This ought to be good – and yes that’s sarcasm! I’m going to try to take all the long words and even longer sentences that describe CHIC (Canine Health Information Center) and boil them down to a few bullet points that briefly explain who, what, when, where, and how this thing works. To get a full explanation and a complete understanding of CHIC and it’s importance to the Gordon Setter you must read their home page for which I’ve supplied a link below.
WHO
- CHIC sponsored by Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) to work with breed parent club such as the Gordon Setter Club of America (GSCA)
WHAT
- CHIC collects information about health issues (Gordon Setters).
- CHIC gives advice about the health screening tests we (owners) need to do to improve the chances of Gordon Setters being born without those health issues.
- CHIC keeps records of the dogs that are screened and a database of all those test results.
- CHIC issues a number when all screening tests are done on a dog – this number does not mean all tests were negative or clear.
WHEN
- We (owners) screen or test Gordon Setters for the health issues CHIC told us about before breeding.
- We send our dog’s test results and DNA samples to the CHIC database and storage bank.
- We send CHIC updated health information on our dog when a new or different issue comes up.
HOW
- CHIC sends researchers our dog’s DNA when it’s needed for new research projects.
- CHIC keeps parent club (owners) up to date on current health trends in the breed based on the data that we sent them.
- Researchers find new answers to breeding healthy Gordon Setters.
And they all lived happily ever after…the End!
Gordon Setter Expert 