BREED HEALTH SURVEYS THAT WORK
Dr. Caroline Coile, Ph.D.
This article appears with permission of the author.
What are the most important health problems in your breed? If you’re like most owners, your idea of the most important problem is the one your own dog has had. Yet that may or may not be an important problem for the breed overall. The only way to get a true idea of a breed’s health is to collect data and do statistical analyses. Several representatives discussed the challenges of breed surveys at the AKC Canine Health Foundation Parent Club Conference in October, 2005.
Preparing a breed health survey entails several steps, the first of which is anticipating problems and establishing goals. Dr Elsa Sell, President of the Bearded Collie Foundation for Health, cautions that coming up with new goals in the middle of a project will confuse participants and wreak havoc with the data.
The design of the survey is vital to its success. An overly long or confusing survey will not be completed. Dr Sell recommends that the survey form use correct medical terms rather than common disease names. The Canine Health Foundation (http://www.akcchf.org) has available surveys created by the AKC Delegates Canine Health Committee, as well as samples of successful surveys used by other clubs. These surveys include codes for diseases and how they are diagnosed (for example, by self, breeder, veterinarian, second opinion, or laboratory test), and also ask for age of onset of each disorder. They allow respondents to include opinions as well, both free form comments and beliefs about what they feel are the breed’s most important disorders. Once a questionnaire is designed, it should be tested among a subgroup of owners and then tweaked to accommodate their concerns.
Even before the survey is available, it should be publicized. Club websites, online chat groups, word of mouth, and newsletter announcements stressing the survey’s importance and ease of completion should be utilized. A survey that is anticipated is more likely to be completed than one that arrives as a surprise.
The bane of all poll takers is getting an unbiased sample. In an ideal world, every owner of your breed would reply. In the real world, many reasons conspire to prevent this. First, how will you find them? Mailing only to club members will not reach the often huge proportion of owners who do not belong to any clubs. Posting on the website and announcing it on chat groups will help, but will only reach those already with a greater interest in the breed than most pet owners have.
Although the AKC cannot share the names and addresses of owners registering a dog of a particular breed, they will, for a fee, do a mailing to them. The Westie Foundation of America makes use of the AKC to send out health surveys to all 6,000 West Highland White owners in the United States every six or seven years. Wayne Kompare, President of the Westie Foundation, sums up the importance of reaching every owner. “Our constituency is all Westies, everywhere. I don’t care if a Westie came from a puppy mill, a backyard breeder, or the most reputable breeder in the club. If that Westie has a health problem, it’s our concern.
Response rates are low for any survey, and ones dealing with canine health are no exception. Typical rates are from 35 to 50%, according to Susan Susan laCroix Hamil, a director of the AKC Canine Health Foundation.
Owners neglect to return surveys for several reasons besides the survey being too long or confusing. Sometimes it’s simply the bother of addressing an envelope, something easily prevented by enclosing a pre-addressed envelope. People with healthy dogs may think their information isn’t important, so it must be made clear that all dogs are equally important when compiling data. Many owners simply forget; sending a postcard or a second survey to non-responders will often reel them in.
Although not such a concern in pet owners, competition dog owners and breeders may not respond because they fear their dog or line will be stigmatized by other breeders if they admit to health problems. Surveys that require dog’s names or pedigrees, or owner’s names, do not have a large or unbiased response. It must be made clear that no identifying tracking marks are on the forms, and the responses should be sent to a disinterested third party with no involvement in your club or breed. This means you may have to pay somebody to collect the data, or interest a university in your project. Another possibility is to trade data analysis duties with a club of similar size.
Mike Wahlig, President of the Poodle Club of America Foundation, stresses that the club should let participants know beforehand how the information collected will be used. The club cannot change its distribution or use of the information later or it risks not only losing participant confidence, but being sued. If identifiable information is to be used, you must obtain written releases.
Don’t go about your survey as though you’ll never do another. Health problems are dynamic. Once you identify the major ones your breed is in a better position to fight them. Only by doing another survey will you know how successful you were or if another problem is coming to take its place. So make sure respondents (and even non-respondents) hear about the results as quickly as possible. Publicize them as thoroughly as you did the initial survey. Those who participated will feel rewarded, and those who did not may feel left out; either way, both will be more likely to respond next time.
Finally, use your data. Has a disease been identified as a major problem? Use the momentum from interest in the survey to raise money to fund research into finding a genetic marker or better treatments for that disease. Your breed may have a devastating problem that has gone unrecognized heretofore; only with the hard data from your survey will owners be motivated to fund research into it. After all, a survey makes clear that their dog could be next.
This article appears with permission of the author.
What are the most important health problems in your breed? If you’re like most owners, your idea of the most important problem is the one your own dog has had. Yet that may or may not be an important problem for the breed overall. The only way to get a true idea of a breed’s health is to collect data and do statistical analyses. Several representatives discussed the challenges of breed surveys at the AKC Canine Health Foundation Parent Club Conference in October, 2005.
Preparing a breed health survey entails several steps, the first of which is anticipating problems and establishing goals. Dr Elsa Sell, President of the Bearded Collie Foundation for Health, cautions that coming up with new goals in the middle of a project will confuse participants and wreak havoc with the data.
The design of the survey is vital to its success. An overly long or confusing survey will not be completed. Dr Sell recommends that the survey form use correct medical terms rather than common disease names. The Canine Health Foundation (http://www.akcchf.org) has available surveys created by the AKC Delegates Canine Health Committee, as well as samples of successful surveys used by other clubs. These surveys include codes for diseases and how they are diagnosed (for example, by self, breeder, veterinarian, second opinion, or laboratory test), and also ask for age of onset of each disorder. They allow respondents to include opinions as well, both free form comments and beliefs about what they feel are the breed’s most important disorders. Once a questionnaire is designed, it should be tested among a subgroup of owners and then tweaked to accommodate their concerns.
Even before the survey is available, it should be publicized. Club websites, online chat groups, word of mouth, and newsletter announcements stressing the survey’s importance and ease of completion should be utilized. A survey that is anticipated is more likely to be completed than one that arrives as a surprise.
The bane of all poll takers is getting an unbiased sample. In an ideal world, every owner of your breed would reply. In the real world, many reasons conspire to prevent this. First, how will you find them? Mailing only to club members will not reach the often huge proportion of owners who do not belong to any clubs. Posting on the website and announcing it on chat groups will help, but will only reach those already with a greater interest in the breed than most pet owners have.
Although the AKC cannot share the names and addresses of owners registering a dog of a particular breed, they will, for a fee, do a mailing to them. The Westie Foundation of America makes use of the AKC to send out health surveys to all 6,000 West Highland White owners in the United States every six or seven years. Wayne Kompare, President of the Westie Foundation, sums up the importance of reaching every owner. “Our constituency is all Westies, everywhere. I don’t care if a Westie came from a puppy mill, a backyard breeder, or the most reputable breeder in the club. If that Westie has a health problem, it’s our concern.
Response rates are low for any survey, and ones dealing with canine health are no exception. Typical rates are from 35 to 50%, according to Susan Susan laCroix Hamil, a director of the AKC Canine Health Foundation.
Owners neglect to return surveys for several reasons besides the survey being too long or confusing. Sometimes it’s simply the bother of addressing an envelope, something easily prevented by enclosing a pre-addressed envelope. People with healthy dogs may think their information isn’t important, so it must be made clear that all dogs are equally important when compiling data. Many owners simply forget; sending a postcard or a second survey to non-responders will often reel them in.
Although not such a concern in pet owners, competition dog owners and breeders may not respond because they fear their dog or line will be stigmatized by other breeders if they admit to health problems. Surveys that require dog’s names or pedigrees, or owner’s names, do not have a large or unbiased response. It must be made clear that no identifying tracking marks are on the forms, and the responses should be sent to a disinterested third party with no involvement in your club or breed. This means you may have to pay somebody to collect the data, or interest a university in your project. Another possibility is to trade data analysis duties with a club of similar size.
Mike Wahlig, President of the Poodle Club of America Foundation, stresses that the club should let participants know beforehand how the information collected will be used. The club cannot change its distribution or use of the information later or it risks not only losing participant confidence, but being sued. If identifiable information is to be used, you must obtain written releases.
Don’t go about your survey as though you’ll never do another. Health problems are dynamic. Once you identify the major ones your breed is in a better position to fight them. Only by doing another survey will you know how successful you were or if another problem is coming to take its place. So make sure respondents (and even non-respondents) hear about the results as quickly as possible. Publicize them as thoroughly as you did the initial survey. Those who participated will feel rewarded, and those who did not may feel left out; either way, both will be more likely to respond next time.
Finally, use your data. Has a disease been identified as a major problem? Use the momentum from interest in the survey to raise money to fund research into finding a genetic marker or better treatments for that disease. Your breed may have a devastating problem that has gone unrecognized heretofore; only with the hard data from your survey will owners be motivated to fund research into it. After all, a survey makes clear that their dog could be next.