BAER test

Hello, so here we are, 7 weeks and 2 days since Josey whelped the litter sired by October Mountain River. On their 7 week birthday, everyone went to the vet’s office for wormer, vaccinations and microchips. Do we know how to party or what?

So, for most of us, that’s really early for a microchip. What’s with that? Well, for one thing its convenient to do at that point, and the pups do not seem to experience any stress. Our vets tell us the pups have few pain receptors around the head, neck and shoulders so they do not have a negative reaction. The really cool reason though, is to tie their microchip identification with the results of BAER tests we had performed today at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine by Dr. Ellis Loew.

Oh, before I go further, I owe it to Cliff and Lisa to note this post is a really a page lifted from their own blog within their OctoberSetters.com website. After looking at this post, you might want to visit their website and read about deafness in the health section of their website, and see their blog about BAER testing at http://octobersetters.com/blog/?paged=2 (scroll wayyy down to the bottom of the page).

Okay, BAER stands for Brainstem Evoked Auditory Response. The test measures the electrical signal created when the neural connections of the inner ear respond to the stimulus of sound. Fine needles, Dr. Loew said they are acupuncture needles, are inserted under the skin in critical places around the ear and head. The electrical responses are presented on a screen, which can then be interpreted to indicate the presence or absence of effective hearing in each ear. Ideally, each dog will be found “normal” or hearing “bilaterally”. A pup that hears the kennel latch or dinner bowl being filled still might be “unilateral” in its hearing, meaning one side works and the other does not. As a breeder, we can use this data to identify dogs that if bred might contribute unnecessarily to future incidences of deafness or unilateral hearing.  Aggregating this data in a database also means that trends, dogs tending to produce more or less hearing issues in their offspring, and the like, can be identified. Here’s an example of the results…

One of the really valuable aspects of this test is that entities like the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) or the English Setter Association of America (ESAA) will, if properly submitted, enter this data into their databases where it is available to benefit others. We are sending these results  to OFA for inclusion in their Congenital Deafness Database. Reference to these databases should ultimately help breeders identify lines with greater or lesser issues for hearing in their offspring. Thanks to Dr. Loew for making this service available and moderate in cost. I am sure this is so breeders and owners will embrace and use this procedure in a way that serves everyone, especially the dogs. I am happy to forward Dr. Loew’s contact information if anyone wants it.

I’ll conclude by noting we are lucky to be about 90 minutes from Cornell. This procedure is not easy to find at the present. Not every breeder or owner can avail themselves of this service for now. Sadly, deafness is an issue in English Setters. Let’s hope that in 15 years the practice grows, and we see that the positive influence of this data help us all better the breed.

Thanks for reading our post!