Doodle Health Survey

[Stella]

After reading about the doodle that was just diagnosed with Addisons disease, there was some mention of a doodle health survey.  Knowing how many people are on this site, and how passionate everyone is about their doodles, I realised there would be a lot of potential data out there.  The question is, would enough people respond to make it worthwhile, what sort of information should we be collecting, how would we analyse that data, and what would we do with any relevent data that was collected?  What could be done to try and get as many people to respond as possible?  We would also want to make sure that this was done is as scientific way as possible and not for it to become a forum for people to target specific breeders (either for the good or bad).  I was thinking an e-mail survey, or through a site such as Survey Monkey, so that only global results are posted, and not individuals responses.

 

A few thoughts of the top of my head would be - type of doodle, age of doodle, where the doodle came from, info about the parents of that doodle (as much as is known), if the breeder did genetic testing and which conditions did they test for, general health problems that dog has had (ie: dietary/ digestive troubles etc), veterinary diagnosed conditions (epilepsy, addisons, dysplasia etc).  The age of the doodle when these conditions became apparent.  If you have a rescue doodle, you could still take part as we would still be interested in their health.

 

For the data to be actually useful, this would need to be something repeated at regular periods of time in order to see trends in health and illness of our doodles, say annually. 

 

So guys, what do you think??  A worthwhile project?  Or an awful lot of effort for nothing?  In order for this to be effective it would need to be carried out over a long period of time, really trying to follow our doodles right up to when they cross the rainbow bridge.  It would be a huge commitment for those trying to administrate over it!

[Linda and Murphy]

Thats all it was meant to be..just a rough example. I always like to have a starting point.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am ashamed to say that I don't know exactly which testing my own breeders have had done although one is a founder of the Australian Labradoodle Club of America, and I believe they are both good breeders. What can I say, I was young : ) Maybe we could get our breeder members to list what testing they have done, so of when, so that owners will be able to check their dogs background testing more readily.

[Stella]

Does your breeder have a website?  Usually it is listed there, or you could contact them and ask them?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Oh yes, both my breeders have websites but don't include the exact testing, which is not at all uncommon. I follow many breeder's websites and few include this information as to specific tests.

[Stella]

Our breeder has the test results for hip (OFA) and eyes (CERF) on her website for her breeding dogs.  Our second doodles Dad (Australian LD) was also tested for hips/elbows (OFA & OVC), CBC, Thyroid, and Von Willebrands - these are also posted on her website.  I think your breeder would probably be only too happy to let you know what tests were done on her breeding dogs.

For sure, it would be good if that information was posted with the breeders information in the Recommended Breeders group.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

One thing that I would personally like to see on this type of survey is the age of the parent dogs at the time the pup was born. Many genetic diseases for which there is no testing available don't show up until a dog is between 1-3 years old. It would be interesting to see if dogs from parents under the age of 2 or 3 have more genetic diseases than those from parents over the age of 3.

[Stella]

Ooohh, that is a good one.  But, might be difficult to find out.  I guess you could contact the breeder and ask?  The current breeding dogs info (including DOB) is listed on the breeders site that I got my two.  But, both mothers have been retired and are no longer with her, so they aren't listed anymore.  Would be very interesting to know that info though.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Truly interesting. I think some breeders might be reluctant to get involved since their breeders may have developed a problem after they have been bred, even though the problem was something the breeder could not have predicted.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The problem might not be predictable, but if a dog wasn't bred until after the age of two, the problem could have been avoided, because surely no responsible or ethical breeder would knowingly breed a dog with a genetic disease.

This is where there is a huge advantage in purchasing purebred puppies whose parents have earned titles prior to being bred. They are almost always past the age of 2.

[Adina P]

We can include age of diagnosis for the doods WITH problems. It would be useful info for breeders if we have an overwhelming number of dogs with diagnoses after the age of 2 (esp for things that can't be cleared in parents like epilepsy and addisons and allergies).

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

I neutered a boy last year because his mother was diagnose with a condition that can not be tested for unless the dog is in a full blown episode.  There is no known mood of inheritance of the condition but it was the right thing to do no matter how painful.  The dog came to me from another breeder, she was unable to spay the mother before she died and it should be said that the mother was never breed again, she was new to this breeder's program as well and the original breeder was made aware and she DIDN''T CARE! This made me sick!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I know your part of this story and commend you. But who died, the breeder or the dog? It is great that the mother was never bred again. But I wish there were some way of preventing these unethical practices like the original breeder.