All kinds of interesting tidbits & more food for thought in this recent
article too, fwiw--

"The isolation and small effective population size of modern breeds has
resulted
in widespread inbreeding and the expression of a large number of genetic
diseases.
Many of these are also among the most frequently occurring diseases in
humans, such
as cancer, heart problems, deafness, blindness and joint diseases [6, 8, 9,
12-14]. The
genetic disorders in the dog often mimic human diseases closely in
physiology,
disease presentation and clinical response. More than 360 genetic diseases
that are
found in humans have also been described in dogs, about 46% occurring mainly
in
either one or a few breeds [8, 10, 15]."
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2148-8-28.pdf

Regards,
Susan

Susan E Bragg
Chinook Trading Post
Tullibardine Chinooks
http://chinooktradingpost.com

Custodian of Records
International Seppala Association
http://www.seppalas.org