I've been reading back through the thread and some things just don't add up for me. It appears as though a couple of parti breeders have their own club and are actually writing a standard for the partis. It seems that, when breeding partis of any breed, awareness of the piebald gene risks is critical. From the time line of the posts, it looks like the breeders that are trying to set standards for the parti Yorkie were unaware of these risks. I would think that anyone that is putting themselves in such a position would be keenly aware of all risks and wouldn't attempt to write a standard before having all possible information. Here...I'll try to illustrate my point. On 1-31, when asked about how many members are in the club and how many dogs were produced, JeanieK responded in post 278...."Our club is very new, and there aren't as many serious parti yorkie breeders out there yet. most of us have just recently aquired our partis and hfave yet to even have our first parti pups".My opinion is this isn't much to go on if you're writing the standard. After more information was posted concerning the risks of breeding piebalds, JeanieK responded, on 2-1 in post 302...."Thank you ladies for all the great information, it is definitely something we will be watching for.
That is true, only time will tell. The Biewers Yorkies have been around for a long time and I have not heard of any deafness in their dogs. But that does not mean it won't happen in the partis, so now that we are aware of it we can watch for it.
I have spoken to may breeders including my own, that prefer to breed carriers to partis, and this might be why.
Sue I think we need to adjust the standard to discourae the breeding of Dogs with all white heads. I like the color on both ears anyway". Does this sound like someone who was previously aware of the piebald risks? Well, at least she's mentioning adjusting the standard. Question is, why wasn't this looked into earlier? The only research that seems to have been done is asking the few other parti breeders and concluding it's not a problem. The factual posts that have been made have been dismissed because a few breeders with no more than a few generations say otherwise. I'm not really sure that those breeders were even asked since, referring to post 302, it all seems to be new information. Again, this by those writing the standard? Finally, today, when asked about testing that had been done to make sure there was no uni-lateral deafness, JeanieK responded in post 386...."I appreciate your concern, and all the informational post. However I am very computer literate and have one my own research of the subject. Upon interviewing parti yorkie breeders I have found no incidene of deafness, so therefore see no reason to be concerned at this time
I will have my dogs tested as I see fit
, and I will assume all risks and responsibilty for any deaf dogs that I might produce". While it may be fine to assume your own risks, shouldn't those writing the standard be concerned about the risks to other parti breeders? And, again, how much research was really done on the subject (see post 302). All I can say is thank God for responsible breed clubs. |