Pincie Creek Australian Shepherds

A post was submitted to various Australian Shepherd internet discussion lists by a breeder who claims that some of her dogs bred from Hangin' Tree bloodlines had epilepsy. Unfortunately, since none of the dogs that supposedly were affected are still living, the diagnosis cannot be confirmed. The Hangin' Tree bloodline and Aussies in general would have greatly benefited if the breeder had acknowledged this alleged problem years ago while the dogs were alive. So while we certainly cannot confirm or deny what problems other breeders have or haven't had with their dogs, here's what we can truthfully and confidently, tell you about ours:

1.	We own HOF Sire WTCH Hangin' Tree Blue Bear CD RD RTDsc PATDsc CGC and his full sister WTCH Peters Ranch Teal Sydney Bear RD RTDsc. We have owned Bear since he was five months old and acquired Syd when she was about fifteen months old. Bear is now almost nine and Syd is seven. We also own another Hangin' Tree bred bitch, Peters Ranch Like a Rocket, that we have had since she was eight weeks old. Rocket is almost five. To view pedigrees of these dogs, click on their names. None of these three dogs has ever had a seizure of any kind.
2.	We kept three littermates from the first Blue Bear x Reba cross; they are now five years old. A fourth littermate was kept until she was two years old. We are in contact with the other dogs from this litter and none of them have ever had seizures of any kind. Surely, if these dogs were prone to seizures, they would have manifested themselves by now.
3.	We have outcrossed the Hangin' Tree lines onto several other bloodlines; among them Slash V, Woods, Twin Oaks, and Las Rocosa. We have kept offspring from Blue Bear litters, from Syd, and from Rocket. These dogs now range in age from a few months to four years. None of them have ever had seizures of any kind.
4.	We keep in touch with the owners of Pincie Creek dogs and follow their progress closely. We have only had one person who bought a dog from us, from Hangin' Tree lines or other, tell us that the dog had a seizure. This seizure occurred after the dog had an accident with a four-wheeler. The veterinarian confirmed that the seizure was caused from trauma to the head. The dog had never had a seizure before, recovered completely from the accident, and has not had another seizure.
5.	We operate a working farm with cattle, sheep, goats, and ducks. We also gather and pen livestock for other people- often "wild" cows that haven't seen a human in quite a while. Our dogs earn their living by helping us with this livestock. Many times they have worked under adverse conditions - in the heat, 100% humidity, cold, rain, at night - you name it - and by necessity have been pushed to the limits of their endurance. Since stress can trigger a seizure in a susceptible dog, if any of ours was susceptible to seizures they certainly should have shown up. Never did any of our dogs have a seizure.

Anyone who breeds dogs knows that unforeseen problems and illnesses can occur at any time, without warning or predisposition. So we don't claim that our dogs are perfect but we do feel confident in making the statement that our dogs are as sound, genetically and physically, as any bloodline can be. We can also truthfully say that we have never experienced personally, nor know of, any epilepsy in our dogs. However, should epilepsy (or any other genetic disease) occur in a Pincie Creek dog, we will stand behind it 100% and will gladly replace it.

We all know that the Hangin' Tree bloodline has endured its share of criticism. If any dog we have sold from this bloodline had EVER had a seizure, we feel certain that not only us, but the entire Aussie world would have known about it. Just as Hangin' Tree dogs have endured the rumors of the past, we feel confident that they will endure this rumor, too, and shall prove to the skeptical to be just what we know they are - some of the soundest (physically, genetically, and mentally) and best working dogs in the nation.

If you'd like more general information about canine epilepsy please visit these sites: