OESCA DNA blood drive for future research - IMPORTANT!!!
For more info on the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC), please see http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/ Dear Owners and Breeders of Old English Sheepdogs: OESCA and the Health and Research Committee are launching a breed blood drive to capture the DNA of our current OES. The vast majority of our current generations of dogs have not been collected and stored. Should we fail to capture this vital DNA, our breed’s research potential will be severely disadvantaged. You need to act now to store as many samples as possible. It is also critical that samples are collected and stored from our most prolific breeding animals. The Canine Health Foundation has agreed to a 50% reduction in cost for OES donations to the CHIC DNA Repository from June 1 – September 20, 2008. The reduced fee for OES will be $10.00 per dog. OESCA takes pride in the fact that we contributed over 350 samples with pedigree information to Drs. Johnson and O’Brien at Missouri State for cerebellar ataxia research and over 100 donations to the Ostrander lab for hip dysplasia research. The 350 samples banked at Missouri State remain available for today’s OESCA research projects; the Ostrander Lab samples collected at the Centennial Show were specifically collected for hip dysplasia research are not available for other research. This means DNA on most of the living OES today needs to be collected and stored before we have lost the opportunity to do so. Steps to participate include: (1) All dogs attending the 2008 National Specialty will have the opportunity to contribute at the DNA clinic being held during the specialty week. Three veterinarian teams will be collecting blood on Wednesday, Sept. 17, Thursday, Sept. 18 and Friday Sept. 19 from 7:00 am-9:00am in the Grooming Building. Please plan ahead by filling out the form and survey prior to the National. DNA Form & Survey: http://www.oeshealth.org/files/CHIC%20D ... %20OES.doc Blood Draw Instructions: http://www.oeshealth.org/files/DNA%20Re ... ctions.doc (2) For dogs not attending the National Specialty, you can draw their blood samples and send them in with the appropriate paper work. We have found that veterinarians often will perform this service free because it is for research. In fact, some vets will come to your kennel and draw blood on all of your dogs. (3) Additionally, some of the OESCA Regional Clubs, like the Greater Pittsburgh OESC, are organizing collection clinics after a show with the club paying for the fees involved and handling the shipping. (4) With each dog’s sample, you will need to complete the attached forms, including a 3-5 generation pedigree and a brief health survey. Your reduced fee is $10.00 per dog. Send the paper work, payment and blood sample(s) overnight, using cool packs, to OFA . Your vet may do this for you. (Further instructions are on the attached forms.) SPECIAL APPEAL TO OWNERS AND BREEDERS OF PROLIFIC DOGS Prolific dogs have the greatest impact on any breed. It is critical that we have stored DNA from the breed’s most used studs and bitches. We will appreciate your full cooperation and urge you to collect and store DNA from these animals as soon as possible. On behalf of the Breed, OESCA and the OESCA Health and Research Committee, thank you for participating in the CHIC DNA Repository. If you have any questions, please contact: [Please see the OESCA health & research website for contact information - www.oeshealth.org] Collecting and banking DNA is likely the single most important act you can contribute to advance our breed’s health. As stated on the CHIC website, “Blood is the gold standard for genetic material; your dog’s DNA is sufficient for all research methods, including technology in the future. Moreover, the stability and purity of DNA is of the highest caliber, which offers the most benefits.” Your dog’s DNA can help reduce incidence of inherited disease in Old English Sheepdogs. This isn't just for OESCA breeders - this appeal goes out to all breeders as well as all owners who have a known pedigree on their dogs and a willingness to help. The club thinks we can collect 300 DNA samples. I think we can do better than that. [where's the throws-down-the-gauntlet emoticon?  ]Kristine |
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| I think it's fantastic, though I'm disappointed to see they have referred to CA as cerebellar ataxia (which is not the name of the disease but only a symptom of it) instead of cerebellar abiotrophy.
I hope ALL breeders contribute. |
Willowsprite wrote: I think it's fantastic, though I'm disappointed to see they have referred to CA as cerebellar ataxia (which is not the name of the disease but only a symptom of it) instead of cerebellar abiotrophy.
I hope ALL breeders contribute. Me too. And people who have their dogs as well. The first time we donated blood/DNA for the CA study, we didn't know we were having blood drawn on a dog who would later turn out to be affected, only that his sister was. We simply wanted to get DNA collected on as many relatives as possible. So if you own, say, a sibling of a dog who some day turns out to be critical to some important research, your dog's DNA may turn out to be just as critical (even if the dog is not affected and doesn't turn out to be). Often what researchers are looking for once they start working on a particular issue is families of dogs. Not that the CA research is complete yet either. Belle has happily donated as the cousin of a CA affected dog. But even though her blood is already there as part of the CA study, she says she'll happily donate more generally again. For a cookie.
As for using Ataxia instead of Abiotrophy, I'm not sure who wrote the letter. You can always pop Ann or Amy a note and have them correct it on the website at least. Ten years ago I think we all referred to it as ataxia, perhaps based on the way Dr Bell wrote up his original proposal, noting ataxia in parenthesis, and people just picked what stumbled off the tongue more easily. I know I still stumble over abiotrophy and much prefer to discuss the issue with people who already know what CA means 
Kristine |
Kristine - Is there any benefit of contributing blood from rescue dogs who have known pedigrees but are obviously not going to be bred?  |
Beaureguard's Mom wrote: Kristine - Is there any benefit of contributing blood from rescue dogs who have known pedigrees but are obviously not going to be bred?
Absolutely! Rescue dogs have parents and grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles and siblings too, right? It's just that so often we don't know their background, which makes it harder to ask that they contribute to research efforts (but several rescue dogs with unknown backgrounds have nonetheless contributed to the hip dysplasia study).
When pedigrees are known, they can (and should!) be submitted to the OESCA open health registry's pedigree database as well. ( www.oescahealthregistry.org ) Who's to say that there isn't a known carrier of something behind them? As the database becomes more involved and the diseases covered more comprehensive, there may be some valuable health risk information for your individual dog to be gleaned from that database. Why not take advantage when you can? As for the blood drive, the more dogs that participate in the DNA collection, the greater the breadth of coverage of the breed. Thanks so much for asking, Tammy. I didn't think to clarify that. The same goes for people who consider their dogs "just pets". Nuh-huh. They've got family, right? If you can trace it, please consider having your dog donate some blood and a pedigree. Same thing for (strictly) performance dogs. This is not just a "show dog" effort, not just a "breeders" effort - this is a breed effort. For anyone who is planning to attend the 08 national with a rescue dog with a known pedigree: your dog can donate there just like everybody else. That's the easiest way to do it. Kristine |
| Kristine....
Clueless Val here....sorry...But, if there are problems with the bloodwork, will they contact us? Also, I assume there is no age limit..Heart being 13 months...Pearl being 11 years. Since Pearl has no papers would she be able to participate? I have no information on her at all (Humane Society destroys all pedigree paperwork on pure bred dogs). Thanks ----- |
sheepieshake wrote: Kristine....
Clueless Val here....sorry...But, if there are problems with the bloodwork, will they contact us? Also, I assume there is no age limit..Heart being 13 months...Pearl being 11 years. Since Pearl has no papers would she be able to participate? I have no information on her at all (Humane Society destroys all pedigree paperwork on pure bred dogs). Thanks ----- Pearl would be excempt from having to donate (stop jumping for joy, naughty Pearl! ), but of course Heart should. You'll be at the national wednesday morning. Just find Dee (Abi's mom, she volunteered to help) and she'll introduce you to whichever vet she's working with, and it won't take but two minutes. Print out the paperwork ahead of time (see the links above) and just fill it in, copy Heart's pedigree and you're good to go!
And you're correct: no age limits, beyond probably very, very young puppies for whom the (small) amount of blood drawn might be an issue I guess. They're not checking/testing the blood for anything, so there won't be anything to notify you about. They're just banking it so they can use the DNA for future research so they can develop genetic tests. Dawn and LeAnne and another person and I sent 6 DNA samples (cheek swabs, not blood) in to Washington State for the MDR1 test a few weeks ago before the price went up  Plus sending them together was less expensive - group rate. Anyway, all of the results are back except Che. I just got a note along with the girls' results saying his is "still in progress"/ I keep thinking they got his DNA and said: WHAT!!?? Is this even a dog??? (Who? Me paranoid???  )
Maybe he'll come back as a genetic extraterrestorial...It would explain so many things, really....
Kristine |
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