Hereditary Cancer

[Bayoucorgi]

Em mentioned on another thread that my first breed Golden Retrievers seems to have a huge incidence of cancer. It is true. The Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) and others are very concerned about it. The average lifespan of Goldens has dropped from the mid to even late teens to less than 10 years. My last two Goldens died last year. One was 13 and her brother 14. Their mother was 16 and her grandsire was 17 when they passed.

The cancer is one of the reasons I switched breeds. I think Corgis are relatively still a "healthy" breed. Some 30 years ago when I started in Goldens it was a healthy breed. Now it is riddled with CHD, elbow dysplasia, heart defects, eye problems, temperament issues, epilepsy and rage syndrome, and youth cancer.

About 15 years ago Goldens became very popular. They're on every dogfood bag and commercial you can think of. People bred and linebred on a line of dogs with lots of coat and bone that matured young and finished from the puppy class. There was cancer in those genes. It's difficult to find a pedigree without those dogs in it now because they were so widely and indiscriminately used. We kept reading the obits of middle-aged Champions who died of cancer but people kept linebreeding on the name and the fame.

The reason I say this here is to be a bellwether - to reach, teach and preach. Be guardians of your breed. Know the standard and breed toward it. Educate yourself and others. Be realistic and objective about the faults in your individuals and program. Don't just breed to a big winning dog. Breed responsibly. Don't overproduce. Protect what you produce.

I tell everyone I know that corgis are terrible dogs. They bark, shed, chase cats, run around crazy and eat dog toys. Of course they can't believe it because it so obvious that I love this little crooked-legged dog so much. I've only had a Corgi for 8 months. Corgis are very special. They deserve only people who are very special.

[Dillydoodle]

Thank you for posting that- I think it needed to be said - this is why i cringe when people tell me they want to breed their "barely pure-bred" corgi when they have no clue about the lines. I had a feeling that it was over breeding that caused the downfall of the Golden retrievers over all health...but wasnt sure, you know I always look to the foods being fed first, and it just didnt seem to be that easy. I am so saddned about the Goldens and pray that this same thing doesnt happen to the corgis too. Sadly this society is one not to want to have to wait, people are impatient and have to have a cute puppy NOW so they often go on line ordering from puppymills, or puppy brokers ( who get their dogs through puppy mills), petstores, or from back yard breeders who advertise in the local news paper...the more we as a society do this, the more the puppy mills will continue to produce and make money which they DO not put back into their dogs...they dont care about health, long term breed advancement ...they care about money . wow, stepping off my soap box, sorry for the rant...It is something I am passionate about.

Emilie

[tandemgal]

I hate to hear of the cancer problems, etc. with Goldens now days. The dog our boys grew up with was a wonderful Golden named Tawney. I have talked of her often here - she was 14 when she passed away. For my Sons during their childhood and teenage years we couldn't have ask for a more perfect fit. Even after they moved out the neighborhood children came to play with her. Such a smart and loving pet.

To hear of the downfall of Goldens breaks my heart. Thanks for reminding everyone why responsible breeding is so important Bayoucorgi.

[darci]

Well said.

And a great reminder why reputable breeding is so important.

[corgimom]

We have 5 Golden Retrievers living on my street. With two of them they have that Reddish color coat, almost on the lines of an Irish Setter - that color does not seem right to me, but the owner insists that is the correct color a Golden should be - the others ones are the light colored ones that I would expect to see.

And speaking of cancer, I wonder how much in the environment can affect them. I live in an area with higher breast cancer rates compared to other counties in the state and they think it is from the paper mills around here; makes me wonder if this affects our dogs also.

[tandemgal]

Linda,

our Tawney was well ... tawney color - very much the same shade as Emma. That was one of the things that made me fall in love with her so quickly was the fact Em was the same shade as Tawney and even their coat texture was very similar - at the time Em was a little mini Tawney look alike without the tail...

[Fluffypants]

This is a very good perspective Bayoucorgi, and also a great, concrete example of the thing we debate about here most. I have a feeling it will be referenced often during future discussions!!!

ps - my coworker had a golden, and she died very early from cancer - so sad

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Bayoucorgi

About 15 years ago Goldens became very popular. They're on every dogfood bag and commercial you can think of.

Thank you for your post, it's a good reminder of what popularity does to dog breeds. Not just Goldens but most of the popular breeds have problems due to indescriminate breeding.

I tell everyone I know that corgis are terrible dogs. They bark, shed, chase cats, run around crazy and eat dog toys. Of course they can't believe it because it so obvious that I love this little crooked-legged dog so much. I've only had a Corgi for 8 months. Corgis are very special. They deserve only people who are very special.

Welcome to the LCS! That's the "Lesser Corgi Society" modeled after the Lesser Seattle Socitey.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

Linda - you are on to it. I am sure that the international research into cancer in dogs will come up with environmental issues concerning various pollutions as being a major cause for dogs getting cancer - the larger breeds are always at a greater risk.

[Bayoucorgi]

Michael is right that the damage we've done to our environment is a factor. I am a cancer researcher at a major hospital research institute in the Texas Medical Center. The work I do is all about the genetic code (DNA/RNA) mutations (biomarkers) for cancer. A toxin may have caused the original mutation in an individual (a point mutation), but indiscriminate breeding - when an animal is expressed genetically thoughout the population because it won a lot of prizes, then linebred on the lines that have the point mutation, it increases the incidence of genetic disease in a breed.

This happened in American Quarter horses. There was a horse named Impressive. I saw this horse in person and he wasn't a magnificent individual himself, but he was a magnificent producer. His colts were unbelievable. He and his sons were very widely used in this breed as well as Paints and Appaloosas and other stock horse breeds. Then horses started to suffer convulsions caused by an electrolyte imbalance called HYPP. Pedigree research traced it back to a point mutation in Impressive's dam. By then thousands of horses had HYPP.

When someone thinks their horse, dog, pig, whatever is such a wonderful animal that it should sire a 100 litters per year, they are not thinking about the genetic effect on a breed. When people breed only for looks or to a big name to win, they're part of the problem. In the horse case, they were fortunate to find the specific gene so they could test for it. In cancer and CHD and so many other dog diseases, we cannot test for a gene. We must rely on population genetics and less reliable "phenotype" (what it looks like on an xray). It's the best we can do at this point.