For all stafford people please be aware its here and the gene marker has been found blood screening is taking place now from the animal trust......today breaking news one of our long established affix and top stud dogs has been announced as a carrier this along with other breed lines could have a substantial affect on the breed it is imperative you do your home work and links to this information can be found on stafford sites or pm me for details.
We have been lucky with this breed up to now but in order to preserve it we all must do our bit as an ice- burg could be tipping and at this point there is no saying how big a thing it is

Hi superfilly

Thanks for the updated information but can you say which dog has been confirmed as being a carrier?

Never been on forum before so not sure if its possible to email me direct or PM me please.  But would appreciate if you could advise so that we can safe guard future of breed.

Thnks

Admin edit: please PM/email members whom require 'names' at this stage.

Well actually the news is good, if there is a DNA test available it is the saving of thr breed as the baby does not need to be thrown out with the bathwater.  As long as good carrier dogs and bitches are only mated to clear partners then no affected offspring will be produced.  Eventually there will be fewer and fewer carriers needed for breeding, and they can be dispensed with if there are clear dogs with equal virtues. :D

Of course it does require that ALL BREEDERS TEST ALL BREEDING STOCK.

Agree all dogs will need to be tested but as with the eye test the KC do not force breeders to take the tests.  We can only hope that breeders will take note and try to educate prospective owners to start checking that parents of pups have been tested for both L2 and eye test.

Our dogs have already been tested so will be avoiding anyone that hasn't tested their dogs.  Lets just hope that this test will be looked at as a good thing for our breed and that people understand the benefits of having the test.  Although the cost could puy people off!

The famous stud boy is Eastaff Tallysman......and other lines are involved this can be as serious as those that choose to ignore it or we can all get tested before we breed. For those that bury there heads in the sand its a bad choice to make. But there is a huge amount of support if needed and if we can educate the people who do not attend the shows and make a contribution to the Stafford world but like to breed and ask top bucks for there puppies as they are the ones that will suffer in the long run but for puppies being born thats isnt fair is it. So please pass the word around as the more that know about it the sooner we can get on top of this.

Hi Barveno5
Brill I have to have it done as well as my girlie Sire is a now known carrier and though I am upset about it I am so pleased the AT have found it now as the future of this breed is such a passion to most of us it would be awful wouldnt it.
Yep we feel the same not going to the trouble of having mine tested and if we can still breed the stud boy has to show me the paper work as well
Cheers

Dear Admin
There isnt an issue with the name of the boy its important people know as they are your future customers. All permission has been given I can assure you and it just helps to get the ball rolling on a very important issue
Cheers

I agree that it is important that people know, but there are means to go about these matters. As long as permission has been granted from the owners of the relevant dogs, then that is ok. We do not need any more threats of libel actions thanks!

Thanks for the update, think they only way forward is to be open and except that this is a bigger problem than first thought.

Im sorry to hear you have to go through the trauma of waiting for test results, know how nerve wrecking it is but think its better to know now and at least you will know where you stand.

Bettter to look to the future than bury your head in the sand as some will do!!!

Hopefully promoting and making people aware of how important this test is will mean we can, with careful breeding, irradicate this problem from our breed.  Its no-one's fault just something that has to be faced and dealt with.

Let me know how you get on with test results.  Good luck

is there a list of tested dogs?
i have been to the other site (i am a member there) but not read every thing that was put up (been though a bad time right now) so would like to see a list of clear or carries if there is 1, my 2 will be tested ASAP

Hi
Yes its nail biting but it has to be done but I for one will go public on the results and have noticed today a lot more have been added on the famous stafford data base so it does mean people are being open about it and thats got to be a step in the right direction. Fear is a big key here if you have a top stud boy you can understand them being hesitent so money is also an issue as it always is but people are making a lot of noise about it now so its looking promising as regards getting people on board.....Bit dissapointed people on here havent asked more questions as we need to get at the novice breeders as well.
You can look for the above mentioned in your browser...should bring up what your looking for as you know we cant put up URLS no matter how important

Hi Staffy Lover

At the moment main source of information seems to be through the Stafford "Pedigree database" as superfilly says.  Best way forward seems to be to check any potential stud dog owners produce L2 clear (non-carrier) & unaffected letters from Health Trust and also to have your own dogs tested.

We need to encourage testing and to provide people with as much information on this condition as possible.  This test is new but people we have spoken to seem to be aware that it exists and we can only advise potential new stafford owners to starting asking for this when they look at puppies.

Hopefully then people will start to take notice and have their dogs tested. 

Can ssomeone say what problem this condition causes in an affected dog???

If you look on East Anglain SBT Society website or www.stafford.co.uk you will find details on the condition and also a link to the Animal health trust website where you will be able to find lots of information and also be able to download the relevant forms to be able to arrange to have the test carried out on your dogs.

But the following should give you an idea:
"Affected dogs present between 6 months and one year of age (but can be up to 7 years of age) with clinical signs of incoordination, muscular stiffness at exercise or excitement, altered behaviour (dementia) or epileptic seizures"

Carriers do not present these symptoms but can pass them on to offspring, for more information and better explaination please see read animal health trust website

I just put this in and it came up for websites in the Stafford area, nothing to do with Staffies :d  Can anyone do a link?

Just found it on Google.

So as long as dogs are tested and a carrier isn't put to a carrier it can't be passed on?  Am I reading that right as I'm a bit thick when it comes to these sort of things.

Hi
If a carrier is mated to a carrier it will produce a percentage of the puppies with the metabolic defect. But if your dogs are screened and one comes back as a carrier they have to be either never mated or under very special circumstances can be mated to a clear as the litter born will have some carriers in it not affected with the L2 so they will be healthy but again if they produce litters again you will have carriers so the idea being you wean the carriers out by restricting them on the KC reg from being bred from but as their are no guide lines for this presently it seems to open a big can of worms as to who should breed still and why. 

You should not 9initially restrict the use of carriers where a DNA test is available as it will shrink the gene pool too much.  As long as carriers are only ever used on clear and the offspring tested then no harm will be done.

Eventually it will be possible to choose not to use carriers as there will be sufficient high quality anumlas to sue that are clear.  People will naturally choose to use clear studs over carriers if they are of equal merit, but do not ahve to fear loosing whole bloodlines as they can still judiciously use carriers to clear mates.

Me and my typos!!!

Anyway just wanted to add that the best thing about DNA testing is not the way it allows you to exclude dogs from the gene pool but the way it allows you to safely include ones that otherwise would have been discarded. 

In my own breed whole lines from the past have disapeared and problems been caused with reduced choices of breeding partner in the future because a dog of the past has been discovered to be a PRA carreir for example.

Theoretically when a carrier is discovered when there is no DNA test you discard him and his offspring and siblings, most of which will be clear, or only carriers.  Things are more complex when a dosg status does not come to light until the end of his life say 10 - 12 years old by which time he will have generations of healthy descendants entwined with other bloodlines, some carriers and some clear, remove these and you have no gene pool left.

What people then choose to do is ensure that this dog is not doubled on (kept on one side of a pedigree) this can almost immieditely reduce onces breeding options considerably depending on how many generations we are talking about which could easily already be 3 or 4.

So DNA testing should not be looked upon as something to worry about the results, except the affected cases of course.  Haveing a carrier dog or bitch will be nothing to worry about just so long as they never mate with another carrier.

As to what breed clubs should do, initially insist all breeding stock are tested and carriers only used with DNA tested clear animals.  This can then be reviewed in say 10 years time when it becomes known what percentage of breeding stock are carriers, once the carriers get down to a small minority of the population (people will use a clear over a carrier all else being equal) then it can be decided that carriers should no longer be used.  This way bottlenecks in the gene pool are prevented for this reason at least, and hopefully prevent some other problem becoming common.

Just interest, have a totally different breed :D

Same here Brainless :d  Just find it interesting and pleased that some of the views that I have re. my breed is hopefully followed through in other more popular breeds and hopefully that people aren't too hasty and throw out dogs that have everything to add to the gene pool in other respect.

I don't think the above quite makes sense but hopefully you know what I mean, my brains not working this morning :d

I realise we shouldnt be hasty but its just the idea of selling puppies that are carriers....yes I do have a couple of puppies left....Yes Mum has done really well on the show scene so I had people waiting for her puppies....Well the ones left I have to tell you can never really breed from them unless you start showing and they do really well and then you might be influenced to breed so you may force my hand to lift the restriction.
I love my bitch to bits she is everything I bred for she has done tremendous in the show ring and is still quite young to maybe pick up a couple more CC's and the idea of her being a carrier is a killer I know its not the end of the world but I'm not sure if I want the responsibility of making that choice of if I have a right to breed from a carrier or not.