Genetic Diseases in Border Collies

I test all my collies for genetic diseases specific to the breed. DNA testing is affordable and easy and helps to ensure healthy puppies.

PawPrint Genetics has a nice summary of the most common diseases in Border Collies.

The International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS) requires that all parents of puppies be tested for Collie Eye Anomaly before registration.

Orivet Border Collie Full Breed profile results are available for all my adults and the pups I keep on the farm.

Most screened genetic diseases are recessive, requiring that both sire and dam be carriers. Since these diseases are easy to breed around, by selecting at least one non-carrier, I am able to breed talented dogs with great temperaments who may be carriers of certain diseases and let puppy owners know that the puppy has a 50% chance of being a carrier as well. The diseases do not manifest itself in carriers.

Diseases like early-onset osteoarthritis and heart disease are more complicated. They are polygenetic. Unlike recessive inheritance, there are multiple genes that determine outcomes. In cases where these diseases are observed, we look to the line history, and if possible identify higher incidence as a marker for propensity for the disease and either not breed from those lines or use extra care in breeding those lines to lines where incidence of that disease is not observed.

In the case of osteoarthritis, it is endemic in the border collie population. Some of the best working dogs (genetic stock) are afflicted. And there are no genetic tests. Care should be taken to know the history of the lines and to breed around it. Dogs with early onset and the most severe arthritis should not be bred.