UK NL 

Health Survey

 

In 1995 the Dutch Sheltie Club (N.S.V.) decided to have a health survey. All owners of Shelties born in 1991, members and non-members of the club, got a questionnaire about the health of their Shelties. Next to health issues also questions were asked about temperament, the breed club and the breeder of the dog. About 400 forms were sent and 223 forms were returned. This is more than 50% of the forms. The survey representative for the breed in that year.

 

No serious health problems and no major temperament problems were found in the breed. CEA and cryptorchidism were the only issues mentioned in substantial numbers. After this the breed club decided to monitor the health of the breed by publishing a questionnaire in the club magazine every year. The breed club collected since 1998 over a 1100 of these forms. No major problems in the breed were found. The question is: ‘are these figures representative for the breed?’

 

In 2006 the breed club decided to have a big health survey. All owners of Shelties born in 2002, 2003 and 2004 got a health inventory form. We asked a professional research company, Genetic Counselling Services(GCS), to do the survey. GCS made an analysis of the survey and wrote a conclusion with some recommendations for breeding. This report is the basis for the breed policy of the club. The majority of the Sheltie owners (686 from the 724) gave the N.S.V. permission to use the results for a pedigree program. In time we hope to be able to use these results for breed analysis.

 

Over 1300 forms were sent and 57% of the forms were returned. This survey is representative for the breed in these years. About 85% of the Shelties born in the period 2002 to 2004 came from ‘pure’ English lines, 10% of mixed American/English lines, 4% of half American/English combinations and 1% were ‘pure’ American bred Shelties. In the survey general health questions were asked and a second part asked in detail about health issues that were mentioned in the1100 forms from the breed club.

 

If you would like to see the full text and results of this Health Survey, click the link below to the PDF file.

 

Click here

 

Note: the link in the last sentence of the survey is not working anymore. All information about sheltie health can be found on this website under "health". The Dutch version of our website contains more information but unfortunately these pages are not available in English. We hope to add more pages in English in the future.