The Dalmatian Club of America (DCA) joined the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) program in 2004. OFA created the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) by participating with The Dalmatian Club of America (DCA) and other National Breed Clubs. Research and maintain information on the health issues prevalent in specific breeds. We’ve established a recommended protocol for breed-specific health screenings. Dogs tested in accordance with that protocol are recognized with a CHIC number and certification.
A dog achieves CHIC Certification if it has been screened for every disease recommended by The Dalmatian Club of America for the Dalmatian. Those results are publicly available in the OFA database. Recommendation screening for the Dalmatian as follows:
OFA-CHIC Health Testing Requirements
The OFA, working with the Dalmatian Club of America, recommends the following basic health screening tests for all breeding stock. Dogs meeting these basic health screening requirements will be issued Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) numbers. For CHIC certification, all results do not need to be normal, but they must all be in the public domain so that responsible breeders can make more informed breeding decisions. For potential puppy buyers, CHIC certification is a good indicator that the breeder responsibly factors good health into their selection criteria. The breed-specific list below represents the basic health screening recommendations. It is not all-encompassing. There may be other health screening tests appropriate for this breed. And there may be other health concerns for which there is no commonly accepted screening protocol available.
- Hip Dysplasia (One of the following)
OFA Evaluation
Penn HIP Evaluation - Congenital Deafness (One of the following)
OFA evaluation based on BAER test - ELECTIVE – ONE of the following (One of the following)
OFA Thyroid evaluation from an approved laboratory
ACVO Eye Exam – Results registered with OFA
\”The CHIC (Canine Health Information Center) Program offers benefits to breeders, buyers, parent clubs, and researchers.
For breeders, CHIC provides a reliable source of information regarding dogs they may use in their breeding programs. Breeders can analyze the pedigrees of a proposed breeding for health strengths and weaknesses as well as 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 tested normal. Further, as more DNA tests become available and the results are entered, the OFA database will be able to establish whether progeny will be clear, carriers, or affected.
For researchers, the OFA database, and specifically those dogs that have achieved CHIC Certification provide confidential and accurate aggregate information on multiple generations of dogs. This 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, the OFA database, and specifically those dogs that have achieved CHIC Certification are tools to monitor disease prevalence and measure progress.\” *
*Reproduced by permission from the Orthopedic Foundation of America