Breakthroughs—Cala

Okay, compared to Ginger my month has been really boring. No intact girls, so nobody in season. No 16 dogs in the house, no wallet being stolen (thank goodness!) I have, however, made some nice training progress with both Cala and Zipper. I'll detail Zipper in a different post.

As I described in the blog on fighting fire with fire, Cala can be a very challenging dog to train. I've been following through with the toy game with her, and I'm thrilled that it's having really amazing results. She's listening and following direction. At the Columbia show she was able to handle Rally Excellent well and take the jump twice, both days, without screaming. Her dumb handler (that would be me) blew by a sign on Saturday so no Q there, but she got a 96 and a first place in her Excellent A class on Sunday.

Right now I'm working on refining some skills with Cala. Cala has difficulty with the halt, side-step right, halt. In that exercise the dog is sitting in heel position and the human steps directly to the right one step with their right leg, then brings the left leg over to meet it. The dog should get up and also step directly right (no forward motion). When we started, Cala was coming over to the right with her head and front but mostly leaving her butt where it was, so that she ended up sitting crooked and wide. We have progressed to her coming over with her front end then swinging her back end in to sit mostly straight. That's satisfactory for Rally standards, but I'd really like to see if I can get her to sidepass. What I would like to see is her getting up and moving both her front and rear to the right at the same time in one motion, then sitting down. And recently she's done this a couple of times with a fun leap to the right. So I'm marking that with a click and a reward.

Another problem spot for Cala are straight fronts, especially from heel position. In Rally signs #41 and #42, the dog halts and sits in heel position, then must move to front (sit in front of and facing the handler) without the handler moving. So the dog has to get up, move forward, and swing around to face the handler then sit again. (The other lower-level Rally call-fronts allow the handler to step backwards several steps to help the dog get straight, this one does not.) Cala either gets up then sits right back down or she gets up and sits sort of facing me but really crooked. She loves left (swing) finishes so she tends to sit at about 9:00 or 10:00 when I want her to sit at 12:00. I had been using my left hand, the one nearest her, to signal for the front. Recently I started switching to my right hand. I take the right hand with a treat in it, bring it to just in front of her nose, then tell her to front while simultaneously drawing that hand out in a big clockwise circle then back toward my right side. It's helping tremendously and her fronts are much better. This is a classic luring scenario, but I will be able to drop the lure quickly and just use my hand at a real Rally trial.

In agility, the riot stick game is working beautifully; when we can work. At the end of February Cala jammed a toe when we were training contacts. So she was off of agility for 3 weeks. In her first training session back I did a single jump, the aframe, and she came running back to me with a bloody foot. She'd cut a toe pad on a different toe. Sigh. So it's really just been this week that I've done a bit more agility training in preparation for the ASCA trial this weekend. I'll let you know how we do.

Partnership Progress for March - Baker, Ailsa and the visiting Astra

Good grief - it is not possible that so many days have gone by without time to write a post.  Lots has happened since the first of the month - perhaps there will be time to fill out the bits & pieces.

March 2 Jura left for North Carolina and his rehab/conditioning in Raleigh NC; Ailsa developed a cough

March 3 Ailsa in Season & diagnosed with Kennel Cough; 10 days of antibiotics & quarantine from the building & other dogs; Kathy's guys immunized against Kennel Cough; all of the sheets, crate bedding, etc. washed & hard surfaces sprayed with disinfectant in the buildings.

March 4 Astra also appears to be coming in season so she came to live with Ailsa & Baker & me.

March 5 Baker may be neutered but his brain still remembers what it is to have girls around in season; the girls are more than pleased to have Uncle Baker to play with.

March 6 Astra has a cough; Ailsa no longer coughing; still taking antibiotics, though. The old black lab from across the street has broken through a slat in my fence - he may have arthritis & bad hips but the fine aroma of girls in heat revives his own inner passion; I construct a fence-within-a-fence on the deck.

March 7 Astra given cough medicine after seeing the Vet; long day because we had the building open for practice from 6-8 (or was it 9 -anyway it was late!)

March 8 Columbia Kennel Club dog show and Surprise of Surprises, Ailsa wins her puppy bitch class, goes winners bitch, then gets best of winners and best of breed and the two of us have earned her first point.  Only two majors and 14 more points to go ........   Needless to say we made no progress in Groups but we had fun and got a picture to prove it.  In Rally, Mr. Baker had a good time and did not know that his mother lost her way on course (absentminded professor type).  Oh and I stewarded for obedience in the afternoon - watched a really great Novice A class as a result & we had the building open again in the evening 6-9 but I was really bad and shooed the last two people away at 8 when there had been no one for the previous 45 minutes and it was cold and we were really tired. 

March 9 Second day of the Kennel Club show.  First I was a steward/timer for the rally Excellent class.  Then, Baker earned his second leg towards his Rally Advanced title and even got a placement ribbon (3rd, I think) - his Mom remembered the course.  He had just as good a time as the day before.  Finally it was time to show in conformation again with Miss Ailsa who MOST definitely was in season - She was a happy girl with a lilt in her springy step and we won our puppy class but she went reserve for the bitch class losing to the bitch who took breed.  No problem as it meant we did not have to wait around for groups which was good because standing on the concrete was really hard on my feet!  That evening the troops fell out and poor Astra had no company.

March 10 moderately quiet - recovery - Astra still coughing & not into her food; Ailsa ready to play, Baker going mad.

March 11 more of the same

March 12 I disturb everything by packing & leaving to give a lecture in Canada; my grad student Josh takes over the dog duties until I get back on Saturday March 15 (Having been supposed to get home Friday!  Helps if the airlines send an airplane to Canada - I am grateful in any case because they still had snow on the ground well above knee level).  In the meantime, Josh got to deal with the marauding labrador who had taken out 3 planks on my outer fence and knocked the inner fence down twice.  The panels were in the dog door (thank goodness) and the virtue of the girls maintained.  Chastity belts perhaps?  Needless to say, any excursion outside was on lead into the inner sanctum under supervision.  Astra was seen by the vet and given her round of antibiotics which cleared up her cough, restored her appetite, and energy levels by the time I got home. 

Sunday March 16  Got the chance to track Baker along with Briar, JJ, and Jamie's Weimeraner puppy, Faith at Bradford Farms in the morning.  Mr. B was most pleased to be away from the hormones and with Mom for the morning and did a super job.  I was pleased to not be traveling and super pleased with his work - more on that later.  In the afternoon the "girls" got to have their go - Kathy & I were joined by Josh and we walked Ailsa, Astra & Baker out at Bradford - needless to say, the little girls were on flexi leads but they had a real run and "airing"

Monday March 17 St. Patrick's day and Cardiovascular Research Day at MU so the kids were in their crates most of the day without much of my time except to have their meals

March 18 - more of the same - Ailsa by now has finished her antibiotics and Astra, while asymptomatic, is still getting hers.  

March 19 another full day but I have created some attention games for the girls - Baker got to come up to the building for Jump 4 class

March 20  Wow!  In the evening my friend & colleague, Dr. Meiser DVM came into town on her way to a Springer specialty in Dallas, TX.  Her adult dogs are taking part in an ongoing study at the University and had photographs taken of their retinas; she also had a litter of 6 puppies with her - some on their way to their new homes, some will be coming back. In any case there were 14 dogs in the house over night (they were quiet) Good thing the puppies had their X-pen & I have plenty of crates - Astra was outnumbered 13:1 but the puppies were her size.  

March 21 Bright and early as Dr. Meiser was reloading her passel of pups, Mr. James & company came to remove my fence (hey, if an old lab could take out 3 planks there was not much life left in the structure) - it did not take them long.  Problem was that I felt REALLY vulnerable with NO fence and just my "inner sanctum" and it did not take long for the lab to realize the vulnerability. In the late afternoon new beds arrived & old mattresses were removed (you know you need a new mattress when you sleep better away from home than at home....) In the evening I took the dogs with me to get groceries and do chores so they at least got out of the house.  Good news - Astra's last pill and all 4 of us slept well on the new mattress - even if it is way up there!  PANIC, though, No fence as there was concern that the concrete might not have set....

March 22 Holy Saturday and I paid for taking the dogs out on Good Friday evening and sleeping very, very well - somewhere in transporting them back into the house, making sure they could potty unmolested, bringing in groceries, getting everyone fed & bedded down for the night, I failed to lock the car door.  Further, apparently my wallet had slipped out of the pocket of my sweatshirt while I was in the car so, in addition to having the van rifled & all coins & small money that was in the variety of slots removed, my wallet went too.  SIGH.  I came out of the house just after 7 to take the guys tracking to see the hatch wide open and my heart sank. Thank goodness I had leant my GPS to Dr. Meiser so I did not lose that too.  We took a big deep breath & joined the tracking party for breakfast up at the 63 diner after Kathy and I first set two tracks for the more experienced dogs.   After breakfast we ran the tracks with Cindy, Vicky, Kathy & myself - both the experienced dogs and the little girls.   The Easter miricle was that Mr. James and his crew put in the fence!  No labradors invading, room for the kids to romp - not to mention that they are both coming out of season!

March 23 Easter - a day for Celebration (and cold, and gray and snow).  In the afternoon we took the dogs up to the building to clean up for next weekend - vacuuming up the fur and dust from the last month.  In the meantime, Ailsa and Astra had run of the entire building and they ran and ran and jumped and tugged and ran and played for what seemed to be hours.  Needless to say, they slept well.

March 24  Nothing much of note as I spent more time with Kathy cleaning the building and a quiet evening with the kids - all three now know how to have a good play session.

March 25 - The day to send Astra home with Kathy as she and Aisla seem safely past their "prime".  Baker had his jumping class, Ailsa had her hunter/retriever class - the hormones seem to have interfered a bit with her attention span but this too shall pass.

So that brings us up to date - the Australian Shepherd Club of MidAmerica will have competitions at the building this weekend - Conformation (Aussies only), Obedience & Agility (all breed, registered dogs) - see the web site for hours.  My intention is to get one more update on Mr. Jura and I'll tell you how he has faired since the start of March.

Ginger

Clicking the heel

It's been awhile since I posted an actual training post. I've already written several on the theory behind the clicker as a tool for training, and writing something about actually applying the theory is long, long overdue.

I'm using the clicker to teach Zipper to heel. Zipper presents some special heeling issues because of his size. I want to teach an attention heel, but having him heel and watch me in the eyes will not work, because he's too small. To look in my face he would have to forge forward out of heel position and also turn sideways. So I need to teach him a different focus point. I am also a trainer who is more interested in attitude than in precision. Zipper will probably only compete in Rally Obedience, where half-point errors are not counted. I want him to think heeling is really fun and exciting and I want him to be somewhat accurate, but my goal is not a 200 score.

To that end, I'm using a technique I found on the Mighty Mite Dog Gear Forum, a news forum addressing issues (including training issues) specific to small dogs. I decided that I wanted Zipper to target my left hand in the heel, and that I would drop my hand down and keep it fairly still to act as said target.

Now Zipper already knows to target my hand with a nose touch. I needed something to help him learn to target on my left that I could fade. At first I tried carrying a toy balled up in my hand, and clicking and dropping it when he was in heel position. It turns out there were problems with this. First, it was difficult to get even a small toy bunched up in my hand, especially with a line attached. And if I didn't have a line attached, when I dropped the toy he'd just run off with it. Training session over. Second, Zipper is extremely toy motivated....sometimes. If he gets at all stressed he will not play with toys, and if he's distracted he also will not play. So toys weren't working. He's always food motivated, but food also had one problem; the frantically boinging Min Pin. I'd walk along and I'd have Mr. Ping Pong Ball. Boing!-Boing!-Boing!-Boing!-Boing! I could not get all four of his feet to stay on the ground long enough for me to click.

Enter the paint stick. It just so happened that when we last painted the dogwalk, we had a couple of those cheap wooden stir sticks left over. I dipped the bottom 2" of each stick in green paint to provide a color/smell contrast. Next, I started to click Zipper for putting his nose on the stick. I only clicked if he nose-touched the painted part. I knew that I would not want him actually touching the stick but rather following it, so the minute he understood that the stick was the target, I went ahead and put it in my left hand and began walking with it.

Wait. Back up. Let me describe that a bit because it's taken some juggling to get all the components right. I put the paint stick in my left hand, pointing down, flat side in front of Zipper. I also put the clicker in my left hand, flat against the paint stick, so that my thumb curls around and can click. I have to squeeze a bit to keep them both in there, but I don't want to tape the clicker to the stick, because I want to be able to slide the stick up over time. In my right hand are treats. When I click, I rapidly sweep my right hand over and treat in position.

At this point I've done three heeling sessions with Zipper, each about 5 minutes. We always start with Mr. Boing-Boing Dog, but by continuing to move forward and clicking when he's following the target with all four feet on the ground I'm already having progress. As of last night, he was moving forward and I was able to bring the stick up so it's no longer exactly in front of his nose but slightly above it. Over time, I will slowly withdraw the stick into my hand, so that my hand then becomes the target.

I also discovered another weakness in our training. Zipper thinks sits and downs are to be done facing me. I don't physically position Zipper (try to push or hold him in position with my hands) so I'm addressing this too with the clicker. At first every time I moved he'd get up. Again I realized a training weak spot--even when I've been working stays (very little so far) I've been doing so with him in front of me. So I worked a bit on me just moving back and forth, clicking when he stayed in position. I also worked on sliding sideways into him. If he accepted the slightest position that removed me from in front, I clicked. In essence, I have indeed taught him to watch my face when sitting and downing, so that's what he wants to do. I need to help him learn he can sit and down facing the same direction I am.

I'll update his progress over time.

Dining Out for Animals Today, March 18

Thanks to Matt Heger, my friend from CoMoWhineandDine, for this information:

Today is the annual event "Dining Out for Animals" during which many Columbia restaurants dedicate a portion of the day's dining proceeds to the Central Missouri Humane Society.

If you are going out to eat today, please consider stopping by the following:

Lunch (11-1):

• Campus Bar and Grill
  
• Flat Branch
• Harpo’s
  
• Village Wine & Cheese
  
• W.G. Grinders – downtown
  

Dinner (6-10):

• Addison’ s
• Bambino’ s
• CJ’s
• Flat Branch
• Grand Cru
• Heidelberg
• Jack’s Gourmet
• McNally’ s
• Pasta Factory
• Sophia’s
• Thai Kitchen
• Village Wine & Cheese

Dog show weekend

I can't believe it's Thursday already. Time has definitely gotten past me this week.

Last weekend was the annual Columbia Kennel Club dog show. I hope some of you got to attend. There were many of us there, including quite a few of the instructors and all three owners. Kathy was chief bottle-washer and help-recruiter for Obedience and Rally. Ginger showed Ailsa in breed and Baker in Rally. Andrea showed Trip in breed. And I showed Cala in Rally.

I didn't know whether I'd be able to show or not; Cala had jammed a toe in agility practice the week before and obviously if she was still lame I wasn't going to ask her to jump, even the two low jumps she would have to negotiate in Rally Excellent. But that cleared up in enough time for me to get a bit of polishing-up practice done, so I felt we were ready. Or at least I thought we were ready until Saturday morning when I let myself get in a state over a bunch of stuff and only managed to walk the course twice (and even then I was anxious and upset). I ended up blowing right by a sign. There are many things that are forgivable in Rally. But not even attempting a sign? NQ. Not Qualified. Big fat zippo. Oh well. The good part was that Cala did the jump, both times, without going into a Cala-screaming-frenzy. This was really, really good news since I had thought I might have to retire her from Rally due to this loud overenthusiasm. Screaming like a demented banshee is perfectly okay in agility. In Rally, not so much. Very bad form. Missing signs was the order of the day. I was hardly the only one; in fact probably a majority of the competitors missed at least one sign. The judge had designed for one size ring only to get there and find it 10' shorter. So there were a load of signs jammed down on the end, and for some you had to go by one to get to the correct one. Lots of people missed or got lost.

Sunday I managed to get myself sane and we did finally get an Excellent leg.

This week seems to be medical week. Zipper went to get his teeth cleaned and x-rayed for submission to the OFA for hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and legg-calve-perthes. Viva and Zipper both had acupuncture treatments today.

And my beloved Cala, on equipment last night for the first time since jamming her toe, took a chunk out of the pad of a different toe. We walked into the ring. She jumped two jumps and did the aframe, and came dashing back with a bloody foot. No vet for her, it'll heal. But big sigh nonetheless. Fortunately I only entered her in Jumpers at the ASCA trial the end of this month. Because it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get much training in.

Partnership responsibilities, nails!

Yesterday I got an email from Zipper's breeder. "Can you come over tonight and help me do nails?" She's getting ready to head to a National then the Louisville cluster and the kennel needed nails done. And since Zipper's also needed doing, I carted him along too.

Zipper tends to think of his breeder's house as a cool day-camp, where he gets to romp around and play with all his Min Pin friends. Poor guy, if only he'd known! We did him first, then two Poms, two Norfolks, and six more Min Pins. For the most part the dogs tolerated it as a less pleasant but survivable part of life. A couple were less happy but we all escaped with fingers and toes intact.

As I was reading Ginger's excellent blog about partnership responsibilities today, it occurred to me that nails are another really important partnership responsibility; and one that is too often ignored by owners.

Yes, teaching a dog to tolerate nail trimming can be a bit of work. Yes, you can take the dog to the vet or groomer. But I prefer to do nails at home. It's not only cheaper, but if I do them myself it happens more often. Further, if I have taught my dog to tolerate nail trimming then it's not such a huge hassle. I think we all know dogs that have a screaming hysterical fit at nail time, mostly because they have been terrified and hurt in the past. And they've been terrified and hurt because some vet or vet tech or groomer is having to deal with dragon nails and is intent on getting it done as fast as possible, regardless of the trauma to the dog.

The trick to getting a dog to tolerate nail trimming has several facets.

1. Start young if possible. A young dog will not be able to struggle as hard (and they all do struggle right at first) and you can get the upper hand more easily.

2. Use food. I do not reward AS I am clipping a nail, but I do bring out the food (good food treats!) before I start, show it to the dog along with the clippers, then give a small, soft treat AFTER each and every nail done. Tolerate a nail being trimmed, get a treat.

3. Regularly touch and grip your dog's feet even when not doing a trim. I am constantly "fiddling" with my dogs as they're on the couch or bed. I pet them, I look in ears, I open mouths, rub muzzles, and grip feet. I also gently pull toes apart. You should handle feet firmly without squeezing too tight. Feet are ticklish, so don't lightly brush. Just grip.

4. Be calm. Do not make a huge production of it. It's best if you catch the dog when sleeping or tired, and I think it's best to clip nails alone. Two people ganging up just makes it worse.

I like to trim nails on my couch. It's soft, the back helps prevent the dog from being able to escape, it's more comfortable for me AND the dog.

I use a combination of clipping (I use a Resco gillotine clipper) and a dremel for rounding. I clip first, then buzz the edges smooth with the dremel. With a puppy, I may start out just doing one foot per session or if it seems horribly traumatic, just a single toe. If you're rehabbing a dog that's been hurt before, you may spend weeks just getting the dog to let you handle their feet. Do not do nails yourself until you can handle your dog's feet without them levitating to the ceiling. Do not do nails if you're convinced your dog will bite you. You can use a muzzle, and/or work longer on the foot part. Handling feet, then handling feet with the clipper on the table, then handling feet with the clipper 6" away, then handling feet and touching with clipper, etc.

There's a lot of great information on doing nails at DoberDawn's website.

Optimally, nails should be done every couple of weeks or so. Because especially for agility, we want nails short. Long nails are not only uncomfortable for the dog (they force the bones of the foot backwards) but they're also dangerous. Dogs can rip them out on slats and it makes doing the dogwalk and aframe painful to say the least. As a general rule of thumb, if your dog's nails click on the floor, they're too long!

Good luck and happy trimming. Tonight it's Viva and Cala's turn. Neither of them love nail clipping time but they run to the couch when I get the clippers out because the treats are worth it!

Dang- Partnership Responsibilities continue

Jura is my first English Springer Spaniel from Scotland.  He came with me to the USA at 8 weeks of age.  There were a constellation of reasons that I went abroad to get a springer rather than here in the US or Canada - so many that I might well blog on choosing a dog in the future.

Anyway, Jura, while an English Springer Spaniel from English show lines and pedigrees to match, looks very different from Springer spaniels in the show ring in the US (subject of another blog :) ). My goals for Jura are varied including having him do field work, for which his breed exists, to playing the agility game, doing obedience, tracking, and putting him in to the conformation ring.  Robin has spoken about the conformation show sponsored by the Columbia Kennel Club to be held at Boone County Fairs grounds this coming weekend.  The reason for conformation dog shows is to have the breeding stock evaluated by judges and to show the stock to other breeders.  I promised my Scottish breeder that Jura would be shown in the conformation ring even though I warned her that Jura looked different from the population of English Springers in the US.   

With the help of a handler, Santiago Pinto, who was living in town Jura went out to shows and, under judges who were used to the way Springers looked in this country 30 years ago, he earned 10 of the 15 points he needed for the title of "Champion".  Two of the wins making up the 15 points must be "majors" worth 3-5 points.  Points are based on the number of dogs entered and the region of the country.  As of last summer Jura was considered to have "pointed out" and he needed his two majors. Santiago was no longer living in Columbia and we decided that it would be good to send Jura out with a professional handler known for their prowess showing Springers.  Indeed that handler has an exceptional reputation with the breed and has completed Championships on imported springers.  Further, Jura was madly enchanted with her assistant who was the person to show him but there was an element that I left out of the equation that harkens back to earlier blogs: "Partnership responsibilities".

I left out the needs of my dog (duh).  He has been out "on the road" since New Years - he has been to Florida and to South Carolina and Georgia, Michigan, and Illinois when I caught up with him in Chicago 10 days ago.  He did not make any headway towards getting his majors and when I saw him in Chicago I knew at least one reason why.  He was looking well groomed - long ears, flowing coat but he was also moving without spirit.  The boy was a zombie and unfortunately, he was fat!  Standing still he looked OK, but moving he looked awful with a large rolling, lumbering gait and there was no spirit.  Bottom line he was not being abused - he was well cared for, but I put him in to the wrong environment from him.  He was a good boy, played well with the other dogs, ate his meals, etc. etc. but not a happy, fit dog.

Although he was already entered in more shows with the possibility of those elusive majors, I brought him home.  He slept for almost 2 days straight and he played with Miss Ailsa (she took him on as her second dog project splitting her time between Baker & Jura).  He came up to CCSC and got to run around the building, checking out the rings, crates of the other dogs, running over the agility equipment but he was still what I would call "sad".  

This weekend we had a super seminar with Dr. John Sherman and his wife Chrystal Crawford who established a fabulous canine rehabilitation program in North Carolina.  Jura has been a patient at VetHab so he was one of the "demo dogs" for the seminar as he knows how to run on a treadmill, how to do a number of the flexibility exercises, etc.  That was when the next cross road of the canine/human partnership was encountered.  What was made clear to me in the form of slow motion analysis of this apparently healthy dog was the fact that not only was he carrying extra weight (during his road time his mass had been increased by 25% in 3 months) that looked "OK" standing still was hurting him when in motion.  He gait had to change to accommodate the extra pounds of fat putting extra curvature on his spine at the bottom of the rib cage and just above the pelvic girdle (read back ache).  In addition he was carrying his weight to the front so his shoulder was already hurting and he was carrying his head down.In addition it became evident that Jura had also lost muscle from his rear as he no longer was being run like we do when he is here. Basically he is out of shape and he hurt and while nothing irreversible has happened yet my responsibility was to reverse the process.

I made a choice when I became aware of the situation for Jura.  I let him go back to North Carolina with the Shermans for 5 weeks of rehabilitation/conditioning.  They called Sunday evening to say that he had settled in and he has started his work on the underwater treadmill yesterday.  The water in the treadmill allows the dog to work while experiencing less of the the weight on the spine and shoulders - so as the dog is losing the extra pounds and building muscle they can work without being damaged by the extra fat.  

Do I miss him?  Terribly.  

Is it inexpensive?  No, it is expensive - but I was paying comparable amounts in pursuit of the "Champion" title and I was responsible for hurting him physically and emotionally.  

Was the handler responsible?  No, not really - my task will be to provide the handler with the information as to why the treatment of Jura, which while fine for the majority of dogs in their care, does not work for the athletic dog. 

Will Jura ever complete his Championship?  There is no telling.  I will make his completing the "CH' a lower priority as people who know their Springers and their breeding programs know who he is and what he has to offer and the presence or absence of a title will not change that, per se.  If there is a show that likely has majors and an appropriate judge I may consider entering Jura if it does not conflict with our other goals. First and foremost, he is my partner and my companion with whom I expect to be living for at least 8-10 more years.

Will he "forgive" me?  Likely, once he is back, fit and not hurting and if I take him to work birds and take him swimming and throw balls and bumpers and let him play with his girl friend Ailsa, and let him get muddy, and invite him to sleep on the bed, and....

I'll keep you posted as to his progress!

Ginger

Testing....testing...

Zipper decelerating from a dead run into a left turn. Even little dogs need to be athletes!

I'm getting my paperwork together to have Zipper tested for the genetic health disorders of Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, and Legg-Calve-Perthes (LCP) through the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). He already has been cleared of any genetic defect in his eyes, (CERF), heart, (Cardiac), and knees (Patellar Luxation). When I'm done, he'll be one of the most tested Min Pins in the U.S., if not the most tested. Most Min Pin (and toy dog) breeders don't do much in the way of genetic health testing. In some breeds this would be bad but as a breed Min Pins are incredibly hardy and healthy, often living well up into their teens and with very few health problems. Other than LCP, which is usually obvious by the time the puppy is seven or eight months old, the concern is mostly patellar luxation. So why am I doing all this testing?

Well part of it is because I do own an intact male and he may end up being used at some point. I also come from a breed (Dobermans) where there are a number of huge genetic problems which has shortened lifespans and quality of life. So genetic testing has been drilled into my head for decades and now I just can't turn off the compulsive need to make *sure* he's okay.

There's another reason I test and encourage anyone doing dog sports, especially agility, to test. I test because the sport I do with my dogs puts incredible physical stresses on their bodies. I want to know that their bodies can handle the pressure they're being put under. I think hips and elbows should be evaluated on every agility dog, and knees in smaller dogs or breeds prone to patellar luxation. Eyes should be examined to make sure the dog can see where's he's going and judge depth properly. And I submit everything to the OFA because I feel a commitment to supporting research and data which help breeders battle these diseases, so maybe sometime in the future we won't have to deal with them any more.

Mix or purebred, intact or neutered/spayed, it doesn't matter. If you are going to be training in any sport you need to know what's going on. And unfortunately these diseases are not limited to the purebred population. Certainly your dog does not need to be purebred to get an OFA certification.

Knowledge is power. If your dog does turn out to have one of these diseases, the world will not come to an end. In many cases, your dog may still be able to compete successfully for many years. And in fact, the fitter your dog is, the less likely he is to break down early from arthritis associated with things like hip dysplasia. So I always tell people to YES, train that dog with hip dysplasia. But educate yourself on the disease and work with your veterinarians to set up a training program that supports the dog. And listen to your dog.