by Lorraine Smart (First Printed March 1988)
In this page I have no intention of preaching to the breeders of German Spitz, rather to persuade you to consider the following experience in other breeds and to seriously consider what is best for our breed.
Many of you know that Mum and I also breed Norwegian Buhunds and Elkhounds. Many years ago we bred our first litter of Elkhounds, 6 dogs and 1 bitch. We rather unfortunately lost the bitch in a road accident at 5 months, but two dogs did go to show homes. One to become a champion, the other to gain his Junior Warrant. The mother of the litter was spayed as we were posted to Singapore and my Aunt and her family were to look after her until we came back. To cut a long story short, we learnt on our return from Singapore that one of the dogs in the litter had developed Epilepsy, around two years old. As this was the dog with the J.W. it was very soon known throughout the breed that there had been bred a litter of epilepsy. We had no intention of covering this occurrence up and indeed told the owner of the Champion that at no time was the dog to be used at stud. However, this same owner also owned the sire and although the Champion was never used at stud, his father was used quite regularly. Some of his progeny going back to Scandinavia and also to America and Canada. He was also mated to bitches who were closely related to our own bitch.
You may not think that this was irresponsible of the owner, but what was so much worse, was that it transpired that this was by no means the first case of epilepsy in the breed. Not a word had been said by the breeders, but a significant proportion of Epileptic dogs had been bred over a long time. Indeed some breeders stated quite categorical which dogs it was that were responsible. These dogs being extensively used at stud, presumably even after being know producers of Epilepsy.
A breed survey took place in complete secrecy so that even the figures could not be quoted so that some idea could be gained by the breeders of the extent of the problem. It was hoped at the time that a new era of honesty and responsibility for the breed was developing, purely as a result of one case of Epilepsy being made known.
More recently in the Elkhounds it was discovered that a well known stud dog was producing progeny with Glaucoma. Unlike Epilepsy, the onset of Glaucoma can be twice as long, say 4 - 5 years old, a disaster for breeders. Fortunately for the Elkhound the breeders directly involved had no hesitation in making the problem known. Very shortly eye testing and breeding had stopped from all of the dogs and bitches from this one particular dog. A response by the breeders to gladden the heart. It would appear also that this from of Glaucoma is transmitted by a dominant gene which means that once breeding from those carrying this line has stopped, so will the condition.
Another disaster has recently hit the Elkhound breeders, but this time the response to it by the breeders concerned has left a great deal to be desired. Some dogs on being eye tested were found to have a condition called Retinal Dysplasia, or Detached Retina. This much is known, but the owners and breeders of this handful of dogs have not admitted that their dogs have this condition. You may not be surprised to hear that rumour within the Elkhound breed is rife at the moment. It is suspected, and I have to admit with some cause, that those breeders who made a great deal of the fact that their dogs were 'guaranteed' not to have Glaucoma, are now the ones who will not freely admit to their dogs having Detached Retina. As some of the breeders concerned have been in the breed for a great many years, one wonders if they also knew about Epilepsy but felt it better not to say anything. I wonder whose interests they are looking after, certainly not the breeds!
In Norwegian Buhunds about three years ago a dog was taken by the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf for training and they were very pleased with his progress. However, on his final 'medical' he was found to have a form of cataract. What form is still not known. The breeders of the dog were told and very quickly informed the rest of the owners and breeders in the show ring. Within 6 moths practically every Buhund still alive which had been, was being, or was going to be used for breeding had been tested. Those that were found to have cataract were not bred from again or were simply not used. That is with the exception of two cases which were test matings. Within a year a sub-committee of the Club had been set up to monitor all aspects of the health of the Buhund with full powers to report any diseases occurring to the membership through the Newsletter and at the A.G.M. Naturally the names of the dogs concerned cannot be published unless permission had been granted by both the owner and the breeder. Within three years the incidence of Cataract has reduced and one or two other complaints are being kept a wary eye on.
I have told you the above two stories to illustrate the difference of attitude between owners, breeders and even Breed Clubs. The German Spitz is such a new breed in terms of registration. Shouldn't we be saying to ourselves prevention is better than cure? The opportunity to do so will never be better. To this end, I would urge all stud dog owners and breeders to have their dogs eyes tested. It is a quite painless operation and it only takes a minute to examine the eyes. Think of the benefit in future years if a problem of say cataracts does crop up. Not only will we be able to produce certificates for the ancestors but we would be able to give the expert eye specialists and geneticists so much valuable information. Information that the Buhund breeders bitterly regret being unable to produce.
As I said at the beginning of this page I am not trying to preach breeding policies, but I sincerely hope that you will all learn from the experiences of the Elkhound and Buhund breeders and will give thought to prevention being better than cure. If sufficient stud dog owners refuse to allow their dogs to be used at stud if the bitch does not have a valid clear certificate then we will be more than half way there in ensuring a happy and above all healthy future for the German Spitz.
© Lorraine Smart
