The Schipperke Club

Schipperke Health Information

SCHIPPERKE HEALTH

INTRODUCTION

The Schipperke is a robust, hardy little dog with few health problems and very few conditions where there is a known or suspected hereditary component. Like all living creatures, Schips slow up with the years and can develop some of the ailments of old age, such as arthritis but it is not at all uncommon to find dogs living healthy, active lives well into their teens and even beyond.

HEALTH COMMITTEE

In the last few years, the health of pure-bred dogs has been in the spotlight and the UK Kennel Club requested that each recognised breed appoint a health committee to examine health issues in the breed. The Schipperke Club appointed Ian Millar to act as the named health co-ordinator and chair of this committee and health matters are now discussed at every meeting of the Club's full committee.

In common with every breed, the new Health Committee had two initial tasks from the Kennel Club; to scrutinise the Schipperke Breed Standard in order to ensure that it did not call for any feature which might affect health adversely and to nominate the three health conditions most commonly encountered in Schipperkes.

After deliberation, the Health Committee concluded that the Standard did not specify any feature which might compromise health or lead to exaggerations in conformation. The Schipperke is a “natural” canine shape and there was no evidence of health risk stemming from the dog's basic structure as demanded by the Standard. In the event, the Kennel Club made one minor change and the Standard now describes the hindquarters as “lighter” than the forequarters as opposed to the original “finer”.

HEALTH CONDITIONS

Three health conditions were specified, MPSIIIB, epilepsy and Legg Calve Perthes Disease, although it must be stressed that none of these conditions is by any means prevalent in the breed.

MPSIIIB is a serious degenerative disease affecting the neurological system. It usually manifests itself between the ages of 2 – 4 years with early symptoms of muscle weakness, tremor and loss of co-ordination. There is no effective treatment and affected dogs are usually put to sleep before they become incapacitated. At present, there have been no cases of affected animals in this country but dogs carrying the mutated gene for the condition have been identified here after testing via mouth swabs or blood samples.

An article by Dr J. Sampson on breeding to ensure that this disease is not perpetuated, appears elsewhere in this section of our web-site. The Club's Code of Ethics is also likely to be amended soon to require breeders to test stock for MPSIIIB before mating and an open register of test results will be set up and maintained, probably on the Club web-site. With care, co-operation and openness, it is entirely possible that the threat of this condition can be eradicated from UK Schips in the foreseeable future.

For more detailed information on MPSIIIB and testing, see www.bonchien.com/MPSIIIB.html .

EPILEPSY in varying degrees of severity is found in Schipperkes from time to time. As in humans, there is thought to be a hereditary element in at least some forms of epilepsy but at present, the pattern of transmission is unclear. A longitudinal study on epilepsy in Schips is currently underway at the University of Finland in Helsinki and the UK Club has been involved in providing buccal swabs and some blood samples from our dogs. It will be some time before a report is published but ultimately, any findings will be reproduced on this web-site. Dogs affected by epilepsy can, if the condition is not severe, be treated with anti-convulsant medication and with careful management, can live a relatively normal life. Again, it must be stressed that this disease appears to affect only a very small percentage of Schips.

LEGG CALVE PERTHES DISEASE is primarily seen in smaller breeds of dog and is a disease of the hip joint which results in deformity of the ball of the joint. Most affected dogs show symptoms of pain and lameness before their first birthday and if untreated, increasingly severe inflammation and arthritis are likely to result. Surgery to remove the head and neck of the femur [the longer leg bone] is the only effective treatment and the prognosis is good provided that rehabilitative therapy is followed. At present, the causes of this ailment are not fully understood but it is suspected that heredity may well play a part. Dogs' hips can be x-rayed under anaesthetic or sedation after the age of approximately 9 months to check for irregularities or inflammation which may be indications that the disease is present No animal found to be suffering from this illness should be used in breeding.

BREED HEALTH SURVEY In 2009, the Schipperke Club conducted a survey of breed health by means of a questionnaire sent to all UK Club members. The response rate was disappointing, less than 20%. Nevertheless, despite the limitations of the exercise, the picture of a healthy little breed was largely confirmed. The Kennel Club is expected to issue guidelines at some point on drawing up a breed specific health plan for each breed and if it does so, the Schipperke plan will ultimately be displayed on this site.

FURTHER INFORMATION The Kennel Club web-site [www. the-kennel-club.org.uk] lists on its “health test” section all individual test results received and recorded by the Kennel Club from a British Veterinary Association / Kennel Club Health Scheme or an official Kennel Club DNA testing scheme. In addition, the Breed Watch section of the web-site identifies any points of concern on health matters in specific breeds. No points of concern are currently listed for Schipperkes.

CODE OF ETHICS The Club has a code of ethics which follows the blue-print issued to all breed clubs by the Kennel Club. The purpose of the code is to ensure that all breeders and owners strive for the highest standards of care and husbandry at all times. Further amendments are likely to be made to the code shortly and breeders will be encouraged to join the Kennel Club's Accredited Breeders Scheme whose requirements are becoming steadily more stringent.

CONTACT If you have concerns about any aspect of the health of this breed which you consider should be brought to the attention of the Health Committee or require more information on any health matter, please feel free to contact the Health Co-ordinator.

 

IAN MILLAR,

280, Milton Road East,

Edinburgh

EH15 2PQ

0131 669 2861

e-mail - ianmillar.turnlaw@btinternet.com

 

 

JUNE,2010

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Dr Jeff Sampson gave a talk on MPS111B at the AGM.
It is reproduced here.

DNA Testing for MPS IIIB in the Schipperke.

Dr Jeff Sampson

Introduction

MPS IIIB is a simple inherited disease in the Schipperke caused by a recessive mutation in a single gene; a DNA test for the presence or absence of this mutated gene in an individual dog has been available for some time. DNA testing of an individual dog will have one of three possible outcomes, depending on the genotype (the genetic make-up) of the tested dog:

Normal

A normal (clear) dog has two copies of the normal gene. The dog is genetically normal and will not develop the clinical condition. If a normal dog is bred from, it will only pass a normal gene onto its offspring, the status of these offspring will then depend on the gene copy that it inherits from its other parent.

Carrier

This is a dog that has one normal gene copy and one recessive, mutant gene copy. A carrier will be clinically normal and will not develop MPS IIIB because the function of the normal gene copy will over-ride the presence of the recessive, mutant gene copy. If a carrier is bred from, its progeny will have a 50% chance of receiving its normal gene copy and a 50% chance of inheriting its mutant gene copy. Again the status of these progeny will depend on the gene copy they inherit from their other parent.

Affected

An affected dog has two copies of the recessive, mutant gene and will eventually become clinically affected. If bred from, an affected will pass a mutant gene copy onto each and every one of its offspring.

Breeding Outcomes

Normal to Normal

Since both parents have only normal gene copies, each of the offspring will inherit a normal gene copy from the dam and a normal gene copy from the sire and e both genetically and clinically normal.

Normal to Carrier

If a normal dog is bred to a carrier then each puppy will have a 1 in 2 chance of being normal and a 1 in 2 chance of being a carrier, but none of the puppies will become clinically affected, because carriers are clinically normal.

Carrier to Carrier

Each of the puppies from such a mating will have a 1 in 4 chance of being normal, a 1 in 2 chance of being a carrier and, importantly, a 1 in 4 chance of being affected.

Affected to Normal

All of the puppies from such a mating will be carriers because each puppy will inherit a normal gene copy form its normal parent and a mutant gene copy from its affected parent

Affected to Carrier

Each puppy will have a 1 in 2 chance of being a carrier and a 1 in 2 chance of being affected.

Affected to Affected

All puppies will be both genetically and clinically affected and will eventually succumb to the disease.

Breeding advice and the use of the DNA test

There a simple breeding rules that need to be followed and if all breeders follow these rules, then the mutant gene responsible for MPS IIIB will be removed from the UK Schipperke gene pool.

Following such breeding advice will allow breeders to reduce the frequency of the mutant gene in a responsibly way which will have minimum impact on the breed's population structure. Owners of carrier bitches will be able to breed them to normal dogs and select a clear bitch puppy to continue their breeding programmes. I have a couple of thoughts on this process. The chief point is that breeders should not necessarily rush to achieve this clear bitch puppy. Don't just choose any normal dog for your carrier bitch, select a dog that you would have liked to use anyway, that is also a normal dog. Likewise, don't select a normal puppy just because it is normal, it has to be a puppy that you would have chosen anyway, that is also normal. If the normal puppies in a litter are below your own standards, then repeat the mating until you get a normal puppy that fits your exacting standards to develop your breeding programme.

Finally, a word about what to do with DNA tested affected dogs. Such dogs normally develop clinical symptoms between 2- 4 years of age and so an affected dog can reach sexual maturity. My own view is that such dogs should not be bred from. The prevalence of affected dogs is likely to be extremely low in the UK Schipperke population and so their removal from the breeding population will have minimum impact. However, if someone has compelling reasons to breed from an affected dog, then it absolutely imperative that such a dog is mated to a DNA tested normal dog. As we have seen above, such a mating will produce an entire litter of clinically normal carriers.