Clean Run - November 2017 - 36

knowing what lenses they were wearing
or if they were wearing any at all. Unfortunately due to extenuating circumstances, results could not be obtained
from the study. But I mention it because
we subsequently contacted Dr. Murphy
and have benefited from his expertise in
several projects.

Final Thoughts

My conclusion from all the studies and
my own research is that vision abnormalities are at the core of ETO behaviors.
It is likely that a variety of issues cause
ETOs, and at times a variety of defects
in the dog's eyes may add up to causing the effect of ETOs. There is not any
single issue that is solely responsible. We
have tested dogs with a very high level
of myopia who do not have jumping issues and dogs with results that are not
extreme who do have ETOs. Even if we
were able to test young dogs easily, and
through years of testing be able to produce an exact formula that causes ETOs,
there is no simple fix that will make ETOs
go away. Our dogs cannot wear traditional glasses, nor easily wear contact
lenses, and we don't have all the exact
formulas to correct their vision.

Prevention amounts to doing research
before you buy an agility puppy to try
to discover if direct relatives may have
ETOs or be known to have produced
dogs with ETOs. As a breeder you can
try to do the best you possibly can to
do the same research in dogs you use
for breeding and being as open and
honest with puppy buyers about any
vision issues, just as you would with
any other heritable trait. As an owner
of an dog with ETOs, you can follow
all Linda Mecklenburg's guidelines for
managing and helping your dog (see
her article on page 7). You can read
as much as possible on the subject,
like the two-part article by Dr. Cynthia
Cook, "What Do They See and How Do
We Know," published in the January
and February 2009 issues of Clean Run
and available in the Magazine section
of their website: https://www.cleanrun.
com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.
display&category_ID=459).
All of our dogs see things differently
than we do and equipment colors, spacing, and presentation of jumps affect

even good jumpers negatively at times.
We can only imagine that any vision abnormality added to that could create
even more difficult jumping situations.
If you have a dog displaying ETOs you
should certainly have that dog's vision
tested. There are other abnormalities like
PRA, iris atrophy, vitreous degeneration,
and likely many others I am unaware of,
which can cause ETO symptoms. Some
of these might be able to be treated or
at least you will have a better understanding of what is affecting your dog.
I would like to thank Lori Plummer for all
the collaboration over the years discussing ETOs and vision in dogs and for helping get the study with Dr. Gina Day started. Thanks to all my students and friends,
especially Channan Fosty, who I tortured
with jump grids and video sessions too
many times and who also made valuable
suggestions on this article. Thank you to
Linda Mecklenburg for all the time and
energy she has put into the wonderful
writing about how to help our ETO dogs,
and thanks to Clean Run for dedicating an
issue to this subject. And a very special
thanks to all of you with ETO dogs that
participated in our studies. I hope this issue shines more light not just on ETOs but
of how a dog's vision affects our sport. D

References
For the convenience of readers of the
print issue, we have included an online list of references on our website so
that you can click on a reference and go
directly to a cited article. Go to www.
cleanrun.com and select Magazine from
the navigation menu at the top left of
the screen. Scroll down under the main
photo and click on the "Read Archived
Articles" photo, then select the Heath Dogs category.
1. Ron Ofri, DVM, PhD; Steven R. Hollingsworth, DVM; Allyson Groth, BVSc; Monica J. Motta, BS; John H. Doval; Philip H.
Kass, DVM, PhD; Christopher J. Murphy,
DVM, PhD. "Effect of optical defocus
on performance of dogs involved in
field trial competition." American Journal of Veterinary Research, Vol 73, No.
4, April 2012. Download free PDF from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221977514_Effect_of_optical_defocus_on_performance_of_dogs_involved_in_field_trial_competition.

Clean Run | November 17

http://www.cleanrun.com http://www.cleanrun.com https://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=459 https://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=459 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221977514_Effect_of_optical_defocus_on_performance_of_dogs_involved_in_field_trial_competition

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