von Willebrand's Disease

Common Symptoms: Von Willebrand Disease I (VWDI) is an inherited bleeding disorder affecting Doberman Pinschers. Dogs affected with VWDI have less than half of the normal level of von Willebrand coagulation factor (vWf), which is an essential protein needed for normal blood clotting. There is variability in the amount of vWf such that not all dogs with two copies of the Mutation are equally affected. Dogs that have less than 35% of the normal amount of vWf generally have mild to moderate signs of a bleeding disorder. Affected dogs may bruise easily, have frequent nosebleeds, bleed from the mouth when juvenile teeth are lost, and experience prolonged bleeding after surgery or trauma. Less often, the bleeding may be severe enough to cause death. Most dogs will have a normal lifespan with this condition despite increased blood clotting times.
NOTE: The levels of vWD:
CLEAR - no mutations/no symptomsCARRIER - 1 mutation/no symptomsAFFECTED - 2 mutations/symptoms
"Maze", a DanBar Doberman who lives in Delaware with the Wilson family, with her precious best friend. My dogs are excellent with children.

Important Information About vWD and Breeding

Dog breeding is often described as a art, not a science. This is absolutely true as there are very few "written in stone" guidelines even for ethical, concerned breeders. 
To understand this, consider there are NO perfect dogs. EVERY dog has faults; faults of character, faults of structure, faults of genetics. Knowing this, the talented and ethical breeder must weigh up every dog's pros and cons and take them into consideration when determining if and to whom a specific dog should be bred. 
Some issues must be given more weight than others. Example: poor temperament should be a deal breaker while a minor structural defect such as tail set should be given much less consideration. Every breeding should be considered not as an individual, stand alone event, but as a component of a larger program with far reaching goals. With the Doberman breed, with 67% of its members dying of DCM, obviously heart health must be given priority over almost all other factors. In a perfect world breeders would select as breeding partners dogs which had zero genetic health mutations, but this is not possible. So the careful breeder must weigh together dozens of considerations including which diseases to give priority to avoiding.
von Willebrand's Disease has been surronded with considerable controversy from its discovery. One of the complicating issues is that the disease presents with a wide range of symptoms from undetectable to life threatening. For the most part however it should be understood that this disease poses a low risk to not only the breed but to individual dogs as well. Example: I have had several Dobermans who tested "affected" with vWD who have undergone ear cropping and other surgeries with zero complications. For this reason some breeders pay no attention at all to the disease but this is not responsible. This disease can (and should be) eliminated from the breed by carefully selecting away from affacted and carrier dogs when possible. But this will take time. Right now the emphasis must be on DCM, meaning dogs with excellent DCM genetics, echocardiograms, Holters and longevity in their background should be selected for breeding despite their vWD status. 
Having said that vWD, like all other faults, should always be given some consideration in breeding.