Health Testing
Genetic Diseases
Pembroke Welsh Corgis are, in general, healthy dogs. The most common genetic diseases that run in their pedigrees are as following:
– Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) – a progressive degenerative disorder of the spinal cord
– Exercise-Induced Collapse (EIC) – a nervous system disorder that may cause episodes of collapse when they participate in strenuous activities
– Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA-rcd3) – a retinal disease that causes progressive, non-painful vision loss
All of the conditions described above are autosomal recessive genes. This means that a dog needs to inherit two copies of the gene (one from each parent) to be at risk for developing symptoms of disease. A dog can have one copy of any of these genes, and never be at risk.
In our program, we do not breed dogs together that put puppies at risk for these diseases. Puppies from our program will have either one or no copies of these genes.
– von Willebrand’s Disease (vWD Type 1) – a disorder with blood clotting
vWD Type 1 was previously understood to be autosomal recessive (inherited much like DM, EIC & PRA-rcd3). With more recent research, vWD Type 1 has been shown to be inherited with incomplete dominance. This means that a dog with one copy of this gene may show varying degrees of the disease. In most cases where a dog has one copy of this gene, there are limited clinical symptoms and your dog will live a completely normal life. If your dog shows any concerning signs of excessive bleeding or trouble with blood clotting after injury/surgery, it is recommended to discuss having a blood test done by your veterinarian to assess your dog’s individual risk associated with this disease.
We do not breed dogs together that result in puppies with two copies of this gene. Puppies from our program will have either one or no copies of these genes.
We are seriously taking this new research into consideration in our breeding program, and will be transitioning all our vWD Type 1 carriers out of our program within the next 1-2 generations.
If any of these diseases are diagnosed in your dog by a veterinarian in the first 2 years of your dog’s life, our health guarantee will respond.
Source: https://embarkvet.com/resources/dog-breeds/pembroke-welsh-corgi/
PennHIP
In our program, we utilize PennHIP as a tool to help us assess whether a dog is fit to become a breeding prospect. PennHIP uses an objective scale to measure the laxity in a dog’s joint, and rates the joint on a scale of 0-1 (0 being tighter, 1 being looser) called the Distraction Index (DI). Most dogs are considered to have hips with low laxity if the DI is <0.3; corgis, on average, have a DI of 0.64.
As the DI suggests, corgis have looser joints on average than most other breeds, and therefore we have found that OFA hip testing is not especially useful for our program. OFA is very subjective, especially for a breed that does not compare well to the standard of most breeds. We have chosen to use PennHIP over OFA hip testing as we believe it gives us a better picture of our specific breed health.
While we hip test all of our breeding stock, hip health is very complex. Genetics are only a small factor in predicting the hip health of future generations; there is also a large amount of evidence that environmental factors during development can hugely affect your dog’s joint health. In the first 6-8 months of a puppy’s life, we encourage our puppy families to minimize activities such as going down stairs, jumping off furniture, jumping out of vehicles, and other hard exercise that may be hard on their joints (including elbow/wrist joints, not just hips!).
Due to the complex nature of joint health, our health guarantee does NOT respond for hip and joint conditions. What we can promise you is that in the first 8 weeks of life prior to placing puppies with families, we take every precaution to avoid environmental conditions that could affect your dog’s joint health. If there is any injury or concern about their joint health, we will discuss this with you prior to placement.
Eye Health
Generally, corgis have healthy eyes. We also genetically test for PRA-rcd3, which is a condition that affects the eyes. However, one of the recommended tests for the breed is CAER testing (Companion Animal Eye Registry). A physical exam is important in addition to genetic testing, to rule out any conditions that we do not yet have genetic testing for. Our breeding dogs visit a veterinary opthamology specialist to complete this testing.
Short Legs/Long Backs
Corgis have two genes that give them their unique body shape and size: Chondrodysplasia (CDPA), and Chondrodystrophy (CDDY). CDDY is the only one of the two genes that is associated with Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD).
Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) Type 1 is a back/spine issue that affects the discs that act as cushions between vertebrae. Dogs can experience ruptured or herniated discs that causes neurological signs which can range from wobbly gait to impairment of movement.
CDDY is autosomal dominant, meaning a dog only needs to carry one copy of the gene to be be at risk of developing IVDD.
The overwhelming majority of Corgis carry either one or two copies of the CDDY/IVDD gene. This does NOT mean your Corgi will develop IVDD; what it does mean is that Corgis are more likely to develop this condition than other breeds of dogs.
The genetic test for the CDDY/IVDD variant is quite new – it was discovered in 2017 and the test started being offered by Embark in late 2019. With this newly discovered information, breeders (including us) can start making more informed decisions and developing better breeding programs.
Similarly to hip health, IVDD is a complex health condition that environmental conditions can affect. Our health guarantee does NOT respond for IVDD/spine conditions. We make every effort in the first 8 weeks of life to minimize environmental factors that could affect spine health; if there is an injury or concern for your puppy’s spine health, we will discuss this with you prior to placement.
Source: https://embarkvet.com/resources/blog/type-i-ivdd-slipped-disc/