I have been reading so much about EIC all the comments and studies to arrive at this point. Here is my BIG question with 1/3 of the Lab population at least carriers,(so says UM) well you all know that there would have to be thousands and I mean thousands of affecteds
out there running around, then why such a tiny, tiny, tiny part of the population collapsing? I keep reading field, field, field with maybe a few that are not. Could it be just maybe training with shock collars? I have watched some field trainers OVER use the shock collar. Go on line and read about exposure to electrical shock and how it can affect the nervous system even in small amounts. Just some food for thought. I have heard a number of folks state that there just has to be more to it. By the way, I test for it so I am in no way encouraging folks not to, I just believe also something else is going on with the few that experience collapse.
No I don't buy into that. My pup that I bred is Affected/collapsed never had an ecollar on. Field folks do probably use ecollars more often than say a pet or show home would, but then I use one (fairly) in my training here for both field and obed. Never had a collapse... but then I have no Affecteds either. That said, if someone were to use a collar unfairly or at a level higher than the dog needed on an Affected, I'd agree it may be enough to trigger that dog into a collapse.
I don't buy it either. I train my affected (100% show lines) boy and there are times he does wear a collar, but to say that he over-wears it causing his one episode is ludicrous, especially when that sole episode was during an fun outing that had nothing to do with training.
One of my affecteds has worn an ecollar for field training for years, but has had three collapses with no collar on. The collapses occurred during fun outings that did not involve training. I have another affected who trains with an ecollar who has yet to collapse at all.
First EIC is in ALL Labradors. It is not limited to field dogs. Is it possible that we see more affected field dogs go down because they exercise more and have a higher excitement level during training? Maybe.
To say that the condition of the dog, or the field versus non-field background of the dog influences whether the dog collapses or not is silly.
