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‘Hereditary clear’ status to be limited to two generations
The change "ensures that breeders can remain confident that the puppies they produce remain free from disease".

Change will support the eradication of health conditions

The Kennel Club has announced plans to limit the assignment of ‘hereditary clear’ status of registered dogs to two generations.

The change, which comes into force in January 2022, will be put in place to safeguard the impact that dogs with an incorrect ‘hereditary’ clear status could have on health issues within breeds.

The decision follows the recommendation of the Dog Health Group after a study published in the journal Canine Genetics and Epidemiology.

“Kennel Club advice has always been that even apparently ‘clear’ lines should be retested every few generations,” explained Kennel Club genetics and research manager Dr Tom Lewis.

“This change to hereditary status reinforces that view and ensures that breeders can remain confident that the puppies they produce remain free from disease. DNA tests are helping breeders eradicate health issues in dogs and we want our registration system to maximise the impact these tests are having.”


‘Hereditary clear’ is a term given to dogs that are determined to be free of specific genetic material linked to a particular inherited disease. The Kennel Club assigns a dog this status if its parents are known to be clear, either because they have both been DNA tested as clear, or because they are hereditary clear themselves.

Dogs can be mistakenly given a false hereditary clear status if there has been a failure of laboratory protocols, pedigree errors or incorrectly recorded parentage. In these cases, it is unlikely that inaccuracies would be noticed straight away, but rather several generations later.

As a result, many dogs throughout the breed descended from the individual with the original incorrect status will also have erroneous hereditary status, and the well-intended mating of two 'hereditary clear' dogs risks producing affected puppies.

To reduce the knock-on effect of such errors, the Kennel Club will be ensuring that ‘hereditary clear status’ will be limited to two generations unless lineage is verified by DNA parentage profiling recorded by the Kennel Club.

DNA parentage profiling is a separate procedure to screen DNA for disease-causing mutations, but can often be performed simultaneously by the same laboratory.

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Vets to run marathon for World Animal Protection

News Story 1
 Two recently graduated veterinary surgeons will be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the charity World Animal Protection.

Alex Bartlett and Maeve O'Neill plan to run the race together if they are given the same start times.

Dr O'Neill said: "You're always limited in what you can do to help animals, so it is nice to raise money for a charity that helps animals around the world."

Dr Bartlett added: "I have never run a marathon before and am excited to run my first one for such a good cause!"

Both Dr Bartlett and Dr O'Neill have fundraising pages online. 

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News Shorts
BSAVA releases new Guide to Procedures

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has published a new edition of its Guide to Procedures for Small Animal Practice.

It has added four new procedures; cystostomy tube placement, endotracheal intubation, point-of-care ultrasound and wet-to-dry dressings.

BSAVA says that it is an essential step-by-step guide to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in practice. The textbook includes new images and illustrations, as well as high-definition videos for use prior to procedures.

Nick Bexfield and Julia Riggs, editors of the new edition, said: "We have built upon the success of the previous editions by responding to the feedback received from the BSAVA readership, and hope this new guide helps to further increase the confidence and accuracy with which these procedures are performed."

Print copies are available in the BSAVA store, with a digital version in the BSAVA library.