Genome-wide linkage study of atopic dermatitis in West Highland White Terriers

*shaking head* .... it's not been a secret for many years that Westies are really prone to cruddy nasty skin problems, including demodex and beyond.  Breed for that white coat and ....

what they SHOULD be investigating is the link that "white coat color" has to things like auto-immune disease!  Read Dr. Dodd's comments (on her Hemopet website).  She's not writing for publication any more since she's not tied to a university system but she's still doing remarkable work with auto-immune diseases and teaching all over the world. 

 I'm familiar with Dodd's work and as a working scientist I find it weak and unpersuasive. 

calliecritturs

what they SHOULD be investigating is the link that "white coat color" has to things like auto-immune disease! 

I dunno about that Callie. Samoyeds, Kuvazs, and Pyr's seem to have no overabundance of skin issues comparatively. It's wise not to paint with too broad a brush. Nothing is ever simple. I might concur with you on the albino link to skin or nervous system issues, tho.

The close relation the Cairn also has problems with allergies and skin problem so perhaps there is more to it than just the color of the dog.

I've worked with IMHA dogs now for five years and I can tell you simply as a casual observer there is definitely something to do with coat color -- not just 'white' but light coat color.  It's definitely not unknown for dogs with darker coat colors to get IMHA but there are tons more dogs with light color coats than dark.

I'm not sure what your point is to your post here -- this isn't  a scientific forum

calliecritturs

I've worked with IMHA dogs now for five years and I can tell you simply as a casual observer there is definitely something to do with coat color

It could also be that more dogs with a lighter coat color...exist. Causation and correlation are not the same. I would say that given the sheer amt of "black dogs" left in shelters the color of the dog DOES factor in to people's preferences. That alone makes any link or personal experiences in the absense of science, conjecture to me.

I also am a bit taken aback at your intimation that things based in sciences...like dog behavior for example are not welcome to be discussed on the forum? that is a bit high handed IMO. People can post what they want so long as it fits the rules right? I know you did not direct that at me but it still seems a bit like a questioning of the validity of a post when others just like it have been made and scientific issues are discussed here, OFTEN.

rwbeagles

I dunno about that Callie. Samoyeds, Kuvazs, and Pyr's seem to have no overabundance of skin issues comparatively. It's wise not to paint with too broad a brush. Nothing is ever simple. I might concur with you on the albino link to skin or nervous system issues, tho.

The close relation the Cairn also has problems with allergies and skin problem so perhaps there is more to it than just the color of the dog.

But all 3 of those breeds are, unless I'm mistaken, naturally white?  Westie's aren't -- they're a close cousin of the Scottie and I think the coat has been much strived-for.

And I'm not saying that skin issues in other breeds may have a coat link ... but Westies are renoun for them.

My comment about the auto-immune disease was completely apart from coat issues.  It's simply that observing the myriad posts (thousands of them at this point) in that long thread there are two things that are absolutely abundantly clear.  Most of the dogs are light/white/parti-colored with an abundance of light coat  -- surely not all but more than just "majority".

All this is off-topic anyway and I didn't at all mean to derail the original post

Westies are closest to the Cairn..but ALL smaller terriers of Brit extraction were VERY closely related. The Westie has been bred apart from the Cairn for quite awhile. The first being exhibited in 1907; Being that similar issues with allergies and skin conditions exist in MANY Terrier breeds I am inclined to look more towards a coat TEXTURE or genetic link than something as simple as color. And again the westie is likely more POPULAR than the Cairn, because many people tend to like light colored dogs as pets and find them atractive, than they do dark brindles or blacks or salt n peppers.

Naturally white, to me, means the dog was born white and not altered. There was likely natural selection for ALL completely white breeds apart from those that are albino. All naturally white breeds still have colored puppies either showing as spots here and there or throwbacks that have a entire body colored otherwise. White is by design not a natural color unless one consider the environment an animal develops in, or as a seasonal change. Wolves can be completely white, but tend Not to be unless the environment selects for that (Arctic wolf). ALL white animals in domestic settings tend to ALL be the creation of man, rather than nature. By definition that is what all dogs...are. Is it not?

The Irish Setter is not "naturally" red...the Leonberger is not "naturally" lion colored...all were selected for and isolated for an encouraged...but throwbacks and less than desireable expressions of the colors still occur. The problem then is not really the coat color of the dog but rather the preference for the coat color or QUALITY...over everything else. This is hardly something new in dogs. Pick a body part and there's a breed with people obsessed with it and breeding solely for it. *shrug*

 Interesting!  Thanks for sharing this.  Always interested in reading genetic studies on any breed :)

rwbeagles

The Irish Setter is not "naturally" red...the Leonberger is not "naturally" lion colored...all were selected for and isolated for an encouraged...but throwbacks and less than desireable expressions of the colors still occur. The problem then is not really the coat color of the dog but rather the preference for the coat color or QUALITY...over everything else. This is hardly something new in dogs. Pick a body part and there's a breed with people obsessed with it and breeding solely for it. *shrug*

Hah!  Isn't that the truth.  And within any breed every breeder has their priorities.... it's amazing how different the same breed can look in the show ring (or at the dog park!) sometimes :) 

rwbeagles

The Irish Setter is not "naturally" red...the Leonberger is not "naturally" lion colored...all were selected for and isolated for an encouraged...but throwbacks and less than desireable expressions of the colors still occur. The problem then is not really the coat color of the dog but rather the preference for the coat color or QUALITY...over everything else. This is hardly something new in dogs. Pick a body part and there's a breed with people obsessed with it and breeding solely for it. *shrug*

Good point.  As I was reading earlier in this thread (before this post above), I was thinking of the albinoid (not true Albino) Dobermans.  They don't have the type of skin problems described, but they are sensitive to sunburns.  (Their other problems are related to photosensitivity and behavior.)  So, this could be an example of a dog not "naturally" white, but come up white/cream and don't have the kind of dermatitis that even blue Dobes are prone to.  It's all very interesting to consider and explore hypothesis.