Chondrodysplasia

[LENA-SETTER]

Somebody knows about cases of this disease among the Irish setters?

[Margaret Sierakowski]

You might have to go back to the 1960s to find any shared ancestry with the affected setters in Scandinavia.
As it happens , we have some of the same dogs in IRWS ancestry, but as far as I know , dwarfism has never shown up in IRWS

[Bogacheva Elena]

On the Russian and Baltic lines all dogs of the Russian breeding. Only two dogs from Germany have been entered into these genealogical Ulja R 60/51 D and Flott R 54/69 D. There isn't present Moanruad . But we have other dogs which bear blood of dogs from Ireland in our club.

[Margaret Sierakowski]

Isnt Flott a descendant of Charly von Royal , who was from Moanruad breeding, and goes back to Moanruad Dan (sire of Moanruad Raff) ? This from memory, so could be wrong?

[Bogacheva Elena]

Thanks, Margaret. But isn't present. Flott approximately 1955 year of birth, it was earlier. Blood Moanruad have got to Russia through dogs Brumley‛s, Telma ( Charly von Royal X Brumley‛s Mona Liza),
Topaz von der Kreuzmühle(Moanrud Nimbus), Dean an der Klosterforte(Moanrud Nimbus) - Germany, Ellis Della Ventana (Moanruad Sea Sand 092497 Х Fiona делла Gardellino) -Italy and one dog from France Rokki.... (I do not remember name) . And certainly my favourite it is red white setters. Therefore I am grateful to you for the information on Moanruad.

[Margaret Sierakowski]

Perhaps first you need a definite diagnosis of what is wrong with this puppy
Then start to trace any other affected dogs and build a pedigree to see how they are related
It owuld also help you to get in touch with the people in Sweden/Norway/Finland who were involved with identifying the problem there

I'm sure I remember that a few years ago there was more information available about the affected Irish Setters in Scandinavia, including names of dog and pedigrees. And there was discussion on lists. Curiously most of this information seems to have disappeared
From memory, I seem to recollect that the pedigrees led back to a particular Moanruad dog imported from Ireland, I'm reluctant to put his name on this list in case my memory is faulty

[Susan Stone]

I agree, the diagnosis should be confirmed.

[Margaret Sierakowski]

I found this old post in the archives of the now defunct working-setters list
I know I shouldnt crosspost without permission but this list has been dead for years
There was quite a lot of discussion here around 2001-2

Hypochondroplastic dwarfism in
The Irish setter

Two test matings in the Irish setter were performed, and genetic,
clinical, morphometric, radiographic, bone histological and plasma and
urine biochemical features of dwarfism were studied. All offspring were
phenotypically normal at birth and weaning, but at the age of 2-5 to 4
months the longitudinal growth of the spine and leg bones was retarded
in the dwarfs compared with the normal littermates. Most dwarfs
performed well, even in the field. Radiographic and histological
evaluations revealed a hypochondroplasia. A morphometric diagnostic
method for Irish setter dwarfism was developed. A single autosomal
recessive mode of inheritance was verified.


INTRODUCTION

Dwarfism in Irish setters has been previously described by Hanssen
(1992). Such dwarfs were observed in eight litters, 10 females and one
male. Construction of composite pedigree and statistical analyses
indicated that the mode of inheritance was a simple, autosomal recessive
and that the gene was introduced to Norway by a male imported from
Ireland in 1969. According to breeders, the pups seemed normal at birth
and weaning, but started to develop abnormal body proportions from the
age of three months. The limbs and spine became gradually shorter
compared with normal Irish setters. Because the dwarfs appeared in the
line of Irish setters recruiting the best field trial dogs in Norway, it
was expected that additional dwarfs would follow and result in a problem
in Irish setter breeding. Time has shown this to be true; dwarfs have
appeared from many different parents from the same line during the past
four years, and have also been observed in Sweden and Finland.
The breeding council of the Norwegian Irish setter club decided to ban
male dogs, which had bred dwarfs from further breeding. This generated a
discussion among the members of the club, and some breeders declined to
accept the decision. They argued that an objective method to separate
dwarfs from small, normal Irish setters should be developed, and were
not convinced that the mode of inheritance was a simple, autosomal
recessive because many more females than male dwarfs were observed in
the material of Hanssen (1992) and subsequently.
The Norwegian Irish setter club decided therefore on a test breeding
programme. The objective of this study was to provide evidence as to the
mode of inheritance and to improve the diagnosis of Irish setter
dwarfism by searching for useful plasma and urine biochemical parameters
and by describing its morphometric, clinical, radiographic and bone
histological features.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Breeding and rearing
Two test matings were performed. One dwarf female was mated to a normal
phenotype male, which had previously produced dwarfs with a normal
phenotype female (mating A). From this mating a 50/50 distribution of
normal and dwarf offsprings was expected. Another female dwarf was mated
to a male dwarf (mating B). From this mating all offspring were expected
to be dwarfs.
The females were vaccinated against parvovirus and parainfluenzavirus
(Canlan PP1 Langford Laboratories) a few days after mating and kept in
private homes during pregnancy. Female A delivered her pups at home, but
was moved to a state recognized kennel after one week. Female B was
brought to this kennel one week before expected delivery. The mothers
were fed a chicken based commercial dry feed (Lone Star Precise Growth;
Texas Farm Products) comprising 27 per cent protein, 16 per cent fat and
1713 KJ/100 g metabolisable energy). This feed was also offered to the
pups from three weeks of age.
The pups were individually marked at the day of birth; numbers 1 to 13
for pups from mating A, and numbers 14 to 19 for pups from mating B.
The pups were placed in private homes once they reached five months of
age.