The subject of DCM (Dilated
Cardiomyopathy) hits a raw nerve for
many fine folks. From the more detached perspective of an
unbiased observer, I think what we are seeing is basically a mix
of two colliding interests: Owners of dogs who die of DCM are
overcome with pain and grief, the foreseeable result of witnessing
the sudden and devastating loss of a cherished life partner.
Breeders of these DCM dogs are – in large part – defensive because
they fear being held accountable for something that was unknown or
unexpected (at least at the time of breeding); they did not
intentionally breed a DCM dog, nor did they intentionally cause
this owner’s pain. So one group is acting out of pain and the
other is acting out of fear. Pain and fear do not bring out the
best in humans.
I often wonder if
because we love our Dobermans so much, that losing them to DCM
somehow detaches us from some of the fundamental realities that
dogs, just like humans, die. Some die
in their prime, others linger on into old age….but, bottom-line,
is that all living things die.
While there are tests
available to attempt to detect DCM at earlier stages and get them
onto medications to keep them living a more sedentary life in
hopes they reach our goals of longevity, we must remember that
these tests are all, each and every one of them, only good for the
moment the tests are performed. Until Science is able to come up
with a definitive DNA marker whereby we can evaluate our Dobermans
and possibly eliminate this dreadful disease, we are playing
Russian roulette. I am not trying to be cynical, nor am I trying
to belittle those that do test for DCM, but simply being
realistic. In our desperate attempts to avoid Cardio, we are
ostracizing some important breeding animals and breeding lines. In
the future will we look back at our knee-jerk reactions of today
as a sign of misguided, well-intentioned panic and fear? It is
obvious that Cardio is in the breed if one is willing to be
honest, but if we want to avoid it altogether or be guaranteed to
be free of any and all health problems, then
we need to get stuffed Dobermans rather than live animals. For
reasons that in hindsight were good, bad or indifferent, for
generations- Doberman breeders focused on very specific
bloodlines. One consequence of this focus is that there are health
issues now common to the breed itself.
Over the years we have
heard many breeders from all over the country claim their dogs to
be “DCM free” ….. free of health
problems….uncommonly long-lived…etc. The fact is that DCM is in
the breed so one cannot in all honesty claim their bloodlines to
be DCM free. The best one can say is that you haven’t seen it yet
and that as of today’s testing, there is no
signs of it in this dog. None of us can truthfully claim to
be DCM free nor can we accurately predict when it may raise its
ugly and unwanted head.
If a breeder
necropsied every single dog they ever
bred, 100%... without exception, they could then make a claim
about DCM in their breeding program, but even then, any claim
could only be in the context of how many dogs they bred related to
numbers in the breed itself. Further, if breeders actually
necropsied every single dog they bred,
they might actually see evidence of DCM, even though the dog may
have died of something else. SO, claims that lines are DCM free
really mean “I haven’t seen evidence of DCM in a necropsy yet, in
part because I haven’t checked every single animal and in part
because dogs have died first of other reasons.”
How long do we want
our Dobermans to live? What would we prefer they die of? Is our
goal to have Dobermans living to 14 years of age? Will their
quality of life at 14 years be something we can be truly proud of
for such a noble, intelligent and sophisticated working breed that
we are willing to sacrifice their quality of life and their
dignity for maintaining our own selfish wants and desires? Is
keeping our Dobermans living to 14 years of age on an assortment
of drugs, which could and does create more health issues akin to
keeping humans living and breathing on life support as a vegetable
really truly keeping the best interest of our beloved loved ones,
or is it simply satisfying our own inability to let them go with
dignity? I have seen elderly, weak and feeble, incontinent, tumor-ridden,
near blind, crippled with arthritis Dobermans who, while are loved
to pieces by their owners, are arguably living well past God’s
intended and original plan. I have also seen many humans in
hospital living on life-support, brain dead vegetables with no
quality of life and I have to ask myself, is this really what they
would have wanted were they able to speak for themselves? I
believe we have clouded our ability to truly evaluate what is
quality of life from what is our own
selfish needs and desires and our inability to let our loved ones
go with dignity, animal or human alike.
The bottom line is
irrespective of the dogs DCM status, we really need to clearly
understand the mode of transmission…. Otherwise, I think we are
engaging in a bit of a witch hunt, which could very possibly
dramatically alter the breed… and I am not convince that is a
‘good thing’. We cannot understand the mode of transmission
until Science finds a DNA marker whereby we are able to test and
evaluate our Dobermans truthfully and honestly.
Until then, love them
for the time they are with us and allow them to live with dignity
and to die with dignity, first and foremost.