SoloRiver Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Or, help your dogs participate, would be more like it. My new gig, starting this fall, will be with this project: http://psych.ucsf.edu/K9BehavioralGenetics/ This is a project that is about (a) studying the relationship between genes and behavior in dogs and ( understanding the genetic diversity within and between dog breeds. My immediate goal is to increase the sample of Border Collies, for a number of reasons. The best one is that the more Border Collies we have in the sample, the more Border Collie-specific questions we can pursue and the more the breed itself may benefit from any insights we gain. If you go to the website above, you will find a link to request a free DNA kit. Taking DNA samples is very simple -- all you have to do is take a mouth swab and swish it inside of your dog's cheek briefly. There is no cost involved except for postage to mail the samples back to the lab. All of my dogs have been sampled already (including the Yapillon). So, if you have a Border Collie or mix, regardless of what that dog was bred for, I am interested in your participation. (If you have non-Border Collies, we can use them too!) For purebred dogs, a pedigree is desirable but not necessary, so if you don't have a pedigree for your dog, don't fret. There is a FAQ section on the website that covers most of the common questions but if you have any others feel free to email me (my email address is in my profile) or the contact person listed on the website. Knowledge is power! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Okay Melanie, I offered up Snarley Farleigh and the others as subjects, pedigrees included (well, that is as soon as I get the kits....). J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 I'm in on it... Buddy is a rescue, so no papers on him. Marzipan does have a pedigree...so that will help...now...to find the damn thing. Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiga's_mom Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 I'm in Canada. If I do it will it go through the border ok? Tiga's a B/C mix, not sure what he's mixed with, he's a rescue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carson Crazies Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Kits requested. How fun. Thanks for letting us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmetteabrakai Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 well zipped of an e-mail will see what happens. andrea d. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna frankland (uk) Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 can i play if i'm in the uk? cheers donna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted April 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Thanks everyone! Yes, international participation is most welcome. You all rule. Forward the info onto interested parties if so inclined. Julie, Farleigh's pedigree will be fun to play with since, as you say, it has no branches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Stein Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Melanie, do you only need DNA from dogs who are panicky, anxious or aggressive, or would DNA from mellow, laid-back dogs be okay too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Melanie, Does this mean a move to the Left Coast for you? I'll ask for five kits, and send them back all with pedigrees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura (Cady and Koda's mom) Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 Ordered one for Cady. So, I include her pedigree with the kit when I send it in? Do I need to try and get any information from her breeder re: specific behavior of parents and littermates? I don't know much other than that they work on a cattle ranch and what I noticed when I met them. What about friends dogs that aren't BCs? Would it help to have them too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD Posted April 25, 2005 Report Share Posted April 25, 2005 I've forwarded the site to the director of training at my training club. Hopefully, he will send it on to all of the trainers. We've got a good mix of pure-bred and mutts. We also have a very good % of Australian lines out here. I've also sent it off to the breeder I got Marzipan from. She's imported all her dogs from the UK with ISDS lines. She already emailed me back and said she's going to participate. I think she's got 20 dogs over there now. Not sure how many. Not all are border collies. I've sent it off to another woman with many border collies. She's a professor at the U. of Hawaii so hopefully she will also help out as she understands the need for participation in research. Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bskeeter Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Originally posted by Eileen Stein:Melanie, do you only need DNA from dogs who are panicky, anxious or aggressive, or would DNA from mellow, laid-back dogs be okay too? Eileen, I emailed the contact person listed on the website with the same quesiton. Her response: Hi Debbie, Yes, we are interested in dogs that DO NOT exhibit behavioral anxiety and/or aggression. Regards, Maria ******************************************** Maria Bautista Canine Behavioral Genetics Project Research Associate Dr. Steven Hamilton's Lab University of California, San Francisco Department of Psychiatry 401 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0984-NGL Rm. LP70 San Francisco CA 94143-0984 phone 415-476-7898 fax 415-476-7800 Email: K9BehavioralGenetics@lppi.ucsf.edu Website: psych.ucsf.edu/k9behavioralgenetics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Originally posted by SoloRiver:Julie, Farleigh's pedigree will be fun to play with since, as you say, it has no branches. I think it might be especially interesting for you if you can get a bunch of dogs who are similarly bred (but not quite so backyard inbred) and see where the connections lie. For example, Twist and Jill come from similar bloodlines on the sire's side (where linebreeding was used extensively), and exhibit some quirky behaviors but certainly not to the extent Farleigh does. I suppose that's what y'all are trying to do anyway--find if there's a connection between genetics and behavior...and I'm happy to supply the not-so-genetically-diverse dogs! J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted April 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Hi guys! I missed a lot of activity on this thread. That's what I get for only monitoring the first page of "Today's Active Topics" I guess. Yes, Bill, it means I am moving to the left coast. I hope my dogs and I can find our niche out there like we have here. I'm really going to miss everyone. I think my last trials here will be Borders-on-Paradise and maybe the June trial in Berryville,VA. I had planned on Bloomfield, but no novice this year and Fly and I are not ready to try Open without wasting everyone's time. We want DNA from all dogs, purebred, mixed, crazy, normal, whatever. We are interested in identifying breeds/lines that will be interesting for the behavioral studies but will also be looking at diversity within and between breeds. I'm especially interested in the population questions, as well as a couple of Border Collie specific behavioral questions like noise phobia (which appears to be the only behavioral/temperamental issue that is fairly common even in very well-bred dogs), and possible connections between behavior and color (i.e., is the "all red dogs are crazy" stereotype really true?). Julie, one of the things I do want to track down, although I don't know if I'll succeed, is whether there are certain lines that create behavioral havoc when crossed. I know a bitch here from a big-time AKC "versatility" breeder who is bred almost exactly like Solo and has exactly the same behavioral problems despite being raised in the most knowledgeable, loving way possible. Like Solo, she has North Ireland lines (via Nathan Mooney's Max) crossed with ##Wisp on one side, and the other side is ##Spot. Her red litter sister looks almost exactly like Solo as well. OK, a sample of two isn't worth diddly, but it does kinda make me go "hmmm..." I would REALLY like to increase the sample of good working-bred Border Collies, since I suspect the majority of Border Collies currently in the sample are from the "dog fancy." But, all Border Collies of any stripe will be interesting for this project, so if you have a dog that was bred for sports or conformation or nothing in particular, I still want his or her DNA! Thanks, you guys are awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Melanie, Any way you can get a bunch of the kits to take with you to trials? I'll bet you'd get some cooperation from at least some folks there, if you wanted to go around swabbing mouths, that is! At least you'd have a large group of working-bred dogs to choose from that way (without having to rely on word of mouth so much). You know you can find some red dogs at Susan's! Also, you might want to post on Sheepdog-L (don't think I've seen one there) if you want to increase your chances of getting lots o' working dogs.... I hope you do make it to Berryville--that way all my red dogs can bid yours adieu before you head west! (I'll have my camera for more group red dog shots.) J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted April 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 I'm going to be doing a lot of swabbing dogs at dog events over the next couple of years, I think. I'm wondering if I can put in a small grant to go to the UK for the Supreme and sample dogs there! Ulterior motives much? Are entries open/closed for the Berryville trial? I'll be living with my mom in NoVA for a couple of months, so that trial will be REALLY close by for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 AS far as I know, the entries haven't opened. I'll have to check the VBCA website--it may be a fun day rather than a trial. And if someone will give you a grant to go to the International, then you'd be crazy not to go! (I have to plan a trip to Europe for work and it was supposed to be Germany only, but someone got the idea that I should probably stop in the U.K. too--the companies I need to visit are in Scotland and Wales--this may just be one trip I don't complain about a whole lot!) J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Originally posted by SoloRiver:Are entries open/closed for the Berryville trial? I'll be living with my mom in NoVA for a couple of months, so that trial will be REALLY close by for me. And just how do you plan to explain Skeeter this time? :eek: J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Do you think they would want DNA from a farm bred australian cattledog? I have requested a test kit for Riot. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted April 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 Yes! We need DNA from any and all dogs. I have taken Border Collies on as my special cause, but we'll be looking at canine diversity as a whole, not just within certain breeds. Julie, I finally broke it to my mother that Skeeter is here to stay. I made up some stories about how I'd tried to place him and it didn't work. The sob story about how he refused to eat at the last one softened her up, I think. It isn't like I lie to my mother all the time (and I'm old enough that it's a bit unbecoming) but some things aren't worth arguing about, so sometimes I lie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted April 30, 2005 Report Share Posted April 30, 2005 Hi Melanie Would a DNA sample survive a trip from Australia? If so, I'm sure Fergus and Kirra would be happy to help (although they are Barbie Collies) - and I'm sure my trainer would provide samples from her dogs, which are either US bred or US lines. (Edited to correct spelling of my dog's name - duh!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted May 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 Barb, That's a good question, I don't actually know. But I don't see why not -- I mailed my dogs' samples from here to San Francisco -- that's at least 3000 miles and a plane trip or two. Any and all samples are welcome -- fluffbutts included! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border_collie_crazy Posted May 1, 2005 Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 I sent for a kit for Happy and Misty, first I thought I have no money for stamps but then I realized that I recently got paid for delivering fliers lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessJenni Posted May 2, 2005 Report Share Posted May 2, 2005 Sounds very interesting. I've requested a kit for Molli-dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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