The.....MBT.....TELL-AGRAM.....may/97.....Issue#1
This first edition of the MBTT is dedicated to Am.Ch. Zedbee’s Zapricorn. Without "Zappy", there would probably not have been enough reason to start an alternative MBT newsletter.
Ch.Zedbee’s Zapricorn was born in England in 1989. As a puppy, he was imported by Glynis Port of Headline’s mini-bulls. Glynis showed Zappy successfully under both all-rounders and breeder judges - he took back-to-back 5pt majors at Scott County KC; WD at the 1990 MBTCA National Specialty under Maureen Hughes; and BOB at the 1991 Regional Specialty under Quita Youatt.
Zappy sired at least ten champions, at very limited stud:
Ch.Headline’s Hardbody
Ch.Headline’s Jack of Hearts
Ch.Headline’s Miss Mischief
Ch.Bulwark Minikin Measures Up
Ch.Bulwark Minikin Miniskirt
Ch.Bulwark Minikin Morgan TDI, CGC
Ch.Bulwark Minikin A to Zed
Ch.Kirche’s Carbon Copy
Ch.Kirche’s Muscle Man of Sulo
Ch.Bulwark Minikin Marksman
Zappy was bold, flashy, typy, and blessed with a superb temperament. He had head & forehand virtues at a time when the breed had major failings in these areas. He was tested normal at maturity for hips, eyes, kidneys & patellas.
He "stamped" many of his get with his virtues, and alas, also with his latent fault - a highly inheritable heart-defect. Prior to Zappy’s 6th year, multiple veterinary health-exams indicated no discernible murmurs. Then, during a routine auscultation, a murmur was picked up. Glynis arranged an echocardiogram (DOPPLER) and a defect was discovered along with impaired blood velocities. Glynis promptly pulled Zappy from studwork and began testing his offspring.
In similar fashion, with Zappy’s telling echo as added impetus in conjunction with the recent death of Graystone’s Sweet William by the same defect, Bulwark Minikin went on a massive heart-testing program with highly disturbing results.
Meanwhile, Zappy appeared symptom-free for almost another year. Then he started weakening with exercise, and just weeks before his 8th birthday, died suddenly at home. Sweet William was dead prior to his 6th birthday, and his history was almost the same - multiple auscultations in the course of routine vet exams failed to pick up a murmur. He was dead less than a year after his echocardiogram & diagnosis.
When people initially heard Zappy’s and William’s defects, dozens called and told of their experiences with dead, dying and impaired minibulls. Those who had tested their live dogs, or had postmortems done on suspicious deaths mentioned mitral valve defects, tri-cuspid defects, pulmonic stenosis, and the quickest killer of all - subaortic stenosis. In the space of only a few months, over 35 cases came to our attention - since then, sporadically, even more. Many cardiologists are declining to do routine echos on minibulls, citing a high success rate of diagnosis on the auscultation screening alone. However, it is obvious that the average practitioner is routinely missing early, abnormal heart sounds; and screening done prior to 4 years can give breeders a false sense of security during the most active period of a dog’s breeding life. As several vets have mentioned, listening isn’t the same as hearing; the shape of the bull terrier is not as conducive to the same clarity of heart sounds as a vet can get in the greyhound.
Zappy was North America’s wake-up call regarding the state of mini-bull health & soundness. Those who knew him, loved him; those who used him, love his offspring; and through him, several breeders, at least, are now stringently testing their breeding stock because they love the breed and want to prevent as many premature, heart-breaking deaths as possible. For that motivation we thank him.
So - if you are still with us, the MBTT, you must be keenly aware that no subject is sacred here. This is the alternative newsletter for the minibull fancier, pet owner, progressive breeder & knowledge-seeker.
The MBTT does not cover show results, or take paid advertising. However, we will publish show wins of tested dogs. Those tests can be any one, or combinations of the following: CERF, BAER, ECHO, HEART, PATELLAS, KIDNEY, THYROID, TEMPERAMENT etc. Also, we will publish news of alternative wins, titles & awards, i.e.: obedience, agility & therapy dogs. We will sadly publish all submitted news of tested, abnormal (defective) dogs, along with a 2 generation pedigree and the owner’s signature of permission. Photos are welcome. Photos of minis cavorting with any other species are also welcome.
When we can we will publish other breed news if we feel it has sufficient relevance to MBT’s.
There are no MBTT deadlines - we publish when we have enough news.
Should the content of the MBTT disturb, dismay or disgruntle you - GREAT! Any connection is a good connection. You may contact me at the postal address listed below. Alternatively, you may also write to thank us for providing a format dedicated to MBT health & happiness.
Upcoming Features: The breeder’s self-help guide to controlling breed health; letters to the editor; funniest photo received to date; in memorium (featuring late, great and dogs dead of inherited defects); litters by tested parents (testing must include heart status); articles submitted by readers that focus on health issues.
FROM AROUND THE WORLD/ NEWS AND VIEWS
In the Veterinary Record, August 6, 1994, (Australia) a case report on hereditary nephritis in a miniature Bull Terrier was presented. The conclusion of the report, by the way, states: "Given the close genetic relationship between the miniature bull terrier and the bull terrier, the clinical and histopathological similarities with BT HN, the fact that BT HN is believed to be an autosomal dominant trait...the authors believe HN in the miniature breed could well reach the high incidence seen in the bull terrier." HN has been documented in minis prior to 1994, from Switzerland to Australia & in on the rise. What does this have to do with our HEART issue? Well, in the above mentioned case report " the proband was a 4 year old male MBT...Physical examination showed...a systolic heart murmur over the left cardiac base...Echocardiography indicated that the dog had moderate pulmonary and aortic stenosis, and mild mitral valve dysplasia."
In one patient, then, not only fatal kidney disease known to be highly inheritable, but all three of the most common and inheritable MBT heart defects found in our breed today.
So who’s your MBTT editor? Why does she add this particular burden to her 24/7 week? Well, it’s a tough job but someone has to do it!
Jo Turley has been breeding bullies for over 15 years now. With the help of many, the Bulwark Minikin kennels has produced over 50 champions both sides of the border. These champions included dual championships, National Specialty Winners, multiple Group & Puppy Group winners, and some alternative title-holders. So within the show world, Jo has held her own without a doubt. However, as a breeder working with her husband, Michael, an Emergency Medicine Specialist, Jo realizes that a long and healthy life comes first - or why play God? Jo wants the MBT world to know about and address the breed problems we are facing today. As breeder judge of Standard Bull Terriers, Norma Smith wrote in a recent column for DOGS IN CANADA, "If I were to believe for a second that this breeder did in fact know nothing of the condition (spinning), I’d still be saddened, as an uninformed breeder is a dangerous breeder."
It’s a fact that breeders today have some tremendous technological advantages at their disposal, yet are loathe to use them. Breeders who have and use the latest technology to advertise their kennels and inseminate their dogs still refuse to access the newest tests for inherited defects. Breeders will cross the country with their show prospect, but quibble about the distance of the closest vet with a BAER or Doppler machine. Breeders will spend hundreds of dollars on a colour spread of a magazine ad but freak over the cost of an Echocardiogram. The former expense seems so frivolous versus the latter. If you put it to a pet buyer to judge you by your choice of expenditure, how do you think you’d fare? As a breeder, don’t you think you have obligations to your pet buyers?
Jo Turley has probably run more tests on more standard & miniature bullies that anyone in the world - just ask her always smoking visa card! For instance, consider the fact that maybe a thousand bullies have been hearing tested in N.A. Then consider that fact that over 100 of those (10%) were Bulwark Minikin BTs or out of Bulwark Minikin parents. Awesome, eh?
Your MBTT editor has worked with animals for over 30 years. Half of that time has been devoted to linebreeding Bull Terriers in such a way as to conserve the type as we know it today, with the longevity the breed knew & enjoyed decades ago.
Other facts & fictions about your Editor:
She’s young and beautiful
She chains her son to the keyboard to put out the MBTT
She plans to judge BTs & MBTs
in the near future
She’s overcome her fear of flying
She’s not too shy to tell breeders to clean up their act and
buyers to look before they leap - because there’s a lot of
bullshit out there!
This first issue of the MBTT is also your editor’s debut at the word processor - so please excuse typos & clumsy layout.
caught in the act
Oh oh! He’s out of the sandbox & playing with the big dogs now! Ch.Bulwark Minikin Magic Marker was a DOGS ANNUAL photo contest subject winner. His 1st prize photo, taken by owner, Alanna Leach, won her a camera valued at $700. Now a multiple Best Puppy in Group & Group placer, Markie Mark’s photos are done by show photographers. Alanna will be able to take some very special pictures soon, though, with her new camera - Markie is going to be a proud sire in just a few weeks.
THE GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS PAGE
Am.Ch.Gridiron Affairs of the Heart lived up to her name by having a normal colour Doppler heart test at 2 years old. She has subsequently been bred to Am.Cdn.Ch.Bulwark Minikin Marksman, also tested normal by colour Doppler.
On the other hand, lest we become complacent with the testing we do, Bulwark Minikin Marbles, out of Bulwark Minikin Short Cirkit by Ch.Bulwark Minikin Marksman was echoed at 12 weeks with normal results, auscultated at 14 weeks and 6 months with normal results, but at 1 year, had a couple of fainting spells during playtime. She was auscultated again and a very faint murmur was heard. Her re-echo showed a mild aortic stenosis & an arrhythmia is suspected as the cause of the faints. Her cardiologist says that aortic stenosis can’t be ruled out entirely before one year of age. Marble’s pedigree predisposes her to developing aortic stenosis, with not one, but two grandparents dead of the same defect.
Ch.Bulwark Minikin Magic Marker, out of Am.Ch.Hobbit Hills Black Magic by Ch.Bulwark Minikin Marksman is one of 5 littermates all echoed normal with echoed normal parents. He just finished his championship at 11 months of age, with back-to back Group placements. "Markie Mark" is also BAER normal as are both parents.
We recently BAERed a litter of white minis, with 1 of the 7 being unilaterally deaf. Parents are Am.Ch.Bulwark Minikin Short Story, BAER bilaterally normal, and Headline’s Gridiron Minikin, BAER pending ASAP! News of other uni minis has been mentioned but without confirmation.
Am.Ch.Gridiron’s Galloping Ghost has now tested normal for eyes, hearing and heart. Way to go, Caspar!
CH.GRIDIRON GALLOPING GHOST at 9 mos.
Sire: Ch.Crescent Symmetry/ Dam: Ch.Bulwark Minikin Miniskirt
"Caspar" galloped through the cluster shows March 14-17/07 with:
BOS/Midwest Specialty under
judge Roz Clamper
BOB/Owensboro KC supported show under judge Claudia Sharpe
BOB/Evansville KC show under judge Ken McDermott
BOW/Indiana support show under judge Bill Poole
"Caspar" is owned by Wanda Moriarty and Lora Eggleston
More good news: all seven of Am.Ch.Bulwark Minikin Short Story’s latest letter echoed out normal! This is with two normal parents, and 3 of the 4 grandparents normal. What we seem to be getting, as a general rule, is at least one affected puppy in a 5 pup litter if one or more grandparents is affected - and two or more pups affected if one parent or both are affected. As two cases in this issue show, a single dog can have 3 defects to itself - scary, but preferable to 3 pups affected.
Gridiron sadly reports a breeding where one puppy of a litter of five was echoed at 9 weeks with not just one, but three serious heart defects. Without screening prior to placement, such a puppy could have been sold, only to die within weeks. Screening is the very minimum breeders can do to help their programs and clients. Again, this pup’s parents were screened normal, but 2 of the grandparents were known to be affected.
Well, folks, this is it for the MBTT’s first issue. It’ll be sent out to all the known, active breeders and judges, and also to those pet-owners who have expressed interest in an alternative newsletter over the past few years.
Take care!
The.....Mini.....Bull.....Terrier....."TELL-AGRAM"
THE MBT TELL-AGRAM MAY ISSUE 1997
c/o Jo Turley, Box #4, Site #2, RR#1, Priddis, AB, Canada TOL 1WO
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