Re: [pyrnet] Pyrs without Dwarf producing ancestors

["Linda Weisser" <lmweisser@olywa.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Kerry Kern Woods <woodskk@eburg.com>

I was told at one time that a list can not be published until all the
owners of
dwarf producers agree to it.  Hopefully as more people realize that
sharing the knowledge is beneficial to the breed, more will step
forward.>>

Kerry is generally right here.  What information the health committee has
(and that's a fair amount) is shared on an as needed basis only.  I find it
extremely interesting that today on this list we have had requests for
lists (publically or privately of known or "suspected" carriers) and we
have had posts saying that people will not come forward with information.
Why?  To quote Marie "Could it be a lack of trust? Maybe it is time to ask
some hard
questions of why people don't want to give up information. I think today it
is more that the finger pointing".

So what are those of us who have this information supposed to do?  Share it
far and wide or keep it reasonably confidential so that we don't "spook"
anyone who might be considering coming forward?  And I am here to tell you
that if *any* piece of information leaks and comes up in the general
grapevine, the "blame" for that fact is pinned on the health committee.
Most of the time we have nothing to do with it.  The person in question has
told 4 or 5 other people about what is going on but if it gets out, guess
who gets blamed??  Right.  We have become reasonably paranoid.

Personally, I would have no problem publishing everything in the Bulletin.
Known dwarf producers, known SAS and cataract and PRA affected dogs, known
dysplastics or PL dogs, along with their pedigrees.  Sure....  The howl
would deafen the hearing impaired.  And beyond that, how many people out
there would know what to do with this information?  How to make sense of
it?  What it really means?  If genetic choices were as simple as just
having the obvious information we would all breed disease free dogs and we
would all know just where to go to buy such a dog.  Unfortunately the old
saying is quite true "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

And particularly when it comes to dwarf producers and possible carriers, it
is *very* important to distinguish between what we absolutely "know" and
what we "suspect" or "surmise".  And the only way to make those differences
clear to someone is to talk to them at length about the issue.  A list of
names is simply not enough.  Further, the list of *known* (obligate)
carriers is not all that long and most of these dogs are quite recent
because their owners have had the courage to make that information known.
By recent I mean within the last 10 years.  And most of these obligate
carriers will never be bred again and their owners have been forthright
enough to tell everyone concerned, so it is unlikely that someone like
Sharon would ever have such a dog in her pedigree that is unknown to her.
The possibles and surmises are much longer and much more complex and
actually much more central to what is happening now.  But I cannot simply
give anyone a list of what I suspect, even though my suspicions are
probably pretty well correct.

Joe and I got into this "corner" a few days ago when we were discussing
Bruno.  I certainly have no knowledge (nor do I think does Joe) that Bruno
ever himself produced a dwarf, and yet he is thought of generally as a
carrier based on litters and producers descended from him.  Now, what does
that mean?  Who knows?  We function as if a supposition were true.  Dr
Padgett once said to me when I asked him about doing this, that we had to
start somewhere and certain suppostions, backed by sufficient information,
were a good place to start.  But, the fact remains that we do not KNOW that
Bruno was a dwarf carrier.  With Klumbo, however, we do know since there
were many first hand reports of dwarfs produced by him.  I would hazard a
guess that he is the best known dwarf producer in the breed.

Although a simple recessive is one of the easiest of inheritances to
understand to to deal with in many ways, it still takes more knowledge that
just who has produced a dwarf.  Or any other recessive condition.

Linda