ALIGNGRIFFS

KORTHALS GRIFFONS

Dedicated to the promotion and protection

of the true Korthals Griffon in the UK

TAN POINT: It's not about the colour !

The tan point is not something that Eduard Korthals bred into his Korthals Griffon. There is history as well as data that strongly support the theory that the color trait has appeared in the breed due to outcrossing with another breed of dog. If that is so, there are without a doubt other genetic traits, not visible as tan point, that most likely include conformation, temperament, and disease genes. Anecdotal information from reliable sources indicates that diseases never before present in the Griff are now showing up, and often within specifics lines of breeding, indicating probable inheritance. Without an adequate health and genetics database, we cannot use the few numbers we now have to establish statistical significance. One important note: Do not attempt to determine if a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is a purebred by going to one of the laboratories that determines breeds of dogs when given a DNA sample. We do not mean to discredit these labs. The method for determining the breed is to match the DNA sample with breed baselines that have been established from multiple samples of dogs of specific breeds. There is not yet a baseline established from dogs that are known to be all purebred Korthals Griffons. A DNA sample that includes Cesky Fousek, or whateverother breed or breeds have been introduced into the Korthals Griffon when paired with the hybrid baseline will be erroneously determined to be a Korthals/Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. We have learned a great deal about the history of the breed since these baselines were established, and there is currently a group of people dedicated to the preservation of the breed working with one of these labs to provide a Korthals Griffon baseline.

If you are looking for a puppy, or planning to breed a dog, the most important thing you can do is to become familiar with the tan point trait, and what it means to the breed. There has been a tendency for managing the carriers of tan point in order to eliminate that from the breed (see the Breeding Better Dogs link below). This strategy works well only in cases that have one genetic trait to eliminate, and is not as complicated as the introduction of an entirely different breed with multiple genes. After deciding you want a Korthals Griffon, and there are certainly some good reasons for that, do you want to take the chance of getting a hybrid? As you will find, there are ways to avoid that.

Taken from Korthals Griffon Health/Genetics website http://korthalsgriffon.org/index.html

Breeding Better Dogs

PLEASE SEE Carol Ptak's "Wirehaired Pointing Griffon - Breed Improvement or Destruction?"

Ptak, Carol, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon-Breed Improvement or Destruction? 2012.

The Importance of Breed History

by Anne Allen

It is no secret that I am a Griffon history buff. I believe it’s important to know the history of our breed and breed standard to understand and guide the breeding of Griffons today.

Unfortunately there are not many resources in the English language, and I’ve had to rely on using sources in French, with the help of a few bilingual Griffonniers. From these sources one can learn of the breeding strides and dilemmas that our breed’s founder, Eduard Korthals, faced in his endeavour to create the ideal versatile hunting dog.

It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to recreate Korthals’s breeding program today, given the limitations and restrictions in many areas on the number of dogs one can keep. Korthals produced hundreds of dogs using inbreeding and line breeding, keeping for breeding only the very few that met his stringent expectations in type and performance.

These relatively few dogs that possessed and reproduced the qualities he sought and that consistently reproduced themselves were the foundation of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed.

Within just over a decade or so of establishing his breeding program, in 1887 Korthals wrote the breed standard that was subsequently adopted by 16 Griffon breeders who shared his vision—and is, in effect, our AKC standard today.

So what are we to learn from Korthal’s experience some 125 years later? Today’s breeding dilemma for Griffons enthusiasts is how to manage those dogs that are either carriers of or exhibit tan-point genetics. According to coat-colour geneticist Dr. Shiela Schmutz, of the University of Saskatchewan, tan-point coloration is a breed trait of certain sporting dogs in England, commonly found in English Setters and English Pointers, but not found in purebred Griffons.

While still scientifically inconclusive, the emergence of tan-pointed Griffons suggests a crossbreeding of some sort. When Korthal’s Griffons of the late 1800s showed great field success in various European contests and exhibitions, there were those who believed this success was only possible with an infusion of English blood, namely from the wider-ranging, faster setters and pointers.

To his detractors Korthals responded emphatically, “I declare herewith that my main concern was always to keep the breed pure, and in breeding only griffons I never added any blood of another breed. The improvement of the breed was achieved only and exclusively by selection, training, and methodical breeding.”

In his historical account of the breed, le Griffon d’arret a poil dur Korthals, Jean Castaing says, “Furthermore, as for the fiery tint, in spots or traces, it is also to be forbidden, for it also indicates a misalliance.”

Korthals denied the use of English blood in his breeding program—blood that would have produced tan points and also black, a disqualifying trait in the standard. Korthals would have culled from his breeding programs any dog that either possessed or produced these faulty traits.

We have the only Griffon gene pool left in the world that is not pervasively tainted by the tan-point gene. Tan points are not in the breed standard.

Why breed a dog or bitch that produces a substandard trait of uncertain origin or impact as of yet? Let history be our guide to the future. Korthals wouldn’t have selected for tan points.

We shouldn’t either.—Ann Allen

First published in the AKC Gazette, The Official Magazine of the American Kennel Club, April 2012.

A word on K-Locus Testing and the KBKB result.

Most breeders in the UK and abroad will test for the K-Locus and will advertise that the sire and dam are "both KBKB". What exactly does this mean? Or more importantly, what exactly does this mean for you, the potential puppy buyer. A KBKB test result indicates one and only one thing: the tan point colouration (as seen in Dobermans, Gordon Setters and Rottweiler’s etc) can not be transmitted by the dog. It does not prove that the dog has not inherited any other genetic problem.

Even a puppy from a KBKB x KBKB mating indicates the parents were free from the colour deviation gene, however, a

"KBKB" dog can still have a KBky father or mother or sibling. So what to do?

LOOK AT THE PEDIGREE. Unless you look at the pedigree and I mean a minimum of 10 generations there is no way to tell if you have just purchased a hybrid or a genuine Korthals Griffon. The contaminated lines are known-look for them. Ask about sibling results of both the sire and dam of the puppy.

Testing- unless the actual test is performed by a vet and submitted by the vet along with the microchip number or tattoo, as with hip and elbow scoring, what guarantee do you have that the test is even on that specific dog? You don't. The tests are ordered on-line and it is the owner who swabs the inside of their dog's mouth and submits the test.

Instead, it is best for you as a potential puppy buyer to obtain the kit and request to swab the dog yourself. If only one of the parents are available to test then require the other dog to have a vet certified test performed. If the breeder refuses you then know you might have a problem. VetGen https://www.vetgen.com

But again- the test is not even needed if you know how to read a pedigree and know what to look for.

******Most recent published international K-Locus testing results 2015

Other excellent health related aticles affecting the Korthals Griffon

The Canine Thyroid Epidemic: Answers you need for your dog

by W. Jean Dodds, DVM and

Diana R. Laverdure

HYPOTHYROIDISM IN THE DOG

by Michael Schaer, DVM

Diplomate ACVIM, ACVECC

University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine

Recognizing and treating immunemediated

polyarthritis in dogs