July Program - Lourdes Carvajal, chair of our
Standards and Health Committee, gave a presentation about the CHIC
program. CHIC stands for Canine Health Information Center and is a
joint effort of the AKC and the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for
Animals). It has four main goals (per the GDCA website)--to work
with parent clubs in the definition of health issues for which a
central information system should be established, to establish and
maintain a central health information system in a form and manner
that will support research into canine disease, to provide health
information to owners and breeders, to base the availability on
individually identified dogs on the consent of the owner, and to
establish scientifically valid criteria for the acceptance of
information into the database.
Lourdes explained that this is basically a database
for breeders to post the health condition of their dogs; this is a
great tool for breeders when determining what dogs would be suitable
for breeding to their dogs, for puppy buyers to ensure they are
acquiring a puppy free of certain inherited health problems, for the
parent club to promote better health and longevity in its registry
and for health researchers.
Parent clubs have to apply for membership and each
parent club requires different tests. The GDCA joined this program
in 2003 and requires tests for hip dysplasia (results are accepted
from OFA, PennHip, GDC, or OVC), eyes (results accepted from CERF),
congenital cardiac disease (results accepted from OFA) and
autoimmune thyroid disease (results accepted from OFA). As of June
28, 2008, 532 Great Danes are entered in the database.
Lourdes stated that tests should be done at about
two or three years of age, preferably before the dog is bred, and
it’s just as important for males to be tested as it is for females.
Bitches should not have hip xrays within 3 weeks (either before or
after) of being in season as hormonal changes cause the pelvic bones
to open. Even those not planning on breeding their pets would
benefit from these tests by receiving advance notice of conditions
their dogs may develop in later life and steps can be taken
proactively to alleviate those conditions.
Owners make the decision prior to any testing as to
whether the results will be released to CHIC, before knowing whether
the results will be good or bad, so those who do so obviously have a
certain amount of confidence in the soundness of their bloodlines.
Each separate test receives a separate determination; the cardiac
test may result in a grade of “normal”, while the hips may only be
evaluated as “fair”. Upon acceptance into the registry, a CHIC
identification number is assigned and information about the dog is
posted. That information includes not only the results of the
various health tests, but also birth date and pedigree; a picture
can also be posted if desired.
To be accepted into the CHIC registry, each dog must
have permanent means of identification, such as a tattoo, microchip
or DNA profile.
Lourdes also touched briefly on the Champion of
Health program begun by the GDCA to encourage Dane breeders to
register their dogs in the CHIC database. This started with the 2006
National Specialty; requirements are as follows: the owner must be a
member of the GDCA or an affiliate club, the dog must have a CHIC
number and the dog must have recently achieved a significant
accomplishment at the national level, whether in the ring, in the
field or as a producer.
Three to five dogs are nominated for this honor each
year; several dogs from our Club have been among those nominated.
This was a very interesting and informative
presentation. If you’d like more information, go to the GDCA website
and click on the link for Health and Welfare, which will then
contain a link for CHIC. Thanks, Lourdes!