Hearing

[Nick's person]

My seven year old (wonderful, of course)BC appears to be losing his hearing. My vet has suggested a BEAR test.

I would like to get some feedback from BC people about the test and deaf BC's.

Thanks in advance to all who respond!

[TotallyTerry]

I think that loss of hearing in the border collies as they age is more common than we think.

 

Many handlers notice that their dogs as they age are not quite as sharp at picking up the whistles.

 

Years ago, the Baer test could only tell you if your dog could hear or not hear.

 

I think, and I could easily be wrong, but I think the baer test now may be able to distinquish the extent of hearing loss.

 

On Sheepdog-l, Dave Fetterman recently had a very interesting post about this. He also offered the baer test at his trial.

 

I had planned to have the test done on my old dog at a trial but the testing was cancelled. The veterinarian giving the test was obtaining the data for a study.

 

Wish that I could be of more help.

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

I kept Dave's post, email me and I will forward it to you.

Dr Teresa Chu of Canada is conducting research on adult onset hearing loss in Border Collies, with the hope of identifying a genetic connection between such dogs. She's collecting DNA too.

I know nothing about all this, just repeating what I have learned, I have a dog who has been identified by BAER testing as having significant hearing loss, and probably has had it for a few years. She produced Dave's dog, and I have a pup out of her who's now ten months old, had her BAER tested at 6 months, hearing normal. I had another pup of hers tested for a friend at Dave's trial, about 4 years old, hearing normal.

With this breed, it is devastating to go through, as we rely so much on sound for communication, and the dogs are in their prime when it seems to happen, and it's so subtle to try to detect without the aid of BAER testing. It's one of the best reasons I can imagine to try to reason that a dog isn't responding because he has a physical problem that deserves to be ruled out before we push the dog harder for other answers.

[KelliePup]

Here's a question:

When I got Kellie at the shelter this lady came up to me, said she worked BCs on her ranch, and told me not to get a BC with a mostly white face because they were proned to be deaf.

 

Is this true? Does it make Kel more likely to become deaf when she gets older? Or are her chances the same as every BC

[Carel]

We have a BC (Fiona)with a "normal" face (50/50). She started turning deaf from about 7 years old and is now completely deaf - she is now 13 years old. On the other hand the BC (Wuscka)with more white (65% +) in his face (12 years old)can still hear a mouse down stairs.

 

I do not believe that colouring plays a role.

[trailrider]

When there is white sskin near the ears and eyes, there is a CHANCE that the lack of pigment will exist into the ear or eye also. This all occurs in foetal development. That will then result in deafness or blindness. The lack of pigmentation is difficult to assess until the dog is born and functional. The deficiency in hearing or seeing will be immediate, because the pigment does not disappear, but is missing from the beginning.

[laurie etc]

Originally posted by KelliePup:

Here's a question:

 

Is this true? Does it make Kel more likely to become deaf when she gets older? Or are her chances the same as every BC

Kelliepup, to answer your question, some white-headed, less pigmented dogs will have a greater chance of being deaf, or partially deaf, but they will be that way from birth. It is linked with lack of pignment way down in the ear canal. If your dog hears normally now, she is probably going to stay that way. If you have questions about whether she can hear, a BAER test might be in order. Most likely, the late-onset deafness issue has nothing to do with the coloration of the dog.

Actually, I had 5 of my dogs tested by Dr Chu at the recent Lacy trial in VA. Since I was with Dr Chu for about an hour total, I picked her brain a little about the whole "genetic late-onset" vs. congenital deafness (white headed/no pigment/merle) issue. Of the dogs I had tested, three had been tested previously, so she could use their former "normal" tests as a baseline if they had any hearing loss in her test. (They were all still normal, even my 10 year old bitch, who now has NO EXCUSE for not listening to me ). The others were young related dogs. Some congenital "uni-deafness" has shown up in this line, so I thought their data might be useful to her. She told me that she thought that the two conditions would turn out to be two totally different genetic issues. She has seen/tested about 15 late-onset deafness dogs in her study so far. She thinks she will need to see/test/collect DNA on at least 50, as well as many "normal hearing" (especially older)dogs before they have enough data to start looking at possible genetic differences or mutations.

[KelliePup]

Thx y'all. I guess Kellie's fine for now then, but I'll have to make sure I keep an eye on it. I never was concerned about her hearing now, I was just curious for any future dogs I get.

[laurie etc]

Originally posted by Nick's person:

My seven year old (wonderful, of course)BC appears to be losing his hearing. My vet has suggested a BEAR test.

I would like to get some feedback from BC people about the test and deaf BC's.

Thanks in advance to all who respond!

Nick - If you get a referral from your vet to the U of GA neurologist, I think Dr Chu's grant may even pay for your testing. I know of someone else with late-onset deafness BC who's testing was "paid for" in exchange for forwarding the results and DNA info to her study. Most University vet schools should be happy to share info like that. Here's the Dr at U GA who does BAER testing.

 

Dr.Mark Kent

University of Georgia

College of Veterinary Medicine

Small Animal Teaching Hospital

Athens, GA 30602.

706-542-3221

mcdonnel@calc.vet.uga.edu