Friday 31 October 2008
AT THE SC championship show Mr S Plane drew a respectable entry of 63 for competition and seven NFC. Judging started at 9.30am, which to my mind meant an early finish time, early enough for all to drive home in the daylight. DCC and BIS was Mrs J Powell’s Ch Monterrez I’ll Be Back at Brookwell and RBIS went to BCC, Mrs A Reed’s Ch Byquy Nitetime Girl.
RDCC was the special open class winner, Mrs Posnett’s Tarnhows Silver Sand at Dreda, a gold dog. He was also best coloured in show. RBCC was his half sister, another gold one, who won both limit and special OB, T Sunrise at Schojan, owned by Mr and Mrs Holland. Both RCC winners were bred by Mrs E Vincent, the breeder of the first ever non-black champion in the breed, Ch T Little Captain, obtaining his crown back in 1974.
BP was Mrs Mance’s homebred black bitch, Ryeman Black Rose, one which surely must have amassed enough points to end up as our top puppy in the breed. BV was Mr P Trickelbank’s Ch Nocte Boris Karloff.
Some further show news comes from Jan Mance about her puppy Black Rose. She writes: “At Scarborough limited show under Marilyn Pursglove (Roguesmoor) Rosie went BPIS.”
The Finnish research and Schipperke people who came to the show for the epilepsy study group were busy most of the day collecting cheek swabs from many Schipperkes present as well as collecting swabs collected ahead of time for dogs unable to attend. Towards the end of the day I spoke again to Minna Virta, the lead research member of the University of Helsinki group and she estimated that over 60 separate samples had been collected/turned in on the day.
That is a wonderful addition to their population study that both the Animal Health Trust here in the UK and the University of Helsinki are engaged for epilepsy study. Large numbers are needed in order to get a more accurate idea as to the heritability factors across a breed. Having access to pedigrees will also enable them to one day soon ‘track’ the genetic markers so breeders will be able to make informed choices for future litters.
Continuing on the health scene, the Schipperke Club of America’s website has a plethora of news and information on the breed. Like so many breed clubs today both in the US and here in the UK, the health and welfare of the breed is becoming increasingly important. Their website is www.schipperkeclub-usa.org.
The rescue and health foundation link is on the home page. Once on the health foundation page, click on ‘education’ and ‘links’ in particular, in order to find out all the studies in which the club is supporting the AKC in its attempts to study various aspects of health in all canines and Schipperkes in particular. There are so many different studies and research papers, you will find it fascinating. There is a large study currently underway sponsored by the University of Missouri on epilepsy in dogs and the Schipperke is one of the breeds they have agreed to study.
I know that some must feel that I have a very negative attitude as to the overall health of our breed but in reality I do consider the Schip as one of the more healthy breeds around. Yes, there are or have been incidences of a variety of conditions in the breed but in reality, since no-one is currently breeding on a large scale, any development of a condition that turns out to be bad for the breed can be controlled, studied and then eliminated with the help of modern scientific support.
I consider it one of the pluses with few we have never been faced with the population explosion that has hit so many other breeds. Although some famous movie stars over the decades have owned our breed, the Schip is such a unique personality that no cult or following has developed, thank goodness.
The Kennel Club is looking into the health concerns of each individual breed. The only disease I would consider necessary to test for before breeding would be the MPSIIIB. Carriers are still being used for breeding which is all well and good, as long as as all offspring that are going to be bred from are tested before breeding and all others are registered with endorsed registrations not allowing offspring to be registered.
Breeders know within their own kennels, which dogs are carriers, one hopes, but if testing is not done in order to carry on gathering information and eventually eliminating the carrier condition from the breeding population then 20 years down the road we could be faced with the disease becoming a fact, and not the potential threat that it currently is.
Saving a few pounds now is not common sense when considering the future of the breed. We won’t all be around in 20 years to remember which dogs were tested and which carrier offspring weren’t. Although there is a database in the US available to all who have tested their dogs, not all chose to publish the results. For the betterment of the breed worldwide I would consider it was necessary for all breeding stock to have published the results. If readers are not familiar with MPS IIIB, have a look at the information on our own breed club’s website, www.schipperkeclub.co.uk/index.htm or go to the Kristen Henry’s site in the US, www.bonchien.com/index.html.
I look forward to hearing from readers on this and other topics. Do you think any kind of health screening is needed in our breed and if so, what?
MARY DEATS, 01842 828226, schiptoaradet@yahoo.com