An official new DNA testing scheme has been approved for neuroaxonal dystrophy (NAD) in papillons, the Kennel Club has announced.
NAD is an early onset neurodegenerative disease that involves severe swelling of the nerve fibres.
Clinical signs usually appear between one and four months of age. They include head tremor, wobbly gait and inability to stand and walk, progressing to cerebellar ataxia, inability to eat, blindness and deafness.
Most affected individuals do not survive past the age of seven to eight months.