Breed Education Coordinator

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The Kennel Club requires all breeds to appoint one person as a Breed Education Coordinator. The role of this person is to liaise between the KC and each of the clubs for that breed: many breeds have more than one club but there can only be one BEC per breed. The BEC is responsible for overseeing the breed’s programme for educating its judges under the Judges Competency Framework (JCF) and for all other breed educational opportunities, i.e. breed appreciation days, multiple-choice breed standard exam, mentors, observers, as well as the assessors and exhibits for the subsequent Kennel Club-organised breed competence assessments. 

There's more info on the role here: www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media/1159415/bec-role-description.pdf.

The BEC for the Portuguese Podengo is Diana Curtis: stormwitchuk@gmail.com

The gov.uk web site has advice and rules for those with pets and it is regularly updated. You can find it here; this is the link for England but it has links to the pages for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-people-with-animals

The Kennel Club, in conjunction with a number of other organisations and the breed clubs concerned, run DNA screening schemes for many breeds. The DNA tests used in these schemes can accurately identify clear, carrier and affected dogs, and can be used by breeders to effectively eliminate undesirable disease genes in their stock. Primary Lens Luxation (“PLL”) is a well-recognised, painful and blinding eye condition that affects many breeds of dog and there have been a very small number of cases in the Portuguese Podengo, although not to the point where a KC screening scheme is necessary.

However, to prevent it becoming a problem, the Club has encouraged all breeders and owners to have their dogs tested and to report the results to our Health Coordinator. Breeders are encouraged not to breed from affected dogs as this will hopefully eradicate the disease from the breed. Note that it is not always the case that affected dogs will produce more affected dogs: when two carriers are crossed, 25% (on average) of the offspring will be affected by the disease, 25% will be clear and the remaining 50% will themselves be carriers. DNA testing will reveal if a dog is:

Clear: the dog will not develop PLL as a result of the mutation(s) tested for.
Carrier: the dog carries the gene. Independent research has demonstrated that carriers have a very low risk of developing PLL.
Affected: This dog carries the gene and will almost certainly develop PLL during their lifetime.

You can google 'animal dna tests' to find a testing service. For more info about PLL: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectopia_lentis

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/glossary/screening-scheme.aspx?id=DNA+test+-+PLL&ReturnUrl=%2Fservices%2Fpublic%2Fglossary%2Fscreening-all.aspx

Photo by Joel Mills.