Rottweiler Breed Council Annual Health Report 2014/5 Corinna Diamond
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Introduction The health and welfare of our dogs has always been important but over the past few years responsible pedigree dog breeders have come under increasing pressure not just to breed dogs which represent the best of their breed but to prove that they are are physically and temperamentally sound. The Kennel Club has provided immense support and encouragement to individual breeders and to breed clubs and councils to ensure healthy dogs by providing information and tools to help but in the final analysis it has to be down to the commitment and enthusiasm of individuals to do the research, collate it and bring it to the attention of breeders. For several years Roni Parish has has taken on this important role on behalf of all Rottweiler owners and I am pleased to have this opportunity to thank her for her hard work which I know has been greatly appreciated. She has now stepped down and her place has been taken by Corinna Diamond. I thank her and I am pleased to write this introduction to her first report. This is also the first time that the Rottweiler annual health report has been available in this form for everyone to access and this will greatly increase our ‘score’ on the Karlton Index (see the report to see what this means). It is comprehensive and I would urge all breeders of Rottweilers to study it carefully. The future of this wonderful breed is dependent on a steady supply of sound, healthy puppies of quality and we can only ensure this by taking on board all the scientific advice which we have available.
David Cavill Chairman – Rottweiler Breed Council
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About your new Heath Coordinator Firstly let me introduce myself, I have owned Rottweilers for over 20 years and have competed in the show ring both I the UK and abroad, in obedience, agility and I currently own three Rottweilers. I have completed many, many canine training, behavioural and health courses and have attended seminars across the UK. As a nurse I am passionate about how health and this interest extends to the health of the breed I love. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Roni Parish, my predecessor, and I hope not to disappoint her, the breed council, member clubs and breed enthusiasts as a community as I set about attempting to fulfil the role for what I hope to be the foreseeable future. Following my appointment in September 2014 I initially set about highlighting the purpose of the role of breed health coordinator via face to face discussions with breed lovers and via social media. Disseminating information is the first hurdle and encouraging people to act on the information is a delicate matter, enabling people to make informed decisions is the most important part of my role. Breed health is vital and I fully recognise breeders and the decisions they make involve a multitude of factors, however in my opinion health should be at the forefront of any plans. I am by no means an expert on all health and breeding matters and i am certainly no substitute for a vet, I alone cannot make changes and I call for all breed clubs and knowledgeable breed enthusiasts to assist and support my role to allow the collaboration of ideas and information working towards long term benefits for the health of our beloved breed.
The Role A breed health coordinator works on behalf of the breed council and breed clubs to advocate health and welfare matters and communicate information, collaborating with the Kennel Club whenever necessary regarding any health and welfare matters relating to Rottweilers.
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The Story So Far Just prior to my election I experienced a devastating change of events in my personal life and this has hampered some of my planned activities, however the dust is now settling and I remain motivated to move forward with the role. Love or hate social media we cannot fail to recognise the influence it has and today people use it as a resource to gather information. I have embraced this by utilising the Breed Council Facebook page to disseminate information. Member numbers are rising and the page is very active with posts regarding seminars, research projects, canine first aid courses, dog law events and activities to name but a few. Information is posted re health and welfare matters across the UK including some research papers linking oversight puppies and a tendency to adversely affect bone development. The relevant health tests for breeding Rottweilers have been highlighted for those already breeding or considering breeding. In January 2015 I attended the second Rottweiler owner/breeder research day held at Nottingham University where there were presentations from myself and other breed enthusiasts regarding their experiences of health problems. Unfortunately attendance was embarrassingly low despite the event being free and lunch provided. I am disappointed with what appears to be an apparent apathy in particular from breeders, we should be grateful that so much interest is being shown into researching health problems within our breed. If we continue to bury our heads in the sand regarding health problems the average life expectancy of our breed will continue to decline and the breed will suffer a poor quality of life. I urge people to support these type of events in future and I will continue to publish planned events to prevent the excuses that people did not know and could therefore not attend! Shareen Akhtar who is carrying out the Osteosarcoma project with DNA swabs has recently presented her research findings to peers and in the near future this information will be disseminated to the Rottweiler Community. All owners who took part in the study will be contacted for 'follow up' information and Mark Dunning form the University is in regular contact with myself regarding this project. Mark is keen for further research projects concerning our breed,
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however everything is subject to a strict ethical approval programme and we must be patient. Mark is considering a database where owners can enter information during the life time of a dog, gathering information over an extended period of time. I continue to urge Mark to consider looking at cruciate ligament issues which continues to be a problem within our breed. Recently I contacted several Rottweiler breed rescue organisations as it is important to recognise the hard work and dedication that they provide for the breed, they are at the forefront of dealing with health and welfare issues which result in Rottweilers finding themselves abandoned. I had a disappointing response however I appreciate the volunteers are most likely to dedicate their precious time to the dogs rather than admin tasks, the two organisations who did respond highlighted the following issues. Hip, elbow and cruciate ligament problems are common, some dogs are abandoned as owners are not able to afford treatment. I urge breeders to highlight that these are common health problems to their puppy buyers and encourage people to invest in quality insurance policies. Dogs can be abandoned as the become 'unruly teenagers' are breeders encouraging puppy buyers to not only attend puppy training classes but to continue with training during the first year of the dogs life. Are puppy buyers accurately informed regarding the amount of exercise an adult Rottweiler requires and that this is a breed the needs both mental and physical stimulation?
The Karlton Index Raised at a previous Breed Council meeting prior to my election I hope to cast some light on the subject. As a Kennel Club tool the index was developed to score breed communities against a framework, the latest results will be published later this year. The index was developed following concerns raised during an enquiry into dog control and welfare matters in 2012. The scale and speed of response regarding health and welfare matters was questioned during the enquiry and the KC attempted to develop a way of addressing the problem. The index aims to highlight which breeds are 5
responding promptly and which are responding poorly via a useful comparative benchmark. There are 4 dimensions which are measured with a maximum of 100 points in total; ● ● ● ●
Leadership & Health Strategy = 20 points Communication & Engagement = 20 points Participation = 20 points Impact = 40 points
For Rottweilers results have been a little disappointing : 2011 = 19 ● Leadership = 6 ● Communication = 6 ● Participation = 5 ● Impact = 2 ● 2013 = 20 ● Leadership = 8 ● Communication = 3 ● Participation = 5 ● Impact = 4 Points are awarded for various reasons including information available on breed club websites, breed council pages, breed health surveys, breed health testing schemes, collaborative research, testing protocols and education and awareness programmes. I urge breed clubs to update their web pages and include more than show results, consider including a health section or as a start include links to where people can find information regarding health, the breed council Facebook page for example. Bonnie-Marie Abyhayarante (KC health & breeder research assistant) highlights that the Worldwide Canine DNA test list on the KC website
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is updated every 6 months and she asks for input as to how the list should be updated regarding Rottweilers. Currently the list includes; ● DM (dilated myelopathy) ● Coat length (long hair gene) ● Coat colour gene variations ● Coat/length/texture ● Bobtail gene I did ask via the breed council Facebook page for input regarding the list and response has been poor, is anyone experiencing these problems and is anyone currently testing for these problems? On a separate matter It comes to my attention that there appears to be a concept that 3 types of Rottweilers exists, 'show', 'working' and 'pet'. I hope we call all work together as I personally only see one breed of dog which is indeed incredibly versatile, we should all be working together to improve the health of all of our dogs. I plan to make contact with people with 'working' Rottweilers regarding any health problems they may be experiencing. Do they have the same problems? Are they breeding/rearing their dogs in a manner which is reducing health and welfare problems?
Finally the KC will hold a breed health coordinator symposium later in the year which I will attend on behalf of the breed and will feedback in due course. This concludes my first report as health coordinator, please forward on to myself any matters which you feel may be of interest to other breed enthusiasts and please let me know your concerns regarding health and welfare matters. I am happy to be contacted via email corinna702@btinternet.com or speak to me at any show/event.
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