“THE ENTIRE PUREBRED DOG FANCY AND SOMEDAY THE PUREBRED HORSE FANCY WILL BE THANKING THE WORK DONE THIS PAST YEAR AT UC DAVIS...”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Julie has been active in Standard Poo- dles since 1972, producing a first litter in 1976 under the Tiara prefix. All Tiara dogs in her pedigrees today are CHIC des- ignated back to the mid-Eighties. Temper- ament, health and biddable natures are a hallmark of her efforts seen throughout many dog sport venues across the USA. Co-breeder and breeder of two gen- erations of his dam’s side, she achieved a childhood goal of producing the number 1 Poodle 1996 in AKC conformation. This was in concert with owner/co-breeder/ handler Kay Peiser. This handsome dog, one of the top producing sires for the breed named Am Ch Kaylen’s Cadil- lac Style is still today, an honor for Julie to discuss. From that time period of the mid-90s forward, diverse pedigrees for the ben- efit of the gene pool and greater longev- ity in the dogs she produces has been primary focus.
“The majority of the Standard Poodles have the minority of the genetic diversity.” So very much an alert to many. This echoes the warnings of Dr. John Armstrong. Glad- ly there have been a handful of Standard Poodle breeders working to maintain diver- sity in the dogs they are producing hav- ing learned through the teachings at The Canine Diversity Project. The main tool has been coefficient of inbreeding (COI). The Canine Diversity Project website is now re- hosted and available with websearch—it is now history—but gives you an idea where the seed was planted that brings us to the remarkable test now offered since 8 January 2015 for Standard Poodles. Why it is history is that now we have a genome-wide estimate based on DNA! The future has arrived and not just for Standard Poodles. The entire purebred dog fancy and someday the purebred horse fancy will be thanking the work done this past year at UC Davis so that breeders wishing to assist not only the gene pool, but give better chance to producing longer-lived offspring from their breeding stock. This type of testing was in the past only available to scientists/conservationist working to assist wild animal populations or to those doing studies at universities and cost about $7,000. Dr. Pedersen and his team at Davis worked to bring the abil- ity to evaluate DNA in an individual (dog) to just $100! Breeders can now evaluate an entire litter just after microchipping and long before they are assigned new homes/careers. Sorry, there are no litter rates, as the test is set at this price and not available for discount past when a breed has their database building and then the price is $50. CURRENT PARTICIPATING BREEDS • Standard Poodles —Canine Genetic Diversity DNA Test publicly available
8 January 2015. https://www.vgl.ucda- vis.edu/services/dog/GeneticDiversi- tyInStandardPoodles.php • Italian Greyhounds —Canine Genetic Diversity DNA Test publicly available March 2015. https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/ser- vices/dog/GeneticDiversityInItalian- Greyhounds.php • Alaskan Klee Kai —Phase 2 Preliminary results/Research https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/ser- vices/dog/GeneticDiversityinAlas- kanKleeKai.php • Golden Retrievers —Phase 1 Research. https://www.vgl.ucdavis. edu/services/dog/GeneticDiversityIn- GoldenRetrievers.php • Black Russian Terriers —Phase 1 Research. https://www.vgl.ucdavis. edu/services/dog/GeneticDiversityIn- BlackRussianTerriers.php • Akitas —Phase 1 Research. https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/servic- es/dog/GeneticDiversityInAkita.php • Havanese —Serious Inquiry to the Research Congratulations to the dogs and their owners, breeders and their Fancies for this major leap into learning more about what is being produced and how best to breed the best! If your Fancy is interested in participating, here is an outline of the first steps: • Enrolling A Breed — https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/ services/dog/GeneticDiversityEnroll- ment.php • A wonderful slide presentation produced by Natalie Green Tessier concerning the issue at hand. http://poodlesdegrenier.com/genetic- spresentation Thank you to all that work so very hard to preserve the health of your chosen breeds.
264 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , J ULY 2015
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