Como 2006
Symposium summary
Summary of Berner IWG Meeting held Sunday 8th
October 2006
Palace Hotel, Como, Italy
Persons present
Antonio Indrizzi SIBB (Italy)
Tarja Ekman SSFS (Finland)
Joelle Bardet AFBS (France)
Pat Long Berner-Garde (USA)
Jan Kranenberg (Netherlands)
Inge Bibby DBSK (Denmark)
Laura Bernetti (Italy)
Joel van Haute BKZS (Belgium)
Raphael Weinstock VSSO (Austria)
Martha Cehrs KBS (Switzerland)
Norbert Bachmann SSV (Germany)
Amando Avezedo APBS (Portugal)
Silvana Vogel Tedeschi CIABS (Italy)
Judith Dieter BMDCA (but living in Italy)
Birgitte Damsgaard (Denmark/Sweden)
In the chair for the meeting was the President of the group Dr Bachmann and (a short way into the meeting) Mr Green agreed to produce a record.
1] Dr Bachmann had circulated a suggested agenda prior to the meeting and the first item on this was data exchange and contracts. However, following email discussion he asked if members would rather discuss the Mission Statement and address the “What is the IWG?” issue first. After a short open discussion the first question openly addressed was “who can be a member” and after discussion it was agreed that we wished to stay an informal group as much as we could. This avoided difficulties over rules that could fairly apply to all countries. Some clubs still expressed a difficulty in having a relationship with non FCI registered or affiliated Kennel Club registered clubs and a discussion took place on how to resolve things. It was agreed that all FCI affiliated clubs as well as those belonging to the official non FCI Kennel Club in their country could be represented. A view was expressed that once we started making rules it would be difficult to stop and they would have to be very complicated rules to cover every member country evenly. This would make it more difficult to function as everyone had a different home situation to contend with.
It was agreed that further new members could be on two levels
Level I] representing a Breed club affiliated to the FCI or an associated body (such as The UK Kennel Club or The American Kennel Club etc).
Level II] an individual with something significant to contribute towards Objective 10 could apply to the President outlining their BMD health credentials and an email circulation and subsequent voting could take place. In the discussion Martha Cehrs stressed the “something significant to contribute or proven record in Bernese health aspect” for individuals wishing to join the group and there was general agreement on this point. It was also said that we do not want the group to get too large.
The resultant understanding was that any new member in future would have to show that he or she had a significant contribution to make. It was mentioned that in future at meetings held after symposiums such as this, persons attending the symposium could maybe sit in as observers only at the IWG meeting without having to become members.
Later in the meeting, after each gave a short introduction address to the meeting the following were agreed as new members
Pat Long Berner-Garde (USA)
Amando Azevedo APBS (Portugal)
Judith Dieter BMDCA (but living in Italy)
Wolfgang Zorner VSSO (Austria)
Raphael Weinstock VSSO (Austria)
Aurelja Sivec (Slovenia)
2] Shortly into the meeting Dr Andre asked if she and Dr Breen could make a few points before leaving and she gave a short talk assisted by Drs Breen with informative interjections from Pat Long about blood and tissue samples and procedures for them including the following points:
She stated Berner Garde is an excellent platform for the group to use as it is a very large BMD record with good information and accessible to all.
She needs blood samples for her work.
Michigan State University need tissue samples but these are not really practical from Europe due to the logistics.
Ideally samples should be sent to one point in Europe. Dr Ekhert had offered to do this but Dr Breen said that whilst he appreciated the gesture, the money he had offered to spend on freezers and storage would be better spent on transit costs as freezers were already available where they were needed at the places where the samples were analysed.
Histio samples were required by Dr Andre.
Researcher in the USA is looking for Mast Cell Tumour samples and requires any BMD sample plus pedigree and a note saying who you are and is dog affected with MH.
Dr Andre agreed to send out a protocol but also said it would be the same as the one she gave out last year in Salzburg.
After this discussion Dr Andre and Drs Matthew and Tessa Breen left the meeting.
3] Dr Bachmann then returned to the subject of data sharing and put up a data contract on the screen for discussion. This subject had caused much debate prior to the meeting and the key issue was principally the problems for the SSV and the CIABS in sharing data with other clubs. The solution of having 2 levels of data had emerged and there was much discussion about this. Dr Bachmann talked of modifying the SSV’s position to include sharing information with FCI registered clubs even if these were not the principle club in their country.
The situation was confusing because there were many different levels and types of information available in different countries and each country had different club regulations and even national laws to conform to. Some countries have lots of individual data about specific dogs and others are not allowed to compile this. Others may only have summary statistical data but there was agreement that everything anyone can contribute could be useful. In short each member country has a different background to work from. Each country has to take responsibility for its own information.
It was agreed that for some information a data contract between individual clubs would need to be agreed and signed with strict controls recognised on how that data could be used by the receiving club. This was referred to as a “club to club” contract. It was agreed that clubs wishing to enter this type of contract were free to start arranging them but each such contract would need to be modified to suit the individual relationship for the two clubs involved. Essentially each club to club contract would be an individual arrangement.
Clubs who did not want, or were unable to get involved in, this type of agreement could still contribute to and/or use the second level of data which did not require such agreements. Most of this type of data would already be published and in the public domain in its country of origin.
Dr Bachmann stressed that only people and clubs using dogs with official pedigrees issued by FCI or FCI affiliated bodies, (such as the UK Kennel Club, or American Kennel Club), were acceptable members of the IWG. Clubs or individuals who have dogs registered with non official bodies of this level could not be members of the IWG. Exchanging data about dogs could only take place with persons and clubs fitting this criteria.
4] The meeting then discussed the Internet platform circulated previously by Birgitte Damsgaard who gave a short presentation outlining the proposed web site she had constructed. The homepage was discussed and reviewed. (Later) a suggestion was made (by Joel van Haute) that something to make the page obviously identifiable as a Bernese Mountain Dog related site was accepted and it was agreed to call it “Berner IWG”.
At present this was hosted on Birgitte’s web site but it was agreed to set up our own internet domain name. There were several offers to pay for this but as the cost was so small this was deemed not worth using up valuable time discussing it and Birgitte was given a cash donation for the first year’s registration.
At present the site had a structure but no content and a discussion about this agreed that the site should contain information about the IWG (later it was suggested that the Mission Statement be used for this) and articles relevant to our objective although permissions from the authors may be needed. Another suggestion from Birgitte was links to summaries of each of the international seminars starting in 2000. Most links would be to the different club web sites and addresses within giving health and longevity related information available through that club. The clubs would then be responsible for maintaining the information on their own sites and responsible for any restrictions of their own information. It was also stated that data from dogs should be accepted only if they are coming from breeders/club with FCI or National Kennels official pedigree.
{Note: web site subsequently set up at www.berner-iwg.org }
5] The discussion then moved on to “Strategies in Each Country to reach Objective 10”. It was agreed that each country must decide for itself how to proceed towards Objective 10. Again, this will be affected by the structures, rules and current situation each country has to work under. It was agreed everyone must do whatever they can in their own country but also accepted that for some people it would be very difficult.
Martha Cehrs gave out a sheet outlining the current position in Switzerland. This is attached as appendix 2 to this meeting.
Silvana Vogel Tedeschi from the C.I.A.B.S. in Italy then gave out a handout from her club outlining their position and plans for Objective 10. This is attached as appendix 3 to this meeting.
6] It was then suggested (by Pat Long and Judith Dieter) that instead of just emailing each other we could set up a web group on Yahoo. This was readily agreed and Pat Long agreed to undertake this with Dr Bachmann as the owner of the group.
[Note: subsequently the group was set up at http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Berner-IWG ]
7] It was suggested that the next meeting, as part of the symposium day in Burgdorf in August 2007 would be helped by a preliminary meeting the night before (Thursday). This was generally accepted and Martha Cehrs agreed to facilitate this.
8] The Mission Statement was then raised (by Steve Green) and he handed out a sheet with the original version circulated on email and the amendments suggested. This gave rise to further discussion incorporating what we are and how we intend to work. It was agreed to extend the first sentence to comply with the “FCI and affiliated Kennel Club clubs only” sentiments already expressed earlier in the meeting. The reference to having no financial assets was raised and it was left in as the majority agreed it gave good emphasis to our lack of official status and informal nature. If, at some point in the future, we decided to raise money and have a bank account the Mission Statement can easily be altered to accommodate this.
After some discussion over several points it was agreed to include the amendments previously suggested by Silvana with a few other minor alterations.
The amended Mission Statement now reads as given at appendix 1]
9] Antonio Indrizzi from the hosting S.I.B.B. club then made an announcement about a financial award being set up in memory of their late President Alberto Vittone. This could be payable to anyone who performs any work to assist Bernese Mountain Dog health. This could be a research student looking for funds or any other project potentially useful to our breed anywhere in the world, there were to be no restrictions on the exact criteria as long as it helped the BMD. The details are still to be finalised but the amount is hoped to be at least €10,000 per year for several years. The S.I.B.B. would publish information via the clubs and wished for someone from the IWG to take part in the process. It was suggested that as President Dr Bachmann was the obvious choice although he was reluctant to take part due to pressure of work he agreed to represent the group in this task. It was hoped to announce the first award in Burgdorf next year.
Mr Green proposed that the meeting recorded a big vote of thanks to the S.I.B.B. for this fantastic gesture and everyone agreed. It was suggested that details of the award could be another link from our web site to make them available to everyone. Also the research or project should also be made available to all via links on the BIWG website.
Dr Bachmann closed the meeting by thanking everyone for the friendly and constructive discussion.
Submitted by Steve Green