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Leonberger provided with Estimated Breeding Values
The new EBVs for the Leonberger will form part of the Kennel Club’s online Mate Select service.

Resource to help tackle hip and elbow dysplasia

The Leonberger has become the latest dog breed to be provided with Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs), an online resource that helps individuals breed away from hip and elbow dysplasia.

EBVs make use of Kennel Club data to link hip and elbow scores for an individual dog, with the available scores of all its relatives. Kennel Club says this provides more accurate measuring genetic risk than by using an individual’s hip scores or elbow grades alone.

The new EBVs for the Leonberger form part of the Kennel Club’s online Mate Select service - a resource that helps people make informed breeding decisions based on data that estimates gentic risk.

“Despite being a numerically small breed, the Leonberger demonstrated high scoring rates, which helped to make the EBVs viable for both traits,” explained Dr Tom Lewis, quantitive geneticist for the Kennel Club. “We hope that anyone breeding pedigree dogs will use Mate Select and that the veterinary community will also encourage breeders to use this resource."

Welcoming the EBV scheme, Sharon Springer, chair of the Leonberger Club of Great Britain said: “As with hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia is an incredibly difficult issue, with many factors involved in the development of a healthy elbow joint, from complex heritability, through to early nutrition, environment, exercise and the risk of early injury to the vulnerable joint.

“EBVs provide us with a much more useful way of assessing the actual genetic risk of breeding from an individual because it factors in the genetic risk of developing a condition throughout the whole line, rather than fixating on one individual alone. With this knowledge, we can make more informed breeding decisions, and prevent the risk of needlessly removing valuable contributions for a wide range of traits from an already declining gene pool.”

EBVs currently exist for 29 breeds including the Airedale Terrier, bearded collie and the Siberian Husky. The Leonberger is the seventh breed to have EBVs for both hip and elbow grades, along with Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, German shepherds, Rottweilers, Bernese mountain dogs and Newfoundlands.

Image (C) Diane Pearce Collection/The Kennel Club.

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Practices urged to audit neutering data

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has called on vet practices to audit their post-operative neutering outcomes.

It follows the release of the 2024 NASAN benchmarking report, which collates data from neutering procedures performed on dogs, cats and rabbits.

The benchmarking report enables practices in the UK and Ireland to compare their post-operative outcomes to the national average. This includes the rate of patients lost to follow-up, which in 2024 increased to 23 per cent.

Anyone from the practice can submit the data using a free template. The deadline for next report is February 2026.

Visit the RCVS Knowledge website to complete an audit. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
New guidance for antibiotic use in rabbits

New best practice guidance on the responsible use of antibiotics in rabbits has been published by the BSAVA in collaboration with the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWA&F).

The guidance is free and has been produced to help veterinary practitioners select the most appropriate antibiotic for rabbits. It covers active substance, dose and route of administration all of which are crucial factors when treating rabbits owing to the risk of enterotoxaemia.

For more information and to access the guide, visit the BSAVALibrary.