Health of the PWD

Every breed, and every cross breed of dog, cat, ferret, chicken, etc will have health issues. The more we distort our environment, and the more unnaturally we live, the more pressure we put on the health of our animals, and indeed ourselves.

Increasingly, people are becoming aware of the damage done by the very food they eat, the poisons they use around their homes, and things that are supposed to protect them like vaccines.

With pet foods, the general public doesn't understand that "pet food" is about the worst thing you can put in a dog's body. There are so many health issues associated with feeding dogs and cats an artifical diet. Check out the link on this by clicking here. Or join the raw feeding email list by clicking here.

Within the Portuguese Water Dogs there are a number of health issues to be aware of. Firstly you must be sure about what you feed. We will not place puppies in homes that will not feed a raw diet.

Every breeder of Portuguese Water Dogs (and any other breed or cross breed for that matter) will have health issues in their lines. Some breeders will do their best to disparage other breeders, despite the very large problems they have in their own back yard. I tend to think the more breeders talk about how bad everyone else is, the more I suspect the issues they have in their lines. But let's be realistic here. Everyone has health issues in their lines. Everyone. There are no exceptions to this, and this includes cross breeds as well. If you find a breeder of any breed that swears there are no health issues in their lines, they are either completely ignorant, or liars. (I may think of a nicer way to phrase this on another day!)

Like humans, there are hundreds of health issues your dog can contract. Breeders who tell you they do "all" the health testing are fooling themselves and you. The reality is that there is usually less than half a dozen tests that can be done, most which won't give you any indication of what issues the progeny will have. Far more important is the prevention of health issues, and much of this risk can be eliminated if not reduced by an appropriate raw diet. The best for of defence against health issues is not conducting 2-3 healths. The best form of defence is prevention in the first place.

So remember, whenever you buy a dog or use a dog at stud, keep in mind that no pet will be without health risks. Only the most niaive will believe that health issues will be non existent. For the pet owner, it's about understanding what the health risks are and managing them.

I find it perplexing, for example, those pet owners who are the most vocal about the health of their pets, yet continue to fill them up with artifical food on a daily basis, and tip as many vaccines into them as they possibly can, on the hope that they are doing the best for their dogs - despite having read a plethora of information on the internet about appropriate pet health. Unfortunately it's taking most vets a long time to catch up with public knowledge and needs, but as long as their key sponsors are pet food companies and vaccine manufacturers, many pets will die and suffer needlessly until they can get proper medical advice from properly thinking and educated vets. I don't blame vets for the bad education they receive at university, but I do blame them for their inability to learn independently as they mature.

When I see these fats dogs waddling out of vet surgeries with packets of artificial foods that will only make them fatter and unhealthier, yes, I blame the vets!

However, I digress!

Make sure you find a breeder of pups who is honest with you about all their health problems. Make sure your breeder keeps statistics, and does the necessary analysis of these. Most breeders won't. You need to decide what's important to you. At Bluegrace, we do all that, and more.

Unfortunately in recent years it's become increasingly common for health statistics to be falsified. We have seen it happen across a number of breeds including the Portuguese Water dog. Because you can take it any dog for testing, and say it is any dog, the health certificates of some dogs are hardly worth the paper they are written on. I've had discussions with breeders who have dogs get bad hip ratings in one country, and then send those xrays to another country where the system is considered "easier" and have them get a good rating. And what about micro-chipping? Well I've seen wounds from micro chips that have been removed, and I've seen dogs with identical tattoos.

Health Guarantees

Have we replaced puppies? Absolutely. It's a very rare event, but if we believe a dog has been raised correctly (raw diet, and minimal vaccines etc), we will replace a pup. In fact in 2006 we sadly had one of our older dogs die of cancer. He was nearly 5. Immediately our response was "that's far too early to die, we've got a pup from our current litter that we will send to you." He was replaced for free. If you would like his contact details to liaise with him directly, we are more than happy to link you up with this family. This is how we act.

I've seen for myself breeders who are happy to slander other breeders yet will not even offer any sort of health guarantee. I've personally experienced outrage from breeders when asked what their health guarantees are (innocent question I thought!), and tried alternative ways to find out, all to no avail! Why is it that breeders don't like answering this question, and will take the opportunity to bad mouth other breeders when asked?

Ask questions before you start. Let's give you a list:

• How many puppies have you bred (there are some very inexperienced pwd breeders out there, although this is not necessarily an indicator of anything, other than you deciding what level of experience will serve you best)
• What sort of health issues exist in your lines (if they say "none" then you must AVOID those breeders. There are health issues in everyone's lines. What you're looking for here is a truthful answer. Remember there are over 300 documented diseases in dogs most of which have a genetic component.)
• What sort of health problems could I realistically expect in this pup's life time? (let's be real here, if your dog goes through life without a sniffle, that would be extraordinarily rare)
• What sort of health guarantee do you offer? (It should be a minimum of 2 years)
• Down the track, which health issues are you going to focus on? (this should give you some idea of strategic direction)
• What trips have you made overseas to look at the breed? (this will give you a very good indication of their personal commitment to learning, and is especially important for any breeder in this country)
• Who are your mentors? (We will give you a list of breeders in this country who we will recommend that we have mentored. You should cross reference your information with us first.)

Look for a breeder with a history of looking after their puppy people, as being the best way forward. Unfortunately there will always be people who void the health guarantees offered by their breeder, and then want to turn around and blame the breeder. Find a breeder that has a health clause that you can live with.

If the breeder is not going to be clear and upfront in the very first conversation you have with them about health guarantee, walk away or hang up the phone as quickly as possible! Click here for a list of breeders where I live who have connections with us and are upfront with their health guarantees. Whilst some of these people do not have puppies available, they will talk through issues with you, no problem.

And always be aware of the breeder who likes to badmouth others. You can guarantee they have "skeletons in the closet". And if you find a breeder who wants to bad mouth us, drop us a line or email us, and we'll be more than happy to liaise with you.

Beware, there are an increasing number of people in PWD's who have little to none experience with breeding PWD's and who have very poor support mechanisms. We have a number of quality people with our dogs which we believe are good enough to breed from, and they come under our mentoring and support network. There are some which we have recommended that they do not form part of the breeding program. The lovely Jed (Ch Bluegrace Captain Hook) for example, will shortly be desexed, never to be bred from. We have now had siblings of this dog contract Addison's Disease, and in addition, an aggressive form of cancer leading to early fatality. Given the risks in the line, I don't recommend breedings from that line, and in fact Ch Bluegrace Aunty Tess (an outstanding bitch and Australia's first home bred pwd Champion) was desexed after this litter never to be bred from again.

Temperament and Health

Dogs with links to poor temperament, in our opinion, and that of some others in the breed, believe that such not be used in any breeding program. Apart from the temperament issues which have a genetic component, there are also a couple of worrisome diseases which have popped up into littermates here, which have resulted in expensive and terminal conditions.

One of the issues we are looking into at the moment is pulmonary hypertension. If you have any information regarding this condition, we would love to hear from you.

Can breed clubs and canine associations help?

Even if they did require this of members, it's too late for your dog if it gets a serious issue.

Look for breeders and breed clubs that recommend a raw diet. We are certainly pushing our Canine Association to look again at their support of aggressive vaccination schedules and their support of commercial diets.

However, remember, our vet associations currently have as their major sponsors pharmaceutical companies and pet food manufacturers, and it seems they find this financial support more important that the actual health of your pet.

Injury alert

Wooden internal floors in houses and slippery tiles are no friend to your dog. Some dogs will actually develop long term strain to their backs and limbs as their bodies attempt to gain traction to the floors. And you can see this when they walk.

We do use the services of an excellent canine manipulator in Melbourne, and can give you her details (in fact, we include a free first visit when you get your pup from us), but we'd prefer to not have the injury happen in the first place, of course.

Hot weather alert!

We leave several wading pools around (not near small children of course!) in the shade that the dogs can access to cool down.

Older Dogs

Health register

Overall, it's been interesting to watch the progress of each litter. The worse litter by far, in terms of health issues produced is that of the "C" litter. That litter was produced several years ago, but has seen more health issues in it, including two early deaths than any other litter. This is why dogs such as Jed (Ch Bluegrace Captain Hook) will never be bred from. Apart from the poor health issues, there were several dogs in the litter with "soft" temperaments. It should come as no surprise that the only case we've ever had of Addison's disease has been from the "C" litter (with that owner offered another pup). Feel free to email me to discuss the link between "soft" temperament and Addison's disease. Given the genetic inheritance mode now recognised for this disease, it's important to be extremely wary around this.

We take a lot of other measurements. Temperament, for example, is something we consider as important as health (see note above regarding the link between Addison's disease and temperament). Indeed, it is one of the four pillars that upholds the platform of the quality of our dogs. To this end we spend a lot of time on developing and measuring temperament development, and place puppies with temperament being of primary concern.

We xray the hips of our dogs and have had no incidence of Hip Dysplasia in puppies we have bred. Our current stud dog has an "A" rating for PRA, and we have increasing numbers of quality dogs who are also "A" rated. We are endeavouring to breed "typey" dogs (ie: dogs that look like a PWD), with the desired health ratings we are looking for. It is a long hard road, and our quality in both health stats and type is improving all the time. Our dogs are the top winning PWD's at the Australian Royal Shows around the country. We also track show wins as part of our overall database.

Not only are we doing hip xrays, but we have recently introduced elbow xrays as well to ensure all is on track. As expected, our results in this area so far are fabulous. If you visit us, you are welcome yourself to view the xrays.

You are welcome to view our health register at any time when you visit us. Feel free to contact us for access to this information.

We have one of the most comprehensive health and pedigree databases you will find.

As stated previously, let's be realistic. Only a small number of health tests exist. I personally believe the biggest risks do not come from disease for which health tests exist. The biggest risks come from areas for which there aren't yet health tests. And for the puppy buyer, you need to find a breeder like us, that will tell you something like this, "We hope those issues aren't in our lines. However, if they do come up, you will get our support. We need you to follow our health requirements by feeding a raw diet, etc. We are more than prepared to replace puppies down the track if the unexpected happens." You must meet our conditions and keep us informed at all times.

Some breeders will shrug their shoulders and place their hands in the air as if to say, "well I can't control everything." Sure, we recognise this, but what the puppy buyer wants is some reassurance that the breeder will be there in the long term and has a history of doing so.

Our latest addition to our database is to track the changes in health resulting from a change in diet to our bitches before pregnancy, during, and after pregnancy. Our hypothesis is that there is a relationship between some health issues and the amount of chicken in the diet. Time will tell whether we can prove or disprove our hypothesis, and we will report on outcomes. Preliminary results are already in, but lack statistical significance (we want N to be larger at this point), although anecdotally the data is promising so far. We are always looking for ways to improve our health, and are happy to receive suggestions.

One thing we will never do - fundamentally compromise the health of our Portuguese Water Dogs by feeding a commercial diet to them. This is unforgiveable in this day and age, especially in Australia where there is so much health information regarding poor diet, and significantly less influence from sales reps that work for opportunitistic pet food companies who are prepared to daily compromise the health and life of your dog for their own profit.

We look forward to the day when commercial pet food manufacturers have to put health warnings on their products just like tobacco manufacturers.

Current health investigations

Latest health results

Bluegrace Ice Man, known as Ice, has also been tested. He's the first dog we've got where I've managed to scan his xrays to put on this site. Check this:

Pearl has just been rated an A for PRA, as has Chester. Chester is now in his new home in South Australia. Both Mojo and Sydney have also rated A for PRA. Prelim hip xrays will be done shortly.

Rose (Bluegrace Getting Wet), A rated for PRA, has also got her hip and elbow results, and they have come back fantastic!

Justice (Bluegrace Justice) is the next dog we are looking at getting results on, and we are now investigating whether the Penn Hip system gives a more accurate reading. Hang on for more information as we learn more about this.

Karlyermai Kennels, who have dogs exclusively from our lines, have just reported outstanding hip and elbow results on some of their youngsters. Paddy has just come back with a 3 and 1 rating on her hips, which is the equivalent of "excellent" rating.

If you would like copies of our hip xrays, you need to let us know in advance. You will need to pay for the costs associated with getting these copies. We are more than willing for any one to get copies. In fact, we're happy to get updated xrays of our dogs hips and elbows at any time. Let us know which dog and when and we can organise that, as soon as you've sent us the check to cover the costs. Or, if you are happy with the scans above, we will dig out our old xrays and put them on the site as well. Let us know if that is useful.

All this information has been recorded on our health database. Remember, if you visit us, you can get access to all our data.

Latest health news

It appears now that there is less and less Addison's disease within the breed (I stand to be corrected on it though!). For puppy people, it is important you ask breeders where their dogs stand with this disease. There is no health test for Addison's which will show you that someone's lines are free of it. Regardless of the history that the breeder tells you about, make sure that your breeder will offer a comprehensive health guarantee and include this disease under their umbrella of coverage.

As stated above, we are about to start putting our dogs with the Penn Hip scheme for Hip ratings. We'll publish the results here and let you know how it compares with the old scheme.

We are now working with an opthamologist to assess the eyes of our dogs to work with changes. Contact us for more information on this.