Choban Chatter^TM

the official publication of
Anatolian Shepherd Dogs International, Inc

Volume 23, Issue 3
Winter, 2013
Letter from the President, Kath Coniglio
ASDI Choban Chatter Newsletter

On August 10, 2013, the Anatolian Shepherd Dog Club of America, Inc. (ASDCA) unanimously decided to join the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC). CHIC, is a centralized canine health database jointly sponsored by the AKC/Canine Health Foundation (AKC/CHF) and the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). The CHIC, working with participating parent clubs, provides a resource for breeders and owners of purebred dogs to research and maintain information on the health issues prevalent in specific breeds. Working with CHIC impact all Anatolian owners that participate in health screening practices here in the United States. You do not have to be a member of ASDCA or ASDI, Inc. to participate.

CHIC is an elective service now open to all Anatolian Shepherds with permanent identification (microchip or tattoo). Unlike OFA, a dog receives a CHIC number regardless of health testing results. If a dog receives abnormal hip evaluations, it can still obtain a CHIC number, just for doing the testing and sharing the information. The goal is to encourage health screening and allowing the results to be released to the public domain, normal or not. Two parameters have been selected to be screened for CHIC certification at this time: hips and elbows. Hips may be certified by a recognized foreign hip registry (contact OFA in order to register results), OFA Evaluation, or PennHIP Evaluation. Elbows are currently only evaluated using the OFA.

Dogs are rewarded regardless of results in an attempt to encourage better breeding decisions. There are no fees associated with CHIC, unless you are registering hip results from a foreign registry or PENN HIP. All results provided by OFA are automatically inputted into the CHIC database. Any dog that meets the requirements will receive a CHIC number and it includes dogs already in the OFA database that have had the required additional testing. Should additional tests be required in the future, the animals in the CHIC database will retain their CHIC numbers, as the numbers are assigned based on the requirements at the time the dog was certified.

Currently, there are 350 dogs that have been assigned CHIC numbers from their participation in additional health screening prior to the ASDCA’s enrollment. These dogs have been retroactively assigned CHIC numbers. All dogs that have been assigned CHIC numbers retroactively can be searched through the CHIC database at www.caninehealthinfo.org. These 350 dogs will not receive certificates in the mail to reflect this change. However should you own one of the dogs these dogs and want to receive documentation for your dog, you may contact CHIC directly and they will print one for you. Contact Eddie Dziuk at chic@offa.org, or 573-442-0418 x222. Otherwise, future participants will receive a certificate at the time of meeting the requirements.

You can access the Anatolian Shepherd Dog portion of the CHIC website at:
http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/brdreqs.html?breed=ANS.

If there are any questions, please feel free to contact Katie Emanuel, President ASDCA through the information provided below or you may contact CHIC directly. A link to CHIC is available on the OFA website: http://www.offa.org/

Catherine Emanuel, President
Anatolian Shepherd Dog Club of America, Inc.
3036 Berkmar Dr. (434) 960-5213
Charlottesville, VA 22901 birinci@centurylink.net

I would hope that you will support the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) and the ASDCA's endeavor to benefit out breed. This is an exciting change that should do nothing but encourage more open discussion about the health status of our breed.

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