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The AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF) provides educational resources and tools for dog breeders as part of its mission to advance the health of all dogs.

To help responsible breeders utilize the latest canine health information in their breeding and rearing plans and share that information with their puppy buyers, CHF provides infectious disease facts sheets at akcchf.org/tophealthconcerns.

CHF also offers an informative Q&A handout regarding SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Click here to learn more.

The fact sheets are created in collaboration with veterinarian, leading infectious disease expert, and CHF-funded researcher Dr. Jason Stull of the Ohio State University and the University of Prince Edward, Canada.

Topics include diseases critical to your breeding program such as brucellosis; parasitic diseases important to manage in all dogs such as hookworms and heartworms; viral diseases which are controlled by appropriate vaccination such as distemper, parvo, and rabies; the important public health concern of anti-microbial resistance; and more. Each fact sheet includes basic disease information plus details on disease spread, symptoms and preventive measures.

CHF infectious disease fact sheets are offered as a tool to help you improve the health and safety of your breeding stock and the puppies they produce. You are also encouraged to download and share the fact sheets in your puppy packs or ongoing puppy buyer communications and resources. Working together, breeders, veterinarians, and puppy buyers can use this information to control infectious disease and improve the health and well-being of all dogs.

AKC Canine Health Foundation Infectious Disease Fact Sheets available at akcchf.org/tophealthconcerns:

  • Antimicrobial Resistance
  • Blastomycosis
  • Canine Brucellosis
  • Chagas Disease
  • Canine Distemper
  • Canine Influenza
  • Canine Parvovirus
  • Dermatophytosis (Ringworm)
  • Giardia
  • Heartworms
  • Histoplasmosis
  • Hookworms
  • Leptospirosis
  • Lyme Disease
  • Rabies

The AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the health of all dogs and their owners through sound scientific research and dissemination of health information.