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Health in kelpies

Kelpies are a relatively healthy breed - as they are shaped quite like a wolf or a "wild dog" type they do not have breed related problems with breathing, breeding, movement etc as some breeds do. However a few kelpies, both working bred and show or obedience or bench bred have been recorded as having problems with hips, elbows and eyes, amongst other things. Some kelpies also have temperament problems.
 
I do not believe these are major problems in kelpies, but as a responsible breeder I am now screening my dogs for some of these things - how can we know we do not have them in our lines if we do not test?
 
Here are the health results for dogs of my breeding that have been tested:
 
Eyes
 
 
CA
 
(for more details on what the scores mean read below).
 
Ch Callicoma Leica ET HT - Elbows 0:0, Hips 3:4
 
Ch Callicoma Linne HT ET - Elbows 0:0, Hips 0:2
 
Ch Callicoma Lyric HT - Elbows 0:0, Hips 1:3
 
Ch Callicoma Cosmic - Elbows 0:0, Hips 6:7
 
 
Ch Callicoma Maher - Elbows 0:0, Hips 1:1
 
German (VDH) Ch Callicoma Blitzen - Elbows 0, Hips B1 (scored in Germany)
 
Ch Callicoma Blacksmith ET HT - Elbows 0:0, Hips 3:3
 
Ch Callicoma Ruby Red CCD AD JD ET HT - Elbows 0:0, Hips 3:1
 
Ch Callicoma Bronze Beauty - Elbows 0:0, Hips 4:4
 
Tegoura King Othmountn ET - Elbows 0:0, Hips 4:4
 
Callicoma Black Friday - Elbows 0:0, Hips 1:1
 
Ballare Katya - Elbows 0:0, Hips 2:1
 
Elbows in Australia are scored on a scale of 0-5 with the best being 0:0 and the worst being 5:5.
Hips in Australia are scored on a scale of 0 - 53, with the best being 0:0 and the worst being 53:53
 
The breed average for kelpies in Australia varies as more dogs are scored, but is currently around 13 (total score) for hips.
 
 
German (VDH) Ch Callicoma Blitzen - eyes clear (tested in Germany)
 
We do not currently test for eye diseases in kelpies in Australia.
 
 
We can now have our dogs officially temperament tested by Dogs NSW and NSW Department of Local Government accredited testers.
 
So far I have had five dogs tested and all passed:
 
 
 
 
 
 
The temperament test involves scary situations, loud noises, different surfaces to walk over, meeting people, being patted etc and the dogs are marked on how well they cope, that they do not show aggression, do not try to escape and they recover well from frights.
 
 
This horrible degenerative brain disease can affect even new born pups. It is a recessive gene that can be carried by dogs that show no signs. It is getting quite common in the working kelpies, but I have only heard of a few show kelpies with it so far. At this stage it is not possible to test for CA, but a study at University of NSW is being undertaken to try to find a genetic marker. Blood from many of my dogs has been made available to the study so hopefully soon I will have proof for my belief that my dogs do not carry CA.