Epilepsy - Meerdyke Machk's short life - Page 4

Margaret – My dogs recent death is now proof that your poor dog was not an isolated case in these lines. it is heartbraking to lose my dog so young and as you know all too well that when your beloved dog has epilepsy it is a difficult disease to live with. Especially when it is severe epilepsy and can't be controlled with the medication.

What makes me more upset is that all the hard work that you did to publicise your lovely dogs tragic story was obviously ignored. As after you had made your breeders aware of Megans epilepsy they still passed on affected lines carrying the epileptic genes. It appears to be that my dog was bred long after you had made the breeders concerned aware of the risks involved! It appears that by changing their names or by passing on these breeding lines to other breeders they believed they could continue regardless of the risks.

This is so irresponsible!

AbbyNormal – I really appreciate your comments. I have written to the kennel club detailing our story but it appear that they prefer to shirk responsibility. A quote from their response:

'The Kennel Club believes in freedom of choice when it comes to breeding dogs and understands that most breeders have a greater knowledge of breeding from their lines than the Kennel Club itself.”

Whereas the above statement is very true for many dog breeders, sadly there appears to be some people out there who are breeding lines for the pet market and for profit without researching these lines or showing responsibility for the dogs that result.

So if we can't turn to the Kennel Club then who is going to show some degree of responsibility in preventing herditary diseases from being passed down the lines in these poor dogs.

Mackenzie – isn't it so sad to see that people continue lines from known epileptic producers. I am sure that if they had endured the heartbrake of an epileptic dog living in their own homes then they would cease lines from known carriers and producers.

BaileyBoy2010, for your information Philanderer and Swashbuckler were prominent in the early 1970's with Swashbuckler being best in Show at Cruft's in 1971.  It was probably this success that encouraged the breeder to repeat the mating and this produced Ramacon Vibart and Ramacon Virginia, both epileptic.  Clearly nothing was learned from the bloodline and the prospect of success at the top level was the greater incentive regardless of the damage to the breed.

Mackenzie

Macenzie - are these lines still appearing in pedigree's and producing epileptic dogs today?

BaileyBoy2010 none of these dogs appear in the first five generations of a pedigree and when researching pedigree's it is neccessary to go back many generations.  Often it is a researchers own knowledge of the dogs that points them in the right direction but for newcomers it is impossible to find.  The whole problem with epilepsy is that it did not begin with known carriers or for how many generations it existed in past generations.  Also, because of the secrecy surrounding this topic it is impossible to say how many future generations have carried the disease forward.   Quadrille of Eveley was active at stud, I think from memory, from about 1968/9

Mackenzie

macenzie - according to the german shepherd breed council my dog had 178 lines to hendrawens quadrille of everley.  there are 111 lines on the sire's side and the rest on the Dam's side.  Together with the knowledge of recent known epileptics in the Dam's side.  Should this mating have taken place?

BaileyBoy2010 - never in a million years.

Mackenzie

Rachael it is a lesson in re- learning when your dog has a disease and you have the pedigree researched, as Mackenzie has already mentioned, you have to look back on your pedigree, it is a history lesson that should not be repeated, but unfortunately some do not learn by their mistakes and continue by using lines, therefor letting history repeat itself. When you read the article by Sheila Rankin regarding a lady called Linda Allan she also writes of her dogs and going back on lines, it may be to some that this is ancient history, yet it is so prevalent for today, how sad is that, that lessons have still not been learned with Epilepsy.   It is sad, but not surprising that the lines are being used, even though making it public about Megan, to be honest the Kennel Club were the biggest disappointment, we expected more from them especially after co-operating to the letter with them, Megan had an autopsy performed on her, purely for teaching purposes and also to assist the Vets in their research regarding the dogs who were on combinations of medication and what affects it had on parts of their body, they also took brain tissue samples for again to assist in research and studies,to be honest we did not want it done to our girl, but our Vet said that we had always done our best for Megan and in our fight against Epilepsy that we would be allowing Megan to help future Vets and treatment of other dogs suffering similar problems to the ones she endured, how could we not.   As has already been mentioned these lines were known to carry Epilepsy, as just as having to look back on a pedigree is so important when you move forward, the Producers are there, the history speaks for itself.

Margaret

Margaret, even if the puppy-buying novice can be sometimes excused for not researching too
deeply into a pedigree,  you would think the breeder(s) concerned would read back far enough
to know what was there;  and how many times they were doubling up on known carrier ancestry.
SO i don't think this particular little coven of breeders, [or any new whelping houses they recruit],
have any excuse at all for what they've been doing.  They are blatantly ignoring the perpetuation
of these lines, and if they are selling breeding stock on to 'outsider' kennels without telling them
that's even worse.
Unfortunately as you say, the Kennel Club don't appear to be interested in getting to the bottom
of the problem as a whole, or of this coterie of breeders in particular, or therefore of being able to
stop it from continuing.  It is not as if it hasn't been mentioned to them, at intervals;  I can't be the
only person who has referred to it as part of correspondence with them in the past [and just been
blanked on the topic]. Yet it continues on from year to year.  Time for yet another letter to Steve
Dean, I think, but actually majoring on this one issue, this time.
Wish me luck ...

I thank you Baileyboy 2010, I am so sorry to hear what you have gone through, but I am pleased you are sharing it with us.
I am thinking, should there not be a thread on bad lines and we put it all in there. I am new to GSD and to know the lines from years ago,
I have to rely on others to tell me, her in Australia, line breeding is a big thing and there are things coming out now these lines are out with
the people, for years they hid all the problems, though even generations after they are gone, the problems are still coming out.
So it would be great to go to one place to read up on dogs that carry faults that shouldn't be breed from, this will help newbies like me.

I thank you for sharing this painful experiance and my heart goes out to you. :(

Epilepsy is a world wide problem which has been swept under the carpet in a veil of secrecy for many years.  I can see no change in this situation because it will depend on the balance of influence, success and power within the breed.   Originally it must have manifested itself in Germany because all of the bloodlines come from that source, however, when I spoke to the SV last year I was told that the SV never hears of epilepsy now and it is not considered a risk.   One of the UK Clubs from what is known as the English side of the breed is founded on animals known to be epilepsy producers because that faction prefers the type of animal that they prefer.   This attitude probably applies to other Countries as well.

Mackenzie