StuffStuffStuffFebruary2014

The Rip Van Wrinkler, XVIII, Issue I, February 2014

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff. . .

What to do if your if your dog is LOST – SEE HERE

Important information to consider before hiring a tracking team to help find a lost pet. - SEE HERE

Genetic Research and The Future of Dog Breeding (PDF) – first printed in the BCOA Bulletin, reprinted with permission.

Attending the 6^th Annual Tufts Canine & Feline Breeding & Genetics Conference

by Kirsten Sigrist

As a representative of The Basenji Health Endowment, I was privileged to be able to attend the 6^th Annual Tufts Canine & Feline Breeding & Genetics Conference, organized by Dr. Jerrold Bell and the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Over two days 12 experts in the fields of canine and feline health research made wonderfully informative presentations on the subject of companion animal genetic health research.

The first day focused on the topic of genetic diversity and how to best maintain genetic diversity as more and more genetic and phenotypic health tests are becoming available. While opinions differed on how best to evaluate diversity in a domestic animal breed, all the experts agreed on a few important points.

1. Popular Sire Effects continue to be the biggest hindrance to maintaining genetic diversity in any breed.

2. Health testing should be an important component of any breeding program, but breeding decisions should not be solely based on the elimination of a disease causing allele from the population. Breeding decisions are complex decisions that should take many factors into account.

3. The populations of domestic breeds should not be evaluated in the same light as wild populations. All domestic breeds will have higher inbreeding coefficients than would be recommended for a wild species.

The second day focused on Hip Dysplasia. Although this is not a major health concern for our breed, there was a lot of useful information about how genetically complex diseases are currently being evaluated and what tools exist for making informed breeding decisions about genetically complex diseases in the future.

Although basenjis were not the primary focus of any of the studies presented at the conference, many issues that are important to basenji fanciers were discussed at length. I have attempted to break down all of this valuable information by topic. MORE (PDF)