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!

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.

Listening and watching

That header sounds like this will be a training blog, but it's not. It's about listening to what your dog is trying to tell you, and learning to watch your dog's body signals. It's about lameness.

Many years ago I took Equestrian Science at William Woods. There, in addition to learning to ride horses that were often either rank or sour, we dealt with a lot of lame horses. I don't know how it's done now, but in those days all the horses used at WW were donated, and nobody was going to donate a horse that didn't have problems of some sort or another. We had structure and gait analysis drummed into our heads and I could still wrap a leg if I needed to. Once I moved into dogs I used to spend hours sitting at a corner of the breed ring where I could see both sidegait and the down and back. I'd play the "solve the puzzle" game of why a certain structure produced a certain gait. I'd link a dog with flying elbows to a short upper arm or a crabbing dog to too much rear angulation. And I saw a lot of lameness.

I'm rarely around the breed ring any more, spending most of my time with my obsession with agility. But I am constantly shocked at how many dogs I see in the agility ring that are lame. Some of it is caused by structure. And some of it is injury related. I see owners berating dogs for not jumping when the dog clearly can't, or cheerleading their dog around the course when it is wincing with each stride. And I don't think owners are cruel. I don't think they are doing it on purpose. I think they don't know. They don't know what to look for and how to catch it. Or maybe they see a really small limp and think it's minor and it'll go away. They are not listening to or watching their dogs in a meaningful way.

Dogs as a species are incredibly stoic. Way back in their hindbrain is the knowledge that if they get lame or unfit they will be ostracized from the pack or even killed. So they hide it as much as they can. And unfortunately, not taking care of lamenesses when they're minor very often leads to a major problem down the line. So the trick is learning first how to SEE lamenesses, then how to treat them. Often when a dog has a minor limp there's very little a traditional vet can do. But a canine acupuncturist or chiropractor may be able to work wonders.

Right now, I have 3 dogs, all of which are lame.

Cala either jammed or broke a toe Monday night training at the building. I already know that just like with people, there's not much you can do for a dog with a broken toe. But I'm taking it seriously; I've pulled her from agility training and may have to pull her from next weekend's Rally show. The limp is very mild most of the time. Would you have noticed? I did.

Last week I saw Zipper carry his right hind leg for a couple of steps. Time for an appointment with our genius acupuncturist, Sherry Russell DVM. Turns out he's got a back injury. Not major, but enough for a treatment. It's the kind of thing, Dr. Russell told me, that's easily fixable at this stage but could have caused big problems if I hadn't addressed it. My bet is, most owners wouldn't have even seen it.

My old girl, Viva, hasn't been any more lame than usual for a dog with spondylosis in her spine and arthritis in her feet, but she's had lick sores that have been getting worse. And it turns out she's in far worse shape than I thought. Dr. Russell wasn't sure how she was getting up and walking. That will take several treatments over a series of months. I almost dismissed it as old dog syndrome.

So please do your dog a favor. Learn how to look for lameness and make it a daily habit to watch your dog move. When something changes, even if you don't know what it is, something is probably wrong. And if you need to learn how to look at this stuff, Dr. John Sherman, founder of the renown canine rehabilitation clinic VetHab will be here in town Saturday giving a seminar. If you want more information, go to our website, www.columbiak9sportscenter.com.