Genetic test could eradicate a type of inherited blindness in dogs

A mountain rescue dog whose duties ended after her eyesight failed has helped scientists create a test that could eradicate the genetic eye condition in her breed for good.

Shola the English shepherd has an inherited eye disease called progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) that causes the light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye to deteriorate, eventually leading to blindness.

PRA affects more than 100 dog breeds, can be caused by a number of different genetic variants and has no treatment. For some types, symptoms do not appear until the dog is several years old, by which point they may have passed their genes on to puppies.