Life expectancy in a birth cohort of Boxers followed up from weaning to 10 years of age.

Objective: To determine mortality rate over time, risk factors for death, and heritability of life expectancy in Boxers.

Animals: 1,733 purebred Boxers born in The Netherlands between January 1994 and March 1995.

Procedure: Dogs were followed up from weaning (ie, 49 days of age) to 10 years of age through use of a written questionnaire sent to owners every 6 months.

Incidence, risk factors, and heritability estimates of hind limb lameness caused by hip dysplasia in a birth cohort of boxers.

Objective: To determine incidence, risk factors, and heritability estimates of hind limb lameness caused by hip dysplasia in a birth cohort of Boxers.

Animals: 1733 Boxers from 325 litters.

Procedure: Status of Boxers with respect to clinical signs of canine hip dysplasia (cCHD) was registered during an 8-year period.

Analysis of the inheritance of white spotting and the evaluation of KIT and EDNRB as spotting loci in Dutch boxer dogs.

The genetic basis of the white spotting pattern in Dutch boxer dogs is not known. We studied whether the segregation of white spotting in boxers follows a Mendelian inheritance pattern. Blood samples were collected, along with digital photographs in standard directions of (grand)parents (n=16) and offspring (n=52) from eight litters of Dutch boxers.

The use of a genetic-counselling program by Dutch breeders for four hereditary health problems in boxer dogs.

Our group developed a genetic-counselling program for boxer-dog breeders in The Netherlands, using data for cryptorchidism (uni- and/or bilateral), epilepsy, knee-problems (including ligament rupture, fractured or ruptured meniscus, severe osteo-arthrosis of the knee, or a combination of these disorders), and schisis (including cheiloschisis, palatoschisis, or cheilopalatoschisis). We transformed the estimated breeding values (EBVs) into odds ratios (ORs), to enable the breeder to compare the risk for each of the traits for a certain dam-sire combination with the average population risk (set at 1). The goal of the study was to evaluate the use of our genetic-counselling program by Dutch breeders of boxer dogs.

[Genetic and epidemiological investigation of a birth cohort of boxers].

The aim of this project, which ran from 1 January 1994 to 1 January 1999 (and which will be continued up to 2004), was to study mortality, disease incidence, and risk factors in a birth cohort of purebred boxer dogs born between January 1994 and February 1995 in the Netherlands (n = 2629). The ancestry of the boxer dogs in the cohort was considered a major risk factor. Special attention was given to genetic disorders, because a system for genetic counselling was being planned; however, non-genetic risk factors were also studied.