by Deb M. Eldredge, DVM Reprinted with Permission. First Published in "Dogs In Review", April 2000

I would like to highlight a breed club that has faced serious health problems head-on and with a fair amount of success. The club is the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America. Portuguese Water Dogs are not one of the most numerous breeds in the United States and that has been both a plus and a minus from a health problems point of view.

On the plus side, virtually ALL the Portuguese Water Dog people know each other, each others’ dogs and the bloodlines – even the "pet" people. Peer pressure can be a powerful motivator, and with small numbers no one can hide their problems for long. Open sharing of health information has been a hallmark of this club’s program.

On the minus side, you don’t have a large gene pool to play with. This makes it imperative to develop tests to indicate both affected dogs and carriers. Judicious breeding of carriers to normals only, combined with early testing of and selection of normal puppies can eventually lead to the virtual disappearance of a problem.

An early problem which showed up in Portuguese Water Dogs was "Storage Disease" – a metabolic defect with neuralgic signs, leading to death in puppies at an early age. At that time (late ‘70’s, early ‘80’s), there were two main lines of Portuguese Water Dogs imported into this country. Most of the Storage Disease cases came from one of these lines. Approximately 12% of all Portuguese Water Dogs showed up as carriers. Under the guidance of Dr. Jerold Bell, a veterinary geneticist, the club organized to deal with this problem.

Research funding was a must – bake sales, auctions and donations all helped (remember, there was no Canine Health Foundation at that time – it was all up to the club itself). A blood test was developed through the Eunice Shriver Kennedy Institute in Waltham, Massachusetts. This test indicated clear dogs, carriers and affecteds. Knowing who the carriers were, they could be carefully bred to normals and then their pups tested. This helped to preserve the maximum amount of genetic diversity. Testing is now done through New York University, and just recently a DNA test has become available. This program has been so successful that very few carriers are being bred anymore.

Of course, as soon as one problem is under control another will show up. PRA (progressive retinal atrophy) was the next hurdle. Interestingly, this problem came primarily from the other main line of Portuguese Water Dogs (which goes to show that no one line is ever truly perfect). This line had been used more extensively in attempts to circumvent the Storage Disease problem and 30%-40% of the Portuguese Water Dogs are estimated to be carriers.

The club rose to the occasion once more. CERF testing is required for breeding ads in the PWDCA magazine (along with Storage Disease, hip clearances and PRA clearances). Meanwhile the club went back to fund raising. Funds were raised in just a few months and there is now a DNA linkage test for PRA in Portuguese Water Dogs. Some kinks are still being worked out with this – clears are definitely clears, but a few of the "carriers" and "affecteds" seem to have a false allele. Finding the false allele is still under research at the Baker Institute and Portuguese Water Dog breeders are confident that this puzzle will be solved also. To be safe, these dogs are currently bred only to clears.

The Portuguese Water Dog Club is not resting on its laurels. As PWDCA President Karen Arends pointed out, the club continues to emphasize annual CERF examinations, so the club can track any eye anomalies and act before they become widespread in the breed. A few cases of juvenile cataracts and micro-ophthalmia have shown up. Many breeders are CERF’ing pups before placing them in their new homes.

Cardiomyopathy (affecting young pups) has also reared its ugly head. Many of the affected puppies die at four to six months of age. Research (club sponsored AKC/CHF grant) is ongoing to see if echocardiograms can detect this before the puppies are placed in new homes and if taurine levels could also be factors in the expression of what is probably a recessive gene.

I think the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America provides us with an excellent example of what breed fanciers can accomplish in the way of reducing health problems by networking, being open about problems, following up carefully on puppies, and funding research seriously.

A breed with greater numbers will have a harder time dealing with some of these problems (especially breeds with more dogs outside the dog fancy – backyard people who don’t do any health clearances and don’t support breed clubs or research at all). However, they will also have the advantages of more people to raise funding and a larger gene pool to pull from.

If we simply say it will be too difficult to deal with a problem, or if we try to hide our problems, then we are just as guilty of abandoning our breed as a puppy mill operator.