Latest news
'Let's Talk About Patellas- The Putnam Method'
A talk will be held on Saturday 12th November 2011 at Great Alne Memorial Hall Warwicks at 1.30pm. It will be delivered by West Country Vet Bryony Herrod-Taylor who has a special interest in this condition. The cost is £15 per person and includes light refreshments. A buffet lunch will be available for a small charge on the day. In the morning the Lancashire Heeler Association (proposed) will be holding an 'Introduction to the Lancashire Heeler' talk which will include the history, breed standard and hands on but no formal assessment. Further details and an application form may be found at www.lancashireheelerassociation.com under Coming Events.
Eye Testing Session - The Pastoral Breeds Health Foundation are, by kind permission of the Midlands Border Collie Club, organising an eye testing session with Dr Ian Mason at Stoneleigh on Sunday October 2nd during the MBCC Open Breed Show. Gonioscopy and litter testing available. Please contact Hilary Kerr (01580 890422 or pbhfdog@gmail.com) for further details and to make appointments. Testing will commence at 10 a.m
The PBHF 2012 Calandar is available now !- Price is just £5.00 (plus P&P if not collected at a show) Calendars can be ordered from Hilary Kerr (01580 890422) or email: pbhfdog@gmail.com alternatively speak to Hilary at one of the Championship Dog Shows in the UK. Calendars will be available as from Bournemouth Championship Dog Show.
Eye clinic on Saturday 6th August - The British Canaan Dog Society (proposed) are hosting an eye clinic with Prof Bedford on Saturday 6th August from 10am at Marshland St James, Norfolk PE14 8HD Contact Jill Terry to book an appointment email is secretary@canaandog.co.uk tel 01945 430583 (before 6.30pm)
Glaucoma submission to the KC - Alan Wilton has submitted an updated proposal for Glaucoma research in the Border Collie to the Kennel Club - he has agreed partners for the research with an expert here in the U.K. alongside making use of USA conjunctions. Alan will also be looking at the recent cases of PRA. His submission document can be found <here>
Potential problems in BC's associated in breeding colours - The below article was produced and writen by Sue Ader <click here to download>
Animal Health Trust Breed Club Health Seminars - Three seminars have been organised by the Animal Health Trust. Kathie Kinton & Hilary Kerr will both be attending the September seminar on behalf of the PBHF. Why not reserve a place and join them? Kathie is also scheduled to attend a seminar on Glaucoma hosted by the Flatcoat Retreiver Club. <click here to download details of the AHT Seminars>
Seminar on MDR-1 - The Rough Collie Breed Council is hosting a seminar on MDR-1. The venue is the Kennel Club Building, Meeting Room A, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh, Coventry CV8 2LZ on Saturday, February 12th 2011. For further details and booking your place <click here>.
Health Update - Chairman Kathie Kinton will be presenting at the Border Collie Convention 2011 on the 29th January 2011. Full details on this presentation can be found on the BCC 2011 website - www.bordercollieconvention.com
Glaucoma Research Update 26-10-2010 - As you are all probably aware the PBHF held a gonioscopy research clinic at the beginning of October 2010.
Thank you to all who attended and who allowed us to send samples to Alan Wilton for the Glaucoma Research and also to Finland for Epilepsy Research. The day went very smoothly and thank you for your patience - there were a lot of dogs and our two vets worked flat out all day, as did our vet nurse and the 'paperwork team'! We now await news from the BVA panel after their next meeting in November when we hope to have very positive updates.
Our fundraising in the UK has been amazing this year - with the amount raised now into four figures and on behalf of the PBHF I would like to thank every single one of you who has bought a calendar (a few left), ring clip (sold out!) walked miles (thank you Pam Lyon!) or just made a donation, every penny counts. If you check out the PBHF website (www.pbhf-dog.com) you will see various ways in which you can raise money - not least of which is the opportunity to have your dog's photo on the site for a month.
We are awaiting further news from the KC Charitable Trust with regard to our application for funding for this very expensive research project. This is the FIRST TIME we have approached the KCCT directly for funding for any of our research projects and we now await their decision - they are currently in discussion with Alan Wilton regarding the project. Previous gene tests have been funded entirely from donations (plus some help from the Australian Government which was negotiated by Alan), mainly here in the UK. The three gene tests we now have for inherited conditions (CEA,CL and TNS) were achieved through a lot of hard work - much of it from the UK BC folk.
A little while ago I wrote to various people/organisations in Europe, suggested to me by our Vice Chairman Bob Tunnicliff, asking if they would help us in our fund raising - the response has been minimal, which saddens us - a lot. The research project we are fund raising for will benefit every breeder/owner in the world - not just the UK! I know there are owners and breeders world wide who have submitted DNA samples to Alan Wilton in Australia and these samples are invaluable in helping him build a database of dogs - please continue!! But what we need is more help financially - some of the UK BC breed clubs have already made very generous donations to the fund and it would be wonderful if other clubs in the UK and clubs in other countries would do the same? So can I ask members of this group to ask their own clubs - WORLDWIDE- to help us? Every pound/euro/dollar helps. Perhaps breeders everywhere would like to think about donating perhaps £1 (or their currency equivalent) for every puppy they sell to the fund? Over 2,000 BC pups were registered in the UK alone last year - I will let you do the maths as to what even 50p a pup would add to the fund....
Maybe clubs could also consider adding space on entry forms for a donation to the PBHF? Glaucoma is horrible - no dog should have to go through the pain and trauma - we need to find a way of eliminating it from the global Border Collie gene pool - and quickly....
Our research may also benefit other breeds. The quicker the funds are raised, worldwide, the quicker we will achieve our target. No one reading this and owning a BC can afford to be complacent - this has come into our breed so quickly and unexpectedly and frankly right now we dont know where it will strike next - so for the sake of your dogs let's all pull together and get this done - the PBHF will continue to work tirelessly to find a solution to this problem - but we, frankly, will struggle to raise all of the money without the help of fellow BC owners and breeders worldwide.....
Any queries/questions/donations please don't hesitate to contact me.
Hilary Kerr Secretary, PBHF
Form downloads added to website - Various forms regarding research into Canine Epilepsy and Glaucoma have been added into the Current Research section of this website
PBHF Gonioscopy Eye Testing Day - Further research into Glaucoma in the Border Collie
A special testing day at the Bretby Conference Centre, Ashby Road, Bretby, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE15 0YZ has been organised for the 3rd October 2010. We are looking to get as many Border Collies as possible to attend, in particular dogs that have previously failed a gonioscopy test.
Glaucoma – eye condition
Several members of the group met with four of the Eye Panellists to review the gonioscopy test and on their advice have agreed to arrange a day when we can have at least 100 dogs to be reviewed by the Vets so they can give us further advice on the condition within the Border Collie. The 100 will be a wide range from within the population – so those that have already been tested including passes and failures plus many that have not yet been tested.
We have had an overwhelming response of co-operation from within the breed and are awaiting confirmation that the Vets can make the date and the venue. An update will go out as soon as we know the details.
Secondly, we are meeting in July with Alan Wilton who found and provides the DNA test for TNS to move forward the research to try and find the gene(s) to help develop a DNA test for Glaucoma.
Members of the group have been busy fund raising towards this aim and have done a great job – thanks to all who have bought raffle tickets – and thanks to Tracey and Jo for organising the raffles etc., - well done.
We have also had a response from the AHT regarding “hearing testing” and epilepsy both of which they are currently researching.
For Australian Shepherds they are also working on HC.
Further updates on the above to follow in due course.