The subject of DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy) hits a raw nerve for many fine folks.  From the more detached perspective of an unbiased observer, I think what we are seeing is basically a mix of two colliding interests: Owners of dogs who die of DCM are overcome with pain and grief, the foreseeable result of witnessing the sudden and devastating loss of a cherished life partner.  Breeders of these DCM dogs are – in large part – defensive because they fear being held accountable for something that was unknown or unexpected (at least at the time of breeding); they did not intentionally breed a DCM dog, nor did they intentionally cause this owner’s pain.  So one group is acting out of pain and the other is acting out of fear.  Pain and fear do not bring out the best in humans.

I often wonder if because we love our Dobermans so much, that losing them to DCM somehow detaches us from some of the fundamental realities that dogs, just like humans, die.  Some die in their prime, others linger on into old age….but, bottom-line, is that all living things die.

 While there are tests available to attempt to detect DCM at earlier stages and get them onto medications to keep them living a more sedentary life in hopes they reach our goals of longevity, we must remember that these tests are all, each and every one of them, only good for the moment the tests are performed.  Until Science is able to come up with a definitive DNA marker whereby we can evaluate our Dobermans and possibly eliminate this dreadful disease, we are playing Russian roulette. I am not trying to be cynical, nor am I trying to belittle those that do test for DCM, but simply being realistic.  In our desperate attempts to avoid Cardio, we are ostracizing some important breeding animals and breeding lines. In the future will we look back at our knee-jerk reactions of today as a sign of misguided, well-intentioned panic and fear?  It is obvious that Cardio is in the breed if one is willing to be honest, but if we want to avoid it altogether or be guaranteed to be free of any and all health problems, then we need to get stuffed Dobermans rather than live animals. For reasons that in hindsight were good, bad or indifferent, for generations- Doberman breeders focused on very specific bloodlines. One consequence of this focus is that there are health issues now common to the breed itself.

Over the years we have heard many breeders from all over the country claim their dogs to be “DCM free” ….. free of health problems….uncommonly long-lived…etc.  The fact is that DCM is in the breed so one cannot in all honesty claim their bloodlines to be DCM free.  The best one can say is that you haven’t seen it yet and that as of today’s testing, there is no signs of it in this dog. None of us can truthfully claim to be DCM free nor can we accurately predict when it may raise its ugly and unwanted head.

If a breeder necropsied every single dog they ever bred, 100%... without exception, they could then make a claim about DCM in their breeding program, but even then, any claim could only be in the context of how many dogs they bred related to numbers in the breed itself. Further, if breeders actually necropsied every single dog they bred, they might actually see evidence of DCM, even though the dog may have died of something else. SO, claims that lines are DCM free really mean “I haven’t seen evidence of DCM in a necropsy yet, in part because I haven’t checked every single animal and in part because dogs have died first of other reasons.” 

How long do we want our Dobermans to live? What would we prefer they die of? Is our goal to have Dobermans living to 14 years of age? Will their quality of life at 14 years be something we can be truly proud of for such a noble, intelligent and sophisticated working breed that we are willing to sacrifice their quality of life and their dignity for maintaining our own selfish wants and desires?  Is keeping our Dobermans living to 14 years of age on an assortment of drugs, which could and does create more health issues akin to keeping humans living and breathing on life support as a vegetable really truly keeping the best interest of our beloved loved ones, or is it simply satisfying our own inability to let them go with dignity?  I have seen elderly, weak and feeble, incontinent, tumor-ridden, near blind, crippled with arthritis Dobermans who, while are loved to pieces by their owners, are arguably living well past God’s intended and original plan.  I have also seen many humans in hospital living on life-support, brain dead vegetables with no quality of life and I have to ask myself, is this really what they would have wanted were they able to speak for themselves?  I believe we have clouded our ability to truly evaluate what is quality of life from what is our own selfish needs and desires and our inability to let our loved ones go with dignity, animal or human alike.

The bottom line is irrespective of the dogs DCM status, we really need to clearly understand the mode of transmission…. Otherwise, I think we are engaging in a bit of a witch hunt, which could very possibly dramatically alter the breed… and I am not convince that is a ‘good thing’.   We cannot understand the mode of transmission until Science finds a DNA marker whereby we are able to test and evaluate our Dobermans truthfully and honestly.

Until then, love them for the time they are with us and allow them to live with dignity and to die with dignity, first and foremost.