February 2009Monthly Archives

How Would You Fix The Purebred Dogs?

Arizona Doberman

So… there’s so much controversy in the Pure Bred Dog world about the health of pure bred dogs. You can’t turn a corner without hearing such and such is wrong with this breed, such and such is wrong with that. It’s quite sad, actually, and as we all know us humans have created the problem.

So lately I’ve been wondering what people thought about fixing the pure breeds. According to the American Kennel Club (AKC), and probably the United Kennel Club (UKC) as well, to be a registered pure bred dog both of the puppy’s parents have to be registered pure breeds. I don’t know how far back this goes, but I’m betting pretty darn far back.

What if your registered dog… maybe now called a Registered Member of the Breed, instead of a Pure Bred (as Pure Bred states that the dog was Bred Pure… and maybe in the future he’ll not be Bred with “Pure” blood lines…) could have other breeds mixed in once again, to improve the health of the breed.

What would you do? Would you take the Doberman Pincher, and breed some healthy sight hound into him? Would you take the collie and cross him with some greyhound maybe?

Do you think it’s actually possible, with this method or any other, to fix the genetic problems of a specific breed, maybe even adding in some mixed breeds? Or do you think the Canis lupus familiaris is so far gone that he has no hope at all?

Cynthia

February 24, 2009

Daily Posts

9 comments

Chatter, Health

Lucy and her Megaesophagus

And as the days go on, we continue to deal with Lucy’s Megaesophagus. It’s not fun.. and each time we have to sit her up in the chair to feed her, I am saddened that she has this awful disease. And each time she regurgitates on the bed frames, I feel bad for her.

Her weight is holding steady at about 61 pounds, which is good for her. We don’t want her to get below about 58 or so. She has been up to 65 in the past, but 61 is better for her anyway. My Husband has been taking her for walks to the local park about three times a week, which is great for her muscle tone and strength. Plus, she loves getting out!

She usually still regurgitates on a regular basis though. Mostly after she sneaks a drink of water that we don’t know about. Sometimes her food doesn’t seem to go down, though, and she’ll regurge the food too. But for the most part it stays down.

She just turned 10 on February 15. And we realize that once a dog is 10, they are considered getting old. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since little puppy Lucy came to live with us. I wish she would live as long as us.

We are managing the megaesophagus okay, I think. I wish she wouldn’t ever regurgitate, I need to look it up and see if it’s normal for dogs to continue to do so, or if there are ways to prevent it entirely. All in all, our Lucy girl is doing pretty good, all things considered.

Cynthia

February 22, 2009

Lucy

13 comments

Lucy, Megaesophagus

Girl Dog Names

Tatum Sleepy

A while ago I posted about Boy Dog Names, and thought now I would post about Girl Dog Names!

Of the boy names, I like Quinn the best, and I think I’d name my next boy collie Quinn.

I love Scottish and Gaelic names… so I’m looking at some websites that have these. I also thought Olive would be a cute girls name… I also like Cae, pronounced Kay, but since okay is my release word, I think that would be a bad name! I also like Ceana, but that is also too much like okay.

Ailie … is pretty
Colina … is kinda nice, it means young hound. lol
Fiona … Oooo I really like Fiona! Fi for short!
Kenna … hmm I like this one too.
Lilias … hrmm
Marsali … from the Roman God of War
Nessa … cute

These are from a Scottish Girl Names page I found on the web.

There are a ton of names on the web.. what are you favorite girl dog names? I named Lucy, which I still like. Tatum came named, and her name really has grown on me! And Angel came named, which isn’t a name I would chose, but it’s kinda cute. We call her Pumpkin Pie too!

Long Days of Agility

Tatum's Recall

Whew! What a weekend! I am dead tired. At the end of the first day I thought having a 3 day ASCA trial was a great idea (ASCA is Australian Shepherd Club of America). However, today, after the third day was over, I think two days are better! I’m dead tired. So are my dogs, Levi, Chase and Tatum. Here’s a brief overview of how things went.

I entered Levi in Open A Obedience on Saturday. He is such a good boy. He did perfect on his 3 minute out of sight sit stay, and his 5 minute out of sight down stay! I was so proud, because he was having problems with these in the past. These were done first and out of the way. Then we did the obedience run through. Well, he didn’t sit at his halts very much again. Leftover from the show ring, I’m sure. He looses lots of points that way but maybe we can Q without sits. He failed at his Drop on Recall. Never before in training has he anticipated the drop. He’s always run to me too fast and dropped at me feet. So we have worked this quite a bit so he’ll drop when I say, not at my feet. Well… so he anticipated the drop the whole way to the drop point, the dork! Then when I called him to front, he anticipated again, and dropped at my feet. This goofy boy! LOL. His retreive on the flat was beautiful. His retreive over the high was okay… he went out to get the dumbbell, then on the way back he went by the jump, not over. Another spot we zeroed. His broad jump was excellent though!

So no Q for him. But that’s okay, we are still working out the kinks. We have about a month until the next obedience trial he is entered in.

Chase did great in agility on Saturday. He Q’d both his novice jumpers runs so I moved him to Open for Sunday. He also got a half Q in a standard run. I’m tellin ya… I LOVE ASCA with Chase! Instead of AKC where I have to turn him so hard, and my timing is not that quick… ASCA gave us nice wide open courses and just a small ‘Chase’ calls him to me and he has enough room to change course. Same with a ‘Turn’ for him to turn away from me. ASCA is great with me and Chase! I loved it.

So Chase ended the three day weekend with 5 Qs. He got his Novice Jumpers title the first day and we moved to open the second day. Of course off hand I don’t remember what he got on which day. He got a 1/2 Q in Standard one of the days (dropped bar, you can still get a 5 point Q). And he had a gorgeous run the last open jumpers in the last day. But now that 5th Q escapes me. LOL. I’ll have to go look at my ribbons. He needs 5 more points for his novice standard title. Hopefully we’ll pick that up next trial.

Levi didn’t do obedience Sunday, and there was none on Monday, so that’s okay. Chase did great all weekend. We had little mistakes like dropped bars and such. But he drops bars when I run too fast and race him. I have to find the sweet spot, where I’m not too close to him, and not too far, and I think I was really getting the hang of it. I hope to get some videos… I didn’t bring my camera. There was a guy filming Saturday and Sunday, and he’s going to send me a DVD, and then today a friend of mine hopefully got some of our runs. If so, I’ll put them up on YouTube.

Levi ran one Standard and one Jumpers run on Sunday and Monday. He did great! He didn’t Q, but we are just doing it for fun now. I wanted to see his weaves, for the heck of it. Levi is 9 and I’m not willing to ‘fix’ his weaves anymore. But when I held his chest back and said Find ‘Em he did great! So we were eliminated for training but that’s nice we can do that in ASCA! And his jumpers were great, jumpers was always his favorite.

Tatum also did great! Saturday she didn’t watch me too much right out of the crate, but we worked it and she got lots better. Sunday and Monday she was paying attention to me as we trotted around. Doing some heeling, some waits, even the practice jump. She did the paw touch before, got the click/treat, then over we went. Her tail was up and wagging the whole time.

This picture is of her doing a bit of a recall by our crating area. She is really getting her stays! She’s starting to understand, and it’s neat to see. And she’s starting to get her recalls, too.

I even took her down to where the obedience ring was, and I threw the ball for her. The tennis ball… she runs out to it, doing her goofy silly bunny hopp, touches it with her mouth, and comes hopping back without the ball. So I have to work on her picking things up. She’s going to have the silliest dumbbell retreive ever!

So we had fun. I hope I’m not totally beat for work tomorrow. Guess we’ll see. I plan on getting to bed very early tonight. And now the dogs are saying it’s dinner time. Good night!

Cynthia

February 16, 2009

Agility, Chase, Levi, Tatum

3 comments

Agility, Chase, Levi, Obedience, Tatum, Training

Lucy Made It To 10

Lucy Is 10

Yay! Lucy is 10 years old today! I’m so happy… last year this time when we were trying to figure out why she wasn’t keeping food down, and she lost so much weight, I was so worried she wasn’t going to live to 10 years old. We found her megaesophagus though and she’s doing so much better now! She’s still a bit skinny and she has bad days where she regurgitates a lot of her food. But for the most part, she’s doing well.

She loves to eat, and we feel bad that we can’t give her solid treats anymore. We do give her some, sometimes, just before we feed her a liquid meal. Kibble blended with water, mostly.

Sometimes she plays with the other dogs, and my Husband has been taking her to the dog park on a regular basis so she gets too exercise. So she is doing well, and we are happy for her. Hopefully she’ll have a few more years with us. Though we realize 10 is getting up there for a big dog. She seems healthy otherwise. Well, she does have calcification of the lungs, still, but that doesn’t seem to be bothering her.

Yay for Lucy! Happy Birthday Funny Faced Baby Girl Lulu.

Health, Lucy, Megaesophagus

Feeding Healthy Food

When I feed my dogs, I feel very good about the food they are getting. A couple of years ago I finally took the plunge and read up about feeding dogs, what food is good, and what is not. I also read about feeding a raw diet and after that I was hooked.

After a few months of actually grinding my dogs food (anyone want to buy a meat grinder?), and feeding raw bones, I finally figured out what was best for me and my dogs.

Levi With A Bone

I like the idea of feeding raw bones, but it scares me. I’m afraid that the bones will get stuck or otherwise harm the dogs. So I no longer feed them bones. Well, I do feed them bones like Levi has in this picture, occasionally, but no longer do they get raw chicken or chicken necks. They get ground. I found a local game processing place that grinds wild game (with turkey and bones or without) and that is what they get for their raw meal. They also get Honest Kitchen dehydrated along with their raw ground meat, as I feel like it has the necessary supplements that they need.

Chase With a Bone

In the mornings the dogs get a kibble meal. Usually they get Blue Buffalo dog food. Lucy, with her megaesophagus, sometimes gets Canidae, because it grinds up a bit better. They were eating Avoderm, but we switched recently to Blue Buffalo. I have been adding some Evo into their food too, mainly for Lucy and Angel, since they are the older two, and I want to increase their protein intake.

Lucy doesn’t eat raw at all. With her megaesophagus, we worry about her aspirating her food. If she does, and gets bacteria into her lungs, she could develop pneumonia. And that’s too big of a risk. And Angel doesn’t seem to tolerate raw very well so she is also on kibble. But even the kibble we feed is the best we can get, and afford.

The dogs also occasionally get Keifer, raw eggs, cottage cheese, and green tripe. When I feed them these things I’m happy they are getting variety, natural foods that are best for them, and I like to see how much they enjoy it. So I’m happy with the food our dogs eat!

What do you feed your dogs?

Charlie is a Border Collie!

Charlie Girl

This is Charlie! She came upon us pretty quickly. She’s a foster and we only probably will have her until Friday morning. In rescue, things happen super fast. Unlike buying a puppy! Which can take a long time!

Charlie was at the Draper shelter (a shelter I didn’t even know existed!). I got an email a few days ago from a shelter person there, saying Charlie was a great collie, and could really needed to be rescued. Well, I do Lassie type collie rescue, not usually border collie. Unfortunately there are a zillion border collies in rescue, which is super sad. Mainly because people want a smart high energy dog… but, they don’t know exactly what that means. If a border collie doesn’t have a job, or something to do, she will give herself something to do and that’s usually chewing or digging or something destructive. So much of the time the border collie ends up in the shelter.

Pretty Charlie

Of course it’s hard to get pictures of a new foster dog, and Charlie is no exception. She is a bit wiggly and excited and doesn’t want to sit still. She was at the shelter for three months! That’s a long time. I guess she didn’t show well. She was shy and afraid and probably depressed. But it’s a shame she was shy and afraid.. because in our house she has already blossomed and we’ve only had her for four hours! She hasn’t barked yet, so she may not make a good burglar alarm. But the rest of our dogs take care of that.

I love her markings. She has a great pretty face. She is very happy and snugly. When I lay on the couch to watch TV, she is laying right next to me, pressing against me, her head on my leg as she relaxes. She loves the contact. She probably has a lot of energy, and is very smart. She’s young, about a year old. Her teeth are a bit grimy but probably not bad enough to have cleaned. And the wonderful lady at the shelter even gave her a bath, so she’s soft and she smells great!

She’s going to go to another foster home on Friday. And I hope that she will be placed, actually, through border collie rescue. Not that I wouldn’t place her through Utah Collie Rescue, but she might have a better chance with BC rescue. Plus, okay I’ll admit it, the hardest part of placing a dog is talking to the people! And maybe the BC rescue folk are better at it than me.

Border Collie, Rescue

Preparing For A Puppy

Puppy Lucy

Oh no! I might be getting a puppy! Why do I say “Oh No”? Well, because there is so much to do! It might not happen until the end of this year, or maybe even next year… but I am hoping for something this summer.

I love puppies. I haven’t had a puppy since Levi was a puppy back in 2000. Levi was born in November 1999, and he came to live with us in February 2000. He was twelve weeks old before the breeder would let him go. Same with Lucy. Though I would like to get a puppy a little bit younger, of course I respect the breeder’s opinions and get the puppies when I can.

I hope to get a Danish Swedish Farmdog. Or a Finnish Danish Swedish Yard dog. They are the same. I am talking to some breeders in Denmark and Sweden and Finland. And I have a local friend here who is from Finland and speaks Finnish which is a huge help!

I hope all my rescue friends won’t hate me for getting a puppy. I will continue to rescue… though I’m pretty burned out with rescue. I’ve dedicated over 10 years to rescue and now it’s time for a non-rescue dog.

The breeder in Finland has a litter on the ground and is expecting two more. I am trying to contact PetMove to see about costs and stuff for transporting a puppy. Of course the weather has to be just right to fly a puppy overseas.

I’m excited about a training plan for a puppy! I will have to build PVC hoops to teach the puppy basic groundwork. No jumping or excessive running until the puppy is over a year old, I do not want to strain her little bones and joints. I will be very careful with the puppy physically and emotionally. I will socialize her everywhere, taking her to all sorts of places, teaching her to be quiet in the car, and comfortable in all types of situations. Yes, I think I am ready for a puppy! A nice well bred happy confident healthy puppy! I would love to do obedience with her, and do Utility!

Yes, I’m excited. I’ll keep ya’ll posted as things develop. Hopefully when a breeder and I agree on a puppy, I’ll be able to post pictures of the sire and dam, as well as the puppy herself. But only if it’s okay with the breeder. If the breeder prefers I don’t post pictures, ya’ll will just have to wait until I get a puppy, then pictures galore!

And yes, I want a female for various reasons. A little sweet girl. I don’t care what her markings are like, I just want a nice solid working dog!