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Advice Needed - Cavaliers to be the "Feature Breed" for the Sydney Royal Easter Show

Perhaps you need to treat the rubbish they may talk as a stand-up comedy routine - like the lady in the park, which one will tell you the biggest fantasy? Which one has the best line of patter? Which one wins the Ostrich Prize? Don't argue - just let them put their own big feet in their mouths, then go home and tell us all about it! :lol:

Kate, Oliver and Aled

WONDERFUL advice!! I will do just that! I like the way you think...will take the emotion out of it for me, and just let me "ask and observe". I think the asking part will shake them up more than any sort of argument on who is right or wrong (because you will never win it), so great advice. My husband just read this too, and thinks it's a perfect way to get involved, with out "getting involved" if that makes sense. :)
 
Kelsey,

Please don't forget hips and patellas. I'm not sure what breeders do in Australia but actually in the USA and canada they test for these heriditary conditions. I don't think they do in the UK or I rarely read about it here.

I know Ella's breeder had these health certificates with her paperwork (of course no MRIs ) but they were done. Just want to make sure that all is mentioned.
 
but actually in the USA and canada they test for these heriditary conditions

Actually, again: a small number test for these. Patellas are easy; most vets do this as a matter of course anyway. Very few breeders grade hips. VERY few.
 
If you wanted to cause a stir, you could print off some true stories of Cavaliers you know of with SM if any? Take them along? Some facts from the Neurologist you saw? Leave it with them- they may not want to seem like they care in public but maybe they will go home and take it on board!
 
Sorry that sounded stupid- I know there are hundreds of dogs with SM on this forum alone but I meant specifically in Australia. So they can't give you the whole " it isn't a problem in Australia" routine!
 
Karen,

Australia is immune! Just kidding. I think we have some cavaliers in australia diagnosed in our Facebook group. Very sad.

Karlin,

We at least have OFA here so I don't think the tests for hips and patellas is as expensive here. Thinking back I'm not sure if Ella's parents had hip certificates but I know patellas.
 
If you wanted to cause a stir, you could print off some true stories of Cavaliers you know of with SM if any? Take them along? Some facts from the Neurologist you saw? Leave it with them- they may not want to seem like they care in public but maybe they will go home and take it on board!

Not a bad thought at all Karen.
 
Australia is immune! Just kidding.

A few years ago USA breeders were saying that there was no SM in their cavaliers & I remarked how amazing it was that the change of country got rid of all the problem genes in the many UK cavaliers imported there.

The Australian climate must have the same beneficial effect, all that nasty DNA in the top winning stud dogs just evaporate into thin air.
 
Yes I see US sites that claim it is mostly a problem of UK dogs. Th French said that too til a French neurologist scanned their dogs they thought were disease free and if I recall around a third of younger dogs had syrinxes.

On hips: the reason for not scanning isn't that it is expensive (it is just an xray). It is that cavalier breeders do not believe it is a breed issue even though, on a document just produced by the Kennel Club, the average score for cavaliers on hips is only slightly below that of German Shepherds and about the same for Pyreneans, two breeds that recognise HD as a major problem and where it is advised ALL breeding dogs be scanned. Few cavaliers are tested for HD by their breeders. Maybe it should be a lot more as some breeders, like Laura Lang in the US, have argued for years.
 
From experience with HD in a German Shepherd and a Dobermann, dogs with serious HD have an unmistakable bunny hop when running - they just can't articulate their hip joints in order to trot. When I first got Aled, he ran like this and I did wonder, but finally decided that he was like this because he was simply unused to running free after spending most of his life in a kennel. Three years on, he trots and runs normally, thank goodness. I've never heard it mentioned as a serious problem in Cavaliers, and we have relatively few dogs on this forum who have been diagnosed with it - it would be interesting to see some reliable statistics - if they exist!

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Hip dysplasia testing for cavaliers in the US is a bigger deal than following the MVD or SM protocols. Both national CKCS clubs urge hip x-ray exams. AKC's CHIC certificate for cavaliers requires hip x-rays. Neither national CKCS club urges that anybody pay any attention to either the MVD or SM protocol.
 
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