Hi guys i would like to hear your opinions please-
I have booked my dog in for his eyes to be tested on monday ,I have been called over cautious and told im wasting my time and money as there isnt a problem in the breed! the breed isnt on schedule 1 for any conditions but it is on schedule 3 for   glaucoma, my reasoning was that if no one testes how will they know if a problem excists until years down the line when lots of cases are apparent. so what do you guys think am i being over cautious and wasting money or am i doing the right thing
cheers kate :)

Admin edit: terms of service

I was under the impression that all your dogs were eyetested but you just didn't add the results to your page?

As i said in the above email the breed isnt scheduled for a any eye testing one of my bitches is tested and my old stud my new dog goes on monday.
also why did i breach the terms of service? I didnt name breeds or advertise?

I think all breeding stock should be eyetested regardless of whether there is a 'known' problem in the breed. Better to see early warning signs, than to only test once a problem presents.

But the dogs have to be eye tested every year to be viable, its not just a once in a lifetime thing!

I think you are quite right to test.

The breed I used to be involved with had no problems to test for, then some items appeared on schedule three.  A friend went and tested her bitches and had two pretty unrelated ones with Hereditary cataract, and it is now appearing quite a lot.  Maybe if more breeders had tested previously the problem would not now be so common, and many are still not testing.

You are correct in that the only condition is Glaucoma, (under investigation) but that does not mean that there are no problems at all. Only that there are not enough dogs affected by all the other conditions to have them included on the list. My recommendation would to test. That way you can be sure that you are not inadvertently doing your breed a disservice.

Incidentally, I was surprised at how long they have been under investigation! Usually after a couple of years or so a breed would either go onto the full list or come off altogether! I shall be seeing Prof. Bedford next month so I'll have a word and find out how things are going.

Best wishes, John

It would be interesting to know how many dogs have actually been tested! eye testing certainly isnt promoted within the breed.
thankyou for your replies and fingers crossed for monday!! :)

For a small fee, the KC will email or post you a list of all dogs eye (or hip) tested within your breed and the results.

M.

Hi, 18mths ago a SWD was tested here & found to have PRA. It`s the first time it`s been discovered in that breed so if it hadn`t been tested nobody would have known. Don`t think you`re over cautious at all :)

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christina

In England we have had all dogs tested for this and all the ones that I sell have to be if they are going to be bred from, we have been doing this for anumber of years, nearly since we brought them in!!  Fortunately, up to now no Spanish have had it here in England, but we will always insist that anyone wanting to breed will have to be tested so that we don't come across it.

It's like everything though, a number of breeds say that they have no health problems but they've never ever been tested so how do they know??  I bet if dogs were tested for different problems that every breed would have something wrong.

Hi Diane, you know there are very many who don`t test over here tho, different kettle of fish to UK.
I`ve been bringing Dr Barnett out for a few yrs now & I do a lot of publicity to let all breeds know he`s at the show, I also take him to peoples house & arrange for dogs to come to my home to be tested. That was the first time a SWD had been tested here. It`s only about the last 2yrs that there has been only one qualified opthalmologist vet who can give certs here & she is based in Barcelona.
I`ve got so disheartened with peoples attitude about it over here that I`ve decided not to take him to any more shows or publicise it any more & just have my own & a couple of friends dogs tested.

Christine, Spain.