I have a friend whose bitch may have produced EIC who is contemplating a co-breeding situation (not with me)with a related sibling to the one that collapses.(different sire).
Have they determined that EIC is a recessive, so both parents are carriers, or is it a direct mode of inheritance? Neither sire or dam has produced EIC in any other puppy to her knowledge.
She is wanting to know the procedure to testing for EIC, can anyone tell me what the procedure is?
Obviously if the bitch in question turns up to be positive or a carrier, she will not breed but she needs to know and test as many individuals in related pedigrees as possible to pin it down.

It is a recessive mutation. So, if the bitch is either carrier or affected, she can be bred to a clear and not produce affecteds. If she produced affecteds in one breeding, chances are both she and the stud are at least carriers.

There are a couple of labs doing the testing, but here is the submission info for the U of M:
http://www.vdl.umn.edu/guidelines/canineneuro/home.html

Your friend needs to read more than the link posted. Educate your friend and yourself. I suggest you read more than the University's testing protocal. There is much on the internet to read about EIC. A good % of the dogs tested at the University were *field labradors* so please keep that in mind. I don't know what type of Labbie either of you have.

Is everyone testing? I have started testing mine and surprised to find carriers. Has this been around the whole time or is it new to the breed? What do you tell puppy owners when you know a whole litter is effected?

My son breeds field labradors, did a breeding last year while tests for parents was at U of Minn. Sire owner was sure stud was clear as lines were quite clear. Both parents final results were they are carriers. We tested pups, 2 affected. We told new buyers, referred to several articles and websites and were very honest about it. I don't remember if my son sold these for less, I believe he did. Anyway, they went to families that already had one of our dogs - marvelous families ready to deal with EIC episodes if necessary. Neither pup has went down so far.

Whatever the case, be honest with puppy families and give information/resources. Pet families who are not super active most likely will never see a collapse.

We tested pups, 2 affected. We told new buyers, referred to several articles and websites and were very honest about it. I don't remember if my son sold these for less, I believe he did. Anyway, they went to families that already had one of our dogs - marvelous families ready to deal with EIC episodes if necessary. Neither pup has went down so far.


Dear Breeder Also,

When you say "we tested pups" the whole litter? only two were affected?

The outcome from breeding two carriers would statistically be 25% clear and 25% affected, 50% carriers. For a litter of 8 pups, 2 affected would be right on target.

Key word in the last post being "statistically". The dogs don't read the charts so, many times, surprise us!

That is encouraging to hear that you can work with the findings of this test. I hope I get good news.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to add to this thread.

As you say that the breeding is being contemplated, I assume that your friend still has time to change her mind about the sire. I don't know if she has time to test the prospective mother, but if she does, that is what I would do first. From the information you told us, it is possible that she is clear. You could have a carrier and a clear in the same litter. If she is clear, your friend could breed her to any stud dog and not be concerned about producing an affected dog. If she is a carrier, your friend should only breed to a stud dog that is tested clear. Puppy buyers can then be told that their dog will not be affected by EIC but could be a carrier. That's only a problem if they want to breed. The Minnesota lab that was given as a link by another poster will test dewclaws if you want to know the pups' carrier status. If the mother is affected, you can still breed her to a clear and not have any collapsing offspring, but all the pups will be carriers.

Most breeders do not consider it irresponsible to breed a known carrier IF the other parent is clear. There is no need to discard these dogs from your breeding program.

I'm not testing *yet*. I feel EIC is the lowest on my list of health priorities. It's not a financial matter, I do not believe the results are accurate enough. The University is not planning on any more research and I don't feel they did enough in conformation labradors.

You know I feel the same way but I still need to do the test. It's not the fact that I believe 100% that the test is accurate but I still want to find out what I have in my kennel. I shudder when I think of how blind we breed. We try our best but still come up with problems. This is just one more tool to work with I say.

Me too. I have held out this long and I just got the results of my first two tests - one clear, one carrier. My bitch is clear so that is good - her son is a carrier. Now I know for future reference how to proceed. I will do the sister next and one of the other boys will also be done. It will just be good to know, especially should either of them come back as clear.

My husband said if we test for enough stuff, we are bound to find something! True, true but a-testing we will go.

"Dear Breeder Also,

When you say "we tested pups" the whole litter? only two were affected?"[/quote]

Sorry, I've been out all day. Yes, we tested all 11 pups through DDC and only 2 were affected.

I've posted on a seperate thread 'GPRA Affected dogs' on the subject of tested Affected animals and what happens to them afterwards.

I know that although we are told that EIC is also inherited as a recessive gene, there may be other factors in involved so it may not be exactly the same, but my interest is in tested Affected whatever and their lives after this result.