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| DOTTER DALMATIANS |
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| We are delighted to announce the newest member of the Dotter family! Aberdeen And Dotter's Ataraxis "Layla" We were planning to have one more Dotsie litter, but then the opportunity came along to own one of only six female Dalmatians in the WORLD with low ("normal") uric acid. She is a VERY special puppy! Dalmatians are the only breed of dog which have a high level of uric acid, which causes one of the most serious health issues in the breed -- the formation of urate stones in the bladder and kidneys, which can become a life-threatening issue (especially in male Dalmatians) when their urine becomes blocked by these stones. ALL Dalmatians have this defective gene, and ALL have the potential to form urate stones and "block" at any time in their life. (For more information, click here to go to the health information section of the Dalmatian Club of America website.) Stones Layla was bred by Denise Powell, Aberdeen Dalmatians, as part of what is referred to as the "Backcross Project" which was started in the 1980's with the "backcross" of one Dalmatian to a Pointer. After several generations of breeding back to purebred Dalmatians it appeared that the uric acid problem was corrected in some offspring, but there was no DNA testing available at that time, the project had an uphill battle to gain the support of the Dalmatian "fancy," and unfortunately the project was all but dropped at that time. When Denise bred her lovely Champion bitch to produce this litter, there were no females, and only 2 intact male (8th generation) "backcross" Dalmatians and frozen semen from another deceased male left! I chose the word "Ataraxis" for Layla's UKC registered name because, although it isn't an elegant-sounding word, its meaning fit with both Layla's name AND how I feel about this project. I WORRY constantly about my male Dal (Dagger) blocking, I worry about Dagger's brothers ... and there's a line iin the Eric Clapton song for which she is named, "... darling won't you ease my worried mind ..." Ataraxis is a feeling of "peace of mind." The minute I made the decision to become a part of this project to try to eradicate this health problem in our wonderful breed (rather than breed another litter that I'd end up WORRYING about!) ... I felt SO good and knew I'd made the right decision! Our little Layla is, indeed, easing MY worried mind! I'm proud and excited to be able to participate in this VERY important research, and hope that it will eventually wipe out a horrible health problem in Dalmatians! And we're THRILLED to welcome Layla to the family -- Layla is co-owned by Denise Powell, me, and my youngest son, Corey. When Layla is 2 years old she'll have her hips x-rayed, and provided her hips are good and there are no other health concerns, Layla will be bred 3-4 times over the next several years. Great care will be taken in this project to breed these special low uric acid Dals to mates from very different lines to ensure genetic diversity. A breeding to a "regular/normal Dalmatian" with high uric acid is expected to produce 50% puppies who have low uric acid, but who are still "carriers" of the bad gene (the same as Layla). At least one breeding will be to another "low uric acid" male, with the expectation that 75% of those puppies will have low uric acid, and that 25% of those pups will be homozygous -- this means that not only will they have low uric acid, but in addition, they will not be carriers of the "defective gene." All the homozygous dog's offspring should be free of the defect (although they may be "carriers," depending upon the genetics contributed by their other parent.) |
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| Click for more pictures! |
For more information on the Backcross Project: "Ramblings" Stocklore Dals Heritage Dalmatian Project Brannasch Laboratory |
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