Yesterday's ApproachKNOW YOUR PEDIGREE. For each ancestor on your breeding dogs' pedigrees (family members), know each dog's conformation (strengths and weaknesses), their temperament (strengths and weaknesses), their lifetime health record, date of death and cause of death.
KNOW HOW HERITABLE EACH TRAIT IS. For each of your dog's family members, know how heritable (how consistently traits are passed on). Know the degree to which a dog or bitch "stamps" traits (strengths and weaknesses) on their progeny.
DNA TEST FOR COMMON GENETIC DISEASES. Ensure all breeding dogs are DNA tested for vWD1 and PDK4.
DO CLINICAL TESTING ON YOUR BREEDING DOGS. Test to ensure proper thyroid function (congenital thyroid and acquired thyroid disease). Have eyes and hips examined (either OFA or PennHip). Do annual 24-Hour Holter Monitoring, and annual Echocardiograms. Run Pro-BNP tests routinely to screen for early enzyme production that results from heart damage.
DEALING WITH DISEASE-ASSOCIATED GENETIC MUTATIONS. Remove dogs who test postivie for disease-associated mutations from your breeding program.
DEALING WITH BREEDING DOGS WHO DEVELOP GENETIC DISEASE LATE IN LIFE. Remove dogs who show first signs of genetic diseases (like DCM) late in life from your breeding program. Contact puppy owners and advise them not to breed their dogs.
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Today's ApproachKNOW YOUR PEDIGREE. AND BEYOND. For each ancestor on your breeding dogs' pedigrees and their siblings, aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles and those dogs' progeny (aka extended family), know each dog's conformation (strengths and weaknesses), temperament (strengths and weaknesses), lifetime health record, date of death and cause of death. You want to understand not just where the longevity lies, but where the heritable longevity is that leaves an ancestral trail of consistently long-lived dogs.
KNOW HOW HERITABLE EACH TRAIT IS. For each breeding dog's extended family know the degree to which traits and health are heritable. Know how heritable diseases are (or are not) passed on with different mating combinations among extended family.
USE DNA TESTS THAT SEAMLESSLY SUPPORT RESEARCH. To the extent financially feasible, participate in all of the Doberman genetic research projects you can. If you can test through a lab that's conducting research, do it. And if you're participating in the DDP, send them all of your dogs' genomic data and health updates. Why? They share them with research teams across the globe free of charge. Test your breeding dogs for genetic disease-associated mutations including vWD, DCM (PDK4/DCM1, DCM2, DCM3 and DCM4), Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), MDR1 (multidrug sensitivity), GPT liver enzyme mutations.
DO CLINICAL TESTING ON YOUR BREEDING DOGS. Test to ensure proper thyroid function (congenital thyroid and acquired thyroid disease). Have eyes and hips examined (either OFA or PennHip). Do annual 24-Hour Holter Monitoring, and annual Echocardiograms. Run Pro-BNP tests routinely to screen for early enzyme production resulting from heart damage.
DEALING WITH DISEASE-ASSOCIATED GENETIC MUTATIONS. Do not systematically/automatically remove dogs who test positive for disease-associated genetic mutations from your breeding program. Consider finding a mate whose genetics will compliment your dog's genetics, and create a litter of pups free from expressed genetic disease, but who may carry some genetic mutations.
DEALING WITH DOGS WHO DEVELOP GENETIC DISEASE LATE IN LIFE. Reconsider removing from the breeding pool dogs who show first signs of DCM at an advanced age. PhD Veterinary Geneticists have advised us that, if DCM has become a permanent part of our breed, success in navigating this disease may be defined by pushing back the age at which dogs show first signs of DCM. In light of the fact we are seeing Dobermans under one year of age with advanced DCM, and two-year-old litters where most of the litter have already died of DCM, in a few years, people may be hunting for dogs that were free of signs of DCM until later years. Note that this assumes annual echocardiograms and annual 24 hour Holtering. If you own a dog that lived many years before showing first signs of DCM, consider freezing that dog's semen in case he turns out to be a valuable resource for the breed in the years to come. Contact puppy owners to share information and have an open conversation about the pros and cons of the situation.
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or any Can DNA Tests for Disease HURT the Doberman Breed? In short, it depends on what is done with the results. How can DNA testing hurt the breed? First, know that genes run in "packs." And our dog's DNA contains more than genes. It contains other genomic material (e.g., epigenetics) that affects when genes turn off and on, and governs what each cell does. These suspected "protective" elements may well keep dogs' faulty genes from turning on (and expressing deadly disease). With that in mind, consider what might have happened when the vWD1 DNA test came out years ago. Von Willebrand Disease is a serious bleeding disorder, but one that can almost always be clinically managed in Dobermans. The Doberman variety of vWD is type 1 -- our dogs have good quality clotting factor, just not enough of it. So a scratch in an "affected" dog is usually fine. A gash or surgical procedure, may require veterinary intervention (adding more clotting factor). When the test for vWD1 came out, breeders rushed to eliminate dogs with the vWD1 mutation from their breeding programs. But what if something protective against DCM "ran in the pack" with the vWD1 mutation? What if we unintentionally eliminated that protective genomic element and inadvertently helped open the flood gates for an onslaught of DCM? We aren't asserting that this is what happened (though Geneticists tell us that it's a viable proposition); the hypothesis is shared to illustrate a point. One cannot breed away from one specific disease-associated mutation without impacting other (unknown) genetics. The lesson? If you meet a breeder who is breeding dogs with "defects", don't instinctively reject the dog and/or breeder. Take a moment to talk with the breeder about why they are breeding those dogs. They may well have a very sound reason for doing so. Removing a dog with a genetic defect is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The better decision, for both the next litter and the breed, may well be to keep that dog in the breeding pool and carefully match him to a mate that will avoid problems in the litter but maintain that dog's genes in the Doberman gene pool.
COI -- a Very Important Consideration. COI is short for Coefficient of Inbreeding and it paints an important picture. COI is simply a percentage of how inbred our dog is. Ten percent COI = 10% Inbred = 10% of the dog's genes are "homozygous" (identical). Some inbreeding (increasing the COI) of dogs was necessary to create the Doberman. It's what created consistency in appearance and temperament. That's a good thing. But there are two sides to every coin. Along with the doubling up of positive genes, comes the doubling up of mutated genes associated with disease. Recent research found that as a dog's COI rises, the incidence of genetic disease also rises -- and longevity shrinks. In a recent study, canine geneticists found that for each 1% increase in COI, longevity dropped by approximately one month. To illustrate, compared to a dog with a 1% COI, a dog with a 13% COI would be statistically likely to die one year earlier. And a dog with a COI of 49% would be expected to die a full four years earlier. Why? As dogs are increasingly inbred (as their COIs rise), previously hidden genetic mutations emerge and increasingly express themselves as genetic disease. Conservation Geneticists believe that the "extinction vortex" is triggered when COIs rise to the mid teens (e.g., 15% or so). And, hold onto your hat, the hundreds of dogs tested through the DDP routinely test out to have COIs in a frightening range: 18% to 58%. Put that into context. Laws that prohibit first cousin marriages, worry about the doubled rate of genetic defects. First cousin children have a 6.25% COI. Father/daughter, Mother/son and full sibling matings are 25%. That gives you some perspective of how inbred our breed is and how the risks for genetic disease have multiplied so many times over.
What Can We Do with this Information? Focus on the big picture. Make disease-associated DNA tests a part of your decision and balance results with other important considerations like Genetic COI and ancestor/pedigree longevity and health, as well as conformation and temperament. Do your best to find a "healthy balance." Isn't that what always seems to be the best course in life? It's also likely the best approach, until researchers can tell us more.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON COI. Pedigree Calculators. Good Enough, Right? Not in 2025. COI 201: Don't Marry Your Cousin
Support Research and Get the Big Picture. New DNA Testing through companies like Embark Veterinary (or any lab using a very large testing chip, the close to the whole genome, the better) can tell you the ACTUAL level of inbreeding (aka "homozygosity") in your dog, provide critical information on haplotypes, DLA diversity, and disease related genetic mutations like vWD1, DM, PDK4 (DCM1), DCM2, DCM3, DCM4, GPT, and MDR1), and reveal the dog's color genetics including brown, black and dilute (associated with some health conditions). Most importantly, it also supports research into the effect that breeding for genetic diversity might have, and whether that impact is positive or negative.
COI -- a Very Important Consideration. COI is short for Coefficient of Inbreeding and it paints an important picture. COI is simply a percentage of how inbred our dog is. Ten percent COI = 10% Inbred = 10% of the dog's genes are "homozygous" (identical). Some inbreeding (increasing the COI) of dogs was necessary to create the Doberman. It's what created consistency in appearance and temperament. That's a good thing. But there are two sides to every coin. Along with the doubling up of positive genes, comes the doubling up of mutated genes associated with disease. Recent research found that as a dog's COI rises, the incidence of genetic disease also rises -- and longevity shrinks. In a recent study, canine geneticists found that for each 1% increase in COI, longevity dropped by approximately one month. To illustrate, compared to a dog with a 1% COI, a dog with a 13% COI would be statistically likely to die one year earlier. And a dog with a COI of 49% would be expected to die a full four years earlier. Why? As dogs are increasingly inbred (as their COIs rise), previously hidden genetic mutations emerge and increasingly express themselves as genetic disease. Conservation Geneticists believe that the "extinction vortex" is triggered when COIs rise to the mid teens (e.g., 15% or so). And, hold onto your hat, the hundreds of dogs tested through the DDP routinely test out to have COIs in a frightening range: 18% to 58%. Put that into context. Laws that prohibit first cousin marriages, worry about the doubled rate of genetic defects. First cousin children have a 6.25% COI. Father/daughter, Mother/son and full sibling matings are 25%. That gives you some perspective of how inbred our breed is and how the risks for genetic disease have multiplied so many times over.
What Can We Do with this Information? Focus on the big picture. Make disease-associated DNA tests a part of your decision and balance results with other important considerations like Genetic COI and ancestor/pedigree longevity and health, as well as conformation and temperament. Do your best to find a "healthy balance." Isn't that what always seems to be the best course in life? It's also likely the best approach, until researchers can tell us more.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON COI. Pedigree Calculators. Good Enough, Right? Not in 2025. COI 201: Don't Marry Your Cousin
Support Research and Get the Big Picture. New DNA Testing through companies like Embark Veterinary (or any lab using a very large testing chip, the close to the whole genome, the better) can tell you the ACTUAL level of inbreeding (aka "homozygosity") in your dog, provide critical information on haplotypes, DLA diversity, and disease related genetic mutations like vWD1, DM, PDK4 (DCM1), DCM2, DCM3, DCM4, GPT, and MDR1), and reveal the dog's color genetics including brown, black and dilute (associated with some health conditions). Most importantly, it also supports research into the effect that breeding for genetic diversity might have, and whether that impact is positive or negative.
