Well, I don't send copies of my health papers out so the websites are helpful. I've started sending the cardiologist stuff in to OFA. If a buyer wants to know the health status I can tell them to look it up online. All the best, Susan Cochran
----- Original Message ----- From: "Laura Trunk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 10:50 AM Subject: Re: [CKCS-L] Ruminations > > Well, Dave, the OFA and CERF websites are available. Is that public > enough? > > Almost no one sends their heart and patella certs to OFA, so it doesn't do > any good at all. And many xray hips, but don't send them in or only do > prelims--those can't be looked up either. > > Quite a few breeders don't send in ACVO forms to be CERFd either. The only > way the information on the OFA and CERF sites will help is if EVERYONE sends > in ALL results of ALL dogs when we are discussing polygenic traits. Having > only 5% of all the breeding stock of a particular breed, showing hip, eye, > heart AND eye test results on these sites is NOT going to give an accurate > picture of what is really happening. In fact it will probably do the exact > opposite. Example: HD has an 11% incidence by OFA results. Due to the > fact that many people do not send in obviously dysplastic xrays the > incidence is probably higher--maybe as high as 20%. If a breeder has tested > say 50 of her Cavaliers over 20 years and 46 cleared and 4 flunked--that > breeder would have less than a 10% incidence of hip dysplasia and obviously > be doing better than the average. But if another breeder has tested only 5 > dogs and 4 cleared and 1 flunked--that breeder would technically be showing > a 20% incidence of hip dysplasia (not accurate with such a small amount I > know but I'm making a point here!). But I will guarantee you people who go > to the OFA site will only notice that so and so has 4 dogs who flunked and > the other has only 1 dog who flunked--guess who they will think has a > problem with HD?! And the rumors will abound--so and so has a lot of HD in > their line! > > The only way to improve on polygenic traits is to have available the test > results of ALL dogs of a particular breed--or at least as many as feasibly > possible. Otherwise we have no accurate picture of the true occurence--so > basically we have nothing at all. > > At this point in time, there is not one breeder in any country who can > accurately assess how much HD, patellar luxation or early onset MVD is in > ANY line--so of course we can't breed to improve health. So those who do > test can only breed phenotypically clear dogs and hope for the best. It > works, but just barely. This is quite upsetting to those who really want to > improve health. > > I can imagine what would happen if everyone showed their Cavalier with a bag > over it's head. We would all know what our own dog's heads look like > because we see them at home, but we wouldn't know what everyone elses dog's > heads looked like unless we specifically asked for pictures--but then we > would only know what the head of those dogs we asked about looked liked. To > improve heads we would need to know what most of the heads of the Cavaliers > from a certain line looked like to know what lies behind them genetically. > Since no one willingly shares what the heads of all their dogs looks like on > an open picture database--this information would be VERY hard to get. Some > people would lie and tell you their dogs have good heads but wouldn't show > pictures. Some would have mostly bad heads and just a few good heads and > only share pictures of the good heads--thereby trying to say their dogs have > good heads when in fact they mostly don't. In the end, we would have no > accurate picture of which lines have good heads and which don't. > > I would love to see a new breeder try to improve heads with the above > scenario--they would have a VERY hard time and almost certainly be > unsuccessful. Only high volume breeders who rarely breed out would be > successful and even then only after years of breeding and seeing what is in > their line. > > Laura Lang > > ========================================================= > "Magic Commands": > to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL > to start it up gain click here: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL > > E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. > Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html > > All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author. ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
