Considering a Golden Retriever: A Technical Health & Genetic Guide

A Golden Retriever vs. a Designer Mix

These days, designer dogs are popular and some breeders have convinced the public that outcrossing is better than line breeding. If you’re not running a thoughtful breeding program, then after a few years you are in fact line breeding and sometimes even inbreeding. Without keeping track of which dogs you’re breeding from and registering them, you can run into several issues. Another problem is that many reputable Golden breeders are not willing to give their excellent dogs to someone who is going to cross them, so they often are left to breed with less favourable Goldens and same with the Poodles that are used in a Doodle mix. Also, this means the breeder truly needs to be an expert on the genetics of both breeds.

Understanding Genetics and Health Testing in Dogs

There are dominant disorders like Pigmentary Uveitus (PU) that arise from just one dominant gene. These dogs develop glaucoma and must have their eyes removed at a young age 5 to 7 yrs old. The drops given to slow down the effects of PU are very expensive - in the range of $300+ a month with no guarantee of success. If one parent is a carrier for PU, a large proportion of the litter will be affected. Most people don’t have an ophthalmologist look at their dog’s eyes until the eyes start to tear - at this point, it’s already too late. Inevitably, this dog is now years past a health guarantee provided by the breeder. You must ask these questions to avoid certain breeders who are not concerned about issues that you and your pup will run into later, down the line. Excellent breeders are not saving costs by avoiding annual eye checks or avoiding tattooing or microchipping of their breeding dogs. 

The best way to generate change in the industry is for consumers to educate themselves and then approach breeders by asking the right questions. The best site for this is OFA. This site may be full of jargon and was designed for breeders, but understanding these health tests is important for asking the right questions. 

A Tangible Example of Health Testing in Dogs

GR-EL66201F24-P-VPI

GR for the breed, C for cardiac, ACA advance cardiac, H for Hips El for elbows, EYE for eyes. GR-EL code for this test F for female 24 for the months at the time of testing.

P is for physical restraint (some dogs need to be sedated which affects results in hips and elbows) 
VPI (Verified Permanent Identification) is the most important because it means the vet verified the identity of the dogs by checking papers and microchips or tattooing on the dog.  Many breeds like Golden are not easily identified, so others may be tested in their place to use their results instead of the actual parent being bred.
Note: Unfortunately, breeders can be disingenuous - say for examples, a stud with perfect hips (only 10% of Goldens get OFA Excellent) with no or a difficult to read tattoo could be used for X-rays with some other dogs’ remaining papers to fake the results when that dog is not in fact the dog that was bred.

Next, one needs to know how to interpret the clearance numbers.  This is the link on OFA.

Evolving Health Testing in Breeding

Changes to the Golden Retriever world are expected soon, so stay updated on recommended health testing. It’s expected that soon heart clearances will be required yearly just like eyes. Then, research needs to be done to determine if the late onset cardio problem was due to grain free food or more likely, a genetic problem.

What to Look For When Shopping for a Pup

My recommendation would be to obtain the registered names and health clearances before putting a deposit down. You may also want to check OFA to see how many dogs from that breeding program have been cleared over the years. 

When the parents all have CHIC number prior to breeding, this means all clearances required by the breed club have been achieved. Here’s a reference point to put things into perspective for the average puppy shopper:

If a breeder says that they have 15 dogs and have been breeding for 25 years, you would expect to see at least 30-40 dogs listed with 1 out of 3 reaching the CHIC level of clearance. You may expect clearance to be lower in breeds like Bulldogs - 1 out 5 might pass the test. And, you would expect in Huskies for 1 out of 2 to pass all tests.

And, if you see only 4 or 5 dogs listed and only 1 or 2 CHIC numbered, then you should have lots of questions. For show dog breeders with similar results, it’s very possible these breeders focus on ribbons and wins over the health of their dogs. 

I recently gave a friend similar advice. She got a pup out of champion Bernese Mountain Dog line. By 6 months old, this pup was totally crippled. This particular Bernese breeder had over 25 champions listed on her site and the only one with real clearances was the stud dog which was imported from overseas. The dogs were very pretty but not very healthy.

The breeder was unreachable and did nothing to amend the situation. This is always a red flag.

Canada has problems with fake clearances and switching dogs and the only way to stop this is to educate people on how to catch these bad breeders. Being registered with the CKC or being active in the show dog world does not mean that these problems don’t persist. 

Good luck in your research for a healthy, happy pup!