GWPCA - CHIC

What is CHIC?
The Canine Health Information Center, also known as 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. The CHIC also maintains a DNA Bank, co-sponsored by the OFA and the AKC/CHF, collects and stores canine DNA samples along with corresponding genealogic and phenotypic information to facilitate future research and testing aimed at reducing the incidence of inherited disease in dogs.

Benefits of CHIC?
For breeders, CHIC provides a reliable source of information regarding dogs they may use in their breeding programs. In the future, breeders can begin to analyze the pedigrees of a proposed breeding for health strengths and weaknesses as well the traditional analysis of conformation, type, and performance strengths and weaknesses. For buyers, the CHIC program provides accurate information about the results of a breeder's health testing. For diseases that are limited to phenotypic evaluations, there are no guarantees. However, the probability that an animal will develop an inherited disease is reduced when its ancestry has been tested normal. Further, as more DNA tests become available and the results are entered into CHIC, the CHIC database will be able to establish whether progeny will be clear, carriers, or affected. For parent clubs considering establishment of health databases on their own, CHIC provides the answer with no upfront investment required by the club. The CHIC infrastructure is supplied and maintained by the OFA. The data is maintained in a secure environment by trained staff. The services are not subject to the time, technology, and resource constraints that parent clubs might face on their own. This frees parent clubs to focus on their core strengths of identifying health concerns, educating their membership, and encouraging participation in the CHIC program. For researchers, CHIC provides confidential and accurate aggregate information on multiple generations of dogs. CHIC information will also be useful for epidemiological studies enhancing our knowledge of health issues affecting all breeds of dogs. For everyone interested in canine health issues, CHIC is a tool to monitor disease prevalence and measure progress.

German Wirehaired Pointer - CHIC Required Health Clearances
Click Here to View the Names of GWP's that are CHIC'd Hip Dysplasia OFA evaluation (min 24 months) - OR PennHIP evaluation (min 12 months) Elbow Dysplasia OFA Evaluation Autoimmune thyroiditis OFA evaluation from an approved laboratory - Minimum of 2 years of age, prior to breeding, and yearly thereafter until 4 years of age Eye Clearance CERF Evaluation - any age, yearly if in a breeding program von Willebrand's Disease OFA Evaluation from VetGen. First Generation Offspring of tested dogs eligible for Clear By Parentage __________________________________ Congenital Cardiac Database (Optional) OFA evaluation - recommend evaluation by cardiologist Patellar Luxation (Optional) OFA Evaluation