02/05/2019
For the past week there has been a conversation about seizures in the Biewer Breed and it has been all contributed to certain pedigrees , the pedigrees that are being blamed for this are from the foundation dogs. Now let's think about this. Mr. and Mrs. Biewer started out with two traditional Yorkshire Terriers, that carried the Pie bald gene, I think we all agree with this!
From this they produced their breeding stock, breeding them back and forth, I'm certain that everyone would agree that this was a VERY SMALL GENE POOL !. By doing this you are going to lock in the GOOD with the BAD its just the way it works.
When the breed came here Everyone was very excited about this fabulous new dog, known as the Biewer. Not everyone was experienced with the art of Breeding dogs, and they did what they felt was correct in breeding the Biewer.
A lot of the breeders could not afford more then two dogs because of the expense, so they keep breeding the same dogs over and over which again locked in both the good and the bad. Was there health problems? Of course there was, however just like today, they were afraid to say anything because they did not want to be labeled as having sick dogs or a bad breeder, Which is still going on today, which is really unfortunate. Not talking about it doesn't get rid of the problem it just keep going on, and nothing is getting solved .
However, I do believe that there is more to this then what I was just explaining , I do believe we are now seeing health problems because of the way some breeders are changing the Cranial measurement of the Biewer, because the public likes this look, and even one of the clubs standard states that it to have a human like face which takes this breed to the Brachycephalic muzzle measurement.
Genetic testing of the L2HGDH gene which embarks shows for a condition for the Biewer Terrier. This will reliably determine weather a dog is a genetic Carrier of L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria. Common Symptoms L-2-HGA an inherited neurometabolic disorder affecting dogs. (L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria is a inherited Autosomal Recessive manner) , meaning that they must receive two copies if the mutated gene (one from each parent) .The break down L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid results in increased levels of L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid in urine, blood, and the Cerebrospinal Fluid ( clear fluid in the spinal cord and surrounding the brain, acts as a cushion protecting the brain and spine from injury) and progressive damage to the brain. This can affect dogs between 4 months and one year of age, however in some cases it has not present itself until later in life, with symptoms of neurologic disease, including Wobbly gait tremors, seizures ,muscle stiffness and can change the behavior in some dogs.