News - IRISH WOLFHOUND HEALTH GROUP

Philippa came to prominence among the pedigree dog world when she created the Karlton Index, an independent dog health index, set up to measure how a breed community deals with the health issues within their breed. The first Index was created in 2011 and a further measure was recorded in 2013. Due to her amazing vitality and charisma, she was by this time fully engaged in dog health and welfare commitments across the field, and was an influential voice in the wider dog world. Unfortunately, she was a somewhat a victim of her own success and because of other commitments, the index measurement planned for 2015, was postponed until 2016 and never completed.

In 2015 she was invited to chair our seminar and those of you who attended will remember what a fantastic job she did, adding a new dimension to the day.

She was scheduled to repeat her fantastic performance for our 2017 seminar but having accepted, she later had to let us know that she was actually too ill to attend. We were devastated, not so much for us, but for Philippa, her family and the wider dog community.

Philippa's dedication to all canine health and welfare was inspiring and her pioneering work in challenging us all to question and improve is a great legacy. She had so much more to give, and we will miss her.

Irish Wolfhounds are in the next round of breeds required to produce a plan with the KC so we are inviting all owners of UK Irish Wolfhounds, whether or not registered, to complete a simple survey to provide the KC with an up to date and accurate snapshot of the breed’s current health status. The survey is anonymous and your answers, along with other sources of scientific evidence, will provide important data for our BHCP. 

The first section is about dogs that are alive and that you currently own; the second section refers to any dogs that you have owned that have died in the last ten years. For breeders there is also a separate additional survey specifically about your breeding experiences over the last ten years. 

On behalf of all at the IWHG, I'd like to say a big thank you to the team at DeWolf Dog Training for their fantastic donation of £596. DeWolf's volunteer team raise money from sales of cakes and blankets at their various courses throughout the year and at their annual charity quiz night. So thank you to all who dedicated their time and talents to raising this wonderful sum, it's hugely appreciated.

2017 has seen another full year of heart testing sessions throughout the UK and Ireland. In summary, total numbers of dogs seen remain at roughly the same level as last year and most sessions were full, though a few were short on numbers – these will be reviewed in the new year to ensure that these sessions continue to be viable. We were pleased to be able to continue to offer appointments at £45.00 per dog and to be able to continue to subsidise the Super Veterans sessions. The Irish Wolfhound Rescue Trust also continued to cover the cost of the Rescue hounds sessions.

We will be giving a full report on the year’s activity in the Spring Newsletter, but in the meantime we’d like to thank all our cardiologists again for making another year of the scheme possible, so thank you to Sheena Milne, Serena Brownlie-Sykes and a huge thank you to Angela Bodey, who covers the majority of the sessions. A big thank you as well to all those that have hosted the sessions and provided venues and helped to manage and organise the days – it’s a great team effort spread between many people.

As the Regional Heart Testing Scheme continues to grow and develop we regularly review the ways in which we can improve it. Organising and managing the scheme requires a great deal of time and effort and is a full time job for those closely involved. As Heart Testing Co-ordinator, Wendy Heather spends most days, including weekends, dealing with the admin required, whether that’s bookings, organising hosts and venues or liaising with the cardiologists. It really is like a full time job, but, as with all IWHG roles, it is purely voluntary and has to be fitted in around real work!

So we have decided that the Scheme could really do with two people and we’re delighted to announce that Anne Vaudin will be taking on the role of Heart Testing Administrator from January 1st. Most people already know Anne as our website manager and also as the IW Club’s Archivist, but she has agreed to take on the role of organising and managing the heart testing bookings. She will be the main point of contact for the day to day administration of the Scheme.

Wendy will remain as Heart Testing Co-ordinator and she will retain her top line responsibilities of organising the diary of sessions for the year, liaising with the cardiologists and the hosts, organising the venues and the overall reporting and management of the Scheme. 

As part of streamlining our communications, we have introduced new email addresses for both of them from the New Year:

We will also be introducing an online form for heart test bookings which we hope you will find quicker, more efficient and easier than printing-and-posting. Please give it  try and let us know what you think.

Dates and venues for 2018 will be published early in January and will be announced on Facebook and published here.  Meanwhile, please let us know if you would like to book in advance.

The Irish Wolfhound Health Group held its biennial seminar on Sunday November 11th 2017. The seminar was chaired by IWHG chairman, Rebecca Peek.