Letter from Phillipa Johnson – Cornell University

I am writing to thank you for the support that you and your charitable foundation have provided for my research. The project that was funded focused on identifying a better way to diagnose and image lesions in the spinal cord of dogs with degenerative myelopathy. Degenerative myelopathy causes progressive axonal loss of the spinal cord and results in worsening neurological deficits in the hind limbs. The spinal cord lesions are not visible on standard MR imaging and although we can provide a presumptive diagnosis after genetic testing a definitive diagnosis cannot be confirmed until necropsy. This means that we are unable to provide owners with definitive answers or prognostic information. Additionally, we are unable to monitor the progression of lesions over time which limits our knowledge of how and why these lesions develop. We aimed to test an advanced MR imaging method called diffusion tensor imaging to see if lesions could be identified in dogs with the condition. This method has been successful at detecting lesions in humans a condition similar to degenerative myelopathy called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease)…
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Letter from Erin Dickerson – University of Minnesota

I want to personally thank you and the members of the American German Shepherd Dog Charitable Foundation for supporting our project “Targeting alpha-AR signaling to inhibit cholesterol processing and arrest hemangiosarcoma growth.” I also want to once again express my sincere appreciation for your long-term sponsorship. I am very grateful to sponsors like your group who have provided support for our previous grants through Morris Animal Foundation and continue to help fund our efforts to improve treatment outcomes for dogs with hemangiosarcoma…
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