In the media - UK vet still worried re KC guidelines on inbreeding

Interesting article by UK vet Pete Wedderburn in the Telegraph. Someone has posted concerns re the UK Slovakian Rough Haired Pointer breeding programme in the comments section below.

"No relief being sighed here I am afraid Pete. Just more questions begging of Dr Sampson.

Point 4. Has the KC really taken this matter seriously in regard to for instance the Slovakian rough haired Pointer? I was told at DD that there are about 300 in the UK all with mostly common ancestors. Yet in Slovakia they are still crossing the breed with weims etc as they feel the gene pool is so small.
Point 8 – we need guidance NOW – half brother half sister matings are already happening on Yogi for instance.

Point 9. Jeff needs to take another look at the KC web site. I cannot find anything of any substance on diversity or inbreeding and nothing on the dangers of popular sires.

Yogi’s win yesterday tells me all I need to know about the KC’s attitude to such issues. They keep on rewarding them. Dr Sampson says one thing but the KC’s actions or rather lack of them speak louder."

You only have to look at the photographs of the Slovakian Slovaks to see how much more varied they are than the UK Slovaks. They have a wide variation in coat in terms of colour. Some are bi-coloured, white and brown etc.

Take a look at the UK pedigrees and you can count more or less three main active UK stud dogs (mostly two until recently) and a handful of bitches. And this is in pedigrees that were already said by slovakian contacts to be very closely related. They all seem to be mostly solid weimaraner grey too.

I'm still curious to see why Grey's dental treatment hasn't been added to the UK health stats for the breed. Grey's treatment was extensive (4 ops and the wearing of an acrylic plate for months throughout his adolescence).

An eminent UK dental vet stated that it is far easier to breed out such problems now while the UK breed has such small numbers than leave it. Prevention is better than cure. Grey was so badly overshot that the vets that treated him said they hadn't seen a mouth like his for years. He never had and never will have a correct scissor bite. His treatment was lengthy and costly as it was not covered by insurance.

Sad face with the fluffy hairdo

Been brushing him tonight. Comes up a bit fluffy. Doesn't look amused!

Pictures from our trip to visit the gang of 6

We had a lovely time with P and her beautiful gang of 6 in Surrey. Spent a wonderful afternoon on a long walk and Grey was really really good. He stuck with us, did lovely recalls and was nice and polite with everyone. We finished off the walk with a trip to the pub. Grey lay down and slept while we had ice cream and also was really good when a man came to fuss him.

Look what a good time we had!

Exercise Induced Collapse - EIC

Grey's brother, Gunner has had a couple of scary episodes where he has collapsed while out exercising. His back end went and he was out of it with eyes rolled back for 10 mins. He's had investigations and the current prognosis is that it is EIC which is Exercise Induced Collapse. It is possibly hereditary so something that I would like to get more information on for Grey.

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/exercise-collapse.html

Dr Jimmy Simpson is doing a study on it at Edingburgh Vet School.

http://www.basc.org.uk/en/how-to/...deal-with-a-collapsing-gundog.cfm

Gunner's owner has contacted our breeder who is also the health rep for the breed club, so we should hear back soon. It would be useful to know if other dogs have had this in the breed and what is the best thing to do.

Review: EZYDOG Cujo lead

Just tried out the Ezydog Cujo shock absorbing lead tonight and so far it's a winner. Had it on with a standard Pets at Home Comfort Harness. Took the jolt out of lunges forward and seemed to stop that kind of behaviour too. The bounce back seemed to disuad him from pulling forward. Nice to hold the handle too. So now having a look through the rest of their range as the chest plated harness looks nice too for deep chested dogs like Grey.

Here's a video of the Cujo

Some recent videos of Grey

Wait and go with recall.



recall - sitstay - recall



Blind retrieve

Sunny day in Blean Woods

We headed out to Blean today after I'd finished work at home. Sun was shining and it was positively spring like. Better not speak too soon! We had a great walk just mooching through the woods. I played hide and seek with him to keep him from running off too far. He generally roamed about 5 metres to the side, but mostly about 20 metres to 50 ahead. Stopping on every bend. He was mostly out of sight for just a couple of seconds.

Here's who we came across:
A lady with a young entire male lab. Bouncy greeting, some chasing of each other and we went our way. Grey was really muddy by this time and the labs owner spied this!

Loan man bird watching. Did a slow wide berth of us and we did the same. No tension from Grey, which was great.

Lone man wood cutting. Grey had a look but didn't go over.

Couple eating picnic on tree stump. Alert! Alert! But was fine. Grey didn't go over when I told him this way. Sandwiches were safe!

Here are a couple of pics and videos:

Whistle Recall:





General mooching about: