IT’S BEEN a dog’s life for the Skye terrier, the most loyal dog in popular culture, which has been threatened with extinction for years.
But now the classic Scottish breed — celebrated in the world-famous tale of Greyfriar’s Bobby — should see its chances of survival rise significantly as a result of new research into eradicating a deadly disease which placed the much-loved pets at risk of dying out.
Experts at veterinary charity Animal Health Trust (AHT), working with Cambridge University, are conducting pioneering genetic analysis which they predict will lead to a DNA test for a potentially fatal liver disease by the end of 2016.
Skye terrier hepatitis is an inherited disease thought to strike dogs whose parents both carry an as-yet-unidentified gene mutation.