LONDON PET SHOW 2012
For the second year running Earls Court has been the venue for The London Pet Show and Irish Setters have been amongst the breeds represented both years. Last year there were four breeds from each Group but this year some 50 breeds were on show. Needless to say our Irish Setters thoroughly enjoyed all the fuss and petting they received and I am not certain who enjoyed themselves the most; the dogs or those doing the fussing.
Across both days we had dogs ranging from 6 months to 11 years with us and we were kept busy answering questions about the breed and sharing reminiscences of people who had either been brought up with Irish or whose parents/grandparents had them. We had taken several photos to decorate our booth showing Irish as we know them on walks, in water, soaking wet and thoroughly enjoying life and so different to the well behaved and beautifully presented dogs at the show.
Many thanks to the dogs and owners who attended the show which made both days really rewarding and fun.
SEISC Worplesdon Open Show Sunday 20th May 2012
Joint Irish Setter Breed Clubs
Statement on the control of the rcd4 mutation in Irish Setters
The Joint Irish Setter Breed Clubs (JISBC) have drawn up the following guidelines for the control of the recently discovered rcd4 mutation which causes Late Onset Progressive Retinal Atrophy (LOPRA) in Irish Setters. Whilst it should be stressed that clinical signs of LOPRA usually appear after the age of 9 years, the JISBC still believe it to be a welfare issue, although it is noted that many dogs can cope with blindness.
Data from the Animal Health Trust so far suggest the prevalence of carriers of the rcd4 mutation (i.e. heterozygotes) in the breed is about 42% and therefore the proposed guidelines are considered appropriate at this time. The JISBC recognises the need to maintain genetic diversity within the breed and does not yet recommend a complete ban on breeding using carrier or affected dogs.
However, the principle of these guidelines is that no dogs should be produced that will develop PRA and become blind, and therefore all members of the JISBC agree that:
1. All caring and responsible breeders will test their stock before planning a mating.
· Any rumour and supposition about a dog’s genetic status should be ignored; DNA-testing should be undertaken.
· As DNA-testing is now available, ‘hereditarily clear’ dogs will be produced. However such dogs should still be tested before being used for breeding because of the potential difficulty in proving parentage.
· If the rcd4 status of any stud dog, or its semen, is unknown then the bitch to be mated must be tested and found CLEAR.
2. AFFECTED dogs (i.e. homozygous for the rcd4 mutation) should never be mated with other AFFECTED dogs as all progeny will be AFFECTED.
Thus the following are recommendations about potential matings that the JISBC consider acceptable at this time:
· CLEAR x CLEAR matings are encouraged.
· CLEAR x CARRIER* matings: progeny will, on average, be CLEAR (50%) or CARRIERS (50%) and should be DNA‑tested before breeding.
· CLEAR x AFFECTED* matings: all progeny will be CARRIERS.
* It is recommended that any use of AFFECTED and CARRIER stud-dogs is given serious, cautious consideration by both stud-dog owners and breeders before planninga mating.
Purchasers of any dogs produced by CLEAR x CARRIER and CLEAR x AFFECTED matings should be advised that these dogs will not develop PRA rcd-4, but should not be used for breeding unless tested.
All breeders should note that AFFECTED x CARRIER or CARRIER x CARRIER matings may produce some AFFECTED dogs.
a. CARRIER x CARRIER matings will produce, on average, 25% AFFECTED progeny.
b. AFFECTED x CARRIER matings will produce, on average, 50% AFFECTED progeny.
Purchasers of any dogs produced by such matings should be advised that some of these dogs may develop PRA rcd-4 and should not be used for breeding unless DNA-tested.
The JISBC will continue to monitor the prevalence of the rcd4 mutation within the breed. However it is aware that a further PRA mutation that causes blindness at an earlier age (so-called mid-onset PRA) may be present in the breed but has yet to be confirmed and characterised genetically. Thus control measures for rcd4 may need to be modified if this new form of PRA is prevalent, as the earlier onset of blindness clearly has an even greater welfare implication.
Signed on behalf of the following breed clubs, which endorse and support these recommendations
· Belfast & District Irish Setter Club
· The Irish Setter Association England
· The Irish Setter Breeders Club
· The Irish Setter Club of Scotland
· The Irish Setter Club of Wales
· The Midlands Irish Setter Society
· North-East of England Irish Setter Club
· The South of England Irish Setter Club
Professor EJ Hall
Chairman, Irish Setter Breed Clubs Health Coordinator Group
29 February 2012
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PRA RCD4 TESTING FROM THE AHT
Please follow the link below
http://www.ahtdnatesting.co.uk/news/13
SEISC PRA RCD4 list updated April 2012
PRA RCD4 Kennel Club lists updated as of 1st March 2012
PRA (rcd-4) Irish Setters Clears
PRA (rcd-4) Irish Setters Carriers
PRA (rcd-4) Irish Setters Affecteds
Irish Setter Breed Health Online Survey Results
Last year, the Joint Health Coordinators Group set up an anonymous online survey to gather information about the incidence of diseases in the setter breed between 2005 and 2010. Diseases that are known or have been suggested to have a genetic basis were specifically investigated. The survey results have now been analysed and give a snapshot of potential inherited problems in the breed. These results will not just allow the Group to focus on current problems but will also provide hard evidence for researchers seeking funding to investigate these problems. So I must therefore thank all Irish setter breeders and owners who took the time to complete the survey; the large number of responses received serves to strengthen any conclusions.
In fact, two surveys were conducted; one for owners of breeding bitches, and one for owners of stud dogs and pet setters. In total we had 159 owners of breeding bitches reporting on 767 puppies, and 361 stud dog and pet owners reporting on 1,031 dogs. The reason for this dual approach was to test the validity of the results. If results between the two surveys were vastly different, it might suggest that one group was being ‘economical with the truth’. In fact, the results were, gratifyingly, very comparable. Of course the survey was anonymous and we cannot know how many individual dogs may have been reported in both surveys; nevertheless the minimum number of unique dogs has to be over 1000, which is a fantastic response.
A summary of the key results is tabulated.
|
Disease category |
Breeding bitch survey |
Stud dog / non-breeding pet survey |
|
|
Percentage |
Percentage |
|
Entropion |
9.25 |
6.49 |
|
Epilepsy |
3.91 |
4.46 |
|
GDV / Bloat |
9.13 |
9.99 |
|
Hip dysplasia causing signs |
1.83 |
1.36 |
|
Megaoesophagus |
3.91 |
2.71 |
In addition, the good news is that there were no (or only one) report of a number of conditions that have been listed as an inherited problem in the breed in the scientific literature, namely anal furunculosis, galactocerebrocidosis, carpal subluxation, osteosarcoma and tricuspid valve dysplasia.
Respondents were also asked to name other conditions of concern, and Cushing’s disease (a steroid hormone problem) and cancer were most frequently named. This new information again allows your Health Coordinators to focus on real problems, and further more targeted surveys may be instituted in future.
The current survey results have highlighted some areas of concern; clearly bloat (syn. gastric torsion, gastric dilatation/volvulus, GDV) is the most common condition reported, and was also chosen by over half of all respondents as the condition that concerned them the most. The survey was however, performed before the identification of PRA rcd4. Entropion (rolled-in eyelids) was reported in similar numbers, but respondents did not consider it such an important issue, presumably because it is not life-threatening.
Finally, as a caveat, we can not simply extrapolate to say that ~10 % of all setters are affected with bloat; it must be pointed out that the reported incidence of any condition may be biased by breeders/owners of afflicted dogs being more inclined to complete the survey. However, the relative incidence of the different conditions still provides guidance as to what diseases we should focus our efforts on in order to improve the health of the breed.
Ed Hall
Chairman, Irish Setter Breed Clubs Joint Health Coordinators Group
Feb 2012
*** SEISC Open Show Yatton Keynell August 2011***
| JUDGE | |||
| Mrs Rosemary Ramsay (Setterford) | |||
| BEST IN SHOW | Ir Sh Ch Glennara Coer De Lion JW | Kennedy | |
| RESERVE BIS | Colanme Confection | Roberts & Bye | |
| BEST OPPOSITE SEX IN SHOW | Colanme Confection | Roberts & Bye | |
| BEST VETERAN IN SHOW | Highclare Catchfly | Barnes | |
| BEST PUPPY | Macarica Street Dancer | Allum | |
Best in Show Ir Sh Ch Glennara Coer De Lion JW
Reserve Best in Show Colanme Confection
Best Puppy Macarica Street Dancer
Best Veteran Highclare Catchfly
Full results available on the SEISC Results page
Dogs in Cars on Wet Days.
Your dog is vulnerable and AT RISK if left in a vehicle on a wet day ( at a SEISC show) and even on days considered as slightly wet.
Please take care of your dog.
If your dog is found to be at risk from flooding, forcible entry to your vehicle may be necessary, without liability for any damage caused.
*********************************************************
Professor Ed Hall
Chairman, Irish Setter Breed Clubs Health Coordinators Committee
*********************************************
New Kennel Club Mate Select Programme
Woof, He's Fit' - The New Doggie Dating Website That Puts Health First
The Kennel Club ihas developed a revolutionary new database that will enable people to find a perfect mate for their dog which will help to improve the health of future generations within the breed.
In a first of its kind, the Mate Select programme, which will be accessed via the Kennel Club website, will allow both occasional and regular breeders to assess the impact that a proposed mating will have on the genetic diversity within a breed.
As new health screening tools are developed, these will also be incorporated into Mate Select so that, in future, breeders will be able to select mating pairs which will maximise the chances of producing healthy puppies whilst having the optimum impact on the breed’s genetic diversity.
These IT developments will greatly expand the Kennel Club’s ability to collect and store health information on registered dogs - information that will allow the development of new health screening tools which will find their way into Mate Select and improve the health of pedigree dogs.
The Kennel Club wants to ensure that these healthy puppies go on to loving homes and has launched a new Breed Information Centre on its website. This includes a Health Test Results Finder, which records the health test results for any Kennel Club registered dog; an Accredited Breeder application that gives potential owners a list of responsible breeders in their area; and a Find a Breed application to show which breed’s characteristics would best suit their lifestyle.
Kennel Club Communications Director, Caroline Kisko, said: “People do a lot of thinking about their perfect partner but dogs’ needs are relatively simple - to find a mate that will give them healthy puppies, which will then be matched with loving owners.
“A lot of science is going into the Kennel Club’s new database, but the end result will be that the computer will help dog owners find a mate for their dog, which will give them the best possible chance of producing healthy puppies.
“Not only can we help to match the right dogs with each other, but equally important is matching the right puppy buyers to the right puppy and our newly launched Breed Information Centre will help people to find the right breed and the right breeder.”
Nick Blayney, former President of the British Veterinary Association, has spoken about the importance of the new database for dog health. He said: “The Kennel Club has helped develop many DNA tests and has a number of health screening schemes that are run with the British Veterinary Association and this knowledge should be central to any breeding decision. Sometimes though, there is so much information to compute that breeders often don’t know where to start. This database will do the complicated calculations for them, showing them clearly which dogs will make the most suitable match in order to produce healthy puppies.”
Health test results and details of any surgery or operations that a dog has had will be inputted into the health database by dog owners and vets and will then be verified. Dogs will then enter the ‘dating pool’ and be matched with other dogs, of the same breed within the surrounding area, on the basis of their Estimated Breeding Value (the genetic value of the dog based upon health considerations). Work is already under way on the database which will be available by the end of the year, and the Mate Select programme within the following twelve months.
Professor Jeff Sampson, Kennel Club Chief Scientific Advisor, said: “The Kennel Club has been working with scientists to develop Estimated Breeding Values for many years. These EBVs are based on very complicated calculations such as the prevalence of certain diseases in a particular breed or the size of the gene pool. The database is the first of its kind to be able to compute all of this information and to tell breeders not only which two dogs will produce the healthiest offspring, but which pairings will have the most positive effect on the overall health of that breed.
“The programme will be available for pedigree dogs, because we know their heritage and therefore have more information available for them, but we hope that information about all other dogs will also be fed into this database. At the moment we have frighteningly little information about diseases within crossbred dogs, but this database will help to throw light on this grey area and help us, therefore, to improve the health of pedigrees and crossbreeds alike.”
Welcome - Bienvenue – Willkommen – Bienvenido – Benvenuto – Shalom – Aloha
Merhaba – Welcom – Fáilte – Välkommen - Haere Mai - Καλός ήλθατε
We have recently restructured our website and have included several new features such as Fun Pages and Show Awards and Results.
We will be updating it regularly and hope to provide a broad mixture of material relating to the Club, Showing and the breed in general. This site is not only for Irish Setter exhibitors but anybody who has an interest in the breed. If you have any items you would like to be considered for inclusion or features you would like to see please e-mail the webmaster on webmaster@seisc.co.uk
We would also like to announce that SEISC has recently taken over www.irishsetterhealth.info and this is now being run as a sister site. This site will complement our main website with its prime focus being on caring for your setter, puppies and health issues.
We hope you will enjoy using the website and find it informative. We would be grateful to receive any feedback you would like to give us on the new sites and look forward to hearing from you with your suggestions.
If you would like to be added to our mailing list to be notified by e-mail when important changes are made to the site please click here.
Finally, we have prepared the content of this site as carefully as we could but there are bound to be the odd "deliberate mistakes". Please help us by letting us know if there are any errors or ommissions.
Copies of all photographs on this website may be obtained from the Club. Please contact us for details.