Post date: Jun 29, 2011 7:29:30 PM
The Kennel Club has informed us that, under the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme (ABS), Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds have had their requirements and/or recommendations adjusted as follows:
Add requirement – DNA test for GPRA (cord 1).
These changes are effective from July 1, 2011 and Accredited Breeders have a period of grace of six months in order to come into line with these new requirements and/or recommendations.
The relevant press release announcing these changes can be viewed by going to the following link on the Kennel Club website.
The Breed Council's Fact Sheet on cord1 can be found here and an explanation of the genetics of breeding with Clear, Carrier and Affected dogs is available here. The published test results for Mini Wirehaired Dachshunds can be found here.
We'd like to remind people who had their Mini Wires Cord 1 PRA research tested with the AHT in Summer 2010 and didn't obtain their individual test results and certificates to either get in touch with Bryan McLaughlin at the AHT or let Judy Squires know and she will supply them with the relevant form. As this is now an official test many people will want their certificates. A donation of £10 is requested, to cover costs.
This change follows a request from the Breed Council to add cord1 as an ABS Requirement, based on recommendations made to us by the Animal Health Trust in 2010 based DNA test results from 106 UK Mini Wires. The cord1 mutation was found in 20% of MWHDs, but just under 3% were “Affected”. Dogs tested with Swedish or Finnish breeding within their pedigrees were all genetically “Clear”. Although 5 names of pure Continental breeding were submitted for research testing only 3 samples were able to be returned, but they were also all “Clear”.
A further 10 samples went to the AHT from outside the UK, among which were 1 “Affected” and 3 “Carriers” – all from the USA (Parentage unknown).
The AHT has given us an estimate of approximately half a percent (0.5%) genetically homozygous affected in the general UK Mini Wire breeding population, assuming that random mating took place with respect to this mutation. At the moment, the numbers are thankfully small, but it wouldn't take long for the incidence of untested Carrier to Carrier matings to increase the presence of the mutation and the number of Affected dogs. Without testing, the incidence of Carriers and Affecteds will increase. The mutation percentage is lower than in the other Dachshund varieties, but the AHT think it would be advisable to eliminate these harmful mutations from the Miniature Wire population.