Primordial dwarfism is appearing at the Saarlooswolfdog.
The disease is coming from the German shepherd. The German shepherd and the wolf are the grandparents of the Saarlooswolfdog.
Luckily by taking a blood monster we can test if the dog is a carrier of this disease.
Dwarfs can only be born if both parents are carries.
That makes that if one of the parents is free, only free dogs or carriers can be born.
It is very important to test on this disease sot that we can breed away this disease in a number of years.
A lot of time seems necessary before no carriers are left because we are not able to except all the current carriers and keep on breeding.
The reason therefore is that a lot of inbreeding would occur.
Also, we cannot be sure that the disease in a line doesn’t exist if we don’t test.
In the breeding advise of the AVLS is stated that breeding is only allowed with free parents or with a free parent and a parent who is a carrier.
More information about Primordial dwarfism can be found here
For one of the AVLS breeders, the test came a few months too late but hopefully this breeder has the last dwarf.
She tells about her experiences and gives information about primordial dwarfism. Please see
villa della lupa
