Welcome to Phase Two of the Irish Water Spaniel Thyroid Study. We hope that this site will update you on the progress of the Study, explain our next goals and clarify how to you can participate.

Our initial goal for the Study was to provide an opportunity for you and your IWS to take part in assessing and quantifying thyroid gland function in the IWS. Until now, the “normals” derived from the larger canine population have been used, but as different breeds and groups of breeds can have different normal ranges, it’s useful to know the breed-specific normal range. Through the analysis of over 300 IWS, we’ve determined that the general normal range used for similarly sized dogs is appropriate for our IWSs. Thank you to the IWSCA Breeders’ Committee for their past vote of support for Phase One and MANY thanks to Alan Stern whose generous donations have made it all possible.

In the course of testing and analyzing, thanks to those IWS owners who also submitted their dogs’ blood for DNA typing, Dr. Lorna Kennedy of the University of Manchester, England has determined and located the haplotypes that carry the genetic marker for hypothyroidism/thyroiditis in the IWS breed. Because of Dr. Kennedy’s work, our next goal will be to provide sufficient samples to confirm her discovery of the genetic marker. To do so, we will need submittals from IWS dogs that are known to be affected with thyroiditis/hypothyroidism as well as healthy “controls.” Once the genetic marker has been verified, we will have the potential to develop a genetic test for the disease in IWSs.

Thanks are also HUGELY in order to several very generous individuals who have donated sufficient funds to continue our ability to subsidize the cost of blood sample collection and submittal! We hope that these funds will carry us through to the conclusion of the marker verification. Donations are always welcomed and appreciated to the IWSCA IWS Thyroid Study Restricted Fund.