Pastoral Breeds Health Foundation

October 2010

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Update from the PBHF regarding Glaucoma Research

As you are all aware the PBHF held a gonioscopy research clinic at the beginning of this month. Thank you to all who attended and who allowed us to send samples to Alan Wilton for the Glaucoma Research and also to Finland for Epilepsy Research. The day went very smoothly and thank you for your patience - there were a lot of dogs and our two vets worked flat out all day, as did our vet nurse and the 'paperwork team'! We now await news from the BVA panel after their next meeting in November when we hope to have very positive updates.

Our fundraising in the UK has been amazing this year - with the amount raised now into four figures and on behalf of the PBHF I would like to thank every single one of you who has bought a calendar (a few left), ring clip (sold out!) walked miles (thank you Pam Lyon!) or just made a donation, every penny counts. If you check out the PBHF website (www.pbhf-dog.com) you will see various ways in which you can raise money - not least of which is the opportunity to have your dog's photo on the site for a month.

We are awaiting further news from the KC Charitable Trust with regard to our application for funding for this very expensive research project. This is the FIRST TIME we have approached the KCCT directly for funding for any of our research projects and we now await their decision - they are currently in discussion with Alan Wilton regarding the project. Previous gene tests have been funded entirely from donations (plus some help from the Australian Government which was negotiated by Alan), mainly here in the UK. The three gene tests we now have for inherited conditions (CEA,CL and TNS) were achieved through a lot of hard work - much of it from the UK BC folk.
A little while ago I wrote to various people/organisations in Europe, suggested to me by our Vice Chairman Bob Tunnicliff, asking if they would help us in our fund raising - the response has been minimal, which saddens us - a lot. The research project we are fund raising for will benefit every breeder/owner in the world - not just the UK!

I know there are owners and breeders world wide who have submitted DNA samples to Alan Wilton in Australia and these samples are invaluable in helping him build a database of dogs - please continue!! But what we need is more help financially - some of the UK BC breed clubs have already made very generous donations to the fund and it would be wonderful if other clubs in the UK and clubs in other countries would do the same? So can I ask members of this group to ask their own clubs - WORLDWIDE- to help us? Every pound/euro/dollar helps. Perhaps breeders everywhere would like to think about donating perhaps £1 (or their currency equivalent) for every puppy they sell to the fund? Over 2,000 BC pups were registered in the UK alone last year - I will let you do the maths as to what even 50p a pup would add to the fund....

Maybe clubs could also consider adding space on entry forms for a donation to the PBHF?
Glaucoma is horrible - no dog should have to go through the pain and trauma - we need to find a way of eliminating it from the global Border Collie gene pool - and quickly.... Our research may also benefit other breeds. The quicker the funds are raised, worldwide, the quicker we will achieve our target. No one reading this and owning a BC can afford to be complacent - this has come into our breed so quickly and unexpectedly and frankly right now we dont know where it will strike next - so for the sake of your dogs let's all pull together and get this done - the PBHF will continue to work tirelessly to find a solution to this problem - but we, frankly, will struggle to raise all of the money without the help of fellow BC owners and breeders worldwide.....

Any queries/questions/donations please don't hesitate to contact:

PBHF Secretary Hilary Kerr