Envision/Registan does everything possible through health testing to assure you have a healthy puppy from us. ASK BREEDERS TO SEE THE PARENTS HEALTH TESTING RESULTS. It isn't an insult to ask a breeder if they have experienced any health problems. However, you need to know that experiencing health problems is something EVERY breeder will deal with or has already dealt with. Health problems in dog breeding are a fact of life. A more important question is "Do you health test?." As stated in our contact info, health testing doesn't guarantee health. It just tells you that the breeder is doing everything they can to be sure that the dogs they are using for breeding purposes are healthy. Health testing cannot guarantee that the offspring of health tested dogs will never have problems. There is no way possible to know if a dog used for in a breeding program is a carrier of health problems until they have offspring. Carriers refer to dogs that carry the gene for a hereditary disease but does not display the disease itself. With carriers, it takes breeding a carrier to a carrier to produce the problem. A reputable breeder should be able to guarantee, or promise you that they will do everything in their power to make things right if a catastrophe happens before the dog you buy from them reaches maturity.

Please e-mail us for the letters if you are interested in reading more.

We live in Indianapolis, Indiana & it is hard to find a GOOD vet that knows our breed. Listed below are where we take our dogs to for the health testing they require & their everyday vet. If you live in the area you may also want to use them. If you would like to ad your vet or specialist where you get your testing done at so others know where to go please e-mail us with their names to be added. Keep in mind we do drive a distance for some testing. You will not find a Heart or Eye Specialist 15 mins. from your home. Our general vet is 45 mins. one way from us.

General Care: Dr. Kurt Phillips....317-844-2696.... Carmel, Indiana. Your general care vet, (if like Kurt) should be able to run a blood panel, all Urine tests & Thyroid tests

Eyes: Indianapolis Veterinary Specialists.... 317-577-1201 .... North Side of Indianapolis

Heart & Baer (ears): The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine 1900 Coffey Road Columbus, Ohio 43210 (614) 292-1171
HEALTH INFORMATION BY STATE

Please click on links below to find health professionals by state

Board Certified Cardiologists www.gdhfa.org/BoardCertifiedCardiologists.htm

American College Of Veterinary Ophthalmologists Diplomates www.vmdb.org/clinic.html

BAER Test Sites www.lsu.edu/deafness/baersite.htm

There are several great articles outlining various health concerns with the breed. Please take a moment to read them. 

1. STRESS CAN TRIGGER COMPULSIVE DISORDERS The likely cause is the interaction of genes and environment   By Elissa Wolfson.
Is your otherwise good dog driving you to distraction repeatedly snapping at shadows or chasing his tail for hours? Alice Moon-Fanelli, Ph.D., certified applied animal behaviorist and clinical assistant professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University , recalled a classic case:
A client’s Bull Terrier would spend much of the day staring at reflections and pouncing on shadows, she said. “He’d stare at his water bowl and refuse to drink, apparently because of the reflection. Eventually, we resorted to using a rabbit-sized water dispenser wrapped in a towel to get him to drink.”
Dogs exhibiting such compulsive behaviors may end up in animal shelters or worse. “Seriously affected dogs may be euthanized if owners and veterinarians aren’t aware of treatments available,” said Dr. Moon-Fanelli.
Chasing, other predatory pursuits and grooming are all normal dog behaviors that once were essential to their survival in the wild. Today, some dog owners unknowingly reward behaviors like tail chasing or retrieving objects, believing they’re “cute.”
“But normal behaviors become problematic when performed to excess, “Dr. Moon-Fanelli said. A dog with a compulsive disorder is often unable to terminate the repetitious behavior. His normal patterns may be disrupted to the point where he would rather perform the behavior than go for a walk, come when you call him, or even eat or drink. Understandably, this is frustrating for both dog and owner.”
Obsessive-compulsive disorders, whether in humans or animals, are repetitive, relatively unvaried behavior patterns that are exaggerated in intensity, frequency and duration. In dogs, they include pacing, spinning, tail chasing, shadow chasing, flank or fabric sucking and over-grooming. People suffering OCD may wash their hands excessively or return home repeatedly to make sure they turned off the stove.
In young dogs, compulsive behaviors often appear before they reach sexual maturity and are exacerbated by stressful situations. In some cases, the behaviors have a high threshold or expression – the need exposure to strong stimuli before being activated.
Frequently, the trigger or cause of the behavior is likely to be the interaction of genes and environment. For example, behavioral observations suggest compulsive tail chasing is derived from a predatory instinct gone awry. “Today I suspect there is a genetic basis for most compulsive behaviors,” Dr. Moon-Fanelli said.
One reason: Some breeds are prone to certain types of compulsive behaviors. For example, Doberman Pinschers tend to exhibit flank sucking and fabric or blanket- sucking disorders, while tail chasing or spinning tends to occur in Bull Terriers and German Shepherd Dogs. Large breeds, such as Golden and Labrador Retrievers, more frequently than other breeds persistently groom the lower extremities of the limbs, resulting in lesions.
Simply diverting a dog from the behavior isn’t ineffective. Once a behavior has reached compulsive proportions, the dog has no ability to terminate the behavior.
Arousal Levels
Because compulsive tend to progress if untreated, the sooner owners recognize it, the sooner they can deal with it. Dr. Moon-Fanelli first suggests a veterinary visit to rule out underlying medical conditions. Next, she advises owners to examine the dog’s environment and his management, looking at any aspect that would trigger stress or increase arousal levels for compulsive behavior.
For example, dogs are social animals, and leaving them tied outside can make them feel ostracized –in addition to being vulnerable to predators and theft. Dogs who live indoors tend to feel more included and secure. However, compulsive behavior goes well beyond being lonely or bored, Dr. Moon-Fanelli said. “It’s a medical disorder of as yet unknown neurological origins. Although many neglected dogs do not develop compulsive disorders, the stress of insufficient social interaction can certainly be a trigger for a dog predisposed to developing compulsive behavior.”
Dogs also need more mental stimulation than the living room sofa provides. Whenever possible, owners should take their dog to work with them, on errands, and especially outside to hike or retrieve balls. Obedience classes serve a double purpose. They allow owners to spend time with their dog, while giving the dog a job to do. These approaches can help avoid separation anxiety, boredom and loneliness and frustration – and compulsive behaviors they may trigger.
For compulsive behaviors that can’t be interrupted, that interfere with normal functioning or result in physical injury, medications like Prozac and other serotonin re-uptake blocker can help. They stabilize the dog’s mood so he can respond more readily to behavior modification techniques. Medications are especially effective with dogs when they have a regular schedule, lots of mental stimulation, exercise and social contact.
“Most compulsive dogs respond well to a combination of behavior modification and anti-anxiety medication,” Dr. Moon-Fanelli said. “So far we have had good success rates, but we’re not yet at 100 percent. If we can identify the genes for compulsive behaviors, we might be able to develop even more effective treatments.”
Elissa Wolfson is a free-lance writer in Ithaca , N.Y.
The first step in treating an obsessive compulsive disorder, a complete veterinary exam to rule out physical conditions.
Tail chasing is common among Bull Terriers, and Josie, now 3, began as a puppy.
Intervene as Early as Possible to Head off Compulsive Behavior
If you suspect your dog has an obsessive-compulsive disorder, intervene as early as possible and follow these five essential steps:
1. Rule out medical problems with a thorough medical exam.
2. Eliminate or deny access to stimuli that may be causing the behavior, such as noise or other stressors.
3. If it’s not possible to eliminate triggers entirely, desensitize and counter-condition your dog. It involves his associating the presence of a low level of the stimulus with a valuable treat and your gradually increasing the stimulus while continuing to give treats. The dog then learns to make a positive association with the stimulus.
4. Provide sufficient attention and exercise.
5. Administer veterinarian-prescribed medications.
Josie Was Literally Spinning Out of Control, Unable to Focus and Distracted by Sounds.
Pam Barski of Canton Mich. bought her Bull Terrier, Josie from a pet store when the dog was 4 months old. She had symptoms of tail chasing from the beginning. The store staff encouraged it, and the attention made Josie chase her tail even more.
“I was aware that this behavior was common to the breed but bought her anyway”, Barski said. “Her spinning increased with age, and she was highly distracted by sounds. She couldn’t focus at puppy obedience classes. She became ball-obsessive, too. Once, a ball she wanted was under the couch. When I came home, the couch was torn up and pushed four feet away from the wall. When other family members tried to stop her ‘spin cycles,’ she bit them. At 14 months, she was out of control.”
One animal behaviorist suggested euthanasia, but Barski enlisted a veterinary neurologist who prescribed clomipramine and Phenobarbital for Josie. A trainer for the Bull Terrier rescue group taught them clicker training and loose-leash walking techniques. And Alice Moon-Fanelli, Ph.D., at the Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School , provided a PetFax consultation.
“I’ve tried to remove auditory stresses from Josie’s life,” Barski said. “There is still compulsive behavior – there are balls that I cannot let Josie catch sight of because they trigger compulsive behavior. She still spins when visitors come, but when ignored, she stops.”
The key to her success was learning Josie’s triggers and how to distract and redirect her. Barski said. Now 3, Josie’s on a slow reduction of Phenobarbital and has had no relapse with the reduced dosage. “She was off-leash at a dog park recently and I was amazed at how happy she was to be with other dogs,” Barski said. 
“Through Pam’s hard work and compliance with recommendations, Josie is now doing exceptionally well, “Dr. Moon-Fanelli said. “It’s nice to see a happy ending.”
For information about the PetFax consultation service offered by the Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School , visit www.tufts.edu/vet/petfax.
Tethering a dog outside may increase aggression.
If You Want to Join a Study on Dobermans and Bull Terriers, Please Contact the Cummings School
Drs. Alice Moon-Fanelli and Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, MRCVS, director of the Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School , have begun a study of compulsive behaviors in Doberman Pinschers and Bull Terriers. In a collaborative effort with molecular geneticists at the University of Massachusetts and the National Institutes of Health, they’ll compare DNA from affected dogs with DNA from a control group of unaffected dogs of the same breeds.
“We anticipate finding genetic variation between the affected dogs and the controls,” said Dr. Moon-Fanelli. “Where known, we’re following the pedigrees of affected dogs – finding out whether their parents, siblings or grandparents also exhibited compulsive behavior.”
The study is in the funding-seeking and data collection phase. “We’re looking to collect blood samples and behavioral data on 100 affected and 100 control dogs for each compulsive disorder.” Dr. Moon-Fanelli said. “We still need more dogs of each breed to study.”
If you’re interested in having your Doberman Pinscher or Bull Terrier participate in the study, please contact Dr. Moon-Fanelli at (508) 839-5395 or alice.moon-fanelli@tufts.edu. She will supply a behavior survey to complete and instructions for blood collection. You can have the blood drawn at the Cummings School or have your own veterinarian do it and ship the samples to Dr. Moon-Fanelli. The school will reimburse you for the expense of the blood draw and shipping.
The study holds promise for practical application. “If the genes for a particular compulsive behavior are found in the breed, then we could develop a simple genetic test.” Said Dr. Moon-Fanelli. “Ultimately, breeders could know whether a particular dog had a genetic predisposition toward developing compulsive behavior, which implies the dog carries a particular gene for that trait. While affected animals should never be bred, certain carrier individuals might be safely bred to non-carriers.”

2. KIDNEY DISEASE THE NUMBER ONE KILLER BY EUTHANASIA IN CANINES by Kathy Schoeler
Kidney disease is the number one cause of death by euthanasia in canines, and has been the latest health topic of the Miniature Bull Terrier fancy. As the breeder and owner of two widely used stud dogs, I was very concerned and therefore, accelerated my testing by contacting my Veterinarian to schedule current UP/C tests. Thankfully both were within the normal range, but with the implications that the deaths of so many MBT's are contributed to hereditary kidney disease and since there have been three deaths contributed to kidney failure out of over one hundred offspring sired by "Biff', I felt I should learn more about kidney disease. Of the three deaths, two of the offspring were necropsied and it was determined their kidney failure was more than likely due to infection. In medicine nothing is 100%, but infection does top the list as the number one cause of kidney failure in the canine.
Four months ago, my knowledge of canine kidney disease was very limited, therefore I could not determine fact from fiction in the information that's been circulating about the disease. I turned to the Internet and found over 1000 sites on the subject. There were a few excellent ones, such as the Cornell University site, but most were set up by individuals with a personal experience or selling products. There was one site "Hereditary nephritis in the Bull Terrier - Evidence for inheritance by autosomal dominant gene," I found interesting, as information found in that article was quoted in an ad that ran in our last ALB. The article was published 13 years ago (1990), from studies conducted in Australia in the 70's and 80's. In the rapidly changing medical field, the age of this study concerned me. For example - the article stated that a Bull Terrier is considered to be proteinuric if the UP/C ratio is 0.3 and above, on two occasions more than a month apart. According to current information from The College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, proteinuria is associated with urine protein creatinine ratios of above 3.0, not 0.3 Since the Australian study did not mention the normal range for the UP/C tests used, and the fact that the actual research was conducted 20 + years ago, it is impossible to evaluate what ratio range was normal and what was abnormal in that particular study. Here in the US, the normal ranges differ among labs. My Veterinarian uses Anteck Diagnostics and their normal range is 0.0 - 1.0, where National Bio Vet Laboratory's normal range is 0.0 - 0.6. The ratio of .5 from Anteck is still in the normal range where a .5 from National Bio Vet Laboratory would be in the high range. I contacted Antect Diagnostics and they stated their normal range is in fact, 0.0 - 1.0, and they stated that the age of the dog being tested should be a consideration, since most cases of chronic renal failure have no specific cause beyond the n ormal aging process.
A few days after reading the "Australian" article I came across a magazine article in my doctor's office written by medical doctor, Dr. Toni Ann Clair, MD, of East Rockaway, NY, stating - " Many patients turn to the Internet for health information, but unless you have a medical background and can be discerning about the source, you may be taking advice that's WRONG, OUTDATED even POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS! Since the 1990 Australian article is old and outdated, and since the breeders quoting the article, to my knowledge, have no medical background, I felt I should obtain accurate and current information on the subject by contacting a qualified professional in the medical field. I called on Dr. K. Culberson, who has over 30 years of Veterinary experience. Dr. Culberson was kind enough to sit down with me and answer the questions I had listed during my extensive Internet search, as well as questions from other breeders. I will list the questions and a nswers below, but first, after asking four breeders the definition of nephritis and getting four wrong answers and realizing that sixteen weeks ago didn't know the definition either, I felt it would be of interest to list the definitions of words and terms commonly used in defining kidneys and kidney disease.
Definitions:
Renal - Relating to, involving, located in the region of the kidneys.
Renal Failure - Kidney failure
Acute Renal Disease - A kidney disorder that occurs suddenly. Possible causes include bacterial infections, drug toxicities and poisons.
Chronic Renal Disease - Gradual destruction over a period of time of kidney tissue that will eventually result in reduced kidney function, and often has no identifiable cause.
Inherited Renal Disease - A kidney disorder where the cause is not a degeneration of the kidney tissue, but rather the kidneys fail to develop and mature normally. Inherited kidney disorders frequently affect patients five years of age and younger
Nephritis - Inflammation of the kidney
Hereditary Nephritis - A genetic disorder resulting in structurally defective glomerular (and other) basement membranes.
Glomerulus - Filtering unit of the nephron.
Nephron - The structural and functional unit in the kidney. The nephron is a delicate structurally complicated, microscopically small collection of tiny tubes.
UP/C Test - Urine Protein to Creatinine Ratio test.
Creatinine - A byproduct of normal metabolism that is produced at a fairly constant rate in the body and is normally filtered by the kidneys and excreted in the urine.
BUN - Blood Urea Nitrogen. A blood test that estimates kidney function.
Genetic Disorder - A genetic disorder is one in which an abnormality in the genetic make-up of the individual plays a significant role in causing the condition. Although some disorders occur because of spontaneous mutation, many genetic disorders are inherited.
Familial Disease - Diseases which occur in more numbers of a family than would be expected by chance. The term "hereditary" is commonly and incorrectly used to describe familial disease. "Hereditary" should not be used unless the mode of inheritance is known. Hereditary Disease - A disease genetically passed or passable from parent to offspring.
Congenital - A characteristic present at birth. It may be induced by events that occur during pregnancy, or it may be inherited.
Uremia - The condition in which a dog gets sick from wastes (toxins) that build up in the blood.
Proteinuria - Excessively high protein in the urine. The College of Veterinary Medicine Cornell University states - Proteinuria is usually associated with urine protein creatinine ratios of above 3.0
Questions and answers
An interview with Dr. K. Culberson
Q - What is the number one cause of death by euthanasia in the canine?
A - Renal failure. Unlike humans, the canine heart generally outperforms the kidneys.

Q - What percentage of death from kidney disease are of genetic (hereditary) origin?
A - In my experience the overall percentage would be less than 1 0%. In some specific breeds that percentage could be higher.

Q - What is the major cause of kidney failure? Would it be a hereditary disease, toxins, old age?
A - Infection is the major cause of kidney failure. The kidneys contain nephrons that are hair like filters and these filters when lost from infection, toxins, etc. are lost forever.

Q - When a puppy is born with one kidney smaller than the other, is it usually genetic or simply a birth defect?
A - It can be a birth defect, or it may be the kidney atrophied from kidney disease. It would be necessary to extract the kidneys upon death to determine the cause.

Q - Why are the normal ranges for UP/C tests different from one lab to another? Are there several different UP/C tests?
A - The tests are basically the same, but they can be run on different equipment, therefore the normal ranges can differ from one lab to another.

Q - In a UP/C test, if the Creatinine level is out of the normal range, or the protein level is out of the normal range, but the ratio is in the normal range, is there a problem?
A - Neither number on it's own may be significant, it is the ratio that is significant.

Q - If both parents test normal, can they still produce affected offspring.
A - In hereditary nephritis, the mode of inheritance is thought to be by an autosomal dominant gene, which would mean that one of the parents must be affected.

Q - If I feed a high protein diet, will the protein level be higher in the UP/C test? If I reduce the protein will it make a difference?
A - Yes, it will make a difference, but if a dog is in kidney failure, with an abnormal UP/C ratio, the level of reduction would not be significant. Contrary to popular myth, diets rich in protein do not cause kidney damage. Research conducted several years ago indicated that rodents were adversely affected by diets high in protein and misguided researchers extrapolated that data to apply to the canine.

Q - What do you feel is the normal UP/C range?
A - As mentioned above, different labs use different ranges. I use Anteck Diagnostics, which is one of, if not the largest diagnostic center in the country. Their normal range is from 0.0 to 1.0. Much depends on the age of the dogs tested. The ratio of an aged dog will most likely be higher than a young dog.

I hope this article helps answer some of the questions concerning kidney disease. I am concerned about the diseases that affect our breed and I'm certainly not sticking my head in the sand and saying that the Miniature Bull Terrier has no genetic health problems I am very much aware of the hereditary diseases that plague the Mini, but we need to be aware that kidney disease, as with heart disease can have causes other than genetics. Before we assume that every Mini that is afflicted with a particular disease, is of a hereditary nature, we should have confirmed evidence and not depend on here say.
There is one very important fact I have learned over my fifteen years in Minis, and that is to seek the knowledge of a medical professional or specialist, when confronted with any health related problem, or health related question and even at that, seek a second or third opinion with serious health concerns.
I firmly believe that testing before breeding and culling dogs with abnormal test results will help to reduce the number of cases of genetically related diseases, but in order to cull such dogs, we need accurate, up- to- date information on the disease and we need to understand test results in order to accuser distinguish what abnormal is. The best way to accomplish this is to ask a medical professional.
Sources: Dr. K. Culberson, Anteck Diagnostic Laboratories, Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, The University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Marty Smith and Dr. Race Foster


3. MINI BULL LENS LUXATION RESEARCH PROJECT Recorded, March 15, 2002, Louisville, KY, Transcribed by: Renges Fabris
Guest Speaker: Liz Hanson, Assistant to Dr. Gary Johnson University of Missouri, Department of Pathobiology
Speaker: The initial work that we had been doing on the lens luxation project in mini bulls kind of got stymied because of the small gene pool that mini bulls have and many of the markers that we worked with were uninformative. Basically, that means that everyone we tested had the same genotype. We can’t sort out one from the next in terms of effected dogs vs. unaffected dogs. Looking at the genetics we can’t find anything that is linked. We have now added other breeds that also have lens luxation problems. The grant that we just had approved by the AKC Health Foundation is to look not only at lens luxation, but also glaucoma. It seems that often times these run together. As I’m sure we are all aware, lens luxation can cause secondary glaucoma, and sometimes glaucoma can cause the lens to luxate. So not knowing, in some cases, which came first, we decided to st udy both of these together. Right now we are looking at samples from 14 different breeds and we are hoping that if we can crack this nut in one place, it will help us move along in another.
Last fall at the Canine Health Foundation parent club meeting in St Louis, we talked with Matthew Binns from the Animal Health Trust in England. They felt that they had a marker that was looking very promising. It appeared to be linked, but they didn’t have enough dogs to make it statistically significant…to say “yes it is linked”.
In order to determine that something is linked, we look at different DNA markers. A marker is just a small piece of DNA. It’s not necessarily a gene; it might be part of a gene; it might be between genes. But we know which chromosome it is on and where it sits on the chromosome, but we don’t necessarily know what it does. If there is a gene known to cause a certain disease in people, we usually try to find that same location on the canine genome and then look for markers that are nearby to see if they link to the disease in the dog as well. So we have a marker in England that they thought was linked. To declare that you actually have it linked, you have to go through a whole statistical analysis. They want to see what they call a load score, which is a log of the odds, which is 3.0 or greater. That simply means that you have load score of 3.0, it means that this would happen by random chance, one in a thousand times. If you ha d a load score of 2.0, it would happen by random chance one in one hundred times. So you are looking to find the highest load score you can to call the link solid. In the work that they have done in England, they had a load score of 2.7, which is pretty good, but it’s not quite at that level where they can say it is actually linked. They asked if we would be willing to send the DNA we have from the mini bulls here. They have about 40 dogs that they are working with there. We sent them samples from close to 80 dogs that we have samples from here. They ran their marker on all the samples we sent them and they still come up with a load score of 2.7. It is almost impossible that you could run that many more samples and come up with the exact same score. It should have moved up or down. We think what is happening is that in a lot of these families that we are working with, we have random members. We might have one effected sibling and maybe a parent, or maybe a parent and a couple of th e offspring. It will really help us to move this along if we can get entire families…all of the siblings and both of the parents, which in a lot of cases are missing. So if any of you have family members of effected dogs, or dogs who have luxated, it is really important for us to get these additional dogs sampled so we can try to either say that it’s really not linked or move the load score up and say “yes, we’ve got it!”…and then we will have a marker that you can all use.
At this point, I would like to answer any questions you may have:
Audience: My partner and I haven’t had anything luxate yet. If we got the people who bought our puppies, and get all the puppies and the parents sampled, would that help your research so far.
Speaker: The thing that will tell us the most is whether these dogs are related to dogs that have luxated. The animals that we most want to sample are effected dogs, their full siblings and their half siblings. Also, the parents and the grandparents if they are still alive. Grandparents are useful if we can get them. I know this is not always possible when you have a late onset problem like this. If the dog had been used for breeding prior to luxating, we would like samples from all the puppies and the other parent as well. The lines where there hasn’t really been any problem, and they don’t appear to be related to any dogs that have a problem, they probably are not going to tell us a whole lot, unfortunately.
Audience: How do you get a DNA sample?
Speaker: We prefer to use a blood sample. I know it’s much quicker and easier to use a cheek swab, but it doesn’t give use much DNA to work with. The last thing we want to do is get halfway there and run out of DNA. So we ask for a blood sample. If the dog is having surgery, we’ll take whatever “spare parts” there are (laughter) because that’s a mountain of DNA if we can get a tissue sample. If a dog is being euthanized, we would like to get a tissue sample, preferably from the spleen. We don’t need the whole thing…just about a thumb size chunk. That would be more DNA than all the researchers in the world could use. We at least need blood samples in a purple top tube. Right now, when you’re getting ready to go in for a heartworm test, this is an ideal time to be sampling these dogs. Just get a little bit more blood and send it in. Contact puppy buyers and other people that you know and advise them when they go in for heartworm testing on their dogs that they should also get the dog sampled for this project.
Audience: I understand that glaucoma and lens luxation are two separate diseases. But if your dog starts luxating, it can shift the lens and that can interfere with drainage…
Speaker: Right. A luxated lens can interfere with drainage.
Audience: But then that’s not actually glaucoma?
Speaker: That would be secondary glaucoma.
Audience: If a dog has glaucoma and it is predisposed to lens luxation, the pressure of glaucoma can cause the zonules to weaken further and further along to lens luxation. Is that common?
Speaker: Yes. That is why we are looking at these two diseases together, because one can predispose the dog to the other. Initially, when we started on this, we thought that you guys with the mini bulls were experiencing strictly lens luxation, and we went merrily along our way with that assumption. And then we found out that you’ve also got glaucoma. We thought we kind of had a spectrum here with Basset Hounds having only glaucoma and you guys only having lens luxation and a lot of breeds that were experiencing different levels of these diseases in between. However, now we have a few Bassett Hounds that have luxated.
Audience: But a dog that has glaucoma won’t necessarily get lens luxation. And a dog that has lens luxation won’t necessarily get glaucoma. Right?
Speaker: Right. That’s why it is important to keep us updated as you send samples in. We really need to know what’s going on as the dogs age. We’ve had people whose dogs were sampled two or three years ago that have contacted us and told us that the dog luxated or it’s being treated for elevated pressure. If we think we’ve got a link marker, but we don’t have the right phenotype (if we don’t know that your dog has luxated) we might pass up a marker by saying that these are all normal dogs so this can’t be the correct marker. So it is very important that we are updated as to what is going on with the dogs as you have them checked every year. We have to have those updates, or we are going to pass up the correct marker.
Audience: I guess you are really familiar with glaucoma?
Speaker: I’m not an ophthalmologist. My role is to be a liaison between the scientists and the breeders. I have Standard Schnauzers. I started in this with some epilepsy research. I’ve had Standard Schnauzers for 26 years and another breeder and I got hit with epilepsy. Not wanting to give up all that work, we looked for someone to help us. After about a year of bringing samples to Doctor Johnson, he said “You know, you just need come work for me”. The epilepsy research is the other big project we are working on. We have a lot of other smaller dog projects. I fit into this because I’m a dog breeder; I’m an exhibitor. I’m here showing this weekend. I know what all you folks are going through when something like this hits. Any one of these inherited diseases can devastate a breeding program. I also have a background in science and veterinary medicine, although I am not a vet. I can work between in trying to help get the samples that we need into the researchers and get the results of the research back to you. Dr. Johnson is the gene jockey. He is the molecular geneticist and works on that end of it. But whatever project we are working on, we collaborate with an expert in that field. So, we have several neurologists that we work with in the epilepsy research; we have the opt homology staff at Missouri, and we are hoping to get a research consortium going there as well. In the epilepsy research, we have four universities working together and we are hoping to get something similar to that going with the eye research.
Audience: I had my dog tested at an eye clinic held in conjunction with the Montgomery County all-terrier show. When I took her in, I took her directly from the show to the clinic. I took her on a choke lead. She was playing with everything. When he did the testing on her eyes, her pressure was up. I don’t remember who the ophthalmologist was…it was in Pennsylvania. I immediately panicked because I was told that glaucoma and lens luxation were one-in-the-same disease. I immediately went out and got Xalatan because that is what he recommended. When I got home, I went immediately the University of Florida, to Dr. Galett and Dr. Biros. I wouldn’t take her off Xalatan even though they kept telling me to do it for almost a year because I was afraid my dog would have a glaucoma attack and that she would be in terrible pain. Finally, after almost a year the doctor tol d me to take her off. I did, and she never developed glaucoma. He told me don’t ever go in and have your dog tested under those conditions. It’s like being strangled or hanged…your eye pressure goes up. That’s what happened in this case.
Speaker: When you run into a problem, it never hurts to get a second opinion.
Audience: So…when you take your dog to be tested, take them in a crate, or carry them in?
(No response from Speaker)
Audience: I was asked by Roz Clamper, who is a bull terrier breeder-judge, to mention that her standard bull terrier developed glaucoma and has sub-luxated. Would this be of interest to your studies?
Speaker: Yes. Definitely. With this new grant that is looking at both lens luxation and glaucoma, it is fully funded, and I think your club contributed to that. We had several clubs that did contribute to the grant, and it is open to any breed that has the problem. So, we are definitely interested in other breeds.
Audience: Of course, standard and miniature bull terriers are very closely related. It’s almost a shame to call them a different breed. They’re not really a different breed. Only in the United States.
Speaker: Are there any other reports of standard bull terriers that have luxated first?
Audience: I don’t know about luxated first, but I talked to Dr. Vainisi about standard bull terriers that he has seen with glaucoma.
Speaker: Yes. We would definitely be interested in this data. Wednesday, before I drove here, I interviewed an ophthalmology candidate coming from Missouri who is one of Dr. Galett's post doc students. He is either going to NIH to study glaucoma using animal models for human glaucoma, or come to Missouri. I tried to lay out all the things that we are doing in Missouri and the reasons why it would be best to come to Missouri. He seemed pretty excited about the things we are doing. So we hope he will come because it will help us out quite a bit.
Audience: I was under the impression that the miniature bull terrier picked up the lens luxation when the standards were crossed to the Jack Russell Terrier in order to get the size down, although we don’t know this for sure. Are Jack Russell's taking part in this study? Speaker: Yes. We are just starting. And, it is the non-AKC Jack Russell people that are more excited about it than the AKC people…there is such a split in that club. But they got past the idea that the AKC was involved and decided they could work with the Canine Health Foundation. We are getting quite a few Jack Russell Terrier samples in the last few months. Because lens luxation seems to be primarily in a lot of the true terrier breeds, it is possible that there is a founding mutation that is behind the luxation that is behind most, if not all, of these breeds. We have quite a few samples from the Tibetan Terriers, which are not true terriers, but they have luxation. They believe that it came from one individual dog in England. In the 40s or 50s, if you got two or three British judges to say that is was…then it was. They found this dog on a wharf. It looked l ike a Tibetan Terrier. These judges said that if it walked and talked like a Tibetan Terrier, then it’s a Tibetan Terrier. And all of the Tibetan Terriers with lens luxation can be traced back to this one animal. The club sort of did the outcross that is useful to use. We don’t have as many samples as we would like to from the families. But it’s getting better. We get little spurts of Tibetan Terrier luxation families.
Audience: Is lens luxation on the increase?
Speaker: It’s hard to tell if it is on the increase or if there is better awareness and better openness about it.
Audience: I recently had a lens luxation case; my husband is a former Welsh Terrier breeder. Up until recently, I had never heard of lens luxation in Welsh Terriers.
Speaker: All of the Welsh Terrier samples we have are glaucoma. I don’t think we have any that have lens luxation cases in Welsh Terriers.
Audience: If you go to there website, there is mention of lens luxation in Welsh Terriers. I find this interesting, because I have never heard of it in Welsh Terriers.
Speaker: It is very hard to know how much of this is because it is occurring more, or if its because people are more willing to talk about it. Dog people thump each other over the head with any little bit of dirt they can find. I think a lot of things have been hidden and not talked about, so you just stop with that part of the line and move on to something else and just don’t mention it. I think we are getting better about talking to each other about these things. None of us can make informed decisions without information. We have to talk to each other. No one plans to produce a problem…but it happens. We are dealing with living things, and things go wrong.
Audience: Is there any feeling about whether lens luxation is a recessive?
Speaker: We haven’t run the statistics on that. Ned Patterson, who is working with us on epilepsy research from the University of Minnesota…he is a wiz at statistical modeling. He is going to take a look and see if he can come up with numbers. Just looking at pedigrees without analyzing the numbers, it looks like a simple recessive, but we haven’t proven that.
Audience: From a conversation with Dr. Gallant, I understood, that it was recessive.
Speaker: Like I said, at-a-glance, looking at it, it seems to be recessive. There are a lot of things that can effect this. We don’t know for sure yet.
Audience: We have two dogs that are about 8 and 9 years and are both clear but have produced five puppies, four of which have sub-luxed. So, you think you have a clear dog…they are both clear…no lens luxation, no glaucoma, but out of five puppies from two breedings, two have luxated and two have sub-luxated. This really destroys your comfort level. You’re so careful. You wait so long to breed them….
Speaker: We really encourage people to get samples from their puppies before they are placed, and then get a larger sample later. Do the puppies before they leave so you have the whole family. We are also doing a general DNA bank for several breeds. We charge $10.00 per sample and it is stored forever. If we ever decided to close up shop, we would give plenty of notice so that your sample could be moved to another organization. If there is DNA needed at another university or organization, we could send samples elsewhere. So it might be a good idea just to sample everyone and get it stored. We may never use it, but we’ll have the ones that are really important, even if they have died since, it will help us to close up the holes in these pedigrees and move this project along. Eventually, when we do have markers from DNA tests and you can genetically clear both the parents and the grandpare nts, then you won’t have to test all the puppies, you will already know what the genotype is.
I will leave some blood sampling packets here for you and a copy of the poster that we distributed at the Canine Health Foundation Conference. It has general information on the Research Project. If people want dogs sampled, I have needles and tubes with me. I will be here until the end of the day. Well, that depends…if we get the breed, I’ll be here until the end of the day. If we don’t, I’ll be leaving around 1 o’clock.
2nd Speaker: As you may know, the entire human genome has now been mapped. There are a lot of grand expectations to come out of that, but one of the first things we expect to come down from that is the identification of markers. It is nice to see that technology spilling over into the canine genome as well. This is particularly good for late onset hereditary problems. It is the only real hope of eliminating these problems. When you have a really small gene pool, as in miniature bull terriers, it is a particularly difficult problem for breeders to avoid these tragic pitfalls.

4. General Appearance The Miniature Bull Terrier must be strongly built, symmetrical and active, with a keen, determined and intelligent expression. He should be full of fire, having a courageous, even temperament and be amenable to discipline.
Size, Proportion, Substance
Height 10 inches to 14 inches. Dogs outside these limits should be faulted. Weight in proportion to height. In proportion, the Miniature Bull Terrier should give the appearance of being square.
Head
The head should be long, strong and deep, right to the end of the muzzle, but not coarse. The full face should be oval in outline and be filled completely up, giving the impression of fullness with a surface devoid of hollows or indentations, i.e., egg shaped. The profile should curve gently downwards from the top of the skull to the tip of the nose. The forehead should be flat across from ear to ear. The distance from the tip of the nose to the eyes should b e perceptibly greater than that from the eyes to the top of the skull. The underjaw should be deep and well defined.
To achieve a keen, determined and intelligent expression, the eyes should be well sunken and as dark as possible with a piercing glint. They should be small, triangular and obliquely placed, set near together and high up on the dog's head. The ears should be small, thin and placed close together, capable of being held stiffly erect when they point upwards. The nose should be black, with well developed nostrils bent downwards at the tip. The lips should be clean and tight. The teeth should meet in either a level or scissor bite. In the scissor bite, the top teeth should fit in front of and closely against the lower teeth. The teeth should be sound, strong and perfectly regular.
Neck, Topline, Body
The neck should be very muscular, long, and arched; tapering from the shoulders to t he head, it should be free from loose skin. The back should be short and strong with a slight arch over the loin. Behind the shoulders there should be no slackness or dip at the withers. The body should be well rounded with marked spring of rib. The back ribs deep. The chest should be broad when viewed from in front. There should be great depth from withers to brisket, so that the latter is nearer to the ground than the belly. The underline, from the brisket to the belly, should form a graceful upward curve. The tail should be short, set on low, fine, and should be carried horizontally. It should be thick where it joins the body, and should taper to a fine point.
Forequarters
The shoulders should be strong and muscular, but without heaviness. The shoulder blades should be wide and flat and there should be a very pronounced backward slope from the bottom edge of the blade to the top edge. The legs should be big boned but n ot to the point of coarseness. The forelegs should be of moderate length, perfectly straight, and the dog must stand firmly up on them. The elbows must turn neither in nor out, and the pasterns should be strong and upright.
Hindquarters
The hind legs should be parallel when viewed from behind. The thighs are very muscular with hocks well let down. The stifle joint is well bent with a well developed second thigh. The hind pasterns should be short and upright.
Feet - The feet are round and compact with well arched toes like a cat.
Coat - The coat should be short, flat and harsh to the touch with a fine gloss. The dog's skin should fit tightly.
Color - For white, pure white coat. Markings on head and skin pigmentation are not to be penalized. For colored, any color to predominate.
Gait - The dog shall move smoothly, covering the ground with free, easy strides. Fore and hind legs should move parallel to each other when viewed from in front or behind, with the forelegs reaching out well and the hind legs moving smoothly at the hip and flexing well at the stifle and hock. The dog should move compactly and in one piece but with a typical jaunty air that suggests agility and power.
Temperament The temperament should be full of fire and courageous, but even and amenable to discipline.
Faults Any departure from the foregoing points shall be considered a fault, and the seriousness of the fault shall be in exact proportion to its degree. 

5. Subaortic Stenosis by Anita R. Weidinger, D.V.M.
Subaortic stenosis (SAS) is a genetic and congenital heart condition of dogs, meaning that it is present at birth and it can be inherited. Several breeds can be affected including the Golden Retriever. The condition is usually detected during puppy vaccine visits to the veterinarian by hearing a heart murmur during physical examination. A heart murmur is the abnormal sound of blood rushing through one of the heart valves. Instead of just the heart beat, a whistle of blood flow through a narrowed opening is heard. The puppy will most likely appear normal in all other respects. There is a possibility that the murmur may come and go, or it may develop slowly; therefore, it is important to check a puppy's heart condition often during the first few months of age. This is a very frustrating condition to be identified in your pet because the future is bleak and the chance for long term survival is low. These dogs will either go into heart failure or they will die suddenly, essentially from a severe heart attack.
A little review of normal heart function and circulation is in order to understand what SAS is and why it is so devastating. As you may remember from high school science, the heart has four chambers; the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium, and the left ventricle. You can picture these as four circles together with two on the top and two on the bottom. The atria make up the top of the heart and receive blood from veins and the ventricles make up the bottom of the heart and pump blood into the arteries. Blood from most of the body is returned to the right atrium by veins, it passes down into the right ventricle, and is then pumped to the lungs where it receives oxygen. The veins of the lungs return blood to the left atrium and it passes into the left ventricle. There are valves or gates at each of these junctions throughout the heart and the aortic valve is between the left ventricle and the aorta, which is the main artery exiting the heart carrying oxygenated blood to the body. Subaortic stenosis is a narrowing of the left ventricular chamber just below the aortic valve. This creates problems for the heart because instead of just having a gate to open and close when blood is pumped out, there is a narrow canal almost like a funnel below the valve that makes the heart work harder to push the blood out of the left ventricle and into the aorta. When the heart has to work harder, the heart muscle responds by thickening. As the muscle wall thickens the chamber size can shrink in comparison decreasing the amount of blood that the left ventricle can handle. The thickened heart muscle also demands more oxygen to work. The blood vessels that supply the heart muscle with oxygen, the coronary arteries, are squeezed out by the thickness of the muscle and can't carry enough blood to the heart muscle. This can lead to muscle tissue of the heart dying as in a heart attack. The area of the left ventricle th at is narrowed below the aortic valve also can develop scar tissue due to the force of blood through this area. The scar tissue narrows the canal more and decreases the flexibility of this area.
As mentioned before, the two potential outcomes of SAS are heart failure and sudden death. Changes take place in the heart because of the narrowed aortic canal. The heart works harder, the wall of the heart muscle thickens, the chamber size decreases, and the amount of blood the ventricle can handle decreases. Heart failure often occurs when the heart can not get enough blood in and out to keep up with demand. Blood backs up behind the left side of the heart in the lungs and causes congestion. The dog shows this congestion by coughing, weakness, tiring easily, and possibly fainting. Sudden death is just what it sounds like, the dog will die without giving us any clue that something is wrong. What probably happens to cause this sudden death is that a blood clot severely disrupts circulation to the heart muscle and it dies or the heart rhythm is changed dramatically and suddenly so the heart doesn't function and just stops.
What can you do if your puppy is diagnosed with a heart murmur consistent with SAS? First of all, contact your breeder if you can to let them know. They will not want to use this same set of parents to breed again. The puppies and dogs affected with SAS can be evaluated and classified as mild, moderate, or severe. Tests such as chest X-rays, echocardiography, and electro-cardiography can be performed to evaluate the severity of the situation. Unfortunately, not much can be done to treat the condition. A balloon catheter can be used in an attempt to dilate the narrowed aortic canal but the canal soon narrows again. If your dog with SAS develops heart failure, medications can be prescribed to alleviate the clinical signs it is experiencing. You can not prepare yourself for the sudden death of your pet. Even if you know that it is a possibility with SAS, it is still a shock when it occurs.

6. LARYNGEAL PARALYSIS 
What is laryngeal paralysis?
In this disorder, there is some loss of function in the laryngeal muscles that normally open the larynx when an animal breathes in. This is caused by degeneration of certain nerves involved in normal breathing. The result is airway obstruction, to varying degrees, causing loud and labored respiration. This sounds as though they are having an asthma attack. It sounds as if they are sucking in air with all their might.
Your Miniature Bull Terrier will “talk”, pant, make dolphin sounds, snort, snore…. They are quite the noise makers, but ALL these sounds are quite NORMAL!
In the inherited form, signs are usually seen before 6 months of age. Laryngeal paralysis due to other causes is also seen in older dogs of other breeds.
What breeds are affected by laryngeal paralysis?
Breeds affected by a hereditary form of laryngeal paralysis include the Dalmatian, Bouvier des Flandres, Siberian Husky, Bull Terrier & Miniature Bull Terrier.
For many breeds and many disorders, the studies to determine the mode of inheritance or the frequency in the breed have not been carried out, or are inconclusive. We have listed breeds for which there is a consensus among those investigating in this field and among veterinary practitioners, that the condition is significant in this breed.
What does laryngeal paralysis mean to your dog & you?
Signs of this disorder are usually seen by 2 to 6 months of age and are often first noticed, or become worse, in hot weather. Affected dogs have difficulty breathing, and may collapse, especially with exercise. Your dog's breathing will be noisy, with coughing or gagging when eating, and you may notice that the gums are grayish rather than pink.
Affected dogs regurgitate undigested food after meals, and may develop aspiration pneumonia due to inhalation of food particles or other foreign matter.
How is laryngeal paralysis diagnosed?
Your veterinarian will suspect a problem of airway obstruction based on what you describe and on your dog's breathing pattern. Laryngoscopy (looking down your dog's throat with a light) will confirm laryngeal paralysis as the cause.
For the veterinarian: Laryngeal function can best be assessed when the dog is very lightly anesthetized. On inspiration one or both vocal folds will not abduct normally, and the glottis will collapse. Electromyography can be used to test the function of the laryngeal muscles.
How is laryngeal paralysis treated?
Initial treatment is aimed at calming your dog and lessoning respiratory distress. Depending on the severity of the obstruction, this may require mild sedation, administration of oxygen, and high doses of corticosteroids to reduce swelling. Rarely, with very severe breathing problems, a veterinarian may need to put a tube into a dog's trachea (an emergency tracheotomy).
Once your veterinarian has assessed your dog, s/he will discuss with you management of this condition. In mild cases, all that may be required is avoidance of stress, especially associated with exercise and heat, and occasional medical treatment as above for episodes of respiratory distress. Where the condition is more severe, your veterinarian may suggest surgery to tie back the muscles and enlarge the opening of the larynx.
Unfortunately the outlook is guarded to poor for Miniature Bull Terriers with laryngeal paralysis. Most die or are euthanized within a few months of diagnosis, due to aspiration pneumonia.
Breeding advice
Affected dogs should not be bred. In the Bouvier and husky, where inheritance is autosomal dominant, close relatives should be carefully evaluated for signs of this problem before being used for breeding.
Due to the autosomal recessive mode of inheritance in the Dalmatian and possibly the Bull Terrier, breeding of the parents (carriers of the disorder) and siblings (suspect carriers) should be avoided.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DISORDER, PLEASE SEE YOUR VETERINARIAN.
Veterinarians you may contact for this disorder.
Dr. Timothy Lee, D.V.M. Anderson, IN. 1-800-341-6111 or 1-765-649-5218
U.C. Davis, Davis, CA. 1-530-752-1393
Contributed by: Julie C. Grider of Envision/Registan Miniature Bull Terriers with the permission of the Atlantic Veterinary College. 

RESCUE:
Envision/Registan was involved with 4 rescues in the first two months of 2005. We had 4 rescues in 2004 sadly! With the Internet making MBT's an “easy sell”, we are finding more in rescue every year. We had 4 in 2007 & already have 1 in 2008.

If you have a MBT you can no longer keep or know of a MBT in a bad situation, please contact Kathy Brosnan, the MBTCA’s Rescue Chair at kmbrosnan@earthlink.net or contact us & we will help you. We will NOT JUDGE YOU negatively for not being able to keep the dog, all we care about is what is best for the dog and for you.