Arts & Sciences...

Breeding is an "art" but it is also a "science". No dog is perfect, no living being is "perfect".  But, if you care about your pups and the future people who will love them, you plan and calculate risk factors based on science (OFA, DNA results, pedigree research, etc) while looking at the art that makes up that dog (structure, temperament, ability, etc). There is also a lot of "gut" in it for me, basing some decisions on instinct for what I hope to produce-trying to make improvements in each generation. Sometimes things are pretty perfect and sometimes things go horribly wrong.  While learning from it, it still feels like a weight on your shoulders, when things don't go as planned for. 


There is a new DNA test available as of summer 2019 for a form of Early Onset Adult Deafness in Border Collies.  This form is not the same as congenital deafness believed to be caused by a lack of pigment on the inner ear, detected by a BAER test preferably as a pup. The EAOD type of deafness is prior to senior years, affecting a dog in a 3/4-6/7 year range. It can be gradual or sudden. I am surely not a scientist, so this may all sound like gibberish, but it is my understanding of the test and results, at this point. 

The EAOD study has not been published, nor peer reviewed and the data has not been publicly shared, but it provides info on if your dog might be a carrier, clear or at risk. The company and associated Lab offering the test has a monopoly on it right now, so for many of us it meant repeating a full panel of testing, to add this new test. The amount of testing is likely adding to their sample data, so hopefully helping us all with more information in the future.

"Responsible" breeders do their best to be up on the newest science, to help in decisions for the future. Deafness would affect a dog working at a distance-generally in their prime, so it is good to see more people embracing this test, that often were people who didn't even check hips. But, we don't know what the results are completely based on, other than my understanding is they have identified 4 markers with a recessive mode of inheritance and an assumed unidentified modifying gene with incomplete penetrance, that is a "trigger"= an affected dog. I am assuming that a dog who has all 4 markers is what they deem "at risk". A recessive gene with a modifier of incomplete penetrance (like CEA/CH)-so at risk may not mean "affected". Hopefully, we will have more info when the study is finally published-but does a carrier have one marker? two? 

But, sometimes you make decisions that pre-date an available test or screening procedure. This is the case with two crosses I did in the last few years, unknowingly breeding two carriers together. Out of a carrier to carrier cross; each offspring has a 25% chance to be clear, 25% chance to be at risk, 50% chance to be a carrier. The overall carrier rate according to Optimal Select's website is around 38% and 4.9% at risk, based on the dogs who have been tested. The good news is, with a modifying gene at play with "incomplete penetrance", at risk does not always mean "affected", but still a worry of course. Maybe I have been lucky, but I don't know of any dogs that I have produced in the last 20 years, who have gone deaf early. Most people keep in touch, so I think I would "hear"...pun intended.  

2020 sure has started off with a bang! Covid, almost dying, and now feeling like a failure in breeding choices-unknown risk at the time, or not. If I could fit under a rock, I would crawl under it until this year is over. I spend so much time scrutinizing pedigrees, but sometimes science just kicks you in the gut as a wake up call. I have only had one Unilateral deaf pup in 20 years, but also the ear was not quite "right", so Neuro thought of it more as a growth anomaly in utero/birth defect. 

Either way, I am gutted! With plans to trial more and watch some of the pups grow up and see what they are made of this year, the Covid pandemic has cut that quite a bit. What I most don't want to do is to create heartache for anyone who loves one of my pups. I can never meet some people's expectations of  perfect, but I do try really hard for my pups to be as perfect as can be predicted.  I value my amazing pup people so much, perfect or imperfect results, they still love their dog! 

Back to the drawing board for the future...