The Czechoslovakian Vlcak Club of America is now "officially recognized by the AKC (not the breed, just the club
)!
As such, we can register our club/breed for participation with the "Canine Health Information Center"
(
http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/chicinfo.html#goals)
Our club will help to set the requirements for dogs to receive their CHIC number - the requirements are breed specific. The tests of the dogs DO NOT need to be good or normal - having a CHIC number simply means the owner has performed the tests and agrees to make the results public. The database is free for OFA and CERF (eye registry in the US) to be entered, for results from other registries, there is a one-time US$25 fee. It is necessary for dogs:
1. To be registered, and with permanent identification (microchip/tattoo)
2. To submit proof of official health results
Here are the health tests we plan to ask for:
Mandatory:
1. Hips (OFA or PennHip - I don't know for sure, but maybe it will be possible for HD results from other countries to be submitted as well)
2. Elbows
3. Degenerative Myelopathy
4. Eyes (Yearly)
Optional/Recommended:
1. Pituitary Dwarfism (only because this is not available in the USA yet, hopefully it will become easier to test for here in the near future, and will become mandatory - but maybe/hopefully the European registry in Holland will help us out for now for people that plan to submit PD results
)
Others that I have considered:
1. Cardiac (do we know if genetic tests are useful for our breed?)
2. Primary Lens Luxation (at least one important stud dog had lens luxation - but I don't know if it was the genetic form)
3. Temperament survey/test (this will need to be developed for the future)
4. Bonitation (something else that will need to be developed for the future - at least in the US)
Am I missing anything? Are there thoughts or ideas?
Marcy