Breed health monitoring programmes collect population-level data to track inherited disease trends and evaluate the impact of breeding reforms.
Breed health monitoring converts anecdotal concern into quantified evidence, enabling targeted interventions and tracking the effectiveness of reforms. The history of hereditary cataract control in Rough Collies demonstrates what sustained monitoring can achieve: decades of mandatory eye testing, combined with breeding recommendations, substantially reduced prevalence. The challenge for complex polygenic conditions — hip dysplasia, brachycephalic airway disease — is that multiple genes contribute and environment also plays a role, making simple DNA test solutions insufficient. Population-level monitoring with breeding values (estimated breeding values, EBVs) allows breeders to select against traits even without identifying specific causative variants. Public data access is essential: breeders, buyers, and vets need to see the data to act on it.