Great Dane Breed Council

Great Dane genetic tests are available from Laboklin laboratories address 125 Northenden Road, Sale, Manchester M33 3HF Tel: 0161 282 3066, their website is at  www.laboklin.co.uk or they can be emailed at info@laboklin.co.uk

Volunteers are still needed for our research into dilated cardiomyopathy in Great Danes at The University of Liverpool.

We are screening from 4 years – so if you have a Dane 4 years or older WE NEED YOU!!

A contribution of £50 towards all tests is required by the owner on the first visit.

We are also sending out Holter monitors to be fitted to some dogs 1 year or older. This is an EGC monitor (not the same as a heart scan). This will provide us with much needed information about arrhythmias (palpitations) in Danes.

This Project has the support of your Breed Council and Breed Clubs.

For further information or to book an appointment contact:

Joan Toohey on 0151 795 6129 (08:00 to 14:00 Mon – Fri).

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) regularly publishes guidelines for the vaccination of Dogs and Cats. Their website can be found at http://www.wsava.org/guidelines/vaccination-guidelines and it also contains a wealth of information on kidney, liver and hereditary diseases.

The Great Dane Breed Council has recently received a certificate from the Animal Health Trust confirming our contribution to the Genome project and can be viewed here

On the 25th January the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the Animal Health Trust launched the “Give a Dog a Genome” project and we are pleased to announce that our application to be included has been accepted. The £1000 donation for each breed is being matched by the Kennel Club. All nine Breed Clubs are fully supporting this research to create the UK’s largest Genome bank. This will be of considerable help in the understanding of the canine genome and improve canine health.

The aim is to sequence the entire genomes (consisting of 2.4 billion DNA letters) of 50 different breeds by the end of 2016. The Health sub-committee made its initial enquiry to the AHT in mid-February, securing a place subject to receipt of the donation. The uptake in the project by breeds has been extremely quick. The £1000 donation money came from the Breed Council (8 clubs) and the Great Dane Breeders and Owners. There are now over 70 breeds who have applied to join and in addition to the original 50 required, the AHT hope to move forward in 2017 with a further 25. It is understood that we are included in the first 50 to be sequenced.

For more information it is suggested that you visit the AHT website at www.aht.org.uk/gdg

We have received the following from Trish Neill of the Great Dane Lovers Association of Western Australia about a health and lifestyle survey she has carried out and published in July 2015.

“We conducted a broad spectrum health & lifestyle prevalence survey on 1,165 pure bred Great Danes in Australia. The population has already contributed to a number of clinical studies including one being carried out in the UK on Osteosarcoma. I am very excited that we now have the opportunity to contribute to some breed specific projects in Australia around key issues. As these commence we will be sharing more information. It is early days as we have only just met with the key scientist”.

It looks like a great deal of hard work has gone into producing it and our thanks must go to Trish for giving us access to her report which is available for download from

www.australiangreatdanehealthsurvey.com