NEW! ICB Breed Management Workshops

By Carol Beuchat PhD
The mission of ICB since it was founded in 2012 has always been to provide breeders with the tools and information they need to make breeding decisions that will improve the health of dogs.

We developed the ICB Breeder Tool to provide breeders with a detailed assessment of the genetic health and issues of their breed and the information they need about individual dogs for making the best possible breeding decisions. Now, together with the ICB Breeder Tool, we are offering breed-specific Breed Management Workshops in which breeders and scientists will sit down together, evaluate the genetic information available for the breed, diagnose the problems, and come up with breeding strategies and recommendations that will improve the health of dogs. The goal will be to provide a plan that is feasible for breeders to follow and which will have short- and long-term outcomes for health improvement.
Genetic Assessment from DNA
The genetic assessment of the breed will use DNA genotyping and mutation testing information. The current commercial provider of suitable data is Embark Vet, which uses a custom, state-of-the-art, high-density Illumina SNP analysis with more than 200,000 markers distributed over the entire genome, including all 38 autosomes, the sex chromosomes, and mitochondrial DNA. This is the most comprehensive analysis available anywhere for analysis of canine DNA. The ICB Breeder Tool can also use marker data produced by research laboratories using Illumina's standard high-density canine SNP chip (170,000 markers), so data available from research studies anywhere in the world that used this chip can be added to the database. The Illumina chip is also the standard platform used by researchers looking for the causal genes for genetic disorders, so data from every dog in the database can be used for research studies on the genetics of traits and diseases.
Genetic and Demographic Assessment From Pedigree Data
Assessment of the genetic status of the breed should ideally include a pedigree database. Information from the DNA analyses can be used to verify pedigree relationships. In the absence of a useable pedigree database (e.g., because of errors, missing data), the DNA can be used to establish the genetic relationships of the current dogs, which will provide the information needed by breeders for genetic management going forward.

To learn more about the genetics of dogs, check out
ICB's online courses

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