significant
improvement be made. Yet we find many people who believe
they are fulfilling their concept of stewardship by being very
judgemental of those who use dogs who score otherwise; there is no such
supporting evidence to indicate such prejudice improves CHD
incidence. In terms of the Cardigan, we have
seen very little evidence of
physical effects of CHD. We also believe that if the specimen is
not
"excellent" we know they carry at least some genes for this
disease.
Therefore, the only Cardigans which will be listed on our site for OFA
will be those that rate "excellent." The rarity of this rating in
the
Cardigan population and the disease's relatively minor impact in this
breed dictates that we cannot effectively limit our breeding
program
to only "excellent" rated dogs. We do not guarantee a Cardigan
purchased from our kennel will radiograph at a specific rating.
We do
provide a guarantee if a Cardigan we breed develops clinical effects
(meaning actual physical impairment effects not just a radiographic
reading)
of the disease.
We cite the following research which we believe to be the most unbiased
study we have found to date:
http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/97/1/13
3)
Degenerative Myelopathy -
this is the most recent test to emerge
under the guise of a "genetic" test. In fact, the research on DM
was
performed only on the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and then only using a small
group of dogs. The
gene tested for is not the sole cause - if it is a cause at all - of
DM. The fact that dogs diagnosed with DM were homozygous for this
gene
is
less than significant when it is understood that there were also dogs
who DID NOT have the disease who were also homozygous for this
gene. In
fact, no one knows how many genes are involved in DM and we believe
testing for DM gives a false security when in fact the same dog may
possess
other - unidentified - genes for the disease. We feel at this
time
this test is of little significance. We therefore do not publish
DM
results.