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Assessing Skin Problems


SkySoaringMagpie
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Interested in how people assess skin problems in breeding programs. I've been fortunate with my Salukis in that the only skin problem I have ever encountered has been one of my boys getting a hot spot while I was overseas. It healed and the fur grew back and now you'd never be able to tell - I suspect it may have been stress induced. However, I do know of relatives that have had skin problems.

How much do you put down to the owner/food/environment and how much to a susceptibility? Is this a sort of sliding scale thing with an easy keeper down one end, a dog in the middle who is fine if fed the right thing and lives somewhere dry, and a dog down the other end who has chronic problems no matter what you do?

I live in a dry, temperate climate with low humidity - does that mean that I may not see susceptibilities that someone who lived in a tropical climate might see?

How long is a piece of string? :o

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Good questions.I

Having spent some years managing a boarding kennel and seeing dog after dog with skin problems, I wish more breeders considered skin problems in their breeding programs. Chronic skin problems can be as much discomfort and expense as HD or epilepsy!

I haven't had to deal with this one as the dogs I've owned personally have had no allergies...not even flea allergy...and I've never had a report-back from a puppy buyer reporting allergy problems.

In theory, the genetics of allergies are tied up in the MHC/DLA and problems are more likely if there is a lot of homozygosity in this region. Ie, inbreeding (including line breeding) is likely to result in more allergy problems. I've seen no hard evidence saying this is true.

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A hot spot or even a couple over the course of a dogs life is not in my opinion skin issues. Hot spots are often just a symptom rather than the issue itself. For instance dead coat not groomed out creates the perfect environment for a hot spot, a sore joint or similar can cause a dog to nibble and create a hot spot.

You really have to assesses the entire dog. I have a dog that reacts extremely badly to being bathed and rips all his coat out and creates sores to the point he has to go on steroids. He has no other skin issues at all and is completely normal at other times. He is a very nice dog in all other ways and has super health clearances that make him an asset to the breed so do you eliminate him? To me that isn't enough information to decide, if I said I owned or knew well many generations behind him with zero skin issues, would you still eliminate him?

Hard decision isn't it. As breeders we all want to breed perfect dogs but if we throw everything out with the slightest issue we very soon won't be breeding. It really is all about making an informed decision.

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No matter what the skin problem its about the dog's immune system and whilst you may be able to pin point what you think is the cause a dog with a healthy immune system wont get itchy. So whilst you look at ways to improve an immune system skin conditions even minor eruptions which only last a minute need to be noted on the pedigree and taken into account when selecting dogs for a breeding program. You may see only one dog in a line with a skin issue but another with another possible immune related condition and its all part of joining the dots . We don't want to be breeding dogs which have immune system issues any more than we want to be breeding dogs that go blind and we need to use science and pedigree analysis to pinpoint those dogs which shouldn't be used in a breeding program.

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1375512501[/url]' post='6268923']

I have a dog that reacts extremely badly to being bathed and rips all his coat out and creates sores to the point he has to go on steroids. He has no other skin issues at all and is completely normal at other times. He is a very nice dog in all other ways and has super health clearances that make him an asset to the breed so do you eliminate him? To me that isn't enough information to decide, if I said I owned or knew well many generations behind him with zero skin issues, would you still eliminate him?

Hard decision isn't it. As breeders we all want to breed perfect dogs but if we throw everything out with the slightest issue we very soon won't be breeding. It really is all about making an informed decision.

Most breeders would eliminate a dog or bitch with a high hip score, even with no clinical manifestation, even if the bloodlines ran good hip scores. What you describe is much worse than a radiographic only case of moderate HD.I would not breed or use such a dog. If I did so it would only be a test litter, to be carefully monitored. You can, presumably, rule out environmental factors, because you don't have other dogs with the same condition...so there's a strong possibility that the condition is genetic.

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1375512501[/url]' post='6268923']

I have a dog that reacts extremely badly to being bathed and rips all his coat out and creates sores to the point he has to go on steroids. He has no other skin issues at all and is completely normal at other times. He is a very nice dog in all other ways and has super health clearances that make him an asset to the breed so do you eliminate him? To me that isn't enough information to decide, if I said I owned or knew well many generations behind him with zero skin issues, would you still eliminate him?

Hard decision isn't it. As breeders we all want to breed perfect dogs but if we throw everything out with the slightest issue we very soon won't be breeding. It really is all about making an informed decision.

Most breeders would eliminate a dog or bitch with a high hip score, even with no clinical manifestation, even if the bloodlines ran good hip scores. What you describe is much worse than a radiographic only case of moderate HD.I would not breed or use such a dog. If I did so it would only be a test litter, to be carefully monitored. You can, presumably, rule out environmental factors, because you don't have other dogs with the same condition...so there's a strong possibility that the condition is genetic.

As it happens he has never been used and probably never will be although I have seriously considered doing a test mating to a complete outcross but the majority of my fellow breeders don't agree that he should be eliminated.

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