TTCA HEALTH SURVEY SUMMARY

 By Linda Bell

The results of the Health Survey have been tabulated.  It was a big job because we received a

tremendous response with the mailing.  Approximately 200 surveys were returned by people living

with over 740 dogs!  Thanks to all of you who took the time to fill out the survey and return it. 

Your participation is much appreciated and the information will allow us to focus on the issues

that are of importance to you and your dogs.

Categories Used: 

Midwest:  WI, MN, IL, MS, OH, MI, IN, NE, IO with the bulk of the surveys coming from IL,

OH and IO

Northwest:  ID, OR, WA, WY, AK

Northeast:  CT, PA, MA, NJ, NY, VT, RI, WA, D.C, ME and MD with the bulk of the surveys

coming

from NY, MA, PA and CT

Southwest:  CO, AZ, TX, WY, NM with the bulk of the surveys coming from TX and CO

Southeast:  WV, GA, VA, AL, FL, NC and SC

 The majority of the surveys were filled out by people considering themselves breeders and exhibitors
with most of those responding having lived with Tibetan Terriers more than 8 years.  This gives us a
response from those who have a great deal of experience in the breed. 
In terms of living with our breed, there are several behavioral traits which were mentioned on many
surveys.  Two deserve mentioning.  Tibetan Terriers do have a tendency to be dog aggressive.  This
should be kept in mind during early socialization and training as it is a problem which can be trained
away from.  The second problem area is housebreaking.  Again, early training by the breeder before
the puppy leaves for his/her new home can make this easier for new owners to deal with.  Something
to stress with a new puppy owner should be the importance of crate training (puppy should be
introduced to the crate prior to leaving the breeder’s home) and the importance of confining the puppy
to a small  area of the home while training is in progress.

Throughout the country there was agreement on the top two health issues most unwelcome to both

breeders and pet owners alike.  Without exception, eye problems were ranked as the most unwelcome. 

This is not surprising.  By doing annual CERF exams on all breeding stock and by asking your pet

owners to do the same, we can reduce the incidence of these problems.  The present research that the

TTCA supports through the Canine Health Foundation is addressing several of these eye problems

and we are hopeful that they each will yield results.  The second most unwelcome problem on our

survey was Hip Dysplasia.  We have known for many years that doing hip x rays, getting qualified

evaluation, and using breeding stock with normal hips is the best available method for controlling

this problem.  As a breed, we have made progress in increasing the number of excellent readings

and reducing the number of dysplastic readings.  Continued use of OFA and/or Penn Hip will produce

results over time. 

The other top problems are those that are prevalent and plague all dog breeds.  Breeders have the

ability to test for thyroid (Michigan State Panel) in their breeding stock and to consider breeding

away from both thyroid problems as well as allergy problems.  We also have the testing available to

breed away from deafness (BAER). 

Please take the time to review the survey results.  I invite those of you who have thoughts on the results

to contact me for some dialogue and perhaps a newsletter article.  There is much information in the survey

and I welcome your comments.