The Paw Print Genetics Blog

HO, HO, OH NO! If you’ve recently been to a local department store, you were likely made well aware that the holiday season is upon us. It may be that my recollections of youth have faded some over the years, but does anyone remember holiday decorations in stores before Halloween when they were kids? I sure don’t. Another thing I can’t remember from my youth is anyone warning us about potential dangers to our dogs during the holiday season. The canine exodus from the backyard to the bedroom over the past 30 or so years has been remarkable. Development of once-monthly parasite control and changing social, cultural and familial norms have been important contributing factors to the modern, intimate relationship with our former hairy lawn ornaments. With this change, comes a different set of responsibilities in keeping our dogs safe and healthy. Once threatened by wild animals, parasites and seasonal extremes, our dogs now face a multitude of new threats to their health associated with the modern American lifestyle.

Halloween to New Year’s Day is an interesting time to be an emergency veterinarian. Whether it is food, decorations, or other hazards, many dogs end up learning the hard way that ...

The olfactory capabilities of our best friends are amazing, and we continually find new ways to put them to work. From hunting and police work to security and disease detection, a dog’s sense of smell keeps us safe and healthy. Now it seems a two-year-old rabbit-hunting beagle from the Ozarks might help zookeepers detect when threatened polar bears are pregnant.

Taking a page from diabetic alert dog trainers, officials at the Cincinnati Zoo's Center for Conservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife have been working with Matt Skogen at Ironheart High Performance Working Dogs in Shawnee, Kan., to train dogs to detect hormonal changes in gestating polar bears so that officials can take necessary precautions with the expectant mothers. Polar bears have complicated reproduction cycles littered with false pregnancies that make captive breeding programs difficult to successfully administer. Early detection gives zookeepers the chance to separate male and female bears, to provide necessary cub-rearing dens and to monitor the mother more closely.

Skogen originally started with the border collie, arguably the most intelligent breed of dog, but a methodical beagle named Elvis eventually won the job. Elvis trained by sniffing fecal matter from bears that were and weren’t pregnant. When ...

Popular in both the U.S. and England, the cocker spaniel was originally bred as a gun dog that pushed game to hunters in the field. Originally, there were only two types of spaniels – those that hunted primarily on land and those that took to the water to retrieve game. Through time, those two classifications became more and more varied as specific breeds were developed. The cocker spaniel was used more on land (its name is derived from aptitude for woodcock hunting) and is among the oldest of gun-dog breeds – with its heritage dating to the first spaniels that came out of Spain more than 500 years ago.

As the happy-go-lucky cocker spaniel became more popular, and with the rise in conformation competition after 1885, a split took place in the breed – those dogs used for the field and those who competed in the ring. Most noticeably, field-bred cockers have a shorter coat and ears than conformation dogs, as well as a higher prey drive.

The cocker’s popularity soared in both realms, as well as in the pet world. In the show ring, the cocker has been the most successful breed at Crufts, winning Best in Show ...

If your dog is an average American canine, there is approximately 50% likelihood that your dog has a chronic disease that increases chances of osteoarthritis, heart disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, chronic pain, cancer, high blood pressure, and endocrine disease. In addition, this disease is also known to significantly decrease life expectancy. The most unfortunate aspect of this condition is that it is completely preventable, yet only a small fraction of dog owners take the necessary precautions to prevent this disease of malnutrition in their dogs. This disease is canine obesity.

Unless you avoid all news and cultural commentaries, you are likely aware of the human obesity epidemic in America and other countries around the world. According to the report, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future”, a collaborative work by Trust for America’s Health (www.healthyamericans.org) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as of 2010, 68.7% of American adults over 19 years of age were overweight or obese (“Overweight” is defined as a body mass index, or BMI, over 25 and “Obese” is defined as a BMI over 30 - BMI Calculator). In addition, the rapidity at which the increase in human obesity has occurred is ...

Have you ever wondered what goes on in a genetic testing laboratory? What kinds of measures are taken to guarantee quality testing? For example, does the laboratory that you use have what is pictured - a clean room? What is a clean room and why should they have one? And why can’t you bring your dog directly to the laboratory for swabbing?

Paw Print Genetics has received a lot of questions about our testing quality and accuracy – and we love it! Ask away! We like to talk about our lab and the careful approach we take to testing to ensure that your results are reliable and accurate. Otherwise, what’s the point?

A genetic testing lab must have accurate and reliable results. They should have performed validation studies for each of the diseases and mutations that they offer. Does your testing lab provide you with the test’s sensitivity and specificity for the diseases you are concerned about? Have you asked for this?

During our validation studies, we assessed eight performance criteria for each test: accuracy, precision, analytical specificity, analytical sensitivity, detection limits, reportable ranges, reference intervals and robustness. For example, accuracy refers to getting the right results; whereas, precision refers to ...

               When you are a veterinarian living in a swirling haze of disease prevention and treatment, you often forget that most people don’t spend their spare time thinking about disease processes on a regular basis. They are even less likely to spend time comparing canine diseases to illness found in them or in people they know. Therefore, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when my friends, family and clients find it so fascinating and unbelievable when I tell them that dogs inherit and develop many of the same genetic diseases as people.  In fact, dogs are well recognized in the scientific community as terrific models for particular diseases in people and have been thoroughly studied to gain information on many conditions. According to the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA; http://omia.angis.org.au), as of this writing, there are 343 genetic mutations identified in dogs that are considered to be “potential models for human disease” and the list continues to grow rapidly since mapping of the full canine genome was completed in 2005.  The mapped genome of a boxer named Tasha provided a much needed framework for genetic comparison studies ...

Affectionately known as the wiener dog, the short-legged, long-bodied dachshund is consistently one of the top 10 most-registered dogs in the country. It seems the dachshund has always been popular, with kings and queens of Europe in the distant past, as well as with the likes of artists such Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Grover Cleveland, writer E.B. White, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and singer Adele in more recent times.  

The popular dachshund originated in Germany and was bred to track badgers, enter their den and fight them to the death. The modern dachshund is much smaller than the badger-fighting ancestor, which weighed between 30 and 40 pounds, and is usually bred for the conformation ring and as a companion animal. However, there are lines, especially in its native Germany, that are still bred for hunting purposes.

The history of the dachshund is somewhat muddled, with some groups claiming it was developed in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, others claim the 15^th Century and still others cite drawings and mummies of dachshund-like dogs that were popular with ancient Egyptians. The modern-day incantation was developed in Germany, but was also ...

Rickie Roo is an agility dog, a service dog and a roving reporter for the United States Dog Agility Association. She is well known in the sport of agility and in the rat terrier community. On October 12^th, 2013, Roo unfortunately had to have emergency surgery because of a luxated lens in her left eye. Primary Lens Luxation, or PLL, is a condition that can happen in many breeds including American Eskimo dog, American hairless terrier, Australian cattle dog, border collie, bull terrier, Chinese crested, Jack Russell terrier, jagdterrier, Lakeland terrier, Lancashire heeler, miniature bull terrier, Norwich terrier, Parson Russell terrier, Patterdale terrier, rat terrier, Russell terrier, Sealyham terrier, Teddy Roosevelt terrier, Tenterfield terrier, Tibetan terrier, toy fox terrier, Volpino Italiano, Welsh terrier, wire fox terrier, Yorkshire terrier.

Lens luxation can happen suddenly and when it occurs, needs to be surgically corrected as soon as possible to try to minimize any loss of sight. Luckily, Rickie Roo's luxated lens was caught very early by her owner, Deborah Davidson Harpur. Thanks to early intervention, Rickie ...

Meeting our customers face to face and personally answering their questions is a high priority for Paw Print Genetics. In the last month, several members from our team have hit the road to attend dog shows. We had the pleasure to meet hundreds of dogs and their owners to talk about the value of inherited disease testing when breeding and buying a puppy.

In late September, Casey, our DVM and Assistant Medical Director and I travelled to Salem, Oregon for The Poodle Club of America’s Regional Specialty. We met poodles of all sizes and colors from all over the region. The poodle owners spent hours grooming and attending to their canines, but when they had a moment they stopped by our booth to talk about their concerns regarding genetic diseases.  Our Poodle Panel  includes six inherited diseases found in the breed. After discussing health concerns with these owners, most indicated that they always test for PRA-PRCD and neonatal encephalopathy. Many people were unaware that several breeds, including poodles, are possible carriers for degenerative myelopathy, a devastating disease with onset later in life.

Before returning to Spokane, we had one more show to attend in Kennewick, Washington for the 80 ...

The Shetland sheepdog is not just a collie in miniature form, but rather its own breed that has been crossed extensively with the long-haired, or rough, collie. Together they, and other similar breeds, are collectively referred to as collie, but make no mistake; the Sheltie is its own dog that has had many distinct (and extinct) breeds have contributed to its genetic makeup.

Placed in the herding group, Shelties in their modern form are more of a companion and show dog than working animal, however, they still retain many herding instincts and the intelligence associated with the group. It was developed from spitz-type dogs found on the islands of Shetland, which are northeast of England, and that were used for herding the smaller sheep and other livestock that developed there.

The rough collie obviously played a large role in the conformation and appearance of the Sheltie, but in addition to it and the Shetland spitz dog, the King Charles spaniel, Pomeranian, possibly the border collie and the extinct Greenland yakki all played a role in the smaller body and disposition of the breed.

The rough collie factors into the Shetland’s makeup with crosses taking place between the two breeds until ...