Tag archives: dog testing

It does not come as a surprise to veterinarians that many of the diseases they see in clinical practice have a hereditary component. If a genetic disease is amenable to treatment, veterinarians are typically well equipped to improve quality of life based upon their patient’s clinical signs. However, since clinical signs alone don’t always point to a specific definitive diagnosis, veterinarians treating inherited disease are often left with unanswered questions about the root cause of the medical problem. Paw Print Genetics offers genetic testing for over 140 different genetic diseases to help veterinarians shorten their list of differential diagnoses and identify the specific genetic mutation responsible for causing the clinical signs they are seeing, thereby, allowing for more specific therapies and recommendations to be made for the benefit of their patients.

Breed Specific Genetic Testing

Many inherited conditions seen in dogs are breed specific or have only been described in particular breeds or breed groups. For instance, one specific mutation in the canine HSF4 gene responsible for early-onset hereditary cataracts has only been described in the Australian shepherd and closely related breeds. Searching a specific breed or symptom on the Paw Print Genetics website will simplify the process of choosing ...

For many years, an extensive physical exam, fecal sample testing, vaccinations, and deworming have been the mainstays of new puppy veterinary visits. While all of these tried and true steps are crucial in making sure that a puppy is healthy and stays that way, advances in genetic testing technologies are now revolutionizing the veterinarian’s approach to addressing and anticipating potential health issues in young dogs. Though inherited diseases are seen by veterinarians on a frequent basis, many veterinarians do not realize that genetic testing for diseases is available or understand how clinically helpful testing puppies at their first visit can be. How often do you discuss puppy genetic testing with your clients?

How Can Genetic Testing Improve Veterinary Practice?

The implications that genetic testing results can have for a dog’s veterinary care vary by a specific disease’s age of onset, progression, and clinical signs. Early diagnosis of late-onset inherited diseases allows for your clients to become educated about what to expect and in some cases, take preventative measures and plan for life changes. Knowledge that a dog is at-risk for a particular late-onset disease also allows for early diagnosis and implementation of early treatment when possible. In some cases, clients ...

Since the announcement that we ended our litigation over the gene patents for  progressive retinal atrophy (prcd), collie eye anomaly, congenital stationary night blindness in Briards, and retinal dysplasia/oculoskeletal dysplasia in Labradors, there has been a huge outpouring of encouragement and congratulations from our customers. At Paw Print Genetics, we are all very touched by this support.

I have also received a number of emails from customers worried that we may raise our prices because of this new sublicense. I have even seen this question debated on Facebook and understand the concern.  As you can imagine, the lawsuits from the past couple of years were expensive. We paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to support our cases.  Last year, we won our case in Federal court and the patent for exercise-induced collapse (EIC) was invalidated. This allowed our customers to register their EIC results with the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA), but also cleared the way for other laboratories to offer this test without fear of litigation, even though they did not participate in the lawsuits or help fund our cause. As we are recovering from these huge litigation costs, we are doing all ...

The most common question that I receive goes something like this…”I have an upcoming litter.  How do I take advantage of this great sale before the pups have names and registration numbers?”

Paw Print Genetics provides a lot of services ‘behind the scenes’ that you may not know about.  Here we review our most popular services – all at no extra charge to you!

You can order tests for your pups before they are born!  Place an order with Paw Print Genetics anticipating the number of pups you are expecting. Name each pup a separate name, such as pup1, pup2, etc. Once they are born, you can update each pup with their birth date and sex. You can edit their name and add a collar color or some other identifier like coat color. Now you are ready to send in your samples!

Review all of our samples types because some samples, like dewclaws and umbilical cords will get you results much sooner than waiting on the best time to do cheek swabs in a puppy.

If you over estimated your litter size or just wanted to order extra tests to take advantage of the savings, you ...

Most veterinarians are well aware that canine hip and elbow radiographs, echocardiograms, and eye examinations have become routine veterinary health clearances requested by dog breeders. The goal of these diagnostics is to help breeders to improve their blood lines and produce healthy puppies. However, unless you work in a practice with a heavy canine reproduction case load, it is likely that you are less familiar with the genetic testing employed by breeders, what genetic tests are available, and how the results of genetic testing can help your dog-breeding clients attain their goals. Now that genetic testing has become a common addition to other pre-breeding canine health testing, gaining an understanding of available genetic testing and offering a service to help your clients complete their genetic testing through Paw Print Genetics (PPG), may increase the value of your customer relationships and build client loyalty, while at the same time, fulfilling your veterinary goal to improve the quality and length of puppies’ lives. How often do you discuss genetic testing with your dog breeder clients?

Dog Breeding and Genetic Testing

Though vet school curriculums have historically addressed canine inherited diseases and treatments for these conditions, much less emphasis has been placed on ...

2015 was a big year for Paw Print Genetics. We made improvements to our website for easier account management, launched new disease tests, coat colors and traits, and won our lawsuit over Labrador exercise-induced collapse (EIC), so that you have choice in testing laboratories.

Our account management system is the best in the industry, but we are always looking for new ideas. Some of the website improvements made in 2015 include the ability to hide dogs within your account, share dogs between accounts and move dogs to new accounts.  What would you like to be able to do in your account? We continue to make improvements to our testing, reporting and website, all based on your input.

In early January, we launched several new, important disease tests including hereditary cataracts for Australian shepherds and related breeds and hereditary cataracts for French bulldogs and related breeds.  We also launched two progressive retinal atrophies in the golden retriever and retinal dysplasia/oculoskeletal dysplasia in Labrador retrievers.  We have many additional tests on our list to develop in 2016. We look forward to bringing you those tests throughout the new year.

Paw Print Genetics now offers 10 coat color tests and ...

This is a special time of year; the time of year when we reflect on all of the things for which we are thankful. Good health, warm houses and loved ones are just a few of the things that we can be thankful for throughout the year. Paw Print Genetics is very thankful and grateful for our customers, large and small.  Without the responsible breeders and individuals who care deeply about canine health, we would not be here. We take pride in serving you the best way we know how.

Paw Print Genetics works very hard to provide you the best genetic testing and customer service in the industry. We are proud to provide you with so many little extras to help you better care for your dogs. Some of the little things that matter include online account management, providing you changes to your dog’s reports at no charge, as you select the best and register those for the future, and providing Paw Print Pedigrees so that you can show the world that you are a responsible breeder.

In addition to our customers, I am thankful for our amazing staff of molecular technologists, PhD geneticists and veterinarians that are dedicated to ...

At Paw Print Genetics, we are often asked about a common scenario, “My bitch is about ready to whelp and I just found out that her half-sister carries this horrible genetic disease. What should I do?”. Our answer is always the same. Follow these simple steps to avoid this situation while saving you time, money and anguish in the future:

1. Test your dam and sire with the breed-specific panel before you breed. 

Performing a complete, breed-specific panel on your dam and sire will help you make an informed decision to breed or not to breed.

Testing first the dam and sire with an entire panel also saves money in the long run by reducing the need to test their future puppies. This is because puppies will be clear for a disease if both tested parents are also clear for that disease. Therefore, the puppies sold as future breeding stock will only need to be tested for any disease-causing mutations found in the parents. If both parents are clear of all disease-causing mutations, no testing of the puppies is necessary.

2. Test your new puppy with the entire breed-specific panel before you buy.

Introducing a new dog into ...

The pointing Labrador is just one of many exceptional dog breeds. Versatile in their ability to point, flush and retrieve, pointing Labradors may be the perfect hunting companion.  How a specific dog breed has so many desirable characteristics is not a mystery. All domesticated dogs were bred for specific behavioral or physical traits that were required for certain jobs – whether it was for chasing and catching varmints, retrieving the evening’s dinner, or bringing in the herd, dogs are the perfect species for a variety of tasks.  

All of these traits, behavioral and physical, have a genetic component and are determined by an accumulation of genes with modifications, or mutations, that result in some outcome. Whether the traits are pointing, coat color or skull structure, humans chose founding stock to create the various breeds and bred these dogs for the traits they desired.  However, undesirable, even harmful genetic mutations were carried along in these breeds. The most ancient mutations can be found in many breeds of dogs, whereas those mutations that arose more recently maybe found in only one or two breeds.

With the advent of molecular genetic technologies and the sequencing of the domestic dog (Canis ...