The disease causes severe, progressing cerebral signs including mental depression, excessive sniffing and circling, walking backwards, and limb weakness. Affected puppies do not exhibit any abnormalities in routine blood work, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, or magnetic resonance imaging and are typically euthanized before 4 months of age.

Treatment is supportive care. Humane euthanasia for affected dogs is often elected.

There are many responsibilities to consider when breeding dogs. Regardless of test results it is important that your dog is in good general health and that you are in a position to care for the puppies if new responsible owners are not found. For first time or novice breeders, advice can be found at most kennel club websites.

This disease is autosomal recessive meaning that two copies of the mutation are needed for disease signs to develop. A carrier dog with one copy of the Cerebral Dysfunction mutation can be safely bred with a clear dog with no copies of the Cerebral Dysfunction mutation. About half of the puppies will have one copy (carriers) and half will have no copies of the Cerebral Dysfunction mutation. Puppies in a litter which is expected to contain carriers should be tested prior to breeding. Please note: It is possible that disease signs similar to the ones caused by the Cerebral Dysfunction mutation could develop due to a different genetic or clinical cause.