The chinese
Shar Pei

DiaQUEN

by Sandra LindbergDecember 9, 2024
Shar Pei
Anyone who knows me is aware that I have been deeply engaged with the topic of "Qualzucht" and its associated traits for quite some time. Initially, my focus was primarily on "my" breed, the Shar Pei. During this period, I reached out to Diana Plange, the founder of the Qualzucht Evidence Network (QUEN) gGmbH in Germany. Since then, a lot has happened—much of it behind the scenes, and I have never spoken about it publicly until now.

The Beginning

After my first conversation with Diana Plange, I asked both myself and her how I could support QUEN. I then sat down and drafted a rough concept for a breed information sheet on the Shar Pei. My primary focus was gathering and documenting scientific data, sources, and image material to provide to QUEN, aiming to assist experts in the creation of a new information sheet. I understood that each sheet would later undergo a thorough review by a scientific advisory board consisting of experts from various veterinary disciplines before publication. After several months, the moment arrived: the Shar Pei information sheet was published in March 2023.

The Idea

It was clear to me that simply pointing out problems without considering potential solutions would achieve little. I appreciated the Swiss burden criteria approach, which evaluates individual animals rather than making sweeping generalizations about entire breeds. As a result, I reached out to Eva Holderegger Walser, who had written a highly insightful and critical article on the topic. She explained to me in detail why this theoretically sound concept is challenging to implement in practice.

At the same time, I also discussed this very problem with Diana Plange. She shared her vision of developing a tool for veterinary authorities that would enable official veterinarians to perform independent evaluations of individual animals. This tool would be based on the latest scientific data and classify varying levels of burden. Thus, the idea for DiaQUEN was born.

Development

My husband, Diana Plange and I discussed the DiaQUEN concept. As an application developer who thrives on challenges, he was immediately enthusiastic. After nearly two years of development, hundreds of hours of work, countless evenings and weekends, numerous phone and video conferences, and several internal testing phases, DiaQUEN is now ready to be introduced to the public.

The Product

DiaQUEN is an innovative web application that supports veterinary authorities in the evidence-based documentation and assessment of torture breeding traits using modern tools and a scientifically grounded foundation. It is based on the continuously updated data of the Torture Breeding Evidence Network (QUEN). The application enables precise, efficient, and individualized evaluations, reduces administrative effort, and improves the quality of assessments for individual diagnoses.

Pilot Phase

The pilot phase of DiaQUEN, which veterinary authorities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland can participate in, is an exciting and undoubtedly demanding phase for us. More information is available at www.diaquen.de.

We, the DiaQUEN team, are proud to be part of the solution and hope that this web application will contribute significantly to improving animal health and reducing animal suffering.

 

Related topics

ArticlesBreedingHealthShar Pei