THE KENNEL Club has said it is ‘minded’ to accept registration of my NUA girls from the USA ! Although the breed clubs will be consulted, their views will be sought only on health and welfare aspects of registering the dogs. So what is in the best interests of the health & welfare of Dalmatians could it be to be FREE from a defective gene?
The frequency and severity of urate stone disease, at least in the US there has been enough published research (Dr. Bartges included) to accurately state that approximately 30% of all male Dalmatians (15% of the total Dalmatian population) will have a urate stone episode severe enough to require medical intervention during their lifetime. This is not only extremely painful to the dog, but at times devastatingly costly to the owners.Listen to an interview ....http://www.dogworld.co.uk/News/43-dal
In order to correct the health problem's associated with High Uric Acid.
The Dalmatian is the ONLY breed of dog with 2 copies of the mutant gene
for HUA - (uu) (see below) fixed into ALL Dalmatians (so you cannot breed away from it with in the lines we have).
The girls pictured below are originated from Dr Bob Schaible
Backcross project, started over 35 years ago. using a single Ch pointer
now 14 generations away! You will note that Dr. Robert Schaible, is a medical
geneticist then at the University of Indiana, this gave us the NORMAL gene
(U) so you will see that both GiGi & Sally have 1 copy of the normal gene.
We will DNA test all their offspring to enable us to continue to incorporate
the U gene into future breedings! In the US 'some' breeders still use unilateral & blue eyes in their breeding, however the NUA program as
NEVER used either of these dogs, so better hearing stats may be expected over most other US Dals!