Health
Due to the breed's elongated body, there can be back issues within the breed specifically with intervertebral discs in the dog's backs. These discs can sometimes "slip" resulting in spinal disc herniation. Any symptoms relating to this can depend entirely on what part of the dog's back is affected, and can range to paralysis with loss of bladder and bowel control in the worst cases.
Following work by the breed clubs to ensure that any reoccurring health issues are dealt with, there are no especially common conditions affecting the Dandie Dinmont Terrier. However, minor issues affecting the breed can include hypothyroidism, primary closed angle glaucoma and Cushing's syndrome. In order to combat glaucoma in the breed, the breed clubs recommend that Dandies should have a procedure called a gonioscopy conducted on them at regular intervals throughout their lives. The Dandie is also at slightly higher risk of canine cancer than average. The average life expectancy of a Dandie Dinmont Terrier is 11–13 years.
Read more about this topic: Dandie Dinmont Terrier
Famous quotes containing the word health:
“The filth and noise of the crowded streets soon destroy the elasticity of health which belongs to the country boy.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“In health of mind and body, men should see with their own eyes, hear and speak without trumpets, walk on their feet, not on wheels, and work and war with their arms, not with engine-beams, nor rifles warranted to kill twenty men at a shot before you can see them.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)
“[The health plan was] constructed to be deconstructed. [Instead,] it was described as an ultimatum by our opponents and therefore used to undermine the process of reaching agreement.”
—Hillary Rodham Clinton (b. 1947)