Reprinted with permission from www.tiarapoodles.com
The
Leading Standard Poodle Health Concerns To Know
In
addition to the diseases that can be screened with the results
posted to www.offa.org *,
a Standard Poodle owner or perspective owner should learn
about these commonly seen diseases that do not have health
screenings available at this time. I have them listed 1-3
below. Tiara screens and certifies for over seven
concerns in each breeding candidate and the Std Pdls are
then designated CHIC**. The three diseases below can
not be screened for prior to or without the dog actually being
sick with the disease and present a real problem for Standard
Poodle fanciers throughout the world. It is advisable to
know about these diseases if you live with a Standard Poodle:
The Canine Health Information Center, also known as CHIC, is a
centralized canine health database jointly sponsored by the AKC/Canine
Health Foundation (AKC/CHF) and the *Orthopedic Foundation
for Animals (OFA).
**CHIC Mission
Statement
To
provide a source of health information for owners, breeders, and
scientists, that will assist in breeding healthy dogs.
Standard
Poodle Health Screenings Required for CHIC Designation
(Phenotypic
health screening evaluations included only. Std
Pdls do have a genetic, DNA test for von Willebrands disease and
responsible breeders have this test run and register those results
as well.)
Hip
Dysplasia
Eye
Clearance
Health
Elective (One of the following tests)
CHIC Goals
- To
work with parent clubs in the identification of health issues
for which a central information system should be established.
- To
establish and maintain a central health information system in
a manner that will support research into canine disease and
provide health information to owners and breeders.
- To
establish scientifically valid diagnostic criteria for the
acceptance of information into the database.
- To
base the availability of information on individually
identified dogs at the consent of the owner.
CHIC
Benefits
Once
in place and accepted within the dog breeding community, the CHIC
program offers benefits to breeders, buyers, parent clubs, and
researchers.
- For
breeders, CHIC provides a reliable source of information
regarding dogs they may use in their breeding programs. In the
future, breeders can begin to analyze the pedigrees of a
proposed breeding for health strengths and weaknesses as well
the traditional analysis of conformation, type, and
performance strengths and weaknesses.
- For
buyers, the CHIC program provides accurate information about
the results of a breeder's health testing. For diseases that
are limited to phenotypic evaluations, there are no
guarantees. However, the probability that an animal will
develop an inherited disease is reduced when its ancestry has
been tested normal. Further, as more DNA tests become
available and the results are entered into CHIC, the CHIC
database will be able to establish whether progeny will be
clear, carriers, or affected.
- For
parent clubs considering establishment of health databases on
their own, CHIC provides the answer with no upfront investment
required by the club. The CHIC infrastructure is supplied and
maintained by the OFA. The data is maintained in a secure
environment by trained staff. The services are not subject to
the time, technology, and resource constraints that parent
clubs might face on their own. This frees parent clubs to
focus on their core strengths of identifying health concerns,
educating their membership, and encouraging participation in
the CHIC program.
- For
researchers, CHIC provides confidential and accurate aggregate
information on multiple generations of dogs. CHIC information
will also be useful for epidemiological studies enhancing our
knowledge of health issues affecting all breeds of dogs.
- For
everyone interested in canine health issues, CHIC is a tool to
monitor disease prevalence and measure progress.
CHIC
Policies and Guidelines
The
CHIC database is a tool that collects health information on
individual animals from multiple sources. This centralized pool of
data is maintained to assist breeders in making more informed
breeding choices, and for scientists in conducting research. In
order for data to be included in CHIC, test results must be based
on scientifically valid diagnostic criteria.
Breed Specific
Core
to the CHIC philosophy is the realization that each breed has
different health concerns. Not all diseases have known modes of
inheritance, nor do all diseases have screening tests. Some
screening tests are based on phenotypic evaluation, others on
genetic testing. With all these variables, a key element of CHIC
is to customize or tailor the CHIC requirements to the needs of
each breed. These unique requirements are established through
input from the parent club prior to the breed's entry into the
CHIC program. Breed specific requirements typically consist of the
inherited diseases that are of the greatest concern and for which
some screening test is available. Each parent club also drives
specific screening protocols. As an example, one parent club may
allow cardiac exams to be performed by a general practitioner.
Another parent club may require the exam to be performed by a
board certified cardiologist. A club may also use the CHIC program
to maintain information on other health issues for anecdotal
purposes. Later, as screening tests become available, the disease
may be added to the breed specific requirements.
Identification
Regardless
of breed, each dog must be permanently identified in order to have
test results included in CHIC. Permanent identification may be in
the form of microchip or tattoo.
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