Changes come into effect from January 2015
Lafora DNA testing will be an assured breeder scheme requirement for miniature wirehaired dachshunds from 2015, the Dachshund Breed Council has announced.
The change is effective from January 1, 2015 and Assured Breeders have a period of grace of six months in order to come into line with these new requirements and/or recommendations.
The Dachshund Breed Council say that there is now "no excuse for ANY breeder to say 'its not a big problem and the test is just recommendation'".
The Kennel Club are expected to announce full details of the changes shortly.
The Lafora Screening Test analysed the latest set of litter registrations from the Kennel Club's Breed Records Supplement.
In the Autumn 2014 quarter, 67 per cent of litters bred were "safe" (i.e. will not contain affected puppies). The Dachshund Breed Council's probability model suggests that, of the 184 puppies born in the quarter, five can be expected to have Lafora's disease.
The model predicts that 45 affected puppies will have been bred in the last two years by people either not using the available test, or mating unsafe combinations of tested and untested dogs.
Image (C) Dachshund Breed Council
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