March 2026 PRA-rcd4 genetic testing report and dog databeae has been issued
PRA-rcd4 Genetic Testing: March 2026 PRA-rcd4 Results Snapshot
By the end of the first quarter of 2026, the Japanese Spitz Foundation has collected 507 PRA-rcd4 DNA test results.
The current picture looks like this:
- Clear (WT/WT): 68%
- Carrier (WT/MUT): 27.4%
- Affected (MUT/MUT): 23 dogs (4.5%)
For me, these numbers are no longer just statistics. They are the outline of something we have been trying to see clearly for years: what PRA-rcd4 actually looks like at breed level, not in rumours, not in isolated kennel stories, but in a real and growing dataset.
At the same time, I have started to notice something important. The pace of new submissions is slowing down.
My personal impression is that this may mean that most of the active breeding population outside Japan has already been tested, or at least that the most engaged part of it has. If that impression is correct, then the next major expansion of this project will probably not come from Europe or Australia alone, and not from individual additions here and there. It will only happen if Japan joins actively.
And this matters a great deal.
If we look at the breed globally, the number of Japanese Spitz puppies registered in Japan each year is broadly comparable to the number registered outside Japan. So from my point of view, we are reaching the moment where the dataset cannot grow into a truly representative global picture without stronger Japanese participation. We can continue adding valuable data, of course. But the real next step — the one that changes the scale of understanding — is Japan.
To me, this is now the clearest conclusion from the first quarter of 2026:
PRA-rcd4 is present in the breed. Carriers remain a substantial part of the breeding population. Systematic DNA testing works. But a truly global view of the breed will only be possible when Japan is fully part of that picture.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who has tested, shared results, and trusted this project. Step by step, this is becoming something real. Not complete yet. Not finished. But real.
And the next chapter, I believe, depends on whether we can build that bridge properly.
