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
No comments:
Post a Comment