Info about buccal swabs:
We do not require a specific brand of the swab - so the easiest is to get buccal swab in your local pharmacy store and just send them via normal post in paper envelope :)
There are two back up options, if you cannot optain buccal swabs yourself -
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I can send you the ones we have at the institute (there would be a fee for that), or
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You can try the biggist interdental brushes (the least optimal option).
Lower there are pictures of what the buccal swab should look like - its the simples possible option of the brush.
You can take the samples yourself. No need for the vet.
The whole process is quite simple - we do have an online questionare for filling all the data and photos (required for color research like whireheads or shades of brown). After filling, you chose buccal swab sending option. And you get a generated PDF with instructions about how to take samples. And you send both PDF and sample via normal post to the Institute of Genetics.
The important thing is, that samples are properly labeled for each dog. Taking the sample is the same as for MyDogDNA testing. So easy to do just yourself :)
Which dogs?:
It would be a great help if you could join research with your dog/dogs! Every dog counts as majority of traits doesnt seem to be a simple monogenic trait.
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Annnd we also do have projects for finding a underlying genetics for shades of brown color, blue eyes, hip dysplasia, OCD, epilepsy and other traits and we are searching for healthy dogs too - so if you would consider helping us with contribution of your dogs, it would be great!
You can find out more here, or just ask me in case something is not clear :)
We accept blood or buccal swab samples. One sample can be part of multiple projects, so sending just once is enough
How does the research work?:
This is how research works in general in the world - via sample donations. The research is done at University of Bern, so in case you have some doupts, you can contact directly prof. Tosso Leeb, who is my boss. I am geneticist who is doing the research, my goal is to try help the border collie breed and work on the complex traits - for this a lot of samples are needed. Sadly not many people know about ongoing research, so there is not enough samples and it takes years to actually collect enough dogs for meaningful research. We ask people for donating the sample, but the whole genetic analysis and processing of samples and data is paid by university or research grands, not by owners and breeders. What I am allowed to do is to offer test results for free in case we will be able to find a causal variant. Feel free to ask more
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