GENERAL SUMMARY

The past year has been a particularly momentous one on the health front, which has provided the English Springer Spaniel Breed Clubs with their greatest challenges to date. Nonetheless, through a proactive and unified approach, a great deal has been achieved on health and welfare issues of which the Breed can be justly proud.

In August 2008, the television programme “Pedigree Dogs Exposed” was broadcast. It appeared to lay much of the blame for the ills of pedigree dogs on those who breed dogs for their appearance (i.e. for the show ring), allegedly at the expense of their health and welfare.

Whilst the vast majority of the 209 KC recognised breeds in the UK are generally healthy, the door to damaging media publicity was left open by a small minority of breeds (and breeders) in which there were serious and genuine health issues that, over many years, had not been properly recognised and addressed.

The Kennel Club have, since August 2008, issued a mass of new guidelines and regulations, which included a review of every Breed Standard, a new for all Breed Clubs, and a Health Plan for every Breed.

With regard to the for the ESS, no changes were deemed by the KC to be necessary, as they did not consider that it encourages traits which may be perceived as “exaggerated” or detrimental to the structure, appearance or health of the dog.

The KC Mandatory Code of Ethics produced a “one size fits all” Code, with a watered down set of clauses that fell far short of the much more stringent ones used for many years by many of the Breed Clubs. Should they wish to do so, each individual ESS Breed Club will submit their own additional clauses to the KC for inclusion with the Kennel Club’s Mandatory Code of Ethics.
The “Health Plan” sent out to the Breed Clubs by the KC in December 2008 was intended to be breed specific and included a list of diseases and conditions “known to exist” in English Springer Spaniels. Sadly, the list bore very little resemblance to anything that might be considered useful. The KC’s information was extracted from three sources:

(a) The KC/BSAVA Pure Bred Dog Health Survey (2004) – The only disease listed was “Cancer”, considered to be a higher than average risk in ESS (although it failed to indicate which type, and is therefore of little value. In addition, the number of responses to the survey was extremely small and unrepresentative).
(b) Data from insurance claims covered by The KC Healthcare Plan over the last 5 years – This listed “gastroenteritis” and “traumatic wound/injury” as the most common claims. Both are considered to be a “normal” consequence of everyday living and are of no use to the Breed in highlighting inherited diseases worthy of further examination.
(c) Conditions relating to ESS that have been the subject of academic scientific literature – Many of these were so obscure that their relevance is, to say the least, is dubious.

More worrying than those diseases that were listed, are those that were not. Even diseases included within the KC’s own schedules under their official testing schemes were omitted, such as Hip Dysplasia, PRA and Goniodysgenesis/Primary Glaucoma. Most alarming of all, the single most important disease highlighted as a concern to the Breed in recent times, i.e. Chronic Hepatitis, was not listed anywhere at all.

A response to the KC Health Plan (Addendum A) was compiled by the Health Co-ordinators on behalf of all the Breed Clubs and sent to The Kennel Club. On the KC’s request, a list of the conditions currently of most concern to the Breed, in perceived order of importance, was submitted as follows:

In their response to The KC Health Plan, all eight UK ESS Breed Clubs confirmed that it is their intention to continue their unified approach to all health issues affecting the Breed, through their two appointed Health Co-ordinators, who act jointly and equally on their behalf. This structure has been in place since 1999 and provides an effective means of identifying, monitoring, communicating and reporting on all ESS health matters. The Health Co-ordinators provide a central focal point, which is widely known, streamlined and, most importantly, guarantees confidentiality. They have developed strong collaborative relationships with vets, referral clinicians, researchers, professional organisations and regulatory bodies, both within the UK and worldwide. The current widespread support of the ongoing study into canine Chronic Hepatitis at the University of Cambridge is a prime example of such efforts in practice.

It is the overall aim of the ESS Breed Clubs to continue to promote the health and welfare of English Springer Spaniels as fit for purpose, whether as a companion, show or working dog. A Joint ESS Breed Clubs’ Mission Statement (Addendum B) was issued in February 2009. It has been published on Breed Club websites and in the Dog Press, and is available to all ESS owners and breeders who wish to display it on their websites.

The ESS Breed Clubs have also made joint submissions to both The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) (Addendum C) and the KC/Dogs Trust Independent Inquiry (still presently in draft format). As the English Springer Spaniel is numerically the 3rd most popular KC registered breed in the UK, the ESS Breed Clubs felt it important that their opinions and views were heard and hopefully taken into consideration.

OTHER IMPORTANT KC ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. The KC will refuse to register puppies that are born from any mother/son, father/daughter or brother/sister mating, taking place on or after 1st March 2009. Departures from this principle will only be made in exceptional circumstances or for scientifically proven welfare reasons.

2. From January 2010, all dog owners and breeders will be required to permanently identify their dogs, via microchip or tattoo, in order to participate in the official Kennel Club/British Veterinary Association health schemes for Eye Disease and Hip and Elbow Dysplasia.

UPDATED SUMMARY OF ONGOING ESS HEALTH ISSUES – 2009

· CHRONIC HEPATITIS

The full-scale research project into chronic hepatitis in ESS began in April 2008 under Principal Researcher, Penny Watson, and her Assistant, Nick Bexfield. Although the cause of the disease is not yet known, progress has been promising. Genetic studies have now begun to try to ascertain whether there is any inherited basis or tendency. Pedigrees have already been collected from a number of ‘affected’ dogs, and the researchers still very much want to hear from owners (or their Vets) of any other ESS with hepatitis who have not yet contacted them. Tel: 01223 337621 Email:

In order to progress with their genetic studies, an appeal has been launched for “control” blood samples and five generation pedigrees from unaffected ESS (dogs and bitches) that are clinically normal. To be classed as ‘normal’, an ESS needs to be 7 years or older in age and never to have suffered from hepatitis. In return, the Cambridge team will carry out a free ‘liver screen’ on every donated blood sample. Any Veterinary costs incurred in taking these samples will also be fully re-imbursed.

Funding for Nick Bexfield’s role as full-time researcher is secure for the proposed remaining two years of the project. Other applications for major funding have been submitted and results are still awaited. A fund for additional voluntary donations has been set up within the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, which has been ring-fenced specifically for the hepatitis research project. Significant donations have already been received, the largest of which is a sum of £5,000 from English Springer Spaniel Welfare. Any donations should be sent to:
Cas Oakes, Charitable Trust Administrator, The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, 1-5 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, London W1J 8AB with a covering letter requesting that the donation should be added to the ESS Hepatitis Research Project ring-fenced fund.

· GONIODYSGENESIS/PRIMARY GLAUCOMA

On January 1st 2009, Goniodysgenesis in the ESS was moved to Schedule A of the KC/BVA/ISDS Eye Scheme, whereby test results (“Affected” or “Unaffected”) are automatically recorded on registrations and published by the KC.

A number of breeders have expressed concern about the possibility of conflicting diagnoses in those dogs that fall into the borderline area between “Affected” and “Unaffected”. It has to be accepted that, unlike DNA tests, gonioscopy involves an unavoidable element of subjective interpretation. In the small minority of “borderline” cases, where the owner is unhappy with the diagnosis, they are advised to use the formal Appeals Procedure available to them.

The BVA has confirmed that gonioscopy tests carried out before 1st January 2009, under Schedule B, cannot be treated as retrospective Schedule A results (i.e. they cannot be used for recording on registrations and publication by the KC). Owners wishing to have their dogs’ results recorded and published by the KC have been advised to have them re-tested under Schedule A at the full cost. Given that these owners originally undertook gonioscopy in good faith on the basis that it is intended as a one-off test in ESS, the current situation is considered by many to be unsatisfactory. The ESS Breed Clubs’ Health Co-ordinators are continuing discussions with the KC and BVA to explore ways of resolving this issue.

· PRA (CORD1 MUTATION)

A DNA test for the Cord1 PRA mutation has been available since April 2007, and ESS breeders are advised to make use of this test. Cord1 is currently the only genetic mutation that has been identified as a major risk factor for PRA in ESS. Clinical eye testing remains the only way of diagnosing all forms of PRA that may exist in the Breed, but it is only for the Cord1 mutation that hidden “carriers” can currently be identified.

Figures released by the Animal Health Trust show that a total of 172 English Springers have been DNA tested for the PRA Cord1 mutation between April 2007 (when the test became available) and December 2008. Of these, 42 dogs were UK registered, 130 were non-UK registered. The breakdown of results is as follows:

Normal Carrier Affected

UK Registered 31 (73.8%) 9 (21.4%) 2 (4.8%)
Non-UK Registered 78 (60%) 4 4 (33.8%) 8 (6.2%)

Although less than 25% of the total number of dogs tested are UK registered, it can be noted that the carrier rate is significantly higher in the non-UK registered dogs. One possibility is that their gene pool includes more bloodlines from the USA, where the carrier rate is higher than in the UK.

Further research is attempting to understand why the age of onset of Cord1 PRA varies so greatly, and why some dogs found to be genetically affected for this mutation never clinically develop PRA during their lifetimes. For this research to progress, an appeal has been made for dogs diagnosed (by DNA test) as genetically affected for Cord1 PRA, but whose diagnosis (by eye examination) shows that they are not clinically affected with PRA.

Ongoing research also aims to identify other PRA mutations that may also exist in ESS. An appeal has been made for dogs that have been diagnosed (by eye examination) as clinically affected with PRA, but which have been found (by DNA test) not to be genetically affected for the Cord1 mutation.

Mandatory Code of Ethics

Breed Standard

1. Chronic Hepatitis
2. Goniodysgenesis/Primary Glaucoma
3. PRA
4. Endocrine Disorders: (Hypothyroidism; Addison’s Disease; Cushing’s Disease)
5. Epilepsy

CLICK HERE TO READ THE APGAW REPORT