Profile: C.A. Sharp First printed in the Australian Shepherd Journal, Mar/Apr 2004 She’s an award-winning writer of articles on canine health and genetics as well as the editor of the award-winning newsletter, Double Helix; she’s a popular seminar presenter and the President of the Australian Shepherd Genetics and Health Institute; and she’s an invaluable resource and source of support for those researching pedigrees or genetic issues in their lines. To the current generation of breeders, her name is as familiar as Hartnagle, Windermere, Sisler, or Flintridge. But who, really, is C.A. Sharp? ASJ: Tell us a little about your background. Born and grew up in California, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley. I have two sisters and a brother, all younger. My parents were both teachers. ASJ: Was it a doggie household? Do you remember your first dog? None of my relatives are “dog people,” but we did have a dog. Snazzy got her name because my four-year-old sister mistook her for her Dachshund mother, Schnapsie. Her pronunciation came out “Snazzy.” While Snazzy’s mother had a respectable background, her father was a “traveling salesman.” She was nominally a birthday present for my sister, but she was really the whole family’s dog. Snazzy was a wonderful family pet. A pal for us kids and a great watchdog, with that fierce Dachshund loyalty. She could be a terror with adults she viewed as intruders, but she was gentle and patient with all the neighborhood kids and a perfect lady when she ventured out in public. She accompanied us on our summer vacations and camping trips. One of her favorite vacation sports was chasing ground squirrels. She’d run them down a hole, then her Dachs heritage went to work in a fury of flying dirt and rocks. Often all we could see of her was her rump and madly waving tail. Meanwhile the squirrels would pop up another hole and laugh at her. Snazzy gave us 17 wonderful years. ASJ: When and where did you get your first Aussie? My first Aussie was a blue merle dog named “Silver” and I got him in 1973. His parents belonged to a friend of mine and I was very fond of his sire. Silver was a special dog. A bad infection after his tail was docked settled in his bones and deformed his hindquarters. I always said that nobody ever told Silver he couldn’t do something. He was a very active dog and got around on “front wheel drive”—pulling himself along with his muscular forequarters while his hind legs kept that end upright and following. ASJ: Many members of the fancy are unaware that you were once a breeder yourself. Would you tell us a bit about your showing and breeding experiences? I got started helping a friend show her dogs in the early 70s. I got my own dog to show in 1974, Royal Patterns of Digeridu. She was by a half brother of George’s Red Rustler and a bitch from the old Spencer line from Southern California. Patte was placed with me in exchange for a litter the breeder wanted. She bred her to Apache Tears of Timberline and I got to keep one bitch, Nahlin of Digeridu, out of that cross. These were not the best conformation dogs, and I also had some problems with hip dysplasia. Patte was dysplastic and when I bred Nahlin to Wildhagen’s Dutchman of Flintridge, one of their pups was severely dysplastic. Phil had warned me that Dusty had produced affected offspring, so it wasn’t a huge shock. Being a novice, I was overly optimistic. I had shifted to dogs that were pretty much Flintridge in background by the late 70s. My kennel name, permanently registered with ASCA, is Dragonwyre. You occasionally see one of my dogs in a pedigree. Usually one of three littermates: Cav, Capi, and Tess. I showed Ch. Cavalier of Dragonwyre, TT, “Cav,” to his championship in Bred By. Most of his points were from breeder judges—Alan McCorkle, Charlene Benjamin, Laura Dawes, and Ginger Shoemake. Two of his full sisters, Ch. Caprice of Dragonwyre, CDX, “Capi,” and Go For Blue of Dragonwyre, “Tess,” belonged to Cathie Kimmel (now Flower) of Windyridge Kennel and appear behind dogs of her breeding. I owned a couple other dogs of note: Ch. Meyer’s Midnight Shadow, CD, TT, ASCA Champion #13 and the first of Dusty’s offspring to champion. I got him from Phil’s sister, Margaret Meyer. Waya of Hazlewood, CD, TT, was dam of Ch. Wajur of Didgeridu Alibi Too, CDX, STDds (who is not of my breeding, much as I’d love to claim him!). From the late 70s through the late 80s I bred about a dozen litters under my kennel name. ASJ: Why did you stop breeding? Was it because of genetic issues? In part—not genetic problems with my dogs, but because I was doing more and more work on breed health issues. I felt that continuing to breed and compete opened me up for accusations that I was doing this to serve my own breeding/showing agenda. I also had other reasons. My eyesight became very bad in the early 90s. Bad enough I can’t drive. It became difficult to travel to dog shows and impossible for me to continue living in the country. My home here in town is not large enough for more than a couple dogs. ASJ: When did you first become involved in researching Aussie genetics, and how did you get started? The study of genetics has interested me ever since I studied Gregor Mendel and his pea plants in high school biology. When I got into dog breeding, it wasn’t surprising that I started reading whatever I could find on canine genetics. Phil Wildhagen (Bonnie-Blu) was very helpful to me early on, pointing me toward books and other resources. Betty Nelson was chair of ASCA’s original genetics committee. Sometime around 1980 I read a request for help with a color project in the Times. I don’t remember the details any more, but I responded with all the stuff I could dig up—pictures of the pertinent dogs, etc. Betty was impressed with my effort and we struck up a regular correspondence. After a couple years, she asked me to serve on the committee, and I did so until it was disbanded in 1986. Dr. George Padgett taught me the importance of tracking genetic disease and of openly sharing information not only about the disease, but what dogs produced or had it. He helped me design my CEA pedigree analysis. More recently, the late Dr. John Armstrong helped me understand population genetics and how that branch of the science applies to breeding purebred dogs. ASJ: What is your educational background? You're both a scientist and a writer...did you study both formally? I have a college degree, but it has little to do with writing or science. My science is mostly self-taught. Even so, I’ve achieved co-author credit on two peer-reviewed journal articles. Not too shabby!. I read tons of stuff, and most of it is science. I started taking my writing seriously about twenty years ago. I attend a weekly workshop session with other writers. It isn’t a fluffy gee-your-stuff-is-wonderful session, it’s a fang-and-claw group designed to hone our skills to a professional level. ASJ: When did pedigree research go from being a casual interest or hobby to a serious sideline? How did you find time for it, in addition to working at a "real" job? I started looking at pedigrees when I was on the ASCA Genetics Committee, because people started asking me why something happened with one of their dogs or in one of their litters. If several people are asking about the same problem and there are similarities in the pedigrees, it can give hints about where it’s coming from and how it is inherited. I’d also hit the books to find out what was known about inheritance of the condition they were asking about, though I learned early on that how something works in one breed is not necessarily how it works in another. (I can thank a lecture by Gus Aguirre of Cornell back in the 80s for opening my eyes to that bit of knowledge.) I didn’t start doing any formal pedigree analysis until after the publication of the journal article about CEA in Aussies. Initially I did it only for CEA, because that was the only thing I had sufficient data on to draw any conclusions, and the mode of inheritance was known (recessive). Trying to do more at that point would have been cumbersome because it was done by hand, working off of file cards. Today, thanks to a computer, I can arrange and sort through data much more efficiently. I’m now tracking at least a dozen and a half different things. When I had a “day job” I did accounting. My penchant for number crunching comes in handy with the dog stuff. Up until the mid-90s when I finally went online, the genetics work occasionally took a chunk of time, but I had plenty of slow spells. Afterward, the world “discovered” me and I got busier and busier. I’d sneak the dog stuff in around other work at the office and often put in a few hours at home before and after work and over the weekends. A couple years ago my patient and long-suffering husband suggested I “retire” so I could spend more time on my writing and genetics work. He also wanted to see more of his wife than the back of her head as she peered at a computer screen. I now try to avoid working evenings and weekends on things related to dogs. ASJ: How long have you been assisting breeders by analyzing their pedigrees? I started doing the analysis for CEA only in the late 80s—’88 or ’89 I think. I finally discarded the really old analysis reports earlier this year, so I can’t check for sure. I started doing a fuller analysis, looking at multiple diseases, in 1999, when I’d acquired the software and after I’d spent hundreds of hours pouring through more than 15 years worth of paper files to input data. I’ve been gathering data since the mid-80s. Until a few years ago, all of it was confidential. Something Betty Nelson taught me right off was that people will not trust you with information at all if you don’t promise them it is going to be confidential. She didn’t tell me much of anything relating to what specific dogs had been affected or produced something until she’d worked with me closely for a couple years and knew I could be trusted. ASJ: When did you begin to publish Double Helix? For years after the ASCA Genetics Committee was disbanded, people had been tracking me down to ask questions about genetic issues. They would find me even after I moved and my forwarding address and phone referral had long expired. ASCA did virtually nothing on genetic issues during those years. When USASA started up, it initially focused on other issues. There was a dearth of information about hereditary disease and other genetic issues, and if people were going to considerable effort to locate me, there was a recognized need for that kind of information. I decided the easiest way to do it was launch a newsletter. The first issue of Helix (Winter 1993) was sent free to all the ASCA affiliates, contacts within USASA and ASCA, and people who had written me about genetic issues over the few previous years. By the time the Spring issue was out, I had a paid subscriber list. That's not a whole lot of people, but it's a specialized piece. Not everybody wants to do “technical” reading, and some are scared of science and automatically assume it will be too hard to understand. I do make a great effort to keep it understandable for laymen, which most of my subscribers are. However, I'm gratified that I'm also able to keep the attention of a few vets, MDs and PhDs. It also went international very early on. I've always got several Canadian subscribers, as well as subscribers in Europe and Australia. Feature articles get reprinted and translated on a regular basis. Every issue contains a lead column that's sort of a “current events” report. There is a feature article on some aspect of genetics; it may be about a particular disease, some aspect of genetics, breeding strategies, or other related topics. There is also a one-page science column that gives about a half-dozen brief reports on discoveries in genetics outside the world of dogs. Some of these are about important discoveries, but some are just gee-whiz fun. I also have short subjects that highlight books, articles, websites, etc. All in eight action-packed pages! Recently we've been sending a complimentary one-year subscription to those who donate $50 or more to ASHGI, including donations for AussieGENES. ASJ: When did you begin compiling the Open list? The Open list came to be a few years ago when there was one of those he said/she said flaps on Aussie-L, this one bearing on genetic disease and the honesty of breeders. I decided to put out a little challenge: I’d start keeping “open” files from those who were willing to have information shared. I even kicked it off by sharing information about my own dogs. The silence that greeted this announcement was deafening. Even so, a few people contacted me privately, and the infamous “Open List” was born. It got very little attention and wasn’t very long—maybe a couple pages—until just recently. Last summer it got “discovered” on Aussie-L (where its birth was long forgotten) when it came up during a discussion spurred by what I’ve come to call The Epilepsy Issue of the Journal. Word spread from there. A refreshing change this time was that a number of people have been willing to come forward and the list is now over a dozen pages long. I’ve also incorporated information from the European open disease registries. This stuff is as much public domain as the open parts of OFA’s database, but language barriers often keep people in North America from accessing it. ASJ: You recently decided to stop administering the Open List. What future do you see for any type of Open Registry within the breed? What would you like to see happen, in a best-case scenario? In a perfect world, everybody would talk openly about this stuff without fear of recrimination. However, this is not a perfect world, and there are those who will take steps to prevent the free flow of information about inherited disease. That is why I suspended distribution of the list. However, I am considering options that may avoid the pitfalls of the list in its prior form. There is also a group of breeders that were very unhappy about what happened and are looking into a method of providing open information. I applaud and support their efforts, even though I’m not directly involved. I hope they can put something together that is “bomb proof.” Even without a batch of Incorrigibles battering at the gates, maintaining a single-breed disease registry is no easy matter. It requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a secure place to store the data in paper as well as electronic form. Like most dog clubs, such an effort would be all volunteer. Those of us who have been involved with clubs and volunteer groups know that they go through ups and downs and sometimes crash and burn because volunteers can no longer support them. But there is another option… I think the best system for openly recording information on inherited disease is already available and virtually impervious to Incorrigible tampering. It’s the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) (See Genetic Issues, p. x.) CHIC is an all-breed open health registry operated by OFA in cooperation with the AKC Canine Health Foundation. The diseases it focuses on vary from breed to breed—for Aussies they are hips, elbows, thyroid, and eyes. However, if your dog is already in the CHIC database, you can submit additional information on other diseases. CHIC has a searchable online database that makes information there readily available to anyone who wants to look at it—and I very much doubt anyone would be so stupid as to threaten OFA or CHF because they didn’t want information of their dogs listed. ASJ: How much resistance did you meet along the way (or do you still meet) from breeders? Did it ever make you want to quit? For the most part, people are very appreciative of my efforts. I’m really touched when people thank me even when I’ve just had to give them bad news. Because I sometimes—too often—find myself in the position of delivering bad news, some people will react by “shooting the messenger.” I have been called at various times by various people (and usually not to my face) biased, haven’t a clue, inaccurate, unprofessional, unqualified and a witchdoctor. One person said I thought I was the Goddess of Aussies. Goddess has a nice ring to it, but the goddess-biz probably requires dressing up more often than I like, so I’ll decline the honor, thank you. Stuff that goes on behind my back doesn’t particularly bother me. Sometimes (as with the witchdoctor and goddess accusations) it actually amuses me. I can deal with someone who’s angry so long as they are civil. I understand why people might feel they have a good reason to be angry with me. However if people get verbally nasty or threaten me, as a handful have, they aren’t likely to get much response from me after that. Sometimes the negative reaction is discouraging. Sometimes it makes me angry. I work through it, remembering that there are a lot of folks out there who do appreciate what I do. And it also helps that I have received respect and encouragement from scientists and from people filling similar roles to mine for other breeds. But probably the hardest thing I have to do is tell people something I know they are not going to want to hear about a dog they love. Not because they might be angry with me, but because I know I’m going to hurt them. ASJ: When did you begin doing seminars for clubs? What are the questions you hear most often at your seminars? I did my first seminar for the Rogue River club, in 1985 or 1986. Since then, I’ve done them all over the country, several times in Canada, and at three Nationals (one USASA and two ASCA.) The questions I get really vary from group to group and depend on who is there and what the local concerns are. Each audience is different, and that makes it more interesting for me. ASJ: What made you decide to form ASGHI? Several things. Having a non-profit health organization can facilitate a number of things, not the least of which is a way for people to make tax-deductible donations toward research and education. An organization could get more folks involved in the process of teaching others in the breed and encouraging participation in research projects—we are seeing this right now through the AussieGENES program. The political landscape in our breed in the U.S. with two national clubs, both with their own political quirks and no great love lost between them, made it unlikely that anything done by either club could put something together that would receive general acceptance. I also have become very aware over the past few years that the world is getting smaller. Aussies are no longer a U.S. or North American breed, they are all around the world. Our issues are also those of breeders in Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. A breed health organization should exist for the breed, wherever it is found. Lastly, life delivered me several swift kicks in the gut a couple years ago and made me face the fact that I’m not going to live forever—and that all my efforts could wind up in a dumpster if I didn’t plan ahead. I wasn’t the only one thinking along these lines, and after a lot of discussion, Pete Adolphson, George Johnson and I decided to put ASHGI together. Pete and George were instrumental in the formation of ASHGI, and I doubt it would have happened without them. Not only did they contribute greatly to its formation, but they each brought professional and academic credentials in the life sciences, which I lack. Pete isn’t on the board now, but Dr. Kylie Munyard, an Australian geneticist who also has Australian shepherds, has joined us. Having a geneticist on board is quite a plus. ASJ: AussieGENES is an offshoot of ASGHI...what is its mission? How did it evolve? AussieGENES is an acronym for Aussie Genetic Epilepsy Network and Education Service. I think the name pretty much says it—the purpose is to provide an information and support network for people dealing with the disease and to educate people about epilepsy in the breed, the resources available to them, and research projects out there for our breed. The genesis of AussieGENES was a group of breeders who realized that the status quo with epilepsy—namely ignoring it and hoping it would go away—was not working. They had been stung by the disease themselves and were appalled when they started asking around and found out how many people were in the same boat. The ball was already rolling before I became involved. They wanted to do something publicly to bring attention to the situation. I told them about the “For Your Eyes Only” ads about CEA that were run in the Times in the early 90s. They talked to Gina Larson, who was instrumental in that effort, discussed it some more and decided to do their own education and awareness campaign. I suggested that they bring it under ASHGI’s banner so that donations to support it could be deducted. They agreed and it has become a program of ASHGI, with Kristin Rush as the chairwoman. Claire Gustafson has done most of the design work on the ads, which I think are super. Really eye-catching. USASA has been very supportive, sponsoring a series of ads in the Journal. Ann DeChant and Kristina Churchill have been very active in getting it up and running. Other people have also contributed, and I don’t mean to slight anyone by omitting them. I hope they’ll forgive if I don’t reel out a long list of names here. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about AussieGENES is how many people have come forward to put their names on the first ad, talk about their own experiences, or join a topic-specific discussion list called EpiGenes, set up by Ann DeChant, who was one of the first to warn people years ago that we needed to pay more attention to this disease. ASJ: You have been quoted as saying that epilepsy is now threatening to overtake cataracts as the top genetic issue in Aussies. Are you feeling more optimistic about the prognosis for finding a genetic marker now that so many more owners and breeders are coming forward to share information? Guardedly optimistic. People are talking more, but in spite of that there has not been any marked increase in samples provided to the researchers. The VetGen protocol required family groups, which made it harder to get what they needed—because in most cases you have to have the cooperation of several individuals, any one of whom can be a deal killer by refusing to take part. However, even the Canine Epilepsy Network’s effort (the one spear-headed by the University of Missouri), which will take individual affected dogs, hasn’t had a huge increase in submissions as of the last time I asked, about a month ago. If people cooperate and give samples to the researchers, there is a good chance that we will eventually have some kind of screening test. ASJ: VetGen has recently halted research on epilepsy in the Australian shepherd, in part because of lack of breeder support. What impact do you think this will have on the search for a genetic marker? While it does mean the end of that particular line of study, there is still a very viable project being conducted by the Canine Epilepsy Network, a group of researchers at several universities lead by the University of Missouri. The more qualified people you have approaching the problem from different angles the better. But while the end of VetGen’s project is disappointing, it isn’t totally devastating, because there is another excellent study that is still in place. Since this other group is not part of a commercial enterprise, they are not under the constraints a business faces to come up with a marketable product in a relatively short time frame. Frankly, I was very grateful that VetGen hung in there as long as it did, since I knew they ultimately had shareholders to answer to. ASJ: What advice do you have for those who have submitted DNA samples to VetGen? The samples you sent in will be (or have been) used in their effort to find candidate genes for epilepsy, so they were not “lost,” nor was the effort wasted. However, if you did not also send samples to the University of Missouri, you should do so. I know that some of the samples were submitted quite a while ago. If the affected dog is no longer available, please visit the Canine Epilepsy Network’s website (canine-epilepsy.net) and fill out the seizure survey form for your affected dog. That will also provide valuable information even if DNA is no longer available from the dog. ASJ: Very few people realize that you're a serious writer of short stories and novels in addition to dog-related health and genetics topics. Have you always been a writer? I’ve been seriously writing for about twenty years now, though not with huge success outside of my dog writing. I’ve had a couple of short stories published in the “confession” magazines and placed a few with a local literary magazine in the 80s. I published some wildlife-related articles with a kids’ magazine around that time, also. I also have a science fiction novel and a fantasy trilogy “on the shelf” (meaning I wasn’t able to sell them). In the meanwhile I’m sticking with my strength and giving serious consideration to doing a canine genetics book. ASJ: What awards have you won for your work? I’ve won an award for the unpublished SF novel from a local writer’s group a few years back. I’ve entered Double Helix Network News in the Dog Writers Association of America’s annual competition for published work every year but once since I started it. Helix has been a finalist almost every year and won DWAA’s “Maxwell Award” in its category once. I’ve also entered a variety of individual articles. The Biggest Problem and The Rising Storm were both finalists and The Price of Popularity won a Maxwell. My most exciting win was when the AKC Canine Health Foundation awarded me the “Golden Paw” award early in 2003. I was further honored when they invited me to this year’s Parent Club Health Conference in St. Louis. That wasn’t an award, per se, but I feel it was a recognition of my work both as a writer and a champion of canine health. ASJ: How many dogs do you share your life with now? At the moment, I have two. Sydney is a rescue Aussie. Doing what I do, there’s no way I can go to anyone and buy a dog. Not because of what I know, but because other people would interpret my buying a dog from someone as meaning something more than I wanted another dog. It’s rescues for me from here on out, but I’ll always have at least one Aussie. My other dog is Pepper the Mutt. According to the shelter officials she was a “Queensland mix.” In reality, she’s a large part Dalmatian crossed with some sort of herding dog, possibly Aussie (her tail is docked). We also have two cats, four small parrots in the house, goldfish outdoors in a pond, and a backyard aviary with finches, canaries, doves and button quail. My husband is into birds. It’s definitely a critter place. ASJ: Tell me more about the birds...how many, what kind, when and how did you get into them? My husband developed an interest in birds after an eco-tour vacation in Costa Rica. We already had a cockatiel as a house bird, but thought a backyard aviary would be nice. Birds are fun to watch and listen to. We built an 8 x12 flight off one side of our garage with a deck on top so we can sit and admire the wild birds that frequent the many big trees in our neighborhood. In the flight we have doves, button quail (actually a kind of rail), canaries, and an assortment of finches. We tried to keep a pair of tourquoisine grasskeets, but they didn’t work out. They did well and raised a chick, but proved too aggressive with the other birds. We sold the pair to a breeder and the offspring has joined the cockatiel in the house, where we also have a pair of budgies. ASJ: What do you do for fun in your spare time? Spare time? What’s that? Actually, I do have some other activities. I’m a long-time volunteer at our local zoo. One Saturday a month my husband and I are on the zoo grounds, talking to the public about the animals. My husband and I enjoy traveling and take a couple trips a year, usually to someplace tropical—but this past summer we went to Victoria, BC. And we’ve been to Australia, too. Hawaii’s probably our favorite, but next year we’ll be taking one and maybe two trips to Europe. I love to read. I always have a paperback novel in my purse so I’ll have something to do if I’m waiting for something somewhere (which happens a lot if you don’t drive!). I’ll have another novel—one that won’t fit in my purse—on my nightstand, and I read all kinds of nonfiction, too. A lot of it’s science, of course, but I also read history, biographies, geography. All kinds of stuff. I’m a certified biblioholic. One of our biggest “hobbies” is our home. It was built in 1922, which is old for this part of California, and my family has owned it since 1940. Like old homes everywhere, it needs this and that. We are gradually sprucing the old girl up. Right now it’s a bathroom remodel that has the added benefit of giving us a walk-in closet in our bedroom. Next project will either be the office (away with the board-and-block shelves!). Or maybe the living and dining rooms. The Journal would like to thank C.A. Sharp for taking time from her busy schedule of home renovations and genetic research to participate in this interview. To subscribe to the Double Helix Network News or check out the upcoming seminar schedule, contact C.A. Sharp at helix@qnis.net. The Australian Shepherd Genetics and Health Institute’s website is located at http://www.asghi.org.