The 25th Breed Council AGM was held on Thursday 12 May 2016 at the Kennel Club, London W1, followed by a Meeting of the Breed Council.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This was the first meeting of Council in the new Kennel Club headquarters. It had been necessary to hold the last meeting in October at a nearby hotel, with consequential increase in costs for the day. The impact of which was that there was no surplus to be refunded back to the Clubs; however, it is hoped that it will again be possible to give a rebate on 2016 subscriptions after he end of this year.
The Chairman also remarked on the significant fall in numbers of Golden Retrievers over the past several years which has implications for the Breed Clubs with fewer members, fewer dogs entered at events and consequently less income. The trend seems to have bottomed out now and hopefully Clubs will be able to get back to working with a steady income. The prevailing benefit of Breed Council is that it enables us to present a single, united voice eg to the Kennel Club and Veterinary bodies.
In the elections, both Mrs Doreen McGugan was returned unopposed as Treasurer and Mrs Margaret Woods as Breed Council Health Coordinator for the three year term 2016/19.
MEETING
Following the last meeting, the Kennel Club had been asked if it could more clearly show which litters advertised on its website are from parents that have been health screened: eg by advising that sire &/or dam of litters outside of the Assured Breeder Scheme may have been health screened and possibly tested overseas. Clarification had been sought of the Kennel Club’s stance on the World Dog Show to be held in China in 2019. There is a lot of information on its website. Overseas qualified judges on Council /Club lists can be recognised only on either a B list if they award the equivalent of CCs in their own country or on an A1 list after a UK CC appointment. At the suggestion of Breed Council, the Kennel Club will be installing a defibrillator in its building at Stoneleigh.
A large proportion of the meeting covered Health matters. Animal Health Trust ‘Give a Dog a Genome’ project (ref http://www.aht.org.uk/gdg): Clubs had agreed to participate in this exciting initiative and had collectively contributed sufficient funds to make a £1,000 donation to the AHT, match-funded by the KC Charitable Trust, to pay to have a Golden Retriever genome sequenced as part of building a canine whole genome bank from which all breeds potentially will benefit. The surplus fund has been ring-fenced and later could be used towards paying for another dog to be sequenced as part of investigations into a specific health problem. It is possible that the Genome Project could overtake some of the other work and help to formulate a Breed Health Plan.
For reasons within the AHT, the Glaucoma research project had stalled for some months. More information is to be requested. The KC had recently sent out a summary of Breed Watch health items collated from Championship show Judges comments in 2014 and 2015. For 1) Legs too short in proportion to depth of body and to length of back, there was improvement over 2014; but for 2) Significantly overweight, there were more dogs reported. Other observations related to cow hocks, excessive hind angulation, incorrect bite, incorrect dentition and nervous temperament. Delegates agreed they would not wish to add any other specific health items to the ‘points of concern’ at this time.
Other matters reported on were: preliminary discussions with Cambridge University Veterinary School on a possible study to assess development of an ultrasound screening programme to detect ectopic ureter in clinically normal Golden Retrievers. Funding is not yet in place and progress will be reported in due course. The university’s Queens Veterinary School Hospital also offers non-invasive laser treatment for both dogs and bitches affected by EU at a lower cost than invasive surgical procedures.
Notification was given of a current study by the Royal Veterinary College, investigating the effects of the anti-epileptic drug Pexion (Imepitoin) on behaviour of dogs with idiopathic epilepsy. Individual dog owners may contact Dr Rowena Packer at rpacker@rvc.ac.uk. Also there is a project at the AHT into Uveal melanoma, a common cancer of the eye in dogs. The aim is to develop a DNA test and samples are being collected both from affected dogs or those who are at least 7yrs old and have never been affected by any type of cancer. Dog owners can contact Victoria Pilfold-Wilkie oncologyres@aht.org.uk
Concerns were expressed regarding the KC’s Rescue Directory and the fact that organisations that are not affiliated to a breed club and may not be so well regulated. Also that there had been a prominent advertisement for a breeder of Labradoodles in the Crufts Official Show Guide. Both of these points will be taken up with the Kennel Club. Delegates confirmed they would be very interested in participating in the Kennel Club’s project to build a library of breed specific films for its online ‘Academy’.
Date of next meeting - Wednesday 19 October 2016
Christine Morrell - Secretary
