Tag archives: canine genetics

You can now catch some great Paw Print Genetics information on The Working Man’s Retriever television show, which airs during “The Landing Zone” block of programming on the Sportsman Channel. You can also view each episode on the Paw Print Genetics YouTube page at any time!

Paw Print Genetics founder and CEO, Dr. Lisa Shaffer, a geneticist with more than two decades of experience, visits with host Dan Hosford and co-host Cynean Kenny in five separate episodes and discusses everything from the basics of how genetics work and the impact upon breeding decisions to when, how and why to test a new puppy and interpreting the results on your Canine Health Certificate.

Episode One: In the first episode of Working Man’s Retriever that Dr. Shaffer appears on, she discusses silent, or recessive genes; the differences between clear, carrier and affected dogs; how you can still safely breed dogs that are carriers of known genetic mutations and how, with consistent genetic testing you can eventually eliminate genetic mutations from your breeding program. She also touches on how a Canine Health Certificate adds value to a litter of puppies and acts as a safety measure for the puppy buyer.

Episode ...

In a continuation of our discussion of puppy "health guarantees" the question is: is it feasible to expect breeders to guarantee against all congenital and genetic defects and what should breeders guarantee or promise?  It is a pervasive "wisdom" that "good" breeders will only produce healthy puppies with no genetic problems or congenital defects and a "responsible breeder" certainly would never sell a puppy with a congenital or genetic defect.  This has long been a stated or implied expectation that breeders have placed on themselves and others and a notion that has passed on as conventional wisdom regarding the purchase of a puppy.   As a result, when a problem occurs, it is to be approached with chagrin, shame or denial on the part of the breeder and blame placed on the breeder by others.  But is this expectation reasonable?    Is expecting breeders to recognize the presence of all congenital defects even feasible?

Articles like Empowering international canine inherited disorder management by BJ Wilson and CM Wade published in Mammalian Genome in Feb of 2012, and the increasing volume of canine health and genetic research illustrates the reality of genetic risk inherent in dog breeding ...

For as long as I can remember, when someone was purchasing a purebred puppy from a pet store (as my family did when I was a kid) or from a breeder, that puppy came with a "health guarantee".  If anything was wrong with the puppy you could return that puppy for a "full refund".  For some, offering the health guarantee is a "get out of jail free card" because of the "catch".  The catch being that the person who purchased the puppy had to return the puppy/dog in order to get their money back.  Of course the vast majority of people will have fallen in love with the puppy by then and will not give them up for any amount of money.

Some people will see that a "health guarantee" is offered and say  "oh-that means this is a reputable seller/breeder".  The presence of a health guarantee certainly does not ensure that the puppy was well bred or that the breeder is ethical.  It partially depends on the "fine print" of the health guarantee.  Nevertheless--a "health guarantee" is a standard practice among dog breeding, selling and purchasing.  People purchasing a ...

Many people have misconceptions about genetic terms and what these terms mean related to the inheritance of a health issue in a dog, a family of dogs or a breed. I wanted to take a moment to step back and discuss some of these commonly used terms to help people understand them more clearly.

Most genes (and the genes that will be tested for at Paw Print Genetics^™ ) are located on the chromosomes contained in the nucleus found in most cells. Chromosomes come in 39 pairs (and thus, the genes come in pairs). One through 38 are the numbered pairs (called autosomes) the 39th pair are the sex chromosomes; females have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y chromosome. The X is larger and has more genes. Because males have only one copy of the X chromosome (and therefore only one copy of many genes found on the X chromosome), they are at risk of having certain diseases that are unlikely to affect females.
Autosomal conditions are found on one of the numbered chromosomes and X-linked conditions are found on the X chromosome. Each gene has a particular location on the chromosome called a locus. Different ...

One of the key issues that people often have in grappling with genetics disease is the fact that genes and disorders that are supposedly genetic don't always make sense (or at least not the sense that people expect them to make.) What they see occur does not pass their intuition or logic of what they think they should see if the condition is really "genetic."

A problem will be identified that has never occurred before and people will say in all honesty---"that has never happened in my line" and yet they are told it is "genetic." This happens in human families as well. A genetic condition is diagnosed in a child and the first thing that both grandmothers say is "that did not come from our side of the family!" In some cases they may be wrong and in others they may be right. Different genes follow different "rules."

Recessive disorders in fact come from both families and are due simply to the fact that both the sire and dam happened to carry the same detrimental recessive gene. These can be passed on for many generations unrecognized and only revealed when two carriers happen to mate AND both ...