This mail is written by Rebecca Hassle in Germany

Dear Breeders!

As some of you maybe know, I am studying veterinary medicine. I followed the discussion about the blue colour with great interest, and like Helena and so many others here, I am interested in the best for this breed. So, I have started some research about bl...ue and lilac colour problems.
Today, I called Professor Dr. Tosso Leeb from the University in Bern (Switzerland). He is one of the leading experts in Europe for the blue & lilac colour disease named CDA ( = Color Dilution Alopecia ). I got his permission to post our conversation here.

The bad news:

There is currently no gene-test available which says that a dog is free from CDA or not. Right now, it is even unknown how the inheritance of CDA really works. This means, that even the selection on phenotype that some breeders already do (= selection on best coat) is not a 100% safe way to reduce CDA syndrome in blue or lilac dogs.
But: In the studies about blue and lilac, scientists found out that there are indeed lilac & blue dogs which show no signs of CDA: In some dog breeds there are dogs with almost or totally NO Problems with dilution colours (for example Weimaraner and Beagle). In other breeds, most or at least many of the blues seems to be affected (for example Great Munsterlander and Dobermann).
This shows that the problem with CDA is NOT only based on the diluted colour alone, but also requires some other additional factors.

The good news:

Professor Dr. Leeb is currently investigating CDA in various dog breeds. His wish & goal is to develop a gene test for CDA in the next years for several dog breeds. In our phone call, he was speculating that there might be a way to develop a gene test for CDA for the Russkiy Toy.
In order to achieve this goal, he would need a minimum of 40 different blood samples from us Russkiy Toy breeders.
What he exacly needs to develop this test for the Russkiy Toy is:
- Blood samples of Minimum 20 different Blue or Lilac Russkiy Toys that show coat problems. Owners of affected dogs can also send him skin biopsies, to clear if it is really CDA or just another coat problem that has nothing to do with CDA
(Info: Most often, CDA will start at the back side of the ears: Thin hair & bald spots appear).
- Blood samples of minimum 20 different Blue or Lilac Russkiy Toys that show no signs of coat problems, and that are at least 2 years old.
You will find infos about how to correctly make the blood sample here:
http://www.genetics.unibe.ch/unibe/vetmed/genetic/content/e2353/e2694/e2699/files2700/2007May02_Instructions_e_eng.pdf
(or go to http://www.genetics.unibe.ch/content/index_eng.html => Research => dog => Color dilution alopecia (CDA) in various breeds => Instructions for sending samples pdf, 50KB)

As soon as Dr. Leeb has the 40 samples, he can begin to work and hopefully find a gene test for CDA. If we are lucky, the test could be archived within a year or two..
The Profits for you Breeders:
- You would get the tests from Professor Dr. Leeb for FREE ! You only have to pay your vet for taking the blood sample, and the shipping cost to Prof. Dr. Leeb in Switzerland (I think it does not cost very much, and some breeders maybe can sent their samples together and split the shipping costs). Normally, the development of such kinds of blood tests in dogs is NOT sponsored like in this case, which means that this is a unique chance for us breeders!!!
- Professor Dr. Leeb guarantees that the results of the research will be kept confidential. This means: If you send the samples, only you as owner will get the result of the test. NO identity of any dog or owner will be published by the researchers!!
- You as the Owner can for example publish the good results of your dogs, if you want. This will maybe give you even better chances in finding buyers for your puppies, and more interests in your blue or lilac stud dogs.
- In a year or two, there could be a gene test available, so you can test all your dogs, and with the results you might be able to tell with almost 100% certainty that your dog is free from CDA! This will give you great chances make your bloodlines more popular, and to sell your puppies in more countries. I know many people in western Europe are a bit afraid of the blue colour right now. This could change with this gene test, as we would have a fair chance to breed healthy blue & lilac colours.
What you can do:
- get blood samples from all your blue & lilac dogs. Write to Prof. Dr. Leeb the name of each dog , write if he shows signs or not, and the age.
-Tell other breeders from Professor Leebs research. Talk to them on dog shows, or write them an email. Try to convince them to send blood samples too. The more samples he gets, the faster and more reliable he can work!!
- Write a post in each big russkiy Toy forum with these infos. Translate this post into russian language, so more Russian breeders can read it.

Hope this infomations are useful..

What is lilac color for a dog? Any picture I could see? Very interesting

Wow! That's a beautiful color! Will his eyes stay blue forever or will they change?

Yes sure, I have a link, but it is in Russian language only. Still you can see the pictures. They are the first kennel of Bald Russian Toys

http://toyreal.narod.ru/index.htm,

I read about this breeder on one of the Russian Forums about a year ago, and it sounded that the owner was answering there too. This time, I decided to call her and to talk about everything in person. That is why I delayed with my answer here a bit. I talked to her last night.

Well, according to what she said to me, they developed this line in 2004. And in the whole of Russia there are only about 20 bald Russian toys. Still is a very young line.

On this page of their website http://toyreal.narod.ru/puppies.htm you can see two bald parents. They had a litter of puppies on October 2nd. The breeder said the puppies are already sold.

You said, "It's easy to sit in another country and claim that the bald RT is healthy ... Who can check it? none!". I understand that you feel strongly about the issue. And I totally agree with you. There are a lot of breeders who are not very honest with buyers.

I travel back and forth to Russia frequently, but I've never personally seen those dogs. We all know that it's the reality that some breeders, who aren't the most honest, may claim their dogs are healthy or the best when in fact they aren't. She told me that they don't use blue or lilac dogs and they don't use Chinese Hairless Crested. (If you know there is a bald toy-terrier recently developed in the USA. It looks very similar to a bald Russian Toy, but is bigger in size and has a "hair hat" on his head and some hair on the tail. That line was developed using the Chinese Crested breed.)

Also on this page you can see some of her bald Russian toys: http://toyreal.narod.ru/breeding.htm

P.S. I invited her to our forum, so she could share her experience with all of us, but she said she doesn't want to and doesn't care about anything regarding the Russian Toy. She claims she is not a breeder who works for profit. She said she even just gives them away for free. (Hard to believe though..., especially since at the beginning of our conversation she said the puppies were sold already.)

Guys, I like those bald ones! I think they look unique. I don't think I would buy any of them because of the health issue, but otherwise, they are even cool!  

She probably wanted to sell them : )