Health and Genetics

HEALTH AND GENETICS

TAN POINT: It's not about the colour !

The tan point is not something that Eduard Korthals bred into his Korthals Griffon. There is history as well as data that strongly support the theory that the color trait has appeared in the breed due to outcrossing with another breed of dog. If that is so, there are without a doubt other genetic traits, not visible as tan point, that most likely include conformation, temperament, and disease genes. Anecdotal information from reliable sources indicates that diseases never before present in the Griff are now showing up, and often within specifics lines of breeding, indicating probable inheritance. Without an adequate health and genetics database, we cannot use the few numbers we now have to establish statistical significance. One important note: Do not attempt to determine if a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is a purebred by going to one of the laboratories that determines breeds of dogs when given a DNA sample. Although we do not mean to discredit these labs, the method for determining the breed is to match the DNA sample with breed baselines that have been established from multiple samples of dogs of specific breeds. There is not yet a baseline established from dogs that are known to be all purebred Korthals Griffons. A DNA sample that includes Cesky Fousek, or whatever other breed or breeds have been introduced into the Korthals Griffon when paired with the hybrid baseline will be erroneously determined to be a Korthals/Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. We have learned a great deal about the history of the breed since these baselines were established, and there is currently a group of people dedicated to the preservation of the breed working with one of these labs to provide a Korthals Griffon baseline.


If you are looking for a puppy, or planning to breed a dog, the most important thing you can do is to become familiar with the tan point trait, and what it means to the breed. There has been a tendency for managing the carriers of tan point in order to eliminate that from the breed (see the Breeding Better Dogs link below). This strategy works well only in cases that have one genetic trait to eliminate, and is not as complicated as the introduction of an entirely different breed with multiple genes. After deciding you want a Korthals Griffon, and there are certainly some good reasons for that, do you want to take the chance of getting a hybrid? As you will find, there are ways to avoid that.

Taken from Korthals Griffon Health/Genetics website http://korthalsgriffon.org/index.html


Breeding Better Dogs

 

PLEASE SEE Carol Ptak's "Wirehaired Pointing Griffon - Breed Improvement or Destruction?"

Ptak, Carol, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon-Breed Improvement or Destruction? 2012.

The Importance of Breed History

by Anne Allen


 

It is no secret that I am a Griffon history buff. I believe it’s important to know the history of our breed and breed standard to understand and guide the breeding of Griffons today.

Unfortunately there are not many resources in the English language, and I’ve had to rely on using sources in French, with the help of a few bilingual Griffonniers. From these sources one can learn of the breeding strides and dilemmas that our breed’s founder, Eduard Korthals, faced in his endeavour to create the ideal versatile hunting dog.


It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to recreate Korthals’s breeding program today, given the limitations and restrictions in many areas on the number of dogs one can keep. Korthals produced hundreds of dogs using inbreeding and line breeding, keeping for breeding only the very few that met his stringent expectations in type and performance.

These relatively few dogs that possessed and reproduced the qualities he sought and that consistently reproduced themselves were the foundation of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed.


Within just over a decade or so of establishing his breeding program, in 1887 Korthals wrote the breed standard that was subsequently adopted by 16 Griffon breeders who shared his vision—and is, in effect, our AKC standard today.

So what are we to learn from Korthal’s experience some 125 years later? Today’s breeding dilemma for Griffons enthusiasts is how to manage those dogs that are either carriers of or exhibit tan-point genetics. According to coat-colour geneticist Dr. Shiela Schmutz, of the University of Saskatchewan, tan-point coloration is a breed trait of certain sporting dogs in England, commonly found in English Setters and English Pointers, but not found in purebred Griffons.


While still scientifically inconclusive, the emergence of tan-pointed Griffons suggests a crossbreeding of some sort. When Korthal’s Griffons of the late 1800s showed great field success in various European contests and exhibitions, there were those who believed this success was only possible with an infusion of English blood, namely from the wider-ranging, faster setters and pointers.

To his detractors Korthals responded emphatically, “I declare herewith that my main concern was always to keep the breed pure, and in breeding only griffons I never added any blood of another breed. The improvement of the breed was achieved only and exclusively by selection, training, and methodical breeding.”


In his historical account of the breed, le Griffon d’arret a poil dur Korthals, Jean Castaing says, “Furthermore, as for the fiery tint, in spots or traces, it is also to be forbidden, for it also indicates a misalliance.”

Korthals denied the use of English blood in his breeding program—blood that would have produced tan points and also black, a disqualifying trait in the standard. Korthals would have culled from his breeding programs any dog that either possessed or produced these faulty traits.

We have the only Griffon gene pool left in the world that is not pervasively tainted by the tan-point gene. Tan points are not in the breed standard.


Why breed a dog or bitch that produces a substandard trait of uncertain origin or impact as of yet? Let history be our guide to the future. Korthals wouldn’t have selected for tan points.

We shouldn’t either.—Ann Allen

First published in the AKC Gazette, The Official Magazine of the American Kennel Club, April 2012.

The Canine Thyroid Epidemic: Answers you need for your dog

by W. Jean Dodds, DVM and Diana R. Laverdure


HYPOTHYROIDISM IN THE DOG

by Michael Schaer, DVM

Diplomate ACVIM, ACVECC

University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine


Recognizing and treating immunemediated polyarthritis in dogs

by Caroline M. Kiss, DVM, DABVP (canine and feline practice), Gregory C. Troy, DVM, MS, DACVIM

VETERINARY MEDICINE


An update on steroid responsive meningitis-arteritis

by A. TIPOLD AND S. J. SCHATZBERG*

Journal of Small Animal Practice (2010)


British Veterinary Association(BVA)/Kennel Club Hip/Elbow

Dysplasia Scheme Procedure Notes July 2015


Great article on the Importance of Front Assembly/ Shoulders


Comparison of endoscopic-assisted transcervical and laparotomy insemination with frozen-thawed dog semen: A retrospective clinical study

S.J. Mason*, N.R. Rous

Monash Veterinary Clinic, Victoria, Australia


Schemes plus screening strategy to reduce inherited hip condition: Hip dysplasia in dogs and how the popularity of a hip improvement programme could help decrease the condition’s prevalence

By Mike Guilliard

MA, VetMB, CertSAO, MRCVS

Hip dysplasia in dogs and how the popularity of a hip improvement programme could help decrease the condition’s prevalence


INFO ON VACCINATION

Vaccination Interview

with Dr. Ron Schultz – May 2013

Dr. Schultz is considered to be one of the foremost experts on

immunology and vaccinations for pets.

The World Small Animal Veterinary  Association : Vaccination Guidelines for New Puppy Owners

BSAVA: Different perspectives on vaccination advice

EDITORIAL:Vaccination of dogs and cats: no longer so controversial?


ARTIFICAL INSEMINATION INFORMATION:

Artificial insemination with frozen semen in dogs: A retrospective study of 10 years using a non-surgical approach

R. Thomassen a,*, G. Sanson a, A. Krogenæs a, J.A. Fougner b, K. Andersen Berg a, W. Farstad a

a Department of Production Animal Science, The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science,

P.O. Box 8146 Dep. 0033 Oslo, Norway

by The Norwegian Fur Breeders Association, P.O. Box 145, Økern, 0509 Oslo, Norway