At its meeting on 5th January 2010, the Kennel Club General Committee accepted an application to register an imported Dalmatian produced from a breeding programme which was originated with an intentional Pointer/Dalmatian cross. This cross-breeding was carried out in the USA as part of a programme aimed at introducing the low (or normal) uric acid gene into the Dalmatian breed.

This decision is subject to certain conditions, which include the dog being examined by two Championship Show judges to confirm that its external appearance and characteristics are representative of the breed.

The decision taken by the General Committee is in line with the Kennel Club’s commitment to consider applications to register dogs from out-crossings and inter-variety matings if it is felt that to do so may present potential health and welfare benefits.

The Kennel Club consulted the Dalmatian breed clubs on this matter and their joint feedback was considered at length by the General Committee before arriving at this decision.

Background

It is believed that the Dalmatian breed is fixed for a recessive mutation of a gene that alters uric acid metabolism, resulting in increased urinary excretion of uric acid. This gene is not expressed in most other breeds of dog which excrete lower amounts of uric acid in their urine.

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The use of a recently developed DNA test for this genetic mutation on Dalmatians in the USA has shown that the frequency of the normal gene is close to zero in the USA population of the breed. Similar DNA testing of the UK population has yet to be undertaken, but it is likely that a comparable scenario exists in the UK population of Dalmatians.

Some years ago in the USA, a cross-breeding was carried out between a Dalmatian and a Pointer with the intention of producing offspring that were low uric acid (LUA) excretors, because the Pointer used in the cross would not have carried the mutant gene. The offspring from this mating and their descendants have subsequently been back-crossed with purebred Dalmatians over many successive generations

Decision
Recently, the Kennel Club received a proposal to register an imported LUA Dalmatian that is descended from the initial Pointer/Dalmatian cross. The outcross Pointer appears at least 13 generations back in the pedigree of the imported dog. In line with the general aim of the KC to help individual breeders and breed clubs to improve the health and welfare of future litters, the General Committee has agreed to register this imported LUA Dalmatian subject to confirmation from two championship Show judges that the imported dog’s external appearance and characteristics are representative of the breed.

The registration records of this dog and its descendants will be annotated by the KC’s normal asterisk system whereby the progeny of the first mating between the dog and a registered Dalmatian, the F1 progeny, will have their registrations annotated with three asterisks.Then, when F1 progeny are bred from, their progeny, the F2 progeny, will be annotated with two asterisks.F2 progeny will produce F3 progeny which will be registered with one asterisk.The F4 and subsequent generations will have no special annotation.

In addition to the above conditions the committee also agreed that the registrations of all progeny would be endorsed with the restriction ‘Not eligible for Export Pedigree’ for the next five years, and the owners would be required to submit a health report, to include BAER testing results, on all progeny in five years’ time.

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