Institute for Genetic Disease Control in Animals (GDC)

Introduction

In 1990 a group including veterinarians, scientists, dog breeders and owners created the Institute for Genetic Disease Control in Animals (GDC) as the first national and international open registry for canine genetic diseases. The GDC registry was modeled after the Swedish open registry for canine hip dysplasia that contributed to a significant reduction in that disease in Sweden during the 1980s.

GDC expanded its registries to include nearly 30 genetic diseases. In 2002 GDC merged all of its data bases with OFA except the Eye and Tumor registries. Like GDC, OFA now encourages owners to choose to openly share information about affected dogs and unaffected dogs on their website to give breeders the best information possible for making good breeding decisions.

In addition to running the Eye and Tumor registries, GDC is now devoted to developing informational material and resources for breeders.

GDC releases information in the form of a GDC KinReport™. A KinReport™ on a particular dog links it with all close relatives in the database, providing all the evaluation information for all of those dogs registered in the data base. The KinReport is available through the GDC website: www.gdcinstitute.org

Because the KinReport™ shows the prevalence of genetic disease in a dog's parents, siblings, litter mates and offspring, breeders and owners can assess a particular dog's risk for acquiring or handing down genetic disease.