An 8 year old dog I co-own was returned to me because the owner died. The dog several years ago did not pass his CERF because of geographic retinal dysplasia, and of course was never bred. However, when the family was gathering as the owner was dying (took several weeks, and I brought the dog to hospice, etc), they asked why the dog was never bred. I tried to explain that if a dog does not pass all health clearances they should not be bred.
This did lead me to a question though. All breeding dogs that led up to this breeding has passed their CERF's (with the exception of one great grandparent line...never tested for anything).
How is this passed on? Obviously two(/eight or more) clear dogs can pass geographic retinal dysplasia on. It skips generations....is it something that will forever just randomly pop up? Dogs need to be CERF'd every year, so can it just randomly show up after several clear years? (not the case in this dog, co-owner needed two no passes to be convinced...his vet had never heard of CERF..very back country guy...(and I mean that with respect, he just does not deal with clearance kind of folk).
TIA, like I said, it is a moot point with this dog (getting neutered this week), but I was curious for myself, and how to explain it to puppy buyers. I do occasionally sell a pup on full registration, if certain conditions are met (numerous conformation and performance titles), and this dog would have met all, if it were not for the failed CERF.
Do some research and contact Dr. Lionel Rubin. He has done extensive research on retinal and geographical folds. I had a wonderful conversation with him a few years ago in regards to a pup with a unilateral geographical fold. He says in Goldens its genetics, but he feels that in Labradors it is just spontaneous.
I researched this a bit when a friend of mine's bitch came up with this disease. I thought that it should show up and be there through the life of the dog. I did not understand it to be a disease that might just appear one year and then on. This friend went to a different canine ophthalmologist and the dog was examined (as well as mother who had passed CERF in the past) and both dogs were cleared. The second vet was amazed that anyone would have said geographic retinal dyplasia. It should not go away.
If the dog has had clear exams in the past and then one failing one, I would retest with a different vet.
I believe that there is a test now for RD . You could check the parents, if you still have them, to see if they carry the gene. If they don't, then this should not be the inheritied type.
