The Kennel Club is previewing amongst Breed Health Coordinators an evolved version of the Health Standard - which has been reshaped and more than 150 health tests re-categorised, due to the invaluable feedback from, and extensive collaboration with, breed communities, over the summer.
Health testing uptake is not where it needs to be and so in an international first of its kind, the Health Standard – first previewed amongst Breed Health Co-ordinators in June – aims to lay the foundations for change by giving all breeders, regardless of their level of experience, a clear, evidence-based guide about the health tests they should prioritise, prior to breeding.
The priority levels assigned to a health test have now been simplified into two categories, but continues to be based on data, collated over the past decade as part of the Breed Health and Conservation Plans, about how many dogs are affected by a condition and any significant trends.
However, some important amendments have been made as a result of breed community feedback, which are being presented to Breed Health Co-ordinators, alongside a new digital feedback form - which will be an ongoing way for breeders to give valuable feedback relating to the Health Standard, ahead of its launch at the end of the year.
Furthermore, Breed Health Co-ordinators are invited to have their say on the naming of the two health testing categories – formerly ‘essential’ and ‘advisable’. The category names are important to describe and shape behaviours and attitudes in relation to health testing. The
aim is that they clearly tell puppy buyers and breeders new to health testing which tests are absolutely key, whilst recognising breeders who are going above and beyond, by using other important health tests to shape the health of their breed into the future.
The changes to the Health Standard, shaped by Breed Health Co-ordinators, are:
- Removal of the ‘other’ category, which existed for tests where there are gaps in knowledge about a test or condition – the 72 tests formerly in this list have been re-categorised in order to send a strong message about the continued importance of using these tests, which will in turn enable a wider body of data collected, to further understanding of these conditions.
- Low levels of genetic diversity in a breed to no longer be a filter impacting the category status assigned to health tests – The aim is to send a strong message about the importance of carrying out health testing, even where genetic diversity is low. However, The Kennel Club continues to urge breeders to carefully balance the results of health tests against genetic diversity considerations when making breeding
decisions, to ensure the best outcomes for individual litters as well as for breeds as a whole. Further research will be published by The Kennel Club in the coming months that will highlight the genetic diversity challenges faced by breeds and enable discussion of the potential solutions, on a breed-by-breed basis.
- Merging and re-categorising conditions with a genetic correlation – For all relevant breeds, hip and elbow dysplasia -due to the strong genetic correlation between the two conditions – have been assigned the same health category status, in instances where there was a difference. Furthermore, the priority assigned to conditions in breeds with different varieties, who share a common gene pool, have also been aligned.
- Highlight breed club schemes and information outside of those recognised within the Health Standard categories- we recognise the importance of those initiatives co-ordinated by breed clubs, which may not be able to be recognised or formalised as a health scheme or test and have a Health Standard category assigned to them - and so we are providing signposting via an additional list, with links to these schemes, from within the Health Standard document.
Dr Nick Blayney, Chairman of the Health Advisory Group for The Kennel Club, said: “We know that health testing amongst all breeders is not at the level we want it to be and so the aim with the Health Standard is simple – to make doing the right thing easier, by creating an accessible guide to health testing for all breeders, regardless of their experience.
“The Health Standard is a huge piece of work made possible by the partnership between scientists at The Kennel Club and Breed Health Coordinators, not just in recent months but over the past decade. It makes use of the deep and extensive database and analysis carried
out by The Kennel Club and the experience of and data gathering by the breed clubs. It provides a sound and reliable point of reference for anybody wishing to breed responsibility and productively for their breed.”
Use of evidence as the foundation of a fluid Health Standard
The ongoing collation by The Kennel Club of 1.6 million health testing and screening results has contributed significantly to making this project possible, but the Health Standard is a fluid document, based on prevalence and trends data – so individual tests will naturally change
category over time, as new evidence and tests become available.
With thanks to Breed Health Co-ordinators, a number of pieces of peer reviewed evidence not initially available to The Kennel Club have resulted in changes to the category of some tests for 11 breeds.
The Kennel Club warmly welcomes any data on an ongoing basis, which can be submitted for consideration by the Breed Health Co-ordinator and integrated within future analysis as part of this evolving process. In addition, The Kennel Club will carry out a comprehensive five-year annual review of all data and health test categorisations.
Charlotte McNamara, Head of Health & Breeder Development, said: “We are grateful for the time and invaluable feedback provided by voluntary Breed Health Co-ordinators, which has been critical in enabling us to arrive at this reshaped version of the Health Standard. “We want to sincerely thank breed communities for their input so far and we also look forward to seeing the final outcomes of the Breed Health Co-ordinator views on the category names.
“When finalised and launched in December this will be our foundation for building awareness and improvement around the uptake of health testing, which will be monitored closely, in order to reduce the prevalence of disease within pedigree dogs in the future.”
Future developments
Future changes that will come after publication include the evolution of The Kennel Club’s list of recognised DNA tests, to include tests that have been identified as potentially relevant for the breed, but that are not currently recorded. Breed Clubs can submit a request for recognition of new DNA tests via the "application for a new DNA test" form on the Breed Health Co-ordinator portal.
The Kennel Club has also invited additional external including geneticists, epidemiologists and specialist veterinary surgeons to consult on some of the complex areas needing further consideration in future versions of the Health Standard.
Breed communities have their say
Breed Health Co-ordinators will be provided with a form for giving any further input about the Health Standard – and breed communities can contact their Breed Health Co-ordinators for further information or to give feedback. Breed Health Co-ordinators will also be provided with
a link, where they will have until 15 November to vote for their preferred Health Standard category names.