Dog Community

Partial Dwarfism or just not purebred??

Posted : 4/19/2006 8:35:03 AM

Okay, so I went and took Daisy to the vet at schoool, (recently graduated vets work there, so they give the college students a discount) for a recheck in urine, (it went down a little- lingering at 7.5 from 8.5 yay!) and the vet (who's been a vet for about 5 years) said that she thought Daisy had "partial dwarfism". She says it's a genetic disorder that some puppies are born with. She says that most responsible breeders euthanize these pups within the first couple of days. Not sure what I can do with that piece of info, but okay.

She then goes on to say that people are wanting to breed them more and more- get a Shih Tzu with a doxie or corgi body. What was once a genetic defect now people are actually breeding INTO. Daisy wasn't fixed when we got her, so she may have been one of the 'test' dogs. She said that Daisy is only a "partial" dwarf since it's only her front legs that's the problem. She says that dwarf dogs have a whole strew of problems, including hypothyroid and cushings. Lovely!

I always thought that Daisy was just not a purebred shih Tzu but maybe had some Jack Russel (since she's really skinny and hyper- sorry Jennie!) or Boston Terrier somewhere very far down the road. I'll post pictures of her, but I have been reading, and the classic symptom is "Homozygous dogs are all reported to have abnormal skeletons - dwarfism in the sense of front shoulders lower than rear - a sort of 'bulldog' appearance." (source: [linkhttp://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~stroyan/Shohola/Dwarf.htm]http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~stroyan/Shohola/Dwarf.htm[/link])
That's definitely Daisy!! Oh well, I don't care where I got her or if she has some faults, but I love her just the same- she may cost me more, but I love her just the same! [

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Any thoughts? I know that this is a known disease in GSDs, but I didn't know it could happen with smaller dogs.

Her "broad shoulders"

and her mis-aligned body

mudpuppy

Posted : 4/19/2006 9:55:57 AM

don't dogs with "dwarfism with retinal dysplasia" have serious eye problems? if your dog isn't blind, I'd just assume she was a mix whose assorted body parts didn't quite fit together.

Firestorm

Posted : 4/19/2006 10:42:42 AM

Well, I don't know but her is a picture of Harley and Glady. Harley is purebred Shih TZu AKC registered. I do not know how conformationally correct he is but he is the picture anyways.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 4/19/2006 4:40:51 PM

JRT actually aren't supposed to have short legs like that, either. It's a disqualifying fault, called bench leg. People are breeding that way, b/c it's "cute", just like with Shih Tzus. JRT also should have floppy ears. Prick eared dogs are DQ'd as well (even though some are breeding for THAT trait). People are just so DUMB about breeding. Arg!

Can we round up these breeders and put them in cages and breed them to death? Anyone? Let's give them dwarfism and allergies and cushings and liver shunts and seizures and everything else they've given our beloved dogs and make them sit with no medical care.

Ok, I'm done[

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brookcove

Posted : 4/19/2006 8:44:14 PM

Dogs don't get front legs sizes from one breed they are mixed with and back legs sizes from another. Genetics control skeletal growth so that it follows one pattern or another - CHD is another defect which is not inherited from breed genotype, but simply non-breed-specific genetics (to the extent that it IS inherited, of course).

The vet is right, Daisy's conformation is consistent with dwarfism. Many dogs live with dwarfism with no problem - any short-legged breed is selected for this trait. Some breeds with naturally short legs are going down the road toward unatural extremism, as some have pointed out with the Shihtzus.

Dwarfism exists in all breeds. I've seen Retrievers and gundogs that were known to be purebreds, that looked like Corgi or Basset mixes.