NEWFOUNDLAND HEALTH DATA

The database is open to ALL Newfoundland owners, breeders and enthusiasts in the UK and worldwide.
It is FREE to view
and
FREE to have entries included.

Welcome

This web site was launched in August 2010. It is produced and supported by the three Newfoudland Clubs in the UK which are registered with and recognised by the Kennel Club as representative Breed Clubs. We hope that you will find the data available here informative and useful. Please revisit regularly as new records are continuously being added.

Clicking on the logos at the top of this page will take you to the individual web sites of each of the three Clubs.

Purpose

Paramount to the health of future generations of Newfoundlands is the screening of dogs and bitches used for breeding. There are four main health issues which are relevant and of particular concern in the Newfoundland breed. This site presents the collated data from the tests on individual dogs and bitches and is intended to educate and inform interested parties, especially persons considering the purchase of a Newfoundland puppy and breeders selecting stud dogs or females for breeding.

Health advice

This site is purely concerned with the recording and presentation of health test results information. If you need advice or assistance, we strongly recommend that you should refer to any or all of the individual web sites of the three participating Newfoundand Clubs. On the Contacts page you will find email addresses of the health co-ordinators/contacts for each of the Clubs.

Background

In the early 1990s, a small group of concerned Newfoundland owners and breeders recognised that there might be a problem with hearts in the Newfoundland breed. Initially limited checking of hearts was done by auscultation (a stethoscopic examination carried out by a veterinary cardiologist). As a result of those tests and national publicity a wider programme of heart testing was introduced in 1994. With the advent of portable canine echo doppler cardiology and an obvious need for many more examinations, several dedicated Newfoundland owners and breeders launched a campaign to raise money. A substantial sum was raised by voluntary donations in early 2000 which was given to the University of Edinburgh to help fund and support the research and purchase equipment for canine echo doppler cardiology. This resulted in Newfoundlands being the first breed in the UK to benefit widely from echo doppler heart testing.

Data from the heart tests going back to the first days of testing was originally collated and stored under the auspices of the Newfoundland Club. It has been used in research and forms a valuable historical record. The knowledge and understanding gained and the recognition of the significance of genetic inheritance in heart related problems has been invaluable in limiting the impact of heart problems in Newfoundlands. We hope that heart testing and publication of results will continue to be of great assistance in the ongoing attempts to eliminate genetically inherited heart problems from the breed.

On 10th July, 2010, at a joint meeting of representatives of the Committees of all three UK Breed Clubs, it was unanimously agreed that the Clubs would collaborate and support the creation of a single health database for Newfoundlands. Since data is published elsewhere on hip and elbow scores and latterly on cystinuria status, those test results and scores haves been included to provide a comprehensive health database. This web site is one of the results of that significant agreement which we believe demonstrates the high level of cooperation and the huge and ongoing commitment of all three Clubs to the promotion of good health in Newfoundland dogs.

Data Sources

The (British) Veterinary Cardiology Society forward copies of the reports of heart tests on all Newfoundlands to the Database Administrators. The data is recorded and displayed here whenever the reports have a permission to publish clause signed by the owners. Some data is entered from documents sent in directly by the owners or breeders themselves, particularly in the case of non-uk dogs and for cystinuria tests pre-dating the recording and publishing of cystinuria test results by the Kennel Club.

Additional data, mainly in respect of hip and elbow x-ray examination results/British Veterinary Association scores is drawn from the records published by the Kennel Club.

Owners and breeders in the UK and from overseas are very welcome to submit documents for inclusion of data in the database. Details on how to do that can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Mirroring

The data on this web site is mirrored to the web sites of the Newfoundland Club, the Northern Newfoundland Club and the Southern Newfoundland Club. We hope this sharing of data will make the information widely and easily available to all.