Relevance of Health Registries
R. GEORGE PADGETT. By Chris Walkowicz
A true friend of dogs died in December, 2004. Professionally, Dr. Padgett was a professor of pathology at Michigan State University. But he was much more to fanciers and the breeds they love. He frequently gave lectures and also wrote about canine genetics. His acclaimed book, Control of Canine Genetic Diseases stressed breeder responsibility.
He repeatedly said therewas no shame in producing a defectivedog....that the shame lay with thosewho denied defects. His belief was thatevery dog likely carries five or six defective genes. He said, “The only way we are going todo anything with genetic disease is tomake information generally availableto breeders. You have to know whichdog has the genes for what disease. It's as simple as that. Even as we develop more and more DNA tests, we still have to make that information available to the people who are choosing which dogs to breed and buy.”
Dr. Padgett believed that open registries would help improve the future of dogs and the people who own and love them. The advantage of open registries would be to discover which dogs are carriers so that they could be bred to those that are clear of the defect.
“We need to quit whispering about defects, and gossiping about defects, and instead set up a sound program that allows the standard selection procedures to go on so that we breed good dogs and avoid major defects.” Dr. George A. Padgett
Learning from Health Registries.
What we can learn from human registries and why we should want one for Bearded Collies. Elizabeth Coolidge-Stolz, MD. Newsletter, spring 2010. (See p4)
One Breeder’s View of the BeaCon's Open Health Registry. (anonymous). Newsletter, fall 2011. (See p4). “… from my last litter born this year, one puppy has gone to an owner who brought me the last issue of Lighting The Way when she came to pick him up. I've been reading it through and was shocked to see the low number of Beardies entered in the open health registry. That must be only a small fraction of the world’s Beardie population, and the smaller the entry the less it will accurately represent the entire population, so I thought it was high time I added my Beardies and as many as possible of the puppies I have bred. The quality and reliability of the open health registry hugely depends on the number of Beardies entered. “
Human Cancer Registries, how they work.
