Annual General Meeting
This years
AGM is on Thursday 13th October - all are welcome!
2011 Show Results
The show results are available,
click here to view.
Newsletter
All members will have received a copy of our 2011 Newsletter recently...
It includes various news and information including:
- Judges Report and Sponsors - 2010 Show
- Echoes from the Past
- Obituary
- Glen Snippets
- Looking at the Glen Standard
- Doggy Craic!
- Annual AGM Details
- Show Results 2006 to 2010
- Ethnology of Glens
- Selecting a Glen in the "Good Auld Day, when Glens were Glens..."
and lots more...!
Photo Competition
Thanks for all the entries into this years competition - I'm sure you'll all agree the photo on the cover of our newsletter was stunning!
Dont forget to email your favourite photo of your glen to our committee for entry into next years photo competition. The best photo will be used on the coverpage of next years newsletter.
If you would like further information, contact our committee members on sportingglens@yahoo.ie
What is PRA?
PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) refers to a group of diseases that cause the retina of the eye to degenerate slowly over time. The result is declining vision and eventual blindness. A company called "OptiGen" now provides a new DNA test that detects the mutation causing an inherited eye disease, Cone Rod Dystrophy 3 (crd3), in the Glen of Imaal Terrier.
PRA Disease
The genetic disorder,crd3 is one of several cone rod dystrophies that have been recognized in multiple breeds of dogs. All forms of CRD are characterized by the initial loss of cones, the cells in the retina that are responsible for vision in bright light/daylight, followed by the degeneration of rods, the retinal cells that operate during night vision.
Clinical symptoms of crd3 are usually not evident until adulthood has been reached. In some ways, the clinical appearance of crd3 is similar to other common forms of late-onset PRA, namely there is retinal thinning that can be observed by a veterinary ophthalmologist in dogs as young as 3 years of age and retinal degeneration progression, resulting in total blindness within a few years. The Glen of Imaal Terrier’s small population size and its limited gene pool, along with the adult onset of disease -- often after an animal has been bred multiple times-- have resulted in widespread distribution of crd3 within the breed, and many Glens in the general population are likely to be carrying at least one copy of the disease mutation.
Unfortunately, at this time there is no treatment or cure for PRA.
Inheritance
PRA is inherited as a recessive trait. This means a disease gene must be inherited from each parent in order to cause disease in an offspring. Parents were either “carriers” or "affected".
A normal/clear dog has no disease gene and is termed “homozygous normal” – both copies of the gene are the same.
A carrier has one disease gene and one normal gene, and is termed “heterozygous” for the disease.
And an affected dog with two disease genes is termed “homozygous affected” – both copies of the gene are abnormal.
Although PRA is inherited, it can be avoided in future generations by testing dogs before breeding. Identification of dogs that do not carry disease genes is the key. These "clear" dogs can be bred to any mate - even to a crd3-affected dog which may be a desirable breeding prospect for other reasons. The chance of producing affected pups from such breedings depends on the certainty of test results.
The Genetic Test
The OptiGen crd3 test is done on a small sample of blood from the dog. The test analyzes the specific DNA mutation causing the PRA, crd3 strain. The OptiGen test detects the mutant, abnormal gene copy and the normal gene copy.
The result of the test is a genotype and allows separation of dogs into three groups:
- Normal/Clear (homozygous normal)
- Carrier (heterozygous)
- Affected (homozygous affected)
|
Possible PRA Breeding Results |
| Parents Result |
Risk of PRA Disease |
| Normal/Clear |
Can be bred to any dog, extremely low risk of producing affected offspring |
| Carrier |
Should be bred to Normal/Clear to reduce risk of producing affected offspring |
| Affected |
Should be bred to Normal/Clear to reduce risk of producing affected offspring |
For more detailed information, please go to the following website:
Optigen
