Golden Retriever muscular dystrophy is a homologue of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in humans. Affected dogs develop clinical signs at 8 to 10 weeks of age. Symptoms include a shuffling gait, inability to fully open the jaw, difficulty eating, curvature of the spine and ribs, resulting in a squatted posture. he disease is transmitted in an X-linked recessive manner, so males carrying the mutation will all be affected. However, only females with 2 copies of the mutated allele will be affected.
