Through the Looking Glass

In yesterday’s email, I shared that Narissa (Dragon/Razar) has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Her inability to produce enough thyroxine (thyroid hormone) causes her body to:

1. gain weight despite not overeating,
2. become lethargic,
3. and lose excessive amounts of hair.

The Dire Wolf Project has tracked owner reported health issues going all the way back to the beginning of the breed in 1988.

To date, hypothyroidism is the most prominent genetic health issue in the breed.

We currently have a reported incidence rate of 3.7% for this disease over the last eight years.

Onset generally occurs between the ages of 2 - 4 years old.

Narissa is one year old.

Only one other dog has been reported to develop hypothyroidism at this age.

Even our vet hesitated to perform the T4 test because Narissa generally wasn’t yet old enough to show symptoms of this disease.

Good thing we opted to perform the T4 blood test anyway.

NOTE: Recently someone posted a 1-star review on our Google business profile claiming our emails spread “misinformation” and we do not health test our dogs. Hmmm…

Luckily, as far as genetic health conditions go, hypothyroidism is relatively easy and inexpensive to diagnose and treat. Levothyroxine (the hormone replacing medication)

is a small pill given once a day for life generally costing $25 or less a month ($300/year).

With hormone replacement therapy, dogs with hypothyroidism live normal lives as if they never had an under-producing thyroid.

Being a complex genetically inherited disease, we must be mindful of how we proceed from here. Because Narissa produced offspring we hoped to breed, it is important for us to respond correctly to this new information.

But what does “respond correctly” look like?

The ever elusive “responsible breeder” award hangs in the balance.

(NOTE: I would consider actually achieving such an award a failure on my part because it would mean I would have succumbed to the pressure of the dog breeding mob who are often incorrect based on false emotional assumptions, like the woman above who decided to take the time to head on over to Google and negatively review us.)

The actual correct response is to work to ELIMINATE hypothyroidism from the breed. Any aim toward that end is admirable and should be pursued.

(NOTE: Hypothyroidism cannot be PREVENTED. There is NO test one can give to prevent all occurrences of this complex genetically inherited disease from any breed.)

In an effort to eliminate any genetic health issue from the breed there are two ways to go about it… and only two ways.

1. DNA testing
2. Trial mating

We DNA test ALL of the dogs born into the breed.

Let that sink in for a second.

We DNA test ALL of the dogs born into the breed. Every. Single. One.

Go here to review them:

https://direwolfproject.com/direwolf-dogs/our-health-foundation/dna-health-database/

Each puppy comes with the most up-to-date, comprehensive DNA testing currently available on the market… We use Embark Veterinary.

The reason we provide this amazing level of support to every new family is because we know it is THE scientific breakthrough of our time allowing us to pinpoint exactly where over 230+ genetic diseases lie within the DNA of our beloved pets.  

There is a version of hypothyroidism that is picked up by DNA testing. Our breed currently does not carry this form of hypothyroidism.

Unfortunately for us, DNA testing does not help in our quest to eliminate the complex hypothyroidism seen in our breed.

The only other way to know with any certainty where a genetic disease lurks is to perform a concept formally known as trial mating. Dire Wolf Project founder, Lois Schwarz, coined the term “going through the looking glass™” for this type of intense inbreeding practice aimed at eliminating health issues.

Trial mating is one of those emotionally triggering breeding practices. This is because trial mating necessarily incorporates two contentious issues:

1. high levels of inbreeding
2. a temporary increase in the unwanted health issue

However, if one performs trial mating correctly, an entire line of dogs within a breed shall be completely free of the targeted genetic disease.

A VERY valuable commodity for two reasons:

1. minimal genetic diversity is lost, especially important in a rare breed
2. the cleansed line can help to further eradicate the disease from the rest of the breed

Not every genetic disease is worthy of performing trial mating. Some genetic diseases are so insidious and vile that even one puppy with the disease would be too many. Serious birth defects would be in this category. (i.e. exposed heart)

Furthermore, some genetic diseases are so rare they don’t pose an existential threat to the dogs within the breed. These would also not be ones to choose to undergo trial mating.

But hypothyroidism meets both criteria perfectly. It is the most prominent health issue in the breed (so not too rare). Being diagnosed with the disease is not a serious burden on the dog nor the owners.

In order to “go through the looking glass”, as Lois would say, we would need to proceed with exacting measure. Trial mating is a mathematics-based way of moving forward. It takes preparation and precision to perform correctly.

We are currently considering retaining Lock (Essex/Narissa) for trial mating in order to begin the process of eliminating hypothyroidism from his future line.

If we decide to move forward with this, Lock would be co-owned with an approved family until he was at least three years old. At which point, he would be T4 tested. If he does NOT possess hypothyroidism, he would then be bred to a related female that also does NOT possess hypothyroidism.

Because we know an increase of hypothyroidism in the first generation offspring may be the result, all resulting puppies would be co-owned. Of course, all participating owners would be aware of the increased possibility.

Any first generation puppies WITHOUT hypothyroidism by 3 years old would then be bred amongst themselves, further increasing the inbreeding within this line.

The trial mating process repeats until no puppies born possess the disease.

The above is a rough general overview and takes several generations to complete.

The precise mathematical process is laid out in detail in the incredible book by George A. Padgett entitled Control of Canine Genetic Diseases published in 1998. If you are a dog breeder, you should purchase and study this book.

Here’s the link for you:

https://a.co/d/ebvVXm4

Narissa is now set up with thyroid hormone replacement medication. She will be in recovery immediately. I will be sure to share with you a pre and post medication photo compilation so that you can see the changes that occur. It might also help you to see her physical outward appearance symptoms in case you find your dog with similar symptoms.

Lastly, remember this: a 3.7% hypothyroidism incidence rate also means a 96.3% clear rate, according to reported findings.

Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.