Founded 1978
BGV HEALTH NEWS Here you will find updates on any health concerns that are being investigated by the BGV Club and any that may come to light where the committee has decided that the numbers drawn to their attention warrant further investigation. Thankfully, the Breed Health Survey undertaken in 2016 shows that, apart from the known penetration of POAG in PBGVs and a concern over cases of Epilepsy, there is currently no development of other major health problems in our breeds.
From Fiona Buchanan, Kennel Club Breed Health Coordinator Basset Griffon Vendéen (Grand & Petit) The Kennel Club’s population analysis project Pedigree dog breeds form closed populations, with finite gene pools which are likely to decline over time. This is due to selection of breeding animals, with only some contributing some of their genes to the next generation. As the gene pool of a breed gets smaller over time, it becomes harder to find unrelated individuals for mating. This can lead to inbreeding depression, increasing the risk of inherited disorders and fertility issues, and in extreme cases even extinction. As part of The Kennel Club's commitment to safeguard the future of pedigree dogs, with individual breeders playing their role in reducing these risks, it’s crucial for breeders to consider how to manage the genetic diversity of their breed population, not just in the context of the impact of inbreeding on their own litter, but for the breed. The KC have conducted a comprehensive analysis of 222 pedigree dog breeds to estimate the loss of genetic diversity and support the development of sustainable breeding strategies. An individual population analysis report has been developed for each breed based on the data held in The KC database. These reports include trends in registration, estimates of the loss of genetic diversity, statistics and trends in litter sizes, and characteristics of sires. These results are designed to form a basis for discussion with the breed communities on how they can be combined with existing knowledge of the breed’s history and other reputable external sources of information to develop strategies for long term sustainability of breed populations. As the KC Breed Health Coordinator for GBGV and PBGV I have been asked to invite up to 10 representatives from each breed into focus groups. These groups must be a good representation of the breed community and breeders. The recommendation is to include individuals from show and working communities as well as knowledgeable individuals with a particular interest in health matters. Once I have received the breed’s individual reports from the KC I will share the reports with the focus groups. We will then meet, either in person or via an online platform, to discuss the findings and complete a single feedback form on behalf of these groups. During the first part of 2025, January - April, the KC will hold themed meetings to discuss areas raised in our feedback and where possible group breeds together to share insights, challenges and ideas. In time the KC will work with myself and our breeds to offer support in developing an action plan for inclusion in our Breed Health and Conservation Plan. I am looking for volunteers to help with this project. If you feel that you fit the criteria to be involved, and would like to be part of the focus groups, please email me on tarmachangbgv@gmail.com. Fiona Buchanan Kennel Club Breed Health Coordinator Basset Griffon Vendéen Club Health Officer
LIMITATION ON ‘HEREDITARY CLEAR’ STATUS POSTPONED TO 2023 Following the announcement that The Kennel Club will limit the assignment of ‘hereditary clear’ status of registered dogs to two generations, the organisation has announced that this change is now set to be implemented as of January 2023. The decision to restrict hereditary status was made by The Kennel Club Board in 2018 on the recommendation of the Dog Health Group and followed a Kennel Club study published in the journal of Canine Genetics and Epidemiology. This change was put forward to safeguard against the impact that dogs with an incorrect ‘hereditary clear’ status could have on health issues within a breed. Hereditary clear status is given to dogs that are determined to be free of specific genetic material linked to a particular inherited disease. The Kennel Club’s registration system assigns a dog this status if their parents are known to be clear, either because they have both been DNA tested as clear, or because they are hereditary clear themselves. Dogs could be mistakenly given a false hereditary clear status for a number of reasons; for example, if there has been a failure of laboratory protocols, pedigree errors, or incorrectly recorded parentage. In these instances, it is unlikely that the inaccuracies would be noticed immediately, but rather that several generations later many dogs throughout the breed descended from the individual with the original incorrect status will also have erroneous hereditary status, and the well-intended mating of two such apparently hereditary clear dogs risks producing affected puppies. The Kennel Club research analysed the risks faced by a population following the incorrect assignment of hereditary status and determined that the rate of dogs with false hereditary clear status could rise considerably over a fairly small number of generations, particularly for genetic conditions that are more common. To reduce the knock-on effect of these errors, and the risk of unintentionally breeding affected puppies, The Kennel Club will be ensuring that from January 2023, the ‘hereditary clear status’ will be limited to two generations, unless lineage is verified by DNA parentage profiling recorded by The Kennel Club. DNA parentage profiling is a separate procedure to screening DNA for disease causing mutations but can often be carried out at the same time by the same laboratory. Originally scheduled to come into effect in January 2022, this has now been postponed to 2023 to allow for necessary development work to be completed and in order for ‘hereditary clear’ status to be as effective and reliable as possible. 6 July 2021 Kennel Club Press Office RESEARCHING THE THEORY For over a year, PBGV owners helped the Animal Health Trust by allowing their PBGVs height to be measured. This was to pursue the theory that there might be a link between the Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) mutation and height in the PBGV. The POAG mutation is in a gene called ADAMTS17. Humans that have mutations in this gene are invariably of short stature, as the gene also affects bone development. The information collected enabled the AHT to pull data together showing whether PBGV height is correlated with genotype. In other words, were the affected and/or carriers slightly shorter than the clear/normal dogs? Prior to submission to a scientific journal for publication, an early abstract of the findings was presented at the May 2018 European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ECVO) Conference in Florence. Further details on this were in the Winter 2018 Voice. PRODROME RECOGNITION IN EPILEPTIC DOGS The Royal Veterinary College is conducting a study into long term changes in dogs that happen before a seizure in the hope that they may be able to predict seizure activity. In this way owners will know when to give their dogs anti-epileptic drugs to intervene and thus prevent the seizure from happening. If your BGV has regular seizures and you would like to be involved in this study, the link here takes you to the RVC website where you can complete their questionnaire. Alternatively, please fill out this questionnaire to let them know about your dog and they will be in touch: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PREDICTstudy Remember - If you are worried about your BGV's health and suspect it may be related to one of the known health issues in the breed, the BGV Club Health Sub-Committee is here to support you.
If you have any concerns about your BGV's well-being which appear to be related to any of the known health problems in the breed, let us know. We are here to support you.
