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BREEDING FOR HEALTHY GOLDENS By Jennifer Krawsczyn This topic may be unpopular with some people but a recent discussion on a list set up for canine reproduction encompassing all breeds made me feel it is a worthwhile topic to cover in Goldens. On this list, people discuss everything even remotely related to breeding dogs. It is an extremely high volume list but full of interesting ideas and opinions. As with everything we read and hear, some of it is priceless and other things are just opinions that seem to be pulled from someone’s experience that has little to do with reason. But I feel that overall, there is much to be learned once you sort through the unreasonable. So with that said, the purpose of this column is more of a warning for breeders of Goldens based on the overall reports of breeders in other breeds. This is not the direction I’d like to see Goldens take when it comes to the breed’s health. VACCINATING PUPPIES The issue that was so alarming on this list were the numbers of breeders that were adamant that their buyers not vaccinate their puppies. Warnings ranged from never vaccinating and not allowing it at all to waiting until the pups were 10 weeks old. Some said only one vaccination was allowed. Some said not to ever worm and vaccinate within 2 weeks of the other. Some said the vaccines all had to be broken down into separate components, like only parvo and only distemper, and separated by several weeks. Others didn’t allow anything at all. Sadly, some list members also posted about their own attempts at delaying puppy vaccinations until 10 weeks and ending up with a bunch of pups dying of parvo at 8-9 weeks of age. This was in multiple litters, which brought on the discussion of maternal immunity and the need to begin vaccinations by 7 weeks of age. The flip side was the breeders who said they cannot vaccinate their puppies as they get terribly ill and some die as a result. They keep their dogs in a virtual bubble to try to keep them from coming into contact with any viruses, which was pointed out as a near impossibility if ANYONE stepped foot outside, including the humans, or even the bugs that might be around. Not only did they say they had had pups die from puppy shots, but also others in their breed had experienced the same problems. It was all very sad. VACCINATION PROBLEMS So of course, an immunologist made the very unpopular report that these breeders need to be aware that if their dogs can’t handle the vaccinations that over 99% of the canine puppy population get and never miss a beat, that perhaps they need to NOT breed these immunosuppressed families of dog or at the least try to breed to more healthy lines that can withstand vaccinations. Some listers who had these dogs that couldn’t handle vaccinations said this was not true and challenged those that agreed with the immunologist to supply proof of this. Now those of you that are on other lists I also participate in know that I tend to join into discussions fairly often. Vaccinating puppies is one topic I feel passionately about having seen far too many puppies dying from parvo at our vet clinic. I can honestly say that it is very seldom that a full week goes by without a parvo pup being hospitalized and the youngest ones often don’t ever walk out alive. So I really did want to see why these pups had problems with routine puppy shots. I did a quick search and immediately hit on an author I thought these people would listen to. Afterall, she is the veterinarian who advocates minimal and delayed vaccinations. She is the person who started the ball rolling on researching the need for annual vaccinations and the very person who single handedly helped the veterinary profession to alter their recommendations for vaccination frequencies. Yes, I’m talking about Dr. W. Jean Dodds. Please refer to this website: http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/DODDS-CHG-VACC-PROTOCOLS.HTM Concerning vaccination reactions, she states: "While some of these problems have been traced to contaminated or poorly attenuated batches of vaccine that revert to virulence, others apparently reflect the host’s genetic predisposition to react adversely upon receiving the single (monovalent) or multiple antigen “combo” (polyvalent) products given routinely to animals. Animals of certain susceptible breeds or families appear to be at increased risk for severe and lingering adverse reactions to vaccines." “Genetic
predisposition to react adversely” These are the key words I want to stress from the above quote by Dr. Dodds. If you have a line of dogs where your puppies are routinely reacting to vaccinations, you’d best be thinking hard and long about the overall health of your lines! It is not the norm for puppies to react to vaccinations. Believe me, I know! I’ve worked for our vet clinic for nearly 27 years and the calls for reactions are not very common. To add to this, as the discussion continued on this list, it became even more apparent that this predisposition was indeed in certain lines and more common in certain breeds. And I’m sure most of you know that certain breeds, and lines within breeds, seem to have more problems with difficult births and the need for c-sections. Goldens are not one of those breeds in general. But it really is something we need to be cognizant of and not continue to breed the weaker members of our breed that need specialized treatment uncommon to most Goldens. NATURE VS. NURTURE As with all breeding decisions, we attempt to make our decisions based on the genetics of our dogs. It is a common practice for people to look for reasons things happen other than the genetic make-up of our dogs. And of course, there are reasons that are not genetic why things happen as well. Making that determination is not always black and white. Some breeders are better at looking at this scientifically. Others are better at rationalizing the problems and convincing themselves that what anyone else would think is genetic just isn’t genetic at all in their much loved dog. It is all a matter of studying the facts and drawing conclusions. Each of us is probably slightly different in how we process these things and in our choices of how best to breed better Goldens. But I do fear that some breeders are not aware that this particular issue really does have a genetic component. Perhaps we are safe to discount the odd pup here or there that reacts. Perhaps it really is something pertaining only to that particular pup and maybe it didn’t have a good placental attachment and didn’t get the correct nutrition and such to be as healthy. But if you have a pup that reacts, please don’t breed it. If you have a line that routinely reacts, please see this as a genetic weakness in your line and breed accordingly. This is not common in Goldens and not something we want to become common. There are some breeds that have a real issue with this. This is a problem with the dogs’ genetic make up. We certainly don’t want Goldens to become a breed known for needing to be coddled when it comes to things like vaccinations, which the vast majority of dogs handled without a hitch. As always, I encourage anyone with ideas on issues I’ve discussed, or issues they would like to see addressed, to please share their thoughts with me. I can be reached at shilogr@yahoo.com Thanks so much! |
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