PBGVhealthwasaconstanttopicofdiscussionatthe
2015PBGVCANationalSpecialtyinTucson.Fromthe
annualmeetingtotheeyeclinictothehealthseminar,our
attentionwasonourhounds’bigbrowneyes.

TheexcitementbegantobuildinFebruarywhenCathryn

MellershattheUK’sAnimalHealthTrustannouncedthatin
late2014herlabhadfoundthegenemutationthatcauses
primaryopenangleglaucoma(POAG)inPBGVs.ADNAtest
forthespecificPBGVmutationwaslaunchedatCruftsin
earlyMarch,afterwhichthetestwasmadeavailabletoall
PBGVsworldwide.ManyPBGVownersintheUnitedStates
quicklysentofffortheircheekswabtestkits.

Amonthlater,testresultsfordogsatthenationalwere

beginningtocomeback.Someownershadgoodnewsthat
theirdogswereclear.Thatis,thedogswouldnotdevelop
POAGthemselvesnorpassthegenemutationtooffspring.
Othersfoundoutthattheirdogswerecarriers.Theywere
happythattheirdogswouldnotdevelopthedisease,but
realizedthatthediseasegenecouldbepassedtooffspring.
Allwereanxiousthattheymightreceivewordthattheirdog
wasaffectedanddestinedtodevelopglaucoma.Andallhad
questionsaboutwhatthePOAGtestmeansforourbreed.

WewereextremelyfortunatethatDr.DanikaBannasch

presentedthehealthseminaratthenationalapecialty.

Dr.BannaschisProfessorofPopulationHealthand
ReproductionattheUniversityofCalifornia,Davis.Her
researchfocusesontheidentificationandcharacterization
ofnaturallyoccurringcanineandequinemodelsofhuman
inheriteddiseases.Inherpresentation,Dr.Bannaschtaught
usthebasicsofdoggeneticsandhowgeneticdiseasesare
transmittedfromonegenerationtothenext.Shegave
adviceonhowthePBGVcommunitycanmostprudently
worktowardseliminatingPOAGfromthebreed.Itwasan
informativeandfunseminar.

Dr.BannaschexplainedthatPBGVs,likeallpurebred

dogs,havealimitedgenepoolbecauseadefinednumberof

dogsfoundedthebreed.InthecaseofthePBGV,ourbreed
hasanadditionalbottleneckbecauseitwasbroughtfrom
EuropetoNorthAmerica.Transferalofanybreedfromone
countrytoanotherrestrictstheuseofsiresandfurther
limitsdiversity.Also,thereisatendencyinallbreedsto
wanttousethetop-winningdogasasire,whichresultsin
inappropriatelylargecontributionstothegenepoolfrom
fewindividuals.Thisisknownasthepopular-siresyndrome.
Breedingrelateddogshasthedesiredeffectoffixing
desirabletraitsinourbreed,buttheundesiredeffectof
uncoveringrecessivetraitsordiseases.

Dr.Bannaschusedasanexampleherdogbreed,theNova

IPBGVHealthForum

byLauraLiscum,ViceChair,PBGVCAHealthCommittee

PrimaryOpenAngleGlaucoma(POAG)isaninheritedformofglaucomacausedbyincreasedfluid

pressureintheeye.POAGleadstopainandblindness.Theageofonsetisvariable

AHealthyPBGVCANationalSpecialty

64

PhotobyBobCohen