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The unique canine breed structure makes dogs an excellent model for studying genetic diseases. Within a dog breed, linkage disequilibrium is extensive^,, enabling genome-wide association (GWA) with only around 15,000 SNPs and fewer individuals than in human studies^,. Incidences of specific diseases are elevated in different breeds, indicating that a few genetic risk factors might have accumulated through drift or selective breeding. In this study, a GWA study with 81 affected dogs (cases) and 57 controls from the Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever breed identified five loci associated with a canine systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)–related disease complex that includes both antinuclear antibody (ANA)–positive immune-mediated rheumatic disease (IMRD) and steroid-responsive meningitis-arteritis (SRMA). Fine mapping with twice as many dogs validated these loci. Our results indicate that the homogeneity of …