Schedule

Live demonstration or discussion of ultrasounding pregnant females, scanning of male testes/prostate, semen collection and evaluation best practices, and more!

8:00 am to 9:00 am: Canine Genetics And Genomics: A Primer, Eldin Leighton, PhD, IWDA, IWDR, IWDRC 9:00 am to 9:50 am: Suspected autosomal recessive primary ciliary dyskinesia in a colony of Labrador Retriever guide dogs, Katy Evans, DVM, PhD, The Seeing Eye 9:50 AM to 10:25 AM: Break / Networking 10:25 am to 11:10 am: Discovery of Early On-Set PRA, Glenna Fiddyment, Guide Dog Foundations 11:10 am to 12:00 pm: Fighting Cancer with Genomics: Developing Breeding Values to Reduce Hemangiosarcoma Risk and Unlocking DNA insights for both dogs and humans, Francis Chen, DVM, PhD

1:00 PM to 1:30 PM: Introduction to BCLs 1:30 PM to 2:15 PM: Scoring Dog 1 via video recording 2:15 PM to 2:30 PM: Break 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM: Scoring of 3 dogs via video recordings The Behavior Checklist (BCL) is a method of assessing dog behavior. Specifically, it is a behavior scoring system developed by Dr. James Serpell from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, in collaboration with multiple guide dog organizations, including The Seeing Eye and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. The BCL provides a way to describe aspects of behavior important for guide and service dogs (however, the behaviors measured in this assessment can still be helpful for other working dog roles or even pet/breeder temperament evaluations). Importantly, the BCL has been validated and demonstrates the capacity to measure behavior consistently, lending itself to analysis. The IWDR has developed some tools that utilise BCL scores to provide analysis on aspects of your breeding program. Unfortunately, Helen West can no longer attend. Rachel Goldammer, trained by Helen and certified at Gold Standard, will take over.

1:00 pm to 1:40 pm: Lifetime Health Data: Critical for Your Decision-Making, Jane Russenberger, International Working Dog Registry 1:40 pm-2:30 pm: The Importance of Longitudinal Behavioral Data, Dr. Dave Roberts, NCSU, Jane Russenberger, International Working Dog Registry 2:30 PM to 3:10 PM: GDB Whelping Box Fleece and Hip Dysplasia Study, Dr. Kris Gonzales and Lauren Holtz, Guide Dogs for the Blind 3:10 to 3:20 pm: Break 3:20 pm to 4:10 pm: Picking and Managing Breeder Candidates, Madeline Zimmermann 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm: Anchor at Sea: Breeding for the Whole Dog, Eldin Leighton, PhD, International Working Dog Association