The Joint Breed Liaison Committee

Seminars and other activities relating to breed health
organised by the JBLC

As part of its remit, the JBLC organises seminars and other activities relating to breed health on behalf of all the Bearded Collie clubs. All news and information about seminars and events is posted on this page.

Seminars and Events 2017

Canine Reproduction Seminar - Saturday 14th October 2017, starting at 10 am

Speaker: Angelika von Heimendahl BVMS (Berlin) Dip ECAR MRCVS - Small Animal Reproduction Specialist

Venue: Yelvertoft Village Hall, Lilibourne Rd, Yelvertoft, Northants NN6 6LJ.

Yelvertoft is conveniently placed, being very near to J19 of the M1 and linking with the M6 and the A14.

Details of the event are given below, or you can download the details here: Event Flyer    (PDF 92 Kb).

About the Event

The Seminar should appeal to anyone interested in all aspects of Dog Breeding including the best time to mate your bitch, birth, the neonatal period and sperm banking.

About the Speaker

Angelika runs a specialist Veterinary Reproduction Service in Cambridge and has co-authored the BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Reproduction and Neonatology. She is a very interesting and informative speaker and is a 'must hear' for all those interested in the latest information on all aspects of Dog Breeding.

Booking Arrangements

Tickets (including light refreshments): £15 for any member of one of the six Bearded Collie Clubs, £20 non members.

To book your place, please contact:

Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis SO BOOK EARLY.

Shaping the Future: a Positive Direction for the Bearded Collie

The JBLC would like to extend a big thank you to all those that attended the workshop on 13th May.

53 people attended the event at the Canine Academy, Tollerton, where the proposed Breed Strategy was presented by Dr Elizabeth Ayrton the Breed Health Co-ordinator and workshops were held to discuss and debate the proposals by the attendees.

Also present were Dr Tom Lewis - KC Geneticist who talked about population size, COIs and Mate Select and Dr Katy Evans from the KC Breed Health and Conservation Project. They were both on hand to answer questions from the audience.

On the whole it was a really positive and constructive day and the feedback we have received to date was that the presentations were at the right level and that they were really well received.

The JBLC will be meeting again on the 29th July to consider the feedback received on the day and any further feedback received from a questionnaire we are circulating to enable those that didn't attend to have their say. Following this meeting we aim to publish a Breed Strategy document - which recognises the actions that need to be taken. We acknowledge that this strategy will be 'work in progress' which will require updating and modifying as we take on board further issues, scientific progress and changes in our breed's situation.

We recognise that we are just on the starting line of a longer process, however we were delighted to hear from Dr Evans that the work we are doing is far ahead of other breeds, and that the first area of our Breed Health and Sustainability section of the strategy fits almost entirely with the work she is doing under the KC Breed Health and Conservation Plan.

We will of course keep everyone updated as the work progresses and thank you all again once for your input. We hope that there will be a positive response from both Clubs and individuals to help put the plans into action, and to help secure the future of the Bearded Collie.

For those of you that weren't able to attend, a postal questionnaire is available for you to give us your views:

      Postal questionnaire in PDF format     (PDF1000 Kb)

      Postal questionnaire as a Word document     (Word 83 Kb)

You can download a copy of the proposed Breed Strategy here    (PDF 271 Kb). If you haven't seen the report on the outcomes of the Breeders Workshop and want to know what issues the participants raised, use the workshop report links just below this item.