Gerry Clinch wrote this on RTF
"We don't know everything about how various traits are linked to each other genetically. We have gotten some clues.

When the Siberian foxes were bred for tameness (to make life easier for the breeders to handle them), other traits changed as well ... drop ears developed and coat quality as well. Since they were breeding the foxes for fur coats, you can see that the loss of coat quality was a significant loss to them.

When Portuguese Water Dog breeders sincerely tried to eliminate the prcd gene in their breeding stock (by not breeding carriers), the breed began to experience copper storage disease, a more serious health problem than the prcd which could be "managed" with the DNA test.

When Basenji breeders sincerely tried to wipe out one type of genetic disease, they also experienced the rise in another more serious genetic disease.

Even though our intentions might be exemplary, the results could be unanticipated.

Until we have a more complete understanding of the linkage of unrelated traits, it seems we should be cautious in using "eradication" v. "management".

WRT the CNM, EIC and other problems in Labs. What if eradicating all CNM carriers increased the numbers of EIC carriers or affecteds? What if eradicating all CNM or EIC carriers increased the numbers of RD or PRA dogs? Since we don't really know how these unrelated traits may be linked on the genetic material, we need to be cautious until we can learn more.

Yet each breeder should have the personal choice to assess what their own comfort level is: whether they will feel comfortable breeding carriers or not.

In order to exercise that freedom of choice, testing has to be encouraged. The "enemy" is not the breeder who tests and breeds a carrier responsibly. The real enemy is lack of information. Anyone who is honest about testing their dogs and sharing the results is part of the solution to breeding healthier dogs. It is fair, I think, to let them exercise their personal choice when they do so in a responsible way.

Someone mentioned the size of the gene pool. There are a lot of retrievers on the planet ... but most of the highly competitive dogs come from a rather small portion of the total gene pool that might be available. Over the years as new breeding prefixes come about we can easily lose sight of how interrelated the competition gene pool has become. And it is that rather limited gene pool that most of us would be interested in for the other traits we seek in a breeding program."


I wanted to cross post because I feel exactly the same as Gerry does...and I hope that people will not discontinue breeding dogs that are carriers - or even affected - of any inherited disease, simply for the desire to completely remove that disease from our breed....

Before we knew exactly the cause of DM, I did not know how I felt about breeding dogs whose sire/dam had DM...I felt, as many do/did, that it was better to be safe than sorry, until more answers were discovered...

Now that we will have the ability to 'control' EIC and DM through testing, we can breed smart, breed with balance in mind, keep what we have and want in our dogs and manage what we don't want through smart and rational decision making.....

Juli

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Juli,

A great post Juli! Thank you.

some years ago I bred my Ch/UD/JH/WDX bitch to a dog who later was determined to be producing PRA, and of course after my bitch was no longer of breeding age, we learned that she had produced 3 afflicted dogs from her first litter sired by this dog, including a male I kept.

Long story short, after the initial shock and heartbreak of finding this out, I decided not to scrp the line as I really liked the rest of what I was getting from including a low incidence of hip dysplasia and a lot of OFA Excellent certifications. So I went on with the clear dogs. Sadly, the PRA skipped a generation just about the time the Optigen testing came out and I got it again by a dog I didn't think could/would produce it, but he turned out to be an Optigen B dog.

Now, either all my breeding stock is Optigen tested, or if not Optigen tested, then current on CERF and only bred to Optigen A/Clear dogs. So, I still have the line which still produces the quality I look for, and there should be no more PRA coming from it. I'm glad I took the chance and went on with it.

Just my two cents worth.

Kathy