Health & Genetics

The goal of the Health and Genetics Committee is to help breeders reduce genetic disease while breeding for good temperament and maintaining type. The Committee is dedicated to educating and sharing accurate information via email or postal service about genetic diseases by collecting data on all Entlebucher Mountain Dogs and maintaining an open database which provides information upon written request from breeders and owners. Breeders can benefit by using the information to help reduce the incidence of genetic disease and breeding wisely. Long term benefits are possible for all Entlebucher owners by enabling positive steps towards alleviating pain, expenses, and heartbreaks associated with genetic diseases.

An objective of the Health and Genetics Committee is to help reduce the incidence of inherited disease in the Entlebucher. This can only be done by identifying and recording all affected, as well as unaffected, Entlebuchers in an effort to determine the prevalence of inherited diseases in the breed. Reporting these types of data can help to measure the progress of a disease within the breed and enable improvements to be made. The sharing of information will enable the long term control of genetic diseases. Recording every dog, normal and affected, is important in order to attain the Committee’s objective.

We encourage all owners of Entlebuchers to supply health information for entry into the database using the Genetics Database Information Form which can be downloaded from the website. We all should feel obligated to help in the identification and removal of genetic diseases from the Entlebucher. Contact the NEMDA Health and Genetics Chair, for additional information or forms.