Understanding Health Screening

Like all dog breeds, Poodles and Standard Poodles carry a number of genes which can result in health defects and/or illness. In an attempt to decrease the incidence of these genetic conditions, conscientious breeders do all of the available health screening tests on potential breeding stock in an effort to determine whether their animals carry any of these dreaded diseases. At this point in time however, we do not have tests for many of these diseases, so the health history of the parents, grandparents, and siblings of the potential breeding stock must also be evaluated in order to improve our understanding of the potential genetic load that our breeding stock carries. Each breeder must carefully evaluate the tests and genetic history of their breeding stock to decrease the likelihood of transmitting serious health issues to the next generation of Poodles and Standard Poodles. In addition, each buyer of a puppy must do the same evaluation in order to minimize the chance of purchasing a puppy with a serious hereditary health defect. However, until we have DNA tests for each identified hereditary health defect there can be no guarantee that we are producing entirely disease free dogs.

UPBA Guidelines on Health Screening

The UPBA Code of Ethics requires member breeders to "take all reasonable measures to produce puppies that are physically healthy and temperamentally sound, including doing that phenotypic and genotypic testing which is generally accepted as effective in identifying conditions believed to be hereditary." Getting breeding stock tested is vital, but it is not sufficient alone. It is extremely important to have the results recorded as well. UPBA strongly recommends that every breeder, after completing all available tests on their dogs, have the results registered on the database sponsored by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA), so that an accurate, public record can be used by others seeking the health status of individual dogs and lines of dogs for breeding purposes.

Canine Health Information Center UPBA encourages member breeders to obtain CHIC numbers for their breeding stock. CHIC recognizes United Kennel Club registration as 'accredited registration' for this purpose. In most cases, the fee is US$15.00. Passing, clear, or good results are not required for a CHIC number to be awarded. To qualify for a CHIC number, a dog must complete all breed-specific required screenings [link] and be permanently identified, with the permanent identification noted on the application. See www.caninehealthinfo.com for details. Issuance of a CHIC number reflects an owner's or breeder's dedication to our breeds.

Benefits of CHIC Registration

CHIC benefits individuals and breeds in many ways. Having centrally stored, easily accessible health information on permanently identified dogs available to breeders facilitates sound, informed decision-making by breeders and contributes to the preservation of our breeds. Additionally, breeders can answer many questions posed by potential puppy-buyers simply by referring them to the CHIC web site for complete information about health screenings performed on the parents and other ancestors of their litters. CHIC data is also readily available to parent clubs seeking to evaluate the effectiveness of testing programs and incentives and to researchers working to understand and eliminate genetically transmitted diseases.

Poodle and Standard Poodle Health Issues

The Versatility in Poodles website has an extensive list of Poodle and Standard Poodle related health information.