29 Breed Notes – July 2025

There was a really good turnout of 19 Keesies for the Central Scotland Walk on Sunday, with everyone meeting up at Beecraigs Country Park at Linlithgow. Despite the dreadful forecast for the weekend, the weather was ideal for a walk, as it was dry with the sun making the occasional effort to break through the clouds. The threatened downpour didn’t materialise until later on in the afternoon, by which time most people were back home.
Present were: Shelagh and Charlotte with Talyn, Jura, Ava; Sarah and David with Joey, Zach, Luka; Nathan with Koos; Liz and Brian with Cora, Joey, Shirley and Tom with Mika, Tara, Ruby; Ann with Heidi; Susan and Derek with Corrie; Zola with her family whose names I have forgotten (sorry if you’re reading this!) and me with Olympia, Tooin, Fiver and Dallas and a good time was had by all. Fun and games was had trying to get all 19 Keesies sitting and facing the same way for as group photo shoot; but with Joe Public walking, running and cycling past, it was nigh impossible – 17 at once was the most we managed!

The following are a couple of messages from Cathryn Mellersh of the Canine Genetics Centre

We wanted to give you all some advanced warning that we are planning to take the CAGT website offline for 2 weeks during August, to move servers and perform some maintenance. The website will be fully offline from the week commencing 18th August for up to two weeks. We will bring everything online as soon as possible, but the work, and subsequent testing, may take until the 24th August.
As an apology for the potential inconvenience this may cause, we are offering a 20% discount on all CAGT tests from the 1st August until the website goes offline on the 18th August.
So if you haven’t got your Keesie PHPT tested, now would be a good time to save some money!!

The Friends of the Canine Genetics Centre regular giving scheme was set up in November 2024, to simplify giving for our regular supporters and help provide a regular, dependable income from donations to help support the Canine Genetics Centre.
On Wednesday 19th June I gave a short presentation outlining how, if we can increase the number of Friends of the Canine Genetics Centre to 1000 we will cross a very important line:
• the whole Canine Genetics Centre will be secure until 2028, AND
• the core team and resources, including the DNA collection, will be secure for the foreseeable future.
Sadly, fewer than 50 people have viewed this presentation, in contrast to the 550 people who viewed my presentation in January 2024, when I first outlined the funding challenges that faced the Genetics Centre.
Some of you know that we have secured significant funding, from Wisdom Panel and the Jean Lanning Foundation, which has improved our funding situation considerably.
Nevertheless, there are outstanding running costs that are not currently met.
So to clarify – we NEED to get to 1000 Friends to keep the core CGC team safe.
Several of the team only have contracts until October 2025 – that’s only 3 more months – and if I do not have funding to cover their salaries they will be made redundant. So 1000 Friends are not simply be ‘nice to have’ – we NEED them.
I am currently discussing new research projects with several of the most popular breed in the UK, as well as few much smaller breeds. These projects will not be able to go ahead if we do not secure funding for the core team and our DNA sample collection.
I have never, in over 25 years, had to tell a breed that we cannot store their important samples, or undertake research to develop a DNA test they need, due to lack of core resources. But this will change if we cannot meet our running costs.
In January 2024 I asked for £1,500 from each breed community to keep the Genetics Centre running for 12 months. Now I am asking for the equivalent of 5 people from each breed community to commit to donating £5 a month to the Canine Genetics Centre – to keep its core resources safe for the foreseeable future.
We have come a long way, but we are not there yet.
Please consider becoming a Friend yourself (thank you everyone who already is) and please share this message within your communities.
Thank you.
Cathryn

Anji Marfleet