09-03-2020, 09:35 AM
When a person is demanding you put your dog forward for a 'diversity test' then once it has been discovered the tests are being used wrongly as a health test to eliminate genuine disease testing by a small group of owners and then more importantly states that your dog is a Havanese if it scores as low as 50% in a breed test (because that group is intrinsically linked to EU and UK puppy farmers) and buying and breeding from quite appalling dogs creating disease, then we can almost determine these people have absolutely no idea on canine health, breed preservation and breeding for the betterment and never have had despite their rapid promotion to health experts in their countries! It proves how bad the ethics of a group are when they make generalizations and assumptions which the universities and veterinary surgeons involved refute absolutely their assertions.
I have had many questions regarding the :
I have had many questions regarding the :
UCDavis Genetic DIVERSITY TEST
being sold to breeders by a group of novice breeders of animals , let alone dogs . Who have stopped basic health testing in favour of this one glove fits all approach to breeding, as I had assumed UCD DID NOT EVER state this was the best way to breed quite the contrary in fact!
This is their response which is exactly what I had thought and I was correct with my assumptions- again
PLEASE DO NOT BE SOLD SOMETHING WHICH IS LIMITED BY STATUS BY A SET OF NOVICES WHO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BEST BREEDING POLICY FOR ANY ANIMAL - it is being used as a marketing tool which is what i had stated all along by unethical new breeders!
Q) IS THE DIVERSITY TEST THE ONLY TOOL REQUIRED FOR HAVANESE OR ANY BREED AND IS IT LIMITED AS TO ITS EFFECTIVENESS, IF SO WHY ARE A SMALL GROUP OF BREEDERS USING THIS TO STATE THEIR DOGS ARE BETTER HEALTH TESTED- WHEN THIS IS NOT A HEALTH SCREENING TEST?
ANSWER
As I mentioned previously, we have no control over what others say about our services or what they advocate for in their breed. We can only control what is on our website and on our reports that we provide our clients. We do not state on our website (or anywhere) that this diversity test is the only tool to be used. We do state that it is a tool that can be useful to track and redistribute diversity in the breed. It has its advantages over pedigree analysis as it provides a broader picture than a pedigree analysis alone but it also has limitations (it covers a portion of the genome but not the entire genome, which is not yet financially feasible to do for every animal in a breed).
Q) IS THIS DIVERSITY TEST PURELY A COMPARATIVE TEST TOOL?
ANSWER
Dr. Niels Pedersen developed our canine genetic diversity test and before any test at our laboratory is launched there is a validation phase. Specifically for the diversity test, for each breed we first understand the overall genetic diversity that exists and use this with which to make comparisons. When additional dogs are tested breed specific information is updated. This is not a one glove fits all approach that you describe but rather we do research on each breed when we establish the testing for them. For example for genetic diversity to be useful we need to establish the number of alleles present with in a breed at a given locus.
Q) IS THE DIVERSITY TEST YOU PROVIDE AND UNDERTAKE THE ONLY TOOL TO BE USED FOR CHOOSING A MATE - IS IT A HEALTH SCREENING TEST ?
The diversity panel does not test directly for known health traits. Therefore we also recommend testing for breed specific health panels, if they are available, as these would be additional tools that breeders can use when choosing mates.
Q) DO YOU OR HAVE YOU EVER STATED THAT UCD DIVERSITY TEST IS THE ONLY TOOL REQUIRED FOR BREEDING ?
ANSWER
Additionally, nowhere on our site do we state that a dog should not be screened by veterinarians on the contrary our reports recommend screening for any positive tests. We also additionally advocate for clinical examination for traits in which no DNA tests exists.
Q) IT HAS BEEN STATED THAT OTHER LABORATORY TESTS DONE GLOBALLY ARE INEFFECTIVE IN COMPARISON TO THIS DIVERSITY TEST AND ARE NOT AS GOOD , SURELY THAT IS UNETHICAL?
ANSWER
You mentioned that my staff have made disparaging statements about other laboratories. My staff are well trained professionals who take pride in the work they do and the quality of our data. I would be very surprised to learn that a particular staff said anything about another laboratory as many laboratories around the globe collaborate with us and or our colleagues and friends.
Thanks for your inquiry
Best,
Rebecca
Rebecca Bellone, Ph.D
Director, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
Adjunct Professor
Department of Population Health and Reproduction
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California, Davis
530-752-9299
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As you will now see , the assumptions made by us here were accurate concerning the UCD diversity test and at no time should any breeder suggest not performing a health test which is fundamental to the successful breeding program of any breed. A diversity test is NOT A HEALTH TEST - it is a comparative breed mate tool and should not be overtly promoted as a health service indeed UCD have stated they would never suggest such an absurd approach to any breeding program.
Diversity tests by their very nature are not a marketing tool and should never be used by unethical breeders to state their dogs are far more health tested when UCD state clearly this test is NOT A HEALTH SCREENING TEST and was never suggested as so by any of their staff !