The next step was speaking to some people who knew more than me (ie something :) I spoke to the VP of the Labrador Club of Scotland first off as well as an experienced breeder from the Labrador Forums who kindly spent lots of time making up sample pedigrees and fielding lots of questions (thanks Sue !!) and a few other people who had spent a long time in the "industry".
They all arrived at the same suggestion, that mating Jess with a show line could help to produce calmer, more rounded puppies (more suitable for day to day life). For those who don't know, Jess is extremely wired ! She could happily tear through fields for hours only to start the whole thing over again. Super high amounts of energy, which for some people, would be too much (sometimes is for me also :) I initially thought I would be breaking some special "code" amongst breeders by crossing working lines with show lines but it seemed not the case, in fact everyone agreed it was the best way for me to move forward.
So all that work, whittling down all my working stud dogs was tossed out the window and I felt like I was back at square 1 :( There were a lot of show line studs that I just didn't like the look of though, so that reduced the numbers (perhaps not the most sensible grounds for elimination ;) I was keen also to have some element of working ability in the dog (didn't want to lose all of Jess' fire and love of hard work). Two people highly recommended the same kennel/dog - Charway Water Reed of Brigburn Kennels.
As soon as I saw Reed on the Brigburn website, saw him diving in to the water and hearing how Lynda (Brigburn owner) had a lot of experience in both the show and working lines, I knew I had found my man (so to speak ;) A chat with Lynda who told me how Reed loved going out on hunts (and was proving very capable) further confirmed this. I also appreciated Lynda's no-nonsense attitude and considerable experience and I at once felt comfortable working with her. So, a trip down to see Reed was made (cost £35 petrol) - but we got a free coffee :D
Here is the magnificent Reed in all his glory
http://www.brigburn.com/html/reed.html
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Choosing a suitable stud - Part 1
I'm still playing some catch up here, hopefully after this weekend I'll be up to date :)
So once the hips, elbows and eye certificate had passed ok it was time to start considering which stud dog to use. Initially I had no idea there were so many ! I had started off by just looking at the champdogs site and their list of stud dogs
http://www.champdogs.co.uk/guided/all_labrador-retriever_stud-dogs.html
I at least knew I wanted a black stud as we want to keep a black puppy so that was the colour out of the way - the choices were still overwhelming. I wanted hip scores as low as possible, certainly under 10, and because of Jess' elbow scoring, had to have a stud with elbows of 0/0. DNA testing for pra was also mandatory. All the dogs fell within these guidelines though !
I started to look back through Jess' pedigree as I knew a popular breeding technique was "linebreeding" - not tobe confused with "crossbreeding". Another category that exists is "outcrossing". They are all described well here
http://www.labradorforums.co.uk/ftopict-12936-outcrossing.html
Jess' 5 generation pedigree had mostly dogs from field trial backgrounds (FtCh - Field Trial Champion, FTW - Field Trial Winner). There were however also some (mostly from her mothers side) from the show lines (ShCh - Show Champion, CH Show Champion that has gained it's show dog working certificate). I was keen to persue field work with both Jess and one of her pups so initially I narrowed my search down to working/field trial dogs with strong FtCh's in their pedigree. I also preferred the more athletic, leaner look of a working dog compared with a show dog (in general). So my criteria - hips (5/5 or lower), elbows 0/0, pra carrier/clear (preferably clear) and field trial pedigree.....or so I thought :)
So once the hips, elbows and eye certificate had passed ok it was time to start considering which stud dog to use. Initially I had no idea there were so many ! I had started off by just looking at the champdogs site and their list of stud dogs
http://www.champdogs.co.uk/guided/all_labrador-retriever_stud-dogs.html
I at least knew I wanted a black stud as we want to keep a black puppy so that was the colour out of the way - the choices were still overwhelming. I wanted hip scores as low as possible, certainly under 10, and because of Jess' elbow scoring, had to have a stud with elbows of 0/0. DNA testing for pra was also mandatory. All the dogs fell within these guidelines though !
I started to look back through Jess' pedigree as I knew a popular breeding technique was "linebreeding" - not tobe confused with "crossbreeding". Another category that exists is "outcrossing". They are all described well here
http://www.labradorforums.co.uk/ftopict-12936-outcrossing.html
Jess' 5 generation pedigree had mostly dogs from field trial backgrounds (FtCh - Field Trial Champion, FTW - Field Trial Winner). There were however also some (mostly from her mothers side) from the show lines (ShCh - Show Champion, CH Show Champion that has gained it's show dog working certificate). I was keen to persue field work with both Jess and one of her pups so initially I narrowed my search down to working/field trial dogs with strong FtCh's in their pedigree. I also preferred the more athletic, leaner look of a working dog compared with a show dog (in general). So my criteria - hips (5/5 or lower), elbows 0/0, pra carrier/clear (preferably clear) and field trial pedigree.....or so I thought :)
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Optigen results
Results came in the post today for Jess' prcd-PRA test. Results show she is Normal/Clear (YAY !), meaning that she carries no copy of the mutant gene. Neither does the stud dog so that means all puppies will be normal/clear for prcd-PRA by parentage. We're breeding a whole generation that is guaranteed not to ever develop prcd-PRA :)
The countdown has started !
YAY :) This morning Jess officially started her season (or in technical terms has just started the first of 4 stages of her reproductive cycle - Proestrus) That means approximately 12 days until ovulation (with day1 being today), so optimum mating is on day 14 and 16 (ova takes 48 to 72 hours to mature after ovulation and they remain fertile for another 2 to 3 days). We will be taking blood samples and quantitatively testing for progesterone levels which will help us to pinpoint the time of ovulation (since ovulation can occur anywhere between day 7 and day 21, but 11-13 is the norm).
Sunday, 28 February 2010
DNA screening : prcd-PRA
The second of the recommended checks is a DNA test for prcd-PRA. PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) refers to a group of diseases that causes cells in the retina at the back of the eye to degenerate and die, even though the cells seem to develop normally early in life. "prcd" stands for progressive rod-cone degeneration, a type of PRA. The rod cells operate in low light levels and are the first to lose normal function. Night blindness results. Then the “cone” cells gradually lose their normal function in full light situations. Most affected dogs will eventually be blind. At the moment there is no treatment, or cure, for PRA.
While the eye certificate scheme checks for PRA, it does not tell you whether or not the dog carries a mutant copy of the PRCD gene. Two dogs could be mated that both pass their eye certificate but then had puppies that were PRA affected. The cause of this was that both dogs were carriers of the gene, so while neither was affected, because they both carried a mutant gene, some of the puppies ended up with both and therefore were affected.
I could not imagine anything more horrible than your dog going blind and with this test being well established and recommended by the Kennel Club, it was a no brainer for me. If both parents are tested as being clear (neither carries a mutant gene) then all the puppies will be clear by parentage and will never delevlop prcd-PRA. The DNA tests show the dog as being either Clear/Normal, Carrier (one copy of the mutant gene) or Affected (both copies mutant). The disease is inherited as a recessive trait (a mutant gene must be inherited from each parent to cause the disease in the offspring. Possible matings are :
Clear x Clear = 100% clear offspring
Clear x Carrier = 50% clear, 50% carriers
Carrier x Carrier = 25% clear, 25% affected, 50% carriers
Carrier x Affected = 50% carriers, 50% affected
Affected x Affected = 100% affected
Affected x Clear = 100% carriers
So, it is perfectly acceptable to mate a carrier to a clear, this combination still ensures that all offspring will never develop prcd-PRA (they may be carriers though so would need to be tested before breeding from). Even a mating between an affected and a clear will never produce any affected pups - but they all will be carriers. Once these carriers subsequently mate with a clear, you are half the way there to eradicating any signs of the disease from the line - which shows 1/ How important testing is and 2/ How an affected or carrier status does not mean that the dog can't be bred from.
I used a company in the US (http://www.optigen.com/opt9_test_prcd_pra.html) to do the test, going through a UK 20/20 clinic that organise the posting of the blood samples and give you a 25% discount on the price. I've also used this place in the UK for other DNA tests and they do the test as well (http://www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/showGeneticTest.jsp?testID=8094). I didn't know about this place at the time and definitely would have used them if I had known. You get your vet to collect a blood sample and send it off. I got Moy vets to take the sample while I was there getting the hips and elbow x-rays.
Costs = £95 test, £9 20/20 clinc, £7 postage, total £111
The results of the tests are recorded on the Kennel Club database.
As of today, I'm still waiting to hear back the results of Jess' test. Her father was clear and her mum was either clear or a carrier so jess will either be a clear or a carrier.
While the eye certificate scheme checks for PRA, it does not tell you whether or not the dog carries a mutant copy of the PRCD gene. Two dogs could be mated that both pass their eye certificate but then had puppies that were PRA affected. The cause of this was that both dogs were carriers of the gene, so while neither was affected, because they both carried a mutant gene, some of the puppies ended up with both and therefore were affected.
I could not imagine anything more horrible than your dog going blind and with this test being well established and recommended by the Kennel Club, it was a no brainer for me. If both parents are tested as being clear (neither carries a mutant gene) then all the puppies will be clear by parentage and will never delevlop prcd-PRA. The DNA tests show the dog as being either Clear/Normal, Carrier (one copy of the mutant gene) or Affected (both copies mutant). The disease is inherited as a recessive trait (a mutant gene must be inherited from each parent to cause the disease in the offspring. Possible matings are :
Clear x Clear = 100% clear offspring
Clear x Carrier = 50% clear, 50% carriers
Carrier x Carrier = 25% clear, 25% affected, 50% carriers
Carrier x Affected = 50% carriers, 50% affected
Affected x Affected = 100% affected
Affected x Clear = 100% carriers
So, it is perfectly acceptable to mate a carrier to a clear, this combination still ensures that all offspring will never develop prcd-PRA (they may be carriers though so would need to be tested before breeding from). Even a mating between an affected and a clear will never produce any affected pups - but they all will be carriers. Once these carriers subsequently mate with a clear, you are half the way there to eradicating any signs of the disease from the line - which shows 1/ How important testing is and 2/ How an affected or carrier status does not mean that the dog can't be bred from.
I used a company in the US (http://www.optigen.com/opt9_test_prcd_pra.html) to do the test, going through a UK 20/20 clinic that organise the posting of the blood samples and give you a 25% discount on the price. I've also used this place in the UK for other DNA tests and they do the test as well (http://www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/showGeneticTest.jsp?testID=8094). I didn't know about this place at the time and definitely would have used them if I had known. You get your vet to collect a blood sample and send it off. I got Moy vets to take the sample while I was there getting the hips and elbow x-rays.
Costs = £95 test, £9 20/20 clinc, £7 postage, total £111
The results of the tests are recorded on the Kennel Club database.
As of today, I'm still waiting to hear back the results of Jess' test. Her father was clear and her mum was either clear or a carrier so jess will either be a clear or a carrier.
Elbow scoring
So now we're moving on to "recommended" checks with Elbow scoring being one of them. Jess' mum was never elbow scored and there are certainly lots of dogs out there that haven't been, but during my initial research for stud dogs I noticed that most of them had been. Like the other tests that I have gone on to do, I figured that I should be doing everything I possibly can to make sure that Jess is in perfect health and condition to breed from - the last thing I would want is to hand over puppies to new owners that go on to develop problems - especially ones that may have been avoided by doing more tests. Its a far newer scheme than the hip scoring and not as detailed - scores simply range from 0 to 3, rather than 56 for the hips. That saying, the elbow is a far simpler joint ! Like the hips, what is being checked for is Elbow Dysplasia (ED) or, abnormal development of the elbow. The scoring is simply 0 - Normal, 1 - Mild ED, 2 - Moderate ED, 3- Severe ED. Unlike hips where the scores are added together to represent a single figure, for the elbows, the worse score of the two results are taken and used, eg results of 1/2 would result in a score of 2. The recommendation from the BVA is that dogs with a grade of 2 or 3 should not be used for breeding.
There seems to be quite differing opinions on whether or not elbow scoring is important. Some people have had dogs graded 0/3 yet have spent their life as working dogs with no effect. Also, environmental affects (falls, accidents etc..) can have a considerable impact on the elbows meaning that a higher score may not affect puppies at all because the problem was not hereditary.
I got the elbows scored at the same time as the hips, at Moy Vets, and Jess' result was 0/1. Costs were mentioned in an earlier post. Knowing Jess had 0/1 it meant that it was important to me to ensure that the stud dog I used had an elbow score of 0/0 and even better to have a history of producing pups with 0/0 elbows.
The hips, eye certificate and elbow results are all published in the KC database.
There seems to be quite differing opinions on whether or not elbow scoring is important. Some people have had dogs graded 0/3 yet have spent their life as working dogs with no effect. Also, environmental affects (falls, accidents etc..) can have a considerable impact on the elbows meaning that a higher score may not affect puppies at all because the problem was not hereditary.
I got the elbows scored at the same time as the hips, at Moy Vets, and Jess' result was 0/1. Costs were mentioned in an earlier post. Knowing Jess had 0/1 it meant that it was important to me to ensure that the stud dog I used had an elbow score of 0/0 and even better to have a history of producing pups with 0/0 elbows.
The hips, eye certificate and elbow results are all published in the KC database.
Eye certificates
The other mandatory test, apart from hip scoring is getting an eye certificate. An eye certificate can be done at any time but is only valid for 12 months, so needs to be close to the time of breeding. The scheme is also run by the KC and the BVA and is a means of identifying inherited and non-inherited ocular conditions in dogs.
See here for a description of the hereditary eye diseases in dogs http://www.bva.co.uk/public/documents/Eye_Leaflet.pdf
The KC maintains a current list of examiners who can issue certificates (http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/2645) and you simply find the one nearest to you and make an appointment. The check takes about 10-15 minutes after which you get a certificate showing whether or not affected or unaffected for the problems being tested for.
I went along to the examiner closest to me and Jess passed all checks with flying colours :) Cost £45
See here for a description of the hereditary eye diseases in dogs http://www.bva.co.uk/public/documents/Eye_Leaflet.pdf
The KC maintains a current list of examiners who can issue certificates (http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/2645) and you simply find the one nearest to you and make an appointment. The check takes about 10-15 minutes after which you get a certificate showing whether or not affected or unaffected for the problems being tested for.
I went along to the examiner closest to me and Jess passed all checks with flying colours :) Cost £45
Costs
So first up hip scoring which also started the first drain on funds. It's amazing how much it all starts to add up and I'm sure a lot of people (like myself) won't appreciate just how expensive breeding can be. For my own record (and for the interest of others) I am keeping a detailed lists of all the costs involved and will keep a running total on my blog (see "Breeding costs so far..." in the right hand side bar)
I got Jess' elbows done at the same time as her hips (next post will cover elbows) so the combined costs were Moy Vets (£80 hip xrays, £80 elbow xrays, £21 consultation), BVA (£80 for combined hips and elbow), Petrol £60 = £321.19
I got Jess' elbows done at the same time as her hips (next post will cover elbows) so the combined costs were Moy Vets (£80 hip xrays, £80 elbow xrays, £21 consultation), BVA (£80 for combined hips and elbow), Petrol £60 = £321.19
Health testing - Hip scoring
First things first, not much point in investing time and effort in to looking for a stud dog if your own is not suitable to breed from. The UK Kennel Club (KC) lists the health test requirements for a labrador as Hip scoring and Eye testing. Recommended testing is Elbow grading and DNA testing for PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy)
So hip scoring and eye tests an absolute minimum. No responsible stud dog owner would even let the mating take place until these had been done and had come back satisfactory. I'll cover eyes, elbows and PRA in a later post but for now ..
Hip Scoring :
Hip dysplasia (HD) is a common inherited orthopedic problem of dogs (and a wide number of other mammals). Dysplasia means "abnormal growth" which can lead to excessive wear and tear of the hip, leading to osteoarthritis (OA), osteoarthrosis or degenerative joint disease (DJD). The current scheme of hip scoring was developed 40 years ago by the KC and the BVA (British Veterinary Association http://www.bva.co.uk/default.aspx) to assess the degree of hip deformity using x-rays. The x-rays are taken of your dogs hips, either under sedative or general anesthetic, and are then submitted to the BVA where they are "scored". The hip score is the sum of the points accrued for each of nine radiographic features in each hip joint. The lower the score the less the degree of HD present. The minimum (best) score for each hip is zero and the maximum (worst) is 53, giving a range for the total score of 0 to 106.
The labrador retriever "breed mean score" as of 1 Nov 2009 was 15, with a total of nearly 70,000 tested. So, for breeding purposes you ideally want both dogs to have a lower hip score than 15, with the lowest the better !
You can get the x-rays taken at any vets, who will then submit them to the BVA on your behalf. Based on the recommendation from a number of people and the fact that by now I did not have a lot of time to wait until I started looking for a stud dog, I decided to make a 400 mile round trip down to see Mark Lingard at Moy Vets (http://www.moyfarmvets.co.uk/, 10 miles from Blackpool). Mark used to be on the panel and has a diploma in veterinary radiology so he definitely knows his stuff ! He will go over the x-rays with you, explaining the whole scoring process and go through each of the nine points and tell you at the end what he believes the score will be (so you've got a good idea of the outcome before waiting 3-4 weeks for the official results) and he's rarely wrong :)
Once the hip scores have been done, the results are recorded on the Kennel Club database and will be shown on the pups registration certificates.
As Mark predicted, Jess came back with perfect 0/0 hips :D Still lots more to go though....
So hip scoring and eye tests an absolute minimum. No responsible stud dog owner would even let the mating take place until these had been done and had come back satisfactory. I'll cover eyes, elbows and PRA in a later post but for now ..
Hip Scoring :
Hip dysplasia (HD) is a common inherited orthopedic problem of dogs (and a wide number of other mammals). Dysplasia means "abnormal growth" which can lead to excessive wear and tear of the hip, leading to osteoarthritis (OA), osteoarthrosis or degenerative joint disease (DJD). The current scheme of hip scoring was developed 40 years ago by the KC and the BVA (British Veterinary Association http://www.bva.co.uk/default.aspx) to assess the degree of hip deformity using x-rays. The x-rays are taken of your dogs hips, either under sedative or general anesthetic, and are then submitted to the BVA where they are "scored". The hip score is the sum of the points accrued for each of nine radiographic features in each hip joint. The lower the score the less the degree of HD present. The minimum (best) score for each hip is zero and the maximum (worst) is 53, giving a range for the total score of 0 to 106.
The labrador retriever "breed mean score" as of 1 Nov 2009 was 15, with a total of nearly 70,000 tested. So, for breeding purposes you ideally want both dogs to have a lower hip score than 15, with the lowest the better !
You can get the x-rays taken at any vets, who will then submit them to the BVA on your behalf. Based on the recommendation from a number of people and the fact that by now I did not have a lot of time to wait until I started looking for a stud dog, I decided to make a 400 mile round trip down to see Mark Lingard at Moy Vets (http://www.moyfarmvets.co.uk/, 10 miles from Blackpool). Mark used to be on the panel and has a diploma in veterinary radiology so he definitely knows his stuff ! He will go over the x-rays with you, explaining the whole scoring process and go through each of the nine points and tell you at the end what he believes the score will be (so you've got a good idea of the outcome before waiting 3-4 weeks for the official results) and he's rarely wrong :)
Once the hip scores have been done, the results are recorded on the Kennel Club database and will be shown on the pups registration certificates.
As Mark predicted, Jess came back with perfect 0/0 hips :D Still lots more to go though....
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