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As we continue to do a deep dive into research on the health of the Pyrenean Mastiff we continue to learn of other possible health risks in the breed. There are a number of things breeders should always keep in mind. Our code of ethics requires at minimum Hip and Elbow OFA testing as well as genetic testing for diseases.
Mendel's law has been showing up on our feed like crazy today! See the picture below. This only applies to recessive genetic diseases such as Degenerative Myelopathy when applied to our breed. It can only be identified via a genetic test and if a dog isn't tested then you run the risk of breeding carrier to carrier producing at risk puppies and even worse an affected to affected dog. This disease doesn't show until older age generally but it is an awful disease and a struggle for owner and dog alike. You can read more on our blog about Health conditions to be aware of in the Pyrenean Mastiff: https://www.pyreneanmastiffassociation.org/.../common...
Excluding all carriers though from breeding also puts the breed at great risk however because you can bottle neck the gene pool and cause other untestable genetic conditions to come forward. It is important to note carriers of recessive diseases do not have a risk of developing the disease.
Our club promotes appropriately breeding carriers by ensuring we address this in our code of ethics. Carriers should only ever be bred to clear dogs, if you have a carrier never breed to a dog who hasn't been tested as you run a huge risk of producing affected puppies. Through careful breeding practices we can slowly remove carriers from the gene pool over generations without bottlenecking our gene pool further.
Our goal is always to preserve and protect the Pyrenean Mastiff by using education, available tools, science, and learning from lessons other breeds have learned. As we continue to learn we will always share and update our breeding guidance accordingly to ensure we do our absolute best for the breed.
Breeders both stateside and worldwide are always encouraged to update pyreneanmastiff.pedigreedatabaseonline.com with health information accordingly and if needed we can always add new fields for health tracking! We can only do better if it is a worldwide effort.
