Re: discouraged by breed post
Hope springs eternal but there are times when I wonder if this breed can be saved; everyday delayed is important time lost. There are radical approaches that could be taken such as adopting rules that would make those of the Leonberg club or the most strict European countries seem lenient. Or, when faced with health problems and a limited gene pool, the very most dedicated Chinook fanciers, with UKC cooperation, began a very careful program to breed their dogs with carefully selected dogs of other breeds until they reached the degree of excellence originally sought. But, I am told, the AKC would not allow this. Well, they have not been asked, first, and second, we must always put the dogs first and what best serves them. My Yoda lost a leg to synovial cell sarcoma and my Moses to bone cancer. Moses has been ill for two years, first with immune mediated polyarthritis and now with bone cancer, treated with huge success with amputation and chemotherapy. Medical costs for Moses for the last two years have now amounted to twenty four thousand dollars, that's right, twenty four thousand dollars. I have saved all the notes on treatment, receipts, etc. While I sit in clinic waiting rooms feeling new gray hairs sprouting and my heart slowly breaking, I wonder the number of other Berner owners who must be doing the same. I wonder why a breed is allowed to evolve in a direction that makes this degree of emotional trauma and expense necessary. Moses is a happy boy, VERY active but is the average Joe going to go the lengths that I have to ascertain such? Not a chance; the Bernese of the average Joe will be put down or shuffled off to become the responsibility of Rescue. My Jorda had hideous hips and lived to the age of thirteen years two weeks two days with no problems from such and even became a BMDCA ranked obedience dog in Novice and one of the first two dogs to earn the BMDCA Draft Dog title; she also did brace draft work with my other Berner, Daphane, before there were titles for such. I am told, when people become discouraged by Berner health, well, the short years of ecstacy with them make it all worthwhile. This statement makes my blood pressure rise because there is indication in it, in my opinion, that dogs are merely created to satisfy us and do not deserve health and longevity as their very birthrights. Lisa Allen _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: discouraged by breed post
On Thu, 12 Jun 2003 11:06:41 + Lisa D Allen [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: There are radical approaches that could be taken such as adopting rules that would make those of the Leonberg club or the most strict European countries seem lenient. I have to question the rules of the Leonberger club in light of the commercial breeders I've found on line breeding Leos and Berners...how do they fit into the scheme of things? Susan Ablon Gweebarra BMD Balch Springs, Tx http://www.pageweb.com/gwebara
Re: discouraged by breed post
Lisa, I just assisted a Leonberger owner in getting blood samples to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for the study on malignant histiocytosis, four littermates had died of the disease. Hip and elbow problems? They have them. Dogs sold at auction? They have them. Strict does not solve the problems, all it does is to give the breeders that work outside of the rules an advantage in producing more puppies for sales to unwitting buyers. We are stuck with the AKC, and we need to find ways to use it to our advantage. People who are new to dogs thing that the AKC is a stamp of approval. So if we in the BMDCA were to ignore the AKC dictates, and started a very strict breeding program of our own, well, the puppy mills would have a field day. What we CAN do is to start helping to focus attention on the fact that no conscientious breeder would EVER register dogs with the newer registries like the API, or the other commercial dog registries. That doesn't do anything to address health issues, but it does help to distinguish dogs bred using the AKC registry versus those bred using the newer flavor-of-the-month registries for the commercial breeders. When it comes to health issues, a great many people are working extremely hard to try to help improve matters. They have been for decades, and change is going to come slowly. We have the Berner-Garde database - for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, see www.bernergarde.org If your dog isn't part of that database, get it entered! As for all the people who have dedicated time to that organization, THANK YOU! Barbara and Martin Packard, Dave and Margrit Kitchin, Lori Jodar, Roxanne Bortnick, Randy Karl, Jack Lytle, Ron Smith, Teresa Godfrey, Mary Maliarik, Mary Brown, Nancy Melone, Joye Neff, Nancy Stewart, the list goes on and on, I know I'll forget too many people. Is the database perfect? No! But it has been getting steadily better, and it's thanks to some incredibly hard working people. The BMDCA Health Committee, another group of hard workers. They review proposed study projects, they try to find good ways to share health information, they publicize health studies, a big thanks to all of those past and present: Kathy Berge, Kevin Curran, Ruth Reynolds, Lori Jodar, Karyn Beyers. Can they do more? Yes! But it takes time and dedication - and volunteers. The health studies that are ongoing. We've had the gene for von Willebrand's disease identified, I can't tell you how exciting that is! There is no need for any breeder to produce a puppy affected with von Willebrand's. Thanks for that success go to VetGen and all the people who submitted samples for their study. PRA may someday be in the same boat for Berners, thanks in no small part to Fran Krauss and Ellen Jacobs and everyone who has submitted information to the Baker Institute. Hip Dysplasia, under study at VetGen. Histiocytosis? Under study at Fred Hutchinson, and Dana-Farber. See www.bmdca.org under Health for a list of the current studies. The thanks for all of these are going to be to each person and each dog that submitted samples and information to the researchers to try to help benefit the future of the breed. It's taken us a century to get where we are in the breed. It's not going to be a simple matter to improve health and other issues in the breed. With the burgeoning popularity, things are bound to get worse before they get better. Will they get better? They will if I have any way I can help to improve matters. And a great many hard working people are doing all that they can too. I haven't even mentioned educatinal matters. If you don't think people are working hard on that front, then think again! Take a look at the breed advertisements in the July issue of Dog Fancy. I was thrilled to see the list of ads! Take a look at the people participating in the BMDCA Breed Steward program. They are going to be doing a lot of work with education! Look at everything the BMDCA Public Relations Committee is doing, Robin Hamme has a terrific group of people contributing substantial efforts on that front. BMDCA Education, Ruth Reynolds has been the chair of that effort for 13 years and has done an outstanding job in helping answer people who want information. Mary Shaver, Abby Patrizio, Linda Seavers, Dean Scott, the list just goes on and on! If you think the breed is in trouble, well, of course it is! It has been for sometime. But ask yourself what small part you can play in helping to make things better. The person you take the time to talk to when you're out walking your Berner. The submission to Berner-Garde or a health study. Assisting at an education or ways and means table at a regional show. Asking that lost looking person at a dog show if they need some help or information. There are so many ways to just dig in and help out! Pat Long ( Luther) Berner-L co-owner BMDCA Health Committee Member Berner-Garde Trustee Berner-Garde interim File
Re: discouraged by breed post
Hi Pat, Excellent post! Are we going to the vet more often nowadays? In our country we do, earlier (15- 25 years ago?) it was just to put the dogs down if they was very sick. If we go to the vet more often now a lot of new diseases are seen and discovered in the breed. Perhaps the illnesses had been discovered earlier if we had went to the clinics as frequent as we do today. There are also better educated veterinarians, thanks God! And about going for walks in town with your lovely Berner. I love to see all the love Vincent gives to all who just are looking at him. He gives their hearts a warm hug with his friendly look. Meaning Vincent gives a lot a better life just when he walks around in our world. Bernerhugs from Vincent and Margareta Sweden
Re: discouraged by breed post
In a message dated 6/12/03 7:37:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: If you think the breed is in trouble, well, of course it is! It has been for sometime. But ask yourself what small part you can play in helping to make things better. The person you take the time to talk to when you're out walking your Berner. The submission to Berner-Garde or a health study. Assisting at an education or ways and means table at a regional show. Asking that lost looking person at a dog show if they need some help or information. There are so many ways to just dig in and help out! Pat is so right! This is certainly one situation where the adage 'if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem' applies. If you love this breed, then you'll 'post' your dogs and use the findings to participate in the health studies, mentor a newbie or ensure they find a suitable mentor for their interests, contribute to the many, varied programs being conducted in the best interests of the BMD breed and community, befriend newcomers to your area or breed There are so many ways to help make things better. So many ways. Anyone who does none of these IMO has no legitimate claim to complain. Improvement cannot occur in a vacuum. Only entropy can All my hopes, Vicky and the Horde =P~ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
