Unfortunately Stafford’s and Spanish are not without their health problems. Stafford’s suffer from hereditary juvenile cataracts, L2 hydroglutaric acid and p.h.p.v. which is another eye condition, Spanish water dogs are being monitored for hip displaysia and a predisposition for glaucoma. I’ve tried to give the facts for these diseases below in as clear as possible way. As a breeder I try in every way to breed puppies that will be clear of these diseases in both breeds. I do not however believe that Stafford carriers or 3 scoring Spanish or those with a slightly higher hip score should automatically be neutered and excluded from the gene pool. temperment should always be the main consideration in both breeds. I don’t believe that by eliminating these dogs and therefore limiting the genetic diversity will do either of the breeds any favours in the long run. By limiting the gene pool we are far more likely to develop new genetic conditions as there will be other conditions not yet identified which may become the h.c or h.d of the future. I do my best in testing all my breeding stock and while I may produce some carriers of these conditions I will always endeavour to never produce any affected puppies. An L2 carrier will still live a normal healthy life and can NEVER get the disease, similarly a low scoring glaucoma Spanish stands very very little chance of developing glaucoma unless an injury is sustained. My aim in the future as it has always been is to have happy dogs and puppies that will be wonderful pets and live long healthy lives. I test all my breeding stock for all the conditions recognised in the breeds and am quite happy to provide potential puppy owners with proof of these tests when they decide to take one of my babies. My litters are very limited as I try to produce quality instead of quantity as I feel you cannot give the individual puppies the attention they need if you are constantly whelping more litters.

The Animal Health Trust have just released DNA tests for both L2 hga and hereditary juvenile cataracts. This means that now not only should there never be another puppy born with either of these diseases but we can now eliminate the carriers and the threat of these diseases forever. Only now that test has been developed (which is dependent on continued cooperation from the Staffordshire bull terrier breeders in the UK) will we be able to identify carriers of the disease. This test can be arranged via the Animal Health Trust through your veterinary surgeon. Carriers will not develop the disease but may pass the disease on to their puppies if used for breeding. The current laboratory test can identify affected dogs and "carriers" of the disease. P.h.p.v can only be diagnosed at the moment by an eye examination to determine affected dogs only, there is currently no genetic test for this disease.

Both the hip displaysia and glaucoma have only been recently identified in s.w.d. as such the mode of inheritance for hip displaysia and glaucoma is unknown.

Hip Dysplasia

This is a terrible genetic disease because of the various degrees of arthritis (also called degenerative joint disease, arthrosis, and osteoarthrosis) it can eventually produce, leading to pain and debilitation. The very first step in the development of arthritis is articular cartilage (the type of cartilage lining the joint) damage due to the inherited bad biomechanics of an abnormally developed hip joint. Traumatic articular fracture through the joint surface is another way cartilage is damaged. With cartilage damage, lots of degradative enzymes are released into the joint. These enzymes degrade and decrease the synthesis of important constituent molecules that form hyaline cartilage called proteoglycans. This causes the cartilage to lose its thickness and elasticity, which are important in absorbing mechanical loads placed across the joint during movement. The joint's lubrication and ability to block inflammatory cells are lost and the debris-tainted joint fluid loses its ability to properly nourish the cartilage through impairment of nutrient-waste exchange across the joint cartilage cells. The damage then spreads to the synovial membrane lining the joint capsule and more degradative enzymes and inflammatory cells stream into the joint. Full thickness loss of cartilage allows the synovial fluid to contact nerve endings in the subchondral bone, resulting in pain. In an attempt to stabilize the joint to decrease the pain, the animal's body produces new bone at the edges of the joint surface, joint capsule, ligament and muscle attachments (bone spurs). The joint capsule also eventually thickens and the joint's range of motion decreases.

No one can predict when or even if a dysplastic dog will start showing clinical signs of lameness due to pain. There are multiple environmental factors such as caloric intake, level of exercise, and weather that can affect the severity of clinical signs and phenotypic expression (radiographic changes). There is no rhyme or reason to the severity of radiographic changes correlated with the clinical findings. There are a number of dysplastic dogs with severe arthritis that run, jump, and play as if nothing is wrong and some dogs with barely any arthritic radiographic changes that are severely lame.

Testing is done under general anaesthetic and is a series of x-rays taken and then scored by the b.v.a, there is also a technique perfected by the University of Pennsylvania called Penn hip which is a more definite diagnosis although Penn hip is not currently accepted by the s.w.d club, please mail me for further info

Glaucoma

After a dog was diagnosed with Primary Glaucoma in December 2002 the Animal Medical Centre, kindly offered to examine as many dogs as they could get there (20 in all).  There were so many dogs (13) which showed predisposition it came as a terrible shock. Three of the original importers) decided there and then they would tell everyone so others could start testing. They had long conversations with the specialists particularly about possible mode of inheritance and how to continue breeding without losing all the other good genetics.  It was suggested that the trend was possibly one of dominant inheritance and that dogs with high predisposition could be put to clears (if they were particularly good specimens of the breed), test the offspring and only breed from those with clear eyes.  Another trend seemed to be that the offspring had lower predisposition than that of the highest parent or were even clear.  Therefore Spanish began being tested for glaucoma predisposition and then scored from 0 (clear) to a 5 which is severely affected. Anything with a score of 3 or lower that had all the other qualities desired in the breed were included in the breeding program as the genetic pool was very limited and to have excluded these dogs would have possibly caused more genetic diseases to become a problem due to a lack of genetic diversity. The disease can strike without warning at any age and cause blindness and pain due to pressure building up in the eye caused by blocked drainage channels. However. A bitch has just been tested at the age of 12 with a score of 5 and the specialist said that by all accounts she should be totally blind which she most defiantly is not. It may be something to do with the fact that Spanish were bred to swim to depth underwater and their drainage channels may be able to cope better with pressure but we may never know.  We advocate testing and where possible breeding clear dog to those with predisposition to try and reduce any risk further. This strategy seems to be working as there are fewer predisposed dogs born each year although it make take some years to completely eradicate the threat of this disease

Testing is done by eye exam in a darkened room by a qualified specialist, I sometimes know of testing sessions, please email me if you need further info

My Staffords