Re: [pyrnet] Luxating patellas and other problems

["Linda Weisser" <lmweisser@olywa.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <JGentzel@aol.com>

The Symposium was held October 14, 1977, Sponsored by the National Capital
Great Pyrenees Club.  Panelists were:

DR Brown says:

"Chondroplasia is basically a Dwarfism complex.  I have seen one or two
Pyrenees that have had what I would classify as Chondroplasia and they
indeed
had patellar luxation.  As far as I'm concerned, the patellar luxation that
these particular animals showed was not the biggest problem that they
had.">>

Thanks for the citation!!  I appreciate it.

 Please note that Bob says that he has seen "one or two"  (is that one or
two??) and that they both had patellar luxation.  I would hazard a guess,
given what I know (which I will spell out if anyone cares) that these two
dogs may have been litter mates.  And two is hardly a giant sample, as I'm
sure he would be the first to point out.  Perhaps it would be interesting
to know what he thinks now, 20 years and many more dwarfs later.

<<all of you who believe these little dogs are normal
except just short will start reading objective information and look closely
at the sources and credentials of the source of the information. >>

While I was having a conversation with someone about the general health of
dwarfs, I remembered something rather interesting and perhaps germane here.
First, a bit of background.  Dr Ron Sande is head of Radiology at the
Washington State University School of Veterinary Medicine.  He is one of
(if not THE) leading experts on dwarfism in the world.  he has written
several seminal articles on dwarfism in its many manefestations and in many
breeds.  He had at WSU the first two Pyrs dwarfs ever "given" to a
researcher.  He also worked closely for years with the Mal club on
establishing their control system and housed a number of Mal dwarfs as test
breeders.  All of the dwarf diagnostic x-rays sent to the GDC are sent to
Sande (or his trained associate Dr Alexander) for evaluation.  Dr Sande
wrote the protocol under which possible dwarfs pups are x-rayed.  In short,
the man knows his stuff!!

Well, on several (at least two) occasions Dr Sande has expressed the
opinion to a Pyr breeder that we should just lighten up about this whole
thing.  That dwarf Pyrs were "cute" and that he was sure that it would be
easy to place them as pets with people.  YIKES!!  However, the point I am
making here is that I seriously doubt that Dr Sande would have made such
comments if he felt that the majority of dwarfs were deformed, sick or
suffered in some way.  And he must certainly be considered a "credible
source".  If he's not, who is??

Linda