Published: 03 Jan 2018 | Last Updated: 03 Jan 2018 17:46:22

The Border Terrier is a working terrier type that is generally considered to be a relatively healthy and hardy breed. A new VetCompass™ has explored these beliefs using anonymised clinical data from hundreds of veterinary clinics in England. These new VetCompass™ findings highlighted a decreasing trend in the popularity of Border Terriers from 1.46% of all puppies born in 2005 to 0.78% in 2014. The breed was relatively long-lived, with a median longevity of 12.7 years. The most common disorders in the breed were periodontal disease (17.63% of dogs affected), overweight/obesity (7.01%) and otitis externa (6.71%, 95% CI: 5.42–8.19). Predisposition to dental and neurological disease was suggested. These results provide a comprehensive evidence resource to support improved health and welfare within the breed.  

The full paper is available open access at https://cgejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40575-017-0055-3      

O'Neill DG, Darwent EC, Church DB, Brodbelt DC. Border Terriers under primary veterinary care in England: demography and disorders. Canine Genetics and Epidemiology. 2017;4(1):15.