Read Arnold's Story

Heart disease, as a breed predisposition, was not associated with Tollers until very recently.  Pulmonic stenosis (PS), and subaortic stenosis (SAS) was something breeders of Goldens or Newfoundlands checked for but Toller breeders did not have to worry about.  But times are changing and we have now diagnosed several Tollers affected with PS and other heart problems.

In the spring of 1996 a litter of toller pups, bred by Bernie Barber out of his bitch Star, went to their vet for their first checkups and vaccines.  One pup was auscultated as having a grade 4/6 heart murmur.  This pup was then ultrasounded and PS (narrowing of the valve from the right side of the heart to the pulmonic artery) was diagnosed.  Without surgical intervention this pups life was going to be very short.  The surgery was performed at the St. Hyacinthe Vet School and although not 100% successful this dog does have some quality of life.

Bernie contacted the Health and Genetics committee as well as other breeders trying to get some idea if this was chance or if there was a history of heart problems in the breed.  No one had any info for him.

As there was no known history of PS in tollers Star was bred to a different unrelated sire in the spring of 1997.  This litter of 4 also had a PS puppy in it.  This pup went for surgical correction and it looks like this one was more successful.  This pup should have a relatively normal lifespan.

At this point Bernie opted to take Star to a cardiologist for evaluation.  This dog had been auscultated normal by his own vet on all her checkups.  Heart murmurs are often hard to detect.  The cardiologist detected a heart murmur on this dog.  However when ultrasounded the heart showed no abnormalities and the murmur was diagnosed as an innocent flow mumur.  Star looks like a carrier for PS but is not affected by it.

More digging for information brought to light two other cases of PS affected puppies, one in Canada and one in the US.  We now had info on 4 severely affected PS dogs.  Could this just be a coincidence?

At this point 3 breeders decided to get a heart clinic with a board certified cardiologist together and check as many dogs as possible.  20 dogs have been checked, all except one had been auscultated normal by their own vet.  To date we have had 12 clear dogs and 8 with mumurs.

Ultrasound follow ups to detect the definitive cause of these murmurs showed 2 pulmonic insufficiency, 3 mitral valve murmurs (valve between the left heart chambers), two innocent flow murmurs and one dog was questionable as being a possible PS or flow mumur.

The cardiologist feels the mitral valve murmurs are not a congenital condition but an acquired one.  All dogs detected with this condition were over the age of 5.  These should be followed and more dogs checked to see at what age it is affecting the dogs and if it will progress to the point of reducing a dogs quality or quantity of life.  We have had several dogs die recently of undiagnosed heart problems at a young age.  Could these have been of mitral valve origin?

The pulmonic insufficiency is due to a leaking pulmonic valve.  In one case the valve was thickened and he recommended removing this dog from a breeding program.  In the second case there was no evidence of any valvular change and he left the decision up to the breeder but recommended that the offspring be followed.  As little is known of the genetics of this problem he did not feel there could be a clear decision until we knew more about the incidence of pulmonic insufficiency in the breed.

But where does this as a breed leave us.  PS is a congenital problem.  It is documented in different breeds as having a familial tendency, in other words it is hereditary.   Not enough is known about mitral valve prolapse which causes a mitral valve murmur or about the genetics of pulmonic insufficiency.  At this point the Cardiologist recommended the following.

1. All dogs should be auscultated by a cardiologist prior to breeding.  PS can be detected as early as 8 weeks.  Having a cardiologist auscultate pups before they leave the breeder would be the best solution for potential breeding dogs.

2. Any dog diagnosed with PS should not be bred.  Any dog who has produced several affected offspring in different litters should not be bred.  He did not go as far as to recommend removing any dog who has produced a single affected offspring at this time.

3. Mitral valve murmurs and pulmonic insufficiency without valvular change should be monitored.  At this time he is not recommending removing these dogs from the breeding pool until more is known about the genetics of these problems.

Breeders are going to be saying "but why look for more problems".  Because PS affects the quality of a dogs life and can be detected relatively easily.  An auscultation done by a cardiologist is easy.  It is noninvasive and relatively cheap (we paid $28/dog).  Now that we know there is a potential problem in the breed we need to work together to get a hand on it.  Puppy buyers should start asking for heart checks as well as hip and eye checks on the parents before purchase.

We as breeders are here to protect and improve this breed we all profess to love.  We need to start working together on yet another problem.  We need the help of all toller owners to send us any info on heart murmurs detected on their own dogs.

The Canadian Health and Genetics Committee will start publishing names of all dogs deemed free of congenital heart disease by a cardiologist.  With permission we will also be publishing those affected by congenital defects as well as their sires and dams.  We will not be publishing mitral valve mumurs (acquired not congenital mumurs) or pulmonic insufficiency at this time but will be collecting information and reporting our findings to the members .

When PRA and hip dysplasia were first detected in the breed breeders said "but not in our line".  And we are still hearing this.  But look at any pedigree and you will see that although we may be unique in the 3 most recent generations we do not have unique ancestral roots.  No one line can be free of heart, PRA or hip problems.  But working together we can strive to limit these occurrences.

We need the help of every toller owner.  Breeding stock should be checked, puppy buyers should start asking to see more clearances and toller owners please send the Health and Genetics committee your info.  Without everyone working together we will get nowhere.

Find out about the NSDTR Club of Canada's Hip/Eye/Heart Registry HERE
 

Arnold was a sick puppy when we got him in 1997. He wanted to be active and wanted to run and play more but would only do it in short bursts. Then he would have to lay down on top of our vents to get cold air from the Air-conditioning. He seemed to get hotter than normal. We had gone to see Bernie and Dianne at their cottage since we knew they had pups and I fell in love. Arnold was bigger than the others and grunted like a pig which is how he got his name. They told us Arnold had a quite serious heart condition and that they were not going to burden anyone with him. The vets did not think he would live much past if lucky 2 years. My husband and I already had Copper and had unfortunate news that we could not have children and Arnold was a bright ray of light for us. He was the cutest pup of the litter I thought. Bernie did not want us to take him but soon gave in with help from Dianne and their daughter. The both knew how much we love our girl Copper and did not want to see the pain we might endure with a sick puppy. We made one condition with them that Arnold would be checked out thoroughly. We took him to Guelph University Small Animal Clinic.

The doctor we saw was Dr. O'Grady, Chief Cardiologist at Guelph. A very nice man and very good at explaining things. Arnold had an ultra-sound and he told us it was a level 6. Very high number and if he did not have surgery he would not live long. He also explained that there was a chance it would not work, plus all the regular concerns of surgery. We did not have to think to long and said book him for it immediately. Arnold by this point was already a member of the family. We were also told the sooner it is done the better. Arnold was 13 weeks old when we had it done a week later.

We drove up on a Monday, they did the surgery on Tuesday and we picked him up on the Wednesday. When we picked him up on the Wednesday they did another ultra-sound. We did not get great news at that time. The Doctor said the blood flow was still slow but it could be due to swelling. I was an emotional mess of course but the Doctor said he was to come back in six weeks and they would do another ultra-sound at that time and that would be the day we would now how well it had worked. Arnold was on beta blockers also for that six weeks. This pill slows the heart and then it gives it more of a chance to heal. He had an incision on his neck about four inches long. We had to keep him from scratching it. I worked straight midnights so someone was home with him 24 hours a day to make sure he was OK.

In that six weeks Arnold thrived. He had energy to burn even on the pills to slow him down. Two weeks later he started his obedience classes. I had to us a Lupi on him since he could not wear anything around his neck from the incision.

When we took him back to Guelph and had his check up at six weeks and we got the greatest news. Even Dr. O'Grady was amazed. The surgery was a success. He told us Arnold will likely live to be an old dog and should not have any problems. One thing he did tell us was that we would have to wait until he was near 8 months old to have him neutered. Just to make sure about his heart being strong enough to be put under anaesthetic again. Our vet did have a few moments of concern when he neutered him, with some abnormal rhythms of his heart, but the operation went well.

The whole thing was worth it. Arnold is an amazing dog, he has lots energy is in excellent shape and weighs about 51 pounds. I could describe him as the life of the party and a comedian in human terms. It did cost us a lot of money all total about $2,400.00 dollars.

I hope this helps anyone out with whom ever is thinking about having a surgery on the pup for their heart. Anold is now 4 years old and is doing well. He gets lots of exercise was worth the struggle to make sure he would be OK. He was recently in the vets office for his yearly check and he still cannot detect a murmur.

Joyleen Edmunds and Berdia’s Arnold of Green Acres