Doberman Health & Our Promise
DCM is a common form of heart disease among all dogs but particularly plagues the Doberman. Nearly 60% of all Dobermans will be diagnosed with DCM by the age of 7-8 years old. There is no way to prevent DCM. It's a extremely complex disease. There are many factors to DCM, from environmental, hereditary, genetic, nutritional, eugenics, and more. It is a devastating disease which affects the heart muscle's ability to contract, leading to congestive heart failure often fatal, and hard to detect early. Some dogs show little to no signs which is why it is imperative breeders have annual Echocardiograms and holters on their breeding dogs.
Before considering a Doberman I encourage all families to be vigilant with their future puppies health. It is our responsibility as reputable breeders to do our part in participating in the newest tools and technology to help aide in finding the cause of DCM, which is still unknown. Alongside doing genetic testing and more importantly Echo heart screenings and Holter screenings.
There have been misconceptions and myth's regarding DCM. One misconception is that only clear dogs are at ("Low Risk) of developing DCM. This is FALSE and vice versa with dogs that carry a copy or copies of dcm. These genetic tests are NOT predictive in ruling out DCM. The only tests accurate enough to rule out DCM at a time are Echos and Holter screenings which must be done yearly.
In addition to DCM1 & DCM2, new research has discovered DCM3 & DCM4 which are both known as a "Linkage" test to DCM. They're not the direct genes associated with the cause of DCM only a linkage to the genes causing DCM. DCM3 is linked to lower overall risk, but it follows a dominant inheritance pattern, which means that the risk of developing the disease is increased if the dog has one or two copies of the risk variant; whereas DCM4, on the other hand, is linked to a higher risk of developing DCM, but it follows a recessive inheritance pattern, and therefore the risk is high only in dogs carrying two copies of the risk variant DCM4 in the absence of DCM3." - this means that DCM3 is dominant and only needs one gene to increase the predisposition to disease risk, while DCM4 is recessive and needs 2 gene mutations to increase the predisposition to disease risk.
https://www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/showGeneticTest.jsp?testID=8872
Hopefully within the next few years we will finally be able to get some direct answers. As mentioned I do NOT base my breedings off of genetic testing alone. I research pedigrees, rely on longetivity, limit breedings of higher DCM affected lines, and current Echos and holter screenings. Along with providing our dogs with the best nutrional food and supplements. I encourage puppy families to purchase health insurance prior to picking up their puppy or before their first vet visit. All of our puppies come with 30 days free health insurance through the AKC and I provide an additional 3 year health guarantee against DCM.
There have been misconceptions and myth's regarding DCM. One misconception is that only clear dogs are at ("Low Risk) of developing DCM. This is FALSE and vice versa with dogs that carry a copy or copies of dcm. These genetic tests are NOT predictive in ruling out DCM. The only tests accurate enough to rule out DCM at a time are Echos and Holter screenings which must be done yearly.
In addition to DCM1 & DCM2, new research has discovered DCM3 & DCM4 which are both known as a "Linkage" test to DCM. They're not the direct genes associated with the cause of DCM only a linkage to the genes causing DCM. DCM3 is linked to lower overall risk, but it follows a dominant inheritance pattern, which means that the risk of developing the disease is increased if the dog has one or two copies of the risk variant; whereas DCM4, on the other hand, is linked to a higher risk of developing DCM, but it follows a recessive inheritance pattern, and therefore the risk is high only in dogs carrying two copies of the risk variant DCM4 in the absence of DCM3." - this means that DCM3 is dominant and only needs one gene to increase the predisposition to disease risk, while DCM4 is recessive and needs 2 gene mutations to increase the predisposition to disease risk.
https://www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/showGeneticTest.jsp?testID=8872
Hopefully within the next few years we will finally be able to get some direct answers. As mentioned I do NOT base my breedings off of genetic testing alone. I research pedigrees, rely on longetivity, limit breedings of higher DCM affected lines, and current Echos and holter screenings. Along with providing our dogs with the best nutrional food and supplements. I encourage puppy families to purchase health insurance prior to picking up their puppy or before their first vet visit. All of our puppies come with 30 days free health insurance through the AKC and I provide an additional 3 year health guarantee against DCM.