The Importance of Information Sharing Can Not Be Overstated:

As breeders, we can not reduce the risk of perpetuating genetic disorders we don't know about. This is why it is vital that we overcome our natural hesitance to admit that genetic diseases may exist within our dogs.  No one wants to admit that there might be something wrong with his or her dogs. However, we can't prevent a problem if we don't know that the problem exists.

It is vital that breeders follow up with owners of their puppies on a frequent basis to learn of potentially genetic diseased within the population, and that breeders then report that information to the Project Registrar. Whether a heritable genetic disease is recognized clinically by a veterinarian or detected through DNA testing, our Reigistrar is equipped with state-of-the art computer programs and is well educated in the field of canine genetics. These allow us to easily maintain accurate genetic pedigrees of our dogs and ensure that accurate information about them is available when contemplating potential mates within the project.

The Role of DNA Testing within the Project.

Recent scientific discoveries in the field of canine genetics have resulted in accurate genetic tests that can determine if a dog is a carrier of a genetic mutation responsible for a many (though by no means all) heritable diseases. The list of diseases that can be prevented by using genetic tests to help make breeding decisions is rapidly growing, but is still considerably less than the 300+ genetic diseases known in dogs.

While DNA testing is a very valuable tool and is becoming more so with each passing day it's important to recognize that its usefulness is nonetheless limited. For example, some mutations cause horrible genetic diseases in some breeds of dogs but are apparently harmless in others. DNA tests can also result in false negative results. For example, the test for cerebellar hypoplasia conducted by Embark Veterinary, one of the most advanced canine DNA labs in the field, is quite accurate for some breeds, but shows a "clear" result for Hedlund Huskies who are profoundly affected by the disease. By working with the geneticists at Embark we hope that an accurate test for this disease can be developed not only for our dogs, but for other types of dogs as well.

DNA testing of both sire and dam prior to breeding allows us to reduce the risk of passing on autosomal recessive disorders for which reliable tests are available to nearly zero, but they can not prevent those for which no test is yet available those which are almost certainly present in our dogs, but have not yet been identified.

However, when we combine DNA testing while minimizing coefficients of inbreeding and kindred, we can greatly reduce the risk of producing puppies that are homozygous (affected by) any mutation. The better, albeit more expensive, DNA testing labs allow us to do this more efficiently by directly measuring the coefficient of inbreeding as opposed to making calculations based on incomplete pedigree data.