PoodleChick

I believe one of the reasons that not many dogs are listed in OFA is due to the cloud of mystery around the test itself. Early on, Dr Whitely was coming out with many, many positives, even in dogs who had produced many puppies, now grown and healthy.
Since this is a juvenile disease you would think that there would be many more affected dogs in the population. Since Dr Whitely was working on a patent for this test she was by necessity pretty secretive and I personally do not think that sat well with breeders who got positive results back. Of course they are going to have more questions and doubts and if she answered their questions they were very vague answers. Part of the problem I think is in discussing genetics with non-geneticists, but I know of vets and very knowledgeable breeders who were mystified by her answers. The other issue I see is that some breeders would be very quick to eliminate positive dogs from the breeding pool. They may "say" they would not but they would. And there is just not enough known about what a positive result really means to do that. Dr Whitely herself has said on a number of occasions that a positive result is only one indicator of "something" with the kidneys and should not be used as a determining factor in breeding that dog or not. If I were a breeder and had a dog with a positive result I would think twice before posting it, with the test reputation being what it is right now. Alot of the people who have responded to the thread (starting back in 2010) were owners like me; we want a healthy dog. But, I did see that many were bemoaning the fact that breeders seemed to be ignoring the test or the results. I don't think that depiction is accurate but I would say they are cautious about it. As they should be. I think it is human nature to want a simple answer to a complicated question: Should this dog be bred (or should I get a dog from this breeding)? But this is not a simple answer type question.
Lynne

roulette

From what I understand, the test results are not a simple "positive" or "negative", but rather a measured degree of penetrance. This information can be used to breed a healthier animal:
Modes of inheritance can be many and varied. Most breeders understand "recessive" where you require two mutant alleles to have an affected dog.
I note that in dogenes initial reports, they just reported either clear, one mutant allele or two mutant alleles or as it is referred to as, homozygous. Now there is the added notation on both the report for single or homozygous, that the dog is RD susceptible.
Because the mode of inheritance is dominant with incomplete penetrance, it only takes one mutant allele to have an affected dog. Having a mutant allele does not mean you will have an affected dog. That is, renal dysplasia is a disease that affects the development of the kidneys. All dogs are born with immature kidneys, made of fetal kidney tissue. By about eight weeks of age, the kidneys will have developed into mature kidneys. This transition does not complete itself if the dog is affected with renal dysplasia. It is manifested by the presence of fetal or immature glomeruli and/or tubules within an otherwise mature kidney. The percentage of immature glomeruli present determines how affected the dog is. The dogs are classified as normal, borderline, mildly affected, moderately affected, moderately severe and severly affected. The degree of affectedness determines the dog's life span. Mildly affected dogs will live an asymptomatic, normal lifespan!
DNA testing does not and cannot predict how many glomeruli will fail to mature, and hence the degree by which the dog is affected, if at all.
So..if you Do have breeding dogs with this mutant allele, can you not fashion a breeding program with other tested dogs to eliminate it? Maybe I should contact OFA for their response?

outwest

Hmmm...another test I didn't know much about. SO many tests!!!!

ArreauStandardPoodle

Well Outwest, the nice thing about a lot of them is they are once in a lifetime. Are Bonnie's parents tested? If they are and are clear, you can avoid doing vWd, NE and DM because she'd be clear by parentage.

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CharismaticMillie

Except unfortunately I found through experience that it isn't that simple. My dog's parents were both tested and clear/normal for VWD. One was tested and clear/normal for NE while the other was clear by parentage. Now, OFA only allows one generation of clear by parentage so if one of Bonnie's parents is clear by parentage, you will still have to do that test. :( Also, I still had to do the VWD test even though both of my boy's parents were clear because OFA claimed that they could not give him the label of clear by parentage unless his dam/sire as well as he were all DNA profiled. So it was cheaper to just have the test done than to ask for his parents to be DNA profiled and for him to be DNA profiled. Is this a new policy of OFA? Is this only if I wanted them to officially post it on their website? Anyway, I went ahead and did it but feel like I wasted my money! http://www.offa.org/dnacbp.html

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Happy tailwags from Peckerwood's Thoroughly Modern Millie, CGC and Ch. Safari's Specter, CGC!

outwest

Both were cleared for VWD by parentage. Both have been DNA profiled, also. I just started with eyes and hips because those are easiest to knock out. After I get the official preliminary OFA results and if they are good, then I will start doing the other things.

All the other tests the parents had themselves, so maybe mine can be clear by parentage for at least one.