Jump to content
BC Boards

Denise Wall

Registered Users
  • Posts

    1,234
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Denise Wall

  • Birthday 11/06/1953

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://www.stilhope.com
  • ICQ
    0

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female

Recent Profile Visitors

3,234 profile views

Denise Wall's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

  1. I finally got a chance to go through this video again trying to pay more attention to detail. Basically, my take on it is, as is obvious, it's not good to use high dose ivermectin (group 1). Lots of problems. In group 2, these dogs, different breeds and with their MDR1 status unknown, were already suspected of having retinal problems in association with regular heart worm meds alone or in association with other flea and tick products. Group 3 contains a "pure" group of dogs taking only regular dose HW meds but again, no info about the breeds or other info such as HDR1 status of the dogs. Group 3 also contains a control group that took no HW product and consequently showed little retinal toxicity. So group 2 that would be most dogs as far as their mix of various HW, flea and tick products. But it's not exactly a pure group since they were already suspected to have retinal toxicity in association with HW/flea/tick products. As would be expected, this group did have various positive signs of retinal toxicity, some of it reversible once removed from the meds. Group 3 (non control) was the most disturbing to me with about 21% of dogs showed retinal abnormalities. This is the group I don't know what to think about. This was just regular dose HW med. I think there is evidence that there can be retinal problems with ivermectin/heart worm meds either alone or in combination with certain flea and tick products. Retinal problems may not be the only problems either. However, we really don't know much about which dogs, which breeds and whether the dogs had other problems contributing to these problems in this study at least. I suspect this could involve MDR1 as it's a likely suspect but more research is needed. There are genes that regulate production of the protein the MDR1 gene produces that could be a major factor for example. As someone who's been in the literature on this topic a fair amount lately I have to say it's amazing to me how little research has been done on this pretty important gene product in dogs. Especially given the number of breeds with high rates of mutation in this gene. Perhaps studies like the one in this video will lead the way to more sophisticated ones with more answers and better guidelines and better products. So that's my follow up on the video. I hope I didn't miss anything.
  2. One main concern of mine from this presentation is the possibility that Comfortis and Trifexis (popular flea and tick preventatives) are inhibitors of p-glycoprotein, the protein produced by the MDR1 gene, and as such can increase ivermectin concentration 360%. See the slide at 59 seconds of the video. If true, this is concerning for all dogs on heart worm prevention. I think it's something that bears following.
  3. I am working on this. It's a pretty complicated subject actually, and reading and properly evaluating the scientific literature as well as trying to find personal accounts in breeds other than border collies (where the incidence is extremely low) will take some time. Most of the dog forums and personal accounts revolve around heart worm medicine and other commonly used meds such as acepropazime. I'm just trying to be thorough because it's important. I'm sorry it's taking so long.
  4. Rest in peace, Donald. You truly loved the working border collie.
  5. No. I'v had white factored pups from two non white factored parents.
  6. No problem Candy I was actually trying to convey that many evaluations of and support for health and genetic disease problems are going on all the time over many years with the ABCA Health and Genetics Committee and ABCA Board, even if they aren't all apparent to the membership right away. Many of these situations for research are complicated and involve many factors and careful consideration. We're trying to play the "long game," although that's sometimes hard to understand and accept when one has an immediate problem.
  7. I'm sure you probably didn't mean it this way, and believe me I'm not looking for personal thanks when I point this out, but as someone who's been on the ABCA Health and Genetics Committee for two decades, I hope people realize that this is not just the "first step" forward in improving information and education about the health and genetics of our breed. Many dedicated people have been involved for many years in this endeavor, even if their efforts haven't always been in the spotlight.
  8. Not to hijack this topic but since this keeps coming up: Although I originally wrote this dart board analogy to describe what I *think* might happen when working breeds are lost, it applies to trying to imagine how to keep the working gene pool healthy. I am a breeder (or was at least) and it's a very difficult to circle that square in real life. Many here will be familiar with this analogy already: Assume the border collie is the theoretical breed, where many strong workers existed in the original breeding pool and the need for their work was not lost or reduced over time but instead the dogs became less and less useful for it. I believe it simplifies the concept I’m trying to get across to think of the different levels of workers in concrete groups, even though, in reality, the scale from all to none is on a continuum. And, in reality, each dog of a breeding pair should be evaluated through actual stockwork for each of the many traits involved, and bred to the best complimentary mate in an effort to produce the proper mix of these traits in the progeny. So, this analogy is strictly my theoretical attempt at a simple representation. ************************************************************** Imagine something such as a dart board, with a bull’s-eye and several circles that indicate areas farther and farther from the middle target. Let’s say the bull’s-eye circle is red, the next circle is orange, the next yellow, and the very outside circle is white. The actual area within these circles varies depending on the number of dogs in each class at any one time. Now let’s define the groups of dogs within the different colored circles. Please remember all of these categories in this hypothetical situation represent the genetic potential of these dogs. In other words, this is what's in the gene pool. I'm not talking about what people think the dogs are or don't know whether they are or not due to not having tested them: Red circle (bull’s eye) = The very best quality of working border collies. A working definition might be dogs that are exceptional enough to save a great deal of time and manpower for a livestock operation. Orange circle = Useful dogs who save time and manpower for the operation but who are not top quality. Yellow circle = Dogs who will work a little, but wouldn’t be considered useful workers on a real livestock operation because they would cost time and cause too much trouble to train or use. IOW, someone may want to pretend they're actually helping, but they really aren't and sometimes they're hindering. Although they may show some herding instincts, it's not the right total package for work. White circle dogs = Not interested or not capable of doing anything with stock except maybe chasing or showing only prey drive. So, not useful or way less than helpful, and sometimes downright dangerous to the stock. Livestock working ability is comprised of many complex traits. These traits all need to fit together just right and in the right amounts for the dog to be the complete package, and be considered a top worker -- the bull’s-eye. Achieving this package with the consistency needed requires stringent evaluation and selection for working ability every generation. Because of the complexity of reproducing behavioral traits such as these, it’s difficult to get this package that is a top worker, in every pup, or even close, despite crossing the best to the best. This is partly because some dogs, for whatever reason, aren’t good breeders, no matter how good they, themselves, are. So let’s say if only red circle dogs were crossed, only 80% of that number of red circle dogs would be produced in the next generation. (This is a hypothetical number – it may actually be more or less.) Therefore, breeding only red circle dogs will not replace all of the red circle dogs, and the number of red circle dogs will drop each generation if only these crosses are used. As with other breeds used for other purposes, many a top sire gets bred to a mediocre bitch. Because the working genes were (are?) still highly concentrated in the border collie gene pool, the chances of hitting upon a dog that may not be a top worker herself but is a good breeder, are still pretty good. This type of good breeder would be mostly in the orange circle with a few in the yellow circle, but almost none in the white circle. Breeders of these top working sires may take a stud pup from these crosses to increase their chances of hitting on a good breeder should their top bitches not be, or not cross well with their choice of stud dog. In other words, the top breeders still rely on the peripheral pools of dogs that are not as good workers themselves but are good breeders, to provide some of their next generations of top red circle dogs. As long as the emphasis is on breeding for work and the momentum of most of the breeding is going toward breeding for the bull’s-eye and concentrating only the working genes, the number of red circle dogs will be replaced each generation and maybe even expanded. Now, suppose the breed becomes popular for dog shows, pets, and dog sports such as agility. Suppose these people do not only buy puppies from the working bred dogs. Now instead of a mostly dead end gene pool -- dogs that will not be bred but only used for dog sports, etc., these dogs with no working ability will be bred as the demand increases. The number of white circle dogs increases. And since people seem to want to claim their “borders” can still herd with the best of them, or the sport dog people need to tap into the working traits for success in their endeavor, they will look to the working circles for breeding to try to get these traits in the pups. Regardless of how it happens, however, now the momentum has changed and the working genes are being diluted, instead of concentrated, in this peripheral gene pool that has formerly been the source of good breeders to help replenish the red circle top workers. As this trend progresses, the good breeders in the peripheral gene pool become rarer, the yellow circle fades more to white, the orange fades more to yellow and the red fades more to orange. Unable to replace themselves without the help of the strong working genes formerly present in the peripheral gene pool, over time, the number of dogs truly in the red circle diminishes until the gene pool is too small.
  9. I've been in this a long time. I hear things and I know some things for sure. For example, in one case, a famous sire was tri. The dog's son off him was black and white. This black and white dog, also famous, was used *a lot* at stud. He never produced even one tri pup, not even when bred to tri bitches. When a dog sires 100 or 100s of pups, it starts to be outside the realm of genetic possibility that he is carrying the tri gene, which is recessive. Other times, pedigree "inaccuracies" in the past are common knowledge overseas, even though no one will repeat them in writing. I've also heard that it's common practice overseas, or at least it used to be, to line a bitch with two studs just to make sure they catch. No big deal. One can only hear these things so many times before they start to seem like more than rumor. Not to piss anyone off, but it is what it is.
  10. I have two points to add for interest. What's recorded on the pedigrees and used for the UK database may not actually represent the true parentage. Sorry, but true. In one of my late dog's pedigrees there were three wrong UK sires listed that I know of. It happens here too. AKC once did a study of pedigrees versus the true parentage and found a shocking percentage of inaccuracies. It doesn't matter if a dog was a popular sire (WRT passing on genetic disease through later line breeding) if no one breeds from the offspring. Sometimes that happens.
  11. I just heard of this and add my absolute shock and sadness to that of her so many other friends who knew her personally and from the internet. We will miss you so much Hilary.
  12. I can personally attest to the fact they really work. I've been using them on my 15 year old Mick for several months. He was having trouble on slick floors. I tried to put rugs everywhere I could, but he still found slick places to slip and fall. These toegrips have made a tremendous difference in his quality of life and my piece of mind. I would recommend them without reservation. Just get the right size and read the instructions. ETA No, he doesn't chew them off. They actually stay on amazingly well.
  13. Nobody started it yet so I guess I will. Goodbye my sweet, wonderful boy. You were a brilliant working dog and taught me so much. Stilhope Zeke (1999-2012):
  14. TEC, I'm a bit behind on this topic but wanted to have my say. One of the videos of a mild episode of BCC on this site is of my dog Zeke: FWIW, I am a scientist with a PhD in biochemistry as well a clinical laboratory degree (BS MT(ASCP)) and experience in laboratory medicine. So even though I wasn't wearing a white lab coat, I have one Blood and other clinical parameters had been tested on this dog in the past and were all normal. Also, FWIW, I did not induce this episode. Sometimes, even after years of experience, it's difficult to tell what will precipitate an episode. In this instance, when I saw it had happened, I went to the house and got a camera. Fifteen minutes after the video he was completely recovered and perfectly normal. As has been said, this dog was functional enough to work and run big challenging Open courses such as Edgeworth with no problems. He retired at a normal age. It's a strange syndrome. I've long been interested in this problem in border collies and have been a strong supporter in the research to discover the cause. I wanted to help others recognize these symptoms so I did the video. I believe all who contributed videos to this site had the experience with the condition in their dogs to know they were not at risk. ETA I never saw this dog exhibit any symptoms until at least five minutes after he had stopped working.
  15. Further, because I think this is the heart of the matter. Have you (the general you) not noticed how working people on this board generally embrace rescue dogs and their owners, or dogs from puppy mills once the people have them and nothing can be done about it? What's done is done and people want the best for that individual. Ahead of time, promoting and supporting *breeding* other than for what the breed was meant to be is where the problem comes in for most of us.
×
×
  • Create New...