Questions about Genetic Guarantees

J

jkerr

Forums Regular
So, I posted in my intro about my youngest sheltie being diagnosed with an autoimmune skin disorder. They did the biopsy today to determine exactly what it is. Poor girl looks pitiful, her face is unsightly with the hair loss and scabs, but she is still beautiful to me! My question is about breeders genetic guarantees. What does that mean exactly? I know I do not want to "trade" her, she is my dog and I will take care of her. But it is concerning that a breeder could potentially be putting more pups out there with genetic disorders, knowingly (since I informed him of what was going on) What would you do in this case? How should I approach this? What sort of outcome should I request? Thanks so much!
JLK
 
As I have read on ads to sell, the breeders test for health genetics. What does that mean, or what that covers, I don't know.

I would imagine its up to the breeder what genes they test for. Skin problems it could be the DNA on the dam, and the sire, they don't gel. That was my understanding.

Did you ever speak with your breeder to see if she had something like this in her lines? Testing of the dam and sire? I know the breeder I bought Lil' Lady from if there is a problem that turns up, she will take that dog out of her breeding line. I have seen proof of that.

Hopefully something positive can come out of this, and god love your heart for taking the best care of your sheltie. Wishing all the very best.
 
"Autoimmune skin disorder" is fairly vague, and it would be up to the breeder to decide if that is worthy of money back. It's not something we can actively test for, and I don't know that you didn't cause it by choosing to give the dogs four shots on the same day, with their HW pesticide, flea pesticide, and feeding crap-in-a-bag kibble.

You have to remember that all breeders are working inside a closed registration system. We are not allowed to cross-breed to increase the gene pool. All Shelties come from x-number of foundation stock dogs, and every gene we have today came from those dogs. We are inbreeding on those dogs with every breeding, and every breeding risks having genetic issues. We'd like to minimize those issues, but in reality, it's only going to get worse.
 
as with anything labeled autoimmune it means we have no clue what it is and what to do with it... present science has only glimpses of understanding why our bodies suddenly start destroying their own cells.
I am not a breeder so have no suggestions for you there, I do remember reading about hugely popular sire that at age 6 or so was diagnosed with DM due to tiny scratch on the tail which caused multiple waves in breeding world, since that dog after being multiple champion and ROM had multiple offspings...
 
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