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Health Information on Dogs we have Bred Information on hip and elbow x-rays, thyroid, eye checks, seizures, as well as testicles, bites, and dentition. One of the factors that first attracted me to the Belgian breed was the relative lack of hereditary health problems. It is still a very healthy breed. It is not a popular breed and breeders have, to a large degree, been very diligent in checking breeding stock for hip and eye problems in recent years and only breeding healthy dogs. We have a limited gene pool and most Belgians here in North America are related if you go back just a few generations and even the imports from different countries in Europe are related with popular studs and lines showing up in pedigrees of dogs from many regions. What two dogs produce in a litter is a combination of traits, not only of the sire and dam, but of many traits they carry from dogs far back in their pedigrees as well. Recessive traits can hide for many generations, some traits are the result of many genes working together in combination with environment, as in hip dysplasia, and what we see in a dog may be not give a true picture of what that dog will produce in his or her puppies. Being a breeder can be very rewarding but also very frustrating as recessive traits, long hidden, crop up in the most carefully planned litters and cause suffering for the dogs and heartbreak, as well as a financial burden, to their owners. I was inspired to create this page by seeing ones like it on some of the Swedish, Australian and Finnish web sites. I have been breeding more than 25 years now and have yet to find a line without some sort of problem occasionally showing up. They are all related. Responsible breeders try to avoid doubling up on the same problems in their lines and make informed choices. If problems are not talked about new breeders will make the same mistakes to the detriment of the breed as a whole. So here goes and I will do the best I can to keep it up to date and accurate. I hope more breeders will create their own pages and help everyone realize we in this together for the good of the breed as a whole, and that when a health issue does come to light it is something to be learned from and not fuel to condemn or gossip about another's 'line' of dogs. One thing to be aware of in searching CERF and OFA websites is that owners can decide when they send in x-rays to submit them as 'closed', where only passing results are published and available to the public, or as 'open' where both good and bad results are published. There is an option to download quarterly reports and they have data on which dogs were submitted as closed vs. open. Some owners don't even bother submitting any results they don't think will pass. For some they don't feel it is anyone else's business, for some they don't want any problems associated with their dogs or line. On a personal level I can understand as our dogs are not just livestock but a part of our family and we love them and don't want anyone to say anything negative about our 'family members' and we are used to having health issues private in our society. As breeders we have a greater responsibility to the breed as a whole whenever we produce a new litter of puppies, and to future breeders who will try to research and make sound breeding decisions. To every owner who loves this breed and would like to have healthy puppies available in the future you need to be open about health issues. That said not every health problem is hereditary, there are nutritional and environmental issues that affect health and injuries can and do happen. But the more data you have you can make informed decisions. If 8 puppies in a litter have good or excellent hips and one puppy has one bad hip then it may likely be due to an injury. But if you have good and fair hips in the rest of the litter and another sibling or two with bad hips then it may be a not the best breeding for hips. If you just look at one puppy and don't have data on the others you just don't have enough information to make a sound breeding decision. Hopefully this makes sense! If anyone has any questions on health issues in any of my litters please contact me directly, I'm happy discuss them and don't bite! <G> http://www.offa.org/search.html - Search OFA database http://www.offa.org/databasechange.pdf - Explanation of Open vs. Semi-Open option http://www.offa.org/reports.html - Download Quarterly reports http://www.vmdb.org/verify.html - Search CERF It is not always easy to get pet owners to do x-rays of hips and elbows as well as eye exams, even if it is in the puppy contract, as it is in mine. I will be contacting pet homes and encouraging them to follow up as much as possible as these youngsters mature. To the best of my knowledge none of the dogs that I have bred have developed epilepsy to date. *** If you have an Isengard Belgian, even if neutered or spayed, please help me keep my records up to date and accurate by sending me information. *** *** If you neuter please have hip and elbows x-rayed at the same time. *** A BIG THANK YOU to those who have already submitted data on their dogs!! Last updated April 10, 2008
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Isengard CHIC's - Canine Health Information Center |
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Notes: Jax's Elbows didn't pass OFA. This came as a surprise as the vet who did the x-ray saw nothing wrong and he has no symptoms or any kind of lameness. So Michelle took him to a well respected radiologist and had more x-rays done and went over the results with him. Apparently Jax has two tiny symetrical bone spurs on his elbows. Very tiny and only can be seen with special lighting which is why the first vet didn't see them. The rest of his elbows look "pristine" with no degenerative signs. This vet's opinion was that the bone spurs occured during a growth period, possibly in urtero, and were not an indication he had DJD. The OFA will not pass any sort of abnormality and lump everything under that heading. He gave Michelle the all clear to do all his normal activities including agility and obedience. I have checked littermates as they came of age. There were three in Jax's litter. His sister, Nikki came out clear and Natick, in a pet home will have his done soon. I repeated the breeding and there were two more offspring, both of those boys have OFA normal elbows. So far all the Dana kids who have had their elbows done have come back normal. Not everyone checks elbows at this point, I will continue to check and be open with the results. Jax's elbows were re-checked at 4 yrs of age and the radiologist again stated that they were 'pristine' with absolutely no degeneration or irregularities other than the bone spurs. X-rays were copied to disc and will soon be viewable online. |
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| Litters A-G: When I started breeding in 1979 it was not common for non-breeding dogs in a litter to be checked for hip dysplasia, and elbows and eyes weren't checked at all as it was not believed that Belgians had elbow or eye problems at that time. I stopped breeding between 1988 and 1996 while focusing on my career, marriage and two young sons. I'm including data on recent litters where more checks were done and these are dogs which feature in my current breeding program. Please contact me with questions and updates and corrections. I will add more information and numbers I have on my earlier litters when I have more time. | |||||
| "A" Litter - 7/4/79 Brenna x Lunar Shade 1 F - 7 M |
Two hips checked, both good. One OFA the other a working police dog. Hip BSD551F44 Normal - Artful Dodger |
One had eyes checked at nine years, for the first time, and had a small age related cataract. | None | 2 Level bites All Full Dentition |
1 M Monorchid 6 M Intact |
| "B" Litter - 4/19/81 Brenna x Gunter Rex v Siegestor 4 F - 3 M |
Three had hips checked, one a working police dog. Hip BSD633F36 Normal - Butterfly Chaser Hip BSD595F30 Normal - Beguiling Scarlett |
One with pannus, Butterfly Chaser, was diagnosed after her litter and spayed. |
None | Scissor/Full | All males intact |
| "C" Litter - 5/27/83 Brenna x Trademark 1 F - 2 M |
Two had hips checked, both OFA. Female had elbows done, OFA Hip BSD834F35 Normal - EL BSD83F143 - Calendar Girl |
Two had eyes checked, both clear Calender Girl BSD 458. |
None | Scissor/Full | All males intact |
| "D" Litter - 5/27/83 Robin x Famous Amos 3 F - 3 M |
Hip BSD831F27 Normal - Destiny | Two with pannus both neutered. Others had eyes checked clear. One of D litter was bred and no problems in offspring. |
None | Scissors on 5 pups, one level. Full on 5 pups with one male missing 2 premolars. |
All males intact |
| "E" Litter - 8/20/86 Ashley x Argus 4 F - 2 M |
All in pet homes. One male and one female shown and pointed but not finished. No hip checks. No problems observed. | No eyes checked, no problems observed. | None | 2 Level, 4 Scissor/Full | All males intact |
| "F" Litter - 8/24/88 Ashley x Midas 2 F - 5 M |
Hip BSD1256G24M - Favorite Son Hip BSD1444G41M - EL BSD84M80 - Front Runner |
Only one had eyes checked, Front Runner CERF BSD-244. |
None | Scissor/Full | 1 M Cryptorchid 4 M Intact |
| "G" Litter - 2/27/96 Belle x Dash 3 F - 3 M |
All in pet homes. One male died of parvo as a youngster. | None checked. | None | One wry bite. The rest scissors. Full dentition. | 1 M Monorchid 2 M Intact |
