Maks is one of a small number of Dalmatians worldwide that carries two copies of the desirable SLC2A9 gene therefore every puppy he produces will have one copy of the gene and therefore Low Uric Acid (LUA)! Emily has one copy of the LUA gene so we expect some of these puppies to have two copies! This beautiful litter is the result of breeding an outcrossed female back to her sire. I believe that homozygous puppies from this litter will be very useful in incorporating the LUA gene in other bloodlines. They are very healthy and consistent.



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Day Twenty Three

Today I feel optimistic that all nine puppies can hear! At this point in time the best you can hope for is a hearing response. It is too early to know if they all hear bilaterally or not but the fact that the all hear in at least one ear is very good news. I usually don't have deaf puppies but anytime you are dealing with  animals with the piebald gene deafness can occur. There are tools breeders can use to greatly reduce the number of deaf ears they produce. Breeders can choose not to breed blue eyed dogs or dogs that are unilaterally deaf. Breeders can choose to eliminate dogs that have unpigmented tapedum (a layer of tissue behind the retina) from their breeding animals and breeders can choose to breed good quality patched dogs on occasion.  Deafness and urate stones are the two biggest health issues in the Dalmatian breed. As a breeder I feel it is my responsibility to the breed of dogs I have shared my life with to do all in my power to eliminate or vastly reduce the number of puppies that have either issue. I wont know with 100% certainty that all ears hear until the puppies have their BAER hearing test on October 24th. I will have a very good idea of the hearing status of each puppy well before then though.

The puppies ate very well today and are getting very playful.

 After they ate they all were very playful but they all managed to potty on the paper before they went back in to the nest!


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