I have 2 WSD (unregistered BC's) I know the farms they came from and saw previous offspring along with mother and grandmother and photo's of dad. Although I know that there is nothing else mixed in with either of them there are no records to prove this. They are both neutered as without traceability how can anyone breed from ANY dog? I am due to pick up my first registered BC Easter weekend and I am really looking forward to it. I know that his mother is a carrier for CEA. This does not worry me as I have no intention in breeding from him, even as a stud dog owner I feel I have a responsibility for any puppies he produces and I am not ready to take that on. He is from working lines and will be dual registered and is intended for agility. A lot of people feel that dogs that carry CEA should not be bred from at all, however I am not sure that I agree with that. Opinions please? I am not trying to start a row just curious about how people feel

You  need to have him tested by DNA to see if he is a carrier & to be honest if he is at this moment in time I would not use him at stud at all unless the bitch has also been DNA tested clear for CEA & I personally would never ever  use a carrier at stud neither would I breed from a bitch who is a carrier but this is JMHO.

I know of a lady whose puppy has such bad CEA he is blind in one eye & the other eye will probably follow eventually, which is such a shame as he is a lovely young dog & was supposed to be by a top trialling dog(who is around 9 years of age & had never produced a CEA puppy), but the DNA tests done on the puppy, dog & bitch proved that the alleged father was in fact NOT the father(he is in fact genetically CEA clear). I would never want to be responsible for a dog having CEA

In any case your puppy should not really be used at stud until he at least 2 years of age

If you do wish to use your dog at stud & retain the ISDS registration of his puppies you will have to join the ISDS & their rules on using dogs that are under two years of age(the earliest you can get him eye tested for PRA)is that the puppies get a sort of second class registration until such time that the eye test is done. If you dog produces two cases of CEA from two separate bitches(after DNA tests prove he is the father)they the ISDS will cancel his registration & not register any further puppies from him I can see eventually the ISDS refusing to register puppies from parents that have not been DNA tested for CEA

To date the KC will register puppies from parents known to carrier CEA no matter how many CEA cases they produce & will in fact register puppies from a CEA case dog/bitch

MM please go back and READ my previous post as you will see that you reply is not relevent. I am also aware of the rules regarding ISDS registration. :o)

Hi with the new DNA test it is possible to put a carrier to a genetically normal dog knowing that the puppies will never actually suffer from CEA but will possibly be carriers the same as one parent. This will mean all the puppies will need to be DNA tested to establish weather they carry the abnormal gene or the normal one.If only DNA tested normal dogs were bred then CEA could be wiped out very quickly in the breed but what kind of gene pool would this leave and what other problems could be bred towards is yet to be discovered. Personally I would err towards only using the DNA tested normal stock and still continue to eyetest so as to moniter the other eye conditions that are within the breed.JMHO

This is pretty much my way of thinking. The breeder has been honest and told me that his mother is a carrier so I know that he may be too. As I never intend to breed from him it doesn't actually make any difference. If I wanted him for a  breeding program then obviously that would change things. A lot of people are saying that carriers should never be used, without looking at the bigger picture. It is all too well to produce dogs with perfect eysight but what about other considerations such as hip scores, epilepsy, deafness etc? I lost a dog last year with cancer that caused him to suffer cluster seizures, it isn't nice to live with and very distressing for both owner and dog. If I was given a choice then I would rather have a potential carrier than a possible epileptic dog. As you say if all carriers were removed what sort of a gene pool would be left?

Hi, I think it's ok to breed from a carrier aslong as the dad is tested clear of DNA CEA tested clear - do you know if he is? And I also think a carrier should only be bred from IF it is adding something really good to the breed - as satincollie says CEA could be wiped out pretty quick only using clears but it would also erradicate a lot of the good (in other aspects) collies.

Char