Managing Diseases in our Dogs

Author: Judy Huston, AWSA Health & Genetic Chairperson
Printed in the May 1999 issue of the AWSA Times.

It occurred to me that we could use this column not only to cover topics that may be timely, but also to answer specific questions about the health of our dogs. As the Health and Genetics Chair, I've been in the process of reading, asking questions, buying new books, finding sites on the internet, talking to veterinarians and breeders and generally attempting to educate myself. So, if you have questions, snail mail them to me, call me, or e-mail me and I'll give you the best answer I can find about the subject. Judy Huston, P. O. Box 2068, Howell, MI. 48844-2068 or (517) 546-3046, E-mail judyh@ismi.net, fax (517) 546-3048.

My responsibilities as Health and Genetics Chair are as follows (as stated in the Bylaws): "The Health and Genetics Chair is responsible for cataloging and tracking all known illnesses and genetically inheritable diseases that affect the White Shepherd breed. He shall keep the membership abreast of all recent developments in the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases, as well as other subjects pertaining to the general health of the breed. He shall give a report at least once annually, via the newsletter. He is also responsible for tracking and recording all certificates and/or official clearances of disease from organizations such as (but not limited to) OFA or PennHIP, OVC and CERF. He shall submit a list of all dogs' names and clearance numbers in the newsletter at regular intervals."

Cataloging and Tracking All Known Illnesses and Genetically Inheritable Diseases.....

Last month I did a short review of Dr. George Padgett's book, Control of Canine Genetic Diseases. In the book, he cites four dog clubs, The Cairn Terrier Club of America, the Bichon Frise Club of America, the Scottish Terrier Club of America and the Newfoundland Club of America that "all had the courage to survey their breeders, members, and owners in order to determine the frequency of genetic disease in their breeds." I'm hoping that the American White Shepherd Club will have the courage to do the same.

I'm in the process of contacting people from the above clubs to request information I can use to construct a survey tool that will provide the information we need to keep our dogs healthy and even improve the health of our breed. Joanne Chayni of Hoofprint Farms has already supplied me with a list of diseases she thinks are the most prevelant in the breed. Dr. George Padgett has listed in his book all of the diseases found to affect German Shepherds. I plan to ask Dr. Padgett whether these German Shepherds included "whites." I assume they did, but we need to know for sure. If he included White Shepherds, I'd like to know if they had a higher or lower incidence of any disease than their colored relatives.

The Disease of Cancer

As most of you are aware, our AWSA President, Maurice Seeger, lost his beloved "Q" to cancer. Some understandably frightened people posted questions on the internet mostly centered around the question "Is cancer in our dogs hereditary?" Joanne Chanyi said she never thought it was, but now is beginning to wonder. We don't need to keep wondering and we don't need to be afraid of this disease forever.

As part of the intended survey mentioned above, or as a separate one conducted by Maurice, we want to compile enough information to see if we can identify any kind of pattern to the deaths of some of our dogs from this disease. Certain schools have been conducting research on cancer and genetic diseases for years. I intend to contact as many sources as I can to determine what kind of questions we need answers to and what kind of information they may already have that we can use.

The Survey, Questions, Sources, Resources

There are many talented and knowledgeable people in our membership, so any ideas, resources, available materials, or format submitted by a member will be welcome and given consideration. The survey is not going to be a small task for me to do or for you to answer. We want this to be a worthwhile task. If we can protect one dog's owner from the heartbreak of losing a "best friend" before their time, we've done our job. But, more than that, if what we do today can be a foundation for White Shepherd Breeders in the future to help them in their breeding decisions, we've helped to improve our breed.

Tracking, Recording, Reporting Official Clearances of Disease (OFA, OVC, PennHIP, CERF, von Willebrand's, etc.)

Many of you who have already submitted these certificates to the Registrar, Terri Vest, and we appreciate that. If you have not submitted them yet, please send them directly to Terri at 1250 North Lincoln, O'Fallon, IL 62269-1218. If you don't already know it, the OFA now has a Thyroid Registry and a Congenital Heart Disease Registry. Their website is http://www.offa.org.

Summary

I plan to keep you all updated about the progress of this task. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to pass along ideas and suggestions.

Until next month.......