Owner Promsie Land Goldens. Hope this is helping you answer some of your questions you have about us.
Purchasing our own dogs and then becoming breeders set us up for learning a great deal lot over the years. Vets, specialist (Orthopedics, Ophthalmologist, Cardiologist, Geneticist all for animals), studying overseas methods, and some of the largest dog research centers in the USA have all proven a wealth of information. I take an interest in an animal’s health; this comes from working in the medical field and treating friends, family and general patients throughout my life.
Promise Land Goldens is not trying to putdown other breeders (like I have seen done for many years), I am sharing some thoughts and lessons learned to educate the public as well as share what I have learned with other discerning breeders. Without continuous education we can’t ensure our work contributes to improved lines of the dog breeds we each love. These are few things I would like to share; some of this may be old hat to those in the business.
In the beginning I believed that an ophthalmologist’s yearly eye test was sufficient for a dog I was planning to breed. I now know that this isn’t the case. Many fail to realize the importance of Prcd-PRA, Pra1, and Pra2 and how these are important indicators to track when working to eliminate genetic eye disease from your lines. Even though the parent’s of a litter may receive good reports from an ophthalmologist every year, and the parent’s never develop eye problems, this doesn’t mean that a puppy from these parents can’t go blind. Surprised???? Well this is absolutely true!
There is no cure or surgery that can correct these genetically caused problems. The catalyst for these problems are genetic chromosomal markers of the Sire & Dam, if not matched up correctly, they will spawn genetic issues in their offspring. I began studying genetics in 2015 and Promise Land began incorporating it into the breeding program at the end of 2015.
Your dog, when genetically tested, will result in one of three different chromosomal test results:
Clear- No Chromosome marker
Carrier- A Chromosome marker is present
Affected- A Chromosome mutation is present (may or may not materialize into a problem)
Unfortunately you can’t eliminate all Carriers in certain chromosome mutations, 80% of dogs carry something on their genes. It is the understanding of how to match them up which achieves optimum results.
Breeding a Pra1 Carrier to a Pra1Carrier will more than likely result in 25% Clear, 50% Carrier, and 25% AFFECTED. THIS MEANS ¼ OF THESE DOGs (THOSE THAT ARE AFFECTED) COULD BEGIN GOING BLIND BY THE TIME THEY ARE 3-4 YEARS OF AGE.
Breeding a Pra1 Clear Dog to a Pra1 Carrier Dog will likely result in 50% Clear and 50% Carrier. There WILL BE NO “AFFECTED” dogs; meaning no dogs with a genetic predisposition which could cause blindness.
Breeding a Pra1 Carrier to a Pra2 Carrier, different genetic abnormalities, will not produce dogs with a predisposition for genetically caused blindness.
Breeding a Prcd-Pra Affected with a Prcd-Pra Carrier will produce a litter with a percentage which could GO BLIND around 3-4 YEARS of age.
There are numerous other scenarios as well. It is important to study and learn genetics.
This affects every breed of dog. Please don’t think this only impacts Golden Retrievers.
Given that genetic test results take 6-8 weeks to return (if a poor sample is submitted it take even longer time given the requirement to start over), it is not feasible for breeders to test every puppy; especially given that there are very few canine genetic labs in the world.
Testing the parents is the key. Test’s can get expensive, however if your goal is to improve future generations of dogs there is NO BETTER way. Our use of genetic testing ensures our approach to breeding ensures no affected dogs are used in Promise Land Goldens’ program.
I hear so much about Ichthyosis or ICH. This has been around forever. The canine form of Ichthyosis is not like the human form. Ichthyosis on dogs appears black on adults and white on puppies. It is flakes, or dandruff, on the skin. It is a genetic abnormality condition that has no cure. This is an autosomal recessive trait, meaning it can return in second-generation puppies.
The OFA is aware it returns in future offspring and only accepts first generation offspring. That means when both parents are tested and matched together.
So if you see puppies “ICH cleared by parentage,” remember the parents should not be “second generation” parents, only FIRST GENERATION, (Ichthyosis returns). An ICH Clear dog bred to an ICH Affected dog will not produce any puppies with symptoms. Many dogs are ICH Affected and NEVER have signs of ICH ever materialize. Even if it does it normally doesn’t itch.
Ichthyosis affects many different breeds; it is not just a Golden Retriever concern. It is often confused with allergy dermatitis. Promise Land Goldens believes in doing all it can to remove chromosome mutations from its lines. Unfortunately there is no perfected genetic test to detect ICH causing chromosome mutations.
A few other things I have learned over the years. Even though cancer rates are lower in English Cream Goldens. They still have health issues. All Golden Retriever parents, whether English Cream Golden or American Golden, should be examined for hip issues, other diseases. The OFA and Pennhip are the most widely used in the USA for discerning hip health. This is done to determine if a dog has a genetic condition.
Every dog, as they get older, will develop wear and tear of their joints. Understanding joint help has great potential to lower the frequency of canine hip dysplasia (CHD) when used as a selection criterion.
It is not uncommon for many to challenge OFA results. The majority of the challenges we’ve researched occurred because the person taking the X-ray films did not line up the dog’s hips correctly. It is possible for a Vet Tech taking the films to not recognize this incorrect line up. The quality of an X-ray film depends on the skill of the person producing them. OFA does not regulate the training of film producers. The tests comparing positioning shows that the hip-extended position used by OFA tends to drive the femoral head into the socket, masking the amount of laxity and artificially improving the look of the hip joint. One radiologist may disagree with another and, on occasion, OFA radiologists may even contradict themselves and give different grades to the same film on different occasions. Two-year-old X-rays are examined by three radiologists who report their findings to OFA. If there is a disparity of opinion between the three the agreement of two radiologists is what the OFA documents as the hips’ status. The prelim OFA, which means the dog is less than two years of age, is produced by a single radiologist. The good points of OFA are that it is easily assessable (any vet with x-ray equipment can produce OFA films); the cost is reasonable and is better than no test at all.
A PennHip evaluation not only reports dysplastic, dogs with bone and cartilage abnormalities, but also points to the risk of the dog developing such radiographic signs later. While PennHip does measure laxity, it also looks at the integrity of the joint for dysplasia. The distraction index assigned to each hip joint is based on precise measurements and mathematical calculations.
Veterinarians who wish to submit films to PennHip are required to be trained in PennHip’s techniques and become certified. This assures that standard protocols are used in obtaining the films and ensures accurate data. PennHip’s techniques are accurate in puppies as young as 16 weeks of age. The Pennhip is most accurate at 1 year to 16 months. Pennhip includes hip-extended position, compression and distraction radiographic views. Pennhip's downside is that the cost is high and the requirement for Vet certification means they are not accessible as easily.
Promise Land Goldens primarily uses Pennhip results for breeding. We have recently begun doing more OFA, for comparison; however we use the Pennhip results to determine breeding pairs. This year alone the 4 females bred using Pennhip evaluation scored Excellent to Good Hips with the OFA in their hip scores. One female received only a fair hip score by OFA. This female was produced using a parent pairing process that only utilized OFA results for the Sire. Using only OFA examinations Promise Land Goldens was unable to improve our breeding dogs hip health. The switch to more reliance on Pennhip examinations was to reduce the propensity for “fair” hip scores for dogs we bred to use in our program. NOTE for Breeders using Pennhip examinations: The OFA now posts Pennhip results on their site for all breeders and buyers to see.
As noted earlier, Promise Land uses Pennhip, which is most accurate around one year of age. Having done many studies on dogs we don’t recommend breeding females only one year old, even when a dog scores at the top 5% for hip tightness with PennHip. A one-year-old female breed before she is 2 years of age places inordinate weight from the puppies on her hips potentially pushing her hips out of socket causing the development of hip dysplasia. We have studied dogs through out their lives for research. A male bred younger didn’t have any real change in their hips when they turned 2 years of age. We feel this is due to them not having the female’s burden from carrying the extra weight. BOTTOM LINE: Please don’t use stellar PennHip results as a green light to breed your female before she is two years of age.
Elbow dysplasia is a painful condition that can cause lameness and arthritis. Affected dogs typically show signs of this condition between 4 and 10 months of age. The cause for this is the same as hip dysplasia, to rapid skeletal growth. The most common clinical sign is intermittent or persistent front-leg lameness that gets worse with exercise.
The trouble with Elbow Dysplasia is that the OFA has labeled any x-ray with some sclerosis as dysplastic. Sclerosis is the result of degenerative changes, from normal wear and tear, it will appear in any joint over time. Even humans have some by the time we hit twenty years old. However, some breeds can show a slight degree of sclerosis in the elbow joint by two years of age without any of the elbow conditions. That means the elbow will show Elbow Dysplasia Grade 1. While we should give OFA credit for all of their good services, this should not blind us to occasions and situations where they fall short. Occasionally they misread films and broaden Elbow Dysplasia diagnosis in a manner that is not helpful to those trying to improve their breed program. If a dog receives an OFA report indicating Elbow Dysplasia, and has no symptoms, a breeder should recheck their dog with a CT (Computed Tomography) as a Gold standard due to the propensity for OFA, during elbow screening to mischaracterize sclerosis as dysplastic. In Europe the standard is a 3-view x-ray for elbows. OFA is discussing going to a 3-view technique instead of 2 views. Although OFA knows that CT gives a much better view of joint they feel that there are still to many variables in CT for them to except those in their process.
Promise Land Goldens appreciates all the wonderful efforts of OFA and PennHip. We will be using them for years to come. We hope by educating those around us who were unfamiliar with testing that all breeds of dogs in the future can continue to improve.
Lori Froderman
Owner - Promise Land Goldens
Entropion is when the eye lid roles in slightly. For those that unaware of what it is. It can affect every breed of dog. This can also form in mixed dogs as well. Different factors can cause this. The first cause is if that dog squints to much it can actually train the muscles in the eyelid to roll. The second thing that may cause this. If a large headed male is put with a small headed female. There can be an excess of skin for the dog to grow into. This can happen to any breeding. Some breeds are actually bred to have loose skin on there faces. Such as bull dog type breeds. Many have to have a stitch to hold eyelid in place until the dog grows into loose skin. The stitch is then taken out and the dog is fine. Entropion can resolve itself without surgery. There are cases which the dog will have to much skin or trained muscles to turn under and will need surgery.
When OFA marks a puppy or dog which has had Entropion for any reason it will always be permanent on that dogs record. The Entropion could have been caused as easily as a odd growth spurt of the dogs head and then the grows and it disappears. That dog might never have again for it’s entire life. This goes for any dog in any breeder with OFA. It is believed that there maybe a genetic cause in some cases. Unfortunately they haven’t found the gene as of yet. Breeding the dogs believed to have a genetic form will give you a 5% chance it will transfer.
No health issues here at all, except for a yeasty ear once or twice (although I think that's more me being incompetent at drying off his ears after a swim). Kaizer will be two in June. She does tend to have a long waiting list, but I think it's worth waiting for one of her puppies.
