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mjk05

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    http://nabudiboys.blogspot.com
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    Male
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    Working kelpies/border collies, agility, rescue dogs, dogs in general

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    QLD
  1. Just looking around at various DNA testing facilities in Australia. Does anyone use Orivet or ASAP (same company, I think)? Any other recommendations?
  2. Chocolate colouring occurs in stumpy tail cattle dogs- maybe this is what they're on about? Coat colours
  3. Are you serious?! How long ago was this? In a teaching hospital? A GP anaesthetist or an actual specialist anaesthetist? and the patient was definitely under GA, not just regional and a bit of something to help him snooze? What sort of airway did he have?
  4. I think you're probably right, Owey. I've been through the TNS puppy nightmare twice, and as horrible as that was, I think it would have been worse if we'd sold those pups to someone else. It's quite likely that they didn't CHOOSE not to do testing, they just didn't know anything about it. Yes, they should have done some research first, but an amazing number of people have no idea that certain breeds are prone to certain genetic diseases, and even less knowledge of the available genetic testing. I know people who have decided to breed their nice, apparently healthy dogs, have pup buyers lined up, take the bitch to the local vet ahead of time for a pre-mating check-up and a discussion of the planned breeding, then take the pups in for checks before sale, and nothing has been mentioned to them about genetic disease. I actually doubt whether many vets would know what TNS is or how it presents or how to test for it. I've discussed it with quite a few vets (including specialists) before and after the DNA test became available, and almost all have not even heard of TNS or have misconceptions about the epidemiology and clinical presentation. The people that bred these pups were negligent, probably through ignorance rather than intention or malice.
  5. The main problem I see with this project (as it has been reported) is the difficulty in defining the traits "that make a good farm dog". What each individual farmer/stockperson/trainer actually wants in a dog can vary widely depending on their operation/preferred methods of stockwork/training methods/etc etc etc. Some people mainly use their dogs in yards, others in paddocks, some people like dogs that bark or don't head so they can drive with them easily or they prefer strong heading dogs that can be trained to come off the head. If you look just at sheepdog triallers, where the work itself is relatively standardised, there's a range of preferences in style as well as temperament, and some successful handlers have dogs that others wouldn't touch with a bargepole. So while it might be interesting to be able to better understand the inheritance of heading or eye or square break and even to test for it, I don't see that it will help identify what makes a "good farm dog"- that will still be about breeders and handlers understanding and matching expectations. If this is supposed to be about animal welfare and/or increasing cost effectiveness of working dogs, then I think that funding could be better spent on research and education on health issues (including genetic disease) as well as education on using/training work dogs, like the courses the UK Ag Dept used to run. I've also heard that none of the researchers have any significant background in training or working sheepdogs. If this is true, it's disappointing. I just don't know how you could begin to look into this area without lots of experience working dogs. I wonder if they've had input from people like Don Robertson who have already put years of practical work into understanding inheritance of working traits.
  6. That's so true. He is such a lucky pup to have a family who love him so much, have made his short life so happy, are prepared to go the hard yards to work out what's going on, but also to make the hardest decisions of all for him. Whether or not it is TNS, you are doing everything right by Bailey, none of this is your fault, and whatever you decide it will be the right decision for him.
  7. No, it doesn't. If Bailey has TNS, then each of his siblings have a 25% chance of also having it, a 50% chance of being a carrier, and a 25% chance of being clear. In the litter that we had with TNS, 2 pups were affected, 2 were carriers (and are both happy, healthy 6 year old dogs). But you're right, the parents should never be bred together again. At least the person who bred Bailey is trying to do something to help you out- I guess it's up to you whether you want to go with one of their pups, or wait a while before looking for a breeder who is aware of and tests for this sort of thing.
  8. I think it could be TNS too. You can actually test for it on a mouth swab, send it by mail. I'd give your vet a call ASAP and ask them to check it out. They probably haven't heard of it or think it's very rare, but it's much more common than previously believed. The reason it's important ti diagnose is that it's incurable and really horrible for you and the pup, and euthanasia now would save you all a lot of suffering. Also the breeder needs to know. It could be a neurological infection, but you'd wonder why such a young otherwise healthy pup had developed this, and TNS would be a possible reason.
  9. Must be something like that. I think in Q'land there was enough interest for a couple of Faansie Basson schools, lots from ANKC people. I was surprised not to have any ANKC interest in WA even from fence sitters. It's such a great opportunity to see/work with someone with his experience and record, considering the costs of getting people to Australia. I'm really grateful to the organisers. Piper wrote: Aw, that's a pity! The original schedule had SA instead of WA- I was hugely excited, was going to get a weekend away to attend, and it was being held right where my dad grew up so it would have been a nice visit back for me, beautiful area too. But they didn't fill the places so had to cancel , and so he's coming to WA instead. So now instead of the kid-free weekend away, I get to try to clean enough of the junk out of our house to fit people in, and try to find enough sheep/room to hold the clinic at our place You're welcome to come to WA! There's a bit of info on Faansie's website: here
  10. I would love to but there isn't one to my knowledge in NSW. It might be worth travelling for! I was going to fly to the SA one originally, and was actually really looking forward to a weeekend away, but now it's been moved to WA, so no kid-free jaunt for me Fortunately we've had enough interest to get it up and going here, but no-one from the ANKC scene, which surprised me. I don't know if we'll get ISDS-style trials up and running in WA again, but maybe I'll get to travel for those...
  11. Is anyone else doing the upcoming Faansie Basson clinics?
  12. I'd have thought that taking dogs back would be fairly standard, and that would be the first place owners would think of if they couldn't keep their dog. We've always made it clear to pups' new owners that we'll take them back at any time and for any reason, one year or fifteen years down the track. Maybe your breeder didn't specifically mention it because they thought it was a given?We also offer help with training, and have taken pups back for training here, but that's because they're bred/sold for a specific purpose. For ordinary pup issues we'd be happy to chat about it, offer some simple ideas, but anything more complex I'd be more likely to refer them to someone local and professional. We've had a few dogs come back to stay when their owners went on holiday too. I don't think any of that is out of the ordinary.
  13. I'm pretty sure that sire is deaf/blind, it said so on the breeder's website. I'm having trouble linking from my phone... ETA-maybe just blind- but that's definitely stated by the breeder as the reason he can't be shown himself. Sandgrubber's link on the first page links to it.
  14. Hi Deb, The vets are volunteers. One is a current trialler, another is a relative of a trialler. I don't know whether in SA they have paid vets or volunteers. No ID required for TNS/CL testing, although some dogs are microchipped/tattooed. Of course, we're a small enough community that the vets actually know almost all the individual dogs. I'd anticipate that eventually microchipping will become more standard and will become part of the process. If you want more info, email me and I can put you in touch with some of the organisers.
  15. Sure- of the top of my head there was last year's Mayanup 3 sheep trial and possibly also Esperance +/or Ballidu 3 sheep trials- of those we only went to Mayanup, so I'm not sure. The year before I think they did collection at the State Arena Champs, and possibly one other trial. They could collect for anything you wanted- most people did TNS and some CL, but the collectors are vets so if someone wants to test for CEA it's available, you just need to let them know and arrange paperwork ahead of time. The state association (like SAWSDA, who have also had collection days) have negotiated a discounted rate for TNS with the Uni of NSW, and that's the major identified problem in local dog populations, so that's what most people were doing.
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