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A Welsh Example We Should
Follow
The Welsh Springer Spaniel Club of America (WSSCA) should
be commended for its acknowledgment of and all-out assault on the worst health problem in
that breed --epilepsy. Epilepsy and other seizure disorders have been more common in Welsh
Springers than any serious disease is in Welsh Terriers. Nevertheless, we would do well to
follow the WSSCA's example. That club is soliciting blood samples, pedigrees and case
histories of seizuring dogs for an "Epilepsy Registry," with the information to
be used in a study already in progress, in hopes of finding disease's mode of inheritance.
A special insert in the club's latest newsletter thoroughly explains the epilepsy problem
and the research study while exhorting breeders to "act courageously at this critical
time |
In our own Health Survey just concluded, Diane
Guida reports that, even with the very convenient option of online information submission,
only 40 WTCA members gave information on 92 dogs. This is out of a total membership of
about 300 and a dog population of a lot more than 92! Though informal, anonymous surveys
like ours provide some idea of problems in Welsh Terrier health, eventually we will have
to move on to a more scientific attack on WT health problems, particularly eye problems,
which, as Diane points out, have assumed first place in the Health Survey this year.
CHF-funded research will doubtless give us our first real chance to combat a serious
health problem in the breed. Will we "act courageously" when the time comes to
reveal the glaucoma |
(or epilepsy or allergy)
histories in our lines of Welsh Terriers? The response to a harmless little anonymous
survey does not fill me with hope. Will we be willing to submit the pedigrees, the DNA
samples and whatever other information will be needed for a research study to succeed?
Will we someday have an open registry of "clear" and "carrier"
animals, which will enable breeders to make enlightened decisions?
For the sake of the Welsh Terriers to come, I hope so.
Becky Eterno
THIS OPINION IS MY OWN AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE
OPINIONS OF THE WTCA BOARD OR THE OPINIONS OF ALL THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE WTCA. |
