my opinion: many people outside of Thailand that are interested in the breed may be overly concerned with DS.
NO WAY would i recommend putting a dog/pup to sleep because it has a DS. IF a dog had an infected DS that for some reason could not be remedied i would then consider putting him down.
there are a lot of Thai Ridgebacks in Thailand, and a lot of the ones i have seen have DS. AND the majority of them are living normal healthy lives, many of them in old age(with DS!). I have heard the horror stories but have yet to see first hand any infected DS.
through my experience here in Thailand i have learned that there are many different types of DS. some are very obvious and even visible by sight (though not infected). others can only be detected through palpation. some have the typical tube from the spine to the skin, others have what seem to be incomplete tubes that do not reach the skin - these especially are often identifiable on pups but not on the adults.
i dont know of and had never heard of mental illness by way of DS ... but seeing how some DS seem to be rooted/attached in/to the spine i immagine it is possible.
please do not put any of your pups/dogs down if you discover they have DS. if youre worried about it have the DS removed. i would recommend just leaving it alone, keeping your pup/dog in good health and keep an eye on it. I would bet that the DS would not get infected thus never causing any health problem. having said that i will also say the safer bet may be to remove the DS and eliminate any chance of it becoming infected - of course if not completely/properly removed the surgery itself could cause it to become infected.
James ... www.ManapeThaiRidgeback.com
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