[The following letter was sent to the AKC Board of Directors by Linda Blythe, co-author of Care of the Racing Greyhound: A Guide for Trainers, Breeders and Veterinarians the authoritative health manual on Greyhounds.]

April 7, 2002

Dear Sir,

I have long been interested in Greyhounds and have spent much of my academic career working with and doing research on them. I am the author of the textbook, Care of the Racing Greyhound and have initiated and maintain the International Greyhound Research Database (available on the Web at agcouncil.com) for the American Greyhound Council.

It has been brought to my attention that some individuals in the Greyhound Club of America (GCA) have proposed that the American Kennel Club close their registry to Greyhounds from the National Greyhound Association. The basis of their concerns is that the racing NGA registered Greyhounds may have genetic factors relative to low quantities of von Willebrand's factor associated with bleeding disorders and an increased incidence of bone cancer. While they do not have data on the prevalence of low von Willbrands factor in their AKC show-bred Greyhounds, they are basing their conclusion on a non-peer reviewed, non-published report from Mr. David Wolf. He is a layman who is the Executive Director of the National Greyhound Adoption Program. He has reported that he collected and sent blood samples to Cornell from 471 NGA racing Greyhounds that were given to his adoption agency. One sample was taken per Greyhound under undefined conditions prior to the animal being neutered or spayed. Mr. Wolf has informally discussed his evaluation of the results of this study with several of us that see him annually at the International Canine Sports Medicine Symposium associated with the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Florida. He has never formally published this data in peer-reviewed literature nor has it been presented or published in the literature by his collaborators in New York. When I asked him if the low values he found correlated to bleeding problems when the Greyhounds underwent surgery, he told me they did not. Neither did he correlate his findings to any clinical signs associated with von Willebrand's disease, which would include mucosal bleeding, cutaneous bruising, and prolonged bleeding from surgical or traumatic wounds. Von Willebrand's factor is present in all animals and people and is part of the normal clotting factors. He did make an interesting observation that Greyhounds who had soloxine, a thyroid supplement, had improved coagulation times, but direct measurements of pre-thyroid supplementation and post-supplementation relative to coagulation times or von Willebrand's factor were not done.

With von Willebrand's disease, it is the low concentrations (Type 1) or low concentrations coupled with the absence of the high molecular weight multimers (Type 2), or absence of the factor (Type 3) that may be associated with bleeding problems. Over 50 dog breeds have been reported to have low von Willebrand's factor on occasion with variable clinical correlations to bleeding disorders. Low von Willebrand's factor can have a genetic basis or be acquired. I concur with Dr. Ken Meyers, a veterinary physiologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University who has studied this disease for much of his career. He states in press( American Journal of Veterinary Research, Vol 57, #9, pp1288-1293, 1996) and in a correspondence with me that multiple tests are necessary to determine that a dog of any breed is deficient in von Willebrand's factor. He also stated "it is very difficult to establish the genetics of this trait based on blood samples submitted to an outside laboratory unless certain procedures are religiously followed and multiple samples are taken." In his publication, he found that within the same dog, 10 samples taken over a 6-week period had values varying from 42 to 77%. He also found that hemolysis of the blood sample resulted in values that were 37% lower than the same non-hemolyzed blood sample. With all these variables, with no information on the prevalence of the AKC registered show Greyhounds, and with the lack of substantiated and peer-reviewed data from Mr. Wolf, and with the reports of so many AKC breeds having low von Willebrand's factor on occasion, it would not be responsible to close the AKC registry to the NGA Greyhounds on this argument. In addition, the NGA Greyhounds have been bred for many years to be superb athletes. Any Greyhound who trained or raced would had often experienced minor trauma as they went around the track with a group of 6 to 8 other Greyhounds at high speeds. If they had bleeding disorders, it would surely be noted and those dogs would have not found their way into the breeding pool of Greyhounds. It is this selection for the fittest canine athlete over hundreds of years that has resulted in the current sound breeding stock. For example, hip dysplasia is virtually unheard of in this large breed dog. Osteochondrosis is rare. Hundreds of Greyhounds have been used in cardiovascular studies as models for research in human cardiovascular and respiratory problems with no mention of concerns for bleeding disorders in this breed of dog.

I would also like to address the second issue. That is that Greyhounds are genetically predisposed to bone cancer and have an increased incidence over other dogs. I have conferred with both Dr. Dan Lewis, a small animal surgeon and Director of the Center for Sports Medicine at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Nicole Ehrhart, a veterinary oncologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine University of Illinois who is a researcher of osteosarcoma in dogs. Dr. Lewis stated at the International Canine Sports Medicine in Orlando this January that Greyhounds did not have any higher incidence of bone cancer than any other of the large breeds. He confirmed this in a latter conversation with me last week. Dr Ehrhart confirmed Dr. Lewis' statements with her own experiences as an oncologist stating that it was the giant breeds of dogs, such at the St Bernard, the Irish Wolfhound, and the Great Dane that had a much higher incidence of bone cancers and that factors such as early castration may play a role in the prevalence within a breed. In an article in the Veterinary Journal (156, 1998, pp31-39), the authors stated that the risk of osteosarcoma rose with increasing age, increasing weight, and increasing standard weight and height. A two-fold excess risk was observed among neutered dogs. There is an odds ratio of 185 for giant breed dogs compared with 13 in large breed dogs (which would include Greyhounds) and compared with 1 in medium and small breeds. With so many of the NGA Greyhounds finding their way into loving homes and living much longer lives than they would have in racing kennels, it is not surprising that some cases of osteosarcoma have been seen. But it is not a specific genetic defect of the Greyhound that would be a risk factor to the showdog Greyhound breeding pool. In fact, with the latter having such a small genetic pool, the incorporation of the NGA Greyhounds into their breeding pool will introduce more diversity and vigor to the breed.

In summary, I strongly request that the AKC registry remain open to the NGA registered Greyhounds. These dogs bred to be athletes would only add stamina and strength to the current Greyhound pool. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Linda L.Blythe, DVM, PhD
Associate Dean College of Veterinary Medicine
Oregon State University
200 Magruder Hall
Corvallis, Oregon, 97331
541-737-2098