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Unlocking Dog Breeding's Greatest Puzzle with Dr. Angela Hughes[caption id="attachment_17119" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dr. Angela Hughes with puppies from her Welsh Springer Spaniel loitter.[/caption]Veterinary geneticist and dog breeder Dr. Angela Hughes joins host Laura Reeves to break down how breeders can leverage genetic testing to preserve their breed’s future, balance breed standards with genetic diversity and avoid the devastating traps of popular sires.Drawing from her extensive career, including her pioneering work at Wisdom Panel where she launched the "Optimal Selection" genetic matching tools, Dr. Hughes demystifies the complex puzzle of dog breeding. Together, they explore how to balance conformation, temperament, and health with the critical need for genetic diversity, offering practical, forward-thinking strategies for breeders dedicated to the long-term sustainability of their breeds.Key Takeaways1. The Breeder's Puzzle: A Multi-Dimensional Balancing Act

Dog breeding is a complex puzzle where breeders must balance multiple co-equal factors: Conformation & Type: Preserving the physical standards of the breed. * Temperament:A critical component for companion and working dogs alike. As Dr. Hughes notes, a beautiful dog you cannot live with serves little purpose. * Health & Working Ability: Maintaining the physical and functional integrity of the line. * Genetic Diversity:* Ensuring long-term breed sustainability. Over-focusing on any single factor (including diversity) can compromise the others, but ignoring diversity risks losing the breed entirely to fertility issues and genetic health consequences over the next century.

1. Pedigree COI vs. Genetic COI: Why Littermates Aren't Identical

A major point of confusion in the breeding community is how inbreeding is calculated: Pedigree Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI):A purely mathematical, black-and-white calculation based on pedigree records. It assumes a standard 50/50 inheritance from each parent and treats all littermates as genetically identical. It also assumes that the "founders" (the furthest generation in the pedigree) are genetically unique individuals, which is often an underestimate of actual relatedness. * Genetic COI: An analysis of the actual DNA inherited by an individual dog. Because mother nature distributes DNA randomly, littermates are fraternal twins rather than identical twins and can inherit completely different percentages of ancestral DNA. * Low COI ≠ Guaranteed Health:* While lower genetic COIs generally correlate with a lower risk of health issues, a low COI is not a zero-risk guarantee, nor does a higher COI guarantee an unhealthy dog.

1. "Breed More Dogs, Fewer Times" to Avoid the Popular Sire Trap

The "popular sire" syndrome remains one of the most damaging forces in purebred dog breeding. The Golden Retriever Study: Dr. Hughes references a landmark 2008 study (Calboli et al.) analyzing ten breeds. In Golden Retrievers, despite having over 31,000 dogs in the registry, the "effective population size" (genetically unique individuals) was just 67, largely because 10% of the males sired over 100 offspring each. * Painting Breeds into a Corner: Concentrating a breed's genetics in a few famous sires can bottleneck the entire gene pool. If a popular sire is later discovered to carry a severe, late-onset genetic defect, the entire breed is "painted into a corner" with no easy way to breed out of it. * The Strategy:* Breed more individual males less frequently. Rather than everyone breeding to the number-one show dog, breeders should consider high-quality siblings or relatives that carry the same genetic material but help distribute the breed's genetic load.

1. Health Testing: A Guide for "Who to Breed To," Not "Who to Exclude"

2. Find Compatible Mates, Don't Create Bottlenecks: Health and genetic testing should not be used to eliminate every dog that isn't "genetically perfect." Disqualifying all carriers or dogs with minor health clearances drastically shrinks the gene pool, accelerating genetic bottlenecks.

3. Manage, Don't Exclude: Use testing to identify compatible, clear mates for carriers, ensuring that valuable genetic lines are preserved while avoiding the expression of recessive diseases.

4. Practical Steps for Preserving Breed Diversity

5. Freeze Semen Horizontally: Save semen from promising males, including siblings of top-winning dogs that may not be extensively shown, to preserve their unique genetic contributions for future generations.

6. Look Three-Dimensionally: Plan breedings not just for the immediate litter, but thinking 2-3 generations ahead to ensure options remain open.
7. Utilize Genetic Matching Tools: Use modern genetic testing databases to assess the genetic compatibility of proposed pairs before breeding, striving to maintain or improve upon the breed's average diversity.
8. Success in Action: In a genetic diversity study of the low-population Dandie Dinmont Terrier, utilizing genetic compatibility testing helped increase registered puppy litter sizes from an average of 2.11 to 3.75 (with some litters reaching 6) without sacrificing conformation or quality.

Resources & Links Mentioned Study Cited: Calboli et al. (2008) – Analysis of population structure and inbreeding in UK pedigree dogs. * Angela Hughes wegsite-https://www.dna-dvm.com * Previous Pure Dog Talkepisode.*

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Dandies Down Under: Breeding with Integrity and Soft OutlinesLaura Reeves sits down with Emma Greenway of Jolly Gaze kennels in Victoria, Australia, for an in-depth conversation on the history, breeding and styling of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier.

This episode of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier Diaries is part of Pure Dog Talk’s Clubhouse. The series features members of the Club Partnership Program who are working to preserve the knowledge of their legacy breeders.

[caption id="attachment_17065" align="alignleft" width="300"] Emma Greenway and two Jolly Gaze puppies.[/caption]Drawing on nearly 40 years of experience, a background as a historian, and a PhD in Australian canine history, Emma shares her unique perspective on how geographic isolation forced her to “interrogate” the breed standard.Whether you are a Dandie devotee or a general student of dog history, this episode offers a masterclass in breeding with integrity, mentoring across borders and staying true to the soul of your breed. From Schnauzers to Dandies: The Early Lessons of Sportsmanship* + Emma began her journey with Miniature Schnauzers, learning the ropes of grooming, showing and standard analysis from a generous mentor who modeled impeccable sportsmanship and grace in defeat. + Her early love for the Dandie Dinmont Terrier eventually led her to seek out the breed, though she faced the hurdle of only one active breeder remaining in Australia at the time.

"Generosity breeds generosity... we have to work together and we have to share our knowledge." — Emma Greenway

• The Quest for the Foundation Bitch: Flying to the UK
  • Determined to acquire a top-tier foundation bitch, Emma traveled to the UK. She studied the breed standard obsessively and chose a bitch at a Birmingham show purely based on her own standard evaluation rather than the judge’s placement.
  • Through the generosity of a prominent UK breeder, Emma secured her foundation bitch in 1992 (arriving in Australia in 1993), which she later bred to a respected male acquired from New Zealand expats.
• A Historian’s Eye on the Australian Dandie Legacy
  • Emma recounts the history of Dandie Dinmonts in Australia, noting they were reintroduced in 1969 by Mary McCall (initially a Westie breeder) using imports from the famous Bellmead Kennels.
  • She shares the chilling story of Bellmead maid Peggy Hume, who described the tragic loss of bloodlines during WWII, wheeling down deceased dogs in wheelbarrows due to extreme wartime starvation.
  • Other early Australian pioneers of the breed ultimately drifted away from Dandies because establishing lines and winning against flashy terriers was exceptionally difficult.

"Our breed standard says body colour coming well down shoulder and hips gradually, gradually emerging into colour of legs. Not a line. Not a line anywhere. It's a gradual merging. It's natural." — Emma Greenway

• The Advantage of Isolation: Rejecting the "Cookie-Cutter" Recipe
  • While isolation in Australia presented logistical hurdles, Emma credits it as a blessing. Without local handlers or a dominant local show trend to emulate, she was forced to deeply interrogate the breed standard to guide her grooming and breeding choices.
  • She warns against "recipe grooming"—where exhibitors blindly copy winning handlers without understanding why. Interrogating the standard yourself builds a detailed eye for puppies and prevents kennel blindness.
• Grooming Philosophy: Soft Curves vs. Sharp Lines
  • Coming from Miniature Schnauzers, Emma highlights the stark contrast in grooming: Schnauzers are about sharp, square lines and dramatic skirts.
  • Dandies, by contrast, are defined by soft, natural curves. Emma notes that the standard explicitly calls for the body color to gradually merge into the leg furnishings, rather than displaying a sharp, abrupt line or skirt.

"In dandies, we don't have the luxury of throwing everything out. Sometimes you have to go back a bit to go forward a bit. Or sideways." — Emma Greenway

• Breeding Priorities: Multi-Generational Planning in a "Gene Puddle"
  • Emma describes the reality of breeding a rare breed with highly restricted genetics. Referencing Betty-Anne Stenmark’s famous description, she notes that Dandie breeders are working in a "gene puddle" rather than a gene pool, where all living dogs trace back to just two 19th-century stud dogs.
  • Because she is the sole active breeder in her region, Emma must plan 3 to 4 generations ahead to ensure genetic diversity and preserve future combination options.
  • While she predominantly line breeds, she occasionally imports outside lines. Her selection criteria post-outcross focus heavily on keeping puppies that resemble the Jolly Gaze style while selecting for softer, more pet-friendly temperaments.
• The Hallmarks of a Dandie: Outline, Head and the Power of "Weasley"
  • If summarized, the hallmark of the Dandie Dinmont lies in its outline and headpiece.
  • Emma champions the preservation of the word "Weasley" (present in UK, Canadian, and original standards, but omitted from the US standard in the 1970s), which beautifully captures the breed's distinct curvy silhouette and athletic capability.
• The Social History of Breed Standards and the Future of Dog Shows
  • Drawing on her PhD research, Emma discusses how modern breed concepts didn't exist before 1820. She notes that while working "utility" drove early types, the 19th-century middle class artificially shaped breed standards to elevate the dogs' social status.
  • Looking ahead, Emma voices concern about the aging community, rising administrative regulations and the lack of young exhibitors learning to groom. She sees Asia's rising middle class as a shining hope for the future of purebred dogs.

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Couture, Controversy, and the Future of Purebred Dogs with Caroline Clegg[caption id="attachment_17058" align="alignleft" width="300"] Caroline Clegg and Natasha, featured in the Elite Runway Experience.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by preservation breeder Caroline Clegg to pull back the curtain on the Elite Runway Experience currently rolling out on social media. Fusing the worlds of high fashion and purebred dogs, this groundbreaking project has sparked massive debate across the dog world. Is it a brilliant modern marketing move, or has the fancy lost its way? Laura and Caroline dive headfirst into the social media storm, addressing the critics directly and explaining the deeper "why" driving this bold experiment.The Controversy: Addressing the BacklashThe announcement of the Elite Runway Experience immediately got the dog world talking, and not all of the feedback was positive. Laura and Caroline tackle the major criticisms circulating in the community: "It Should Be About the Dogs, Not Modeling":Critics argue that the event focuses too heavily on glitz and glamour rather than the animals themselves. Caroline responds that looking only at the fashion show is a superficial reading of the project. For her, the high-fashion couture is simply a striking visual "hook" designed to grab the public's attention so breeders can "reel them in" and share their passion. * The Question of Diversity:Early social media promotions led to questions about whether the lineup would only feature "two skinny white girls with blonde hair" or a highly exclusive group of young, pretty people. Caroline notes that these concerns, while valid, were premature. As the project rolls out its eight founding members, including Willie Santiago from South America, the lineup represents a wide variety of heights, genders, skin tones, weights and body shapes. * Breaking the "1986" Mentality:*Dog enthusiasts are famously conservative and bound to tradition. Caroline admits she is highly traditional herself, but agrees with Laura who argues that "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" is insanity. With dog shows losing public support and battling anti-breeder sentiment for decades, she argues it is time to step out of the comfort zone. If the event fails, "we tried" and everyone can have a good laugh at Caroline falling on her face on a runway, she says. But if it succeeds, it opens invaluable doors for the sport.

The "Why": Purpose Behind the CoutureBeyond the beautiful dresses and professional cameras, the Elite Runway Experience is built on a foundation of education and advocacy: Daily "Behind-the-Scenes" Care:The core of the project is the professional film crew capturing the breeders' daily lives. Caroline wants to bust the public misconception that show dogs are simply kept "in a box somewhere" and only taken out to run in circles on Thanksgiving Day. Through social media and behind-the-scenes content, they will show that these dogs are celebrated athletes who receive top-tier conditioning, exercise, mental stimulation, and love. * A Proven Blueprint for Modern Marketing:Caroline shares fascinating research comparing dog show television ratings to horse racing. While the Kentucky Derby saw declining ratings for years, they turned it around and skyrocketed viewership using two modern tools: a massive TikTok influencer and a behind-the-scenes Netflix documentary. The Elite Runway Experience hopes to use this exact blueprint to reach a younger, digital-first generation through platforms like TikTok and Instagram. * Spotlighting Rare Breeds:*For Caroline, a major motivation for participating is her breed, the Kuvasz. Because the Kuvasz is so rare that even many dog people don't know what they are, having her dog Natasha on a national, highly visible stage is an invaluable preservation opportunity.

Join the Community!Are you looking for a welcoming group of thoughtful, thought-provoking dog people away from the keyboard warriors? Become a Pure Dog Talk patron for as little as $10 a month to gain access to our private Facebook group, private After Dark Zoom rooms, and exclusive Laura Unleashed podcast episodes. Visit puredogtalk.com/patron to join today!

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Mentorship in Motion: The Power of PartnershipSandra Pretari-Hickson joins host Laura Reeves to discuss her 25-year partnership with Betty-Anne Stenmark and how their shared devotion and collaborative mentorship have preserved the iconic King's Mountain Dandie Dinmont Terrier legacy.

This episode of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier Diaries is part of Pure Dog Talk’s Clubhouse. The series features members of the Club Partnership Program who are working to preserve the knowledge of their legacy breeders.

Episode Highlights The Spark of a Historic Partnership: Sandra shares the story of meeting Betty-Anne at a handling class, a chance encounter that led to Betty-Anne gifting Sandra her very first Dandie, "Kings Mountain Mousetrap," and cementing a 25-year breeding partnership. * A Shared Vision for a Distinct Type: Working hand-in-hand, Sandra and Betty-Anne established an internationally recognized breed type. Sandra explains their 50-year joint commitment to never compromising on correct front assemblies, classic heads, athletic movement, and the signature long outline. * Navigating the "Gene Puddle" Together: Sandra discusses managing a rare breed's limited gene pool (coined a "gene puddle" by Betty-Anne). By combining their expertise, they utilized tight line breeding, imported frozen semen from across the globe, and coordinated artificial inseminations to safely preserve the line. * Honest Evaluation and Ruthless Selection: Mentorship requires tough, honest decisions. Sandra details how she and Betty-Anne evaluate slow-maturing puppies at 10 weeks and why maintaining breed integrity means placing dogs with significant faults into happy companion homes. * Preserving the "Stand-Up" Terrier Temperament: Sandra emphasizes the importance of protecting the athletic, working drive of the Dandie Dinmont. She shares her dedication to keeping the "terrier in the terrier" through active socialization, barn hunt sports, and earthdog trials. * Passing the Torch to the Next Generation*: True partnership extends beyond a single lifetime. Sandra highlights how she is actively paying her mentorship forward by guiding two to three promising young breeders to ensure the King’s Mountain legacy continues to thrive.

For more information about joining Pure Dog Talk's Clubhouse Series and becoming a Club Partner, stop by the website.

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The Sloughi: Inside the "Telepathic" World of the AKC’s Rarest SighthoundOne distinction between Sloughi and Azawakh is the Moroccan dogs will have no white markings, Wyatt said.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Erika Wyatt to explore the AKC's least popular fully recognized breed: the fascinating and rare Sloughi. Called "the best-kept secret in the AKC," this ancient, intuitive breed has a rich history and an unparalleled devotion to its owners. Erika dives deep into the breed's origins in the North African Maghreb, where they were bred as hunting and guarding companions by nomadic Bedouins and Berbers. She explains what makes them distinct from Azawakhs and Salukis, what it's truly like to live with these sensitive and clean "telepathic" hounds, and their surprising versatility in dog sports. In this episode, you’ll learn:The Ancient History:How the Sloughi transitioned from a nomadic desert hunter to an AKC-recognized breed.

• Sloughi vs. Azawakh vs. Saluki:The crucial physical, structural, and temperamental differences between these three unique sighthounds.
• Living with a Sloughi:Their sensitive, clean natures, minimal grooming requirements, and why they excel with intuitive, thoughtful owners.
• Exercise & Training:Why they need daily opportunities to gallop but don't require you to be a marathon runner yourself.
• How to Find One:With only 12 litters in the US in the last decade, how you can connect with responsible code-of-ethics breeders.

If you've ever been curious about this elegant, loyal, and rare breed, this is the ultimate deep dive! More information from the Parent Club HERE.

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"A Little Person in a Dog Body": Inside the Whimsical World of the Dandie Dinmont TerrierSandy Wolfskill showing a Dandie to Anne Katona.[/caption] Pure Dog Talk host Laura Reeves sits down with Elfwish Kennels' Sandy Wolfskill to explore the art of preservation breeding, global pedigree collaboration and what it truly takes to safeguard the historic Dandie Dinmont Terrier for the next generation.

This episode of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier Diaries is part of Pure Dog Talk’s Clubhouse. The series features members of the Club Partnership Program who are working to preserve the knowledge of their legacy breeders.

• From Corgis to Dandies:Sandy shares how a ring-stewarding gig in Pennsylvania first introduced her to Dandie Dinmont Terriers, detailing how she fell in love with their "little person in a dog body" personality before acquiring her first Dandie bitch from Betty-Anne Stenmark in 2004.
• A Global Preservation Network:Sandy emphasizes the power of international breeding partnerships, highlighting her work with Emma Greenway in Australia and her decision to transfer the Elfwish Frozen Semen Bank to Harriet Buckley in England to empower the next generation of breeders.
• The Pillars of Breed Type:Drawing from author Richard Beauchamp, Sandy breaks down the five core pillars of breed type: character, silhouette, head and expression, a penciled double-coat, and free, smooth movement.
• Breeding Philosophy and Selection:From running "what-if" pedigrees on her computer to assessing wet puppies the second they are born, Sandy explains why line breeding beats constant outcrossing, and why breeders must be brutally honest about faults, especially when it comes to fronts.
• Defining Success in the Ring and Home:Sandy explains that preserving this historic Scottish farm dog is about finding a balance between maintaining physical breed standards, preserving correct, livable temperaments, and, above all, having fun.

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Beyond the Curls: Brains, Beauty and "Dad Jokes" of the Irish Water Spaniel[caption id="attachment_16944" align="alignleft" width="300"] Stacy Duncan and one of her Irish Water Spaniels.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves sits down with lifelong dog handler, breeder, and Westminster Best Junior winner Stacy Duncan to celebrate "Love the Breeds Month" with a captivating look at the rare and remarkable Irish Water Spaniel (IWS). Often described as a curly-haired powerhouse packed with personality, this ancient breed is one of the original eight recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC). Stacy shares what makes these dogs incredibly unique, from their physical adaptations to their legendary intellect and quirky sense of humor. Key Takeaways from this Episode:

• A Fearless Heritage Built for Bogs:Originally developed in Ireland to retrieve game from treacherous, shiftingpeat bogs, the IWS possesses incredible lung capacity and physical resilience. Stacey describes their relentless drive to hunt, detailing how they will fearlessly dive straight through thick blackberry brambles to retrieve a bird.
• The Practical Purpose Behind the Features:The breed’s unique anatomy is entirely functional. Their famous"rat tail" acts as a natural rudderin rough waters. Meanwhile, their tight, curly coat includes a thick ear-to-earbeard to protect their throatand atopknot to shield their eyesfrom sharp sticks and briars in the field.
• "With Great Intelligence Comes Great Responsibility":Stacy warns that these dogs are thinkers. They are brilliant enough to learn almost anything. Stacy even highlights an IWS service dog who learned to run a washing machine and insert coins. But if you don't challenge their minds, they will find creative (and often unauthorized) ways to entertain themselves.
• The Curly Coat Reality Check:Because they have hair rather than fur, they are highly hypoallergenic-ish and do not go through massive seasonal sheds. However, their tight curls will "pelt" if not properly maintained. Stacy advises owners to keep utility coats clipped to about two inches and emphasizes the absolute necessity of combing all the way down to the skin.
• Aloof Judges of Character:While they are incredibly snuggly and devoted to their "inner circle," the breed standard labels them"aloof with strangers". Stacy explains that this isn't shyness or fear, but rather a dignified observation period where the dog is actively judging your character before deciding if you're worth their time.

Whether you are looking for an elite sporting partner, a versatile obedience competitor, or just a goofy companion who thinks their own "dad jokes" are hilarious, the Irish Water Spaniel is a breed that is impossible to ignore.

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Curved Toplines and Hearts of Gold: Tarwathie Dandie Dinmont TerriersVeteran breeder Kay Simpson of Tarwathie Dandies shares the precise combination of physical structure and gentle disposition that defines this rare, historic breed:

Dandie Dinmont Terrier Diaries are part of the Pure Dog Talk Clubhouse ... Shining a Spotlight on the Legends, History and Future of the Breed [caption id="attachment_16846" align="alignleft" width="300"] Several of Kay's recent Dandies.[/caption]

• Temperament First and Foremost:In a group known for fiery attitudes, the Dandie Dinmont stands out as a uniquelylaid-back, non-aggressive terrier. Kay ranks temperament as the absolutenumber one priorityin her breeding program.
• The Defining Head:Widely regarded as a "head breed," a correct Dandie must feature alarge, perfectly proportioned headwith expressive eyes, specific ear placement and strong jaw.
• The Curvaceous Topline:Unlike a flat-backed dachshund, a true Dandie requires adistinctive curved toplinerising from the shoulders, arching over the loins, and dropping gently to the tail. This curve is structurally vital to prevent back issues, according to Kay.
• Turned-Out Front Legs:In Kay's telling, true Dandies do not have perfectly straight front legs. Theirfront legs must be slightly turned outto allow them to push dirt to the side rather than under their bellies when going to ground.
• The "Tarwathie" Backstory:The mythical kennel name was chosen by Kay's late husband. He discovered it in a document describing amythical location on the outskirts of Scotland, right off the island. Because the place was entirely mythical, they knewno other breeder would ever have it, making it the perfect unique identity for their line.
• Strategic Breeding for Fertility:While the typical Dandie Dinmont litter is a small three to four puppies, Kay actively fought the breed's declining numbers byfavoring and selecting highly fertile bitch lines. Rather than spending time on bitches that only produced one or two puppies, she bred prolific mothers who consistently deliveredlitters of five to seven puppies. This strategic focus on maternal fertility has successfully helped to increase the breed's population and public visibility.

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Tavern Ratters on the Velvet Couch: Decoding the Yorkshire Terrier Host Laura Reeves is joined by Yorkshire Terrier breed legends Gloria Lyon and Lorraine Hayes at the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America National Specialty as they share over 50 years each of hands-on experience, revealing the Yorkie’s fierce rat-hunting history, practical grooming hacks and essential training and health tips.The Yorkshire Terrier's Rich History: Though loved today as glamorous lapdogs, Yorkies originated in the 1800s as brave, independent rat and mouse hunters in mines and taverns. That fierce terrier prey instinct and big dog attitude are still alive and well in the breed today. * Grooming and Coat Realities: Yorkies grow human-like hair instead of fur, which means they do not shed. However, maintaining a full show coat requires intense wrapping in tissue paper. For companion homes, these experts strongly recommend a cute, low-maintenance pet trim ("cutting them down"). * Color and Size Unpredictability: Puppies are born black and tan and gradually lighten into their signature steel blue and gold by age two or three. Because genetics are complex, size can be highly unpredictable, and oversized puppies often appear even in carefully planned litters. * Training a Feisty Companion: While Yorkies love to follow you everywhere, they are independent thinkers. Successful potty training requires absolute consistency. The experts also emphasize crate training as a safe haven and an essential tool to prevent "door dashing". * Essential Health and Longevity: Yorkies live an average of 12 to 14 years. To protect their knees and tracheas, owners must keep them at a healthy weight. Toy dog dental hygiene is also critical. When looking for a puppy, verified health tests should focus on the parent club'sCHIC program*(eyes and patellas), rather than general genetic kits like Embark, which do not screen for specific Yorkie health risks.

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Breeding the Perfect Dandie Dinmont Front: 50 Years of Preservation with Betty-Anne StenmarkLegendary preservation breeder and AKC judge Betty-Anne Stenmark joins host Laura Reeves to celebrate 50 years of King's Mountain Dandie Dinmonts, sharing invaluable insights on structure, puppy selection and what it takes to breed, select and judge a historically correct Dandie Dinmont Terrier. From navigating a "gene puddle" to her absolute, non-negotiable stance on front assemblies, this conversation is a masterclass for preservation breeders and dog enthusiasts alike.

This episode is brought to you by the Pure Dog Talk Club Partner Program in proud partnership with the Dandie Dinmont Terrier Club of America (DDTCA). The Breeder Interview Series is dedicated to preserving breed histories, celebrating master breeders and educating the next generation of dog fanciers. To support the creation of educational, source-grounded content like this, and to gain access to exclusive community resources, consider joining our Club Partner Program today!

1. Navigating the "Gene Puddle"

2. The Endangered Breed Reality: Dandie Dinmonts are a very low-entry, endangered breed with an extremely limited gene pool. Betty-Anne famously notes, "We don't have a gene pool. We have a gene puddle."

3. Phenotypic Breeding & Linebreeding: To maintain quality without genetic diversity, Betty-Anne focuses on breeding by phenotype. Her program utilizes highly line-bred lines and maintains a strict standard where an outcross is considered just 25% of the other dog is unrelated to their line.
4. Reaching Into the Past: To introduce "the devil they know," Betty-Anne and her breeding partner, Sandra Pretari Hickson, utilize frozen semen from dogs they bred 20–25 years ago, reaching back six or seven generations.

5. Hybrid Vigor: Betty-Anne recounts the dramatic revelation of finding unrelated stock in Australia and New Zealand in the late 1990s, which introduced crucial hybrid vigor back into her breeding lines.

6. The Uncompromising Standard: The Front Assembly

7. Why the Front Matters: For Betty-Anne, the front assembly (a well-laid-back shoulder and a matching upper arm) is the single most important structural feature.

8. No Compromises: If a puppy does not possess a correct front assembly, it is immediately altered and placed in a pet home. Betty-Anne warns that once a proper front assembly is lost in a line, it can haunt a breeding program forever and is incredibly difficult to reconstruct.

9. The Judge's Perspective: As a breeder-judge, Betty-Anne explains how a correct front assembly dictates a dog's head carriage, reach, stride and overall presence.

10. Dandie Silhouette, Length and Top Line

11. Proper Proportions: The Dandie Dinmont is the longest breed in the AKC, measured from the top of shoulders to the root of tail.

12. The Unique Outline: The breed’s hallmark top line, featuring a gentle arch over the loin, does not fully develop until around four or five months of age.

13. The Tail Set Red Flag: A poorly set or upright tail acts as a glaring red flag to judges and is highly heritable.

14. Selection at Ten Weeks

15. The 10-to-11-Week Rule: Betty-Anne and Sandra avoid making final decisions before 10 or 11 weeks of age, noting that puppy structure changes too rapidly beforehand.

16. The Non-Negotiables: Beyond the front assembly, critical early checks include ensuring the correct bite (which should look like a slightly overshot scissor bite) and ensuring males have both testicles.

17. Preservation Breeding and Mentorship

18. The Next Generation: Modern dog breeding is challenging, with fewer people having the time or space for it. Betty-Anne actively looks for enthusiastic younger breeders to join the "King’s Mountain family".

19. Fostering Trust:Newcomers are encouraged to attend national specialties, write letters or emails and seek out genuine mentorship. Betty-Anne notes that co-ownership is a wonderful way to start under the guidance of an experienced breeder.

.For more information about the Dandie Dinmont Terrier, visit the DDTCA website. For more information about Pure Dog Talk's Club Partner Program stop by HERE.

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Surviving the "Pupocalypse": How Preservation Breeders Can Adapt and Thrive in a Slow MarketHost Laura Reeves and Dr. Marty Greer dive deep into the sobering post-COVID "puppy bust" data, exploring how corporate veterinary pricing is pricing out everyday owners and sharing crucial survival strategies for both pet owners and preservation breeders.The post-COVID landscape has brought a dramatic shift to the canine world, colloquially dubbed the "pupocalypse" or "puppy bust." With new puppy veterinary visits down to just 62% of pre-COVID levels, the pet industry is facing a massive contraction. From skyrocketing veterinary costs driven by corporate consolidation to shifting economic realities for younger generations, pet ownership is at risk of becoming an exclusive privilege of the elite, reminiscent of the 1800s.Laura and Dr. Marty discuss how we got here, how to keep veterinary care affordable, the limits of telehealth for pets and how breeders need to change their own habits to survive this economic downturn.1. The Reality of the "Puppy Bust"

• The Shocking Data:New puppy vet visits have declined for four consecutive years, sitting at40% lower than they were in 2019. This baseline drop will affect veterinary canine visits for the lifetime of this generation of dogs.
• Contributing Factors:High inflation, a tough economy and the housing crisis are key drivers. Younger people are renting apartments rather than buying houses, leading many to opt for cats instead of dogs.

• The Silver Lining:Because the average canine lifespan is roughly 11 years, and millions of families obtained dogs simultaneously during the 2020–2021 COVID boom, Marty predicts a natural rebound in demand over the next few years as we reach the halfway mark of that cycle.

• Has the Veterinary Industry "Killed the Golden Goose"?

• The Corporate Takeover:Around50% of all veterinary clinics(and nearly all mid-to-large-sized clinics in many regions) are now corporate-owned.

• Skyrocketing Fees:Corporate management has fundamentally shifted fee structures, resulting in veterinary care price hikes ranging from28% to 51%.

• Accessibility Issues:Due to staffing shortages and post-COVID inefficiencies, local 24/7 emergency clinics have dramatically scaled back their hours.

• Smart Ways Owners Can Lower Vet Costs

• Prioritize Preventive Care:Keeping up with annual blood work, vaccines and heartworm/flea/tick preventives is far cheaper than treating preventable illnesses like Lyme disease, heartworm or leptospirosis.

• Utilize Patient Financing:Programs likeCare Credit(strictly for medical/veterinary use) andCherry Pay(which works like Klarna to split a large bill, such as a $600 wellness visit, into manageable $50 monthly payments) can make upfront care affordable.
• Buy Local and Build Relationships:Purchasing preventives and medications directly from your local vet's online store supports your local clinic. Maintaining an active, positive relationship with your vet ensures you won't get turned away to a costly emergency clinic when you need a last-minute appointment.

• Insure Early:Enrolling in pet insurance (likeTrupanion) at 8 weeks old is significantly cheaper than trying to insure an adult dog later on.

• The Truth About Veterinary Telehealth

• A State-by-State Divide:Telehealth legality is entirely dependent on where you live. States like California have embraced it, while others like Wisconsin strictly prohibit remote veterinary prescriptions.

• The VCPR Hurdle:To receive remote care, you must have an established Veterinary Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR). You can check your state's specific laws by searching your state's name alongside"veterinary practice act"and"VCPR".

• Physical Limitations:While great for visual diagnoses (like skin lesions or an inflamed prostate), telehealth cannot replace a physical exam where a vet needs to listen to the heart, palpate the abdomen or check gum color.

• Crucial Advice for Breeders in a Slow Market

• Secure Commitments First:Breeders should establish their online presence (websites, Facebook, Instagram) well in advance, take secure deposits and use Zoom calls to build face-to-face trust with distant buyers.

• Stop Being Our Own Worst Enemy:The dog fancy has historically damaged its own reputation with elitist behavior. Breeders must return phone calls promptly, consider simplifying intimidating contracts down to one easily readable page and be welcoming to the public at dog shows.
• Be Flexible on Housing Requirements:Demanding a fully fenced yard when young, qualified buyers live in urban condos with excellent local dog parks is an outdated practice that drives buyers straight to "doodle" breeders.
• Consider Alternative Placement Models:Look into guardian home arrangements to preserve important genetics without overwhelming your own household kennel space.

You can download the free report underlying this analysis HERE.

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How to Go From Novice to Group Winner: Owner-Handler Success Secrets with Karine Beaulieu[caption id="attachment_16651" align="alignleft" width="300"] Karine Beaulieu presenting one of her Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves sits down with Karine Beaulieu, a Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier owner-handler and preservation breeder from Sudbury, Canada. Karine discusses her rapid five-year rise in the sport, transitioning from a complete novice who had never picked up grooming scissors to breeding and handling group-winning terriers.Karine shares how her autism manifests as a "hyperfixation" and passion for dogs. Rather than viewing it as a barrier, she has leveraged her deep focus as a superpower to study breed standards, analyze databases and master the intricate art of grooming. She provides a masterclass on how to navigate the steep learning curve of conformation shows, manage ring nerves and make data-driven decisions using judge tracking.How Karine Progressed from Newbie to Group-Winning HandlerKarine’s rapid success was not a matter of luck. It was built on a series of deliberate, systematic strategies that any beginner can apply:1. Harnessing Deep-Dive Research & Standard Study

• Memorizing the Breed Standard:The very first thing Karine did was print out the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier breed standard, highlighting it and studying it inside and out.
• Pedigree and Database Deep-Dives: She spends hours in breed databases and analyzing historical books to understand pedigrees and breed evolution.

• Objective Self-Criticism: Rather than hiding her dogs' flaws, Karine is highly critical of her own dogs, knowing their specific faults so she can work to improve them in the next generation.

• Mastering the Art of "Carving" a Coated Breed

• Overcoming the Scissors Curve: In 2020, Karine had never held grooming scissors. She printed the Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of America grooming guidelines, hung them on her wall and simply started practicing, knowing her early efforts would look "rough."

• Befriending Professional Groomers: She established friendships with professional handlers and trusted mentors who could give her feedback and quick evaluations of her work.
• The "Carving" Philosophy: Karine learned that grooming a terrier is like "carving a dog out of the hair." She grooms strategically to highlight her dog's attributes while minimizing less desirable traits.

• Viewing Hair as a Renewable Resource: To overcome the fear of making mistakes, Karine reminds herself that "hair is a renewable resource" and will always grow back if she makes an error.

• Proactive Mentorship & Continuous Learning

• Building Long-Term Breeder Connections: At age 13, Karine emailed local breeders to volunteer. Only one responded, and Karine spent the summer helping her. Years later, that same breeder provided her foundation bitch, "Ruby" and continues to serve as an invaluable mentor.

• Conformation Classes: Karine insists that taking local conformation classes is essential for success because beginners need experienced handlers to guide them and point out subtle presentation adjustments.

• Watching the Professionals: She spends hours sitting ringside, watching how professional handlers present their dogs on the ramp, during examinations and on the down-and-back. She also advocates arriving early to watch the judge’s patterns before entering the ring.

• Meticulous, Data-Driven Judge Tracking

• The Excel Judge Spreadsheet: On the advice of her mentor, Karine maintains an Excel spreadsheet tracking every judge she shows under.

• What She Tracks: She logs the show name, date, judge, what she liked/disliked about the judge's style, whether they awarded her a ribbon, and most importantly, the specific style of dog they preferred.

• Studying Past History: Before entering a show under a new judge, Karine researches their past judging history to see what dog styles they tend to favor, allowing her to make strategic, calculated entry decisions.

• Mental Conditioning & Ring Execution

• Controlling the Leash Energy: Karine realized early on that her nervous energy traveled "down the leash," causing her dog to act up. She learned to master her nerves so her dog remains calm and happy.

• Videotaping Runs: She recommends videotaping your ring performances year-round to review them with a trainer, allowing you to catch minor handling and presentation mistakes.
• Surviving the "Mean Girls" Club: Karine avoids online drama. She maintains a strong mental filter—keeping what resonates and discarding what doesn't and walks out of the ring proud, knowing that the dog is ultimately there to have a fun day and get treats.

Episode Takeaways & Highlights Autism as a Gift: Karine shares how her neurodivergence serves as a powerful motivator and tool for deep-dive breed research. * Ethical Breeding and PLN Testing:* A passionate advocate for ethical breeding, Karine emphasizes the importance of health testing for Protein Losing Nephropathy (PLN) in Wheaten Terriers, a gene that has only been testable since 2012.

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Drop-Coated Dog Care: Grooming & Breeding Secrets with Pat Keen-Fernandes[caption id="attachment_16535" align="alignleft" width="183"] Pat Keen Fernandes judging the YTCA Top Twenty.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves sits down with legendary handler Pat Keen-Fernandes at the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America National Specialty to discuss the strict weekly bathing regimen required for drop-coated breeds, the genetics behind eliminating face staining and the crucial need for mentorship and pet trusts within the purebred dog community.Episode Highlights The Golden Rule of Drop Coats:Learn why a strict bathing regimenevery five to seven daysis the single most critical factor in achieving a beautiful, flowing coat. * Choosing the Right Tools:Discover why a high-quality,forgiving pin brush with a flexible, squishy padis the ultimate tool for maintaining delicate coats without causing damage. * Shih Tzu School & Mentorship:Pat shares how she is giving back to the sport by mentoring new exhibitors throughShih Tzu Schoolto help preserve the future of drop-coated breeds. * Breeding for Health and Structure:Explore how selective breeding naturally prevents issues like tear-staining, and why evaluating dogs based on overall balance and proper shoulder placement is essential. * Protecting Your Dogs with Pet Trusts:A sobering discussion on why every breeder and owner must establish written wills orpet trusts*to ensure their dogs are protected if they are left behind.

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Protecting Dogs from the Dangerous Return of the New World ScrewwormHost Laura Reeves and veterinarian Marty Greer discuss the alarming resurgence of the New World Screwworm, outlining vital travel precautions, key symptoms to watch for and the medications used to treat this invasive parasite. The Return of a Lethal Threat:After being successfully managed since 1966 using a sterile fly release program, the New World Screwworm has crossed back over the U.S. border. Confirmed cases have already appeared in livestock and dogs. * How Screwworms Differ from Normal Maggots:Unlike typical fly larvae that only infest damaged or dead tissue, New World Screwworm larvae aggressively penetrate and destroy healthy, normal tissue in dogs, cats, livestock and even humans. * Fluid Travel Restrictions:State and international borders are experiencing rapidly shifting regulations. Dog owners are warned to avoid traveling across the Mexican border, remain highly cautious when traveling interstate and ensure they carry official health certificates. * What to Do If You Find a Larva:This is a federally reportable disease. If you discover a larva in a wound, do not throw it on the ground where it can pupate. Instead, preserve it in alcohol or formalin and immediately contact your veterinarian to notify authorities. * Treatment Options:Oral flea and tick medications in theisoxazolineclass (such as Cridelio, Nexgard, Brevecta, and Semperica) andnicotinamides(such as Capstar) are the primary medications utilized or suspected for emergency treatment, although their preventative capabilities are still being studied. * Other Exotic Diseases on the Rise:The episode also flags other global health threats creeping into the U.S. due to warming temperatures, includingChagas disease(transmitted by the kissing bug and causing severe cardiac disease) and aliver fluke*showing up in the Colorado River Valley.

Featured Resources: Worms and Germs Blog(Infectious disease updates by veterinarian Dr. Scott Weese) * CapcVet*(veterinarian-authored parasite prevalence maps)

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Dog Show Tips for Beginners: Navigating the Learning CurveHost Laura Reeves welcomes Matt Stroud (known to some on Facebook as "Kermit the Dog"), an enthusiastic owner-handler of Schipperkes. Matt shares his journey from being a shy high schooler navigating 4-H with a poodle mix and a Yorkshire Terrier, to returning to the dog show world as an adult with his Schipperkes.

Navigating the Learning Curve Matt candidly discusses the fragmented and confusing realities for newcomers, noting that while the sport is more visible than ever, basic logistics—like navigating superintendent websites to enter shows—can be overwhelming without insider knowledge.The Power of Mentorship and Responsibility A major turning point for Matt was meeting his tough-as-nails mentor, Audrey, who bluntly told him his struggles in the ring were his fault, not the dog's. Matt emphasizes the importance of accepting personal responsibility for grooming, conditioning and handling, rather than blaming judges or competitors.Highs, Lows and Dealing with Negativity Matt shares the incredible high of winning an Award of Merit at his first Westminster, contrasted with a humbling weekend where a lack of preparation resulted in losing every class. He also provides practical advice for handling "mean people" ringside: avoid vague-booking on Facebook and instead speak directly to the person to clear up misunderstandings."More Than a Ribbon" Matt introduces his beautifully illustrated, rhyming children's book, More Than a Ribbon, A Dog Show Story. Inspired by his own journey and the beauty of outdoor shows like Palm Springs, the book is designed to help kids (and adults) normalize losing, learn that they cannot control every outcome and find comfort in their community.Matt's Top 3 Tips for Beginners:1. Filter the advice you receiveand consider whether it empowers you to improve. 2. Take personal responsibilityfor understanding ribbons, placements and ring procedures. 3. Never give up, because even through dry spells, your winning moment will come.

[caption id="attachment_15805" align="alignnone" width="768"] Matt Stroud with his dogs and his new children's book, "More than a Ribbon."[/caption]

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Understanding Puppy Heart Murmurs and Congenital Heart DiseaseIn this episode of Pure Dog Talk's "Veterinary Voice," host Laura Reeves and Dr. Marty Greer explore the complexities of congenital heart disease in puppies, offering essential guidance for breeders on diagnosing, treating and navigating cardiac health in their litters.The Importance of the First Vet Visit & Puppy MurmursDr. Greer emphasizes the crucial need for a thorough veterinary exam before placing any puppies in their forever homes to protect the breeder's reputation and ensure the puppy's health. A heart murmur occurs when blood flows backward through the heart, creating turbulence. Veterinarians grade these murmurs on a scale from one to six, where a grade one is incredibly subtle and a grade six is loud enough to be felt through the chest wall without a stethoscope.To ensure an accurate diagnosis, Dr. Greer advises that the puppy must have all four feet on the exam table in a completely quiet room. While some early, subtle murmurs resolve over time or are simply caused by typical puppy anemia, any persisting or loud murmur requires an echocardiogram.The 5 Common Congenital Heart Defects in Puppies Dr. Greer details the most frequently diagnosed congenital heart defects: Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA):A condition where a fetal blood vessel fails to close after birth. While serious, it is the only defect on this list that can be surgically corrected, often using a minimally invasive Amplatz catheter, allowing the dog to live a completely normal life. * Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD):A hole between the heart's two ventricles. Depending on the size of the hole, dogs with a VSD can live normal lives as family pets, though they are usually not suited for high-endurance performance events. * Subaortic Stenosis (SAS) & Pulmonic Stenosis:A narrowing of the blood vessels exiting the heart, known to be genetic in breeds like Newfoundlands. These dogs typically require lifelong medication and may face a shortened life expectancy. * Tricuspid Valve Disease:*A dysplasia or malformation of the valve on the right side of the heart. Currently, there is no surgical correction available in veterinary medicine and these dogs generally face a poor long-term prognosis.

Best Practices for BreedersBecause there are currently no DNA tests available for these genetic cardiac diseases, breeders must rely heavily on physical screening. Dr. Greer strongly recommends that echocardiograms on breeding stock be performed exclusively by board-certified veterinary cardiologists, as the imaging is highly user-dependent and easily misdiagnosed by a general practitioner.Even with meticulous screening, it is still possible to produce a puppy with a congenital heart defect. Because of this, both Laura and Dr. Greer stress the importance of open, honest and gossip-free communication within the breeding community when these issues arise.

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Patrick McManus on Harmony, History and Pugs[caption id="attachment_15774" align="alignleft" width="399"] Patrick McManus judging the Pug Dog Club of America National Specialty.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves sits down with pug breeder, AKC judge and artist Patrick McManus to explore the fascinating intersection of fine art, breed type and the living history of purebred dogs.The ultimate Renaissance man, McManus is known as a dedicated pug breeder and judge, as well as an incredible artist whose unique Cubist renderings of dogs are breathtaking.Purebred dogs serve as "living history," representing a specific place, people and time. As humans evolved and migrated across the globe, dogs followed and were selectively bred by people to perform specific services or to provide "pure exotic joy." Today, breeders and judges act as the curators of this ongoing historical record.For an artist and breeder like McManus, studying the history of fine arts and the history of dogs are "one and the same thing". Observing how dogs were historically depicted and bred helps artists and judges alike understand the "why" behind a breed's unique shape, ensuring they can accurately evaluate if every physical part of the dog is functioning in complete harmony.This evolution of purebreds is deeply intertwined with fine art, as historical art provides a continuous visual thread of canine development. The presence of dogs is documented everywhere from the ancient bas-reliefs of Welsh castles to the masterpieces of renowned painters. For example, Edgar Degas frequently featured Brussels Griffons—which belonged to fellow painter Mary Cassatt—in his pastels and paintings of horse races. Georges Seurat also famously incorporated dogs into his pointillist works. Sometimes, a breed's history is tied directly to other art forms, such as the Dandie Dinmont Terrier being named after a character in a novel.This visual history helps trace the lineage and geographic journey of ancient breeds. The ancient Lhasa Apso from Tibet, for instance, eventually influenced the development of the Pekingese in China. This lineage of "exotic" or brachycephalic (short-faced) breeds—which includes Pugs, Japanese Chins and Brussels Griffons—reflects generations of human selection.[caption id="attachment_15775" align="alignleft" width="495"] One of many of McManus' paintings and artworks.More topics from McManus:[/caption] From "Pug Boy" to Judge:Patrick recounts his early entry into the dog world, starting with a childhood fascination for Pointers and Setters before buying his first Pug at age 15 and earning the affectionate nickname "Pug Boy". * The Artist’s Eye in the Ring:Patrick explains how studying art and movement naturally translated to evaluating dogs. He discusses how the principles of Cubism and observing how pieces fit together help him assess whether a dog is moving in true harmony and balance. * The Importance of Mentorship:*Patrick shares his emotional gratitude for the icons of the dog show world, including "Mama" Charlotte Patterson, who took the time to mentor him when he was just a teenager starting with a pooper scooper.

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New Purina Pro Plan Grant Program Levels the Playing Field for All Dog ClubsHost Laura Reeves is joined by Purina’s Heidi Hartman to discuss the exciting evolution of the Purina Parent Club Partnership (PPCP) into the brand new Pro Plan Grant Program.For years, the PPCP distributed funds based on Pro Club member receipt uploads, which unintentionally favored highly popular breeds with large club memberships, leaving smaller clubs with minimal funding. The new Pro Plan Grant Program is designed to level the playing field, ensuring that a small breed club with just a handful of members has the exact same opportunity to secure a grant as massive organizations like the Labrador Retriever or Golden Retriever clubs.Now, any qualified 501(c)3 parent breed club can apply for a grant of up to $5,000. These funds act as a strategic partnership to support vital initiatives, including canine health research, educational outreach, breed preservation and rescue programs.Key Takeaways & Important Dates: Equal Opportunity Funding:The David and Goliath dynamic is gone. Small and large clubs now have an equal shot at earning substantial funding for their initiatives. * Application Timeline:The simple online application process opens onJune 1and closes onSeptember 30. * Approval & Payouts:Grant applications will be reviewed by a diverse committee between October 1 and November 30. Winners will be announced in December, with funds dispersed in January. * Purina Pro Club is NOT Going Away:*While the PPCP donation matching is ending, you should absolutely keep uploading your receipts! The Pro Club and its redemption programs are still highly active.

How to Apply: Starting June 1, eligible clubs can access the straightforward online application to submit their grant requests. You can scan the QR code found on Pro Plan Grant Program literature at Purina dog show booths to apply directly. Remember, the application must be submitted by the board of your parent club.

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Wheels Off, AirTags On: The Ultimate Survival Guide to Flying Your Dog Host Laura Reeves gets the ultimate intel from Alicia Morrison Jones—an Afghan Hound breeder who clocked roughly 200,000 miles flying her own dog before going behind the counter as an Alaska Airlines employee.Ditch the travel anxiety with this ultimate survival guide to flying your dog, featuring insider secrets on crate hacks, cargo hold myths and the non-negotiable rules you need to know before takeoff. The Truth About the Cargo Hold:Stop panicking about the baggage hold.*It is fully pressurized and temperature-regulated, often running about 10 degrees cooler than the passenger cabin. Your dog gets their own isolated, strapped-in section away from the regular luggage and they usually have more room down there than you do in economy. * Crate Survival Rules & Fees: + Be prepared to pay the new pet fee of $200 each way. + Ditch the collapsible crates:Alaska Airlines no longer accepts them. You must use a solid, stationary crate. + Know your aircraft limits:The absolute maximum crate height for a 737 is 30 inches. + Wheels Off:Crates can no longer have wheels attached. Take them off and label them with your name and phone number. * The Ultimate Travel Hacks: + AirTag Everything:Strap an Apple AirTag to your dog's collar or secure it to their crate for instant tracking and peace of mind. + The Zip-Tie Hack:Secure your water buckets to the crate door with zip-ties so the clips don't break off during heavy turbulence. + The 10/30 Health Certificate Rule:Your vet health certificatemustbe dated within 10 days of your initial departing flight, which then covers a 30-day travel window for your return trip. + Absorbent Material is Mandatory:Don't get left behind for a biohazard issue. Pad the bottom of your crate with secure, absorbent material. + Beat the Clock:Arrive a minimum of two hours early to survive TSA, complete the extensive paperwork and get your crate inspected. * How to Get Denied Boarding (What NEVER to do): + Ban the Flexi Lead:Never walk your dog through the airport on a flexi lead—it is a massive safety hazard for other passengers and pets. + Keep it Quiet:If your dog is heavily stressed, banging on the crate door, or barking incessantly,the airline will deny you boardingfor safety reasons. * Summer Embargo Warning: Watch the heat. Summer temperature embargoes officially drop on May 15, so start planning your travel carefully around the cool hours of the day. * This year Alaska Airlines decided to set summer embargoes for select airports.Here is a breakdown of the embargoes for 2026:Austin (AUS)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.Baltimore (BWI)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM.Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.Detroit (DTW)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM.Dulles (IAD)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM.El Paso (ELP)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.*Houston (IAH)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.Kansas City (MCI)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026.Las Vegas (LAS)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights March 27, 2026 through October 15, 2026.*John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM.Oklahoma City (OKC)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026.Palm Springs (PSP)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 1, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM.Philadelphia (PHL)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM.Phoenix (PHX)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights April 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.Pittsburgh (PIT)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM.Sacramento (SMF)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM.San Antonio International (SAT)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.St Louis (STL)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026.*Tucson (TUS)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.Tulsa (TUL)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026.Washington D.C. (DCA)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026 between 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM.*Wichita (ICT)Due to extreme temperature forecasts, animals traveling in the baggage compartment will not be accepted on flights May 15, 2026 through September 30, 2026.++If you don't see an airport listed, an embargo has not been set for the summer.+++Always check Alaskaair.com (Travel advisories) for any temporary embargoes before booking travel with your dog.++++Pets traveling in the cabin with their owners will be accepted on all flights. For pets traveling via Alaska Air Cargo, please contact our Cargo Call Center at 1-800-225-2752.

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Syringomyelia in Cavaliers and Beyond: What Every Breeder Needs to KnowDr. Marty Greer joins Laura Reeves to answer a listener question and break down one of the most serious and underdiagnosed neurological conditions affecting small breed dogs.If you've never heard of syringomyelia, you're not alone — but if you breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Brussels Griffons, Pomeranians or other small brachycephalic breeds, this episode could change how you think about your breeding program.Dr. Marty Greer walks Laura through the difference between Chiari-like malformation and syringomyelia (SM), two conditions that often get lumped together but aren't quite the same thing. The short version: when the skull is too small for the cerebellum, fluid circulation gets disrupted and painful pockets of fluid can form along the spinal cord. The result is a dog in chronic, often invisible pain.The symptoms are easy to miss. Phantom scratching near the neck, sleeping with the head elevated, flinching when picked up or eating from a floor-level bowl — all of these can look like something minor. In Cavaliers especially, an ear condition with overlapping symptoms makes diagnosis even trickier. Only an MRI gives you a definitive answer, and that's where things get complicated fast.MRIs run anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000. Dogs need to be fully anesthetized. Cavaliers aren't the easiest anesthetic candidates for a variety of reasons. And even after all that investment, the genetics are multifactorial and polygenetic, meaning two "clear" dogs can still produce affected offspring.The numbers are sobering. When screening efforts launched in the U.S., the breed incidence was estimated at 60 to 80 percent. Careful screening cut that roughly in half — but that still leaves the breed sitting around 35 to 40 percent affected, and only a fraction of dogs are ever screened.Treatment options exist but aren't encouraging. Surgical intervention has a relapse rate of over 50 percent. Long-term management means gabapentin, steroids and other medications for the life of the dog. It's a heavy burden for dogs and owners alike.So what can breeders actually do right now? Marty and Laura make the case for breeding normal to normal as consistently as possible, tracking health outcomes across generations and pushing for group MRI clinics to bring costs down through volume. One breeder they profile used to pack 8 to 10 dogs into a vehicle and drive to Canada just to get affordable scans. That's dedication — but it shouldn't be the only option.If you have access to an underutilized MRI machine or you're actively doing DNA research on this condition, Laura wants to hear from you. This is exactly the kind of problem the Pure Dog Talk community wants to tackle. Email: Laura@puredogtalk.comFind more detailed information about syringomyelia HERE.

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Navigating Dog Show Economics and Governance with Pam Mandeville[caption id="attachment_15667" align="alignleft" width="398"] Pam Mandeville showing one of her homebred Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by corporate expert Pam Mandeville to discuss dog show economics, AKC reforms and why getting involved in kennel club governance is just as crucial as US politics for the future of purebred dogs.Pam Mandeville brings a deeply unique perspective to our sport. Pam is a Georgetown lawyer and MBA graduate who spent years as an AKC project manager and in corporate America, plus she's bred and owner-handled dozens of Soft-Coated Wheaton Terriers. She brings her real-world business experience to give us a reality check on the sport we love.Pam walks us through the true economic realities of dog shows, pointing out that having the disposable income to show dogs actually puts us in the top one percent of the country. Instead of expecting average America to pour money into massive dog shows, Pam suggests we embrace our status as a "niche sport."“We don't have to be massive,” Pam said. “We can be a high-quality "jewel" by supporting smaller, more accessible shows.” Pam digs into the numbers behind AKC registrations and event entries, questioning whether the boom in companion events is actually bringing in new people or just giving our current exhibitors more titles to earn with their dogs.Because AKC is a representative government, Pam and Laura also brainstorm ways to drag it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. They hash through structural reforms like professionalizing the board of directors with outside business experts, ending absentee delegates, and creating regional delegate Zoom meetings so small grassroots clubs aren't priced out of having a voice.“Years ago, a friend told me something that has resonated ever since: the American Kennel Club is government and Pure Dog Talk is small business,” Laura said. “I cannot emphasize this enough, y'all—just like our own government in the United States, being a responsible member of the purebred dog community means knowing how our AKC government works and actively participating in it. Civic awareness and taking action applies to the AKC just as much as it does to US politics and the Constitution. Rights and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin!”Join your local or parent club, communicate with your delegates and register every single puppy in your litters to support the organization. We are the core constituency, and it is up to us to protect the future of the dogs.

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Secure Your Dog's Future: The Lifesaving Benefits of Pet Trusts and Estate PlanningLaura is joined by estate planning attorney and author Cecilia Amo to discuss how to secure the future of your purebred dogs and avoid the expensive, time-consuming default government plan known as probate.Why You Need More Than Just a WillMany dog owners assume a simple will is enough to protect their pets, but the law views dogs as property. If you leave money to a friend in a will and ask them to care for your dog, there is absolutely no legal obligation for them to actually use those funds for the dog. If your friend faces a personal emergency, like a broken-down car, that money could end up being used for their own needs rather than your pet.The Power of Pet TrustsTo truly protect your dogs, Cecilia strongly recommends establishing a Pet Trust. Unlike a will, a trust makes the funds you leave behind legally enforceable, ensuring they are used exclusively for your dog's care. A pet trust allows you to build in crucial contingencies, such as naming a rotating list of backup caretakers and designating an enforcer to oversee the funds so they aren't misused. You can even dictate a highly detailed schedule for your dog's life, specifying their diet, grooming needs, exercise, and end-of-life preferences.Planning for IncapacityEstate planning isn't just about death; it is also crucial for incapacity. Dog owners spend countless hours driving to shows, meaning the risk of a car accident is very real. Cecilia emphasizes the importance of living wills and trusts so that trusted individuals can access your finances and legally care for your dogs if you are ever hospitalized or in a coma.Avoid DIY and AI Estate PlansBoth Laura and Cecilia strongly caution against using AI or transactional, volume-based websites like LegalZoom for your estate planning. A solid life and legacy plan requires an ongoing relationship with an empathetic attorney who will review your plan as your pack changes, rather than treating you as a quick transaction.A Nerd's Guide to Wills and Trusts Cecilia also shares insights from her new book, After Credit Scene: A Nerd's Guide to Wills, Trusts, and Legacy. To make intimidating legal concepts more approachable, the book explains estate planning through the lens of pop culture, using analogies from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Star Trek and Game of Thrones.

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Semen Viability & “Semen Math”: Maximize Success with Fresh, Chilled & FrozenDr. Marty Greer returns to break down semen viability, the six parameters of semen analysis, practical “semen math,” and strategies for maximizing success with fresh-chilled and frozen semen.Marty joins Laura to demystify semen viability and the practical realities of breeding with fresh, chilled and frozen semen. Whether you’re a first-time breeder or seasoned pro, this conversation delivers veterinary-backed guidance on how to assess semen quality, plan collections and protect valuable genetic material.Key topics covered:* Semen Math: Dr. Greer walks through the core formula: ejaculate volume × sperm concentration × percent motile × percent morphologically normal (× post-thaw survival for frozen samples) to determine total usable sperm and number of breeding units. Use this to decide when to freeze, how many straws/pellets equal a true breeding unit, and when to be conservative with limited inventory. * Six parameters of semen analysis: ejaculate volume, gross appearance, sperm count, morphology, motility (directional swimming vs. circular or backward movement), and longevity. Why each matters and what incomplete reports (e.g., “plenty here”) really mean. * Fresh vs. frozen considerations: why you shouldn’t “clean out” a male the night before collection; why freezing early (when the dog is young and virile) is critical; how older dogs and fragile semen tolerate freeze-thaw poorly; and breed- and individual-level variability in freeze tolerance. * Practical troubleshooting for failed frozen breedings: confirm historic fertility, review original collection age/count/post-thaw stats, check packaging (straws vs. pellets) and breeding-unit definition, and discuss TCI vs. surgical options with your repro clinic. * iSperm and accessibility: overview of affordable, tablet-based semen analyzers as a community tool for clinics and breeders to get reliable counts. * Small, actionable tips: warming slides for motility checks, thermal risks to sperm, timing for clean-out collections, and using anti-inflammatory protocols that some clinics employ with compromised breedings.

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Dog Breeders Under Fire: the National Legislative Push Against Responsible Breeders

A sweeping mandatory sterilization bill in Hawaii refuses to die. It's part of a coordinated national campaign targeting responsible breeders and dog sports.

Responsible dog owners and breeders across the country are facing a coordinated legislative push that threatens the future of purebred dogs, working dog sports and preservation breeding. Host Laura Reeves breaks down the landscape and brings in Lynn Muramaru, board member of the Pacific Pet Alliance, to detail the fight happening in Hawaii right now.Hawaii's Mandatory Spay-Neuter LegislationThe Hawaiian Humane Society introduced legislation requiring mandatory spay and neuter of all dogs and cats imported into Hawaii, along with a declaration requirement for all intact animals already living in the state. After more than 200 people submitted testimony — forcing the joint committee to limit speakers to one minute each — the bill appeared to die when it failed to receive its third committee hearing by the March 6 deadline.But it didn't stay dead. Within days, the Hawaiian Humane Society revived a prior-year bill, gutted it, and replaced its contents with the identical language. The renamed bill has now been referred to a new House committee. All the original concerns remain: mandatory sterilization language, intact animal registration requirements and penalties for non-compliance.Residents and non-residents alike can submit written testimony through the Hawaii State Legislature website. Registration requires only a name and email address.The Bigger Picture: A National StrategyHawaii is not an isolated case. Laura outlines a deliberate, incremental strategy being deployed by animal rights organizations across multiple fronts simultaneously: Oregon— A ballot initiative effort is currently underway * The Federal Farm Bill*— An amendment to the Greyhound Protection Act has been inserted into the Farm Bill's broadly supported legislation. As currently written, vague language could ban live lure training, open field coursing and controlled bird exposure used in training hunting and sporting breeds — affecting earth dog, barn hunt, lure coursing, Fast CAT, field trials and more

What You Can Do Right Now Contact your member of Congressand ask them to oppose the Greyhound Protection Act language inserted into the Farm Bill * Submit testimonyon Hawaii legislation at the Hawaii State Legislature website * Monitor legislative alertsat theAKC Government Relationspage * Engage your representativesat every level — federal, state and local — every session, every bill. Locate your representativesHERE*.

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AKC Purebred Preservation Bank: Saving Dog Breeds from ExtinctionMore than half of AKC-recognized breeds are now considered low-entry, and the number of breeds registering 10 or fewer litters per year doubled between 2022 and 2024. Host Laura Reeves sits down with Dr. Charlie Garvin—AKC Board of Directors member and chairman of the AKC Purebred Preservation Bank (PPB)—to unpack what that means for the future of purebred dogs and what breeders can do about it today.

Dr. Garvin traces the PPB's origins to the Otterhound Club's pioneering reproductive bank, established in 2017, and explains how the AKC stepped in to create a scalable structure any parent club or breeder could use. Now a standalone 501(c)3 affiliate, the PPB is building a long-term safety net for breeds facing dwindling numbers and dangerously narrow genetic diversity.

The conversation gets real fast. Laura and Charlie tackle the elephant in the room—what happens to frozen semen when its owner passes away? Spoiler: in most cases, it gets thrown out. The PPB offers a solution, allowing breeders to donate stored semen now or via bequest, with the PPB assuming storage costs and ensuring the material is preserved under rigorous standards.

Dr. Garvin also addresses the "rival breeder" objection head-on: the PPB isn't competing with active breeders. Its mission is 25, 50, even 100 years out—when today's rivalries are ancient history and a breed may need to be reconstituted from whatever genetic material survives.

Parent clubs play a critical role too, and Charlie issues a direct call to action: submit your breed-specific parameters for both donor dogs and potential breeding bitches now, while your club is still active and your philosophy can guide future decisions—even if the club itself no longer exists.

To learn more or start the donation process, visit akcppb.org and connect with PPB Program Manager Susan Myers.

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Buddy the Beagle, Children's Books and Dog Show Life with Will AlexanderWill Alexander joins host Laura Reeves to talk about his charming new children's book series starring Buddy the Beagle, plus judging, podcasting and the timeless chaos of navigating dog shows without GPS.Longtime dog show handler and judge Will Alexander returns to Pure Dog Talk with something unexpected in his portfolio: a children's book series. Inspired by his real-life beagle — a 1992 American National winner nicknamed "Bud Man" — Will wrote the first book, What Is My Name? at his kitchen table on a whim. What followed was a growing series including Buddy Finds a Family and Buddy's First Christmas, with Buddy the Beagle and the Easter Egg Hunt coming soon.

The books target the five-to-six-year-old crowd and feature a real child, Savannah Bernardin, Katie and Adam's daughter, as Buddy's companion. Will used AI illustration tools to bring Buddy to life after early attempts with family members proved less than reliable. He also touches on his earlier novel For the Love of Dogs, a coming-of-age story about a boy who discovers the dog show world.

Beyond the books, Will and Laura cover plenty of ground familiar to longtime fanciers. They discuss the state of crop and dock legislation in Canada, where Ontario remains the last province permitting the practices. They celebrate the new AKC-CKC title recognition agreement that will finally show Canadian championships properly on pedigrees. And they reflect on the shrinking but still vibrant Canadian show scene, noting that Western Canadian shows maintain strong entries partly because they draw from multiple provinces.

The conversation winds down with a laugh-out-loud exchange about pre-GPS dog show navigation — road atlases, wrong exits, and dads who somehow just knew how to get places.

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Hypnosis for Dog Handlers: Calm Your Mind, Free Your DogIn this fascinating episode, host Laura Reeves welcomes Radek Blažo, a dog show enthusiast and certified hypnotherapist from Slovakia, whose two passions — purebred dogs and cognitive behavioral hypnotherapy — have collided in a surprisingly powerful way.

Radek's dog journey began at age 15 in Slovakia, when his father took him to visit breeders and he fell in love with Lhasa Apsos. He eventually traveled to Italy to learn the craft of handling and later came to the United States, where mentors like Melissa Pepke and professional handler Barbara Beisel shaped his understanding of the sport. He now works with Tibetan Terriers alongside close friends while maintaining deep roots in the Lhasa community.

After a career pivot into journalism and then into cognitive behavioral hypnotherapy — which he studied through a college in the UK — Radek had a lightbulb moment at a dog show. Watching a clearly skilled handler fall apart in the breed ring, with her anxiety visibly transferring to her dog, he realized he could bridge his two worlds.

The science backs him up. Research from the University of Bristol confirms that dogs can detect human emotions through scent and actually change their behavior in response to stress, fear or sadness. As Radek puts it, you can fake a smile but you can't fake your hormones — dogs smell adrenaline, sweat, and the full cocktail of anxiety whether you want them to or not. The result is a feedback loop Laura aptly calls a "death spiral": the handler gets nervous, the dog reacts, the handler gets more nervous and so on.

Radek's online course addresses this from multiple angles. He begins by teaching the psychology behind show-day triggers — being judged, time pressure, negative self-talk — and walks students through breathing techniques and cognitive tools to interrupt anxious thought patterns. Hypnosis then provides a practice environment where handlers can mentally rehearse calm, focused performances far more often than real show weekends allow.

Laura shares her own story of showing Spinone Italiano Adele at Madison Square Garden, describing the intense mental focus required to hold her sensitive dog together in that overwhelming environment — and how it worked. Radek connects this directly to the tunnel-vision technique he teaches in his course.

His program is available online and accessible worldwide, making it a resource for owner-handlers everywhere who know what to do in the ring but struggle to do it when it counts.

Whether you're a nervous novice or a seasoned exhibitor who still gets the jitters, this episode offers a genuinely new lens on one of the sport's most common — and least-discussed — challenges.

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Assembling the "Engine" in Canine StructureVeteran breeder and judge Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath joins host Laura Reeves to break down the dog's "engine" -- rear construction from croup anatomy and tail set to hock length and bend of stifle — helping breeders and judges understand how structure drives movement and longevity.The entire rear assembly in a dog is the engine that propels it forward. Stephanie and Laura unpack the anatomy and biomechanics behind a correct rear assembly, why balance matters more than any single piece, and how faults in the rear (or the front) can break a working dog down over time.

The Rear as the Engine Stephanie describes the rear as a pole vault mechanism, driving the dog over its front assembly. The pelvis, sacral vertebrae (three fused bones), and hip joints form a solid, interconnected unit — and understanding how they work together is key to evaluating any breed.

Croup Angle and Tail Set The croup's angle determines tail set and follow-through. A steep croup lets a dog reach far under itself but limits follow-through — the dog picks its foot back up instead of pushing off completely. A high tail set (Stephanie's memorable test: can you see the dog's anus from behind?) produces a tail that curls over the back and signals a structural problem, not just a cosmetic one.

Hock Length: Short Isn't Always Better Not every breed needs a short hock. Whippets need length to generate speed. Corgis need enough leg to cover ground. The right hock length always comes back to the question: can this dog do the job it was bred to do?

Bend of Stifle and Sickle Hock Too much bend in the stifle often produces an overly long rear pastern and a sickle hock — the dog can't stand square and loses its ability to push off effectively. Handlers may be able to mask it on the stack, but the dog's movement tells the truth.

Why Balance Is Everything A dog that is straight both front and rear tires quickly but stays sound. A dog with a strong rear and a straight front is the most problematic combination — the front, held together only by muscle and ligament, will break down under the stress the rear generates. Movement is the proof of structure, and slowing a dog down in the ring often reveals problems that a fast gait conceals.

Breadth, Loin and Feet Stephanie and Laura also cover the importance of croup width (muscling and power), loin strength and length, and breed-appropriate feet — reminding listeners that every element of the standard exists because it helped a dog perform its original function.

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Fenbendazole Side Effects in Dogs: What Breeders Need to Know About Rare ReactionsFenbendazole (Panacur) has been a go-to dewormer for veterinarians and breeders for over 40 years — but a rare, life-threatening blood disorder in a 10-month-old French Bulldog is prompting a closer look. Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves to share what happened, what it means, and why being an informed consumer of veterinary drugs matters more than ever.Marty shares her experience with a young French Bulldog who developed severe pancytopenia — dangerously low white blood cells, platelets near zero, and declining red blood cells — after a 10-day course of fenbendazole for Giardia.In this episode, Marty and Laura cover:1. Idiosyncratic vs. idiopathic reactions— what the difference means and why it matters when a drug you trust causes an unexpected response 2. The fenbendazole case— a detailed walkthrough of diagnosis, the ruling-out process (parvo, tick-borne disease, vaccines, other drugs), and the treatment that turned it around within 24 hours 3. The FDA Dear Veterinarian letter— as of April 2024, pancytopenia had been reported in 12 dogs on fenbendazole; this case may make 13 4. How to report adverse drug reactions— and why that reporting matters for future label updates 5. MDR-1 gene mutations— which breeds are affected and what drugs to watch 6. Trimethoprim-sulfa (Bactrim/Albon)— breeds at higher risk for platelet drops, including Samoyeds, Dobermans, Goldens and Borzoi 7. Topical flea/tick products— the "heebie-jeebies" skin sensation and what to do if your dog reacts every month 8. Reading package inserts— a practical tip: search for the drug name + "package insert PDF" and use Ctrl+F to find terms like "pregnant," "breeding," or "male"

Key takeaway: Fenbendazole remains a safe, widely used drug — but as with any medication, idiosyncratic reactions can happen. Awareness is the goal, not alarm. If something seems off in a dog on any medication, add it to your list of differentials and call your vet.Resources mentioned:1. Search: "Dear Veterinarian letter fenbendazole" to find the FDA communication 2. Veterinary Information Network (VIN): vin.com 3. Pure Dog Talk Patron community: puredogtalk.com/patron 4. Pedigrees to Pups Seminar Weekend — Austin, TX (March 27–29) and Altoona, WI (April 10–12): puredogtalk.com/events

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WKC Toy Group Winning Handler Tim Lehman on Campaigning a Maltese and Drop-Coat ExcellenceFresh off his Toy Group win at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Tim Lehman joins Pure Dog Talk to share the story behind Cookie, the breathtaking Maltese who captured hearts at the Garden. From a childhood obsession sparked in a Minnesota library to standing in the Best in Show lineup under the spotlight at Madison Square Garden, Tim’s journey is a testament to mentorship, meticulous coat care, purposeful breeding and staying in the path of kindness.

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Postpartum Complications in Dogs: Dr. Marty’s Whelping Survival GuideWhelping doesn’t always end with a tidy pile of healthy puppies and a relaxed, glowing mama dog. Host Laura Reeves is joined by our favorite best friend in veterinary medicine, Dr. Marty Greer, to walk through the most common (and most dangerous) postpartum complications breeders face — from retained puppies and metritis to mastitis, eclampsia, and even the terrifying “SIPS” bleeding that shows up weeks later. If you’ve ever had a bitch crash after delivery… or you’re hoping you never will… this is the episode that helps you stay calm, prepared and ready to act fast.

The conversation begins with one of the biggest preventable tragedies: retained puppies. Dr. Greer emphasizes the importance of a properly timed puppy-count x-ray (day 55–60) and shares practical tips for improving accuracy, including using digital x-ray equipment, taking two views, and ensuring the bitch has an empty stomach and colon before imaging. Her bottom line is simple: know your count — and don’t go to bed if you’re missing a puppy.

From there, Marty and Laura tackle early postpartum red flags, including aggression toward puppies, which can be linked to low calcium. They discuss proactive tools like calcium gel during labor (not before), pheromone support collars, and the surprisingly effective trick of saving placental fluids after a C-section to help “switch on” maternal behavior once puppies get home.

Next up: poor milk production, dehydration, and what to do when a bitch simply won’t lactate. Dr. Greer shares her go-to strategies — from metoclopramide and OxyMama to boosting fluid intake with creative options like starter mousse mixed into water. And yes… even bratwurst makes an appearance as a lactation hack that longtime breeders swear by.

The episode also dives into the “big three” postpartum medical complications: metritis, mastitis, and eclampsia. Dr. Greer explains what to watch for, why fever is never something to ignore, and why antibiotics should always be vet-directed — not pulled from leftover bottles in the cabinet.

Finally, Marty demystifies normal postpartum discharge (lochia) versus SIPS (sub-involution of placental sites), a dramatic but usually benign bleeding episode that can happen around eight weeks after delivery.

If you breed dogs, this episode gives you the tools to recognize problems early — and save lives when it matters most.

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Gut Health, Brain Health and the Science of Better Dogs[caption id="attachment_15060" align="alignleft" width="363"] Dr. Lobos with her own dogs Finn and Journey.[/caption]What if your dog’s digestion affects more than just stool quality—what if it influences immunity, stress responses and even behavior? Host Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Ruth Ann Lobos, Senior Veterinarian with Purina Pro Plan, for a fascinating deep dive into the latest research on the canine microbiome and the gut-brain axis. From the real meaning of prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics to the role of MCTs in fueling the aging brain, this conversation brings cutting-edge canine nutrition science down to earth for breeders and serious dog people.Lobos explores how modern canine nutrition is evolving beyond “just feeding a dog” and into targeted, research-backed support for digestion, cognition and quality of life.

Dr. Lobos explains that Purina doesn’t bring new diets to market simply for trendy ingredients or marketing hype—these new formulas are the result of years of research and partnerships with respected institutions like the AKC Canine Health Foundation and the renowned GI research lab at Texas A&M. Their goal is simple: support foundational health through the digestive system, since gut health affects everything from immunity to stress resilience—especially for dogs who travel, compete, or experience lifestyle changes.

One of the biggest takeaways is the clear explanation of the difference between prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics. Dr. Lobos breaks it down in a way every dog owner can understand, using a lawn analogy: prebiotics act like fertilizer, probiotics are the grass seed, and postbiotics are like compost—no longer alive, but still beneficial.

The new Digestive Support Plus formula builds on the success of Sensitive Skin & Stomach by adding a science-supported probiotic strain that is shelf-stable and effective for dogs who need “just a little more” digestive support—without jumping straight to a veterinary therapeutic diet.

The conversation also turns to senior dogs and brain health. Dr. Lobos shares the compelling research behind medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which help provide an alternative fuel source for the aging brain. Dogs fed MCT-supported diets have shown improved learning, awareness, and cognitive function. Even more intriguing: related research has demonstrated seizure reduction in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy using higher-MCT therapeutic diets.

This episode is a must-listen for breeders, competitors and devoted dog owners who want to understand the real science behind feeding decisions—without the buzzword nonsense.

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Legendary Handler Andy Linton on Quality, Conditioning and Presentation[caption id="attachment_15022" align="alignleft" width="338"] Andy and Penny shine at the DPCA Top 20.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves sits down one-on-one with legendary professional handler Andy Linton for an in-depth conversation about a lifetime in the sport. From his beginnings as a Southern California teenager more interested in surfing than dog shows, to handling some of the most iconic Best in Show winners in history — including Indy winning BIS at Westminster Kennel Club — Andy shares the experiences, lessons and mindset that shaped his extraordinary career.

Andy walks listeners through his early days showing a Doberman in the 1970s, learning the ropes by working for top handlers and absorbing invaluable lessons from mentors like Clay Coady, Tim Brazier, Bob and Jane Forsyth, and others. He reflects on the importance of watching, learning and stealing the best ideas — not just how handlers move dogs, but why certain techniques change balance, expression and overall picture in the ring. For Andy, success has never been accidental. It’s the result of dreaming big, setting clear goals and backing those dreams with relentless effort and self-reflection.

Central to the conversation is Andy’s core philosophy of winning: quality, condition and presentation. He explains why even a modest dog can dramatically improve — or undermine — its chances depending on conditioning and handling, and why exhibitors should focus on improving their own skills rather than blaming judges or competition. Conditioning, Andy emphasizes, isn’t about one-size-fits-all roadwork, but tailoring fitness to each dog’s structure and needs while keeping them happy, healthy and enthusiastic about their job.

The discussion also dives into Andy’s trademark quiet hands and free-stacking style, emphasizing trust, simplicity and making the ring feel as relaxed as a dog waiting for a sandwich in the kitchen. He shares practical insight into situational awareness, reading judges, selling a dog’s strengths with integrity, and mastering the small details that can make all the difference at high-pressure events like Westminster.

Beyond the ring, Andy reflects on his role advising breeding programs, watching generational changes in breeds, and helping create great dogs behind the scenes. He also speaks candidly about mentorship, gratitude, and the dog show community, sharing heartfelt thoughts on kindness, legacy and staying engaged in the sport he loves. This episode is packed with timeless wisdom for breeders, owner-handlers and professionals who want to elevate their dogs — and themselves — in the world of purebred dogs.

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From Pugs to the Green Carpet: Charlotte Patterson on Judging the Toy Group at Westminster[caption id="attachment_15011" align="alignleft" width="491"] Charlotte Patterson awarding David Fitzpatrick first in the Toy Group at Westminster Kennel Club in 2017 with "Chuckie."[/caption]In this episode of Pure Dog Talk, host Laura Reeves sits down with one of the true legends of the sport, Charlotte Patterson, longtime Pug breeder, former president of the Pug Dog Club of America, successful professional handler and Westminster Kennel Club judge. With Charlotte set to judge the Toy Group at Westminster, this conversation is both timely and timeless, packed with history, insight and hard-earned wisdom.

Charlotte shares the unforgettable story of how she fell in love with Pugs in 1969, buying her first dog on a payment plan and unknowingly stepping into a world that would change her life forever. From borrowing money for a stud fee to producing top winners — including a Toy Group winner at Westminster — Charlotte’s journey perfectly illustrates how passion, mentorship and commitment shape successful preservation breeders.

The conversation dives deep into breeding philosophy, particularly in brachycephalic breeds like Pugs. Charlotte explains why breeders must be intentional, cautious, and forward-thinking, emphasizing the long-term consequences of breeding decisions. She speaks candidly about balance, movement, head type, breathing, and why “what you put in today will show up generations later.” Her message is clear: know your standard, know your pedigrees and never breed blindly.

As a judge with more than 35 years of experience and tens of thousands of dogs examined, Charlotte offers a rare look into Toy Group judging at the highest level. She discusses what she values when she steps onto the green carpet at Madison Square Garden — balance, breed type, soundness, and dogs that can confidently perform under pressure. She also explains why movement in toy breeds must reflect breed purpose, not exaggerated speed.

Beyond breeding and judging, Charlotte offers thoughtful guidance on breed clubs, mentorship and leadership, sharing lessons learned from over a decade as a national club president. Her advice for newcomers? Find the right mentor, get involved and understand that leadership is about work — not power.

This episode is a must-listen for dog breeders, exhibitors, judges, and purebred dog enthusiasts who care deeply about preserving breed history while moving the sport forward.

👉 Don’t miss this heartfelt, humorous, and deeply knowledgeable conversation with one of purebred dogs’ most respected voices.

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FIDO: Nancy Martin and the Power of Keeping Pets in HomesHost Laura Reeves is joined by longtime friend and icon of the dog world, Nancy Martin—legendary breeder, professional handler and now visionary founder of FIDO: Friends Involved Dog Outreach. This episode is a powerful reminder of what our community can accomplish when passion meets purpose.

After decades of success in the show ring, Nancy’s retirement from handling didn’t slow her down—it redirected her energy. What began as a simple act of compassion through a veterinary clinic grew into a groundbreaking mission: addressing pet food insecurity as a way to keep dogs out of shelters and in the homes that love them. From that idea, FIDO was born, along with the National Pet Assistance Network and No Pet Hungry America.

Nancy shares how food insecurity is a household issue that directly impacts pets, why “wraparound services” matter more than blame, and how keeping families fed can prevent surrender before crisis hits. The results are staggering: over 6,000 households supported and more than 1.2 million meals provided in a single year.

This conversation also dives into Nancy’s national recognition—including the Oregon Humane Society’s Diamond Collar Award and a Community Hero Award from the Oregon Ducks—and why those honors represent a shift in how purebred dog people can be seen as part of the solution.

From mentoring future veterinarians to challenging long-held narratives about breeders and rescue, Nancy Martin is redefining advocacy in dogs. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who cares about the future of purebred dogs, community responsibility and meaningful, practical change.

👉 Get involved! FIDO and No Pet Hungry America.

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From Rescue to Responsible Breeding: Why Education Is the Future of Dog Breeding[caption id="attachment_14935" align="alignleft" width="448"] Rebecca Norton-Childs is the founder of Pupstarts breeder education program in the UK.[/caption]In this powerful international conversation, host Laura Reeves welcomes Rebecca Norton-Childs — a UK-based educator and founder of a nationally accredited dog breeder training program — to discuss why education, intention and responsibility are critical to the future of dog breeding.

Rebecca’s journey began on the front lines of rescue and animal control, where she witnessed firsthand the heartbreaking consequences of poor breeding practices, inadequate early socialization and uninformed ownership. Rather than adopting a “don’t breed dogs” mindset, Rebecca chose a different path: breed better dogs — and teach others how to do the same.

In this episode, we explore how her experiences in rescue shaped her belief that ethical, knowledgeable breeders are essential to improving canine welfare. Rebecca explains how breeder education in the UK has evolved into nationally accredited qualifications..

Listeners will gain insight into:

• Why early neurological stimulation and puppy socialization start with the breeder
• How education empowers breeders to confidently match puppies with the right homes
• The role of behavior science, epigenetics and modern husbandry in producing stable dogs
• Why breeding dogs should be viewed as aprofession, not a hobby

Rebecca also shares how her programs foster a judgment-free, global community of breeders committed to learning, sharing knowledge, and putting dogs first — regardless of breed, discipline or purpose.

This episode is a must-listen for everyone who believes the future of purebred dogs depends on intentional breeding, informed decisions and lifelong learning.

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Stud Dog Marathon: How Often Is Too Often?Laura Reeves is joined by canine reproduction expert Dr. Marty Greer to answer a listener’s question: how frequently can you breed a stud dog before semen quality starts to decline? Marty breaks down basic stud dog anatomy, what impacts semen production and why timing matters more than sheer frequency.

You’ll learn the ideal collection schedule for peak semen quality, how overuse can show up in a semen evaluation, and why progesterone timing is essential when multiple bitches are lined up. Marty also shares practical tips for supporting your stud dog through heavy breeding demand, plus smart strategies for semen collection, shipping, and long-term genetic preservation.

✅ 1) Feed for Fertility (and don’t unbalance it)Heavy breeding demand is hard work metabolically, and Marty stresses that nutrition is the foundation of semen quality.

• Feed a proven, research-backed diet (she recommendsPurina Pro Plan Sport 30/20orRoyal Canin HT-42D).
• Avoid “helpful” add-ins that actually disrupt hormones — especiallyflaxseed, because it containsphytoestrogens.
• Don’t over-supplement. Most fertility supplements havelittle science behind them, and people often unintentionally unbalance an already complete diet.

Bottom line: a balanced, consistent diet supports semen volume, motility, and longevity.

✅ 2) Manage stress + temperature + restStud dogs working hard often experience:

• stress
• loss of appetite
• environmental impacts on sperm quality

Marty notes semen quality is affected by:

• being toohot or cold
• overexertion / too much stimulation
• stress from being surrounded by bitches in heat

So:

• keep him comfortable (climate control matters)
• make sure he’ssleeping
• if he won’t eat,tempt him(chicken in the bowl is fine — the goal is calories and nutrients)

Bottom line: a stud dog can’t produce quality semen if he’s not eating, resting and staying comfortable.

✅ 3) Use smart scheduling: timing beats frequencyInstead of multiple breedings “because she’s standing,” Marty recommends:

• Require progesterone timingso breedings are targeted
• Useone breeding(maybe two), at the correct time
• Avoid exhausting the dog with daily/every-other-day breedingsbefore ovulation even happens

She emphasizes:

• ovulation typically aroundprogesterone 4–10
• peak fertility is abouttwo days after ovulation

Bottom line: progesterone timing protects the stud dog, improves pregnancy success, and prevents “emptying the tank.”

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Amy Rutherford on Smooths, Bred-By Success and Preservation Breeding[caption id="attachment_14897" align="alignleft" width="961"] Amy Rutherford winning Best Bred By Exhibitor at AKC National Championship with Wager.[/caption]Today’s episode brings you a rare conversation with someone who does not say yes to interviews very often. Amy Rutherford joined host Laura Reeves for a holiday visit and the timing could not be better, fresh off her Best Bred-By Exhibitor win at the AKC National Championship with her Smooth Fox Terrier, Wager. For breeders, exhibitors, and dog show fans, this conversation delivers real insight into what it takes to build a program that lasts.

From a childhood dog show moment to a lifetime in terriers[caption id="attachment_14896" align="alignleft" width="356"] Rutherford with one of her foundation Smooth Fox Terriers.[/caption]Amy’s path started early. Her parents were horse people who also kept Australian Shepherds before they were AKC recognized. A winter trip turned into a defining moment when the family got snowed in and visited an AKC dog show. From the stands, young Amy watched Smooth Fox Terriers in the ring and knew she wanted that life.

The journey was not immediate. Her first breed was Airedales, which taught hard lessons about grooming, structure, and realistic expectations. Eventually, she saved money and purchased Smooth Fox Terrier puppies that both finished quickly and became group winners. That early success did more than build confidence. It created a foundation and one of those early bitches still anchors the pedigree behind her dogs today.

The handler apprenticeship that built a careerAmy’s handling career developed the way the best ones often do, through years of real work. She spent summers helping professionals and then committed to a full apprenticeship with Eddie and Leslie Boyes. She stayed for nine years, learning the daily realities of conditioning, presentation, animal husbandry, trimming and the logistics that define show life.

[caption id="attachment_14894" align="alignright" width="278"] Rutherford showing Dover, Ch. Aimhi Type Cast, at Westminster Kennel Club.[/caption]That apprenticeship is a major takeaway for anyone interested in becoming a professional handler. Amy explains that experience builds skill and it builds a network. When she went out on her own, she had the credibility and connections that make the difference between surviving and thriving.

Showing different breeds and winning with controversial dogsOne of the most valuable parts of this episode is Amy’s honest discussion about stepping into breeds that are not part of your original comfort zone. She moved from Smooth Fox

[caption id="attachment_14898" align="alignleft" width="396"] Rutherford showing Standard Poodle, Dino, GCH. Del Zarzoso Salvame From Afterglow[/caption]Terriers into coated breeds including a Portugese Water Dog and a Standard Poodle import. Her advice is clear. Learn from the best people you can find, ask for feedback, and keep training your eye.

She also talks about the reality of showing a dog that does not match the popular look of the moment. Her Standard Poodle, Dino, was impressive and successful but also controversial. Amy says the key is believing in your dog completely and choosing shows and judges who will appreciate the dog’s strengths.

Building a Smooth Fox Terrier program that produces winnersFor preservation breeders, Amy’s success with Smooth Fox Terriers offers powerful lessons. She describes how she pursued the look she wanted, sought mentorship and bred to the best dogs available. The results include legendary dogs like Dover, a top-winning Smooth Fox Terrier who also became a major sire.

That legacy continues with Wager, the dog who earned Best Bred-By Exhibitor at the AKC National Championship. Amy shares the behind the scenes breeding decisions, the role of frozen semen and a few “miracle” moments that made Wager possible.

If you are serious about showing dogs, preservation breeding, or building a kennel name with meaning, this episode is required listening. Learn more and listen now at puredogtalk.com.

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Purebred Dogs: Living History on Our Couch | A Year-End ReflectionAs we come to the close of another year — one that has been long, challenging, and filled with upheaval both globally and within the purebred dog fancy — it felt right to pause, reflect and remember why we do what we do.

One of the great comforts of purebred dogs is their reliability. No matter what else is happening in the world, somewhere nearby there is a dog event — a show, a trial, a hunt test, a training day. These gatherings give us a chosen family: people who console us when times are hard, celebrate with us when times are good, and understand the passion that binds us together.

On the Shoulders of GiantsIn dog breeding, one of my favorite phrases is “on the shoulders of giants.” While famous handlers may get the television time, the true unsung heroes of purebred dogs are the breeders.

Breeders are the devoted advocates and curators of living history. Their imagination, vision, commitment, and endurance preserve breeds that represent centuries — sometimes millennia — of human partnership with dogs. And yet, too often, when master breeders pass, their hard-earned knowledge disappears with them.

Pure Dog Talk was created, in part, to save and share that irreplaceable wisdom.

Through our podcast archives, albums, and seminars, we aim to preserve the voices, stories, and experience of the best and brightest breeders worldwide — so that future generations don’t have to reinvent what has already been learned.

Purebred Dogs as Living HistoryEvery one of the 200+ breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club — and many more worldwide — represents a specific time, place, and human culture. Purebred dogs are a living, breathing continuum of history.

Pedigrees bring that history directly into our homes. Some breeding records trace back thousands of years. Long before formal breed standards existed, early humans were selectively breeding dogs for climate adaptation, specialized diets, hunting ability, and companionship.

Recent research has even reshaped our understanding of ancient breeds:

• TheGreenland Dogis now considered the oldest known dog breed, tracing back to the Pleistocene era.
• Basenjis, depicted in cave art dating to 6,000 BC, possess uniquely distinct DNA.
• Greyhoundsdescribed in a 15th-century poem still match the breed standard today — and every modern Greyhound traces back to a single dog whelped in England in 1839.
• Bedlington Terriersboast the oldest unbroken terrier pedigree, dating to 1782.
• Ancient breeds like theChow Chow,Shar Pei,Pug,Pekingese,Peruvian Inca Orchid, and Nordic Spitz breeds tell stories of emperors, explorers, and civilizations long past.

That dog curled up on your couch? Their family tree may reach back centuries — even thousands of years.

Preserving the FutureThis living history survives only because breeders care enough to protect it.

From documenting pedigrees to choosing the right homes for puppies, from studying genetics to honoring breed purpose, preservation breeding is both an art and a responsibility.

At Pure Dog Talk, we are committed to supporting that mission:

• Over50 hours of breeder interviewsavailable in the PDT Albums
• Pedigrees to Puppies seminars, offering hands-on, real-world education
• Breed-focused resources like theLove the Breedsalbum
• New projects and educational opportunities coming soon

Our website, puredogtalk.com, has grown into a deep, rich resource — and there’s even more ahead in the coming year.

With GratitudeAs the year comes to a close, our tiny but mighty team at Pure Dog Talk thanks you — breeders, exhibitors, judges, trainers, puppy buyers and dog lovers — for being part of this community.

Your passion is our purpose.

Wishing you, your dogs, and your families a joyful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

Peace and goodwill to all.

— Laura Reeves
Host, Pure Dog Talk

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Showing Dogs on a Shoestring Budget Smart Strategies for Budget-Friendly Success in the Conformation RingPure Dog Talk is the voice of purebred dogs. We bring you conversations with legends of the sport and offer practical, actionable guidance for creating an extraordinary life with your purebred dog. In this episode, host Laura Reeves dives into a timely and essential topic: how to show dogs effectively without breaking the bank.

Introduction: Making Dog Shows Work in Expensive TimesDog shows are more plentiful than ever—but the costs are rising. Entry fees, fuel, lodging, grooming supplies, and time away from work or family can quickly turn a joyful hobby into a financial strain. Showing on a shoestring doesn’t mean cutting corners—it means strategizing, choosing wisely and investing where it matters most.

As Laura says, “Your passion is our purpose.”
These tips will help you maximize results while minimizing expenses.

1. Start With a Clear GoalBefore entering a single show, determine exactly what you want to accomplish:

• Finishing a Championship
  You must attend shows with reliable breed entries.
• Earning a Grand Championship
  Prioritize majors and competition.
• Ranking in Breed or Group Standings
  Breed rankings require breed entries; group rankings require competitive groups.

“You can’t make a plan until you make a goal.”

Knowing your goal drives every decision—from which shows to attend to how far you should travel.

2. Research Shows and Judges Like a ProNot every show is equal, and not every judge appreciates the same breed style.

Tools to Use InfoDog— view historical entries in your breed and region * AKC Judges Directory*— review judges’ assignment histories and past results

Understanding which judges favor your dog’s strengths can save hundreds of dollars in wasted entries.

“Don’t write a judge off forever—just write them off for that particular dog.”

Make informed entries. Your wallet will thank you.

3. Build a Support NetworkShowing is more affordable—and far more enjoyable—with a team.

Benefits of a “Dog Show Crew”* Share travel and lodging costs * Split grooming space * Help hold dogs and support each other in the ring * Enjoy camaraderie rather than showing alone

The Pure Dog Talk Patrons Group is an excellent place to build these relationships.

“Your enjoyment of dog shows increases when you have people to hang out with—and it saves you money.”

4. Train and Groom on a ScheduleShowing an untrained or poorly conditioned dog is one of the most expensive mistakes exhibitors make.

Create a grooming and conditioning routine—put it in your phone like any other appointment:

• Tuesday:full groom, brush-out, trim, or strip
• Weekly:training sessions
• Before shows:conditioning, coat checks, toenails, ring readiness

“If it’s not on your calendar, you probably won’t do it.”

A competitive dog is a cost-effective dog.

5. Travel Strategically for Better ReturnsSometimes the best show for your goals is not the closest one.

A single well-planned trip can be more effective—and cheaper—than several local shows with no results.

“One productive road trip is often less expensive than four local shows that get you nothing but indigestion.”

Avoid unreliable online judge-rating sites and seek guidance from trusted mentors or experienced breeders.

6. Consider a Professional Handler—StrategicallyHiring a handler does not mean outsourcing your dog’s entire career. Often, sending a dog with a professional for a single weekend or a short campaign can achieve goals that would otherwise take years.

Choose only handlers who are:
✔ Members of the Professional Handler Association
✔ Participants in the AKC Registered Handler Program

“Sometimes a handler can get things done that you simply can’t—and it pencils out.”

This can be the most cost-effective route when targeted wisely.

7. Start With a Good Dog—and Don’t Rush PuppiesEntering a dog that isn’t competitive wastes money and sets everyone up for frustration.

Laura’s advice for puppies:

• Show in4–6 monthsfor exposure
• Skip regular conformation until the dog is mature and competitive
• Use that time to do obedience, rally, scent work, or socialization

“Bring your dog out when it is competitive and ready to win.”

Waiting until two or three years old is often the smartest path—especially in breeds that mature slowly.

8. Trim the Extras: Save on Small ExpensesSmall savings add up quickly:

• Skip expensive post-show dinners
• Bring food and supplies
• Share hotel rooms
• Use thesuperintendent’s direct entry optionwhen possible to avoid online fees (save $4–$5 per entry)

“You can pay for multiple entries with the money you save by skipping one fancy dinner.”

9. Learn by Helping: Side Gigs With HandlersMany handlers welcome help and are willing to teach exhibitors who show interest.

You might assist with:

• Holding dogs
• Walking dogs
• Setting up and tearing down
• Grooming prep
• Ring support

In return, you gain invaluable hands-on experience.

“Handlers will spend enormous time teaching you if you show interest—and they always need help.”

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Hunting for Raccoons and Ribbons with Border Terriers[caption id="attachment_14799" align="alignleft" width="376"] Karen Fitzpatrick with one of her Meadowlake Border Terriers.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Karen Fitzpatrick from Meadowlake Border Terriers to talk about hunting raccoons and ribbons.“My background honestly was straight hunting,” Fitzpatrick said. “I hunted long before I ever bought a Border. I started here in the US and then started hunting in the UK, met people there. I just love the hunting aspect of Border Terriers.“Border Terriers are still very high on the list for hunting instinct and actually are still made to do the job they were bred to do.“In the middle of winter, we did a lot of barn hunting, and that was just literally clearing out haylofts of raccoons. In this deep, deep snow like today, you would hit a big barn, cut a few terriers loose in a loft and woo, come on. It was crazy.“We did a lot of in ground hunting during the spring and fall, but we tried to not do too much in the spring, mostly because of a lot of groundhogs having babies. Fall is the better time because they're big and fat and getting ready to hibernate and the holes are bigger.”Fitzpatrick has produced 170 champions and 12 best in show winning Border Terriers, including the top winning bitch in the breed. She was named AKC’s Sport Breeder of the Year in 2014 and Terrier Breeder of the Year in 2018, one of a handful of breeders honored in both conformation and performance.“They have to be able to function and do their job and my belief, back then as it is today, they can be beautiful and still do their job and that is what I have absolutely brought through and I will continue it.”

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Whelping Box Foundations with Dr. Marty GreerHost Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer to discuss whelping box foundational elements. From heat sources to bedding to disinfecting, this is “must have” information for all breeders.“All whelping boxes will have a heat source and a surface that's easy to keep clean and disinfected,” Greer said. “We’ve used the whelping nest as a heat source. There's other companies now that make them and if you don't have electricity they make them propane powered. They make them powered on DC batteries so you can get alternative sources and it might not be a bad idea to have that as an alternative source if you normally have electricity but you're in an area that may have frequent outages and you're expecting puppies.”The heat source should NOT be a heat lamp due not only to fire danger but to the inherent dryness of the environment they create, which can reduce necessary hydration for the puppies.“You want to make sure that you're disinfecting,” Greer said, “and you're using the right disinfectant with the right dilution or concentration. If it's required to be rinsed that you rinse. So read the label directions and don't mix Clorox with anything else. Don't mix your stuff.“So first you're going to have this surface that's heated and you're going to have a disinfectant surface and then you need something absorbent. Because even when the female is cleaning up after the puppies, puppies still will have urine, they'll have stool. And so you need something absorbent, especially in the first 3 or 4 weeks.“If I cannot tell you anything else, please, no newspaper, no shredded paper. Traction. There's nice fleeces that you can put in the box, those work well. I like the absorbency of the repeat pads, and they're a lot easier to launder than the big fleeces. The fleeces, you have to go to the laundromat if they're really huge, because they won't fit in your typical washer and dryer. And then what I put on top of those is I'll put an absorbent material down, like the Repeat pads that Revival has. And then I put down bath mats.”

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“God Loves a Terrier” with Vandra Huber[caption id="attachment_14655" align="alignleft" width="523"] Dr. Vandra Huber, McVan Scottish Terriers.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Terrier expert Vandra Huber for an overview of this plucky, feisty, fun group of dogs.Huber gave herself a Scottish Terrier as a college graduation present. Forty five years later her many claims to fame include co-ownership of Peggy Sue, Ch. Gaelforce Post Script, piloted by Maripi Wooldridge to Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club in 1995.Ch. McVan's To Russia With Love, Knopa, won Best in Show at Crufts in 2015 handled by Rebecca Cross, who had been campaigning her in the United States.“Terrier comes from the word terra,” Huber noted. “So these are dogs that do have jobs, just like other groups of dogs, have specific jobs. And the work that terriers perform relates to earth functions. So we have everything from the short -legged terriers who have to be a bit tenacious, okay, maybe a lot tenacious, to go into burrows … think about if you went into a burrow or even saw a badger. If you drag that badger out with your teeth and get out of a burrow and bring it back.“Or then we have the smooth fox terrier whose job is to accompany individuals on the hunt and to be clever enough to round up that fox and alert the hunter as to where that fox is hiding. And yes, they are a little bit sly too.“And then we go to the larger terriers, coated terriers, I'll add, and their work is usually more above ground. So the shorter the legs the more into the earth they go.“You've got to think that most terriers come from the British Isles so you've got rocky terrain, you've got grass, you've got burrows to dig in and oh yes Scotties and these short -legged tears are extremely good as mousers and in digging up any tulips you might plant…“They are awesome squirrel hunters. So a terrier, when it is playing into its natural instincts, you also have to be a little tough because, like a cat, they're going to bring that dead prey to you very proudly. It could be a bunny. It could be a squirrel. So many of those types of creatures are fair game because most of the terriers believe they are bigger and stronger than almost anything else.”

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Westminster KC 150th Anniversary with Don SturzHost Laura Reeves is joined by WKC president Don Sturz to discuss the upcoming 150th anniversary of the iconic dog show.“Last year, we all kind of looked at this return to New York City, going into a new venue, the Javits Center, coming back to Madison Square Garden with new teams of people and spaces, we really kind of viewed that as a dress rehearsal and we were very open to it being like a learning experience. And I think what happened was it actually ended up being opening night,” Sturz said.From more sinks in the benching area to more bleachers around the rings, Sturz walks through the nitty gritty behind the scenes of the show venues.“In the Marketplace Hall, which is where the Westminster Merch store is, that hall is probably the one where we put the most effort into. In that one, there was so much more space there than what we thought we had. And so we've brought in more vendors,” Sturz said. “We're trying to have more activations in that room to engage spectators. There's going to be a historical and immersive installation in there, which will kind of take you through the history of Westminster and all the moments that will be really, really beautiful, I think. And I think with this addition of sponsors and vendors and activations and engagement and photo ops we’re kind of just taking it to another level.“We just shot a new Best of Breed winner video because that process is changing. (Previously) the Best of Breed winners filled out a card and took it to the Superintendent and got their MSG wristbands.“This year it's going to be different. Westminster will have our own best of breed table outside the superintendent’s office. So the card will be the same and you'll fill out the information, but you'll go to this desk, someone will be there to take that information and put it into a live doc that will be shared with MSG. You will get your credentials at the ramp at MSG because there was a lot of confusion for people, you know, as far as like who had the wristband.“We're really encouraging people to come as your team, come together, because you're all going to get your wristbands together. So that's a little different. And so this video will explain all of that.”

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Junior Showmanship Regional Events Starting in 2026Host Laura Reeves is joined by Mari-Beth O’Neill, vice president of sports services at the American Kennel Club, to discuss the planned Junior Showmanship Regional events for 2026.“I've always had that sort of dream that there would be something happening in each part of the country for the juniors,” O’Neill said. “And especially for the ones who may not be able to make it to Orlando, to the AKC National Championship or to Westminster. So, let's do something that's more local."Junior Criteria for Entry:* The Junior must reside in the region * The Junior will have earned three first place wins in an Open Class with competition in the prior 12 months ending 3 months prior to the date of the event

Requirements for a club to host a Regional Junior Showmanship Event:* Use of a Superintendent * Should there be an entry fee, it should not exceed the regular event fee * The Junior Regional must be held in conjunction with an all-breed event * AKC will offer $1,000 in Scholarship funds for Best Junior to be matched by the club

Clubs are encouraged to take part in this exciting opportunity to support the next generation of exhibitors by hosting a Regional Junior Showmanship Event in conjunction with their all-breed show in 2026. To be considered, please submit a Request for Consideration Form by December 5, 2025, to juniors@akc.org.

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Identifying Split Cycles and Silent SeasonsDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves to discuss split cycles and silent seasons in our bitches. Both are frustrating for breeders but they are not the same situation.“Silent heats and split seasons are not the same,” Greer said. “There are some bitches that fail to ovulate. They (likely) have a cystic ovary and that will cause them to have an initial indication that they look like they're in heat, but then they don't persist and they don't ovulate.“And then there are silent heats, which are kind of the opposite where the bitches come into heat, their ovaries do all the things they're supposed to do. Their hormones do all the things they're supposed to do, but they just don't tell you that they're in heat. They either keep themselves really, really clean or they just don't have much discharge. And there's really not a correlation between small amount of discharge and not having a normal ovulatory cycle.“So (a silent season) doesn't mean you have an infertile bitch. It doesn't mean that she can't get pregnant. It just means you have to be a little bit more strategic about how you manage her. And then we really have to talk about the nutrition. We have to talk about housing. You have to have at least 14 hours a day of full spectrum light. So if your dogs are in crates with crap stacked on top of it or they're in a room that doesn't have adequate lighting, they're not going to have normal cycles. If you're not feeding them the right kind of diets, they're not going to have normal cycles. If you've got them on weird supplements, they're not going to cycle normally.“Lots of things can cause a bitch to just pop out of season. And then four to six weeks later, she'll actually be back in season. The bloody discharge will go away and then it comes back. A dog that doesn't ovulate, the bloody discharge persists normally. If it's a split heat, normally the bloody discharge goes away, and then it comes back four to six weeks later, and then you go merrily on your way and breed her.”

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Harnessing Youth to Build New Clubs[caption id="attachment_14619" align="alignleft" width="297"] Ellie Ovrom with her Drent and her All American dog.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Ellie Ovrom, Drentsche Patrijshond enthusiast, who has helped found two brand new clubs with just five years involved in the sport.“As I got more interested in purebred dogs and in performance sports,” Ovrom said, “I got involved with existing clubs and organizations around me, or in the case of the breed club, the national club, and as I was getting involved, I started to realize that some of the way that things were being done was not necessarily in alignment with my values and interests. “And not only that, but I was making connections with other folks in those organizations who felt very similarly. And rather than lean into conflict, which is I think unfortunately what ends up happening a lot in dog clubs, we realized that there's space for all of us and we just want to enjoy the dogs.”A project manager by trade, Ovrom noted that “a lot of the key skills of a project manager align really well with working in dog clubs or any volunteer organizations, frankly. It's a lot of managing process and managing people. So particularly in founding two new nonprofit organizations, we had to figure out OK, what is needed, in what order and how do we do this most efficiently and most effectively and try our best to get it right the first time. We don't always, but we try to get it right the first time, every time.“Nobody's getting paid for this. We're all doing it because we love it. And but people are busy. They have lives, they have families, they have their real jobs. How do you capitalize on people's skill sets and their passion without burning them out and building community at the same time? “I think we've had things that have worked and things that have not worked, but recognizing that the intent of everybody is good is, I think the basic approach that I try to take is everyone's doing their best or wants to do their best. How can you help people achieve that is what I try to do.”

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Adam Levy’s Secrets to Success of Top-Level Dual Dogs[caption id="attachment_14601" align="alignleft" width="322"] Adam Levy and Devon Kipp Levy work magic emphasizing the dual dog.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Adam Levy, breeder of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, to talk dual dogs, retriever tests and what it takes to be successful at the top.Levy started in Chessies 16 years ago. In that time he has bred five BIS winners, including two with MH titles and field trial points. Working with his business partner Andrew Barbouche, Levy operates Next Generation Gundog Training in Minnesota.“Just because a dog is pretty or well put together or just because a dog has got a master hunter title, doesn't mean the dog should be bred, doesn't mean that it should really keep producing forward,” Levy said.“I don't mind a soft dog,” Levy noted. “I don't think that is a bad thing. As long as you have some grit behind you, I don't care if you have to kind of slow everything down and get them through the yard, as long as they have some good grit to them and they have that desire for themselves.“I won't take a quitter. A dog that wants to quit is just a big no-no for me and a dog that just doesn't look good doing the job that you've asked them to do. You know, we have to remember that the standard was meant to be able to have a dog that can last long.“I wanna be hunting with my 10-year-old dog. I don't want to be fighting through injuries because I've hunted this dog. I was just in Canada and we shot 1000 birds over a couple days. I want to be able to hunt that dog every day without it being sore or breaking down. So being able to be structurally sound and being able to have the brain to do the job that you asked them to do, those are must haves for me.[caption id="attachment_14602" align="alignright" width="348"] Levy focuses on dogs with the structure and the brains to work all day.[/caption]“And being able to have the willingness to “cut” a dog from a program because they're not that. And I think that's the hardest thing for breeders nowadays or people that can't have large numbers of dogs, they don't want to cut the one or two dogs that they have living in their house. And so I think that's where we kind of get stuck in mediocrity sometimes.Levy married Devon Kipp Levy in 2021. This powerhouse couple combines the field and show elements of their dual dogs in an enviable manner.“Devon is somebody that has such a great eye and is so talented hands on with a dog. I really get to see what a dog really looks like to their full potential with her. And I think it's definitely taken the breeding program to heights at a faster rate that I could have ever imagined. And it doesn't even have to do with the ribbons or winning. It's just being able to really see a dog move properly and watching a dog, you know, what they really look like. And being able to talk about those things.

“Emotion needs to come out of breeding. And we should love our dogs and our dogs should be our pets and sleeping in our bed and love our dogs like they’re our own family. But when it comes to breeding, you need to take the emotion out of it.

“You have to make the right decisions for your breeding program and for the breed. That's the hardest thing. (People think) “it's the best dog I ever had so I want to breed him.” Just because he's the best dog that you've ever had doesn't mean that it's going to help advance the breed.”

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Veterinarian and Author Joins Fight to Support Responsible Breeders[caption id="attachment_14594" align="alignleft" width="248"] Dr. Nancy Kay, veterinarian and author, encourages clients to source their new dog from responsible breeders.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by veterinarian and author Dr. Nancy Kay to discuss her fight to support responsible breeders.Kay said that when she’s talking to clients about how to find a responsible breeder, she advises them, “If you're speaking with a breeder over the phone or online, first and foremost, the breeder insists that you come visit. They want you there. It's not necessarily about looking at their dogs, but that breeder wants to size you up.“They're not willing to sell one of their puppies to just anyone. They'll have more questions for you than you actually have for them. So once you're there, the breeder will speak very highly about her breed. She’s passionate about the breed that she adores, and she wants to enhance the breed through future breeding. So, she'll tell you all about the breed. She'll talk to you about all the health issues that the breed is at risk for. They'll show you all the health clearances on parents, as well as probably the aunts and the uncles and the grandparents. She'll ask you to sign a contract and most responsible breeders, part of the contract is if you ever need to rehome this puppy, I'm the first you call.“When you sign on with a responsible breeder, you're kind of becoming part of her family. She's going to want to keep tabs on your pup. If your pup develops a health issue, she's going to want to be the first one to know about it, second in line to your veterinarian, because if there's a problem, she wants to know about it. I mean, it is such an important relationship, the breeder and the puppy buyer and the veterinarian, the puppy buyer’s veterinarian.”Check out Kay's book Speaking for Spot.

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Breast Cancer Awareness for You AND Your DogHost Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer for an important reminder about the risks of breast cancer in our dogs and how to prevent and treat it.October is Breast cancer awareness month:How does hearing the words “she’s got breast cancer” affect you? Bring tears to your eyes? Start a knot forming in the pit of your stomach? Make you want a second opinion? Create anger at being cheated?The diagnosis:We all know and have been affected by someone with this dreaded diagnosis. Maybe it is you, maybe someone you love: a wife, sister, daughter, girlfriend, mother, another family member or co-worker. We know it is a life-changing experience - pain, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, fear of a shortened life expectancy.For many women, they are fortunate that advances in early detection and medical therapy has made breast cancer a story of survival instead of a death sentence. But this is not the path for all those diagnosed.Some are diagnosed too late or with a very aggressive form of the disease. Some cannot afford the medical care that allow for an improved prognosis. Some deny themselves the care they need.But for those who are blessed with great diagnostics and treatment that allow for stories of happy endings, they owe their successes to the incredible research that led to this improved prognosis and outcome.Part of the success story is thanks to the similarity of breast cancer in women with mammary tumors our dogs also are affected by. The dog has served as a research model for the disease in humans. Many advancements in human medicine are directly linked to the information discovered by research on the disease in dogs. Sadly, our dogs have not benefitted as much as humans have.In human medicine, there are two keys to survival: early detection and successful treatment. Self-breast examinations and mammograms have been credited with changing survival by early detection. Many organizations have put their resources into educating us about the importance of these two important detection tools. New diagnostic tools are on the horizon for humans. Of course, mammograms are not available for our dogs. They rely on us to detect their lumps and to seek appropriate therapy for treatment.Treatment:But, treatment is a very different story. Despite the similarities between this human and canine disorder, there are no widely accepted successful chemotherapy and radiation therapy programs available for dogs. Surgical excision is the only treatment option widely available at this time for dogs.Prevention:In contrast to humans, mammary tumors in dogs are nearly 100% preventable if owners would take one simple step – to spay their female dogs prior to age 2 or younger. We all know that spaying (ovariohysterectomy or ovariectomy) prevents heat cycles and pregnancy. What we have not always done as well as we should have as veterinarians is to educate our clients that spaying under the age of 2 prevents most mammary tumors. Spaying before the first heat cycle protects nearly all dogs.In the veterinary profession, we have also not educated our clients of the risks of spaying our female dogs. While it is true that spaying prevents pregnancy, mammary tumors, and pyometras, there is research that supports increased risk of other disorders thought to be related to removing the hormonal influence of the ovaries. There is an increased risk of urinary incontinence and associated urinary tract infections, osteosarcoma, lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, mast cell tumors, and hypothyroidism. Each of these disorders has an associated health risk ranging from mild to severe affecting quality and length of life, as well as financial cost to the owner. Even when dogs with mammary tumors were included in the study, they still achieved greater longevity than their spayed female counterparts.More information on the scientific literature that supports this can be found at:

• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-9726.2009.00513.x/full
• www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/longtermhealtheffectsofspayneuterindogs.pdf
• https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/neutering-health-effects-more-severe-golden-retrievers-labradors
• https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/early-neutering-poses-health-risks-german-shepherd-dogs-study-finds
• http://www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/an-update-on-the-health.html

Individualized veterinary care:These studies show that the decision to spay and when to spay an individual dog cannot be made without balancing the risks and benefits of the procedure.As a group, veterinarians and animal control organizations have encouraged spaying, sometimes at a very early age, with the only goal being population control. We have overlooked the importance of individual dog health, meaning the health benefits of leaving our female dogs intact (i.e. not spayed). Instead, we have allowed public policy for the greater good of dog population control to dictate our decisions that we should spay and when we should spay our individual dogs.Each individually owned dog should be considered an individual – there is not a one-size-fits-all way to approach this decision. More research needs to be done to aid in determining the optimal time for a spay.For the dogs who are not spayed at this early age due to their inclusion in a breeding program or for other health benefits, early detection is still key in creating a favorable outcome for the patient and her family. Early detection in the dog is simple – it only requires a monthly examination by the owner and biannual examinations on palpation by her veterinarian. For dogs groomed frequently, professional groomers may be enlisted in this hands-on approach as well. This simple “Pink Paw” program will allow for early detection for nearly all mammary tumors. When detected early, surgical removal will usually lead to a cure.Of course, for our dogs as for us, a healthy lifestyle with an appropriate diet, exercise, good weight management, preventive veterinary care, and the fortune of good genetics will allow for maximum longevity.Should we call this “breast cancer?”The same disorder we see in women and call “breast cancer” is called “mammary tumor” in the dog. This terminology does not motivate owners to respond to this as a serious health threat to their dog. Although an accurate description, mammary tumor is too bland a term to use when a call to action is the best response.We need to think of this malady in dogs as we do in women – a disorder that requires prompt surgical treatment. Since surgery is our only real option for treatment of “breast cancer” in the dog at this time, owners and veterinarians alike should opt for wide surgical excision of any suspect masses as soon as possible to improve long-term survival of the affected patient. (The only exception to this is in the rare case when inflammatory mammary carcinoma is suspected; in this case, surgical excision is not an appropriate treatment.) Pre-op needle samples of suspected mammary tumors does not lead to accurate prediction of the severity of the possible tumor.Taking a “let’s watch it and see what it does” approach to a lump is likely to allow a treatable disorder to rage out of control and become a life-threatening disorder. Each heat cycle she has will likely lead to an increase in the size of the breast tumor. Spaying at this time is likely to help prevent the continued risks of mammary cancer in dogs who are predisposed to recurrence.There is a known strong correlation between the size of the dog and the size of the tumor and the malignancy rate – overall, 50% of breast cancer in the dog is malignant. Small dogs and small tumors are less likely to be serious than large dogs and large tumors. Early surgical intervention has the best outcomes at this time.As in women, early detection and treatment leads to a much better prognosis and long-term survival rate.The now?This October, if you visit any of our 4 practice locations, we are working hard to educate our dog and cat owners about breast cancer. Our team will educate you on how to do an effective breast exam on your dog or cat. Please remember to do this monthly, just like you do your own breast exam. Should you find a lump anytime between October and next April, you may return and have a technician assess the lump at no charge. If there is any suspicion of mammary cancer, one of our doctors will also do an assessment and help schedule your pet for surgery if there is reason for concern.The future?As we know more about the prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer, we as well as our dogs can look forward to a long and healthy life free of this devastating disorder.Dr. Marty Greer and Veterinary Village in Lomira has initiated a research fund with the University of Wisconsin Veterinary School. This fund has been created: Excellence in Companion Animal Mammary Cancer Research Fund and is ready for your donations.The direct link to the fund via UW’s giving page for online gifts: https://supportuw.org/go/xGMyfThe expectation is to fund research to If you prefer sending a check for your personal contribution, you can issue it payable to:UW FoundationFund 112840163 (write on the check memo line)Mail to:UW Foundationc/o U.S. Bank LockboxBox 78807Milwaukee, WI 53278-8807Feel free to share this link with anyone who might be interested in supporting this work.Additionally, there is a beautiful silver necklace featuring the Pink Paw logo with matching tags for dogs you can purchase in support of the foundation.Please contact us at Veterinary Village for additional information:Email: vv@k9stork.com; Phone: 920-269-4000Mail: Veterinary Village, N11591 Columbia Dr., Lomira, WI 53048

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Queen of Cords: Alice Lawrence on 55 Years of Corded Breeds[caption id="attachment_14557" align="alignleft" width="373"] Alice Lawrence with BISS GRCHB Fuzzy Farm All Things Considered (aka Spaetzle, on the left) and YOLO (on the right) Moonshadow You Only Live Once At The Fuzzy Farm.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Alice Lawrence, breeder-owner-handler of Komondorok, Puli and Havanese, to discuss her beloved corded breeds.Lawrence, along with her husband Steve, first owned an Old English Sheepdog. “We were brushing our arms off,” she said.“In 1972, we acquired our first Komondor and there's no looking back. And no, we never had another Old English Sheepdog. We love the breed. But we would never go back to brushing a dog like an Old English Sheepdog when you can have a dog of equivalent size or somewhat larger and be able to cord it.While cording a coat can seem daunting, Lawrence said, “Well, compared to brushing, it is (much easier), but you have to understand what a cord is, why a coat cords, and how to maintain the cord. It's a different discipline. We think it's much easier than brushing, and it's a lifetime of being able to have your dog in a proper coat rather than brushing the dog, showing it and shaving it down because you can't keep up with brushing it.”A “curated mat”“We think of cords as being a protection, a protection from predators. And the coat is very important to the environment and to the work that they do. Komondor are protectors of the flock. They do guard against such things as wolves. A fully-corded Komondor, not necessarily the length of the coat, but the density of the coat, will prevent the wolf from biting the dog.“The other thing is that Komondor and Puli in their native Hungary deal with very, very difficult weather conditions, and the coat protects them both from the cold as well as from the heat. It's an insulator. So it's really a very natural coat for the dogs to have for their entire life.“To cord any breed you really need a coat that is a double texture, an undercoat and an outer coat, and the undercoat is a softer coat, it's more cottony. The outer coat is wavier and it takes the wave of the outer coat to wind its way around the softer undercoat to create the cord.“That's what's creating this, call it a mat. It's a mat and it's an elongated mat. The thickness of the mat, sometimes it's natural as to whether or not a dog has a thick cord or a thinner cord, but for the most part it's how you divide these mats that occur that will determine the thickness of the cord.”

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Changing Hearts and Minds, One Livestream at a TimeHost Laura Reeves is joined by friend of the pod Bobby Brian (BB) Lewis to talk about how he was able to change the minds of random members of the public using his YouTube channel.Lewis started his YouTube channel primarily to share with his puppy families and show how the puppies are raised. He said he was shocked by the amount of negative feedback and outright hate toward dog breeders that he received.“The easiest thing would have been to remove them from the channel. I mean, I don't know if that would be the best thing to do, but that would have been an easy fix to this. But I was trying to explain to them this is what we do. We do all the health testing on our parents. They must be at least two years old and have all their health certs before we breed them. And normally we like to even have a title on all of them before we do this.“One of the comments I had gotten was you're adding to all these puppies being put into shelters. And I said, "No, if you buy a puppy for me and you have to surrender it or if you change ownership, I have a contract and that puppy comes to me.“There's no way one of my pups will wind up in a shelter, and (the commenter) just, he didn't know what to say that night. That guy was stunned.“My eyes opened up all of a sudden and I was shocked that people were trying to call me out. To some degree you're thinking you're doing, which I know I'm doing the right thing, but when people start calling you names and those type of things, and then you're like, whoa, wait a minute, something's wrong, we need to stand up a little bit.”

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The New and Aspiring Judge’s Journey with Channing Sheets

“How you treat people is everything.”

Host Laura Reeves is joined by German Shepherd Dog breeder and recently minted AKC judge Channing Sheets for a conversation about breeding dogs, the sport, judging and the honor of his first Westminster Kennel Club judging assignment.[caption id="attachment_14493" align="alignleft" width="550"] Channing Sheets with one of his GSD.[/caption]Sheets recounts his journey in dogs, starting with his dad’s bird dogs and hounds, through Keeshond and finally landing with his passion, the GSD.A member of the GSDCA Judges Education Committee, Sheets said the breed “has to be able to tend stock. You gotta do it all day long. You have to have good heart and lung function and then the secondary job is bite work. So you need to have a good bite, you need to have all your teeth and you need to have good occlusion. Now a button first premolar is a fault just because it's not a gripping tooth. Anything else I'm pretty much death on for that reason.”Like so many fanciers who are much more than just their dogs, Sheets works in high level occupational safety for the state of California. “I got recruited away to go to Cal OSHA and I was writing ebola guidelines and pandemic influenza guidelines. I do a lot of outbreak investigations, but I also specialize in workplace violence. So I deal with high profile active shooter cases.”“How you treat new people makes or breaks whether you get assignments, whether they want to show to you, or whether those individuals will continue to participate.“I really focus on puppy because I don't want them to have a bad experience,” Sheets said “and I don't want a new person to have a bad experience. Those are the two that we want to keep coming back. And if you do that, and they bring their friend, you'll grow exponentially, but you have to make positive experiences. Yeah. No one wants to go somewhere where they're going to have a negative experience."

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[caption id="attachment_14468" align="alignleft" width="273"] Veronica Miller and a Portugese Podengo Medio.[/caption]Hot Topic: New Rules for FSS BreedsHost Laura Reeves is joined by Veronica Miller, Portugese Podengo Medio enthusiast, to discuss newly announced rules about FSS breeds.The August Board minutes launched a number of hot topics and discussions, including around limited registrations, but one of the hottest is taking place in the FSS community. The enthusiasts in this group are working with breeds progressing toward full AKC recognition. Many of these breeds are ancient and popular in other countries.“Since I came in initially,” Miller said, “we had to have 300 dogs registered. We met that. Then it was you had to have a minimum of 20 litters. We had hit that, but then they moved it to 20 liters within five years after moving to miscellaneous. We're about one litter away from meeting that and now it's 20 litters within three years.“And most of these changes have taken place since 2018. So, in a short number of years there have been a whole lot of changes. There has been no outreach to any of our breed clubs. We hear from AKC that they are a club of clubs, but changes are made for FSS and miscellaneous breeds without our input. And without any discussion or reasoning.“We want to make sure that we do have a healthy gene pool and good genetics within our breed. We also want to make sure that we have appropriate homes and forcing a set number of litters could potentially lead to people making poor decisions for the dogs.“And the other thing with this particular board decision that really, I think, pushed a lot of buttons is when things come before the board, it is brought before the board discussed and then they leave it until the next board meeting when it's been voted on, which allows for a feedback. And that did not happen.“A lot of this group is the under 40 crowd, which is not the usual. We have found breeds that we love and want to dedicate our lives to, and just because it's not the usual breed that's out there, it doesn't make them worth any less. We have the breeds that we have because they are special to us. And these folks are incredibly dedicated to these dogs.“We are really dedicated and want to do more with our dogs, which is the whole point here, but we’re being held back in so many ways. And unfortunately, that's going to turn these folks away from AKC and they may go to other venues or they may just stay at home with their dogs. And then we're losing a huge segment of people that could really grow our sport.”

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Diagnosing the Limping Puppy: Pano, HOD, OCD and more…Host Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer for a deep dive on all the causes of a limping puppy. They cover when to have the puppy seen by a vet and what differentials are in play for the diagnosis.Panosteitis. Hypertrophic osteodystrophy. Osteochondritis Dissecans. These are long, scary names of disorders that can adversely impact our puppies while they are growing. From the relatively benign Pano to the frequently surgical solution for OCD, every time we see a limping puppy, our stomachs clench.Greer walks listeners through all of the various options and discusses the heritability of these disorders.“Make sure that you stay in good communication with both your veterinarian and the breeder,” Greer said, “because as an alliance, we can really make a big difference in how these puppies are diagnosed and treated.“Pano, I think growing pains is a pretty accurate description, and it's typically a young puppy usually at their most rapid growth phase, somewhere between 5 and 8 or 9 months of age. And they're usually but not always males. I know I've had it in females. The very worst case I. First Soft Piano was a female and it was not a heavily boned dog, but typically we think of them as heavy boned, like large bone dogs that have a lot of structure and typically boys because they typically have those thicker bones and more rapid growth than the things that boys do that girls don't.“HOD typically strikes when the puppy is younger. It’s going to show at the growth plates on an x -ray, they're going to show up as this widening, this weird kind of fuzzy look there. It is very painful, dogs have a fever and it's often associated with a vaccination.“OCD is generally noticed at 6-15 months. Cartilage in the joints peels off and difficult to diagnose in xray. Usually the shoulder, but not necessarily.“Fragmented Coronoid Process (FCP) and Ununited anconeal process (UAP) and Premature ulnar closure are growth disorders in the elbow related to elbow dysplasia.“Anytime you can say it's more common in this breed than another breed that means it's genetic.”

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PennHIP for the Win on Reducing Incidence of Hip Dysplasia[caption id="attachment_14411" align="alignleft" width="399"] Dr. Karen Potter showing one of her German Wirehaired Pointers.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Karen Potter to discuss the value of PennHIP evaluations to reduce the incidence of hip dysplasia in a breeding program.“While yes, I do PennHIP my dogs,” Potter said, “I typically will go back and still get an OFA score on them. So I have both avenues to look at as I'm going through my breeding. With Penn Hip, we're able to have a number that I can use in order to then go forward with breeding and that gives me an idea of if I have a dog with a higher laxity score to then breed that to a dog with a lower laxity score to try to continue to bring the number down in the offspring trying to improve the quality.“What the PennHIP program has done is they determined the laxity score, which is how much the hip joint is able to luxate during movement. We all know the hip is a ball and socket joint and the laxity being how much the ball can come out of the socket. And so when that ball comes out of the socket, in each step, they found that those forces and each concussive force is what we then develop osteoarthritis from.“When we're looking at a PennHIP score, we're looking for a score that is smaller, lower numbers are better. So it's a distraction value saying this is how much we can passively distract the hip from the socket. And I say passively because we're doing this while the dogs are under heavy sedation or anesthesia.”Listen in to take a deep dive into the world of PennHIP scores, how the test works, what it tells breeders and how to use the scores in a breeding program.For additional information on the studies done on the efficacy of this testing method check out this LINK.

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Episode 700: Re-imagining Dog Shows and Dog BreedingIt’s become a tradition here at Pure Dog Talk to celebrate the important milestones. Episode 700 feels surreal to me! Since November of 2016, NINE years, I’ve been hopping in the van with you guys for your road trips, joining you on the treadmill and the lawnmower, at the grooming table and discussions around the dinner table. Crazy talk!But, here we are. This year we even kicked off a new adventure with the Marty and Laura Show, reaching out to the general public, your puppy buyers and your cousin’s uncle’s girlfriend with trusted, knowledgeable information on all things pet health.We’ve also developed the Pedigrees to Pups Seminar series and are actively in process of making those available as courses on demand.I’ve got a new audio book about to hit the shelves and a long list of really excellent conversations upcoming. So the future looks bright in podcastlandia.I’m just a little concerned I’m going to be talking to myself here eventually. As I watch the sport of dog shows dwindle, litter registrations drop off and dog breeders retire, age out, drop out and give up, it gives me pause for our future.I had a call recently from a long time judge who shared my concerns about the “future of the sport.” It’s not a new conversation. It’s been around for at least the last 25 years. And we’re still here chugging along. A little more spread thin with lots and lots and lots of small shows. A little greyer and gimpier. My friend discussed various initiatives from AKC that she thinks are to blame. But honestly I think it’s simple.Dog shows are expensive. Breeding dogs is ridiculously expensive. And really hard. You get the tremendous highs but those heartbreaking lows are really hard to take. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to this can’t understand why people don’t want to abuse their bodies, emotions and wallets for the chance at creating that one big winner.But a thing one of my guests said recently has really stuck with me. In his book Familiaris, David Wroblewski touches on a theme that I think we need to let roll around in our minds for a while.His fictional dog breeder character describes the importance of creating something lasting and beautiful in the world. The idea of pursuing one impossible thing. That dog breeding is something like a “great quest” and gives our lives purpose.So here’s my pitch.We need MORE dog breeders, not fewer. But we need more GOOD dog breeders. People who put the dogs not the profit margin first. Not saying making money is a sin. It isn’t. But when you center the dogs, the breed and the buyers, you might not retire a billionaire, but you won’t go broke either. We’ve spent a good bit of time this year on providing content that helps people understand HOW to do this and do it well. That’s a big part of why we created the Pedigrees to Pups seminars. We had Matt Stelter on to talk about website and content creation. We talked to my friend BB who started a YouTube channel with his Brittany litter.My challenge, dear listeners, is to extend your involvement. If you haven’t yet, consider working with your breeder to whelp and raise a litter under their guidance. Decide that ribbons get dusty, but building a strong family of dogs who will go on to bring joy to hundreds maybe even thousands of people over multiple decades is a vision worth having. It is a lifetime project that is WORTH your time, your effort, your investment, your blood, sweat and tears.Because I promise you, when you start walking toward the end of your path, and you look back at your “body of work” with pride and love and the extended family of puppy buyers going back decades, it IS worthy of your effort.Building something lasting doesn’t have to be a bridge out of concrete. It can be as real and as warm as the trusting gaze of an old friend looking out at you from the eyes of a new puppy.We don’t have to buy the propaganda that PETA has sold us. We don’t have to hide our dogs and our passion. We don’t have to accept that the general public has zero concept of animal husbandry. WE can be the difference. We can use our voices to educate. If you aren’t comfortable speaking yourself, share resources like this one or the marty and laura show. AKC has resources. Our world is drowning in information that isn’t getting to the audience that needs to hear it. Preaching to the choir ain’t going to fix it y’all.We don’t have to accept anti breeder legislation. WE can introduce ourselves as subject matter experts and be the ones the lawmakers call when in doubt. WE do have the power of our own destinies. Somehow, we have allowed those to be stolen from us by slick slogans and people who have never bred a litter of puppies in their lives telling us how to do what we do. And I don’t mean AKC. I mean YOU. Literally, you. Our numbers may not be legion, but our passion is.It is long past time that we stand proud with that in our communities.So, do a quick check on your heart. Are you showing that gorgeous bitch to her triple quintuple grand champion platinum? How about you breed her? Or at least support someone in the trenches who is doing the work and buy a new dog. And yes, you can find someone to sell you a good dog. I promise. If you’re struggling, email me. I’ll help.We need you guys, All y’all, to hang with it. To dream. To plan. To get knocked down and get back up again! No matter what tragedy, what horror, what sadness or betrayal, it’s a safe bet you aren’t alone.Surround yourself with positive people who find constructive ways to improve instead of finding other people to blame. Find your tribe. If you haven’t already, I invite you to join ours. The Pure Dog Talk Patrons community is deep and rich with support and knowledge and camaraderie. Stop by the website and click the Patrons tab to join us.Everyone starts somewhere and certainly I’m no exception.Nine years ago I didn’t know what a podcast even was. Mary kept pushing me to host this thing and I just was baffled. I googled and poked around and most of them were booooooring things about stuff I couldn’t understand.Then I ran across a name I knew! Back in the Seattle days, I was running the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and one of our sponsors was The Stranger, a sort of alternative newspaper. The primary reason it was semi famous was one columnist, a dude I knew to wave at by the name of Dan Savage and his, mmm, quirky sex advice column called Savage Love. And there it was! The Savage Love podcast!He had 500 episodes at the time and I figured I’d make it a goal to surpass that…. I’m past that now, but I haven’t quite managed to eclipse the kinky sex pod, so I guess we’ll just have to keep trying! And that’s kind of a circular way of making my point … Keep going, find a way to motivate yourself and keep going some more.While you’re at it, help me beat Savage Love! Like, share, review and subscribe.Talk ON. Peace….

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Jake Bartells on NAVHDA, Epagneul Breton and Dog ClubsHost Laura Reeves is joined by Jake Bartells, a member of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) and breeder of Epagneul Breton. Their wide-ranging conversation about the inherent challenges of dog clubs is applicable to any club, of any type, anywhere.About NAVHDA“NAVHDA is an organization of about 10,000 members,” Bartells said. “It's mainly a testing organization that gathers data in a registry and that's where it houses the data is through the registry. All of the tests are done per a standard. So you're judged against the standard and each dog tested and each member has both a handler record and then the testing record for the dog. That data in an ideal world is used by breeders to then continue and better the breeds that we recognize and it's super useful.”About Dog Clubs“(It’s important) to have a complete transparent communication with (the membership). I think they deserve to know exactly where the organization's at at all times and not have to ask for it, have it be provided and put out there. I wanna see financial strength in the organization, having money gives you resources that allows you to do more, and then just absolutely upholding our mission, mission first by all stretch. I think that's done through building teams of great people. Nobody has to do the job alone. For a living, I project manage and I can't build a house or build a casino or build anything else without teams and upon teams of great talented people. And with 10,000 members, we have an unbelievable amount of very talented people in very specific fields and most of which are willing to do it for the organization.About Epagneul Breton vs Brittany“It's one of those things where on paper, it doesn't look that different. When you bring two dogs out, it doesn't take a trained eye to start picking them out at a separate dogs very quickly and especially in the way they run. You know, the French say that they should run like a pig. They should have a shorter, choppier stride that comes from being, "cobby.” They’re as tall at the withers as they are long. And so they should move in that manner that's a bit different.“We can have orange and white, liver and white, liver, tri-color, and then orange tri-color, and black and white. The easy distinction is they're gonna have black nose, black lips, black eyelids, and they can have black on their heads, black toenails. So even the orange and whites are going to have black nose, black eyelids. It's never going to look like the pink nose of an American Brittany.”

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Three Words That Strike Fear in Vets and OwnersHost Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer talking about the three words that strike fear in both veterinarians and owners.“These three things are what can take a normal, easy, lovely day at the veterinary clinic and turn it upside down and cause clients to have to wait and then swear at their veterinary team because they don't understand why they have to wait because they had an appointment,” Greer said.Those three words, according to Greer, are GDV (bloat), Pyo (pyometra) and HBC (hit by car).Refresher on these three critical care situations:Pyometra is a uterine infection.“Fevers are almost never seen with pyometras,” Greer said. “And it's a hard thing to understand how you can have a uterus full of pus and not run a fever. But apparently the uterus is a privileged organ and it allows for foreign things to happen in it. That could be a pyometra. That could be a puppy.“So unfortunately, they almost never run a fever, so don't rely on that to be a symptom. If you were waiting for a fever to happen, it means that the uterus probably just ruptured and the dog now has a belly full of puss instead of just a uterus full of puss. And when your belly is full of puss, you're in big trouble. And so, if you're waiting for a temperature, you're decreasing your dog's odds of survival.“If your dog was recently in heat, they aren't feeling well, they're not eating well, they're perhaps drinking buckets and buckets of water, maybe vomiting, maybe have a vaginal discharge, maybe not. Do not wait for a fever (to take the dog to the vet).”GDV (gastric dilatation and volvulus) is bloat, where a dog’s stomach fills with air and may twist, causing a very rapid cascade of life-threatening events in the dog’s system.HBC (hit by car) and other trauma is covered in our K9 911 First Aid seminar series linked here.

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Dog Breeding as a Vision QuestHost Laura Reeves is joined by NYT best-selling author David Wroblewski discussing dog breeding as a vision quest.Wroblewski is the author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Familiaris both based on the life and history of fictional dog breeder Edgar Sawtelle and his family.“This sort of primal connection that we have with dogs, to me fundamentally is about how to live a larger, better life in a really broad sense,” Wroblewski said.

“One of the things that you mentioned, kind of like in the theme of the novels, is the importance of creating something lasting and beautiful in the world. The idea that you're pursuing one impossible thing,” Reeves said. “And let me tell you, as somebody who has been breeding dogs since I was a child with my family and still am today, that basically defines our life. So talk to us a little bit about how you came to that and how you incorporated that into your novels.”

“I think that there's only a couple of things that are worth writing about in the larger sense and one of them is love,” Wroblewski said. “And so I would hope that everything that I write is at some level and hopefully multiple levels a love story. But one of those love stories is the love of what you're trying to do in the world with your life.“I mean, we all need to pay the bills. There are plenty of things that are just functional things about day-to-day living, but there's also the larger meaning of what you're doing with your life. And I've been lucky to have to work with people in a number of different realms that are lucky enough to be able to say I'm not just trying to pay the mortgage. I'm trying to do something bigger than just me.“And one of the things that readers of Familiaris will run across partway through the book is a sort of accounting of this couple, John and Mary Sawtell. Familiaris is about this history of this kennel where everything takes place later for the Story of Edgar Sawtelle. But just an accounting of how all the work that they've done over the course of 40 years of raising dogs and placing them in the world, how that has accumulated and what the net effect across all human society has been. I feel like every time a dog gets placed with a thoughtful owner, that person's life has been changed forever.”

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Swedish Lapphund and the Genetics of the Arctic Spitz Breeds[caption id="attachment_14251" align="alignleft" width="540"] Desiree Ramirez with one of her Swedish Lapphunds.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Desiree Ramirez to discuss the Swedish Lapphund and the genetics of the arctic spitz “archetype” that developed into landrace dogs and then different breeds over centuries.Swedish Lapphunds are not Finnish Laphunds or Finnish Spitz or Norwegian Buhunds or Norwegian Elkhounds or Samoyeds or Karelian Bear Dogs. Currently registered by AKC in the FSS, there are only about 40 dogs in the US. They are their own unique breed developed in the same region of the Scandinavian countries by the Sami people of Lappland (northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia). But these breeds all developed in the same basic region of the world.“We have archeological evidence of these lap -ish dogs going back four to 8 ,000 years,” Ramirez said. “Like some of the first dogs in Scandinavia and Europe. They were the landrace archetype.“And these dogs all are in haplogroup D and specifically when we talk about genetics specifically subclade group D1. Now haplogroup D is the most recent haplogroup in dog genetics that has the most recent wolf ancestry, barring any, you know, modern wolf mixes that we have. It is the most recent dog breed, dog type with wolf ancestry.[caption id="attachment_14250" align="alignright" width="536"] Swedish Lapphund puppy.[/caption]“That's why a lot of these dogs are these spitzy. That's why they looked so wolfy, they have a lot of those holdover traits because they're so close. Subclade Group D is specific to these Scandinavian breeds. So you're Finnish Lapphund, your Swedish Lapphund, Lapponian herders, all the elk hounds, they're all coming from that one subclade D.“(One) thing that makes them really different (from the Finnish Lapphund). This is where they really shine between the two of them is their temperament. OK, Swedish Lapphunds are a little bit more drivey. The first comparison I ever heard between the two of them was it's like comparing a V6 and a V8 engine.“The Swedish Lapphund is just going to drive and push and they really want to work, but they're the ones that will turn around and look at you in the yard and be like, OK, what are we doing next that? The handler focus that they have is extreme. They're always looking for you for that next thing that you want to do.“The Swedish Lapphund or the Lappish dogs were from the Sami people. And these dogs had to be versatile. They had to do everything. So hunting, herding, guarding, keeping the people warm, they had to do it all. There was no ability to specialize, right, if the owner needed it, that dog was doing it.“And to this day they still like to have a variety within the litter. So you might have a dog that's really good at hunting, which we still have dogs hunting and you might have one that herds and you might have one that is really just a great couch potato and they love that. They love that versatility and variety of temperament within the breed.”

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The Tiny but Mighty Chihuahua with Kristi Green[caption id="attachment_14231" align="alignleft" width="416"] Kristi Green with BIS MBISS GCHG CH Knockout Pretty Little Liar.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Kristi Green, talking about the tiny but mighty Chihuahua. From their slightly mysterious origins to best practices on finding and raising a well-bred dog, Green shares pro tips from her own successes and struggles.“I think that the biggest part about living with a Chihuahua is that they can be as good of a dog as you want them to be or as bad of a dog as you let them be,” Green said. “There's a lot of user error and really successful users, for lack of a better word, I hear people say that you know, they're truly trying to bite somebody and I think ‘mine don't do that.’“I've had a lot of Chihuahuas come and go throughout my process. And, and how you handle them in certain situations really, really has a lot to do with the dog that you have. What you put in is what you get out. But just day-to-day life with them, they're wonderful dogs. You've got this little dog that thinks you hung the moon and the stars, whether you barely got out of bed that day or you solved World Peace. They love you no matter what. And that really is part of their charm.“It really has become the gold standard in Chihuahuas now that you do health test the dogs. That really has changed over the last 15 years since I started, and I think that that's important. Look for a breeder that's not just ohh, my dogs are healthy, they've been health tested, but that they're putting those dogs in the database because it says they care about the big picture, not just selling puppies, but they care about what happens in 15 years when somebody wants to learn about a pedigree.“A Chihuahua that's going to be a good pet really has been home raised. You know, they've been raised in your house. They've been raised under foot. They've been exposed to just life in a house. They also have been socialized. I think it's a good idea to ask the question of, you know, what do you do to socialize the puppies? How are the puppies potty trained? I mean, are you doing anything as far as those things go, because that early framework really does make a big difference as far as how the dog handles life for the next 15 years.”Read more in our 2018 blog post interview with Green HERE.

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What’s Your “Line in the Sand” for BreedingHost Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer for an important conversation about “what is YOUR line in the sand” when breeding dogs.

This is a conversation around breeding ethics and having a “mission statement” for your breeding program.

“I had a listener ask about a baby puppy with one testicle yoyoing and one maybe, maybe not there and what should they do? And Marty said, ‘Well, there's only a couple things and it won't take very long (to talk about), but I think that there's no reason not to breed that.’ And I'm like, wait, what? So, Marty, I want you to talk to me about why, because this was a very interesting perspective that had literally never crossed my mind.”The conversation continues from there with Marty describing her “line in the sand” as deadly diseases. Her reasoning being the additional genetic diversity that comes when we don’t “throw out the baby with the bath water” for issues which do not actively impact a dog’s quality of life.“The world according to Marty Greer is for me a level 1 is something that you don't have a life shortening, life altering disease from. It's a retained testicle. For me it's extra eyelashes. For me it's an entropian. For me, it's an umbilical hernia.“For me, level 2 is something that requires chronic management, long term allergies. Thyroid disease, things that always need to be on medication. There's an ongoing expense. There's an ongoing thing that has to happen, but it's not serious.“And for me, Level 3, are life threatening, life altering, life shortening diseases. This is my definition. For me, that's bad temperament. If your dog bites somebody, I don't think that dog should be in your gene pool. If I have to muzzle your dog to breed it, I don't think it should be in the gene pool. That for me is orthopedic diseases that are crippling. Hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, patellar luxation, all this stuff that happens orthopedically. And for me that's things like seizures, because I think seizures are life threatening.“But that's my world. I live in a veterinary clinic. Remember, that's what I do every day. So I see dogs that come in with owners that are distressed, dogs that are dying, dogs that need to be euthanized. And so my perspective is going to be different than other people's perspectives because that's not the world they live in.”

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The Glen of Imaal Terrier’s Place in IrelandWe have friend of the pod Theresa Nesbitt back and you guys know how much I harp on the current dogs are living history, right? Like this is my jam. And that purebred dogs represent a specific place and a specific people in a specific time. Well, Theresa has taken that for the Glen of Imaal Terrier and done this huge deep dive on it. And her information and her stories are so fascinating. You know, in the green room off air we were talking about. How cool it is for kids for adults to learn history using purebred dogs.In Ireland, the national cultural heritage status of native breeds is protected by the government.“What they're protecting is yes, the dogs,” Theresa said, “but actually the dog-human connection and where they came from relate to so many parts of Irish history and heritage. And there's only 9 native breeds there so I love getting into it because I felt like it was manageable.“I think for preservation, it's really about the past and the present and the future. So we have to look at what came from the past. Right now, breeders, right now, we're working very hard with breed standards and we're saying, so how do we move forward into the future?“Breeders can find their purpose for what they need to do today to make sure that those dogs of the future are still able to reach back through time and touch those things. So it's a hard job for us, but we have to do it.”Theresa’s description of the physical location that is the Glen of Imaal is absolutely fascinating and why it tends to indicate to her the breed would have been unlikely to actually have worked as turnspit dogs.“What is really important about it being the Glen of Imaal is the antique features and the unrefined to this day. And because (the area) was so hard to get to, the dogs stayed the way the dogs used to be.”Listen back to the episodes referenced in today’s conversation HERE and HERE.

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Pro Tips for Hot Dog Shows and When Safety Overrules RibbonsHost Laura Reeves brings you Pure Dog Talk's LIVE@5 discussion of the hot summer dog shows and when safety is more important than ribbons."Let's talk about what hot means. And everybody has their own understanding of it, right? So what is hot to someone like myself from the Northwest might be no big deal if you're from Phoenix. Understand that if you're hot, your dogs have similar acclimation and so it's really important to understand what your dog can tolerate."I was doing my handling class for folks last night and I was talking about this topic and I had a pug dog back in the day, Pug Special, and the day he went best in show in Wisconsin, the thermometer said it was 105 and it was 85% humidity. Yeah, it was really gross. If you look at the photo of me from that day, I look like I've been dipped in olive oil. It is just disgusting."The judge was Norman Patton. I remember it all very clearly and he flat told me that the reason my dog went best in show that day, not just was he a nice pug dog or what have you, but on that horrible gross awful day, my dog went around the entire best in show ring without panting."And so a lot of that has to do with what the dog is acclimated to. That particular pug dog lived in Nebraska at the time. He was accustomed to gross humidity. And my dogs were not pampered pets. They went outside in the gross humidity. I was careful with them, but they were acclimated to the heat and the humidity, which other dogs If I had brought him straight from the West Coast to that environment, he'd have died. But because he was acclimated after a couple of years in Nebraska, it was more manageable for him."And the other thing that I did was manage his situation. So at a hot dog show, you have an ice chest full of ice and water. More water than ice, but it is ice cold water. You do not give that to your dog to drink. You put your cool coat or your shammy or your towel or your whatever you're going to use in that water and then you ring it out as much as you need to for your dog's coat and you put it on the ground and you have the dog stand on it."You do not put it over the dog's back because that's not going to get them cool. Dogs release heat from their pads, they release heat from their ear flaps, they release heat in their groin, anus, all of the places that have unfurred space. And so if we're going to keep our dogs cool, the way to keep them cool is to have the coldness underneath them."And then I had a good Ryobi fan. I had a spray bottle with water in it, and I had another shammy and I had trained him. So this is the other part. He was trained. That's an important part of this conversation. He was trained. He could lie down on his side in the ring and I would cover his eyes, his whole head up with another cold chamois. And so he was iced, literally, he was chill."And this particular ring was outdoors, kind of in semi shade. I spent the vast majority of that time in the best in show ring with the dog lying down and my back to the judge, to the ring, to everything else so that I could put him in the shade. I used my body to shade him because there wasn't as much shade as I would like there to be."So you can manage the heat if the dog is accustomed to it, if the dog is fit and if it is acclimated to the basic conditions and then you can keep them cool enough for the amount of time that you have. So that's number one."Number two, remember. There's no law that you have to go to the dog show that you entered if it's 100°. Another special, another time, another place. There was a big candy ass. I can't say it another way. God love him. I loved that dog, but he was not heat tolerant and he had won a big specialty in California. And I had a huge falling out with his co-owner over it because I refused to show him the group, because it's gonna be 105 and it was out in more sun and he was going to be miserable and he was not going to perform. And I didn't want to have people see him look bad. Even though there was a reasonably good chance he could have gotten a group placement since he just won the specialty that day. OK, so we make decisions, we make the right decision for our dog."

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Alaskan Klee Kai Move to MiscellaneousHost Laura Reeves is joined by Chelsea Watson for a discussion of the Alaskan Klee Kai moving to Miscellaneous this summer.[caption id="attachment_14178" align="alignleft" width="370"] Versatile, energetic and aloof, Alaskan Klee Kai join Miscellaneous.[/caption]According to Watson, the Klee Kai was developed in Alaska in the 1970s by one woman who wanted to create a “miniature Husky.” The breed was developed using Alaskan Huskies, with additions of Siberian Husky, American Eskimo Dog and Schipperke.The Klee Kai is 12-17 inches tall, with a variety of colors and coats available. Bred as a companion dog, it should still move with the smooth, effortless carriage of its working forbears, Watson noted.The Klee Kai was accepted into AKC's FSS (Foundation Stock Service) program in 2020. An active, even busy, breed, Klee Kai are aloof and reserved with strangers, but excel in agility and other performance events, Watson said.“They are very high energy breed,” Watson said. “They are not couch potatoes. They also are a very versatile breed. You want to go hiking for three hours every day? They can do it. Bike for five hours or five miles a day, probably 5 hours too, they can do it. Kayaking and paddle boarding with them. They could do weight pull. The tricky part is you got to have patience because they're still gonna do a quid pro quo. What’s in it for me? The Husky piece is strong in them, (but) I would say they are more trainable than Huskies. Patience, it just requires a lot of patience. It's like training your cat.”The following links offer additional information about the breed.Alaskan Klee Kai Association of America (UKC)https://www.akkaoa.org/Breeders Listhttps://www.akkaoa.org/find-a-breederDog Breed Informationhttps://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/alaskan-klee-kai/

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Conditioning for Canine AthletesHost Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Ashley Nixon to discuss conditioning our canine athletes, whether for the show ring, dock diving, agility and more.

"Cardio's good for everybody," Nixon said, "but I think it's really important to consider the sport you're doing and what you're asking your dog to do. They can be cardiovascularly fit, but maybe they don't have the propulsion to do some dock diving or agility, right? So I think it's super important to kind of keep that in mind and not just say, hey, I walk my dog, we go for a run, we're fit, we're good.

"I like a ton of stuff you can actually do at home with basic equipment (for conditioning work). You can have them do some push-ups on an unstable surface, like a little exercise ball. You can have them pivot. It's great. Front end up, back end up. I love sit to stands for these guys and you can do a ton of different variations. You can have them do it on a mattress, Fit Bones are great. Cavalettis are great for these guys. You can especially pick up some changes in their gait or change their gait.

"(Cavalettis) are super versatile and if you want some flexion, you can have serpentines over the cavalettis and arrange them in, you know, semi circles, get some nice spinal flexion. Like that."

Listen to the full episode for more from:

Dr Ashley Nixon DVM, CVA, CVMRT, CVSMT, FCOAC, CAMP, CSCC

Chief of Staff

Dr. Ashley Nixon knew she wanted to be a veterinarian since she was just 3 years old. That passion inspired her to obtain her DVM from St. Matthew’s University School of Veterinary Medicine, and complete her clinical year at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She received her CVMRT (massage & rehabilitation) and CVSMT (spinal manipulation) certifications from the Healing Oasis, and was trained and certified in veterinary acupuncture at the Chi Institute of Traditional Veterinary Medicine. She passed additional testing to become a fellow of the College of Animal Chiropractors, and received a certification in arthritis management. She is certified in arthritis case management.

Dr. Nixon has a special interest in sports and conditioning, and is certified through NC State.

Prior to the ATC, she most recently worked at a specialty referral practice in the south as a rehabilitation veterinarian. She is active with multiple dog sports.

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Infertility Problem Solving ProtocolHost Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer for a conversation about the problem solving protocol for infertility using a case study submitted in the private Pure Dog Talk Patrons group.Greer’s first recommendation for fertility issues is to have a complete semen analysis on the stud dog.“There are six parameters that we should look at for semen quality. It should be volume, sperm count, the motility, the morphology, the longevity and speed of progression. …(I)t's much easier to analyze the fertility on a male dog that is a female.”Greer continues with discussion of “lifestyle” choices of the bitch. Nutrition choices, sunlight exposure and more.“The foods that we see that we have good success with, are going to be Purina and Royal Canin. Those are the two diets that we reliably see good fertility with. Purina, their Sport 30/20, which is 30% protein, 20% fat is a really good diet for fertility and the Royal Canin makes a pregnancy diet, the only pregnancy diet that currently is on the market.“Dogs need 14 hours of daylight. And if you don't have the opportunity to have it, if you don't live in a climate that you can do that. Where you're building isn't set up for it or whatever it happens to be. You can get full spectrum light bulbs and turn them on for 14 hours a day.“We also see high performing dogs, dogs traveling with a handler or they're out at field trials every weekend and they're running hard or hunt tests or whatever activity you happen to be doing. Sometimes just being away from home can be really stressful for the dogs and we can see that affecting their fertility.”Greer continues with other potential infertility causes and treatments. Be sure to listen to the episode to catch her 2-2-2 "infertile bitch protocol."

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Dual Dogs Serve Dual Purpose[caption id="attachment_14045" align="alignleft" width="496"] Brittany puppy with big dreams.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bobby Brian Lewis to talk guided quail hunts in Georgia and how his dual champion Brittanies help create goodwill for purebred dogs and dog breeders generally in this very old Southern tradition.Lewis has been guiding quail hunts since he was a teenager and his dad is still guiding in his 80s. The vast plantations and preserves of Georgia are a perfect backdrop for these hunts, Lewis said.“A lot of people we take, they've got the money to do it,” Lewis noted. “So they're influential. I mean I've taken senators, representatives, ex governors, state senators from Tennessee have all hunted with us and that kind of helps promote (purebred) dogs also.“You kind of get to know them a lot of more. They e-mail me, text me the next day and say ‘hey, where can I get training birds,’ they're involved in our sport now and we've kind of got an advocate on our side.“Just this year we had some legislation coming through in Georgia on dog breeders. The first thing I did was call a couple representatives I know and go, ‘this is gonna hurt our business here and we're trying to get good purebred dogs that have all the health testing and those type of things. And those are the puppies we're trying to sell. And this is going to kind of hinder this a little bit.’ And they were like, well, ‘tell me more.’”Lewis also noted that he’s “sold” on the importance of correct conformation in his bird dogs because they are sound and able to hunt well into their older years.“The conformation means I can hunt them till they're 10, 12, thirteen years old. Doing this type of hunting is very strenuous. We can guide 5-6 days a week. I kept some stats at the end of the season last year, where a dog on the ground retrieved 32 birds in 42 minutes.”All the birds shot during the hunt are eaten by guests and the family. Lewis even shared some of his favorite quail recipes (if you don't happen to have quail available, cornish game hens are a reasonable substitute.)

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Movie Star Great Dane’s Owner Helps Educate the PublicHost Laura Reeves is joined by Bev Klingensmith, breeder, owner and trainer of the canine star of the new movie, The Friend.[caption id="attachment_14029" align="alignleft" width="671"] Bev Klingensmith and Bing on set filming The Friend.[/caption]Klingensmith’s dog, Bing, CH Flighty Foto White Christmas CD RA CA DCAT TKI CGC TT, plays the part of the Harlequin Great Dane in the movie which stars Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, about a solitary writer who adopts and bonds with a Great Dane that belonged to a late friend, helping her to come to terms with her past and her own creative inner life.Bing is Klingensmith’s fourth generation of homebred Great Danes, starting in the late ‘90s.“The production company actually sent an e-mail to me back in January of 2020. When I first got the e-mail I deleted it. People, I've told that story and people ask if I thought it was a scam or fake. And I'm like, no, I just didn't think it was realistic for me. They're talking filming in New York. I live in Iowa. And then I was like, you know, I do have lots of friends on the East Coast with Danes. Maybe I can help point them in the right direction, give them some contacts at least. That was really my only initial reason to reach back out.”Klingensmith is very aware of concerns about the risks posed by purebred dogs appearing in movies and has used the movie as a platform for education about her beloved breed.

“I worked with the production team and we put a piece in the credits encouraging folks to visit the Great Dane Club of America's website for breeder referrals and rescue contacts. I have worked with a few rescues for fundraising. We've done so many Q&A events and things like that. And that is one of the things I always hit on is Great Danes are not for everyone.

“They are not couch potatoes. They're giant, their expenses are giant. If you choose to get a Great Dane, where you get the Great Dane is so important. It's not just selecting the right breed for your home. It's also selecting where to get that dog. And that's almost more important than selecting the right breed. And that's been a huge statement that I've been trying to make over and over to the public and fingers crossed the message gets out there.“One of the things I like to point out, he is a champion. He's purposely bred, carefully bred, thoughtfully bred with generations of all the same behind him. That none of that has happened by chance. His temperament and his behavior, none of it has happened by chance.“I try to stress that to people as much as I can because we're talking about where you get your dog is so important. I told people a lot, ignorance and apathy, they're both really bad traits to have in a breeder. I might love my dog, but if I don't know what I'm doing, I'm still gonna be a bad breeder unintentionally. And that's just as damaging as the breeders that don't care.”

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How to Battle Anti Breeder Legislation Around the US[caption id="attachment_14021" align="alignleft" width="446"] Jennifer Clark joins fanciers at an event in Washington DC.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Jennifer Clark, AKC director of legislative outreach, to talk about legislation in Oregon and what's happening elsewhere in the country and why it matters that fanciers get involved.“For those who are not in Oregon, or may not have been following it,” Clark said, “what this bill basically said initially is that the state has to start regulating anyone who breeds and sells in the state. So if you sell one dog, you suddenly have to be regulated. We don't have any idea what these regulations are going to be.“That was a huge concern for us because why should someone who's breeding and raising one litter in their home be regulated and inspected by the state? A lot of times in states when they're regulating breeders, it's on a commercial level. They're regulating the large commercial facilities or people who are doing this professionally and not those who are hobbyists or financiers.“And there are very specific guidelines that are often in place, such as drainage in your floors and kennel setups and temperature records. All these things like flooring are great if you have a large kennel building, but what if that's your living room? Then how are you going to be able to comply? Does that mean I have to tear up my carpet because it can't be completely sanitized? Do I have to put a drainage system in my laundry room? And does that mean that state has to come in and inspect my kitchen because that's where the whelping pen is. How do we handle these questions? So that was a huge concern.AKC Government Relations, NAIA, local clubs and fancier reaction resulted in an amendment to state ‘more than two litters,’ Clark added and the bill is currently not passed into law. You can track legislation in your state with AKCGR’s fantastic tool HERE.[caption id="attachment_14020" align="alignright" width="307"] Clark's grandmother with her show bred Cocker Spaniel circa 1930s,[/caption]“(Legislators) need to understand this group of people and who you are and what you do. And that is what's going to make the difference to them because you are the ones that are going to be directly impacted. You are the ones who are going to vote, and that's why they need to hear from you. And that's why we've seen any change on this bill at all. And that's why it's slowed down a bit is because of everyone who has written in and called. And we hope that you'll continue to do so,” Clark said.AKCGR is holding a legislative conference to help people learn how to interact on this type of legislation. The conference is scheduled in St. Louis on Saturday, June 14.“We will give updates on legislation around the country, provide fun, interactive sessions on how to be effective advocates for your dogs and our sport, and discuss how clubs can make a difference in their community,” Clark noted.For more information and to register, visit www.akcgr.org/midwestconference2025

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Mastitis is not Metritis is not PyometraDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves to walk through the differentials in diagnosing possible infections in the breeding bitch, including mastitis, metritis and pyometra.

“There's a lot of reasons that postpartum bitches can run a fever. So I think it's a really good topic because when you go to the vet or if you know if you're calling for a vet appointment or you're getting to the vet, it can be a little more muddy than you think it should be.

“Before you call your vet with a sick postpartum bitch, take her temperature. Please take her temperature because the second thing the receptionist is going to ask you is what's her temperature? And you'll be like, I don't know, I can't find my thermometer. So have a thermometer dedicated to the dog, have a jar of Vaseline, and be sure that you've taken it and written it down. Because by the time your postpartum bitch is sick, you are stressed, you are tired, and you can barely remember your own name. So write down the stuff.

“How are the puppies doing? Are they gaining weight? Losing weight? Are they sick? Because there is a big difference. Both metritis and mastitis can cause the puppies to be sick as well. Because the bitch is sick. So mastitis is inflammation and infection of the mammary glands, and metritis is inflammation and infection of the uterus to be differentiated from pyometra.

“The top two differentials are always going to be metritis: infection of the uterus, inflammation of the uterus, and mastitis: infection, inflammation of the mammary glands. Now, just because the mammary glands are firm does not mean the bitch has mastitis. And just because the mammary glands are firm does not mean you automatically slam her on antibiotics.”

Marty continues with a complete discussion of metritis (within 24-48 hours of whelping), mastitis (not exclusively, but commonly 3-4 weeks post whelping) and pyometra which generally occurs when a bitch is not in whelp and normally is not accompanied by a fever.

Remember, if you enjoy our conversations, check out our new show! Recorded for you, your puppy buyers, your non-doggy friends and your cousin's uncle's girlfriend, the show is designed to reach the general pet owning public with reliable accurate information in an accessible format.

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Purina Events Center ReopensHost Laura Reeves is joined by Angie Minges, Director of partnership marketing and events for Purina to discuss the rapid response that reopened the Purina Event Center in time for PCA.[caption id="attachment_13976" align="alignleft" width="563"] Tornado damage at Purina Farms has closed the Visitor Center, but the Events Center is open for business.[/caption]The Purina Farm and Events Center outside St. Louis, MO was hit by an EF2 tornado on March 14. The barn and visitor center were badly damaged. The events center and surrounding grounds sustained significant wind damage wiping out trees, light poles and more.“What was hit the hardest on our property besides the lovely trees and just the fields themselves were our barn and our visitor center, so both of those two buildings will have to be demolished. It's so sad and the community has been so supportive and loving and caring of our farm and we couldn't be more thankful for the people that we have in our lives that love Purina Farms. So yes, it was tragic that that natural disaster happened, but it's also pulled the community together and we're just so grateful for everyone that is sending their love and care our way.”While several events were canceled or relocated, the team worked round the clock to have the RV sites and Events Center ready to safely open in time for Poodle Club of America’s National Specialty last week, Minges said.She added that the Visitor Center will be closed for at least the rest of the year.“We have the incredible dog arena on Purina Farms and we have a great incredible dog team that does all the fun tricks and the dock diving. We can't take the dock diving with us, but we'll take an agility show to some of the festivals and different wine tastings and events that are taking place in the region throughout the summer. Just to stay connected to the consumer and bring the farm to the community.

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Own Your Digital Property with an Optimized Website[caption id="attachment_13813" align="alignleft" width="431"] Matt Stelter from Better Breeder Institute with one of his collie puppies.[/caption]Matt Stelter from Better Breeder Institute joins host Laura Reeves for a LIVE@5 live podcast about SEO and how to optimize your website.“Somewhere along the line, conservation dog breeders took on the mindset that they should not be marketing themselves, apparently because it's just something that for profit or commercial breeders do,” Stelter said. “However, nothing could be further from the truth. It is a limiting belief that harms our conservation breeder community. And puts us at a disadvantage.“Conservation breeders have failed to make themselves visible. They failed to plant their flag in the ground and they failed to market themselves. Sharing the tremendous value and the story that our purebred dogs possess. We have hid our light under a barrel and given the antis and the doodle mania a free pass to indoctrinate the general public.“Ask yourself, would you rather rent or own an asset, be it a home, real estate or even a vehicle? When you spend money on paid online advertising or social media, you are investing good money and effort as well on rented digital property and renting is generally a poor long term financial decision.“If and when you stop paying for it, the traffic stops instantly. My recommendation is that you never spend money on rented digital real estate. Puppy marketplaces, paid online breeder directories, and social media are all rented real estate that you unfortunately. Will never control. The number one strategy to get more and better puppy buyers is an optimized website. A website is owned real estate that appreciates in value and performance over time.“Facebook has changed dramatically over the past 15 years, and it no longer works the way it used to. All the while, the power of an optimized website has continued to increase. An important fact to realize is that while ideas and inspiration may start on social media, most purchases begin on Google.“When a prospective puppy buyer starts looking for a breeder, just like with any other important purchase, the grand majority are going to start with a Google search. There's a famous quote from Jimmy Wales who is the founder of Wikipedia and he said if you are not on Google you don't exist. And it really is true when it comes to selling puppies.“It is Google's world and to be successful, we need to be playing in it. And I can tell you what puppy buyers won't find at the top of Google your Facebook page. An optimized website is simply the strongest digital asset a breeder can have. It is owned digital real estate that is yours, and its value and performance are going to appreciate over time if managed properly.”

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Akitas: Guardian Dogs of the Samurai[caption id="attachment_13805" align="alignleft" width="441"] Colleen Sullivan and one of her Sondaisa Akitas.[/caption]Colleen Sullivan joins host Laura Reeves for a Love the Breeds episodes on Akitas.The breed, one of six national monuments in Japan, was introduced to the US by Hellen Keller in 1937. Originally used as guard dogs and companions for the Samurai warriors, the breed is quiet, clean and very devoted to their owners.Sullivan notes that the breed is best for owners who are willing to be leaders in the relationship and that same sex aggression with other dogs and wariness with strangers is par for the course with the breed.Sullivan agreed with Laura’s description of the breed as “people with fur” and treating them that way.“They think too much sometimes,” Sullivan said. “If you hesitate, if you're not a calm, confident person, yeah, you're suspicious (to the dog). You're not gonna walk up to some stranger or allow some stranger to give you a hug and a kiss. You know, you're just not. It's like dogs there's Golden Retrievers the extrovert and then there's Akita the introvert.

"One of the things we all have in common that have owned an Akita is pride. They’re such magnificent dogs, magnificent beings. They're like artwork but with power."

Easy grooming, with the exception of “blowing coat,” and a cat-like insistence on cleanness make the breed easy to live with in Sullivan’s experience.Training Akitas requires some creativity, Sullivan said, and an ability to make the dog think the work is their idea. Consistency is key to training.“You can't let your dog jump all over you one time and then get mad at it the next time,” Sullivan said. “You have to mean what you say.”Bloat can be an issue with the breed. Sullivan encourages owners to be educated about this disease.“I hesitate to make this statement, but one of the things that I do because the Akita is such a primitive breed, it’s one of the oldest breeds, is I look at more the wolves and the coyotes and how they exercise and how they eat. All the exercise is done because they're chasing their prey. Then they're gorging themselves and they're getting all these bodily fluids and all of that, and then they rest. So all my (dogs’) exercise is before eating, they get lots of fluid on their food when they're eating. And then rest.”

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Tube Feeding: When, Why and How with Dr. Marty GreerDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a run down of when, why and how to tube feed neonates.New born puppies who can’t or won’t nurse for whatever reason may be fed with a tube passed directly to the stomach.“I just want people to know that dying of starvation is not an option at my house,” Greer said. “Different people have different thresholds and that's my threshold, is you are not going to die of starvation.”Marty and Laura walk through the “why”s of tube feeding, along with when to make that decision, what to do and what not to do.“Usually it's just for a few days,” Greer said, “sometimes a week or two until they catch on, start latching, start gaining and then they do great. But some dogs are slower than others and I see some puppies that are just really slow to grow. They may be half the size the littermates. And again, they may have swallowing defects. There is a lot of things that (can cause puppies not to nurse well.”Greer cautions that all puppies should be checked for cleft palate to rule out that as a cause for failure to thrive/nurse well.“Number one is pre warm the puppy. The puppy needs to be at least 96° on a rectal thermometer. Do not feed a cold puppy #2 is pre warm the formula. Number 3 is pre measure the tube. You measure the tube from the tip of the nose to the last rib. Have a marker or piece of tape, something that you mark on the tube so that you know exactly how far the tube has to be to go to the last rib because the stomach is behind the last rib. The trachea divides about halfway there, so if you're only in halfway, you could be in the trachea. If you're in all the way, you have to be in the stomach.“When you pass the tube, you keep the chin down and you pass to the left. A lot of people throw the puppy’s head up and look in the back of the oral cavity. And if you do that, you open up the airway. So keep the chin down so that you close the airway, you pass it to the left because the esophagus is left of the trachea. So go to the left.“And then the most important thing before you feed is you pinch the puppy on the tail or the toes and make sure it can cry and you can hear it vocalizing. If the puppy can vocalize, you're in the esophagus. If the puppy can't vocalize You could be in the trachea, so pull out the tube, take a deep breath, go get a cup of coffee, come back and try passing the tube again. Those tips will keep you out of trouble 99% of the time. Is there a guarantee? Absolutely not. But I'm going to guarantee you that your puppies aren't going to thrive if they don't get enough calories.”Marty’s video and more details on Revival Animal Health’s Learning Center.

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Canine Health Foundation Celebrates 30 yearsStephanie Montgomery, CEO of the AKC Canine Health Foundation, joins host Laura Reeves to catch up on what the powerful non-profit has done and continues to do for all dogs.Montgomery, an Airedale fancier, joined CHF as the CEO in 2023, but “I was able to kind of blend my passion for science and dogs and started volunteering for the Canine Health Foundation as a scientific reviewer. And then I always say I'm a failed volunteer because now I'm working here.“We are celebrating our 30th year anniversary this year, founded in 1995. And what I was so impressed by was that folks had this vision. So what we do is we fundraise, right? And we distribute that money. To fund the best research that will advance the health of all dogs. So we do that through awarding grants to researchers that tend to be at veterinary schools. And when we evaluate those grants, we wanna find the most cutting-edge research that's going to have the biggest impact on dogs, and that's what we've done for 30 years.Canine Health Foundation helped fund the work conducted at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center that identified the canine genome. This is the basis for all ensuing DNA testing since 2004.“Prior to 1995 when CHF started, there was no dog genome,” Montgomery said. “The human genome had only been completed two years prior and it was pivotal. It changed the way that we could look at genetic testing and evolution of dogs and develop tools in veterinary medicine.CHF’s contribution to ground breaking science continues to this day with research at hundreds of Universities, including studies into mitral valve disease that impacts millions of dogs.“I'm so happy to see the work being done because mitral valve disease is so common in all of the dogs,” Montgomery noted. “I'm a pathologist and the number of older dogs that don't have some mitral valve disease is really next to none. They all have it and we understand so little about it, even though it's so common. And so I'm so excited that we have new studies going that help us understand the physiology of how this disease develops. It will help us identify targets for future therapies. We also have studies on how to best diagnose and monitor progression so maybe we can make a difference and impact all these dogs that have mitral valve disease.”

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Black Russian Terrier: "The Black Pearl of Russia"[caption id="attachment_13770" align="alignright" width="354"] Emily Fagan showing one of her Black Russian Terriers.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Emily Fagan, breeder of Black Russian Terriers, for a Love the Breeds episode talking about the “big black fluffy bearded beasts” that have become her “spirit animal.”“Like they are the Black Pearl of Russia and they really are like the hidden gem. Most people, they see them and they're like, ohh, boy, that's kind of this big black scary kind of looking dog. And they’re so stoic and regal in public and then they come home and they're absolute goofballs, complete clowns,” Fagan said.“A short background history that Stalin basically was jealous of the Germans, you know, and their wonderful police military dogs. So he's like, you know what, I'm gonna make a superior breed of dog for military and police work. He got a bunch of scientists, geneticists together and actually started developing the Black Russian Terrier. The four main contributors are the Rottweiler, the giant Schnauzer, the Newfoundland and the Airedale Terrier. So there's the terrier. But they are very much NOT a terrier.”[caption id="attachment_13768" align="alignleft" width="389"] Black Russian Terrier training for "bite work" competition.[/caption]The breed was utilized by the KGB, and still is today by its successor agency, the FSB, as well as being used in the Russian prison system. It’s job, Fagan said, was to terrify people. And they’re very good at their job.The best owners of BRTs are not first-time dog owners, Fagan said. She added that structure and very defined rules are critical.“You do need to be fair because they are very smart,” Fagan noted. “This is not an old school, put the dog on its back. You can't do that. Absolutely not. You would ruin your relationship with this breed because it's built on trust too. You have to build respect. So a person who understands a structured environment is really going to thrive.”

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Resurrecting a Legendary ProductTasha Mesina, new owner of Cindra, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss resurrecting a legendary grooming product.

“I had used the brand Cindra since the beginning of time on the Belgians and I loved it,” Mesina said. “Unfortunately, Cindra closed with COVID like many things did, supply chain issues, blah, blah, you know the story that everybody has. And I missed it. I really missed it.

“And I maybe didn't realize they had closed for a hot minute until I tried to find Super Coat and then it was like why am I going on eBay to find super Coat? And so I kind of followed the chain, and found out that the company was for sale.

“It was kind of a little bit of a process to buy it, but unfortunately with them closing (during) COVID, it made it affordable for me. I couldn't afford it before so and then closing a grooming shop, selling a property in California, it just kind of all came together at one moment.

“The Phillips started the company. Cindy Phillips was the gal and actually I got to talk to her. I actually bought the company from her son, Seth They have been absolutely fantastic to help me transition. I literally have every document that Cindra ever produced in the history of time, which is really cool. It was a lot, but it was neat to see, you know how the company got started. I mean, they had testimonials from the 80s, you know?

“It was the family owned company. It was the mom, dad and a son that took it over when they retired. Fantastic people. I mean, they're just great. Still to this day, if I have a question, I pick up the phone, they instantly have an answer. I mean, he really, I feel, wants this to succeed because it was their baby for so many years.

“I was a dog groomer. I'm a dog breeder. Like, I didn't understand the nuts and bolts of running a shampoo company. So it's kind of been a huge, huge learning curve for me to understand how all of it works. People can find it at distributors, they can order it directly.

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Overcoming Obstacles by Giving Grace[caption id="attachment_13611" align="alignleft" width="429"] Rebecca Fletcher with her Dogo Argentino.[/caption]Rebecca Fletcher joins host Laura Reeves to talk about her journey as a service dog trainer and breeder owner handler of Dogo Argentino, while overcoming extreme obstacles after losing her leg.Fletcher, a retired Marine, started her journey by training her own Dogo Argentino as her first service dog.“Don't give up, but give yourself grace,” Fletcher said. “Grace is absolutely vital. And I wasn't very good at it. I get mad myself. You know, I train service dogs for disabled people and I tell them all the time, you know, you gotta be patient with yourself. And I give them some great advice. I'm not always good at taking my own advice.“I got my first Group One under Doctor Keating. And it meant so much to me because I was on the verge of not willing to do this anymore. I don't know if he'll ever know how much it meant to me to actually be in his ring and have a dog that I love so much be awarded. But it was amazing.“I didn't know anybody in the dog show world really. And it was a process, but a lot of people were very, very welcoming and guiding me. It's been a great learning process of figuring out how I can be in the ring with my disability. And again, advocating for yourself, you know, the AKC is not exempt from providing reasonable accommodations to us."I hope to continue inspiring people to get out there and try and do whatever they can do. My goal is to help inspire other people to overcome their challenges and keep going."We all have challenges and how we face those challenges I think is what makes all the difference."

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Brucellosis or CHV? Deadly Diseases for PuppiesDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a Veterinary Voice topic that can be devastating for breeders and deadly for puppies. Brucellosis and CHV (Canine Herpes Virus) can both decimate a litter.“If you lose even a single puppy in a litter, have testing done on that puppy,” Greer said. “Have a necropsy done of some form at your vet clinic or at a referral center or at a reference lab, so that you find out what happened because you can't learn from it if you bury your mistakes. You can't learn anything and you can't move your breeding program forward until you know what happened.“There is no diagnosis of fadubg puppy syndrome. So if your vet says that's what you have, you need to find another vet or dig a little harder with the one you're working with. Because you need to find out what happened.“Brucellosis hasn't gone away. There's no vaccine for it. So yes, you can have anything from a normal looking bitch and a normal looking stud dog to a stud dog that has inflamed testicles. You can see normal adult dogs develop brucellosis symptoms.“These can be uveitis, which is inflammation of the eye. They can be disco spondylitis, which is inflammation of a disc. So if you go in for a diagnosis at your vet clinic and you have certain symptoms, even in a normal dog that isn't a breeding dog they may test for brucellosis because it can cause other diseases.“In bitches we can see anything from apparent infertility where she looks like she didn't conceive but she actually conceived and lost the litter, to puppies that are born weak that died shortly thereafter, puppies that are born normal and die afterwards, bitches that have infertility. It is shared through venereal spread, which is male to female breeding, but it can be spread through any body fluid. So urine, placentas, all those things.“Brucellosis survives freezing semen, so it doesn't even get killed at that -300° that we see semen frozen at. So you need to be aware that when we say you should test for brucellosis, we’re not joking around. You should test for brucellosis.”Listen in for more information. Learn more about USDA approved brucellosis testing HERE.

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“Each puppy is another little sketch” – Liz Hansen and Sketchbook[caption id="attachment_13591" align="alignleft" width="300"] Liz Hansen with Seasar at WKC.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Liz Hansen, Sketchbook Standard Schnauzers, AKC’s Breeder of the Year nominee for the working group.With a degree from the University of Minnesota in scientific illustration, Hansen named her breeding program Sketchbook.“Sketchbook came just sort of naturally from that because these are little sketches I make. Each little puppy is another little sketch,” Hansen said.“Almost 26 years ago, another breeder and I ran into a problem. We had epilepsy show up in our lines that were related and went looking for somebody to help us keep the good and get rid of this problem. And we were at a show in Columbia, MO, and went and talked to Gary Johnson at the university. And after about a year of bringing him samples and getting other clubs involved and helping to write grants and all this kind of stuff, he said, ‘You know, you just need to come work for me, so I changed jobs over epilepsy.(Listen to Liz’ conversation with Laura about this project from 2017!)[caption id="attachment_13590" align="alignright" width="444"] Standard Schnauzers compete in herding competitions.[/caption]

"That's good people that I gave a good dog, just like my sister and I got a great dog to start with. I try to coach people along.”

“I like to coach the people that get my dogs,” Hansen said. “We've got over 200 champions and most of those are standard schnauzers and well over 250 performance titles on the standard Schnauzers. And that's not all me. That's good people that I gave a good dog, just like my sister and I got a great dog to start with. I try to coach people along.”

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Irish Wolfhounds: Soulful Gentle GiantsLove the Breeds returns as host Laura Reeves talks with Jamie Souza Bartlett about Irish Wolfhounds, the gentle giants of the dog world.[caption id="attachment_13583" align="alignleft" width="318"] Jamie grew up with Irish Wolfhounds with her mom, Linda Souza.[/caption]“They're just, they're soulful, they're sweet. They're the gentle giants and I was very, very fortunate to grow up with them,” Jamie says.“Wolfhounds, much like a lot of breeds, were bred for a specific purpose, which was to hunt wolves in Ireland. Eventually, the wolves became extinct in Ireland, and consequently the wolfhounds almost became extinct. And then several years later Captain Graham came along and really found that this was a breed that required rejuvenation and real, real rescuing and bringing back because they're just so wonderful.“You don't own wolfhounds, you're owned by them. It's not an easy breed to have by any means. It comes with its own set of issues. But when you do own them and you're owned by them, there's just really no greater thing in the world. They are so soulful and so wonderful and like, you become part wolfhound.Feeding“As a young dog, they eat quite a bit because you're looking at a puppy that is a pound when it's born and it'll be 100 pounds by the time it's six months old. So the growth rate is very rapid and they do eat quite a bit as babies. And then quite quickly, once they kind of reach their full height it curbs significantly because you're not looking at a dog that's like a Doberman or something that's constantly pacing, constantly moving around. They will have bursts of energy. Big burst of energy in the morning, big burst of energy when it gets cold at night, and the rest of the time they’re chilling. So they really don't eat as much as an adult as one would think, considering their size.[caption id="attachment_13582" align="alignright" width="521"] Puppies in the breed grow fast![/caption]“I always encourage anybody to listen to their breeder and their breeding program because different lines tend to evolve differently and grow at different rates. We were always just really careful. We wanted them off of puppy food and anything that was promoting rapid growth as quickly as possible. We're trying to do things that are keeping them from growing too fast, which is kind of like the opposite of what a lot of other people do or they want them to like beef up. Really, that's absolutely what we don't want to do.Exercise“We also have a lot of protocols, not just around food, but around exercise. And we tell all of our new puppy buyers like you have to be very, very careful with this breed as they're growing up. And again, the inclination is like, ‘ohh, I got a puppy and I want it to go run around and play with my other dogs and I want it to be jumping around and being goofy’ and it's just a hard no.“Until these dogs’ growth plates close you can do really, really irreparable damage and we tell people don't take them into the hotel rooms and let them jump on the beds and jump down, you don't want all that impact on them as they're growing. Once they hit that two year old range then we'll start putting them out carefully with other dogs. It was one of the great things actually about having whippets. My whippets are fantastic exercising our wolfhound puppies, right, because there was no to low impact, but it helped with their movement. They're running, but kept them developmentally in a good place where they weren't getting injuries to the shoulders or elbows or anything else.”

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Maripi Wooldridge on How to Make Your Dog a WinnerHost Laura Reeves is joined by Maripi Wooldridge, handler of the 1995 Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show winning Scottish Terrier, Ch. Gaelforce Postscript. More recently, Maripi’s Lakeland Terrier MM won the group here in 2022. Maripi takes us through how she thinks about making a dog a winner.[caption id="attachment_13576" align="alignleft" width="468"] Maripi Wooldridge judging the 2024 Wire Fox Terrier National Specialty show.[/caption]LR: If you want your dog to always be best in show ready? Any breed, what are your three top tips?MW: Conditioning both mental and physical. They have to be fed right, exercised right. Mentally, they have to be treated like they’re best in show dogs so they know it. I think you always have to start out with a good dog and people think that ‘oh good enough is good enough’ and good enough is just not good enough.A lot of people do some winning with “good enough” but to really have a top dog you have to have good ones and you have to manage them right. You have to manage how you go to dog shows, where you go to dog shows, and have a good relationship with your clients. Nowadays, there are way fewer good clients and money clients that can afford to do this business.LR: Treat it like a best in show dog. What does that mean to you? What does that look like to you?MW: Well, as far as my breeding program, I bring every puppy up like if it's going to be a good one. I think most good breeders and successful breeders do that. Anybody that can pick a puppy at eight weeks and put their mortgage on it, they’re way better than me.But when you get them in as a handler, they have to feel special. They have to feel special over the class dogs that are gonna go home in a month and a half. They have to have things whether it's walks, whether it's put on the table every day, and even if you just brush their coats or clean their coats or pet 'em, so that they know they are special. Bring them in last instead of first, so that they are the big dogs around. I mean, little things that mean a lot to the dogs that people don't even think about. First out in the morning, that's very big if you want a dog to feel special.It makes a huge difference, especially with the smart breeds. I mean, there's some dogs that doesn't really matter, they're fine, I'm here. But with breeds that are clever and smart, you have to bend over backwards.I had an assistant when I was showing Peggy Sue that would go in the crate room in the middle of the night with a flashlight to look into her crate to see how she was laying because she would wake up in the morning and have like a little wrinkle on the side of her coat. So she made bedding so that she would not get that little wrinkle on the side of her thigh. That level of attention is absolutely needed for a dog to give you everything they have.The second half of the episode is available for Patrons Only. Subscribe at https://puredogtalk.com/patron/to hear more from Maripi's decades of insight.

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Lumps and Bumps: From Benign to BadDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the various lumps and bumps we see on our dogs, from benign to bad, from histiocytomas to osteosarcoma.“Histiocytomas are really, really common. And they are really scary looking because there are these pink bumps that show up on young dogs and they come seemingly out of nowhere. It's usually on the head, neck or on the feet, the front legs. You're gonna be afraid that it's something like a mast cell tumor. And mast cell tumors are bad, terrible, bad tumors. But histiocytomas are almost always in young dogs … if it's an older dog, it's more likely to be a mast cell tumor and not necessarily benign.A chance to cut, a chance to cure“And people are always under the impression that if you take (a lump) off that you're going to make it spread or it's going to be bad faster. And the answer is really that's not the case. You need to go in, take it off, take good enough margins that it's not likely to come back. But there are some masses that have little finger -like projections. And no matter how careful the surgeon is, they can sometimes be recurrent. And there's kind of two kinds of serious masses. They're the kind that are locally invasive and are likely to come back, but they're not going to metastasize to other organs like the lung, like the liver, other things like that. And then there's the bad ones that they're just gonna spread.”Listen in to the full episode for a complete rundown on everything from sebaceous cysts and lipomas to mast cell tumors and osteosarcoma, how to differentiate them, treat them and when to see your vet.Marty’s pro tip is to be sure to physically locate and mark the specific lump or bump in question on the dog before visiting the vet. While generally not an emergency, various lumps and bumps should be evaluated clinically.

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Beagles! Phenomenal Little Hounds for Families[caption id="attachment_13522" align="alignleft" width="421"] Lindsay Bryson showing her Beagle at Westminster Kennel Club.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Beagle breeder Lindsay Bryson for a deep dive on Beagles as we ramp up the Love the Breeds specials again.Lindsay started her Beagle journey with an obedience dog and shares why that challenge helped her understand the breed better.“I decided to really jump into the dog world with the biggest challenge I could find,” Lindsay said. “He was not even supposed to be a show dog. I had no interest in doing conformation shows. I just wanted to do something with my dog and this woman that I got my first Beagle from, she was in obedience and I thought, well that sounds like fun.“I took him to the pet store one day and the cashier there said, wow, you have a really beautiful Beagle, you should show him in conformation. And I thought, ohh, why not? We'll give that a try too. Sure. So that is how I fell down the rabbit hole, for lack of a better term, of conformation dog shows.“I teach my dogs a quiet command very, very early. You do actually, technically want a loud Beagle because if you're out in the field, you essentially send your pack out and you don't see them, you are focusing on hearing them. So if you have a quiet Beagle that doesn't open up and bay when they catch the scent, you're gonna lose it. It's going to be gone. And many people know that Beagles, once they get going, they're not necessarily going to come back. So you need to have a loud Beagle.“If you're going to be taking that into your home and living with it. obviously, you don't want that. So one of the things that I teach my dogs very, very early is ‘quiet,’ knock it off, you know, keep your volume down. Because that is what's going to work in neighborhoods and when you have people living around you versus out in the field or on acreage.“Living with beagles is like having a permanent 2 year old. They are just forever toddlers. They're constantly looking for things, they're looking for stuff to get into. They're looking for ways to occupy their mind. It is so important to keep a Beagle’s mind busy. Because as soon as they get bored, that's when you start running into the problems that people talk about. Digging, barking, destructive behavior, separation anxiety.[caption id="attachment_13526" align="alignright" width="429"] Beagles love FASTCat[/caption]“If you have a tired Beagle, it is a happy Beagle. So I always encourage people to go out and do things with their dogs, take them hiking, take them running, you know, do performance work with them, even if it's not obedience. I've started running my dogs in Fast Cat and they love it. They think that is the greatest thing because all they get to do is run for 100 yards and then they get cookies at the end. It's like the perfect Beagle job.”

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Emergency Medicine Best Practices[caption id="attachment_13516" align="alignleft" width="515"] Dr. Callie Harris at her "day job" in emergency medicine.[/caption]Dr. Callie Harris joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on emergency medicine, urgent care and which is right for you and your dog.“I got bit by the emergency bug,” Dr. Callie said. “This is when the magic started to happen, where I recognize I was an adrenaline junkie. I loved working with really scary crazy cases and I also enjoyed being part of the entire team in my exam room. With very frantic scared pet parents, I knew that I could provide not only life saving techniques, but communication strategies to try to promote calm.“This is what I tell that next generation of aspiring veterinary professionals, animal welfare professionals, anybody in the pet care industry, pets are attached to humans. They kind of have to be prepared to talk to other people because my patients, they don't get in their own cars, they don't drive to the practice, they don't fill out their own history forms. Guess who has to do that? The pet parent. So it's a whole thing.“At the end of the day, I have seen any and everything. Emergency veterinarians, we're definitely like the Cowboys of our profession or Cowgirls or cow people, where nothing phases us. We will eat while we're looking at a really gross wound. We can just get through anything.“The development of emergency facilities came about and so now you have practices that are just dedicated to seeing your non vaccines preventative Wellness types of appointments. We're really seeing the sick patients but even then, ER's became over inundated with cases, pet ownership skyrocketed.“So over the past handful of years is really when we started to see the uptick in urgent cares in the vets space. And so an urgent care is going to provide that middleman if you will. So this is going to be the facility that's going to still treat those ear infections, UTI's, vomiting and diarrhea, coughing, you know, your standard, “my pet is sick on a weekend or after hours and I don't know what to do.’“The reason why you would bypass an urgent care is for those real critical scenarios such as my pet’s unable to breathe or my pet is bleeding out profusely, my pet got hit by a car, my pet has a really severe fracture. These are going to be the ones that I would urge pet parents to drive past the urgent care and go to an emergency.”Listen to the full episode to hear Dr. Callie’s adventure with Moon Pie the goat and more.

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How to Climb the Mountain to Owner Handled SuccessAntoinelle Vulpis joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how she climbed to the pinnacle of owner handled success, winning Best in Show at Montgomery Kennel Club with her Skye Terrier.Vulpis discussed the beginning of this journey in an episode with Laura five years ago. Today’s conversation brings the story full circle.“After our big win at Kennel Club of Philadelphia, I was thinking, we got some awesome momentum,” Vulpis said. “We got two more best in show after I spoke with you. I was like, this is incredible. And then the pandemic hit, so all that momentum and excitement just went away for me. For everyone, you know, it was just kind of a weird time. And then when we were lucky enough to have shows again, trying to pick that back up and make people believe again is kind of tough. So it was a little of a unique experience in that.“Then (I) realiz(ed) that I have these goals in mind, just these little things that I want to check off my checklist. I want to show him at my national. As a veteran. That was a goal of mine and that's what our whole plan was to do. And then I went to Canada too. I was like, let me get his Canadian Championship. Go to Canada with my girlfriends, have a girls weekend and try to get a title. So yeah, I literally only showed him in June (2024) to finish his Canadian title and then Montgomery.…if the judge can't see it, it doesn't matter…“(In Best in Show) we're showing to Lydia Coleman Hutchinson, the legend. I've shown to her several times throughout my dog's career, maybe half a dozen times. But just to be in the ring and like to put my dog on the table as you know, a 7 1/2 year old dog, like just knowing that she's seen him as a puppy, it was very emotional for me and I just kept on being like ‘Don't cry. Don't cry.’“It's just such a full circle moment. And I felt so fortunate to just be in her ring again at this stage because this is going to be my last time showing him at the National.“(On his down and back) I took a knee, man. I mean, it was my Hail Mary. It was the last move, the last card that I had in my deck. So I just got down and just tried to manipulate the lead a little bit and to get him to react to me. And just to see like, ohh, mom is eye level, that kind of thing. And so if you get that, you can get the ears to react a little bit and just let him show off that beautiful top line and his long neck. So you just want him to just for a brief second show off these qualities that we know he has. But you know the answer right? I know my dog has it, but if the judge can't see it, it doesn't matter.”To hear all of Vulpis’ tips and tricks, listen in to the podcast today…

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Pro Tips on Raising Orphaned PuppiesDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how to raise orphaned puppies. How to help dams not reject their puppies, increase milk production and deal with mastitis are all covered.Pro tip number one is avoid having orphaned puppies, Greer notes. Increasing the dam’s calcium intake, using Adaptil collars and saving placental fluid after a Csection are on Greer’s list of ways to encourage the dam’s maternal instinct to kick in.Pro tip number two is helping dams increase their milk production.“I don't know what there is magical about a Bratwurst, if it's the fat, if it's the salt, and I'm sure there's other things as well, but that's what I've had great success with. It helps them to eat better. It helps them to lactate better. The things that people use on the human side for lactation nurses are oatmeal and vegetables like sweet potatoes. So those are some things that you can do and they'll eat those sometimes when they won't eat their regular dog food.“But whatever you have to do to get them to eat, jump through hoops to make it happen. Because if she is eating and drinking, then you don't have to feed the puppies nearly as much. So you feed the machine that feeds the puppies.“Now the other things that help. Are fenugreek and that is in the Oxy Mama product that Revival has for improving lactation. And then Reglan which is metoclopramide, a prescription drug that you can get from your veterinary clinic. And one of the side effects is that it improves lactation.“So fenugreek and reglan make milk and oxytocin lets the milk be released from the glands so they work complementary to each other neither one replaces the other.”Pro tip number three regards mastitis.“I don’t wean puppies unless the bitch is really, really sick or there's a giant necrotic opening in a gland. I will typically let the bitch still nurse her puppies because the amount of antibiotic coming through the milk is infinitesimally small.“First of all, let's talk about preventing mastitis. That means bathe her with a Chlorhexidine shampoo 3 or 4 days before she has puppies. So she goes into this clean. Don't let her go out in the mud or herd your sheep into the trailer when she's got newborns. And put her on a probiotic because that's going to all reduce the risk of her developing mastitis.“If she ends up with mastitis, make sure she gets enough fluids. She needs to be on an appropriate antibiotic and I put them on pain medication to bring down the fever, to reduce the inflammation and that again is safe for the bitch to take and still have the puppies nurse. There's not enough that gets into the milk, but it's going to hurt the puppies.“It’s not just milk, it’s maternal skills as well. She's licking the puppies, she's stimulating the puppies, she's treating the puppies the way puppies need to be treated. No amount of human hand-raising can substitute for that. I know we do our best but it's still always best for a bitch to be with her puppies than it is to be separated if there's any possibility of making that happen.”

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2025 Kick Off and Looking for PotentialAs 2024 draws to a close, we’re left, as usual, staring into the abyss of a new year… upheaval nationally, internationally and even in our tadpole pond of purebred dogs has left all of us off balance at some level. Poised precariously here on my rickety soap box, I hope you’ll join me on a journey of retrospection, through a few glimmers of hope and on to a couple new year’s resolutions.Eight years ago this month, the first Pure Dog Talk episodes dropped just in time for the AKC National Championship shows. I racked up 10s of thousands of steps dropping flyers on every grooming table, interviewing treasures of our sport and gathering support for this novel way of sharing 20th century knowledge in a 21st century way. Pure Dog Talk was the very first podcast dedicated to purebred dogs. Today we have a couple million downloads and have reached nearly 400 thousand listeners globally. Several major corporate sponsors and a couple hundred Patrons keep the lights on and the mp3s rolling so that YOU can stay on top of news, interviews, reviews, events and ideas.We’ve shown up in the AKC Gazette (shoutout and thanks to the Gazette crew!) I just found myself quoted in a TikTok posted to a Reddit “millennials” thread fgs… I love hearing from all of you all the time. About how Pure Dog Talk “saved your life” or made it better or saved your dog’s life. PS We’ve added a page to the website where you can upload your stories complete with photos! Check it out on the Testimonials tab at pure dog talk dot com.If you’d be so kind, indulge me while I take this opportunity for some shameless promotion. If you find Pure Dog Talk has helped you or someone you know, please consider joining our paid Patrons. This funding covers only overhead – website, audio editing and more – not me personally. When I launched the Patrons in 2018, I was paying for the podcast out of my pocket and eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. A lot has changed since then (although, I still eat a lot of pb&j). The crowdsourced funds from Patrons of the show have enabled the growth and professionalization of the website, continued the outstanding production values of the pod and made us able to keep growing this resource to reach new audiences.Your Patrons membership adds value to the pod by initiating you into a devoted community of purebred dog enthusiasts including judges, handlers, owner handlers, newbies and master breeders. Patrons only After Dark gatherings each month let us hash out problems, share ideas, stand in community with one another and gain knowledge. Visit https://puredogtalk.com/patron/ and select your Patron Package. You can join us for as little as $10/month or save 10% with an annual Patron membership. Come on over and join the best community in dogs.Aaaaaand, Starting Jan. 3, our new Patrons Only pod, Unleashed, delivers “let your hair down” episodes on all the hot takes in purebred dogs. Mailbag topics, commentary and insight with your favorite guests. In our first episode of the new show, Amanda Kelly joins me with thoughts on "How Not to be a Dck at the Dog Show”.... Patrons, BOLO an email with access deets!~And, speaking of new stuff….. We’re SUPER excited to announce that, after EIGHT years in the podcast universe, Pure Dog Talk is spinning off a new pod for you, your puppy buyers, and your sister-in-law’s cousin’s boyfriend.Marty and I bring our own special brand of pet knowledge to the larger pet-loving public in The Marty & Laura Show, launching Jan. 1, 2025.We are thrilled to share these unique, fun, fact-based conversations about pet health. From pro tips on selecting your new dog to what your cat’s cough means and what you should do about it, we’ll meet you wherever you are (in the car, on the treadmill, walking the dog) and bring you a good laugh, a great story and a bright idea every week.Now that you’re all caught up on the Pure Dog Talk news, let’s get planning for the incoming year. Many, if not most of you, are driving right now, on your way to Palm Springs or Chicago, St. Paul or West Springfield or some other dog event entirely.In just over a month we’ll all be converging on Manhattan and Madison Square Garden for the triumphant return of Westminster Kennel Club to the City (and ps benching!). Reminder! Join us Wednesday, January 8, 5pm pacific for our LIVE@5 podcast with Dr. Don giving us all the final to dos and 411s for the show.Before you know it, the time will come to decide on Louisville or Crufts (or both if you’re slightly crazy). The spring nationals will kick off and then the summer death march circuits and before you know it, it’s back to school, fall national season and the AKC National Championship again… The way dog people organize our lives leaves those outside the tribe baffled and somewhat horrified. How many of us have planned weddings, honeymoons and family vacations around the show or event calendar? Raise your hand. Come on, you know you have… I did, more than once! Have I ever told you the story of getting married on a Saturday and leaving Sunday with my client and my step-mother for the Clumber national? I mean, that’s professional level crazy right there… ;-/ (I might add that is now an EX husband… huh, go figure….)One thing I’m going to offer as a suggestion as we all get ready to hop back on the crazy train…. Life is short, super expensive and often incredibly frustrating all by itself. Adding a hobby like ours to it can exaggerate how short, expensive and frustrating it is.When, not if, you find yourself starting to snap – at friends or dogs or family – it’s probably a good time to take a little break. Maybe go play a different sport for a couple months. Maybe breed a litter and stay home huffing puppy breath for a while. Maybe just curl up with the dogs and loved ones and binge netflix for a weekend… I promise, life will not come to a screeching halt and your mental health will improve exponentially.My second tidbit of advice is: money doesn’t grow on trees. Spend it wisely. Most of all, spend it on a good dog. If you are new to the sport and having a hard time in your search for just such a rare gem, you’ve come to the right place! Giving you the tools, knowledge and community to succeed is literally why Pure Dog Talk exists.My final nugget of insight for today is this. Be happy. Like literally, there’s a song about it and everything. Be happy with your dog. be happy for other people. be happy you enjoy the freedom, financial security and physical well being to participate in dog sports. Being mad about losing a 10 cent ribbon is the firstest of the first world problems I can imagine. We are literally not curing cancer or solving world peace here folks.It’s been a few years since I trotted out the Pure Dog Talk 12-step program to a happier you in the dog world, so I’ll include a link to the full episode in the show notes. But a brief recap will not go amiss this year. These steps apply to our dog world specifically, but can be generalized to daily life without much trouble in three simple rules. Just be nice. Get off your bleeping phone. Learn new things.The 12 steps include a recommendation for each month of the year like offering congratulations and meaning it, watching and learning about other breeds, helping and volunteering, making new friends and more. Take a listen. This plan is proven to bring enhanced enjoyment, satisfaction, curiosity, knowledge, camaraderie and success to anyone’s dog show calendar. In closing, I love this quote from Ellen Goodman*

“We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives ... not looking for flaws but for potential.”

Just like judging the whole dog instead of fault judging, consider making 2025 the year you find the beauty in yourself, and in everyone else’s dog…..Peace …

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Research Shows How Dogs are Affected by Human Emotion[caption id="attachment_13446" align="alignleft" width="515"] Author Jennifer Holland with her dog.[/caption]Author Jennifer Holland joins host Laura Reeves to discuss her new book “Dog Smart: Life-Changing Lessons in Canine Intelligence.” This cutting-edge science narrative, chock-full of heartwarming case studies, is one woman’s quest to learn the true meaning of dog intelligence and how they are affected by human emotion.Holland interviews trainers and handlers of various working dogs doing their jobs. She was led by a seeing eye dog through the streets of Manhattan and took a sleeve hit in a protection dog training demo.“I have some video of it,” Holland said, “and my head just sort of flops around like a rag doll. And the dog did not want to let go. It took a little while to actually pry him off of me and I got a good bruise.“But again, what I was trying to think about was how you train this animal that, here we've, you know, raised them to be sweet and loving animals. I was told training them to bite a person is a really hard thing to do because they don't necessarily want to do that.“And so it has to be a game. It has to be a game for them. The sleeve is a sleeve. It's not a person and then to be able to train them to stop if they're in mid bite. And here they're getting that thrill and you have to tell them no, the bad guy has waved the white flag. It was remarkable to me that dog can stop and have that self control.”Laura commented that the part of the book that really jumped out at her was research showing that puppies who were given unhappy or negative sweat smell grew up to be unhappy negative puppies. And the ones that were given a happy sweat smell grew into well-adjusted, happy dogs.“(Dogs) are just so affected by us in that way,” Holland added. “Just the importance of our level of stress or for them the feeling that we're feeling good is important to how they respond and how they behave. It just shows that incredible kind of co-evolution that's happened and that bond that we have that really I think makes (dogs) particularly special.”

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No Ghoulish Green Monsters HereAuthor Dawn Secord joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the release of her new book “No Ghoulish Green Monsters Here.”Secord describes a lifetime in dogs, her time with Irish Setters and her childhood starting with Milk Bone snacks.“Combining my love of art and writing and looking back on being a child with so many kids not acclimated with dogs and not realizing what a wonderful opportunity it is to find companionship,” Secord said. “Find security and to use words to make the kids feel safe. And so in 1984 it was laid on my heart when I got my first Irish Setter that I was going to do a book about an Irish setter for children and share my love of my dogs.“I want to give parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and nieces, whomever, a book to sit down and talk about dogs and talk about their fears. This first book has messages about facing fears because everybody's afraid of something. And I wanted kids to know it's OK to be afraid and talk about it. Don't be afraid by yourself.“The book comes with a free download that's on my website. So if they want to make it into an educational tool, it's got a glossary and it talks about Irish Setters. I even made maps for kids to learn how to read a map and some pictures and coloring book pages for the little ones, some things to research for the older ones. So I really wanted parents or adults, whoever they are, they have an opportunity to turn the book into an educational opportunity if they desired.“I really want to promote that having a purebred dog is cool. So that's one thing. For the writing, I feel that it's timeless and I want to make an impact.”

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Show Safe Team Wants to Make a DifferenceBoard members of the Show Safe organization join host Laura Reeves to discuss the grassroots development of an organization that supports a safe dog event environment.“I think there were several of us that felt, you know, we're just frustrated because you wanna do something, you know, everyone wants to do something to make a difference,” said Show Safe Secretary Lindsay Fetters. “I think it was very easy to throw blame and throw the responsibility on other parties. And you know, something needs to happen, but it's somebody else's problem.“I think we all can agree that we really wanted to focus on education. We wanted to promote recognizing issues. We wanted to be able to respond to issues. We wanted to be able to restore things once we knew there was an issue.“We all put our egos aside. And, you know, we come from such a variety of backgrounds. You know, you have all ages, you have all interests, you have all levels of involvement in our sport, and so we were able to really look at what strengths does everyone bring to the table and kind of align that with what we need to get done and kind of run with it. And that's exactly what we've done.”“It's about boots on the ground,” said Show Safe Executive Director Diane Moore. “It's about raising the money and the awareness and the energy to actually accomplish something. Like Lindsey said, everybody wants to do something. They want to make the world a better place. But to take that into tangible steps, this board has done a phenomenal job. So we essentially have 4 initiatives and those four initiatives, the first one is education.“It's also going to be outreach and workshops. It's going to be education for clubs, for juniors, for people who report on the sport or on abuse and neglect, just all of those things where we can educate and just say, hey, look, these are these dynamics and this is how you recognize it. You know, our tagline is recognized, respond and restore.”The team also has created a toll-free number (1-888-474-9723) to call for immediate response staffed with someone who is trained to listen and trained to “say what's going on, what's your concern and to assess what you need to create safety.”“Our aftercare program is really about, OK, so something has happened, something has happened to you and you are part of the dog show community and you need some support,” Moore added. “So it's not right now, it's not immediate response. It's not like you're unsafe right now. It's historical mostly but it's impactful, it's impacting you, it's still with you and so we're going to be there to say ‘OK, what resources do you need?’ How do we help navigate this resource world and ultimately be able to assist you in paying for … mental health resources and survival resources and how do we bring that to you in a way that is you are in control.”“I'm second generation, so I grew up in this sport,” said Show Safe Director Jason Hoke. “Many of us have grown up with our parents and even our grandparents taking us to the dog show, leaving us in x-pens alone. We grew up feeling like everybody in this sport is our family and that everything is safe and in the majority of it, it really is. But what we want to do is be able to teach people things that can protect and educate other parents, other youth other elders to recognize where shortcomings are in dog shows in show locations, in areas within the show.”

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Anxious Behaviors Linked to Gut Dysfunction in DogsDr. Jason Gagne, board certified veterinary nutritionist, joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive into dog food feeding trials, anxious behaviors linked to gut dysfunction and more.“It's one thing to open up the AAFCO book,” Gagne said. “The Association of American Feed Control Officials who set this model bill, as it's termed and says you need this much zinc, you need this much selenium and so forth. Then pet food company XYZ, whoever that may be, goes ahead and puts that much in or hopefully a little bit more to meet those requirements.“It's another thing to actually be the company (Purina) that does these feeding trials. Again, as I mentioned before, we're obtaining these ingredients, we're formulating our diets. We have very tight control over our ingredients specifications and have very high standards for who our suppliers are. But it's another thing to then take that diet that you make and feed it out to a colony of dogs and we do do that and we're proud of that.“The purpose of doing that and having that colony is to feed these diets. Because when we do that, we can measure the digestibility of our diets. We can assess the fecal quality and the fecal score, which I think is important to a lot of breeders and sporting enthusiasts. And we can even assess the performance on the diet.“It’s not just important to meet the AAFCO requirements, but it's more important really to optimize those recommendations for the betterment of the dog, right? We put those diets out there on the market after we've assessed, hey, we put this in the diet, we want to make sure it's actually in the diet. We can analyze the diet itself, but then again, we're analyzing what's going in and coming out of the dog as well.“This microbiome, what else is it doing? It's actually been linked to behavioral issues as well when it goes out of whack, that dysbiosis as you mentioned earlier.“We actually did do a study with dogs displaying anxious behaviors, and paired it with physiologic as well, so salivary, cortisol and we also had Holter monitors on them for heart rate. We were able to show that when the dogs were being supplemented with the bl999, they (had) a decrease in barking, jumping, spinning and pacing, which was anxious behaviors that they were displaying, versus when they were on the placebo.”

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GRRRL Power Team Carries Forward Longo Great Dane Legacy[caption id="attachment_13331" align="alignleft" width="602"] Carol Grossman became synonymous with black Great Danes and the Longo dogs.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Carol Grossman, Jackie Van Delft and Tristen Lawrence with a tribute to Tootie Longo, who passed away in May of this year, and the Longo Great Dane legacy.Grossman, the "Queen of Great Danes," piloted dogs for Longo for decades, including legendary greats like the second Black in Breed history to win an All Breed Best In Show, BIS BISS Ch. Longo’s Chief Joseph. She shares her memory of Tootie Longo this way:“As much of an icon as she was, she never really thought of herself as an icon, whereas Joey (Vergnetti) and Peter (Green) were icons. She didn't realize they felt that way about her. That was Tootie. She just was not assertive about who she was. And she didn't realize, I think, until the end, how famous she really was, that she carried a legacy of dogs through the years. She knew she had beautiful dogs and she knew she had a great line and she knew that she was lucky in picking dogs, but she never really realized what an icon she was.”Van Delft is the more recent member of the group, a Great Dane enthusiast who had wanted a Dane since childhood. She sought out Tootie Longo to acquire a dog, and wound up as a “member of the family.”[caption id="attachment_13330" align="alignright" width="700"] Jynx with (from left to right) Tristen Lawrence, Jackie Van Delft and Tootie Longo.[/caption]“Tootie pretty much took us under her wing,” Van Delft said. “We became really good friends… I got my first Longo puppy and he was amazing. He was my heart dog. But we would go to the Longos every weekend to twice a month. We were very lucky we only lived 45 minutes away from them. So we spent a lot of time and we got to go to all the shows together. And, you know, she just became a part of the family or I became part of hers, you know, and it's just that was it. She wasn't getting rid of me.”Grossman and Van Delft were instrumental in selecting Lawrence, a third generation Great Dane exhibitor, to campaign Jynx, one of the last of Tootie’s dogs, to 36 specialty wins.“I'm a Great Dane handler my whole life,” Lawrence said. “My parents and both of their parents on both sides were very active in the breed as breeders as well as handlers. So there's never been a time that I didn’t do this. I remember Tootie Longo as long as I've been alive. And so growing up, knowing the power and what she built in our sport, it was incredible and for her to come to me and say ‘we want you to show our dog,’ I can't describe how proud I was, how incredible that was to me.”

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Peacock Feet and Finding Breed Type in Toy DogsDale Martenson, breeder of Touche Japanese Chin, joins host Laura Reeves for an enlightening discussion of breed type in toy dogs. He encourages judges, exhibitors and breeders to focus on the critical details of beauty and not get hung up in fault judging.“I hear people talking about either how they judged a group of dogs or breeders when they're evaluating their puppies and all they’re talking about is the faults,” Martenson said, “and (all I can think is they’re looking at a) beautiful flock of Peacocks and all they see is a bunch of ugly feet and crooked toes running at them. They’re missing the point of this breed and all of the work that goes into the details that make these breeds so hard to raise and so intricate and so desirable.“I think the biggest insult somebody can give you is that you were generic because there's nothing about the toy dogs that's generic. And we have a whole lot of very breed specific type that you have to get into and start pulling apart.“If you're cute enough, somebody will bring you food … they do not need to get their own food.“These toy breeds have very specific things in each of them that you can't get away from. If you don't have those, you don't have a show quality specimen. You have a dog that's irrelevant to the people who like the breed.“We become a little bit like axe murderers when you miss our type because we're trying to get markings, we're trying to get size, we're trying to get breed specific things in tiny litters with a lot of mortality. In Japanese Chin, we don't have the good fortune of the Pointer where it says a good Pointer can’t be a bad color.“The Japanese Chin, for example, their job was to be really pretty. Hang out with the geisha, you know, very quietly sit with their friends and say, ‘ohh, my gosh, she's gotten fat.’ You know, I mean, just being that little best friend and not really liking anybody else.”

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When Sht Happens in Your Breeding ProgramHost Laura Reeves is joined by Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs, International Partnership for Dogs, for part two of a challenging and informative conversation about when sht happens in your breeding program.“If you have a stud dog,” Llewellyn-Zaidi said, “and I'm gonna use stud dogs because that's what tends to be the bigger contributor to a genetic breeding plan. If you have a stud dog or you're using a stud dog or you've used a stud dog and there is a problem. Step number one is to not panic. Genuinely, that's the first kind of step, because you will know in yourself that you've made the best decisions in that moment with the information you had up until that point.“You now have maybe new information. So then the second step is investigate and you gave some great examples. Is this something that is heritable? Is this something that isn't in the breed, but maybe actually is in the breed? And if you start asking, you start realizing that you're not the only one that has been observing this challenge.“So just do a little bit of investigating, get a diagnosis for when there isn't a genetic test. Do a little asking around with friendly people to see if this is something that it is heritable or potentially heritable, and then if it's something that is kind of unique to your lines or if there's potentially a broader breed conversation.“I keep wanting to throw traits because very understandably we focus on poor health, but actually many, many breeders want to be focused on the characteristics that are valuable and important.“The more we're able to think about our individual breeding plans as part of a whole, the term collective action, I think the more successful we will be at meeting our goals and reducing the risks of inherited diseases.“Whether you're in a healthy breed that has no breed specific health conditions but being a dog means you're going to have a health condition. Or whether you're in a breed that has maybe a different path that they need to take to get back to where people feel there's a better balance between health and the traits that they want, collective action is key.“And that's the thing. It's like the collective action on your individual part is are you communicating with your puppy owners? Are you communicating with the bitch owners if you have the stud but don't keep the bitches. Who are your breeding friends that you've used your stud dog to. Are you keeping those accurate records? Are you including a friendly vet into your system that can kind of help you with identifying or investigating any of these health issues?“In summation, we're not gonna panic, we're gonna investigate, we're gonna maybe pause breeding and we're going to think about the steps that we need to take to have those collective action solutions, that's going to include you and your breeding plans and your breeding partners.”FPEn291cE5TKEepi1hJv

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Resources for Veterinary Medicine Practices and StaffDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves with advice for veterinary medicine practices, vets, techs, staff and clients alike.“The veterinary field is full of really, genuinely great people in a way that we don't see in a lot of other career choices. It's an amazing field to be in,” Greer said. There are, though, plenty of challenges for staff and clients both.“Most veterinarians come out of veterinary school without a lot of experience, they understand how to do the medicine, they don't know how to do the business part. I remember being in vet school and they tried to teach us to us and we're like, ‘No, no, we want to just be a doctor.’ Well, that was kind of short -sighted. And a year out of vet school, I started a practice. I'm like, ‘I should have been listening.’Greer offer her top recommendations for vet practices to succeed.“Number one, join IVPA, join a VMG group, join some other buying group so that you have the opportunity to improve your cost of goods, to understand the management techniques and principles, that's number one.“Number two get a great accountant and a great attorney that understand the veterinary practices. There are many veterinary specific accountants and veterinary specific attorneys. Use one of them.“You have to spend time working on your practice, not just in your practice.“Hire yourself a practice manager. It's really hard. It's really hard when you don't have enough money. You can't figure it out. Hire somebody to help you with your HR and with your bookkeeping and with all the parts of practice that you have to have because their practice manager can be a God Send.“A lot of people are afraid to start a practice because they think that because they have student loans that they can't afford to start a practice. And in reality, owning a practice is proven to be the fastest way to pay your school loans back because the profitability is better as an owner than it is as an employee.“We have a sign on the wall, ‘WWJHD.’ What would James Harriet do? I love that because I want my staff and my doctors to think about what fits the needs of their client and their client's pet.”

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Dog Behavior Expert on Nature vs Nurture. BONUS Purple Leash[caption id="attachment_13263" align="alignleft" width="363"] Dr. Annie Valuska, Principal Scientist – Behavior, Global Pet Behavior for Nestle Purina.[/caption]Dr. Annie Valuska, Principal Scientist – Behavior, Global Pet Behavior for Nestle Purina joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on dog behavior.“I think even for any animal, (nature vs nurture) is a challenging question,” Valuska said, “but I think for dogs in particular, that might be the muddiest waters out there. Dogs have been domesticated for longer than any other species on earth. They have this long history of kind of co -evolving with us. And as a result, in my opinion, it is now in dogs' nature to be nurtured by us.“And so that just really, really blurs the lines. Everybody that loves dogs, you don’t have to be a scientist to know that there's something really special in that bond. But the science behind it is really cool. And it all started with the domestication.“So dogs diverged from a common wolf -like ancestor about 15 ,000 years ago,based on the latest science and there's a lot of evidence that they kind of domesticated themselves. That the friendliest, most outgoing wolves, we'll call them, were willing to approach people for the benefits that we could provide, mostly food.“And then those wolves produced more offspring. They survived longer. They had higher fitness and evolutionary terms. They reduced offspring that were also friendly, tame, curious, approachable. And then over generations, we've ended up with the dogs that we know and love today.“And while there are several differences between dogs and wolves, most of the big ones are really defined by the fact that dogs have this relationship with humans. They have, for example, changes in their digestive system that allow them to digest carbohydrates much more effectively than wolves can. They have changes in the muscles around their eyes that allow them to make that puppy-dog-eye expression and show the whites of their eyes that we respond really strongly to.“So they kind of hijacked that in us. And one of the coolest changes in my opinion is that dogs are so much better just naturally at paying attention to and responding to what we're doing. So things like where we're looking, they will respond to our pointing gestures by going to where we're pointing. They do this pretty much innately. Puppies are kind of made to respond to people.“Wolves just can't do that, even when they are raised and socialized exactly like the dogs are in these studies. And so that certainly speaks to something about the DNA. The genetic changes, what makes a dog a dog, makes them attuned to us and wanting to build that relationship and that bond with us.

“I think of the genetic component as starting the dog somewhere on a spectrum. It's like dropping that dog on the spectrum from extremely fearful to extremely friendly, their genes are giving them a starting place. I think that the socialization and training that the dog gets throughout their lifetime can absolutely move them on that spectrum.

“Now, a dog that has a genetic background that is resulting in them being on the very far fearful end is probably never ever going to be socialized well enough to get to the very far friendly end. There is a limit to how far on that spectrum they can move from where their genes drop them. But I think there is generally a lot more wiggle room there than many people give credit for.“And one of the interesting studies on this that came out just a couple years ago in 2022 was looking at breed specific genetic backgrounds. And what that study found was that while the genetics of specific breeds were pretty tightly correlated with physical traits, there was really not much behaviorally, which surprised a lot of people because there are many beliefs that, ‘Oh, Golden Retrievers have this temperament and some of these more ancient breeds have this temperament,’ but there was not much evidence for that in that study. There, in fact, was almost as much variability within a breed as there was between breeds.”

Listen in for the full, in depth, fascinating conversation and join us in promoting Domestic Violence Awareness month with a bonus discussion of the Purple Leash Project.

Dr. Valuska can be followed at @annieknowsanimals on TikTok and Instagram.

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How Breeds Have Managed Population-wide Health CrisesHost Laura Reeves is joined again by Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs at the International Partnership for Dogs. The wide-ranging conversation covers how different breeds have managed population-wide health crises.Llewellyn-Zaidi discusses specific issues with Irish Setters in the UK and Pointers in the US, as well as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and French Bulldogs in Finland. She also uses knowledge of the inbreeding in dairy cattle to address some of our questions about the potential of "inbreeding depression" in dogs."Education is us making the best decisions we have with the information we have in that moment," Llewellyn-Zaidi said. "And then where those unintended consequences can go wrong. Bear with me, I'm going to pivot from dogs for just a minute and talk about the dairy cattle industry because I think that is a great warning to the dog breeding world about what we want to keep in mind when we're making our breeding decisions. (This gives insight into) how we might want to work collectively to solve some of these problems that we're all facing and also collectively how we might want to achieve the goals and the positive traits and positive characteristics we have in our breeding stock."The dairy industry historically had a philosophy of not particularly using a wide number of stud bulls. Their goals when they're breeding dairy cows are not our goals when we're breeding dogs. They're wanting to produce animals that have a very specific trait characteristic, but also are not required for longevity. Generally speaking longevity is kind of a priority for dog breeding. So they had two challenges with that and that if you don't include longevity or if you are removing those cows at a certain age before their natural lifespan would end then you don't really know what may be coming into middle or older age."There's a study in 2015, so 10 years ago, where they looked at where the genesis of modern American dairy cattle came from. They realized that all of the American dairy cattle at the moment descended from two bulls from the 1880s. Those were the bulls' lineages that have survived various breeding strategies over the years."If you are a livestock nerd or if you're interested at all in dairy cattle, you probably have heard of Toy Story, who sired over half a million offspring and he's within living memory. What's interesting and, harkening back to our previous conversations again about genetic diversity, funnily enough, in dairy cattle, they started noticing that infertility issues were coming into dairy cows."What they didn't think about or they didn't really maybe appreciate how inbred those female cows were as well. Because essentially Toy Story was breeding over and over and over and over and over again with his daughters and granddaughters and nieces. So the inbreeding was compounding and they were already inbred to begin with."Listen in to hear Llewellyn-Zaidi's conversation about how different breeds and clubs have solved health issues and genetic diversity questions in positive and constructive ways. And don't forget to tap in next week for part two.

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Nancy Talbott on Dual Dogs and Breed Specific JudgingAKC judge Nancy Talbott joins host Laura Reeves for an in depth discussion on the philosophy of dual purpose dogs and breed specific judging."I didn't really embrace or understand the significant division between show and field until I started showing more and conformation," Talbott said. "And then it started to really strike me, and increasingly, and continuing to strike me at just how extreme, not just conformation and conformation breeders, but also field and field breeders had become. The word extreme should never be in the vocabulary about a Golden Retriever in any way, physically, mentally, energy level, any of that."As we know, if you specialize in a high level sport, there is a tendency to go to extremes. Modern day field trials, not hunting tests but modern day field trials are so extreme in what's required of the dog. I admire the trainers and handlers truly. I could never do it. But it almost creates this idea that you have to breed for what in the field world is called 'go.' That would be extreme drive."I have heard field breeders who say, 'I can do anything else as long as I have a lot of go. And so they're breeding for more 'go.' Trainability, yes, but more go."The conformation side, as we see when we're in the ring, when Goldens became a really impressive group dog, therefore it has become primarily a handler breed. There are still tremendous owner handlers, and I applaud every owner handler out there. It's a tough breed to show and compete with."And that has led us to extremes of movement, where you have dogs in a flying trot, not a moderate ground covering gait, the extremes of coat, the extremes of bone and weight, because that's what people think is necessary to compete in that venue."When hunt tests started, it gave a venue for those people who wanted a dog who met the standard physically and mentally, but still wanted to prove their dog's birdiness, ability, interest in water, all of those innate skills that we have to breed for. You can train in a lot of things, but you can't train in some of those innate talents."Listen in to hear Nancy's thoughts on breed specific judging, specifically as regards movement.

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Corporate Takeover of Veterinary ClinicsDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a very current conversation about corporate takeover of veterinary clinics.“The trend to purchase veterinary clinics has been going on for probably about 12 to 15 years,” Greer said. “It started with just a couple of consolidators. It's now up to about 80 and some of the consolidators have consolidated. So we now see some of these groups recapitalizing and then moving on and being sold to another consolidator.“So it's been kind of interesting to watch and frankly pretty scary. Just before COVID, the prices of veterinary clinics were at an all -time high, and then it dropped during COVID.“They tell you that they will give your staff better benefits, and they probably do. They tell you we will unload all that stuff off of you that you don't want to deal with. The HR, the purchasing, all the back-office stuff that you as a veterinarian didn't go to vet school for, didn't learn in vet school, don't want to learn, don't want to know, don't want to deal with.“They'll say we're gonna lift all this off your shoulders, you can just practice medicine, it's gonna be awesome. And if you're a large producer in the practice, the owner or one of the bigger producers, they want you to stay for two years.“It has different impacts in different practices. The practices that we've really watched the most closely personally are the practices that have done a lot of reproductive services in our community, either in our immediate area or across the country because these are colleagues of ours.“And that to me has been really hard to watch because a lot of the practices have not continued to thrive after the sale of the practice.”Marty and Laura continue with a conversation about how breeders can work with the larger community to help change the conversation about dog breeding that trickles down to the people who become veterinarians.

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Back to Basics: What to Wear at the Dog ShowVeronica Wolfe from Best in Show Clothes joins host Laura Reeves to talk just basic what to wear at the dog show, how to be comfortable, how to live your own truth and still be respectful of the environment that we're in. They cover outfits for the fall weather's coming up and a little bit about good colors with your dogs and stand out versus blend in.“So, when my junior was becoming a teen and bucking the suits, I reminded her that this is a sport like any sport and every sport has a uniform,” Wolfe said. “I mean, if you're going to be in the soccer team, you get assigned a uniform and there's no, ‘oh, well, it's not my color,’ too bad, you know, that's what you have to wear. But fortunately, in the dog show world, we have a little more flexibility.“Looking professional is the key. Well, what does that mean in the dog show world? Classically, men will be in two -piece suits, or slacks, and maybe a tweed blazer for fall, right? And the women will either be in professional dresses or a two -piece suit, whether it's a pantsuit suit or skirt suit. That's the general uniform that you see out there.“Alternatives to blazers because we were kind of talking about dressing to your truth right so not everybody wants to be in a blazer.“I personally hate blazers. I've got broad shoulders, busty, and I'm tall. They're not my favorites.“So a lot of things I like to find and more than ever you can find stretchy fabric like this one actually has some stretch to it just look for spandex in the list of fabrics. Cardigans look great. A navy blue cardigan with a floral skirt … you can find some really nice cardigans and you can find them in every color of the rainbow“The other thing you need to consider is your movement when you choose what you're going to wear and you also need to consider what looks good with your color and your dog's color.”

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Breeding Dogs Around Diseases that Don’t Have a “Test”Host Laura Reeves is joined for part two of her impactful conversation with Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs at International Partnership for Dogs.Today’s conversation covers some of the biggest hot button diseases impacting all dogs – seizure disorders, cancer, bloat and other life-threatening issues.Llewellyn-Zaidi offers insight, information and details about new tests coming online and the ways we can minimize risk while working with small gene pools.“(S)ome cancers are just kind of part of dogs, just being a dog. Or sometimes they're part of being a type of a dog, like some types of dogs are more likely to be at risk than others, whether it's size -related or maybe they're a herding breed, and it's just at some point in ancient times, (when we) started dividing out into generalized proto-breeds, when we started having our wolfie looking ones and spitzy -looking ones, and we started having our molosser looking ones, and we started having our retrieving looking ones. Before they were such distinctive breeds, there would have already been selection causing inbreeding and increasing some genetic duplication to get those desirable traits.“And you may bring some things along with that. So some of these cancers are not specific, necessarily, to your breed and they're just specific to that type of dog. “With cancers there are two cancer tests that are available to all dog breeds or all dog types. There is something called a C -kit somatic mutation for mast cell tumors. All of this is on www.dogwellnet.com so you can check it out. And there's also the BRAF mutation, so invasive transitional cell carcinoma. That's for all dogs as well. And for my dear beloved Bernese people, there's histiocytic malignancy that's available as a genetic test as well. “So for some of these specific cancers and specific epilepsies, there are genetic tests available that you can use to help you maybe make some decisions or at least to eliminate what might else be going on, right? So you know if you're not quite sure what kind of a cancer it is, the genetic test might help give you some information on that. “All of this really comes down to how risky do you feel? We can rebuild any breed from scratch if we needed to. It would just take a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of consideration. So in some ways, being very radical, and I'm setting health and welfare aside for just a second, being very radical, it's kind of up to a breed to make a choice. Do you want to keep breeding to your breed standard until you reach a point of too much poor health and inbreeding depression and then you start again?“Or do you want to try to conserve and maintain kind of where you are now? Or do you want to try to improve or expand your genetic diversity from where you are now?“And all three of those kind of philosophies are acceptable, assuming you're keeping at least welfare in mind. And all three of those philosophies probably will fit all the different kinds of breeds in their unique situations.“Followed very closely by conserving that breed type or those breed qualities that are important to you, right? That's the point. That's the point and the pleasure and the art side, right?“So if you're keeping in the back of your mind those chess moves, whether it's ‘I'm gonna use this type for a couple of times because I really like that or I want to introduce that and then I'm gonna have a couple of litters where I go out and just kind of rebuild that diversity and then maybe go back to that type I happened to like,’ that's how you kind of weave through the genetic variation that you have within your breed population. “You probably can't do that forever unless you're very, very lucky as a breed, like you can't do that forever, but you can probably do that for quite a long time.”

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Bridging the Gap Between Art and Science of Dog BreedingHost Laura Reeves is joined by Aimee Llewellyn Zaidi, project manager for the International Partnership for Dogs. Llewellyn Zaidi’s work is bridging the gap between art and science in dog breeding. They talk about inbreeding and genetic diversity, how those things go together and what you can do when there isn't a test for a health problem.[caption id="attachment_13097" align="alignleft" width="300"] Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi and her Corgi.[/caption]“International Partnership for Dogs offers free resources for dog breeders and for vets to kind of give you some unbiased transparent guidance,” Llewellyn Zaidi said.“I am a third generation Pembroke Welsh Corgi owner. My grandparents had beef cattle in Oregon in the 1960s. They started their farm up in Silverton, Oregon. And my grandmother was a little bit of an Anglophile. And so she got two corgis back in the 70s in Oregon, which there weren't too many corgis out here then.“And she had these great aspirations of having them being working corgis and they worked really hard at cuddling. And they maybe, you know, barked at things, but yeah, they started as working dogs but were 100 % professional lap dogs, you know, as corgis really know how to do it. And I just never lost my love for the Pems.“I started working as a health manager for the Kennel Club in the UK (in 2012). And by the end of my time in the UK, I had developed a team and I was the head of health and research there, really focused on bringing evidence-based education resources to breeders and to the veterinary community and to breed advisors with lots and lots of tools and resources available.“I really wanted to take the science and kind of translate it into something practical. There wasn't a lot of in between at the time between researchers and the people who actually have to make the breeding decisions and that disconnect really bugged me. I think it really bugged me that there wasn't such an easy way for communication between really the art and the science of dog breeding, trying to bring those things a little bit closer together.“I want to take some of the mystery out of some of science or some of the resources that are available. I try to be really honest and transparent about what we know, what we don't know, what's still kind of out there, what things might be not the most ideal resources.“I feel like that honesty is the best way for people to be informed and to make ultimately the breeding decisions. You guys have the hard job. You have the job of deciding, right? So, I just want to give you information that can help you hopefully make those really informed decisions.”

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Breeding a "Star" requires depth of knowledgeJoin host Laura Reeves for part two of her conversation with Cody Sickle, Cherokee Legend Bulldogs, breeder of Star, GCH Cherokee Legend Encore, BIS at the 2022 AKC National Championship.[caption id="attachment_13057" align="alignleft" width="442"] GCH Cherokee Legend Encore, “STAR”. Breeders-Cody T Sickle, Connie Chambers and Sherry Hazelett
Owners- Alaina Moulton, BJ Whitlow, and Kevin & Natalie MasonLe[/caption]"I think there's a lot of things to think about in breeding," Sickle said. "I think one of the things to really focus on in breeding is watch what everybody else is doing. Just like in picking puppies, knowledge makes a difference. Knowledge makes a difference in this too. Look who's breeding successfully."I think most breeders would actually be better if they never owned a stud. Because I don't think most breeders have the fortitude, the self-control, not to think they're going to make their own stud famous. I think the best breeders think in terms of 'I don't care who owns this dog, if I think there's a stud out there that will improve my breeding program, even if I don't care for the people that own the dog at all, doesn't matter. I'm not marrying them, I'm breeding to their dog'."And when you do a breeding, be honest about it. When I do a breeding, I don't have the idea that, well, I'm going to keep the best this or that out of the breeding. I don't think of that. I'll keep the best out of it if it's good enough. But just because it's out of two dogs that I have a high regard for if the puppies aren't good enough, move on."We will frequently do grandfather to granddaughter breedings. I've only once done a brother and sister breeding. And it turned out to be wonderful, but they were the only brother and sister I've ever seen in our breed that I would have considered breeding together."We've been fortunate to have good studs. And a good measure of that is the last 40 years for the national specialty at least one Cherokee stud is behind every single breed winner. And that impresses me. And a lot of the record stuff doesn't impress me."I think the future of Bulldogs in general is good. Bulldogs are a wonderful family dog. Not every family, you know, if you're a family of athletes who's going to go out running the marathon every weekend, Bulldog's not the right dog. If you want a dog that is going to be a terrific family pet, love everybody, get along with everybody. A bulldog is an excellent dog. They're just nice dogs."I think we are so fortunate to have the sport of dog shows. For a lot of us, it's a major part of our lives and has been for the major part of our lives. But I like the dogs, I like the competition, I like the people, I like the camaraderie. There's no place that I feel more comfortable than a dog show, and that's because of the people for sure, and as much complaining as we see on social media, I think it's a wonderful sport."

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Veterinary Advice on Free Whelping Following C-SectionDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the question of when your female has had a C-section and you breed her again. Is it safe to have the bitch whelp her puppies naturally? This question comes from a listener request.“The most important thing to ask is why did you have a C-section in the first place,” Greer said. “If you had a C-section in the first place, because she's a Bernese Mountain Dog or because she's a Bulldog or a Frenchie or maybe a Clumber or a Corgi, some of the breeds that are more commonly having their puppies by c-section, you still have a Clumber or a Bulldog. They didn't change breeds while they were pregnant, so that's the most important reason.“Secondly. What were the other reasons? Did she just have too many puppies? If she had 14 and she's going to have eight this time, yeah, that's a whole different conversation. If she had a puppy that was oversized or misdirected, that's a different conversation. But it's going to depend on what happened previously. So you really need to have a good history on what went on when this last C-section was done.“Statistically, according to the numbers, 75% of the time the bitch has the C-section because of a bitch cause and 25% are a puppy cause. So that kind of gives you some numbers to work with is 3/4 of the time you're probably going to need another C-section, but 1/4 of the time it was an anasarca puppy, it was a misdirected puppy, it was oversized, it had some other kind of a birth defect, two were coming at the same time, so you had a log jam. I mean you just have to try and sort that out.“That's the general thought. It's “V-back” on the human side, it's vaginal birth after C-section, V-back. So most of the time you absolutely can go ahead. From a safety perspective, there’s reason to believe that it's going to be unsafe. You assume that the veterinarian did a nice job closing the uterus.“What I always kind of laugh about is when veterinarians say, ‘ohh, the uterus was paper thin when I did her C-section. You can never have another litter.’ OK, you take a uterus and you put 14 puppies in it and you stretch it out like a pair of old pantyhose and you wonder why it's paper thin. It's supposed to be thin. That's the way your stomach looks after Thanksgiving dinner. That's the way your bladder looks when you need to go to the restroom. That's the way the organ works. It stretches out and it becomes thinner, but that doesn't mean that it's so thin that she can't have a normal pregnancy and a normal vaginal birth.”

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Famed Bulldog breeder-owner-handler Cody Sickle joins host Laura Reeves for the first of a two-part series on owner-handlers, dog shows, Bulldogs, breeding and camaraderie.[caption id="attachment_13037" align="alignleft" width="399"] CHEROKEE LEGEND NOR’EASTER DEREK
Long Island Bulldog Club Specialty. Winners Dog & Best of Winners. Judge: Phoebe Booth[/caption]Sickle's renowned Cherokee Bulldogs have quite a record. According to his records, he has bred or owned 256 Champions, more than any other Bulldog breeder ever in the USA. His dogs have won 99 All Breed Bests In Show and 591 Bests In Specialty Show, five National Specialty Bests Of Breed and 15 Westminster Kennel Club Bests of Breed. All of which rank as #1 all-time results in the breed.Sickle says he knew he wanted a Bulldog from the time he was 5 years old. His parents said he had to pay for it himself. So he skipped going to the movies, did extra jobs, saved his allowance and finally was able to purchase his first dog for $60."I find the Bulldog people are terrific," Sickle said. "They are just as you say. We go in the ring, we're competing with each other and we're obviously all trying to win. When it's over, it's over. We are all friends when it's over. We are a good representative of what sportsmanship should be almost all the time. There are exceptions, but not very many."I've listened to people say, well, you know, the Bulldog people are good, but this breed is not. I'm not intimately familiar with the interactions of people in other breeds. But I am very into the dog people in general and the dog people in general are helpful.[caption id="attachment_13036" align="alignright" width="403"] Cody Sickle with CH. CHEROKEE MORGAN. Best In Show…Penn Ridge Kennel Club. Judge: James Warwick. August 1969[/caption]"I've never once in my life went up to any dog person and said tell me about this or tell me about that and had them say no, not ever. And when I was 13 years old, I used to hang around the handlers. Richard Bauer when Jimmy Mitchell was his assistant. Wendell Sammett when Paul Edwards was his assistant. Peter Green, the Forsyths, they were all terrific. They were all perfectly willing to share their knowledge. They're perfectly willing to answer all my questions, and my questions were incessant."The Bulldog people were the same way. One of the benefits about the Bulldog people being good people is that, in order to learn I think it's necessary to speak to lots of people. Because people have different views. Some people just can't communicate what you're trying to learn and sometimes whatever they're saying, even though it's just right on, it doesn't register properly. So if you ask everybody and work at weeding out what sounds like nonsense and keeping what sounds like it's valuable, you're going to learn a lot more."

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Building Blocks to Success in the Ring and the Whelping BoxHost Laura Reeves is joined by breeder-handler Christian Rutten in part two of a wide-ranging conversation touching on some of the critical building blocks to success in both the show ring and the whelping box.On Owner Handler vs Professional Handler[caption id="attachment_13028" align="alignleft" width="358"] We all started somewhere. Christian reminds us we are all at a dog show for the same reason. To win and to have fun with our dogs.[/caption]“One of the things people say is ‘I just went to a dog show for 10 straight shows and I didn't get any ribbons. And that it's all political. And the handlers have the upper edge.’ I did the math because I was at a big string of shows and I walked in the ring 28 times and won two majors. This (other person) didn't go into the ring 28 times in the year and she didn't win any majors. So (handlers) have the opportunity to present a lot more dogs. So, although it looks like we're receiving a lot more ribbons, but we're also going to a lot more shows.On Selecting Judges“There are judges who I've taken a barrage of type and styles to over a multitude of times, and I can never get past them. And that's fine. I just don't necessarily want to ever exhibit under them again. And there's other judges who are consistent as all get out. And you'll say, well, they're judging in North Carolina today and you look at their results and they put up litter mate to what you showed to them the week before that went winner’s bitch. And so I think finding that kind of balance of knowing what those judges are going to put up, if you can bring that to them every time, they're going to love it.“For me, there's probably 20 people that I really seek out to show what I think are the best of what I have. The rest of them are just there and just kind of doing their thing, right? I don't want people to get burned out on the fact that maybe they're not winning, maybe they shouldn't, right? That's fine. But maybe they're mentor says this is a great one. And what's holding you back is your ability and the judges you're exhibiting to. And once you figure that out and you find the right judges who appreciate that style, you've got the golden ticket. It's a fine line between understanding that not everybody who's putting the finger are experts. You need to become an expert yourself first and do this for yourself. And then from there, that's when the success comes.“I think that people, they want The Polar Express ticket to dreamland instead of just take the train and enjoy the view and the destination is worth it once you get there.On Dog Show Basics[caption id="attachment_13029" align="alignright" width="528"] Christian brings basic husbandry and manners to the forefront of the conversation.[/caption]“First one is you never leave a dog on a table unattended. Seems like a very simple thing to a lot of us, but some people are never taught that. The second thing is don't leave dogs in ex pens unattended. You're asking for a disaster to happen. I see this from owner handlers to breeders to professional handlers.“The other thing is, and this is a big one for me, and I kind of thought it was standard and I'm seeing it less and less. Congratulate the winners. I have probably walked into, I couldn't tell you, thousands of rings from juniors as an owner handler, as a breeder owner handler, as a professional handler. I could maybe count on one hand the amount of times I didn't say congratulations. If you're in a full group, whether it's the owner handler group, or the regular group, you don't have to shake everybody's hand, all you got to do is walk up to the winner and say Congratulations."

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The Conversation at the Top is Different: Finding a Mentor[caption id="attachment_13021" align="alignleft" width="482"] Christian Rutten with one of his top winning Golden Retrievers.[/caption]Breeder-handler Christian Rutten joins host Laura Reeves to encourage new exhibitors and breeders in finding a mentor.“I think the biggest mistake people make is they cut corners,” Rutten said. “They find the people who are sitting and just have a lot of downtime because they're easy to talk to. But what you need to do is go to the top. The conversation at the top is different.“Everybody's collaborating ‘who can do this for what and what reason.’ The conversation at the bottom is usually, ‘it's crooked... Oh, my dog is perfect and that one isn't.’“I would say that the most successful breeders of any breed are way more critical on their own dogs than there are of anybody else's. When they say, you know, my dog is the greatest that's ever been and the other one only wins because of who shows it, that's problematic.“You need to be self -reflective about what is this dog's strength and weaknesses. And you know what? If you go ask a judge, right, you lost and you aren't sure why. And you go ask the judge and the judge says, well, he didn't ask for it on the day or the other dog showed better or whatever it is. I just discard that."When they say, you know, I wish your dog had a little better shoulder, a little bit shorter back, you could use a little bit stronger muzzle, and gets into the finite details, those are the people whose words you hang on, and from there you move forward. So look for the people who are extra critical first, not angry because they lost, but extra critical. And I think if you approach any judge from a standpoint of questioning, ‘what was it that you liked about the other dog better than my dog today,’ they'll be honest with you.[caption id="attachment_13022" align="alignright" width="394"] Christian started at ground zero in Junior Showmanship and worked his way up through the ranks.[/caption]“Where do you start from ground zero? First thing, anybody, whether you've done dogs for 20 years or you're just starting, go to YouTube and look at Dog Steps. It's not breed specific, right? It's just about basic anatomy and how it works in motion.“The other thing is attend the largest specialties and the nationals that you can and see a broad array (of dogs). If your breed has an illustrated standard, keep that. Go and you seek out those breeders that are just kind of next level. A, I want you to seek out the best breeder there is. B, trust their judgment. But C, be happy if you don't have the Best in Show winner because when you get handed that Best in Show winner on a golden platter, you cannot figure out what it takes to make it.“I wrote a thing one time that says sacrifices are made in the whelping box to preserve and protect individual pieces, not to breed just for winners, right? And that's the thing. Talk to your breeder, what are the health issues that you face and how are you kind of navigating that in your breeding program?“There's a fine line between discarding everybody's opinion and asking everyone and absorbing as much knowledge as you can. There's 20 ways to get to the bus stop, but getting on the bus and going to your destination is on you.”

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Puppies and Kids: Expert Insight on Best PracticesDr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves talk about bringing home your new puppy, introducing it to your children, how puppies and children interact appropriately, and how to make that be a really positive experience.“The first place I would start,” Greer said, “is if you don't already have a breed that you have selected and you have children, pick a breed that's good with kids.“You know, why start off with something that's likely to set you up for a failure when you could get, oh, let's say a Labrador or a Golden Retriever, which are notoriously outgoing, happy dogs, and, you know, they're just easy to live with. They're great dogs to have her own children. So, you know, don't start off, and I don't want to badmouth anybody's breed, so I'm not going to specifically call up breeds that aren't good, but don't start off with a dog that you have concerns about.“Start out with something that’s happy, friendly, outgoing and was raised in an environment that’s likely to be successful.“There are situations where if the kids are inappropriate with the dog or really afraid of the dog or the parents aren't working well with the children, that I just simply have to say to them, ‘you know, this is probably not a good match. Let me help you find another breeder.’“For starters, I don't leave the children and the dog unattended ever until maybe the dog's five. That's what what XPens are for. That's what playpens are for. That's what crates are for. And you can put X-Pens up across doorways.“And it's also a great way to introduce a dog to children or a puppy to children. And vice versa, they can see each other without the puppy jumping on the child, without the child shrieking, without the child having a meltdown, or without the child doing something else that's inappropriate with the dog. So it's a really safe way to start off is for them to see each other and interact with one another, but through the xpen or through the crate.”Marty and Laura talk through dog body language, bite inhibition training in baby puppies and the sheer joy of kids and dogs raised together.[caption id="attachment_13012" align="alignnone" width="674"] The Dog Body Language Chart Marty Greer recommends.[/caption]

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Sheila Goffe On the CDC's Importation RegulationsSheila Goffe, AKC Vice President of Government Relations, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the CDC's soon to be implemented rule about importing dogs into the US.Goffe provides background on retail rescue as the impetus for CDC's regulations, the work AKC, NAIA and other stake holders have provided to the CDC and the most recent update to the rule."CDC put out an announcement saying that they heard the concerns about the rabies certificate," Goffe said. "Remember they had (originally) required that you had not only a rabies certificate, but a rabies from a USDA or Canadian accredited vet. So it's not just like your regular vet. It's like, OK, I have to go find basically the same vet I would go to if I'm importing a dog to another country."So that veterinarian-specific requirement, they have dropped that requirement. As of now, they're saying that all you need to enter the United States with a dog from Canada or another low risk rabies free country is an import form. It's now available online. You can fill it out online. It takes less than 10 minutes. You're going to have a picture of your dog on it. You know, a little bit of information about you and an attestation that this dog has not been outside of a rabies free, low risk country for the last six months.Dogs still need to be at least six months of age to enter the US from any country, Goffe added."Blame the irresponsible importers," Goffe said, "because frankly, they claimed to be us. They claim to be personally owned dogs. And now CDC is saying we can't tell the difference. So where we need to go with CDC is create a solution where we can say 'we can tell you the difference, we can show you what we do that those folks would never be able to do. We can show you that this dog has been registered from a registered litter. You know, we can demonstrate this dog was at the vet at two days old getting dewclaws removed. I can prove to you this dog was here in this country and it has not gone to Azerbaijan and come back."Goffe encourages exhibitors and breeders to reach out to their representatives to share their concerns. Find resources HERE.

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Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bo Bengtson, legendary breeder, judge and author of The Whippet: An Authoritative Look at the Breed’s Past, Present and Future.Questions for Bo:[caption id="attachment_12997" align="alignleft" width="490"] Bo Bengtson judging the American Whippet Club National Specialty.[/caption]1) This is your fourth edition of the quintessential book, “The Whippet,” first published in 1985. What made you want to update it again? What will readers find that is new?I guess it's pretty unusual for a dog book that was published that long ago to be reprinted, but it was last published in a much enlarged edition in 2010 and so much has happened in Whippets in the last 15 years! Whippets have become one of the most popular breeds at many shows: Crufts in England has had about 400 for the last few years, only Labs and Goldens have more... I have judged a show with 250 Whippets in Sweden, they have a Sighthound show in Germany that has 235 Whippets as a top figure, and it has become amazingly popular in many countries where you wouldn't necessarily expect it: the big shows in e.g. Poland all have more than 100 exhibits NOW. The 2024 FCI World Dog Show was held in Croatia last month and there were 171 Whippets entered, which is fairly typical figure for the World Shows. And there are over 6,000 entries from the Czech Republic alone to the Internet's Whippet Archive, so that's probably the next big Whippet country! USA doesn't have the biggest registration figures, but the American Whippet Club holds a National Specialty in April every year that is the largest in the world, sometimes with more than 600 Whippets present and over 1,200 entries. I made a point of including all countries that have affected the world population in some way. Did you know that there is a world class Whippet breeder in South Korea that often wins in Europe and works with American bloodllines?I read parts of that 1985 book recently … It's not a bad little book for its time and a lot of the content is in later editions also, but it's fairly typical of breed books then, both in scope and size. Not many photos and all black and white, but I'll always remember how proud I was to get into Foyles Bookstore on Charing Cross Road in London and seeing my book on the shelf there!To get back to the new book, I'm so grateful that Denise Flaim convinced me to update it! The book is available both on Amazon and via Denise's RevodanaPublishing.com —they did a beautiful job: the book is much bigger than I expected — I don't know why I didn't expect that because I know that we added a lot of text and about 200 photos of winners from the last 15 years. Anyway, it weighs about 3.25 pounds, covers 530 pages, and when I took an advance copy to the National specialty in Tennessee in April, one reader actually started to cry because it was so beautiful!! 2) Share with our listeners some of the fascinating breed history you have gathered over the years, from its humble beginnings hunting hares, to its popularity as “the poor man’s greyhound,” to today.Well, of course the Whippet became popularly known as the favorite dog of the poor mining families in the North of England in the 1800s. There was organized racing with considerable sums to the winners, so of course the dogs were really well taken care of and in fact fed much better than the people. What's really amazing is how many people turned out to watch the races: there are some grainy black and white films still in existence from the late 1800s, and they prove beyond a doubt that there were thousands of spectators, many thousands.But what I've found was that the Whippet had friends much higher up on the social ladder as well. Gertrude, the Lady Decies, was socially very prominent and owned several champion Whippets, including the two first brindle champions. She was primarily a cat fancier, breeder and exhibitor but she showed the dogs herself, in post-Victorian voluminous skirts and cartwheel hat. And there was also Sir Edmund Chaytor, Bart., who was a frequent exhibitor with Lady Chaytor and helped reorganize the Whippet Club after the first World War. There are even some royal connections: in Kitty Kelly's biography of the British royal family there is a previously unknown photo of Queen Mary with three of her sons, dating from perhaps 1910, which has a very good-looking Whippet in it: I have not been able to find out the name of the dog, but Queen Maud of Norway, who was born in England and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was often photographed with her Whippets.So I think that the Whippets has gotten a somewhat unfair rap for appealing only to one particular segment of society while in reality it was appealing both to high and low. 3) Talk about the Whippet internationally and the cooperation amongst breeders that has made it one of the deepest in quality globally.There are differences between the standards in U.K. and in the U.S., but they are not greater than that a really good dog can win in both countries. The days when you almost needed an English Champion to win in the U.S. are long since gone, and the English added some American blood since then, which was quite successful, but mostly they import from Continental Europe these day – and Europe is full of fantastic Whippets of part English and part American breeding these days … The Europeans are almost more American than we are in the U.S. — and they LOVE American imports! I must give shout-out to Italy, which has some wonderful Whippets and probably five or six word-class breeders, and Holland, who has a long history in the breed and currently houses Europe's probably most successful stud dog, — who was born in South Africa of part British and part American background. The most successful breeder in England actually lives in Holland! 4) What other factors can you identify that account for the depth and breadth of quality in the breed?I mentioned the Internet's Whippet Breed Archive earlier; it has more than 372,500 pedigrees online — I just checked! — many of them illustrated. It's an incredibly important tool for both novices and longtime fanciers like me, and everybody uses it. You can find statistics, both current and from the past, about things like population, color distribution, health, and the most popular sires, and you can even make up mock pedigrees for planned litters. I really think the success of the Whippet Breed Archive has been the success of the whole breed world-wide!And there are so many different competitive outlets for Whippets, which probably accounts for much of the activity in the breed and explains why we lose so few new fanciers. You can focus on conformation, of course, but there are also field activities that you can participate in: racing or coursing, and we always have a couple of days of field activities during our national specialties, and sometimes there are the same dogs who participate. There were 200 entries in the coursing alone at the 2024 National, and 50 of them were conformation champions! And at the National Specialty there are invariably special classes for those who are racing or coursing qualified, and a special award to the winner of Best Performance Dog. Then you can of course participate in obedience or rally, like hundreds did at our last national specialty. And there are always well-filled Versatility and Triathlon classes! 5) What are Whippet breeders doing that the rest of the purebred dog fancy could learn from? The fact that we have a really great, large and strong National Specialty is really important, I think. The Whippet people more or less take over a hotel or motel in a different part of the country in April every year, and beyond national specialty judging there is so much going on that there is no way you can participate in everything: there's racing and coursing, Breeder's Sweepstakes, Veteran's Sweepstakes, Futurity, Top 20, health testing, judges education, parades of Honors and Rescues … and probably even more that I've forgotten, like obedience, agility and rally. … It gives people something to focus on; I'm really sorry for the breeds that don't have a great National Specialty.And it probably helps that we are as a group generally NICE! There are some exceptions, of course, but when I hear what goes on in some other breeds I am so grateful that I'm in Whippets! I doubt that anybody would refuse to let their stud dog be used on some bitches because they just happen to be owned by the “wrong” people, and if someone would like to buy a promising show puppy from another kennel, just let them. There is the usual grumbling about the wrong winners, of course, but I bet there's less rancor and bad feelings in Whippets than in most breeds. We really try to be happy for each other when somebody is winning, even if it isn't what we would have done if we were judging,6) Can you identify and talk about three quintessential, iconic “lines” or families or kennels of Whippets, either standing alone or working together, that have most influenced the modern breed?English Laguna: a son of the great stud dog Laguna Ligonier was sent over to the U.S. in the 1960s, Greenbrae Barn Dance, and basically created the American Whippet. He was an incredibly strong sire for his own elegant type, and his litter brother was exported to Canada: the sheer beauty of these dogs and their offspring was overwhelming; they were saved from an over-refined appearance by the strength of the Stoney Meadows more genuinely American line — bred by Mrs. Wear, Doris Wear.And of course there was Peggy Newcombe and her Courtenay Fleetfoot of Pennyworth, who did wonderful PR for the breed by winning BIS at Westminster and being No. 1 dog of all breeds. Later there was Ch. Delacreme De La Renta, who was a terrific sire, and his grandson Ch. Starline's Reign On: both have sired well over 100 champions each, and Reign On is in the news again now for having sired many more champions in a couple of litters by A.I.We are lucky to have so many clever breeders in pretty much all areas of the country, which makes it difficult to win with mediocrity anywhere. Sporting Fields has bred many litters, often in partnership with other breeders, but they have the number of champions for it, and six Sporting Fields dogs have won the National Specialty! Or seven if you count Ch. Bo-Bett's Air Force One, who won in 2023 – he was officially co-bred by the late Carol Harris with Debbie Butt and her daughter Amanda Giles.There are so many other kennels and stud dogs that have had breed-changing influence, like Starline and Chelsea and Plumcreek and Saxon Shore that it's impossible to mention them all. 7) You have judged all over the world for decades. Name three dogs you have seen that you most admired and what made them stand out in your mind. Of the many beautiful Bohem whippets you’ve bred, which was your favorite?Oh, that's very difficult … Some of the dogs I've put up in Europe and Australia have been wonderful, but the best Whippet I've judged remains Ch. Brushwood's Moxi of Endeavor in the U.S., who's a perfect balance of elegance and strength. She should have won many more BIS than she did, but she won the AWC National three times, once under me. I haven't judged the Crufts BIS winner Ch. Pencloe Dutch Gold, who was wonderful and whom I got the opportunity to go over when he was shown not for competition when I judged a specialty in Scotland the same year he had won Crufts. He was so much more exciting than his pictures!Nor have I judged GCh. Pinnacle Kentucky Bourbon, just admired her from ringside — I can still remember how enthusiastic some breeder-judges whom I really respect were about Bourbon when they had put her up at specialties before she was famous and had won more than a hundred BIS at all-breed shows.By FAVORITES I have bred, I assume you mean by conformation? I haven't bred a lot, but I must mention a dog I bred in Sweden long ago, Int. Ch. Bohem Mome Rath — most of the dogs we bred then don't hold up today but he really does. Such a pity that I have nothing left of him; he was hardly used at stud at all and was owned by a teenage girl who was not easy to deal with and kept him way too fat! But she redeemed herself by later telling me how much she loved him when I had moved to the U.S., so that was OK.The other dog that I'm really proud of is Ch. Bohem C'est la Vie, who had a short but brilliant career shown by my partner Paul Lepiane, who's an excellent handler. He won both all-breed and specialty BIS with her but she remains famous mostly because she was lost at JFK Airport in the early 2000s and thousands of people spent months trying to find her until the NY Times declared her an “urban legend”… She was never found, but fortunately I had bred her young, and through her son she's behind everything that came later.ADDITONAL QUESTIONS (if there is time)8) What other books have you written?I wrote my first dog book when I was 22, so that's a while ago — 58 years to be exact —and there have of course been a few books since then … I wrote a breed encyclopedia that I wasn't particularly happy with, so I sold all the rights to it back to the publisher for not very much money … whereupon it was published in lots of languages and sold half a million copies! That would have been some nice royalties for me, but of course I got nothing and in fact only saw the book once after that — in a book-store window when I was judging in Brazil!But I did write one other book that was good: it was called “Best in Show, The World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows” and was published in 2008, so it's not exactly current. I worked on it for at least a couple of years and tried to make it as world-encompassing as possible and historically correct as possible. It has all the biggest winners of all the different breeds in the world in it and photos of most of them!Dog shows had an early beginning in the 18th Century and descend one the one hand from shooting and hunting people and one the other hand from the rat catchers in the pubs of London: eventually these were considered offensive and gave rise to more humane activities, including clubs for “fancy dogs.”But that book was never promoted as it should have been. It got wonderful reviews and won some awards, but I think the people who had worked on it with me were all fired, so nobody was left at the publisher who knew what it was about. I think it still is available on Amazon for about $20. 9) Why are you focusing so much on the past?Well, because history is so fascinating, of course! I did't think so when I was younger, and almost no younger person thinks so, so maybe you have to be kind of a historical artifact yourself to appreciate history? You can never know exactly what went on as recently as e.g. 100 years ago, because although people haven't changed that much, in some respects people were different then — but you can read the remaining reports and guess what was meant by them. I'm sure that many contemporary dog fanciers think that my fascination with the past is at least a little weird. Nobody can foresee the future, but as Churchill or someone said, “If you want to know about the future it helps to know the past …”

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Espen Engh Offers a Master Class on Dog BreedingFamed Norwegian Greyhound breeder and judge, Espen Engh, is back with host Laura Reeves offering a Master Class on dog breeding.“When we started out, there was a combination of two very different British strains that had proven that it worked really worked,” Engh said. “Those two breeders were at the end of their career and they hadn't mixed their dogs a lot while they were still active. But some very clever breeder very quickly found out that combining those two lines worked extremely well and produced dogs that had been almost unheard of before truly high quality.“So we collected different crosses between those two lines to combine our own strain to start out with. And I do think it helped a lot that my mother had been active in the breed for 20 years before breeding the first litter. She had been judging for many years as well. We didn't have to do a lot of the beginner's mistakes. So from day one, we were able to start at a high note.“When the breeder repeated (that successful breeding of two disparate lines) by luck or persistence, we were able to buy what we considered to be the best bitch in that repeat litter. And she turned out to be just as good as or probably better than those puppies from that first combination. So we were able to start with a really phenomenal bitch.“We had a phenomenal male at the time too. He was runner up top dog all breeds in Norway. And maybe if we were amateurs, or if my mother was an amateur, we would have bred those two together, but they didn't really fit. We would double up on faults. The male turned out not to be a good stud dog at all. And we had lots and lots of litters for other breeders. We never used him. So rather than using that top winning really beautiful dog, which didn't fit the bitch, we didn't do that from the start.“So our first combination was quite successful and we got an outstanding bitch in that first combination. And then we quite quickly realized that in order to progress, you know, now we have like two generations of phenomenal bitches, we would never be able to be big breeders number wise. We didn't have a big kennel, we didn't have the style, the facilities to breed dogs on a large scale. So we had to make a system where you can actually breed successfully from a limited number of dogs.“And I thought, why not just base it on breeding from the very best bitch of each generation? And that's what we did. When we were at the most active, we would have three or preferably four litters from the very best bitch of each generation.“As Greyhounds are very fertile, you'll get an average of like 10 puppies or nine, 10, 11, 12 puppies. Each of those top bitches would then have 20 daughters to choose from. I mean, in every litter, we would keep all the bitches that were thought were good enough. Most of them never just one, two or three. And we'd run them on until they were fully grown so we would know for sure who was the best. And selected the best bitch of each generation and repeated that.“Now, if the mother is great, the grandmother is great and the great -grandmother is great, you're very likely to get the really good one out of 20 bitch puppies, aren't you? But We also need some males to breed them to.“We also chose the second-best bitch in the generation. Remember the mother had four litters, she would be bred to four different males. We selected the second-best bitch from each generation, preferably a half-sister to the main bitch, which I call the alpha bitch. So the second best bitch, the beta bitch, we would try outcrosses on her.”

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Espen Engh on Greyhounds and JudgingHost Laura Reeves is joined from Norway by famed breeder and judge Espen Engh of Jet’s Greyhounds for a two part conversation about Greyhounds, judging, breeding and why the Scandinavian dogs are so consistent in quality.[caption id="attachment_12982" align="alignleft" width="376"] Int. Ch. Jet’s Elegant Negress, Engh's first Best in Show winner from his first litter.[/caption]“I kind of inherited the interest for dogs in general and Greyhounds in particular because my mother started up with a Greyhound in 1955 so she was the source of everything,” Engh said. “She got her own mother hooked on the Greyhounds as well. So I'm a third generation Greyhound fancier and lover.“My mother was only a teenager when she started out. She was very quickly bitten by the bug and started showing her first Greyhound all over Scandinavia. She didn't breed, however, she didn't have the possibility to do that. So my mother and I started breeding Greyhounds, 20 years after she got her first one, in 1975. And although my mother is no more with us, I keep reading from the same strain, actually from the same bitch line that was started in the early ‘70s.“There are many things that make the Greyhounds unique. And one of them is their long, long, long history and the amount of generations that have gone into breeding greyhounds. I'm quite sure that the Greyhound is the only breed where you can actually trace the pedigrees back to the 1700s.“(The first description of the Greyhound as having the “head of a snake, the neck of a drake”) is from a poem that was attributed to a woman called Juliana Burners more than 500 years ago.[caption id="attachment_12981" align="alignright" width="317"] Ad for one of Engh's multiple BIS winning Greyhounds.[/caption]Actually, she didn't exist. So it's somebody else wrote it. But that you could say is kind of the first Greyhound standard, because it describes the Greyhound, the head, the neck, the feet in a poem. Greyhounds are a very sophisticated breed. They are very close to their owners. They are about a combination of substance with elegance.”Engh has been invited to judge at the highest levels worldwide.“It certainly is a privilege. It's certainly something very enjoyable to be able to travel around, somebody else picking up your bill, to enjoy looking at dogs, feasting your eye on dogs, getting that little tear in your eye every now and then, maybe a goose bumps every now and then too, which is really one of the reasons for doing it.“But it does also present some challenges and some difficulties. Some breeds do have very different breed standards and that can certainly pose some difficulties. Other breeds, actually the breed standards themselves are not that different, but the development of the breeds are. So they have developed in quite different directions.“Obviously, and I think we need to state that from the beginning, if you are willing and able and do undertake judging a breed in a foreign country, you have to respect the breed standard in that country. I mean, that should go without saying, but it doesn't always.”

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Drinking from a Firehose: Puppy Enrichment Weeks 5 to 8Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a continuation of their conversation about puppies and neonates. Puppies raised properly are given the best possible start to their future. Today’s topic is enrichment, all of the things that we can do in the five to eight week period between “their eyes are open, they're eating solid food, they're probably weaned or close to it” and go-home day.Laura asks, “What's happening in those little tiny puppy brains in that five to eight week period?”Marty’s response is, “They're taking in the world so fast, it's like drinking from a fire hose.“There's a lot of people who talk about this and a lot of people who pontificate about it. I think Sophia Yin talked about a hundred experiences in a hundred days. That gives you basically three months to get all kinds of information into their little brains.“Even when you don't think you're teaching your puppy something, you're teaching your puppy something. And so I think we have to be ultra aware of even the things that we do when we have our back turned that if we're making dinner or there's a puppy jumping on the other puppy or there's puppy going potty on the floor because they didn't get our attention to take them outside. We just taught them something.“You have to be ultra aware of everything you do. Not paying attention to them doesn't mean that they're not learning something. I think we really have to pay attention to that and there's lots of really fun things we can do to teach them cool stuff, but be careful, because they're learning every second.“If they learn that they put their feet on the breadboard and pull something off (the counter), even if you weren't looking, they just learned they can put their feet on the breadboard. And if it takes them 100 tries to get one thing the next time, it's like winning the lottery.“We think about our little tiny puppies and there's all this stuff going on. They've got littermates, they've got other dogs in the house, they've got smells, they've got sounds, they've got all this stuff. You don't want them to hear the ketchup bottle make that funny, squirty noise when it's almost empty when they're in their new home for the first time and it freaks them out.“So you have to really think about all the input that we want to have for our dogs. How do we set them up for success? How do we provide them those things? So I do smell, I do touch, so I give different surfaces, we do different visual things, we do different toys, there's different tastes, so there's so much we can do.”

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Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and LoveAuthor Kerry Nichols joins host Laura Reeves for a review of her new book, “Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and Love.”Nichols’ book is written for the dog buying public to help them understand how to find a breeder, what a responsible breeder looks like, how puppies learn, and how breeders and buyers can work together to raise well-adjusted dogs.“We all know you have to prepare your families,” Nichols said. “Like the more prepared your families are the better your puppies’ lives will be. So from litter number one, I started to joke around ‘hey, you know you're enrolling in Nicholberry boot camp. If you're not ready to read and watch and listen I'm not the breeder for you, because I really want you to be ready.“That actually evolved into requiring that our families take a training course, you know, I really want them to be prepared because we've all seen it go badly when they're not and you send home this lovely puppy who very quickly gets into trouble and that's heart -wrenching to see.“I had this whole backlog of a private blog that I was keeping for our families and basically they needed to read a pretty hefty article or watch a video every day for the eight weeks that their puppy was growing.”As a content creator, Nichols has proven suggestions for breeders also about how to grow their educational social media outreach about their breed and their breeding programs.* It's a marathon not a sprint … don't think that you're going to post 10, 50, 100 posts and you're going to get this following. It is consistency, consistency, consistency. * Authenticity, which is why I think it doesn't work to hire a social media manager.I've had arguments with people on this topic, but there's no way I could have never hired anybody to do what I do because, it's all in my DMs. I'm responding, it's in my comments, I'm interacting. And that's fantastic because the questions will inform your content. * I think it's super important that breeders allow people to see what they're actually doing on a daily basis.Yesterday, someone asked me to vet a breeder for them of a different breed, and I went on the website and it said that they followed puppy culture protocols. And they have a big following on Instagram, but I couldn't find a single video that demonstrated puppy culture protocols.So that's fine to say it, but I don't just trust that they're doing it. I want to see them doing a barrier challenge, right? So I'd say that, show what you're actually doing.

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Juniors’ Best Advice: Always Strive to ImproveOctavia Stensen, Best Junior at Westminster Kennel Club this year, joins host Laura Reeves for the behind the scenes story of how a non-dog show kid just capped off the triple crown of junior showmanship, having also won Best Junior at the AKC National Championship and made finals in Juniors at Crufts.Stensen’s family acquired a Norwegian Buhund when she was 10 years old. Her first time in the ring left her in tears, but she persevered and nine years later she reached the pinnacle of the sport for juniors.“We ended up getting Fiona and she became our new pet but the one catch of it was that we had to get her grand champion," Stensen said. "I was like, ‘I'll do it. I don't even know what that means but I will do it. I don't even know what this entails or what I'm doing in this, but I am going to do it.' And so it started from there and it wasn't easy by any means.“I went to bed that night (after my first ring experience) thinking, I can do better and I can do better here and I could have done this and I'm gonna do that next time,” Stensen said. “And there was a next time, you know what I mean? There was like that idea of the future.“I did eventually get her Grand and she is now our pet and we have since then bred her and got my heart dog out of that, Pineapple. [caption id="attachment_12963" align="alignleft" width="426"] Octavia Stensen with her mom and Pineapple after the WKC Best Junior win.[/caption]“I am so, so lucky both my mom and my dad have been so supportive, but my mom really steps up. My dad is like, I'll pay the bills, but my mom is like, I'm going to be here next to you and I'm going to travel with you to all of these things and I couldn't be more grateful for that.“They have definitely supported me in more ways than I could have ever, ever asked for. I mean, after winning at Orlando and walking out of the ring and then being like, so I guess I need to go to London now. And they were like, ‘okay, so let's figure out how we're going to finance that.’Stensen’s advice to juniors coming up is always have fun and never stop improving.“It is so, so hard to get caught up in the competition and freaking yourself out and getting all nervous but this is meant to be fun. It's all for fun. We are coming to these things to have a good time, we're not coming to these things to torture ourselves with nerves. Listen to your mentors and your peers and you can always be better. You can consistently improve. I mean, there's never a moment in your life where you can stop getting better at things.”

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What Your Puppies’ Poopy Tells YouDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for an extended conversation about puppy poopy. Color, consistency, contents and coating of the puppy’s stool give detailed information about its gut health. They also discuss prevention and treatment of common intestinal upset.“A yellow, softened, seedy stool is absolutely normal (for the first two weeks),” Greer said. “It's not that they've eaten anything that shouldn't be in there. That's just normal milk curd being digested and the normal color with the digestive enzymes.”[caption id="attachment_12956" align="alignleft" width="483"] Puppy stool samples and what they tell you, at a glance.[/caption]To watch the entire presentation, with photos, click the link HERE.Intestinal parasites“If a bitch ever had roundworms when she was a puppy or ever had hookworms when she was a puppy, those will encyst in her muscles and they will reactivate during the stress of pregnancy and lactation and migrate,” Greer said.“Roundworms migrate through the placenta into the puppies. So, this is how puppies are born with intestinal parasites, is they're already born with them before they are hatched, they come out, and hookworms will migrate through the milk and into the puppies.“So this is how we end up with parasites that are going to cause problems in puppies. And they typically will start to become an issue when the puppies are right about three weeks of age. So just three to four weeks, just about the time you're starting to wean, about the time you're trying to get them on to solid food, they get sick, they feel puny, they have a belly ache, they don't feel good, you end up going to the vet.“Sometimes those stool samples are negative even if the parasites are there because the parasites need to be at least three weeks old to produce the eggs that it takes for them to see under the microscope.”Worming pregnant dams with Fenbendazole (Pancur) is the only guaranteed way to raised puppies not born with intestinal parasites.“So Panacur, you start at day 42 of the pregnancy,” Greer said. “And you give the dewormer every single day from day 42 of the pregnancy until the puppies are 14 days old. That is five weeks. The label says three days, and I understand the label says three days, but it is a five -week protocol. It is an off -label use, technically, but I can say that because I'm a veterinarian and I'm allowed to say those things. This protocol was published for the first time in the early 1980s.“We're giving 50 milligrams per kilogram once a day (to the dam for five weeks). If you give the suspension, not the tube paste, but the suspension, the liquid stuff that you shake up. That's given at one cc per four pounds of body weight. Safeguard, Panacur, fenbendazole is all the same thing. So if it's a 10 % solution, it's one cc per four pounds of body weight. Or you can use the granules. Now granules come in little packages, but they also come in a one pound tub, so there are very cost effective ways for you to get this. I'll tell you the bitches don't like the medication given daily, but you know what? I don't like worms in my washing machine and in my puppies, so I'm going with, I'd rather deworm the bitch."

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Study Shows Purebred Dogs Healthier Overall than Mixed BreedsDr. Kiersten Forsyth, DVM cardiology resident at Purdue and lead author of the recent paper from the Dog Aging Project discussing findings on health in our canine companions, joins host Laura Reeves with the details, which are not necessarily the same as what you might have heard.“The Dog Aging Project is this really cool community science project,” Forsyth said. “Essentially, there are some researchers that are involved at a few different universities, but the main people that are involved in this project are the dog owners themselves. People can nominate their dog to participate.“It is a longitudinal observational study, which basically means as a pet owner, once a year you fill out this really big survey that tells all about your dog, what their history is as far as their health, but also where they live, what kinds of things they do, the environment they're in. And that information for one dog might not tell us a lot, but when we have tens of thousands of dogs participating, we can pull a lot of information from this.“And so once a year, you get to refill out this survey, and we can follow these dogs throughout their lifetime to see what changes, what they're exposed to and our real goal is to learn more about all of these dogs in the U.S., but also what makes some dogs live longer than other dogs and can we get more information about aging in these dogs?“For the specific research part that I was involved in, we were looking at all of the dogs who were enrolled in the study during the year of 2020. We had 27,541 dogs included. So, a huge number.“Of those, about 50 percent of them were mixed breed dogs and 50 percent of them were purebred dogs. We tried to look at what the 25 most common or popular dog breeds were that made up the dog aging project pack at that point in time and then really focused on those top 25 breeds to then say, 'okay for these specific breeds, what are the most common medical conditions that their owners are reporting their dog to have experienced in their lifetime'.“So, for each breed, we came up with a list of their 10 most commonly reported conditions, and then we looked to compare how those changed between different breeds and between the mixed breed population and the purebred population to see is there really a difference in the amount of medical conditions that a dog gets if they're a purebred dog versus being a mixed breed dog.

“When we looked at it, one of the things we were wondering was, do purebred dogs have more disease than mixed breed dogs? And we found, no, that's not the case. In fact, it might even be slightly suggested into the opposite, 'cause we looked at, of all of these dogs, how many of them did not have any health conditions reported?

“These are our healthy dogs. Nothing has been reported to be wrong with them. And we found that 22 percent of the purebred dogs had no reported medical conditions. And just under 21 percent of the mixed breed dogs had no medical conditions. So, there was really a 1.6 percent difference between the two of them, which is not a huge difference, but it was actually statistically significant that the purebred dogs were actually more likely to have no owner-reported medical conditions than our mixed breed dogs.

“It’s really not more likely to have disease in your purebred dogs.

“Now, specific breeds may be more likely to have specific conditions. And that goes along with, you know, I do a lot of stuff with the heart. I know that if we think of degenerative valve disease, Cavaliers come to the top of your mind, or if you think of dilated cardiomyopathy, Dobermans come to the top of your mind. And we're not saying that certain breeds aren't more prone to very specific diseases or medical conditions, but as a whole, being purebred doesn't show a higher reporting of medical conditions compared to mixed breed.“It’s turning out that common things happened commonly, where even though we're looking at these purebred dogs, where you might think they're prone to very specific diseases or medical conditions, it still is things like dental disease, dog bites from other dogs. Those are still some of the things that are showing up frequently across breeds, not just with one specific breed.”

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NOHS Regional Events from the Club’s PerspectiveRyan Horvath and Sandra Pretari Hickson join host Laura Reeves to discuss the upcoming first ever NOHS Regional Event at their Harvest Moon Classic dog shows Oct. 17-20 this year.“Since the inception of the owner handled competition, we've included it in our shows every year,” Horvath said. “And we've also recognized the need to elevate it to a status on par with the rest of the show. So, we've offered similar trophies. We have the event taking place right in the main hall with the rest of the show so that you can kind of go pick and choose what you want to watch, who you want to cheer for, you know, and make sure that you can make all your ring times because, you know, it can get a little hairy sometimes.”“(NOHS Regional) is happening on Saturday,” Pretari Hickson said, “on the same day as the regular dog show, but it is a standalone event. So we're not offering the traditional owner handled that day.And we have rings dedicated to just owner handlers. And we actually have brought in judges just for this.”“It’s challenging being one of the first clubs to put this on,” Horvath added. “Trying to invent it from the ground up. And we are in a new site that we've had two years in and we continue to evolve and develop new things that we need to improve each year. So this is one more thing that we have to integrate in and kind of start out without anyone to look at and see how they do it.“One of the things that we try to pay attention to, and something we've definitely done for this regional event, is to have judges that are approved for these groups. And so you're gonna have judges who, judge them, know the breeds, and many times we've had them on our panels doing similar breeds and groups in the past. So, we're thrilled to be able to provide them with an equal stake.”

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NOHS Regional Events from the Club’s PerspectiveRyan Horvath and Sandra Pretari Hickson join host Laura Reeves to discuss the upcoming first ever NOHS Regional Event at their Harvest Moon Classic dog shows Oct. 17-20 this year.“Since the inception of the owner handled competition, we've included it in our shows every year,” Horvath said. “And we've also recognized the need to elevate it to a status on par with the rest of the show. So, we've offered similar trophies. We have the event taking place right in the main hall with the rest of the show so that you can kind of go pick and choose what you want to watch, who you want to cheer for, you know, and make sure that you can make all your ring times because, you know, it can get a little hairy sometimes.”“(NOHS Regional) is happening on Saturday,” Pretari Hickson said, “on the same day as the regular dog show, but it is a standalone event. So we're not offering the traditional owner handled that day.And we have rings dedicated to just owner handlers. And we actually have brought in judges just for this.”“It’s challenging being one of the first clubs to put this on,” Horvath added. “Trying to invent it from the ground up. And we are in a new site that we've had two years in and we continue to evolve and develop new things that we need to improve each year. So this is one more thing that we have to integrate in and kind of start out without anyone to look at and see how they do it.“One of the things that we try to pay attention to, and something we've definitely done for this regional event, is to have judges that are approved for these groups. And so you're gonna have judges who, judge them, know the breeds, and many times we've had them on our panels doing similar breeds and groups in the past. So, we're thrilled to be able to provide them with an equal stake.”

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Best Advice from Best in Show Judge, Roz KramerRoz Kramer, Best in Show judge for Westminster Kennel Club last week, joins host Laura Reeves with advice, stories, suggestions and tips for all exhibitors.On judging Best in Show at Westminster[caption id="attachment_12915" align="alignleft" width="255"] Kaz Hosaka, winning BIS at WKC with the Miniature Poodle, Sage.[/caption]“You know, you're sequestered and so you don't really know who you're getting and they come in the ring one at a time and it was one gorgeous dog after another.“I mean, all of them showed like a million bucks. They all looked wonderful, fabulous condition. And it gave me goosebumps. It really did. I was so happy and so thrilled.On her mentors“I have had three incredible mentors for me Annie (Rogers Clark), Janey and Bob (Forsyth). I had so much respect for the three of them. Annie, she was such a teacher in many ways. I never worked for any of them, but you saw them at shows all the time and they'd give you little hints or little suggestions all the time and or you’d just sit and listen to them and you'd learn.On how newer exhibitors can succeed“You should stick around (after showing in the ring), learn your history of your breed, learn who the greats of the breed were, learn your pedigrees, figure out who the best multiple breeders of your breed, and it wouldn't matter if they're ones on the west coast and ones in Texas and ones in Maine. Seek those people out, learn the best you can. And then if you get a dog, don't be afraid to go, not just ask other breeders for help on trimming or showing.“I'm telling you, you go to most of these handlers, it doesn't matter who they are, they are more than willing to help. We need the new people in the sport and everybody knows it and I think that what people also need to do is don't think that you're better than everybody else, be kind and caring to people because you know something, we all have to ask for help at some point in our lives and don't be afraid to.“You know one of the ways that I learned when I was a kid is my mentor on the Scotty's John Sheehan. He'd trim the show side and then he'd say ‘okay now you trim the other side. Copy that.’“(There) is the conditioning part. And it was a teaching tool to me that you do this day after day, hour after hour, and don't stop. And it's going to pay off."(It's) hard work and don't stop, even though you may get discouraged. Keep pushing on because you know what, it pays off in the long run and it gives you so much joy and reward."And you know what the best part of it is the dogs. You're spending time with our best friends ever. I mean, I don't know where my life would be without the dogs themselves, seriously.“It's artistry, and I think people prefer the quick fix and the easy fix. I think that people should give themselves a challenge, prove what they can accomplish and they might be surprised."[caption id="attachment_12912" align="alignleft" width="310"] Kramer's Etsy shop features home decor and fashion items like this pillow cover.[/caption]Visit Kramer's Etsy shop to see her beautiful breed specific designs on home decor and fashion items.

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The New Voice of Westminster Kennel ClubHost Laura Reeves is joined by Valerie Nunes-Atkinson, handler, breeder and the new color commentator at Westminster Kennel Club.“So I think one of the reasons why I've been brought in is because of some of the things that you mentioned, being a handler, having lived it and been there. So I'm hoping to bring the insight from that perspective, from the handler's perspective, the excitement of it, what goes on a little bit behind the scenes, but then also from a breeder perspective, you know, having bred dogs that have done well there and bred dogs for decades.“Jason has been a breeder and a handler and a judge, but he's more from the judge's perspective and the historical importance of the breeds and details of the breeds. And I hope to bring a little bit of the other type of knowledge. And Chris is our fun guy that asks interesting questions.“You learn how to listen to someone in your ears and still talk… It's something, I will say it's something to get used to. So they're talking in your ear. ear and they're counting you down. So literally we have about 20 seconds after the announcer gives all the breed details on that particular breed to make a point about something and keep it somewhat interesting.“Twenty seconds is a long time, but it's really not a long time. So to be concise and get your message across and be done before he starts going into the next breed. So they're counting you down as you're talking and trying to make your point in these 20 seconds and you have to be done by the time they get to one. Otherwise, someone might be screaming in your ear.“So learning that and learning how to go back and forth between the three of us and not step on each other, so that you're not talking over the other person.“There's a huge learning curve and we'll see because, you know, it basically scares the, you know, what out of me to be doing this. And I really considered not doing it. But my dad always told me, and this was before he passed, he said, ‘If you're not doing something that is scary and challenges you and really scares you, you're not growing.’ So you've got to live your life. You've got to push yourself and reach for other goals. And so I'm doing it.“And that's where I think, you know, through this broadcast and through Jason and Chris, I mean, we hope to, you know, give breed details. We hope to give breed information to the general public. That'll be interesting that maybe allows them to think about other breeds and hopefully maybe even learn how to find a preservation breeder.“I think being able to, for my role, step in and maybe tell some little tidbits of stories or experiences that I've had that might bring other people in to say, ‘Hey, maybe I could try that or that sounds fun.’ Or maybe they don't even know about things we're talking about like the agility. trial that's gonna be there as well. There's other sports within AKC that the general public can do wth their dogs, which is very exciting. And I think it's a way to bring everybody else, the general public into a scene, what else you can do with your dogs?”

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Expert Tips for Expanding Puppies' MindsDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for their ongoing conversation about raising puppies. This month they’re talking week four, when the puppies’ minds are exploding with new sensory input.[caption id="attachment_12902" align="alignleft" width="528"] From Dr. Greer's "Canine Reproduction and Neonatology"[/caption]“When the puppies first open their eyes, first open their ears, we should have gentle lighting, we should have gentle sounds,” Greer said. “We shouldn't just have this loud TV with Rambo on. So, you know, things like just have the lights starting to come up, their vision isn't great, their hearing isn't great, but it went from almost nothing to something and so we want to ease them into that world.”Four weeks is when many puppies are introduced to solid food. Mothers of wild canids vomit for their puppies as their introduction to solid food. Laura describes making puppy food the “consistency of dog vomit.”Marty recommends shallow water bowls for puppies to prevent drowning hazards, as well as Lixit bottles for smaller breeds.100 experiences in 100 days“I try to do a lot of variation in the enclosure. I have a rabbit hutch that's got a two story ramp on it so they can go in and out of doors and up and down the ramp. I have all kinds of little beds that have holes and places for them to go. Honestly the best toys are the kids’ toys that I pick up at garage sales. So you pick up, you know, baby walkers and all kinds of toys and they're brightly colored and they're hard plastic. They're not durable enough for the aggressive chewer or adult dog. So you probably don't want them in with mom if you've got a lab that eats everything, but they're fun. They make interesting noise and you can do variability.“I think both Sophia Yen and Ian Dunbar, veterinarians that talk a lot about behavior and development, talk about a hundred experiences in a hundred days.“I have a series of 11 bath mats that are all different sizes, shapes, colors, textures. The mesh ones I put under the puppies when they're really young because the urine runs through and so they stay dry. When you're in that transition period between when mom stops cleaning them, that two to four week transition period when they start urinating on their own, they stay dry and it doesn't soak into a pad directly on their skin so it's cleaner and neater.“And those again can go in the washing machine. But I went to Walmart during COVID and they had 11 styles of bath mats. They had some with bristles, they had some that were shiny, some with round holes, some with square holes, some were dark colored, some were light colored. Just this whole variety and again I throw them in my washing machine when they get soiled and then I hang them to dry. And I have two sets so that they can rotate through. And you've just given now a puppy 11 different surfaces, so of the 100 experiences you need to do in 100 days, you just did 10 percent of them, with a bath mat.”

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Eye Emergencies Can Go From 0 to 60 in a BlinkHost Laura Reeves is joined by veterinary ophthalmologist Stacey Halse for a deep dive on eye emergencies in our dogs.[caption id="attachment_12861" align="alignleft" width="385"] Dr. Stacey Halse, veterinary ophthalmologist, with one of her Dobermans.[/caption]“Eyes are a very unique structure when it comes to every other organ, well, most other organs in the (dog’s) body,” Halse said. “They have what you call the fancy word for is a blood aqueous barrier. It kind of protects the inside of the eye from the rest of the immune system. The eye itself is called an immunoprivileged site. And so when things go wrong and the regular immune system kind of gets into the eye, it can go very wrong very quickly.“And so emergencies can go from, oh, it's just a little scratch, just... to suddenly you're like, "Oh, now the eyeball's melting out of the face." And so that's always very scary, both for an owner and a dog.”Eye Infections in Newborns“One of the biggest things that you can do is get that eyelid open even though the eyes are only supposed to open at about two weeks old, you don't want that material to stay in there. And so if it's not draining yet, warm compressing and just gently massaging those eyes open to get that material draining because if it stays in there, it's going to ruin the eye. It's going to cause scar tissue that can affect the puppy for the rest of its life. And I haven't seen it a ton, but in the worst case. case scenarios, usually the shelter dogs that are kind of not brought in to care, but they can lose their eye. And so outside of medications, just getting that eye open is really the most important part.”Steroid CautionsGenerally, any ulceration or scratch of the eye’s surface should NOT be treated with steroids.“If there's an ulcer there and you don't know because you don't have the staining and all this stuff, you just wanna be cautious and kind of just do the topical antibiotics. In general, something like neopolybac, which a lot of people have, or a topical drop, most often if I'm prescribing it, I'll use Tobromycin because you only need something that's superficial. But I feel like a lot of the time people have neopolybac in the dog world.“You just have to make sure there's no steroid in it. So the two steroids that can be a neopolybac is hydrocortisone or dexamethasone. Dexamethasone probably the most common, but hydrocortisone is the one that's most commonly missed because people are just looking for dexamethasone on the thing. And one little trick that I teach students as well as owners is that if there's a pink strip on the box, it's a steroid. Tan is antibiotic, pink is steroid.Corneal Ulcers“The cornea is only about 0.8 millimeters thick, so it's super, super thin. And so an infection anywhere else, not a huge deal. An infection on the surface of the eye can be very bad very quickly. You can lose the eye within 24 hours. I've had one in the hospital that I was medicating aggressively and then we still lost the battle. And it like developed an ulcer in the hospital. This was like during my residency and we started treating right away and we still lost it.“I don't wanna freak everyone out but that's the worst case scenario. - If there's a little bit of squinting, and if you ever see a divot on your dog's eye, just take it in.”

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Westminster Kennel Club Fashionista AdviceHost Laura Reeves is joined by Veronica Wolfe of Best In Show Clothes, talking about that perfect WKC outfit, hair, nails, makeup and more.“So, you know Westminster, it is the premier dog sport event of the year,” Wolfe noted. “It is the second oldest sporting event in the nation only behind the Kentucky Derby and then only by two years. It's been going on since 1877. So you have to give some respect to the event. Very prestigious, limited number of dogs, the juniors invitation only.“There's a few factors you need to consider. One is the event, of course. You know, and how do you get ready and how do you dress for Westminster? My first thought would be the way you get ready and appropriate for really any dog show. You're representing your breed. If you have a kennel, you're representing your kennel. If you're a handler, you're representing your client's dogs. If you're an assistant, you're representing your handler,“So everybody should look professional, okay? So you need to have professional clothing and you need to have all the support factors that we talked about in our first podcast. You're going to be on national television by all the possibilities. If you're not on national television, then I'm sure your breed's going to be on YouTube, right? Yes. So have those good shoes on. Have the good support wear on. Don't skip the pantyhose on this one, that kind of thing.“But you also need to consider the weather. You need to consider the location. Everything's not indoors anymore. So let's run down a couple of those things.“The temperatures in May and New York are gonna be 71 high day, 54 low. That's average. So if you've got an eight a.m. ring time and now they're outdoors, right? You need to consider that. You need to dress appropriately for that eight a.m. ring time. If you've got to change later on because woohoo, you made it to groups, then you can plan for that. But consider the weather.“It can be humid and it can be hot in May also so you'll want to consider that when you're debating between the Tahari suit versus the wool blend St. John. It can also be wet. The average rainfall in that area in May is 3.9 inches to give you an idea. In eastern Washington, that's like a quarter of our rainfall for the year. So prepare for that. Bring a raincoat. You don't want to, you know, have that beautiful suit or a silk blend suit, get water on it. So the weather you need to consider, the time of day, once the schedule comes out, you need to consider for what you're wearing.“And then you've got groups and the finals for juniors, moves indoors. I would say be mindful that that indoor carpet is green. You might want to consider what you're wearing with that. I'd be careful of wearing a similar green. - One giant green blob. With that color, a lot of people love to wear purple to Westminster 'cause Westminster's purple and gold. But then a lot of people are wearing purple. So you need to be aware of that.“I think blue and green always go really well together. Depending on your dog if you're of the mindset that you prefer to really stay in the background, grays, blacks and tans can go nicely with that color carpet. Certain red tones if you do the blue based reds and not the orange based reds, I think the blue based reds almost leaning towards burgundy would be okay with that.“You want to present a very professional image without distracting from the dog and that the dog should be the center of attention. If you love bling and you want to wear it great. There is a love of bling in the dog show world and I sell a lot of bling online and in my booth. If you're not careful, I think it can be distracting.“And juniors, can I address you a minute? Because I have a junior. You know, you or your parents do not need to go out and buy a six hundred to a thousand dollar suit for this show There are gorgeous Taharai, Le Suit, Casper. All those. You can get beautiful suits that accentuate your dog that aren't St. John and if you just have to have a St. John, make sure that it's age appropriate and it doesn't look like a St. John that should be on somebody maybe more my age.“You want to look your age. If you're young, you want to look young, professional, neat, clean, your hair back out of your face. Yeah, it's prestigious, but you don't have to wear or own or buy a St. John. Of course, I'd love to sell you one, but you know, it's not necessary.”

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Neonates Deep Dive: Caring for the Dam and HypocalcemiaDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a continuation of their ongoing conversation about neonates. The discussion today includes hypocalcemia and eclampsia, how much calcium to supplement and when.“For some bitches, you need to continue (calcium supplementation) until the puppies are weaned,” Greer said. “It depends on the size of the bitch and the size of the litter. The smaller the bitch and the bigger the litter, the more you need calcium. It tends to be... in small breed bitches that develop hypocalcemia, eclampsia, that that tends to be an issue.“We don't see it in Labs, Goldens, Rottweilers, you know, the big dogs, but in the little dogs, and you know, I mean little dogs usually under 10 or 15 pounds, dachshunds, terriers, some of those small breeds, we can see hypocalcemia. In those cases the bitch will start to run a low grade fever. The first symptoms are going to be that she starts walking kind of goose-stepping like real stiffly, associated with the calcium becoming too low and then her muscles developing this tetany.“When the puppies are growing at about that two to three week time period, when the puppies are really growing fast, is when the demands of the calcium become the greatest on those small breed bitches and they just don't have the ability to mobilize enough calcium from their bones, their vitamin D levels are trying, but they just don't have the ability to mobilize calcium quickly enough.“And this is why you don't want to give calcium prior to the time that the bitch goes into labor and has her puppies. If you give it during the entire pregnancy, then you tell her parathyroid gland, "You know what, you can just take a vacation. "You don't have to worry about this, just hang out." And then their calcium doesn't mobilize adequately.“So you want them on a normal amount of calcium in their regular dog food, and then once they whelp, then that's when you can start adding the additional calcium in gel form, in tablet form, in powder form to the diet along with the puppy food to make sure she gets adequate amounts of calcium.“The powder, the gel, those are all going to be fine and safe because the GI tract is going to only absorb and the body's only going to take in so much. So you're okay to be pretty aggressive. Now there's definitely some things that you have to be concerned about if you're giving (calcium) by injection. But if you're giving oral in the powder or the tablet form, you know the petcal or the revival or the whatever product you want to use, those are all absolutely fine to give. You have to really screw up to give too much. But it does make a big difference and you basically titrate it until you see the effect that you're looking for.Greer touches on a variety of different topics in this wide-ranging conversation, so check out the entire podcast here.

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Show Safe Launches for the Dog Sport CommunityHost Laura Reeves is joined by Mary Dukes, Lindsay Fetters and Carissa Shimpeno to discuss their new grassroots launch of Show Safe. The organization encourages all exhibitors to take the Safe Sport program and offers a lapel pin to those who complete it.“I knew about Safe Sport through my daughter, who's a professional horse trainer,” Dukes said. “And safe sport is a congressionally mandated program for all Olympic sports that came in after the multitude of abuses in gymnastics, swimming, diving, I could go on. So anyway, I was familiar with it because my daughter shows horses and since equestrian events are an Olympic sport, she has to take safe sport and a re -up every year. I got it in for the registered handlers program and then I always had wanted to expand it. I advocated to expand it to at the very least junior judges, but while I was an employed by the AKC I was never able to get that done.“Everybody has a story. Everybody has a story to varying degrees. I feel like mine is relatively minor in the big scheme of things, but everybody has a story of being inappropriately touched, inappropriately propositioned, all that.”“Historically when something happens people react and everybody wants to do something,” Fetters said. “But I feel like a lot of people put it off on somebody else. ‘The government needs to do this, the AKC needs to do this’… It's like we're upset about something, but we're saying it needs to be somebody else's mission.“I sort of was reflecting on what can we do, what can I do, what can you do, what can we do as a fancy because I think if anybody can be united over something it's united over protecting our children.“I don't know a single person who would disagree with the mission of let's do better for our next generation but it's hard to invoke change. It's hard to start a movement, it's hard to unite people as just one solo person, especially in our sport.“My idea was basically, let's do a grassroots movement. Let's control what we can control. And let's let people know that this training and this option is out there. And instead of mandating or instead of controlling somebody or demanding somebody do it, because I think that that immediately puts somebody on edge, like let's say, ‘okay, look, this options out here, let's pursue it. And if you do, we want to let other people know we want to let juniors know. We want to let other people in our sport know that we've had this training and we're here to be a listening ear and we're here to provide support.”“I guess I would have to say my biggest learning experience in what works and what doesn't work started last year,” said Shimpeno. “When we had a handler who had been to prison for raping his minor assistant and he was returning to the world of dogs. In my mind I thought well what a beautiful way to show the young people of our sport that we actually have their back. Why don't we try and make some kind of policy within AKC that says, you know, if you've been convicted of X, Y and Z, that we can't stop you from coming to the dog shows, we can't stop you from existing and we can't make you a better person. But we can send a message to our little people and men and women around the sport in general just saying this is not what we're about. We're going to take a stand and we're going to draw a line in the sand.“A year ago, Mary actually said, you know, why don't we stop asking AKC to do this? And we do something ourselves. And my response in that moment was like, ‘because that's not right.’ We have to be the better people, like we have to make them do what's right. That mindset got me exactly nowhere at all.“We have this large portion of people out there that are just stuck in the injustice of it. And I want them to understand that we get that and we don't want to minimize the pain, the trauma or anything they've been through. But our group of people has learned through experience that we need everybody to receive this message."And in order for that to happen, we have to be way more organized. and focused. We are not a vigilante team. This has nothing to do with the perpetrators themselves. It's not even about necessarily protecting. It's about empowering, right, like knowledge through education.”

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Tools to Help Protect Vulnerable Victims[caption id="attachment_12816" align="alignleft" width="335"] Pam Bruce, judging in Orlando.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Pam Bruce, a 32-year veteran of the Toronto Police Department where she was a sex crimes investigator. Pam was also Canada's first acknowledged expert in this field.With recent arrests that have dramatically impacted the purebred dog world, everybody's asking what the American Kennel Club is doing. Pam is the individual who has trained all of our AKC reps, staff and board members already.Her presentation from which today’s podcast is drawn will be available to everyone in Canine College starting this month. Today's episode is an excerpt of this critically important presentation. Watch the full conversation HERE.“We can all be empowered by knowledge,” Reeves said, “and the knowledge that Pam has to share is what is going to make us all more able to handle the situations that we've been handed.”“Sex assault itself (is) intimate sexual contact with a person without their consent,” Bruce said. “And a young person does not have the capability of offering consent, the same as somebody that's vulnerable. (It may be) accompanied by force or even threat of force …“It’s not for sexual gratification of an offender. It's all about power and control. But the big problem for us in our sport is it's living in the gray areas, and that comes from non-reporting. The first time an offender was caught is not the first time they offended. And when you speak to the experts about this, they say on the low end, the average of sex assaults that have been committed before an offender has been even on their radar is at least seven.“So let me just drill down a bit with vulnerable victims. A vulnerable person can be identified as someone who belongs to a group within our society, so think of dog shows, that is either oppressed or more susceptible to harm.“Anyone under the age of 18 years, or an older (person) who has an impairment due to physical, mental, or emotional function. One who is unlikely, unable, or incapable to report grooming, sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect situations.“Now let it not be lost on anyone that the offender is the one that chooses the victim. And it's often for that exact reason that that person has a lack of capability and if they do have capability or someone to assist with that reporting, will they be believed? We must report on their behalf or assist them to do so.“The bigger issue for us and for society is what about the undetected offenders? Due to non -reporting, we don't know what we don't know. Child victims know their offender 94 percent of the time.“These people are our village, but there are victims in our village and offenders in our village and we know them, we love them. We believe we know their full being, but does anyone ever really know anyone?“'Grooming behaviors' is the idea of a perpetrator forming relationships with children. If you see an adult and they're really not friendly with a set of parents, but they're spending a lot of time around their children, I periscope up right away. I want to know why or if it's somebody vulnerable, someone disabled. If they're helping them, that's wonderful. But there is a line that should not be crossed, which is the next point, testing boundaries. Perpetrators will try to test boundaries on your child's comfort level."

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Kelly Lyn Marquis Shares Her Insights from the Masters[caption id="attachment_12798" align="alignleft" width="368"] Kelly Lyn Marquis in the ring.[/caption]Host Laura Reeves is joined by Kelly Lyn Marquis to discuss the stories in Marquis' new book Behind the Scenes of Best in Show: Intimate Moments with the Masters."When I started writing (the book)," Marquis said, "I was seeing some dissension, sometimes some frustration where I would hear people saying things about handlers doing all the winning and you know I really really wanted to show all of the work that goes into those wins."And even even for many of us that you see in the book, for so many of the masters, it's not about the wins. Actually, not one of them, not one of them, mentioned about the win being something that matters to them. It's the behind the scenes things that matter to them whether it's making their clients happy or the connection that they have with that dog. And that was a motivation.In her conversation with Michael Scott, Marquis admits struggling to understand his thinking."...(T)o Michael, it is his job to handle the dog to the (best of his) ability and to bring that dog to the right judges. And he knows his judges well. He knows what they like, as did Gwen (DeMilta). (B)ut Michael's job was to handle. Well, there wasn't the messiness that I would see in Gwen, and that also was active in myself as well."So when I interviewed Michael and Michael said, 'My job is to handle the dog and to bring it to the right judges. Period.' And he even went on to say that, 'Look, it's a game.' And that really triggered me 'cause I thought, 'No, this is serious business!' And it isn't that Michael doesn't take it seriously, but he's very clear on what his role is as a handler."That was one of the things that really struck me interviewing Michael, was if Michael had been my mentor and if I operated and navigated the dog show world with Michael's mindset, how might my... my life be different? So that is one of the values that I think a reader can get from reading this book where when you see where someone's priorities are and how that shapes how they navigate the world..."When it comes to the passion and the emotional attachment, I always give credit to the owner handlers and let them know that when it comes to my own dog, I have to have another handler show it because it gets messy."One of the things that I love about handlers that I think is a lesson for, well, even for ourselves to bring out into the world, but we're masters of our emotion. It's like you, okay, we look at this, what do I need to be? How do I need to show up for this dog?"And we're very clear about that. We have a very clear role and we're able to be in integrity and we're also able to look at that dog and go, okay, what's going on with you? You and I, we need to... make this work. We don't have the luxury to have an emotional moment,"Which also gets me thinking about another motivation for my book. I wanted to show our humanity because when we're at a dog show, we need to be in business mode. We're not showing our... our feelings."You know, Michelle Scott talks about how difficult it can be for her at times, managing her expectations and how she knows she wants to make people happy. And it can be so disappointing when you're not able to make that person happy. But we can't show that we have to show up and we have to be professionals. But it doesn't mean that we don't feel things. It just means that we're in business mode, we can't be getting caught up in those places, but we do have feelings just like everyone else."Another motivating factor for me is this is our community. I'm looking around it it's scary it looks like a dying community. I believe that this is an underlying theme in my book as well is that we are people. There are people at the ends of those leads and we need to be taking care of ourselves and our community better. One of the things that I've learned. Being a mom is my number one priority. And if my work is getting me so strung out that when my daughter comes home from school I can't hold space for that because I'm too agitated myself, then I'm not able to be the mom that I want to be. And so even as handlers, when we show up at our job, are we making good choices for ourselves so that we can serve not only ourselves but more people?"

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What to Do at WKC from the Queen of Queens[caption id="attachment_12785" align="alignleft" width="353"] Host Laura Reeves and Denise Flaim at Crufts '24.[/caption]Denise Flaim, lifelong resident of Queens, joins host Laura Reeves with a personal guided tour of what to do while at Westminster Kennel Club, slated for May 11, 13-14 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.“Queens is not like Manhattan, first of all,” Flaim said. “Queens scares people, I think because like all the boroughs, it's not laid out in a grid pattern …. OK, so there are street names, the streets curve and all this. Well, you know, New York is the city of neighborhoods. And if you know the neighborhood, you can find your way around. So I'm going to give you a couple of neighborhoods to go to.“Let me preface this by saying don't drive anywhere people. OK? First of all, you're not going to find parking. Second of all, you have a 37% chance of being involved in an incident of road rage... And then you've got to know how to parallel park.... So take an Uber. They're everywhere.[caption id="attachment_12783" align="alignright" width="437"] The Parkside in Queens is a historic Italian restaurant.[/caption]“First of all, you've got the Parkside restaurant, OK? Parkside Restaurant is probably one of the few remaining white tablecloth, red sauce, old Italian restaurants. It's phenomenal. You go in there, you order a glass of wine or carafe of wine and you get your eggplant parm. And it's going to be very New York. It's going to be lots of neighborhood guys. It's going to be a typical New York City Italian restaurant. The likes of which has basically been eradicated off the face of the earth. But this is the real deal.[caption id="attachment_12782" align="alignleft" width="536"] Bocce games in Spaghetti Park are quintessential New York.[/caption]“After you have your amazing meal at the Parkside, you're going to go one block to the Lemon Ice King of Corona, from which that television show got its name, and apparently it's been featured on The King of Queens or whatever. You're going to order. You don't have to just have a lemon ice. You could have a spumoni ice. You can have a chocolate ice. It goes on forever and ever. Pistachio, my personal favorite. Then you're gonna take your ice …. and you're going to go across the street to what is called Spaghetti Park. In the right weather, you will find the Bocce courts above, with septuagenarian and octogenarian Italian men in their slouchy sweaters and their caps playing Bocce. You will then not disturb the bocce play just because that's not going to end well. You're not going to ask to play, but you're going to watch because really, that, is New York.“Now for something completely different. Flushing, Queens. You can go to Chinatown in Manhattan. But just as amazing is the Chinatown in Flushing, Queens. And I want you to go to a place called the New World Mall … on your right you're going to see this Asian supermarket that's got everything. I don't want you to be distracted by the supermarket. You can get that on the way up. I want you to go down the escalator. To the subterranean food court that has every (food) you could possibly want, every cuisine.“It has Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Taiwanese. You name it, it's there. You can get pho. You can eat bullfrog. There are all the amazing Chinese aunties making hand done dumplings, hand rolled. Bubble tea, the whole thing. OK? It is amazing. You would never know that it is there. But I think it's well worth an excursion.Listen to the full episode to hear more of Denise’s personal guided tour of Queens.

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At-Home Early Cancer Detection Test Hits the MarketChan Namgong, founder of Oncotect, joins host Laura Reeves for a very personal discussion of the value of early cancer detection for our dogs.Namgong launched his company in 2019 in the aftermath of his mother’s cancer diagnosis. He already knew that dogs can detect human cancer by scent. But then he learned about a group of scientists that discovered that small nematodes can detect cancerous metabolites in urine in human medicine.“What's amazing about these small nematodes is that they have very high sense of smell,” Namgong said. “They have more olfactory receptors than dogs, despite their small size. So what we have done is we've developed a platform where we are using (nematodes) to detect cancerous metabolites in dogs’ urine that contains the cancerous metabolites.“(Nematodes) are small worms, and the scientific name of them is C. elegans. And C. elegans is actually, you know, if you are a scientist or biologist, it's a model organism. It's widely used in different disciplines of science. In pharmacology, chemistry, biology, you know, cancer cells, stem cell research, environmental study, because we know everything about these worms. In fact, C. elegans was the very first multi-cell organism that was ever DNA sequenced. And the way we utilize them is we can actually measure the intensity of the olfactory neuron in their head.“We can categorize pets as low, moderate or high risk of cancer. Oncotect is a screening test, not a diagnostic test. So, this is meant to be proactive and preventive measure. And then if there's any risk, moderate or high risk, we'll bring you back to your veterinarian for further consultation, diagnostic tests such as x -rays or ultrasound to really confirm or deny a cancer suspicion or to identify the type and location.“Prevention of cancer is almost impossible because we don't know what's really truly causing cancer. But your best strategy is find it early and treat it quickly. Diagnosing a cancer is like a putting a puzzle together. You’ve got to bring different pieces of information to really look at a big picture.“We have primarily focused on the four most common treatable canine cancers. They are lymphoma, melanoma, hemangiosarcoma and mast cell tumors. And the reason why we focus on those four is because just due to the limited resources that we have.“We've tested over 700 dogs in the last year or so. And among those 700 dogs, we have detected TCC, bladder, prostate, liver, soft tissue. So we've detected other cancer types, but the reason why we are not making claims for them is because we haven't run a large enough sample size to publish any scientific paper on them, which we plan to do this year.”

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Managing Your New Puppies’ Critical First 72 HoursDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss managing the critical first 72 hours with new puppies.A recurring theme with breeders and new litters is the term “fading puppy.”“(Fading puppy) is basically we're just lumping a bunch of stuff together and calling it fading puppy,” Greer said, “because we don't necessarily have a confirmed diagnosis. We may not have a diagnosis yet. We may never have a diagnosis, but it is not a diagnosis. It's just a description of a puppy that fails to thrive. And I think that a better term is failure to thrive rather than fading puppy because it's more clear that it's not really a term of diagnostics.“I think a lot of owners and veterinarians tend to kind of throw up their arms and say, ‘well, it's a sick puppy. I don't really know what to do with it.’“Well, there's a lot of things you can do. Diagnostically, you can do almost everything to a small puppy that you can do to a big dog. Now of course the bigger the puppy gets, the easier it is to do the diagnostics. But if you choose to pursue some of these diagnostics, it's not that difficult. You can do an x -ray, you can do an ultrasound, you can do blood work. At the very least, do a glucose level.“Worst case scenario, you lose a puppy. Don't just put it in the freezer and walk away, take it to your veterinarian, ask them to either open it up for you or send it in for diagnostics.“We've found things that are clearly one -offs. We've seen like the puppy doesn't have an intestinal tract, a large intestine. Okay, that's not gonna affect every puppy in the litter. But if you have herpes, if you have adenovirus, if you have distemper, if you have E. coli, if you have all these different kinds of diseases, the faster you can get a specific diagnosis and get a specific treatment put together, the better.”Greer observed that puppies who fail to thrive may present as crying constantly or weak and not moving with the “swarm” of the litter. Dehydration and low body temperature are common and correctible issues that can knock a puppy down and even out in the first 72 hours.Test hydration by monitoring urine color, Greer recommends, and be prepared to administer subcutaneous fluids if needed. Listen to the full episode as she walks listeners through this process and more.

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CRUFTS! Preview with breeder, exhibitor, judge Sharon Pinkerton[caption id="attachment_12769" align="alignleft" width="329"] Sharon Pinkerton with one of her 66 champion GWP.[/caption]Sharon Pinkerton, Bareve GWP, joins host Laura Reeves to preview the Crufts dog show held in Birmingham, England on March 7-10.Pinkerton, who was raised with Greyhounds and English Cocker Spaniels, will judge Spinoni Italiano and the Breeders Competition finals at the show.“Originally launched on 15 January 2009, the prestigious breeders' competition, sponsored by Agria Pet Insurance, gives breeders the opportunity to showcase their skills and knowledge as a breeder,” according to the Crufts website. “Each year a number of qualifying heats take place at general and group championship shows. Teams compete to gain points by being placed between 1st - 4th.The top 40 teams will qualify for the final at Crufts, of which two positions will be for the breeders’ competition winners from the European and world dog shows.”“I've judged German Wirehaired Pointers (at Crufts) a long time ago. And I've also judged Hungarian Wirehaired Vizslas. But this has been a little while since I've been asked to judge at Crufts. And certainly the first time I've been asked to do anything like the breeders (competition).“It is still quite a new competition. I'm probably the first true exhibitor that's been asked to judge it. The last four years have been top all-rounders where they've had breeding experience but they are more considered now to be an all-round judging person as such rather than still a breeder exhibitor. So I feel quite special really to be at that level.“I think that's what I'm looking forward to most is actually doing that because I know it's such an achievement to be asked. When I first got the email invite and I opened it and looked and I just thought no this is a mistake people like me we don't get invited for these sort of things. I dutifully sent it back thinking it would just come back saying ‘I’m really, really sorry Sharon, but it was wrong.’ But it came back as yes, you're now confirmed.”Sharon decided German Wirehaired Pointers were the breed for her and acquired one from the second litter ever born in the UK. Since the mid ‘70s she has produced 66 champions, of which 12 are full champions, where the dogs have proven their ability in the field as well as the show ring.“Dogs that have a job to do are considered to be show champions until they've actually been out in the field to prove their gun dog worthiness,” Pinkerton said, “plus of course the Border Collie which is the only herding breed that are show champions until they actually go and prove their ability to herd.[caption id="attachment_12768" align="alignright" width="425"] Champion Bareve Blaauboskom JW in the field.[/caption]“So all the gun dogs, no matter what breed they are, are all show champions unless you then go out into the field and prove that they are capable of doing the job that they were bred to do. And then we can proudly knock off the show bit and then they become full champions.Listen in to the entire interview for more details and insights about the famous Crufts dog show.

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Gatekeeping Within Our Breeds: A Conversation with the PatronsHost Laura Reeves is joined by members of the Pure Dog Talk Patrons group in an extended deep dive on the question of gatekeeping within our breeds. Members of this private group share their opinions, thoughts and mitigations on placing dogs, using limited registration, educating puppy buyers and more.Spinning off a podcast conversation several years ago with Amanda Kelly on the topic of are we protecting our breeds into extinction, Laura and the members of the group discuss the various perspectives on the topic.“This is a group where we talk about a lot of things and very rarely do we share those things into the public realm,” Laura noted. “But we all thought this was a pretty important topic and that we all had things we wanted to say about it and we wanted to share that with the larger Pure Dog Talk community as a podcast."One side of the conversation is the position that we have a lot of problems with new people coming to dogs and you have a new person who's excited to do it and the gatekeeping is preventing them from doing so.On the other side of the discussion is the opinion shared by a long-time breeder in the group.“I do not want my only okay, mediocre dogs in the conformation ring. That is not my goal. I don't care how many champions I do or don't finish as a kennel,” Karyn Cowdrey said. “What I care about is that what represents my kennel be of, in my opinion, sufficient quality. I would be proud to have kept it I would be proud to walk into the ring with it and honestly if I deem it show ring worthy to me then it's breeding quality and I keep my name on that dog until at least a certain amount of criteria are met by that person if they're a new person.”Education of new and potential buyers was also frequently mentioned in the dialogue.“I'm very big on education,” Sandy MacArthur said. “And I can give an example and I will not name the person nor the breed, but there's a person who went in the dog world and was looking for a ‘breeding pair’ … this was 30 years ago in the 90s… emailing everybody ‘I'm looking for a breeding pair’… We all know that's an instant red flag and this person got put on everybody's do not sell list.“Someone in the breed she was interested in decided to take this person out to lunch and have a conversation. By the end of the conversation at lunch, she sold that person a bitch on a co -owned contract. This person put all the work into it, all the research, drove everywhere every weekend, did everything right, and 30 years later is a well -known dog person. Let's just say that. Somebody took their time to pull them aside 'cause they didn't know. They thought that what you do is you get a breeding pair. They had no idea.”If you would like to join these types of conversations, as well as support the work of the podcast in education and mentoring, please visit the website and sign up to join us! Go to https://puredogtalk.com/patron/ to learn more.

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WKC Inside Scoop with Don Sturz, Tell YOUR Stories[caption id="attachment_12756" align="alignnone" width="2290"] Don Sturz and host Laura Reeves sit down at the Rose City Classic to discuss the 2024 Westminster Kennel Club dog show and plans for the future.[/caption]Dr. Donald Sturz joins host Laura Reeves to discuss this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens, NY and plans for the future.This year the club will celebrate the 90th anniversary of Junior Showmanship, Sturz noted, while the show is dedicated to the memory of Dave Helming. Sturz describes the search for new turf, new bracing over the courts for the outdoor rings, a gelato stand, an outdoor bar and new ticketing resources for evening events.“We want to be respectful and pay homage to the history and the tradition of Westminster, but at the same time, attempt to move forward and remain relevant,” Sturz said. “Always keeping the experience for the dogs and the exhibitors as the priority. And it's not always easy to juggle that.“Will we ever be back in Madison Square Garden? That's what you all want to know. Everybody wants to know, will we ever go back to the Garden?“Okay, so my standard answer has been for the past year, never say never. Remember, I grew up in this. I showed at Westminster for the first time when I was 10 years old … I've moved to calling it Westminster because we're not calling it the Garden … so I'd like to get back to being able to say “the Garden” so it is something that we're working on.“The fact of the matter is Madison Square Garden was remodeled and when they did that remodeling it's what took away all that space. So there's no way to have a daytime event. So that's how we ended up with the Piers. So then that thing called covid hit and during that time Pier 92 fell into the water … so that's gone. Pier 94 is actually being remodeled and will no longer be an exhibition space. It's going to be smaller spaces for individual businesses and so on.“So the Piers are off the table. (We) really basically looked at every possible venue in New York City or the metropolitan area. You know, we went to Newark … we had to exhaust everything, right? We also went a little further out into Queens, to the Nassau border and looked at an arena there. And all of these, we kind of looked at it from a space point of view, like, how would it work, right? In Manhattan itself, it's very limited as to what venues… like, there's really only one.“We're going to be in one of those kinds of venues that's going to, hopefully, afford us the opportunity to then be back at Madison Square Garden in the evening. So, watch for that.“The plan is to try to find something for ‘25 that is also ‘26 because we just need to stop moving. We need our home.“There's lots of fabulous events in our sport, but there is nothing in the world like Westminster. There's something magical about that event. That's something that we consistently commit ourselves to is the Westminster experience, right? Creating that magic.“So. I think Westminster is in a really great place. I think it's a pivotal moment for Westminster.”

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Puppy Evaluation System Developed by a Woman Ahead of Her Time[caption id="attachment_12746" align="alignleft" width="360"] Virginia Apgar, who named the newborn evaluation system.[/caption]Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for their ongoing puppy discussion. This month Greer shares the story of Virginia Apgar, who named a now-famous newborn evaluation system after herself.Apgar was a human anesthesiologist who graduated from medical school in the 1930s, Greer noted.“She was the first female anesthesiologist admitted to the College of Anesthesiology back in an era where there were no women doctors. There were no women a lot of things. So she was truly remarkable, Greer said.“In that era, a lot of babies were born to mothers that were sedated or anesthetized. And so (Apgar) developed a scoring system to analyze the babies and it has stuck for the last 70 years and it's very impressive that it's something that people talk about every day, still using the word APGAR. The acronym stands for: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration.”The system was adapted for small animal veterinary use by a vet on staff at the University of Minnesota.[caption id="attachment_12752" align="alignright" width="550"] Parameters for APGAR scoring.[/caption]“The advantage of a numerical score,” Greer added “is that it gives you something that you can measure and compare litter to litter, puppy to puppy within the litter over the course of time. And we have some really good data from Neocare, which we talked about last time, about what the relationship with the APGAR score and the survival of these puppies will be. So it's actually super cool that you can take all this information and turn it into something that you can use at home, you can use at your veterinary clinic, and that your veterinary clinic can help you with. So I would encourage people to learn to do APGAR scores. It's not hard, it's not mysterious. It's really pretty straightforward on what to do with it.[caption id="attachment_12753" align="alignleft" width="480"] Treatments for common whelping issues.[/caption]“The value of this is when you go home (from a csection, for example) and you have a puppy that had an APGAR score of a four and a puppy that had an APGAR score of a nine, that you know the puppy with the four needs a lot more attention to have the kind of survival rates that one would hope for. We always hope for a hundred percent (survival), but reality is 100% is probably not a realistic goal.“Each of the five parameters, appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respirations gets a score of a zero, one, or a two. So collectively, if you get twos on all five of your items, you have a score of a ten.“It's really simple to do. It doesn't require high level assessment and like I said, a lot of us probably are intuitively already doing this. When you have puppy born, if it's fish breathing and gasping and gaping, that's not good. But, if it's got nice pink color and it's wailing and it's crying and it's wiggling and it's pink and it's all those things, you know that you've got a puppy that's in pretty good shape. But it's just nice to be able to give it a more numerical sign because that gives you data to work with.“The average puppy is gonna be seven and up. It does give you a numerical score. The value of this is knowing that from the Neocare information, that's from the University at the Toulouse -France Veterinary School, the puppies with an APGAR score of less than seven have a 22-fold increased risk of death in the first eight hours after they're born.“And they also know that puppies with APGAR scores between a four and a seven can achieve a 90 percent survival rate with the appropriate interventions. So, what does that mean? That means you suction them, you put them in oxygen, you make sure that they're staying warm. You're doing all those things that you already have been trained to do to help with puppy resuscitation so that they're not just you know laying in the whelping box kind of hoping that they do okay.”Greer's seminal book "Canine Reproduction and Neonatology" is available HERE.

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Pro Tips on Changing the Conversation from Ian Lynch[caption id="attachment_12739" align="alignleft" width="373"] Ian Lynch with his newest Dawin Poodle, Portia.[/caption]Canadian Kennel Club spokesperson Ian Lynch joins host Laura Reeves to talk about changing the conversation on purebred dogs with the general public.Lynch, a broadcaster in his day job, brings his passion for purebred dogs to the CKC as their public spokesman. He describes his lifelong obsession with the sport, obtaining the Dogs in Canada Annual magazine and creating a “vision board” with pages from the book taped to his wall.His first dog as an adult was a Dawin standard poodle.“I used to get “Dogs in Canada” annuals and I used to put all the pictures on my walls because I love these dogs. And I had a picture on my wall in 1995. It was an Allison Alexander in a red dress, holding Dawin High Falutin, who was the number one dog and has all these records to this day. His name was Lutin, I believe his call name. And it's funny because as I get older, I realized that I was making a vision board because now I have a Dawin dog.[caption id="attachment_12740" align="alignright" width="266"] Ian Lynch and Allison Alexander, from vision board to friends.[/caption]“And I'm friends with Allison Alexander and she's the greatest person alive. So, it's so funny that like, you know, that you hear almost like manifestation stuff and I didn't know what I was doing. But as a kid, I used to always have the picture of the Dawin dog and I used to tell my parents, ‘I'm gonna have a dog just like that one day.’Don't just talk. Listen!Lynch recommends we just talk to people about dogs. And not just talk, listen also! On topics from training to doodles, listening to what people say gives you a chance to address their actual concerns and increase buy in to the information you do have to share.“The easiest way for me, I think, to start talking to people about purebred dogs is to talk to everyone who has a dog.“For example, there's this lady on my street. She has this pitbull mix. And this dog was so reactive to my dogs all the time. I mean jumping in midair. And then, I noticed that from a distance, she taught the dog the look at me, you know, the treat out. And I stopped her and I said, ‘Sorry to bother you, I just want to congratulate you and let you know that I've noticed how good you're doing with this dog and how far your dog has come.’ And she says to me, ‘Oh my God, thank you. I've always admired your dogs. What kind of dogs are they? Are they show dogs? Where are dog shows? Where can I learn more about these dogs?’ Simply talking to people about dogs.“The way I think a lot of times, I'm lucky I have a radio show. I can infuse dogs. I got the mic. I got the platform. But we can all infuse dogs into our life at all times. When you have people over, my dogs are generally always well-groomed and bathed, basically weekly, but you want to make sure your dogs will look good if people are coming over.“They smell good, they're cuddly. I'm a big proponent of best self and make sure your dogs are their best self when people come over and, you know, people ask questions. Another thing we have to do is when we talk to people about dogs is we have to let people talk as well.“We know a lot about dogs. We want to voice our opinions, but we have to let people talk.”

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Breed Type First: Mary Dukes on Judging Dogs[caption id="attachment_12717" align="alignleft" width="409"] Mary Dukes in her handling days heyday.[/caption]Legendary handler, rep and now judge Mary Dukes continues her conversation with host Laura Reeves. Today they talk about judging, handling and all-time favorite dogs.“I’m a type-first girl all the way,” Dukes said, quoting the notable Anne Rogers Clark common wisdom to sort first on type and then reward the soundest of the typical dogs. “I’m forgiving of leg faults, especially on the down and back. As long as it doesn’t offend me, it’s probably good enough.“I do firmly believe this. A good judge can see right through a poor handling job. Sometimes it's frustrating. I watched a breed in Orlando. It wasn’t a hound breed but a breed that I'm very familiar with and it was so frustrating because it's an owner -handled breed for the most part and the best dogs in there were being tragically handled. It was so frustrating because there was a dog in there that's beautiful and every time the judge looked at him (the handler) wasn’t even trying to do anything with him. His legs were everywhere. You know, all she was doing was feeding him basically.“And I thought, God, if you could just rack him up once, just rack him up once and pull him up over his front and break him over, (the judge) just needs to see it once.“I might be the one that will turn into Frank Sabella. I mean, not in terms of swapping dogs or anything, because he did that to me a million times, but I know he got in trouble for it. But in terms of, ‘Here's what I want you to do. Can you go from this corner to that corner on a loose lead? Can you do that?’ If they give me five steps, we're golden.“At the end of the day, it’s putting up the best dog."Pro tip: Pacing“It's all about throwing them off balance when you take the first step. I always like to go into them because they learn pretty quick. A lot of people they jerk (the dog) and then ‘let's go.’ Well, then the dog starts anticipating that. I just would turn them into me and then just bump them. Just bump their shoulder as you start your down and back.”[caption id="attachment_12718" align="alignleft" width="482"] Ch. Aroi Talk of the Blues, 'Punky', shown with handler Corky Vroom. Judge Anne Rogers Clark “discovered” Punky in 1975, when she made her Best of Breed from the Puppy class at the Greyhound Club of America specialty in Santa Barbara. Punky was the Top Dog of all breeds in 1976.[/caption]Mary’s fantasy best in show line up would be judged by Michelle Billings. It would feature Mick, the Kerry Blue who shows up in most judges’ all-time best line ups, but many of her other choices are more esoteric and focused on dogs she knew personally. From Iron Eyes, the Bouvier to Scarlett Ribbons, the Italian Greyhound. Listen in to hear her personal choice for Best in Show.

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Mary Dukes: An Evolution from Owner to Professional to Rep to JudgeHost Laura Reeves is joined by Mary Dukes, legendary Whippet breeder, professional handler, AKC Executive Field Representative and now judge.[caption id="attachment_12711" align="alignleft" width="400"] A 1991 advertisement for Dukes' handling services.[/caption]Dukes has spent a lifetime involved in working with animals. From showing horses to training elephants to showing dogs. Her work with the zoo animals instilled in her an absolute dedication to animal husbandry.NO Dirty Dogs“There are no shortcuts in animal care. Period,” Dukes said. “In zoo animals, you have to be even more on top of it because wild animals don’t have a tell that they’re sick. In the wild, any tell that they are sick or injured is going to make them dead. So they are really good at masking that. If you are sloppy or dirty or messy there is no room for you in the animal business.“I’ll put this on blast right now, if someone walks into my ring with a dirty dog, we’re going to have a problem. There is no excuse to show a dirty dog. I won’t hold it against the dog, but the handler might get an earful.”AKC Registered Handler ProgramDukes was an early member of the AKC Registered Handler Program. As a rep, Dukes was a coordinator of the RHP. She joined RHP because they demanded insurance, inspections, so “I wanted to put my money where my mouth was.”RHP is not a guarantee the handler is going to win with your dog, Dukes said.“The whole point of the program is so the people have a place to start looking where we had done some of the ground work for you. You know they (they handlers) are insured. You know their vehicle is inspected for safety and cleanliness. You know their kennel has been inspected by AKC kennel inspectors. You know they’ve signed a code of ethics.“RHP members have to have a contract. They have to bill in a timely fashion. The bill has to be itemized. A lot of the trouble you see, most of it is because the expectations weren’t clear. If you have a contract, it’s[caption id="attachment_12710" align="alignright" width="392"] Dukes is still actively involved with horses. Her vacations frequently involve riding in exotic locales.[/caption]right there in black and white.Safe Sport“One of the newest requirements is SafeSport. All RHP members have to take the training as a condition of membership.“Safe Sport is a congressionally mandated program for every Olympic sport.“There’s been a lot of abuses in every sport. Basically, Safe Sport is making you aware of what to look for. If you see a situation that you suspect might be something, it gives you tools. Because we aren’t an Olympic sport, we don’t have access to the mechanics of the national organization.“It automatically makes everyone (who’s had the training) mandatory reporters. If you put it out in the open more, it’s harder for someone to creep around. I would like to see it spread out to judges, especially juniors judges.”Join us next week for part two of this fantastic conversation. Learn what Dukes is looking for in a dog and hear about her fantasy Best in Show lineup.

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BernerGarde Leads the Way in Open Sharing of Health InformationHost Laura Reeves is joined by Lori Jodar, president of the BernerGarde Foundation, to discuss this legendary program.BernerGarde has been collecting health and pedigree data on the Bernese Mountain Dog for nearly 30 years. The founder of this concept began in the 1960s gathering information on 3x5 cards. The non-profit foundation was created in the 1980s and now includes 215,000 dogs’ information.“The mission of BernerGarde has always been genetic, genetic, genetic,” Jodar said. “And because of that, we've been able to stay on course. The Parent Club, the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America, and the BernerGarde Foundation have remained very good partners throughout the years. So that's a good thing.“The most expensive thing that we have done to date is to start a repository. We started a DNA and tissue repository.“We knew we wanted to study this malignant histiocytosis. So in 2006, we partnered with Michigan State University, Dr. Vilma, we call her Dr. Vilma. And she's a brilliant researcher, as well as being a professor at Michigan State University Veterinary School, and she has managed a repository for us. We have 4,000 unique dogs in the repository, and I don't know how many tumors we have, but not that many, but like 1,000, we use for research.“It's very expensive, very, very expensive, but what has morphed out of that is there's a group in France that has been studying histiocytic sarcoma for a long time, and they are finding some answers. So, we have shared DNA with them, tumor submissions with them. We're about to send several hundred DNA samples to them for their continuing research.“The database that we have is so vibrant and vital to the community. I don't think I can overstate it. It's become part of everybody's life. And if they complain about anything, they... they being the community of breeders, they complain about anything, it's that there's never enough information.“Through this database, there's health records. We divide the health records into what we call anecdotal and diagnosed. So, to be diagnosed, you have to have veterinary support, a pathology report or veterinary report to actually have a diagnosed condition. And then we do all the health certs, you know, we get a quarterly thing from OFA on hips and elbows and whatever they're doing.“We also have, you know, about 50% of the dogs in the database now are not US, they're from Europe and Australia and Canada. So, we needed to learn how to interpret all of those records like through the FCI in Europe. And oh it's a lot. So, we have database operators all over the world now. We have about 30 of them and they're kind of the in-between, between the people that want to submit information.“We are so focused on accuracy that I think that has given us legitimacy, actually, that focus.“If you got a bitch and you are looking for a stud, you can go to our database. We have a stud-finder and you can put in parameters. What the age is, do they need their hips, do they need their elbows, do they need DM, do they need whatever it is that you feel you need for your breeding. And then, we'll just... spit out a list of stud dogs.“You can also do trial pedigrees. We also do COIs, Coefficient of Inbreeding, for every dog. You can put five pictures of your dog in there.”

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614 – Neonates: Hypoxia, Hypothermia, Hydration, HypoglycemiaDr. Marty Greer DVM joins host Laura Reeves to talk about the four H’s that constitute critical care of neonates: Hypoxia, Hypothermia, Hydration, Hypoglycemia.“The four H's are hypoxia which is oxygen,” Greer said. “Hypothermia which is temperature, hypoglycemia which is glucose and hydration which of course is hydration or dehydration. So we've got those four parameters and basing the rest of the discussion on that, we can get started with some pretty important things that you can do at home to measure, to manage. It doesn't do you any good if you can't manage it. But collecting the data doesn't do you any good unless you use the data.Greer notes there is currently no good way to measure blood oxygen levels in puppies at home, but that physical indications will give you an accurate starting place.“You can look at puppies and say, are they nice and pink,” Greer notes. “Do they have a curled pink tongue? Or is their tongue kind of grayish, blueish, a little bit flat? So curled pink tongue means you keep working even at one minute, five minutes of age, curled pink tongue with that curl to the edges, you keep going. If it's gray and flaccid and you've got other puppies that need your help, set that one off to the side, keep moving.”Greer recommends breeders consider investing in an incubator and oxygen concentrator. She advocates for the Puppy Warmer system in particular.Well-hydrated puppies will have very pale yellow urine when stimulated with a clean cotton ball or tissue, Greer observes.“For me, hypoxia is first,” Greer said. “For me temperature is second and then hydration is third. That's my particular order. Hydration is very important but temperature in the immediate birth period, in that first hour after birth. Puppies come out wet… They come out without any oxygen in them, other than what they got from their mom. So, they've got to start breathing immediately, and they've got to stay warm.“And so you want to get them born into enough absorbent material, like warm towels, that you can very quickly get the puppies dried off. Again, the incubator that Puppy Warmer has is a great place to put them for drying.“I like heat sources under the puppies, under the bitch and under the puppies. I don't like the ones that come from above. The ones from above, I have concerns about dehydrating the puppies. I have concerns about the bitch getting too warm and not wanting to stay with her puppies. I'm concerned (about fires) started with heat lamps. So, I'm really not a fan of the overhead heating.This is the first in a planned series of episodes about neonates, their care and deep dives into the first hours of a newborn puppy’s life. Listen in for more today and BOLO the first Monday of every month for more from Dr. Greer.

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Junior Handler Wins NOHS Finals in Orlando[caption id="attachment_12679" align="alignleft" width="439"] Adam showing his dog to Best of Breed.[/caption]The 2023 AKC National Owner Handled Series Finals was won by 14-year-old Adam Kucera and his two year old Irish Setter, Stryker. Adam and Stryker’s breeder, Patty Fanelli, join host Laura Reeves to share their story.“At (Adam’s) first show, he beat me for Winner's Dog,” Fanelli said. “It was one point with the brother. The next show was the Potomac Specialty. He went best in sweeps and he took a five point major and went best of Winners and best puppy.“And I said to him, "You just took a five-point specialty major." And he said, ‘I don't even know what that is.’ He sure knows now."Stryker is Adam’s first Irish Setter that his grandmother arranged to purchase from Fanelli. He showed a Boston Terrier first, but really wanted to show a bigger dog.Adam says he does all of Stryker’s grooming “except the clipper work because I am so afraid he's going to just move and it's just going to go, it's all gone.”The most challenging part of training Stryker, Adam said, was teaching him to freestack “Because he always just wants to jump, he always just wants to jump on my shoulders and thinks it's time to play as soon as I hold a treat and not hold him.” A 4.0 home-schooled student, Adam says he practices with Stryker every morning before completing his school work.Competing in NOHS gives Adam and is family more time to spend at the shows.“My first show, we went to the show and I didn't win the breed,” Adam said. “We went to go watch the groups and we saw that there were two groups going and we were like ‘why are there two, there should only be one?’ So then we found out what owner handler was. It's kind of hard to show an Irish Setter. There's not that many owner handlers out where I live, so if we want to stay a little bit longer at the show, we can do owner-handled and that gives us stuff to do and it's a really fun competition.”Adam has set lofty goals for himself and his dog. His remaining goals for Stryker include winning best of breed at the National Specialty and winning the breed at Westminster Kennel Club. He dreams of becoming a professional handler and breeding Irish Setters in his future.Take a listen to the entire episode for more from this outstanding young man.

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Clubistry: Websites Designed for Dog ClubsHost Laura Reeves is joined by Jennifer Johnson and Brent Wiethoff from Dialogs who have created and are building a service called Clubistry. The service designs websites specifically for dog clubs.“Younger generations are not as keen to join clubs,” Johnson said. “They don't always really know that there are parent clubs or that there might be a value to, or something that they can gain from joining their national parent club. And part of fighting that is to have an online presence and online applications.“We see a lot of people who don't want to download a PDF. If I have to mail something, I have to go find a stamp. I have to find an envelope. I don't know where they are. I don't use them very often anymore on purpose. Moving applications to an online form helps increase the number of applicants you get because you can fill it out all in one step and submit it at it's done as opposed to, ‘that looks like something I want to do, but I've had to download this and now I have to cook dinner. So I'm just gonna set this aside’. And then they never get back to doing that thing.“A Facebook presence or other online platforms becomes more important these days because this is where people go to find out about information and there's a lot of bad information on social media. So it's... really important for clubs to have an official presence on social media. So they have a voice. They have an official representation and an official voice. You can't really ever stop the bad voices, but if you are not one of the voices, then all they hear is the bad stuff.“Anybody can spin up a WordPress website and you buy a template and then you start dropping your own content into it and it breaks. The design breaks. It looks bad. It doesn't look good on mobile. The person who had the login information leaves the club or your volunteer moves on to other things. Or you've hired somebody off of Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace to do the work for you. And now they've gone on to college or a girlfriend or a different life and are no longer available.“Domain names, you register your domain name, somebody in your club registers your domain name. And then it was 30 years ago and nobody knows who it was that did it. I have seen clubs lose their domain entirely because they don't know who has the login information for it, and then it gets purchased by somebody else to be held for ransom for a large amount of money.“Same with the websites, somebody built it, nobody knows who or nobody has the login information anymore. Volunteers die or move on to other things. All these things happen. We've heard all these stories. We've got our roster in an Excel sheet, and you have one person who's in charge of the roster, but they have another person that's helping them with it. Now you have two copies of the roster.”For more on this great service, listen in to the entire episode!

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Foundations for Success at the Dog Show: Shoes and Shapewear[caption id="attachment_12644" align="alignleft" width="306"] Veronica Wolfe, owner at Best in Show Clothes[/caption]Veronica Wolfe, owner of Best in Show Clothes, joins host Laura Reeves with professional advice on shoes, shapewear and other foundations for success at the dog show.“I've become passionate about good shoes,” Wofe said. “And I've been known, a couple handlers can attest to this, of grabbing people and going, you need to get out of those shoes because you will have hip and knee and back problems before you're 35 if you don't. So, yeah, it's important.“If you can find a small shoe store in your area that actually has a fit specialist … I would be go to one. I would run to one. But you also need to know a little bit about your own foot issues. Do you roll in? That's called pronating. Do you roll out? There are different things. Do you have high arches? Low arches? There are running stores now that you can go in and put your feet on things and it will show you your arch. There’s a couple things that you want.“You do want some cushioning. We're in concrete all day. I'm not running circles, but I'm standing in a booth. You know, we're in concrete all day. People are running all day. You need something with some good cushion.“You want to look for a non -slip sole. Some of the stores online now actually actually say non -slip. If you need an arch, you need a good arch. Arch supports. You can get them for $40, $50 at running stores. I've seen them in sections sometimes at like TJ Maxx and Ross. And the over -the -counter ones, I've been told by a shoe specialist, are as good as the custom $400 podiatrist ones.“It almost seems like there's more options for guys and you've got this balance, right? So you can get a nice leather shoe for an indoor show, but you're going to ruin that leather shoe at eight a.m. in the morning when there's dew outside. So, you've got some nicer looking skater shoes, but the problem with those is there's generally very little arch support.“I have a number of (women) clients who do not like the way their calves look, and they'll be in boots even in the summertime. I think they look quite attractive if you're wearing a skirt and a blazer or maybe if you want a denim skirt. I would just say try and keep a nice line between them so you have a skirt then you've got a gap and you've got your skirt. Maybe black hose or tights that make that transition seamless, so it's not like this distracting line there. But you've got some really comfortable boots out there that will have that arch support or it's easy to insert one in it.Pro tip from Laura:Pro tip from a handler perspective: have more than one pair of shoe for each day.Change shoes, because even if it's just changing the angle of your heel this much, it makes an enormous difference. Pat Rogers is the one who taught me that a million years ago as a handler, change your shoes at lunch, and it makes all the difference in the world.Pro tip from Veronica:don't let your shoes get run down. If you are an exhibitor that's going out every weekend, six months max, you need to toss those shoes.For more on the essentials of foundations under our clothing, listen in to the full episode.

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Canine Influenza Outbreak and How to Manage It with Dr. Marty GreerDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the current Canine Influenza outbreak, how to manage it and how it became an overnight sensation in the public.“Well, partially it's media, partially it's misinformation, courtesy of the media,” Greer said. “And partially there was a lack of vaccine. The vaccine insufficient supply appears to have been corrected or is being corrected.“So, things are better. In 2004 when this first happened, we didn't have any vaccine and no dogs in any part of the world that we know had immunity to this. So Ron Schultz,the vaccine guru from University of Wisconsin, made a recommendation that all dogs should be vaccinated against this, that it should be considered a core vaccine because no dogs had natural immunity.“It was like when Parvo happened in the late 70s and early 80s came out of nowhere, there was no immunity and bada bing bada boom we've got dogs that are desperately sick and dying.“Influenza is a respiratory disease and it is classified in the CIRD, the canine infectious respiratory disease complex. So a lot of times that's either called CIRD or it's called kennel cough. There's a whole bucket of stuff that falls in the kennel cough bucket and it's not necessarily a diagnosis. It's a description. It's a collection of disorders, diseases, but it's not necessarily a diagnosis.“So we have had outbreaks of canine influenza (before). The first known outbreak was in 2004 in a colony of Greyhounds, I believe in Florida, and they think it was a mutation from the equine version of influenza.“And that was H3N8. There's now also an H3N2 that we have identified and can vaccinate against.“Like all respiratory diseases, it causes a cough, but in this particular case, influenza can cause disease severe enough to cause hemorrhagic pneumonia and the death of patients. And there have been patients that have died in this last outbreak that occurred this fall (at the Golden Retriever national in Albany, Oregon).“It had to get to the Golden Retriever National somehow. It's not like the Golden Retriever group invented it, just drummed up a new virus, but it appears that it reared its ugly head there. There were a number of dogs that were there that then went back to all over the U.S.“So, they were East Coast, Midwest, everywhere. And these dogs were coming back with respiratory disease and it was easy to just say, ‘Uh, it's kennel cough, here's some medication, you'll be fine.’ But one of my associates was involved with some of the Golden Retrievers that were at that show and I was in surgery the day she walked in and said, ‘You know, we've got these dogs that are coming back from the Golden National with a pretty bad cough.’ And I don't know why but the hair kind of stood up on the back of my neck and I said, ‘We need to get these dogs tested for what kind of virus or bacteria we have.’“There was just something about, I don't know if it was her tone of voice or the number of dogs that were involved. There's something about that conversation that just said to me, 'We have problems.'“So, we swabbed the most recently started to cough dogs. We didn't want a dog that had already been coughing for a week by the time we did the sample collection and submitted that to our local diagnostic lab at the same time that a number of other people were submitting samples.“We weren't the only ones by any stretch of the imagination that felt we need a diagnosis on this. So, at our diagnostic lab in Wisconsin, they came back with influenza A. At some of the other diagnostic labs, they came back with influenza H3N2, I believe. Not that it makes that much of a difference if it's H3N2 or H3N8. It's influenza anyway. So, there were multiple labs with multiple dogs that had all been at the same event.“They were coming up with the same answer. And so, when I walked up to my front desk last week and on the computer screen in front of my receptionist, there was a message from the media that said, "Mystery disease." I was like, ‘It's really not this mysterious, folks.’“And so, we need to start addressing it by getting more dogs vaccinated. So, it's time for us to not call it a mystery disease. It's time for us to make some decisions on whether this is a lifestyle vaccine or a core vaccine and get some of these dogs vaccinated that are at risk because this is a very serious illness.“No question that if the dogs don't have immunity, it's a very serious illness. Like I said, it causes hemorrhagic pneumonia. Some of these dogs are dying. Even if they've been put on ventilators and all the really high-powered stuff that they've been doing, sometimes we're still losing dogs to this. And it's really a shame to lose dogs to a disease that we can vaccinate against.“I don't care if you're doing agility or fly ball or competition with hunt test or field trials or confirmation. If you're going to the dog park, if your dogs are going to the groomer, any dog that qualifies as based on lifestyle for bordatella vaccinations should also be receiving influenza vaccine.”

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Critiques, Communication and Common Sense in Dog Shows[caption id="attachment_12561" align="alignleft" width="409"] Steve Dainard judging Spinoni back in the day, when Laura was still showing dogs.[/caption]Canadian Kennel Club judge Steve Dainard is back with host Laura Reeves for part two of a probing and thoughtful conversation about critiques, communication and common sense in dog shows.“So we know that every rule and regulation that came in probably had a foundation in someone doing something wrong,” Dainard notes. “Judges need to keep their interactions in the ring, not be too conversational in nature. Well, then all of a sudden you're going to get a whole population of judges who take us to the nth degree, and they're even afraid to have any type of communication, apart from instructions to the exhibitor.“So, I think there's a fine line between having this full on getting caught up in the ring, but also having, an opportunity to be able to share meaningful dialogue. And I think that we can do that. I think that maybe we're just not trained really well to do that. So maybe we need to have a discussion about what does that look like.“I get it, writing written critiques or an oral critique or whatever can be scary for many people. People don't like change, and whether it's not because you don't have the goods or you don't know whatever, maybe that's what the fear is based in. But I think culturally, you just hit the nail on the head, it's not encouraged to have that dialogue, that communication, that interaction. And what it does, it creates silos within our sport. And this is not what we need. We need to be able to have a mechanism in place so that it's okay to have a conversation.“And that conversation doesn't need to be precipitated by the fact that I'm pissed off because Laura didn’t put me up and I'm going to take a run at her after judging. And I got the rep coming with me because she crossed a line.“Having a written critique foundation in your toolkit as the basis for how you're trained to evaluate dogs creates a much easier conversation when that's the way you’re programmed and how you're picking your winners.“I think that the fear of error is like, (exhibitors are) judging me, right? So I can see why people would be afraid of that until you get really good at it. And you have the conviction to be able to say, this is my process. I think it could be a little bit of an overwhelming concept, but the only way we rip that bandaid off is by diving in and starting to practice it.”Listen to the full episode for insights on the role of judges in promoting responsible dog breeding and ownership and much more.

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Dog Judging Process and Ethics with CKC Judge Steve DainardHost Laura Reeves is joined by Canadian Kennel Club all-breeds judge Steve Dainard for part one of their conversation about the judging approval process, judging ethics and other hot button topics as we progress through “meat and potatoes” November!“So how do we help judges move into a place of thinking more about structure and less about the ‘paint job’,” Laura asks.“Some of the biggest challenge is, do (judges) have that breed specific knowledge,” Dainard replies. “And are we consistent in this application? Are we judging fairly and equitably and being consistent enough so that people that are watching, and in particular breeders, can follow and they can say, this person really knows my breed?“CKC judges get scrutiny from other non-Canadian judges about how we get there too quickly. and that maybe you know in your country, it takes it takes longer to get there. So, let's agree that maybe somewhere in the middle might be more ideal.“Organizing bodies do the best they can, given the current environment, to come up with a fair and equitable process. They don't always get it right and many times changes just are just so laborious, it takes so long and really, what is the right fit. So, I understand those challenges.“So, I think we need to work within the constraints of what we're handed with hopefully trying to make improvements along the way. Some of those challenges are making sure we have breed specific knowledge, that we're not missing the hallmark characteristics of a breed and just going for a more of a generic exhibit.“If you have to ask, ‘Is there a Rule against that’, what's happening is your moral guideline. Your compass is probably kicking in. I think you've already answered your question. If you have to question yourself like that, whether there's a rule or regulation specifically forbidding that is irrelevant. You've already answered your question. It should not happen.“We were raised in the sport. We spent decades in the sport. We know a lot of people. So now because we've chosen to change hats to now become judges, all of those relationships and those hotels we shared and vehicles we traveled in those don’t go away.“My interpretation is that when that’s said as the reason to justify a win, my gut goes to ‘Have you really evaluated everything. Did you fairly look at the dogs in competition.’ Many times, I don't think you're really did that. I think that the political excuse was the easy excuse for you to justify that in your mind and poo poo the credibility of the ethical issue around the judging process.”

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Keeping Foxhounds Alive Into the 21st Century[caption id="attachment_12547" align="alignleft" width="432"] Brigette Bryson with one of her Foxhounds.[/caption]Brigette Bryson, second generation breeder of Foxhounds at Foxhunt Kennels in Australia, joins host Laura Reeves in a wide ranging conversation about English Foxhounds, preserving the history they represent and how she hopes to keep the breed alive into the 21st century.There are three breeders of English Foxhounds listed on the US National Club website. In 2022, the breed dropped to last place in numbers of dogs registered with AKC. Although the breed lives on in the packs around the globe, their popularity has certainly faded from their heyday when hunting fox was both useful and fashionable in much of the world.“I don't know if that's ever going to change dramatically,” Bryson said. “I have this conversation with people regularly. I don't know that you can ever make them mainstream. Their history is so deep. And it's entrenched in people's brains that this is a hunting and a working breed that's not gonna fit in my suburban backyard.“So I don't know if you can ever change that. My goal is just to see them survive. That will happen in the packs. There's many packs. You know, we're not gonna have a figure of how many dogs exist in those packs, but they're there. And I think that they will always be there through people like me that have maybe grown up in that pack and they're obsessed with the breed, so they'll keep it going.“What I would like to see is if we could have a few breeders in each country breeding them, that would be a success for me. It's enough to keep them alive and not let that piece of history die for me. I think I really enjoy the history of the breed. I love that almost every kennel club you visit around the world is gonna have a painting of Foxhounds hunting. I think it's important to maintain it for that reason.“I of course would love to see them become more popular with the general public. I just don't know if that's possible. The sizes of houses and properties and everything, it's gonna be the same problem for all large breeds. It's getting smaller.“And realistically, as much as you can raise them to live in a smaller environment, it's not ideal for them and people would have to put in a lot more effort to meeting their energy needs. My goal is just to get them out there with breeders around the world. That's what I'm trying to achieve now.“There's not a single registered breeder that has had a litter in the UK that I can think of in the last 10 years. We have one active registered breeder in New Zealand who's fantastic. And there's a few really healthy packs over there that have some dogs from us as well."And in America, there's a handful if they even keep breeding, but they start aging out too. And that's what's happening here. There was four main breeders that we had, myself and my parents before me worked in with. One of those hasn't bred a litter for a decade. And the other two are at the point where they're saying to me, I don't know if I'll have any more just because they're getting a bit older.“And (Foxhounds) are incredibly healthy. Now that's another one that's complex. Foxhounds have been largely inbred since the beginning of time. But with that, only the strong survived. There is no hereditary diseases in the breed.“Part of that is that there hasn't been human intervention. So, all the debates that people have about inbreeding, and I have this debate with people regularly, because they'll say to me, you're gonna have to outcross. And I say, well, you need to outcross because you've got problems you need to fix.“But if I don't have any problems, why do I need to do that? A litter we had last year was from a six -year -old maiden bitch, 15 puppies. So, we're not having those issues that other people have. They're incredibly healthy. And people buying these dogs that they spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars trying to keep alive, I can sell you a Foxhound that will only have to go to the vet for its vaccinations.”

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Protecting Breeds Into the FutureDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss AKC’s newest service for preservation breeders. Greer was actively involved in AKC’s development of the Purebred Preservation Bank, taking the idea from the Otterhound Club of America. We had the conversation with Joellen Gregory early on about the Otterhound’s semen bank, and AKC has taken this and developed it into something that's available for all parent clubs.“(PPB will allow) AKC to fund the long -term storage of semen that no longer has an owner that wants to manage it,” Greer said. “So, you don't necessarily have to have passed away for this to happen. If you're at the end of your breeding program and you're sitting there with six beautiful dogs that have semen frozen, and you're like, ‘Well, I don't have anybody I've really mentored and my kids don't want it, so where do I go with this?’“That's when you go to the AKC website, you pull up the information on there, you sign the document that allows AKC to take ownership. And once you hand it off, you no longer are in control of that part of the semen. You may send all of your dog’s semen, you may send part of that dog’s semen, you may send all the semen that you have to the AKC, and AKC will then pay for the long -term storage.“Every breed club makes their own rules. Your parent club can put together their health committee, their genetics committee, a special committee for this. Your breed club will sit down and with some ideas from what other breed clubs have done, be able to say, ‘This is how we want the semen disseminated. Does the bitch have to have a CHIC number? Does she have to have these certain criteria? When is it appropriate to use? Has she had a litter before?’ All those kinds of things, your breed club can decide.“But as you release the semen, you can't say, ‘Well, I don't like Susie Smith." Susie Smith is never going to get to touch my semen ever, ever, as long as I live, over my dead body. Maybe it will be over your dead body because now it's no longer yours.“Fifty years from now and 100 years from now, that's what we're looking at. We're not looking at what happens next Tuesday when a bitch has to be bred. We're looking at 100 years from now. Is your dog still of value? You might say things like, ‘Well, styles of dogs change,’ and indeed they do. But sometimes those foundational dogs are structurally what you need. Sometimes those foundation dogs predate certain genetic disorders that have really worked their way deeply into the gene pool and could be very hard to breed your way out of.“AKC's role in this is to pay for the semen storage and to register the puppies. That's it. AKC is not there to start saying, ‘Well, we want you to do this with this and we want you to do that with that. And you have to have faith that 100 years from now, this mission, this vision is going to be held true. But it's not about Susie Smith. It's not about you. It's not about (any individual dog). It's about the overall health of the breed and where we can go with some of the genetics.”

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LIVE Debate: Should Professional Handlers Be Allowed in BPUP?Our final installation for Spicy October is a LIVE@5 debate between an owner handler and a professional handler regarding the hot topic of the rules around the BPUP, 4-6 months puppy competition.Natalie Thurman, owner handler:[caption id="attachment_12504" align="alignleft" width="351"] Natalie Thurman and Ares winning Owner Handled Group.[/caption]I do think that there are people who start out and it is intimidating to go up against the Laura’s and the Karyn's of the world because you just make it look so easy and then we try to go do it and then it's not as easy. Not even a little bit. I mean I know it’s why we have owner handled groups. But if you're not getting to the owner handled group either BPUP could be a good place to feel safe as a non-experienced dog show human.Karyn Cowdrey, professional handler:I believe everyone should have the opportunity, including breeder owner handlers, to show in BPUP. Why? Because the fact of reality of our life today is there are fewer and fewer handling classes people can get to. As handlers, often we're the ones teaching the handling class and we don't get to work our dogs in the environment. As a handler, it is important to me that my puppies that I own, that I bred, that I decided to keep, get the best experience they can in the[caption id="attachment_12503" align="alignright" width="377"] Karyn Cowdrey, BlackFyre Handling Services.[/caption]start of life in the ring. I shouldn't have to hand them off to a total stranger.Laura Reeves, host and moderator:The concept (of BPUP) is that the American Kennel Club wants to support the novice handlers and that the simple presence of someone more capable than they are, whether they be a professional or a breeder or what have you, is unnerving. And I don't know that that's a great solution. I think we all learn by being challenged, but I know it is something that is a thing.AKC gets banged a lot for not being encouraging and inviting and we as the representatives of the AKC get banged for the same thing. I sincerely believe that for people who think it is a big deal, they should get to do that. They should get to have that moment.Hope is what gets us and keeps us. And I guess that's what I would pin Best Puppy to. Is that baby inkling of hope. That tiny tingle of hope that the very new person gets when they get their first puppy.And they are so excited and they don't know what the hell they're doing. And their breeder’s probably shoving them in the ring. And they're really encouraging them to do this. It's hope. And I guess to me, when I judge it, when I see it, best puppy to me represents hope. It represents the hope that we as breeders have for those puppies that are in the ring. It represents the hope that those owners and handlers have for their new puppies. It's hope.BPUP represents the hope that those owners and handlers have for their new puppies. It's hope.The part of me that thinks that hope is important, thinks that owner handled being what is important and encouraging new people being what's important, I see the argument to make it a quote -unquote safe space from professionals.Join us for the full replay of this spicy hot topic.

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Creating Better Outcomes for ALL DogsHost Laura Reeves is joined by the founders of For All Dogs -- Chris Fleming of Pinnacle Pet and Martha Boden of SPCA Tampa Bay. This unlikely partnership grew out of a mutual desire to create better outcomes for all dogs, including retired breeding dogs from commercial kennels and adoptable dogs in animal shelters.As we wrap up “spicy October,” this conversation about a powerful alliance of opposing forces stands as a testament to the positive outcomes when we work together for the good of ALL dogs, instead of tearing one another down.Fleming is a broker for commercial kennels who sell puppies through pet stores. Boden is the director SPCA Tampa Bay’s animal shelter. They describe their partnership and friendship as serendipitous. Their work is beyond groundbreaking.[caption id="attachment_12497" align="alignleft" width="329"] Chris Fleming, CEO Pinnacle Pet[/caption]In 2008, Fleming began working with his suppliers to improve their facilities and programs. After meeting Dr. Candace Croney in 2014, he started encouraging these breeders to come into compliance with the Canine Care Certified program she created. Listeners may remember the episode linked HERE where Laura spoke with Dr. Croney about this program.“So, the benefits from the Canine Care, it's data that has been just really kind of eye -opening for us,” Fleming said. “Looking at taking notes, breeders do everything from measuring humidity and air temperatures every day to stimulation or handling the pups that they deal with, really puts in a more hands -on approach.“What we're seeing is better socialized animals. We're seeing healthier moms. We're seeing when you're focused and attentive to what they're doing, the happier mom makes a happier pup, you're having lower vet bills and it feels weird saying this now because it feels like common sense but now it's, I can point to the science of this. So lower vet bills, happier healthier moms and puppies and being mindful of an appropriate retirement age.“You also have a kennel that you're getting moms out of the kennel retired at an earlier age. The puppies that they're producing, there's more of them. It's better litter counts, lower veterinary bills. So from a business standpoint, it's lower costs, increased profits. And so from an animal welfare standpoint, it's happier dogs and kennel owners that are reporting enjoying the time in their kennel more.“That leads into the For All Dogs program and it's a pilot program for us because we've ran a few of the retired adults from canine care certified kennels. But this For All Dogs program needs to offer up a trusted source for breeders that are looking for either canine care certification or at least achieve those standards and have a trusted retirement partner.”As Fleming and Boden talked after a chance meeting at an animal welfare event, they began to have more in depth conversations about their two disparate worlds.[caption id="attachment_12496" align="alignright" width="465"] Martha Boden, CEO SPCA Tampa Bay[/caption]“I started to get a feeling for what a puppy distributor did,” Boden said. “And then as we were having these conversations, Chris started talking to me about Canine Care Certification and I thought, ‘Wait a second. This is not something that my world has been talking about at all. Like why are we not aware of this amazing thing that's happening at one of the best veterinary colleges in the country?’“And I realized again working through Chris and getting a chance to learn that it was still kind of in its early stages. And so I thought, okay, well, I want to understand more about it. I want to understand more about these standards. And I also want to understand, because Chris is bringing animals into my community, he knows something because he provides puppies to two of those six stores, he knows something about the world I live in. And I thought, if there's an opportunity to partner with somebody who's this closely involved with animals that are coming into my community, I should figure out what it is.“So Chris brought, I think his entire management team to Florida. And we talked very frankly about, would there be an opportunity to partner and how it needed to be something that was a win for both of our organizations, and all of the people that we touch. And we just started brainstorming about what that might look like.“And the first thing that came out of my COO's mouth that I think made us all kind of stop on our tracks was she said, ‘You keep talking about a good breeder. Well, I've never seen one, because I don't get called in when a breeder is doing a great job. My team gets called in when it's a disaster. So forget any marketing that somebody might be doing. I've been there, I have walked through, you know, overwhelming facilities where, you know, there's all kinds of horrific things happening all around us. That is all I know. So Chris and your team, you're going to have to help me understand what a good breeder is.’“And that really just opened the floodgates. So we basically all agreed, all right, let's get to know each other. Let's figure out who we are and what language we use and how we might be able to work together.“And so we went into it with a very open mind, but not a whole lot of preconceived notions notions other than this kind of idea that, hey, wait a second, the Canine Care Certified Standards do require an adoption pathway for retiring adults and gosh, one thing we're actually pretty good at is placing adult dogs with individuals that want to move them into their home. So that started a year -long journey.”Listen in for the rest of this heart warming story about a truly staggering partnership to improve the lives of ALL dogs. Please take a moment to complete the survey Boden mentioned HERE.

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Purebred or Mixed Breed: Silken Windhounds Bridge the Divide[caption id="attachment_12486" align="alignleft" width="358"] Silken Windhounds descend from lurchers (believed to be Whippet x Sheltie) and Borzoi.[/caption]Ashlynn Hill joins host Laura Reeves for a discussion of the Silken Windhound. These dogs appear to bridge the divide between preservation purebred dog breeders and the "fad" mixed breeds that make many preservation breeders tear out their hair.A partial transcript of the conversation follows.Pure Dog Talk is the voice of purebred dogs. We talk to the legends of the sport and give you the tips and tools to create an awesome life with your purebred dog. From showing to preservation breeding, from competitive obedience to field work, from agility to therapy dogs, and all the fun in between, your passion is our purpose.- Welcome to Pure Dog Talk. I am your host, Laura Reeves, and we're having these conversations. We had a conversation last week about the American bullies and kind of this concept that so few of the breeds that we know today were, as I say, burst from the head of Zeus, right? Most of our dogs that we know were created somewhere along the way. Some of them are more recent and there's a conversation to be had about these created crosses, why they were created, what the goals are, what the history and the purpose of the crosses are, and how that progress is going into creating a whole new purebred dog.So I have with me Ashlyn Hill, who is involved in Silken Windhounds. She says she came through the herding breeds to Silken Windhound pipeline, which I think is adorable.Pure Dog Talk is proudly sponsored by Trupanion, medical insurance for the life of your pet. Trupanion can give you peace of mind knowing your pet is covered in the event of an unexpected accident or illness.Even better, Trupanion can pay your veterinarian directly and has no payout limits. So you'll never have to choose between what's best for your pet and what's best for your wallet.And if you're a breeder, you can join Trupanion's free breeder support program and get a special offer to share with your puppy buyers that waves all the waiting periods.So coverage goes into effect immediately.And so welcome Ashlyn. I'm really excited to have this conversation. We've reached episode 600 and we're kicking into the new era with all these spicy conversations. So I'm really excited about doing that. I think there is an interesting and worthwhile conversation to be had.Thank you so much for having me, Laura. And congratulations on your 600 episodes. I'm very thrilled to be here. This is pretty exciting.So talk to us about silken windhounds specifically. What is the history of this particular cross? What was the purpose? You know, why was this developed?[caption id="attachment_12485" align="alignright" width="495"] Kristull Amalie - LHW (1984) from Francie Stoll's A litter.[/caption]Yeah. So Silken Windhounds, we're going back to the very beginning. We're looking at around the 1980s.Our breed founder is Francie Stoll. She had a pretty extensive history in Borsoy before she decided to take on this project of making a new breed. So in the early 1980s, she actually got the first dogs that she would use to produce Silkens from Walter Wheeler. Walter Wheeler was well known in the Whippet community for having his long -haired Whippets.So Walter Wheeler claims that he had, you know, purebred long -haired Whippets. You know, whether that is really true, we don't really know. We, as Silken People, we say that they were lurchers. We very strongly believe that there were some Sheltie hiding back there because in Silken, we have CEA and MDR1, herding breed, you know. So that's what our suspicion is. We call them our lurchers. So Francie got several of these long -haired Whippets from Walter Wheeler. Some of them were in Whelp, and she used those to start making her own thing. I mean, it wasn't until about 1985 that she says her first litter of Silken Windhounds were born.This was when she had added in some Borzoi and she finally created the vision of what she was looking for. And really what she was looking to produce with these lurchers and adding the Borzoi and the little bit of the whippet history is that she's looking for a medium -sized, very elegant, very easy sighthound. You know, just looking to fill that niche for something a little bit smaller, but not quite Italian greyhound sized. So that was really what she was just looking to produce.And the D litter, the Kristull D litter, is what she says was her first production of Silkens. She made it. This is what she's looking for. And she took that and continued to breed on from there.So this is fascinating to me. Is she doing inbreeding, linebreeding, and how is she accomplishing or how is the breed today accomplishing? What is this? 30 years later, the consistency that you expect to see from a purebred dog?Yes, there was a lot of linebreeding. Mostly there were studs used several times. You know, we're talking upwards of like 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 times. We've got dogs being used. So it was primarily a lot of linebreeding on line breeding in the beginning. But eventually, we were able to create enough diversity to we're sending Silkens out to Europe. We've got Silkens in Canada. We've got other breeders participating. You know, once it kind of got bigger than Francie, that's when, and this is, you know, only the late 90s. That's when we're starting to add more.We're creating the breed and we're able to take this and really just continue to breed on to what Francie has produced. And I really think that very early on, they were breeding true. You know, you look at a very early picture of a silken windhound and I can look at that even as a project dog and say,"That looks like a silken."[caption id="attachment_12484" align="alignleft" width="424"] Most Silken Windhound enthusiasts enjoy competing in various sports with their dogs.[/caption]And so what makes a silken windhound its breed? So the ones that I've seen, I'm kind of like, "Is that an ugly Borzoi? What are we doing?" Right? So talk to me about what makes them their specific breed. What is their breed type?Yeah. So I think what makes a silken a silken is that size -wise they should be, and typically are, much smaller than a Borzoi. We're talking about with the size slightly bigger than a Whippet, slightly smaller than a Borzoi. They have very long, easy to maintain coat. Personality -wise, they're a little more human -oriented, a little more biddable, willing to work. We do have silken, there's a range. So we have your more sight -hound typical silken where we're talking like, not a lot of repetition, the training session should be short and sweet. And then we also have silken, and I've met several, I have a couple that are just like almost border collie -like, and they're willing this to work, like just drill and drill and drill.Interesting. So you see that herding bit coming through.Yes. And it's surprising, you know, how much that really seems to, even still, because Sheltie was only ever what was behind Walter Wheeler's dogs. There has never been any direct cross with Sheltie to Whippet, to Whippet, to Borzoi, like that's never been in the history of a silken windhound. So it's just that little bit way back when, and it still really seems to ring true today.A little bit goes a long way with those guys.Yeah. Literally.So you have a club, you have a parent club, yes?Yes. We have the International Silken Windhound Society. This was founded in 1999. That is kind of where we started to lock everything in. So we've got the breed club that's been produced. We've accepted a breed standard, and now we're kind of really making things officially official.And do you compete with your dogs in UKC, I think, yes?Yes. Yep. So we gained UKC recognition or acceptance in 2011. That's our primary venue for conformation. Some time in the last 10, 15 years.Yeah. Okay. All right. That's good. And is there a desire amongst your group of fanciers to compete at the AKC level? Is this something you expect to take forward and to FSS, miscellaneous, and work your way up?Yes. Yes. Very much much so. I would say a very good chunk of exhibitors in the breed are hoping for AKC acceptance.Listen in for the rest of this fascinating coversation....

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Responsibly Developing New Breeds… What Does That Look Like?The facts are that all but a very, very limited handful of our breeds today have been created by mankind for some purpose. Companionship is a purpose. I would like to introduce you to the Toy Fox Terrier, for example. As society moves away from agrarian and hunter gatherer lives, companion breeds and even new companion breeds are more in demand than ever.Society changes. And I think that when we talk about purebred dogs being living history, in some cases that history is still being made and there are different needs in today's society than there were 100 or 200 years ago.[caption id="attachment_12482" align="alignleft" width="321"] DASH DNJ HOP UWP URO1 EGRCH SB Knightfall SPOT[/caption]Join me for a conversation with Nikki Holcomb about the American Bully. Recognized by the United Kennel Club in 2013, Holcomb is leading the push to responsibly develop this companion breed with health testing, temperament testing, breeding goals, a breed standard and more.“The American Bully is a companion breed,” Holcomb said. “A lot of people, when they see them, will immediately question that. They're like, ‘Are you sure these are dogs in the companion group?’ Even when we're at dog shows, we're standing ringside and they're like, ‘Are you sure at the right ring?’ And I'm like, ‘I'm absolutely positive.’ It's surprising to people, I think, to see a big bulky dog beside a little bichon or a little toy poodle or whatnot, and they're like, well, we just really don't understand. And that's valid.[caption id="attachment_12481" align="alignright" width="358"] MBIS/MRBIS TDBIS MSDBIS VBIS R1 STAR3 RACEN URO1 AP2 VPA UWPO UGWPCH IC-GRCH INT-BCH DGCH ArK9s Noschitt Sherlock DNA-VIP NTD SPOT-ON[/caption]“But I think that American Bullies fill a really important spot. There are people out there that want to have a bigger dog, a little bit bigger than medium size, that can do all of the really fun sports, but they really don't want a working dog. Or maybe they don't want the attitude of a terrier, or they don't want to deal with the baying of a scent hound or the quirks that come with the sight hound. You know, whatever it may be. But they want to sport dog. Or they want a dog that can go on three-mile hikes with them or go swimming at the lake and they're like, well, do I get a small dog or do I just go with some of the things I don't enjoy as much and I think American Bullies do fill that space really well.“They're very easy to train. They're incredibly handler oriented. They're absolutely in love with their people, to the point where they've never met a stranger. Protective is definitely not on their list. A lot of people will see them. They're like, oh, they're guardians. They're 100% not guardians. They're not going to protect you. That burglar coming in the house is their best friend. They're super outgoing, they're fun loving and they love to try everything you know, anything you could do. They're excited to do it.”“The official listing of founding breeds for the American Bully are the American Staffordshire Terrier, the American Pitbull Terrier, Old English Bulldog and English bulldog.[caption id="attachment_12480" align="alignleft" width="307"] Health testing for the American Bully. Infographic by Anissa Shotbolt.[/caption]“I think they really took traits from each of these breeds and really focused on making a dog that could be calm enough and low drive enough to be with a young family, with young kids, or even a first time pet owner. Removing a lot of the dog aggression to the point where we do not want to see any dog aggression in American Bullies at all. We don't want to see prey drive. You should be able to have your American Bully with anything and everything. They should be gentle with children. They should be biddable, easy companions. There shouldn't be anything that makes them difficult for first time pet owner. These are really important traits for this breed that I feel like the founding breeds maybe fell a little bit short on.”

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Add Years to Your Dog’s Life with One Simple StepDr. Marty Greer DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how every pet owner can add years to their dog’s life with the simple step of avoiding obesity.“It's a difficult conversation,” Greer said. “It's difficult for veterinarians to bring it up. It's difficult for clients. So all the way around, it's a challenging process and we have to be very careful, as veterinarians, that we don't insult anybody because our role is not there to be body shaming their pet, but rather to be that advocate for their pet's best health.“We know that dogs that are ideal body condition live 2 years longer,” Greer noted. This is based on a laboratory study of littermate pairs. One group was free fed as much food as they wanted over their lifetimes. The other group was fed 25% less. The dogs fed less lived two years longer than their littermates.“We're not going to convince people that they're going to stop giving their dog treats,” Greer added. “I mean, that's just not a practical thing for us to talk people into because that is their love language. That is the way that they communicate with their pet in a lot of realms. It's easy to continue to give that love language of food to your pet, but to do it in a way that has lower calories. So instead of feeding them extra, you can do some simple things by changing the treats that you give.”Dr. Greer’s top tips for avoiding obesity in pets: Weigh your pet routinely. * Use your hands to feel the pet’s body condition (HINT: Watch the YouTube video of this pod for Greer’s demo of how she explains proper weight for each pet!)* * Trade out fruits and vegetables for dog biscuits. * Limit “people” food or reduce amount fed at meals to compensate. * Spayed and neutered pets need 25% fewer calories immediately. * Increase activity. * Plain Cheerios and ice cubes are fun treats for dogs. Get creative and make healthy eating fun for you and your dog.

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Mentors, Mentees and All the LoveWelcome to Pure Dog Talk. I am your host Laura Reeves, and today is episode 600. Like holy podcast palooza Batman. There has been an awful lot of water under the bridge since November of 2016. If you haven't, you should make a point to watch the Live@Five episode with Mary Albee from this month, where we talk about the creation of pure Dog talk. Everything from what to name it to her dragging me kicking and screaming into the role as host. It's pretty epic conversation.And for everybody who's listening, just know that you can go to the website puredogtalk.com and the blog post will have links to a bunch of these things that I'm talking about today. I have lots of thoughts, but instead of droning on about how impactful this podcast actually is, which I know you know because I hear from you all on the daily, I want to dig into a topic that is front of mind for every single one of our listeners.Not a day goes by in one of the, I don't know, 9 million groups on dog book or in our own patrons group or somewhere. That there isn't commentary about mentors and mentees and the relationships they're in. I even touched on this in a conversation with Vicki Ronchette on her show Dog Prep School Facebook Live a few weeks back.The fact is, for me, the most moving and powerful moments of the last seven years have been when random strangers tell me that pure dog talk and the work that we do here has served as their mentors. That pure dog talk, me as the host and all of our amazing guests - shout out to every single one of y'all - that we're the reasons that they're breeding dogs or showing dogs or participating in a club. And that veterinary voice episodes with Marty Greer of literally saved their dog's life. That I, that I was their virtual mentor from afar, in a tiny, tinny voice over their smartphone.So I wanted to dive into the concept of mentorship more in this epic moment of episode 600. This day represents a truly mind-bending amount of time and energy. Learning, growing, succeeding, failing. And I guess I'd like to use that as an avatar for really a larger conversation. Growing up this podcast, this community, this ever blossoming dialogue is in many ways analogous to the effort involved as both mentor and mentee in any relationship.And as it turns out, the ability and willingness to share knowledge and accept the sharing of knowledge in a mentoring type relationship is not actually hardwired into the human brain. So I went searching for, you guessed it, some more insight and some more knowledge.

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Norwegian Elkhounds: The OG GPS Tracking System[caption id="attachment_12454" align="alignleft" width="346"] Kamilla Engen with her dogs. In Norway, Grey and Black Norwegian Elkhounds are recognized as separate breeds.[/caption]Kamilla Engen, Norwegian Elkhound breeder, judge and moose hunter in Norway, joins host Laura Reeves for a Love the Breeds discussion of this ancient hunting breed. Engen judged the breed's US National Specialty in May.Per the Norwegian Elkhound Club of America, The Norwegian Elkhound is bold and energetic, a hardy gray hunting dog known for his lush silver-gray coat and dignified but friendly demeanor.In appearance, a typical northern dog of medium size and substance, square in profile, close coupled and balanced in proportions. The head is broad with prick ears, and the tail is tightly curled and carried over the back. The distinctive gray coat is dense and smooth lying.As a hunter, the Norwegian Elkhound has the courage, agility and stamina to hold moose and other big game at bay by barking and dodging attack, and the endurance to track for long hours in all weather over rough and varied terrain.The durable Elkhound is among Europe’s oldest dogs. They sailed with the Vikings and figure in Norse art and legend.You Get the Dog You Deserve“(These are) excellent family dogs,” Engen said. “We also enjoy our nature. And it's the perfect companionship if you are hiking, going in the mountain. I always walk my dogs and so they are good off leash. I always said that you get the dog that you deserve. If you want the dog to get back to you, you have to start with that. It's a training. Of course. But if you start early and make it positive to come back to you, yeah, of course (they come when called). Because the ability that makes it an enormously great hunter is the ability to cooperate with the hunter.“We have two kinds of forums of hunting that use these dogs. The one is the most usual is loose. You let the dog loose and you have a GPS tracker on it so you can see where it is and you can also see when it stands still and you can hear the barking. Then you have contact with a moose.[caption id="attachment_12455" align="alignright" width="391"] This Norwegian Elkhound tracked down a wounded moose that was hit by a car so it could be humanely dispatched.[/caption]“The other one is with a very long leash, 5-6 meters. And let me just explain a little bit why we do that in Norway. Norway is a tiny country compared to the United States and we have distinct areas that we are allowed to hunt. In these areas you can hunt a certain number of mooses. OK and these dogs? They run far. And the and a moose doesn't always stop (in the confined area). So, if you have small areas, it's very helpful to have a leash because then you can control it a lot more and you can search a whole area.“They locate the moose from a quite a long distance. They are incredible, their ability to do this. Then they located, they run over to it and hopefully they are able to get the moose to turn around towards them. To defend themselves. This is an old, old instinct that moose have from wolves and bears. And then the dog barks. From old times before the GPS trackers, the hunter hears that noise. And that was their GPS.”

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Basset Fauve de Bretagne: Old Breed is New to AKC Miscellaneous[caption id="attachment_12428" align="alignleft" width="289"] Nick Frost, AKC Judge and Hound Authority[/caption]Nick Frost, AKC judge and hound specialist, joins host Laura Reeves to talk about the charming Basset Fauve de Bretagne. Better known for his Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen breeding program, Frost was involved with the Fauve in England in the late 1970s.The Fauve, as the breed is commonly called, entered AKC’s Miscellaneous competition for the first time in July of this year. They have previously competed in Open Shows and participated in the Foundation Stock Service.According to the Basset Fauve de Bretagne Club of America, “The Basset Fauve de Bretagne is truly an old French Hound, tracing back to the 1500’s when Francois I had a pack of Breton hounds which he hunted regularly.” [caption id="attachment_12430" align="alignright" width="248"] Frost with Merrick, Varon Aymeric at Dehra born in quarantine at Ryslip kennels.[/caption]Fauves, like many European breeds, were nearly lost due to the World Wars and had to be reconstructed from just a handful of breeding stock, Frost said.In France, the breed is a rabbit hunting hound and the French are very proud of the breed’s hunting ability. They are kept as pack hounds in their native land and as a result are very good with other dogs.“(The Fauves are) very sweet tempered,” Frost observed. “I found them more so even than the (PBGV). I never experienced a fight with my Fauves.”These short-legged hounds carry a short, hard, dense wire coat, less profusely furnished than the distant cousin the PBGV. Minimal, low maintenance grooming is required for Fauves with correct coats.“It’s a breed that needs activity,” Frost noted. “Like all pack hounds, they just need a companion. They are great with kids. The breed is a bit more people-focused than many scent hounds.”[caption id="attachment_12431" align="alignleft" width="308"] Fauves are generally biddable and people oriented.[/caption]“This is still a hound,” Frost said. “It still can be “deaf”, you can’t trust them to come when called every time. They are still being hunted and worked full time in Europe. So that prey drive is still close to the surface.”

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Puppy Strangles, Pyoderma and Neonatal OphthalmiaDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss some of the weird and scary diseases that can affect our puppies, including puppy strangles, puppy pyoderma and neonatal opththalmia.Puppy Strangles“Essentially what it is, is it's an allergic reaction or an over immune reaction to bacteria that are normally found on the skin. So we normally see streps and staph on the skin of mammals. Puppies, humans, whatever. And in a small population of puppies, we see this allergic reaction. And the reason we call it strangles is because the lymph nodes in the neck become enlarged, hugely enlarged. And sometimes that's the first symptoms that are seen. Sometimes they're skin lesions that are noticed first.“They typically start on the lips, at the very front of the face, at the very front of the lips. And then they'll move back, and then they'll move to the eyelids and then they'll move to the ears. It's sort of like when you have an anaphylactic reaction and a dog, a vaccination or beesting. It starts at the very tip of the nose and then moves its way back.“They'll see open draining wounds and they'll be really sticky. There's a lot of serum that comes out of them, so they're really sticky. Gooey, messy things and fussy.Puppy Pyoderma“A fair number of puppies have (this), especially the little girls, right in front of their vulva on their tummies where there's not much hair. They get urine scalds, they develop something (more) serious. “(It’s) not a really serious condition. And anytime I can treat something topically just with cleaning it with wipes or with Chlorhexidine or a shampoo or applying a nice type of a cream or an ointment to it and get rid of it without using an oral antibiotic. I'm going to the same with vaginitis and balanoposthitis in the boys. Do not routinely put your little girls that have vaginitis or your little boys that have balanoposthitis, that green pussy stuff that comes out of the tip of the prepuce. They don't need to be on an antibiotic for that. It's not serious treat it locally. Be smart about it.Neonatal Opththalmia“Somehow bacteria got behind the sealed eyelids before they open their eyes. I've seen it happen with females that have had metritis. If you read the literature, it says that it's in unclean conditions. Well, in my experience it has been households that are incredibly clean. Like you could eat off their floors, but there's bacteria in the environment. Often from the bitch having metritis or mastitis something in the environment and the bacteria gets behind this sealed eyelids and turns into this little pocket of pus. It's quite disgusting.“This is a medical emergency. You need to come in immediately, get the eyelids open, get them on oral and topical antibiotics and you'll save their vision. And I have seen multiple puppies because it wasn't recognized, either the puppy didn't have enough swelling for the owner to recognize it or the eyelids didn't open on time. Or a variety of different things. And the puppies can be blind. I had one puppy that was blind in both eyes, so it's very serious and needs to be handled.”

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Puppy Strangles, Pyoderma and Neonatal OphthalmiaDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss some of the weird and scary diseases that can affect our puppies, including puppy strangles, puppy pyoderma and neonatal opththalmia.Puppy Strangles“Essentially what it is, is it's an allergic reaction or an over immune reaction to bacteria that are normally found on the skin. So we normally see streps and staph on the skin of mammals. Puppies, humans, whatever. And in a small population of puppies, we see this allergic reaction. And the reason we call it strangles is because the lymph nodes in the neck become enlarged, hugely enlarged. And sometimes that's the first symptoms that are seen. Sometimes they're skin lesions that are noticed first.“They typically start on the lips, at the very front of the face, at the very front of the lips. And then they'll move back, and then they'll move to the eyelids and then they'll move to the ears. It's sort of like when you have an anaphylactic reaction and a dog, a vaccination or beesting. It starts at the very tip of the nose and then moves its way back.“They'll see open draining wounds and they'll be really sticky. There's a lot of serum that comes out of them, so they're really sticky. Gooey, messy things and fussy.Puppy Pyoderma“A fair number of puppies have (this), especially the little girls, right in front of their vulva on their tummies where there's not much hair. They get urine scalds, they develop something (more) serious. “(It’s) not a really serious condition. And anytime I can treat something topically just with cleaning it with wipes or with Chlorhexidine or a shampoo or applying a nice type of a cream or an ointment to it and get rid of it without using an oral antibiotic. I'm going to the same with vaginitis and balanoposthitis in the boys. Do not routinely put your little girls that have vaginitis or your little boys that have balanoposthitis, that green pussy stuff that comes out of the tip of the prepuce. They don't need to be on an antibiotic for that. It's not serious treat it locally. Be smart about it.Neonatal Opththalmia“Somehow bacteria got behind the sealed eyelids before they open their eyes. I've seen it happen with females that have had metritis. If you read the literature, it says that it's in unclean conditions. Well, in my experience it has been households that are incredibly clean. Like you could eat off their floors, but there's bacteria in the environment. Often from the bitch having metritis or mastitis something in the environment and the bacteria gets behind this sealed eyelids and turns into this little pocket of pus. It's quite disgusting.“This is a medical emergency. You need to come in immediately, get the eyelids open, get them on oral and topical antibiotics and you'll save their vision. And I have seen multiple puppies because it wasn't recognized, either the puppy didn't have enough swelling for the owner to recognize it or the eyelids didn't open on time. Or a variety of different things. And the puppies can be blind. I had one puppy that was blind in both eyes, so it's very serious and needs to be handled.”

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Black and Tan Coonhounds with Kathy Corbett [caption id="attachment_12418" align="alignleft" width="282"] Kathy and Boomer, Ch. WyEast Why Not.[/caption]

Pure Dog Talk’s Love the Breed series, focused on hound breeds, continues today with 50 years of knowledge about Black and Tan Coonhounds as breeder Kathy Corbett joins host Laura Reeves for this insightful conversation.

Kathy and Jim Corbett acquired their first Black and Tan Coonhound sight unseen in 1971. They wanted a short coated dog of a size that was easy to reach for a pat on the head and was good with the family. The WyEast Black and Tan Coonhounds are legend, including Boomer, Am/Can/UKC Ch. WyEast Why Not.

Am/Can Ch. WyEast Why Not was the all time top winning Black and Tan Coonhound in the history of the breed with a show record which includes 12 All-Breed Best in Shows, 64 Hound Group wins, and 201 Hound Group Placements. A grandson of National Specialty and Hound Group winning Ch. WyEast Wanderlust, Boomer was number one Black and Tan Coonhound in total dogs defeated for five successive years - 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991. He was also awarded Best of Breed at the National Specialty of the American Black and Tan Coonhound Club for the years 1990 and 1991.

[caption id="attachment_12417" align="alignright" width="406"] Kathy and a typical Black and Tan Coonhound puppy.[/caption]

“(Black and Tan Coonhounds) have a kind of a muddled history,” Corbett said. “We certainly go back to foxhounds. George Washington had fox hounds and he had dogs that happened to be black and tan in color. It was quite a while before the utilitarian dogs that would hunt for anything with fur that could run were divided essentially by coat color and a little bit by their style of hunting.

“Five of the coonhound breeds generally were used to track and trail coons and other animals that would either go to ground or tree. The Plot hound is much more aggressive and was used primarily for bear because it takes a tough dog to take on a bear.

“But in general, these were dogs that would chase anything with fur that would run and they were the dogs that put meat on the table. Some of the breeds, like Treeing Walkers, were a little faster. Black and Tans were the ones that weren't necessarily as fast, but would stay on a trail forever and had great endurance. And they're also wonderful dogs to have around. They were very reliable with other dogs and children.

“We loved their temperament. We wanted a dog that would run all night if we wanted it to, or go hiking or camping or anything that the family wanted to do and then would come in the house and lie down and go to sleep. And that's exactly what we found.

“When we place a puppy, we do try to impress upon the people that this is an on-leash breed. They are bred to hunt independently. They are bred to take off on their own. And they will. And it's your job to find them, to follow them. Their end of the bargain is that when they get something up a tree that they will yell their heads off so you can find them. But if that doesn't happen, for instance if they're after a deer, they usually just go and go and go.

“So in general for hiking or anything else, they are on lead dogs and at home they need a fence. They'll range for 10 miles. If they remember where they came from, they'll come back. But they go, and it's not a matter of training. You're working against hundreds of years of instinct.”

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Love the Breeds: Salukis with Caroline Coile [caption id="attachment_12406" align="alignleft" width="330"] Caroline Coile with her Saluki, Prophet.[/caption]

Author and Saluki breeder Caroline Coile joins host Laura Reeves for the kick off of our Love the Breeds feature.

Some of Coile’s tongue in cheek descriptions of the ancient breed include “breathing furniture,” “arm candy” and “they don’t like to show their feelings.”

“We have a lot of artwork that does indicate that there were saluki-like dogs … all over the Middle East,” Coile said. “But not just the Middle East, but everywhere the Silk Road went. We see them in China and obviously it's pretty easy to take this dog and bring it with you to trade or hunt or whatever.

“We know that some of the first Salukis that came to the western part of the world, to England, were there by the 1700s because there was a famous painting of Zilla … she was, if we can judge from this painting, a gorgeous black and tan, very refined, long feathering… she would have won in the show ring today.

[caption id="attachment_12405" align="alignright" width="417"] Ch Khiva's Karavan of Zuhair, CD born 1980[/caption]

“I think that there were two different families (of Salukis), those that went with the Bedouin and they probably hunted hare and rabbit and helped fill their pot with that whatever they could catch. And then I think there were some that the royalty took out on the giant Gazelle Hunts, which would have been a great King Tut and all that sort of thing. A great sport, but probably not a cost efficient one in terms of, you know, calories per what you can bring back.

“An advantage to the Saluki is how peaceful they are. When they're not going, they're peaceful and they're not fighting with each other. They're not fighters. They get along. This is the norm. They like to sleep in your bed. They won't stay off your furniture. They are climbers. I have one that can get on the refrigerator. Oh well, she doesn't just jump up from the floor, she gets on the counter beforehand and won't stay off that though so I put stuff on the refrigerator to keep it away from her.

[caption id="attachment_12404" align="alignleft" width="405"] BIS BIF HIT GCh Khiva's Prophet of Baha, CD, FCh, SC, RA, JOR[/caption]

“I know one of the things that I think is really important to get across to folks that want to live with what I sort of jokingly, to my friends, refer to as dog arm candy. They're really beautiful. (But) the important part to remember is they’re dogs and their long developed natural instincts are to chase and kill things and do that very independently.

“The whole motto is that saying ‘if looks could kill’ … you look at their breed standard and that basically defines the saluki breed standard in four words. I get a lot of inquiries from new pet owners saying, ‘We're marathon runners and we heard that Salukis are long distance runners.’ And I have to say, ‘Yeah, they're long distance sprinters, if that makes any sense? They can run at full double suspension gallop longer than any other breed, but I guarantee you that if you try to trot with it for any length of time, it's like dragging an anchor behind you. They're not into that. They like to go full speed.

“And then the other thing I would say is that I don't know about other breeds, but Salukis are the biggest complainers of the dog world. Oh, it's too hot. It's too cold. Because they act like they're royalty.”

Multi-group-winning SBIS Ch Baha Khyrwolf...

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Temperament Testing for Better Puppy Placements [caption id="attachment_12395" align="alignleft" width="235"] Hannah Crane, National Puppy Program Manager for Dogs for Better Lives.[/caption]

Hannah Crane, National Puppy Program Manager for Dogs for Better Lives, joins host Laura Reeves to take a deep dive on temperament testing for better puppy placements for all breeders. While Crane uses the system to test puppies going in to service work for her organization and others, she discusses why all breeders can follow the protocol to help make the best possible matches for puppies and buyers.

“Temperament tests are exactly how they sound,” Crane said. “They help us to assess and identify any temperaments that the puppies are showing us in a litter. Are we looking at a puppy who is confident and calm in any environment? Are we looking at a puppy who is maybe shy or reserved, unsure of their surroundings? It really helps give us a snapshot in time, what that litter is showing as well as the individual puppies.

“We get to look at each puppy and the litter as a whole because that's great data for our breeders. We can see what's trending. The particular test that we use helps us to see how the puppy reacts to different environments and how it reacts to different people, different stimuli, novel objects and also different stressors.

“Typically, you wanna do them between seven and eight weeks old. That's really the prime time to do it. If you're being really picky, 7 1/2 weeks old is prime. You're right at their sponge stage. They're really coming into their own behaviors in the litter, finding their social status as well as right before they go into their first fear period, too. And that's essential.

“(Temperament testing is) great for private breeders as well. For you guys to be able to identify which puppies will be successful in a private home or a show dog home or a sport home, I mean our ultimate goal both of us, you know, whether you're a school or a private breeder, the ultimate goal is to set up these puppies for success, to set up our families and our clients for success. We want that puppy or dog to stay in that home for the rest of its life. This is how we do that.”

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Taking on the Taboos: Learn the Inside Story of Veterinary Procedures Dr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves take on the recently taboo subjects of veterinary procedures such as bark softening, tail docking, ear cropping and dewclaw removal. Greer covers the how, when and, importantly, WHY of these procedures. Debark Some people call it urban bark. Some people call it bark softening. It kind of gentrifies the term a little bit because you're really not taking away the bark. You really are softening it. And there's a lot of misconceptions about it. I've heard all kinds of stories about how cruel it is and how difficult the procedure is for the patient. And honestly, none of them are true. Dewclaws I don't see problems with the dewclaws coming off. I know there are people who feel that it weakens the carpal joint in the dog and I, to this day, have not seen a dog breakdown it's Carpus and have difficulty with its carpal joint related to a declaw removal. We do see dewclaws that get torn off during hunting, during other kind of activities …. I actually haven't seen any literature that suggests that they've got proof that (dewclaw removal) makes a difference. Tail Dock Nothing, nothing is more horrible than a broken, bleeding tail. Nothing. They crack them on the wall in the crate, in the kennel. And then they start to bleed. And then, oh my God, it looks like an axe murder happened in your house. It is unbelievable how much blood they can spray around from the end of their tail, and they're very hard to bandage. They don't heal very well, so they can be a real challenge.

There's a lot of reasons that people do tails. It's not just about breed type, it is really about function as well.

Watch Dr. Greer perform this simple procedure. Ear Crop Breed type is a big deal. If you don't crop the ears on a Doberman, it doesn't look like a Doberman.

I think we have to be really honest with ourselves that it's about appearance, it's about breed type. It's primarily a cosmetic procedure and we have to be honest about it. But you have to decide what you're breeding for because again, ear set and ear leather has changed because people don't really pay attention to it. In Closing I will tell you that a lot of the procedures that (some folks) are telling people not to do are far less invasive and far more beneficial for the pet than spaying and neutering. Because why do we spay and neuter our dogs? Because we're too lazy to control their sexual behavior. It's not for their health. The American public has become complacent and will not (train) their dogs.

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Prevent or Correct Coat Stains in White Dogs [caption id="attachment_12346" align="alignleft" width="330"] Allison Alexander working with a white poodle.[/caption]

Allison Alexander returns to the podcast to discuss how to prevent or correct coat stains in white dogs. Allison and host Laura Reeves take a true deep dive into the details, tips, tricks and methods to manage unsightly staining for all coat types.

“One of the things I'll say about white dogs,” Allison said, “is even if you haven't prevented it and you need your dog to be whiter, you need to follow some of the prevention protocols in order to keep them white. In my experience, once you start whitening a coat, even with something you might think is gentle, our dogs do tend to restain a little bit quicker.

“Basically there are three of the more popular ways to keep our dogs white once they're stained. So, they are using a bluing shampoo, something that has some bluing in it. But what that is doing, it's really just changing the spectrum. They take something yellow, they put a purple filter over it and then our eye sees that as white and so the problem with that is you do that too often and then your eye starts to see the purple or Gray or something in between there.

“And then the other popular one is an enzymatic cleaner. So those are super popular, but what those actually do is the enzyme is actually eating the stain, therefore eating some of the keratin that's in the hair and then that makes the hair actually quite weak after a while and it can not only go dingy, turn different color, (it) can actually snap off. So that's kind of scary.

“Same with bleach. Bleach is doing the same thing. This is why prevention is so important, because as much as we like to whiten our dogs, you kind of want to do it as delicately or as less often as possible. And the more often you're doing it kind of the more damage you're doing, right? So, for me, it starts with prevention.

“A lot of these shampoos, how they work, is think of a hair cuticle like scales on a fish, and we want those scales to be super tight and waterproof. Most shampoos that we use work by blowing the hair shaft open to suck the dirt out of the hair. Very few products seal it, so we want products that seal it so it doesn't restain as quickly and to me that's just part of the game. Wash, condition, prevent and dry because the damp part is causing (a lot of) the problems.

“I (have) used a very old English recipe (to remove stains)… I use milk of magnesia, the 3% hydrogen peroxide, so the first aid kind, and basically enough cornstarch to bind the two together like a loose toothpaste. And I would literally smother (the dog) in it (after) last ex. And then I just put them to bed. If they're living in your house, they should sleep in a crate that night because it's messy. And I let it dry and it's like the milk of Magnesia helps draw the staining out naturally. Now this isn't something that's going to take a urine-stained dog to white overnight like this. (It takes) like 3 weeks, but it also didn't damage the coat. And I just kept reapplying and reapplying and reapplying and you know, some of those things do really work.”

Listen to the full episode for more "secret menu" tips! And visit Allison's Leading Edge Dog Show Academy for complete grooming courses.

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Breeding Basics LIVE with Laura from Pedigrees to Puppies Host Laura Reeves takes the LIVE audience through breeding basics, reading pedigrees, health testing, phenotype vs genotype and more. This journey through the theory side of breeding, covers important topics for breeders from novice and intermediate to advanced. * Use the resources of older breeders who knew the dogs and they will also be able to talk about traits that genetic testing and COA does not give you. * This is an art and a science, and part of the art is finding your mentors and being able and willing to talk to a lot of different people. Not just the same people all the time. Not everybody has all the answers. * One of the things that makes purebred dogs purebred is a level of inbreeding. That's what makes it purebred. Having a higher or lower level and how you use that and the healthy genes that you're doubling up on or the unhealthy genes that you're doubling up on make an enormous difference in your breeding program going forward. * We have to think about the process that we intend to follow and it's ideal if you can create a plan. Is your plan to do consistent inbreeding? Maybe that's not such a great idea. Consistent line breeding? That's probably pretty safe. Consistent outcrossing is really safe from a certain perspective. In terms of health, you're not as liable to double up on a particular recessive, but at the same time, I can tell you from personal experience every single time I go out to get one thing, I get three things I did not want. So, balancing those three breeding theories is absolutely critical to your mission in your breeding program and knowing what you will consider and what you want and how you plan to get where you're going when you start. * We're trying to build on this concept of “I have a stated goal. I have written it down. I have cemented it in my brain.” And I have had a very careful evaluation of the bitch that I'm working with. My foundation bitch. I know what I want to improve upon in her. I know what I will not give on, what I will give on and what is not a concern. Those are the kinds of questions that need to be addressed as you're getting started deciding if and when to breed your dog, male or female. * Genotype is the pedigree that's what talks about the actual genetic involvement in each individual dog. Phenotype is what does the dog look like? When you make breeding decisions, whether you breed on a pedigree or whether you breed on dogs that look alike, no matter what their genetics are, no matter what pedigree is behind them, is, in my opinion, sort of a personal decision. I personally am a genotype freak. I am a pedigree guru. I love it. I research it. I live and die by it. And yet I know there are lots and lots and lots and lots of people out there who breed on phenotype. I want a dog that looks like this. And this is what my dog looks like I think this is what the breed looks like I want another dog that looks just like this.

Hear more of this insightful, targeted conversation by listening to the entire episode above.

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Out of the Mouths of Babes: Elliott Wentzel and the Patrons Book Club Today's episode is a very special excerpt from our Patrons' After Dark Book Club. The Patrons community is a fabulous place where folks from all levels of knowledge in the sport come together and form a supportive, open, safe space to discuss all things pure bred dogs.

Amongst our favorite meetings are our book club conversations where one patron selects a read from the Pure Dog Talk bookshelf and we discuss. In this case, our youngest patron, 18 year old dog show savant Elliott Wenzel, leads the conversation about Pat Trotter's, iconic "Born to Win, Breed to Succeed" textbook.

Required reading and, frankly, rereading for every purebred dog enthusiast, the book covers in intimate and informed detail a variety of topics central to our sport.

If you two would like to join these uplifting and spirited discussions, join us by visiting Pure dogtalk.com and click the Become a Patron tab at the top of the page. I really hope you enjoyed this brief, fly on the wall, introduction to this very, very special community.

"I had always loved dogs, loved dog shows and I had been watching (my) large collection of Westminster DVD's," Wentzel said. "I don't know, something has always just attracted me to Westminster, you know, with it being the show of shows and all that. And so how can you know Westminster without knowing Pat Trotter, who has won the group 11 times? She's a big part of it. So I found the book one day, just randomly scrolling through, and I bought it.

"One of the first couple pages of the book (there) was just a quote that I thought spoke volumes about the responsible breeder and what they do in their day-to-day, which was 'The ethical breeder lives for his dogs, not off of his dogs.'

"And I think that's just such a valuable statement because I feel like people who look in from the outside think that dogs show people just do it for money, which we all know is not true. I think it's just such a great statement because it speaks to our motives of why we're doing this and what we're doing it for. If we didn't love the dogs, none of us would be here today.

"One of the other quotes I found from early in on in the book, she said breed specific knowledge must be added to your general knowledge of the dog's history and origin of your breed, understanding the purpose for which it was bred.

"So when I am looking at dogs I want to know what that dog was bred to do. Because at the end of the day it's evaluating breeding stock and I just feel like if you don't know the history of the origin, the purpose of that dog, you're not gonna gain any of that information about why it's built the way it's built."

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5 Simple Strategies for Improved Websites Ecommerce and technology specialist Jo Stern joins host Laura Reeves with five simple strategies to improve your website, reach potential new homes and make the first page on Google.

“Search engine optimization (SEO) is essentially what you are building into your website to make you more findable on the Internet when you are talking about thousands upon thousands of people searching for you as a breeder or your puppies,” Stern said.

“Or they're just looking into information about breeds. You want to make sure that your website is easy to find, especially if you've got litters on the ground and you're trying to sell puppies, or you're trying to advertise your studs, or you know you want to connect with other people in the same breed. You want to get your name out there.

“It's your ability to make yourself appear on the first page of Google. That's the end goal is when somebody searches your name, your breed, your state, you show up first, and that's the end goal of what you're doing.

“(There’s) a little bit of reluctance because technology is scary. But I think it's also not exactly their fault because it's very difficult. It's very convoluted. Google makes it difficult on purpose because they don't want people to game the system.

“There are different pieces of this puzzle that is SEO. It seems a lot of breeders are missing pieces of the puzzle because that technology is so hard and that education just really isn't out there. There's not a lot of layman's terms education on how to build your website effectively. How you get your name out there. So there's a lot of guesswork. But I think there's a lot of things, a lot of strategies that breeders can employ.

“The first thing, is they need to Google themselves. They just need to pull their kennel name. Just go search yourself and see where you show up on Google. See how hard it is to find yourself in Google. If you can't type in your kennel name, your breed or your state and find yourself, that's a problem.

“If you've got a website that you've built and you have not maintained, you haven't gotten any up-to-date content or you haven't made any changes, how people can find you? Google likes addresses, they like locations.

“As a pet buyer, I'm not talking about show buyers and people who are very savvy, they're going to be searching their town, they're going to be searching their state, they're going to be searching literally “golden retrievers near me,” as that's a search function of Google.

Listen to the full episode for more of Jo’s great suggestions.

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Kidney Diseases: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on diseases that affect the kidneys in dogs. They cover symptoms of kidney problems, causes and treatments for various common kidney issues.

“The symptoms that most people catch first are a change in water consumption, an increase in water consumption and increase in urination,” Greer said. “Now, that's not the only reason that dogs can need to drink more and urinate more, and what goes in must come out. So those usually go hand in hand.

“The most common things are changes in water consumption, changes in urination. Now other  things that frequently cause that are going to be diabetes; which happens in dogs and cats, Cushings disease; which happens in dogs, which is an adrenal gland dysfunction, and other things like pyometra, high calcium that can be related to different forms of cancer. So, there can be other things that we're looking for. But we're going to start looking at kidneys, diabetes and Cushing's disease in the dog most commonly.

“We're going to get blood work and urinalysis as our basic starting point. But that's not the only place we're going to go. We're going to start with those two things. Because if the dog is still able to concentrate their urine, well, then that tells us something different than if the dog’s urine was really dilute and the BUN and creatinine start to go up.

“Once that happens, that means that only one fourth, only 25%, of the dog's kidneys are still working correctly, unless it's a secondary cause from dehydration like vomiting, diarrhea, other causes of dehydration, so it’s super important. You go in and if your vet says we should do lab work, you shake your head up and down and you say yes, yes, yes we should. Please do not argue with them. Do not fight them on it because you can very quickly tell from a urinalysis and a blood panel.

LR: Can a bladder infection go to the kidneys?

“Number one, it can. It's not common, but it can.”

LR: OK, so what's going to cause a kidney infection? Where's our causation?

“It's usually hematogenous, meaning it starts off in the bloodstream, so can start as a pyometra. It can start as any way that bacteria gets into the bloodstream, but usually the kidneys are protected by the fact that the urine is concentrated so that helps to kill bacteria and remember urine is flowing from the kidneys down the ureters and into the bladder so that constant flushing should keep bacteria from being able to ascend up into the ureter and up into the kidney. So can they still happen? Yes, they can. They're not at all common, but they happen. And they're tricky to diagnose because sometimes it doesn't look obvious. So that's where that blood and the urine sample is really important because it is life-saving to a dog or a cat to have that diagnosed and be able to resolve that.

Additional causal factors, Greer noted, can include tick born or infectious diseases such as Lyme Disease and Leptospirosis.

For additional details on causes and treatments, listen in to the entire episode, or check the YouTube pod, and click to subscribe, @PureDogTalk.

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Host Laura Reeves is joined by Kira Hoang and Dan Khanh Tran to discuss Phu Quoc Ridgebacks and their efforts to build a club and registry for the indigenous breed of Vietnam.

[caption id="attachment_12275" align="alignleft" width="388"] Phu Quoc Ridgebacks are one of three known breeds with "ridges" of hair on their backs.[/caption]

Developed on an island off the coast of Vietnam, the Phu Quoc Ridgebacks join the Thai Ridgeback and the Rhodesian Ridgeback as the only known “ridged” dog breeds.

Tran notes that most of the breed’s known history is from French explorers who brought them to Europe.

Native people on Phu Quoc island have a myth about the breed, that the dogs were born from stone dogs that guard the local temples. They are still utilized on the island as home guardians and independent hunting dogs.

[caption id="attachment_12274" align="alignright" width="334"] The breed is medium sized, short coated and comes in a variety of colors.[/caption]

“Their hunting is different from modern dogs hunting,” Hoang said, “because they're independent thinkers, so they don't need their hunter to actually go with them to hunt. I've actually watched videos of them where they're chasing this pig …you've got three that are chasing this pig and then you've got two that have now split off to go and chase it and (corner) it on the other side. They're thinking and communicating with themselves to go and do these roles. They'll assign themselves roles, which is what I was told by a lot of the breeders when they do go hunt with them … that the dogs will go and do their own roles and they'll distinguish them amongst themselves. The hunter never has to tell them what to do.

“I think a good description is just like easy going, that's kind of like the breed characteristic is that they're easygoing island dogs. They'll go hunting with you all day or they'll stay at home with you all day kind of thing. There's so much versatility to the dogs that the people of Vietnam really, really like.”

Hoang traveled to Vietnam earlier this year and collected DNA samples from more than 100 dogs, mostly PQR but also other indigenous Vietnamese breeds, to add to the databases at Wisdom Panel and Embark.

[caption id="attachment_12276" align="alignleft" width="415"] Loyal, easy-going companions, PQR numbers total approximately 400 in the US.[/caption]

“We're trying to establish this breed here,” Hoang said. “Not just established it, but we're trying to preserve what it is in Vietnam and preserve those same traits here. They're very rare, obviously. So, it's easy to novelize something that's rare, something that's new, something that's expensive. We don't want that. We want our breed to be loved as it is over there. We want it to be as available and accessible, but we want it to stay true to the breed that is in Vietnam.”

“We also want to make sure we're doing it right,” Tran said. “You know that our breed that is so important to us is not just having its history recorded, but it's also that we're breeding for better. You know that we're doing the health testing, that we're making sure that breeders in Vietnam and breeders here have access to information that will help them breed better.

[caption id="attachment_12279" align="alignright" width="310"] PQRA is encouraging clubs and owners to allow the breed to participate and title in various sports.[/caption]

“And that's actually one of the things that Kira...

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Laura’s Puppy Whelping Tips and ‘Must Have’ Supply List Host Laura Reeves walks listeners through the “Ya Ya Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Collection of Whelping Supplies” in this excerpt from Pure Dog Talk’s LIVE@5 live podcast.

[caption id="attachment_12264" align="alignnone" width="739"] Pure Dog Talk's Whelping List, AKA What's In Our Box, AKA "The Ya Ya Sisterhood of Traveling Pants Whelping Supplies"[/caption]

Laura lays out the “whys and wherefores” of what everyone should have on hand before the big day arrives. From the size and construction of your whelping box to the traction required in the whelping pads and the heat source to keep puppies warm, she lays out her personal experience acquired over decades and additionally informed by the knowledge acquired during the last six years of Pure Dog Talk interviews.

“Your whelping box needs to have sufficient room for your bitch to be able to be away from the heat source, but still close enough for the puppies to get to her,” Laura noted. “It is going to depend (on) how large is your female, how large is your litter? That will determine how large your box is.

“For the first couple weeks, everybody's going to be in the box and in some breeds it's going to be a lot longer than that. But you need to also then prepare to have a system whereby the mom can leave the box, leave the puppies. And go back and forth so that she can nurse them but still have some time to get away from them.

“Number one priority for your whelping box, in addition to the size, is the ability to disinfect it. I know there are people who have homemade whelping boxes using plywood and two by fours and all the rest of it. In and of itself, that's not a horrendous thing. The only thing that I'm gonna tell you with that is that you, number one, must seal the wood. Because if you use that whelping box for multiple litters, you have contagions that you cannot disinfect from raw wood.

“If you are using a hard sided box, you must have what we call pig rails. So those are about two inches wide, and they stick out about two inches above the floor for about two inches out into the center. And it's a place where puppies can get kind of shoved so that mom doesn't lie down on top of them and squish them.

“Next up is our strong recommendation that wherever you are placing your whelping box should not be in a high traffic area. Particularly for the actual whelping. Bitches do not want to have their puppies with an audience of 20. They just don't. They would like to be in a dark, cave-like environment.

“(You can) lay a sheet over the top of X pens around the whelping box. Put it in a corner. Put it in a separate room. Make sure that the room itself, the ambient temperature of the room itself, (is) about 70 degrees. The whelping box, where the actual puppies are, needs to be at least at least 90 degrees. Puppies cannot maintain their body temperature for minimum the first two weeks. They have to have a way to go to a warm spot and away from the warm spot. Mom is close enough to warm enough, but she isn't always there.

“Puppies are like heat seeking missiles. They will find the heat or find a way from the heat. They will find the food or away from the food. That's about the sum total of their abilities for the first ten days. Find heat, find cool, find mom, go to sleep. That's what they do. They're potatoes.

“We have found one thing to be super effective is find a piece of linoleum. Cheap garbage linoleum. Cut it to the dimensions of what will be your puppy area so that you can protect your floors. I used tarps for a lot of years. They're terrible. They get torn up. They may be cheaper, but they're not a great solution. The linoleum is an amazing solution. You keep it rolled up, you lay it out when it's time to get your puppy whelping area ready. Lay your linoleum down. Put your whelping box on top of...

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Virginia Lyne on Merry and Expressive English Cocker Spaniel [caption id="attachment_12260" align="alignleft" width="431"] English Cocker Spaniel[/caption]

Virginia Lyne joins host Laura Reeves for a Love the Breeds episode on the merry and expressive English Cocker Spaniel.

A resident of British Columbia, Lyne has been breeding the Ranzfel English Cocker Spaniels since 1960. Her passion and undying love of the breed is evident in this wide ranging and thoughtful discussion.

“You have to be prepared for a companion that's going to follow you everywhere,” Lyne said. “(One that) likes to go to the bathroom with you. It likes to wander outside with you if you get up and go somewhere. He or she doesn't seem to make any difference. They have to be with you. They're not prepared to sit on the couch and say, ‘I know where you're going, I'll be here when you get back,’ which we have whippets as well, and that's more their style most of the time. So, this is a Velcro dog generally, they love to go in cars, they love to ride with you. They adore going for walks. One of their pitfalls (is that they are) inclined to be very greedy. Most of them will steal with no conscience table counter if they can reach it.

“(They are) very, very easy to live with (and) most of the time relatively healthy.

The grooming maintenance for a pet home is “just average,” Lyne noted, “where you have to accept hair, definitely is manageable if you're prepared to do your brushing and combing.”

“They love hunting when you're walking with them. If they're unleashed, you have to make sure that you've taught your comeback and come back and retrieve. They will retrieve. They love to carry balls. Generally they like to fetch. They're not big water dogs, which is not part of their history.

“(The breeds) were originally separated (by how they hunted) …. springing spaniels and “cocking” or field spaniels. It was a height, weight and how they hunt that made the difference … the cocker was developed by hunters because they wanted an animal that could go into any one of those hedges that run across the fields. Those are thick, dense and they're wonderful hiding places for birds, Woodcock in particular, which is where the name came from.

“Geraldine Dodge was very instrumental in her work with the breed. If you ever come across a Geraldine Dodge copy of the English Cocker book, it's quite fascinating, with early pictures, color plates and breed standard descriptions, and so on. Anyhow, in 1946 the AKC recognized the separation of the American Cocker."

“He will, on the slightest invitation, leave the cream cakes to follow the guns.”

Lyne shared the following excerpt to describe the breed:

“In Sport, as in ladies’ hats, fashions have changed with each decade… Though fashions may change, we find that the merry little Cocker has always maintained his place in the esteem of the public and sportsmen alike, by dint of his extreme adaptability and courage and, let us face it, also by his hardiness to withstand the rigors of our English climate. He should never have been allowed to become a pampered pet, although the vast majority are, nowadays just that. Again, blame his adaptability and lovable nature: but anyone who has ever seen these game little dogs working in the field must admit that this is their rightful heritage and the place where they are truly happy. A Cocker that has once tasted the delights of bustling in and out of the hedgerows and thickets and has had the scent of hare, pheasant, partridge, or the humble rabbit in his nostrils is lost forever to the drawing room. He will, on the slightest invitation, leave the cream cakes to follow the guns.”

Quote from "The Dual Purpose Dog" by A.W. Collins, circa 1950 (Collinwood Cockers, Kent, England)

Watch the entire discussion, including expanded comments on judging the breed,

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Veterinary Industry Struggling with Overwhelming Staff ShortagesDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to review her presentation at the NAIA conference on the struggles of overwhelming staff shortages in the veterinary industry.“It is estimated that the veterinary industry is 40,000 people short, not just veterinarians but veterinary staff,” Greer said. “It's a lot of people. So, if you divide that up into every state, that's a lot of people that your veterinary clinics are suffering with trying to get by without. So that's veterinarians, that's receptionists, that's managers, that's everyone.“So again, I know we've talked about this before and I just really need to keep beating the drum that we need to be sure that we're taking good care of the veterinary relationships that we have. I just got off the phone with another colleague a few minutes ago talking about practice sales and how that's impacting the relationship people have with their veterinary clinic and how that changes everything.Greer addresses the corporatization of veterinary clinics and how that is to the detriment of reproductive health, particularly, in our dogs.“It does play a role in all aspects,” Greer said. “I think the reproduction part is especially difficult because a lot of the new graduates have been trained to come out of veterinary school with the impression that breeders are not good people and breeding dogs is this terrible hobby. And so, I think it's really frustrating for people who have all the right intentions to breed healthy dogs to help these nice new graduates pay off their veterinary school loans. I don't really understand where they think healthy dogs are going to come from.“It's really important that we keep the existing good relationships and that we keep our veterinarians happy. From talking to financial planners, you really are in a better financial place by keeping your practice than by selling to what looks like an attractive number because by the time you get done paying all the taxes and all the other things and then you don't have the asset that you developed anymore. I mean we spent 42 years developing this asset. I'm not just going to hand it off to someone that doesn't have the best interests of my clients and staff in mind. So, take good care of your local veterinarian.”One of Greer's top tips is how to manage whelping and when/how to use Oxytocin. Here is her chart to print out and add to your whelping kit.[caption id="attachment_12246" align="alignleft" width="447"] Dr. Marty Greer's Rules for using Oxytocin.[/caption]Greer continues with GREAT tips on how to be prepared ahead of time for any situation, how to work with your vet and how to survive and thrive in this challenging climate. Listen to the full episode for all of the advice from one of our best veterinarians.

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Book Teaches Children How to Train and Socialize a PuppyAuthors Giselle Nevada and Jennie Chen join host Laura Reeves to share the story of their new book, “The Puppy Adventures of Porter and Midge – Out and About,” a book about two puppies who go on adventures, written by dog people to share with the general public.“As dog people, these dogs are our lives,” Chen said. “Our entire lives revolve around them. So our way of communication is certainly at a different level because we've got the depth of knowledge that the general public doesn't necessarily have. They might have a couple pets throughout their lifetimes, where we've got dogs that we train, show, live with us, live with somebody else and those sorts of things.“So being able to communicate to someone who can only take a tiny snippet of what we understand in the dog world is so difficult. And then trying to translate that to a child who may not have all of the communication skills and mobility skills. How do we communicate these ideas to kids, to this different audience, so that as they grow, these are the things that are really important? What does a puppy see when they're out in public? So yeah, we're very passionate about this.”The dog “characters” in the book are a Mastiff and a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, the breeds Nevada and Chen own. The two friends met while living in Austin, TX and developed this project from their combined passions.“You will see a lot of people who are in the dog world also drawn in,” Chen added. “They may not be the characters, but they may be the people you know walking around on the street, the veterinarian, other people and other dogs that you may already know from the show world. So we try to incorporate a lot of that. We also want to incorporate a lot of the breeds that aren't as well known, like we have a Bouvier in there.“We really wanted to speak to a different audience. Because it's not just, ‘oh, this is what I'm to do with an adult.’ This is what we need to do as a puppy. And now you layer on a kid, How do you get a kid to understand that? Because they don't understand the same things we understand. They're not able to pick up the visual cues, the body language that dogs have. How do we introduce them to this idea of socialization?”Listen to the entire episode for more details or watch on YouTube.

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New Children’s Book Devoted to the History of our Best FriendsHost Laura Reeves is joined by world famous children’s book author and illustrator Lita Judge to discuss her newest release, “Dogs: A History of Our Best Friends.” Spoiler alert, Laura and Lita share a friendship dating back almost 40 years![caption id="attachment_12221" align="alignnone" width="529"] A reunion of old friends as host Laura Reeves visits with Lita Judge, author and illustrator of the newly released children's book, "Dogs: A History of Our Best Friends"[/caption]The book is the result of the pandemic providing Judge the time and mental space to focus on a topic she’d wanted to write about for years, she said.“I think the reason I hadn't written it sooner was because it was just a massive amount of research. It covers 40,000 years of the history of dogs,” Judge said. “And there's so much information about: how did we domesticate them, did they self-domesticate, you know, stacks of books to read. And I felt like I had the quiet space to just really dive into this because I knew that this project was going to be a total labor of love.“It's my second longest book that I've done. And I just wanted to do it. Well, when I was going to do it, you know, I got to research medieval times and prehistoric times and what was our relationship to dogs in 1st century China and how did dogs serve in war and what do therapy dogs do? And you know, all this vast amount of information, I knew this really needed a nice chunk of time to devote to it. So the time was right.A life-long dog lover raised by two Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and an Alaskan Malamute, Judge said “the thing I was the most curious about was how did we get from wolf to dog. And that was just so mind blowing. Like, how does that transition happen? And it was so interesting because I had to talk to different scientists and you know, I used to be a geologist and I worked on dinosaur digs. So I knew everybody has an opinion on these questions. The consensus seems to be more and more they self-domesticated and that they have the social skills because they work as pack animals and they understand working together that they were able to make that leap in working with us.“So I think that was the thing I was really fascinated by. The other thing I was blown away with is that dogs were prescribed as treatment as early as the Middle Ages. If you had a stomach-ache, hold a dog. We didn't understand why (then). Now we know it lowers your cortisone, lowers your blood pressure, releases oxytocin. I mean, we know why now, but we didn't understand that why then. And yet we knew it worked. You know, we knew that that relationship with our dogs was that incredible that it's actually healing, and luckily healing for the dog as well.”Listen in to the full episode or watch the interview on our YouTube channel for more insight and special takeaways that apply to the dog world from Lita’s journey from shy, withdrawn teenager to world traveler, doing book tours and speaking engagements for thousands and even how she met her husband on a cross-country bicycle trip.

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AKC’s Breeder Symposiums Aim to Level the Playing FieldHost Laura Reeves is joined by Vanessa Skou, AKC’s Executive Director of Breeder Development and Erin Myers, project analyst for AKC’s Internal Consulting Group discussing the advent and development of the Breeder Symposium events.Skou and Myers are both third generation dog breeders and former professional handlers. They describe themselves as still very much “in the trenches” of the fundamentals of breeding dogs.“I know I have two litters on the ground,” Skou said. “And so we have personal experiences that we were like, ‘oh, wouldn't it be great to have a class on this.’ Because those are the questions I have as well. So, if I'm having them, I'm sure somebody else is having them and that's kind of where we bring our personal experiences into the play."“We want to be able to offer beginner and advanced tracks for people.” Myers said. “So if you've never bred a litter, you're absolutely welcome to come. If you’ve bred 100 liters, we're gonna have stuff for you."Education is that one thing, that kind of it puts us all on the same playing field," Skou added. "We all can learn. Education is kind of that common denominator that we have. That we can all gain the insight from.”“Without breeders, AKC doesn't exist,” Skou observed. “AKC sports don't exist and so encouragement of new breeders to even dip their toe in the water or those breeders that are having a hard time and getting downtrodden and feel like they're fighting against the tide? Like anything we can do to encourage all of them.“Because at the end of the day those puppy buyers are what really is what matters, right? They're the ones that love that dog for its lifetime and make our hearts feel warm and fuzzy. We get to have our dogs to, you know, play with and show or performance, whatever it may be. But at the end of the day, we make so many people happy with that puppy. And so if we can do a such a good job to make everybody have a good experience to me, that's that's my job. And that's why I take seriously.”Sign up HERE for the Houston Breedeer Symposium in July!!Visit YouTube for the video version of this interview HERE!

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Tara Martin Rowell on Drop Coats and Competitive SpiritTara Martin Rowell, breeder, handler and second generation dog woman, joins host Laura Reeves with recommendations on maintaining drop coats, the genetics of her competitive spirit and pro tips for succeeding at the highest level in the sport.[caption id="attachment_12174" align="alignleft" width="277"] Tara Martin Rowell in her formative years with Maltese.[/caption]“Basically, I was born into Maltese,” Tara said. “My mom (AKC judge Vicki Abbott) and dad had me right after my mom had kind of gotten involved in the breed. In my younger life, it was all about the Maltese and my mom was very successful. (She) had the top winning toy dog of all time, a Maltese that she actually handled. That's how I got introduced into dog shows as a young child.

“Something that I always say when people ask me, I think it's very important, especially today for our younger generation, to at least get some sort of a business degree. You want to handle dogs, you got to know how to do the business side of it too, because it's not just the glamour and the walking in the ring and the winning. I mean, that's very small portion of it.

[caption id="attachment_12173" align="alignright" width="339"] Tara Martin Rowell with Hank, GCH CH Scylla Small Kraft Re-Lit. Bred by Tara and her mom, Vicki Abbot. Owned by Ron Scott and Debbie Scott.[/caption]“I started my life picking up a lot of poop. A lot of dogs that I never walked in the ring with doing a lot of holding of dogs, doing a lot of keeping my mouth shut. I mean, there's a lot of work that goes into that process of success, you know?Favorite Dog Book“I think Dog Steps would be the one everybody has to read. I think that you should reread it as you get older, especially if you’re aspiring to judge, even if you've been judging. I still think structure and anatomy is so important in a breeding program. In a breed like my main breed Maltese, I think people get away from the structure and the anatomy because they think the hair is so important. Hair’s very important, but it's one piece of the puzzle that makes the whole puzzle work, and you can't have one without the other.Listen to the full episode for Tara’s recommendations on grooming routines, favorite products and secrets for success.

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Dr. Marty Greer on Autoimmune Hemolytic AnemiaDr. Marty Greer, DVM, this year’s Westminster Kennel Club and Trupanion Vet of the Year, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in dogs.“Autoimmune hemolytic anemia is, as it sounds, an immune mediated disease,” Greer said. “But what it doesn't exactly describe is that in this particular disease, the target cells for the immune response are the circulating red blood cells. So in a patient that has autoimmune hemolytic anemia… people have it, dogs have it. Not as often in cats…. basically the body attacks its own red blood cells.“The dog goes from being pretty clinically normal, to being really profoundly sick, weak, out of breath, really, really sick. Sometimes with a fever, sometimes not, within a matter of hours to days. And when this happens, it requires an immediate diagnosis and immediate initiation of treatment. Sometimes requiring blood transfusions, 24 hour stays in the hospital, all kinds of stuff. So, it is a bad disease.“As soon as you flip the lip and you see that really pale mucus membrane color, like their gums are white or close to white. Sometimes jaundiced, just depends on how rapidly the red blood cells are being broken down and how those are being managed. The dog will look something like a dog with a splenic rupture. Or hemangiosarcoma of the spleen where they're bleeding into the abdomen. It's that same really profound anemia. Now, this tends to be most common, like I said, in middle age, to older female dogs, especially spaniels.“That being said. I've seen it probably in every breed. So, I don't think you can say, well you know, I have a corgi so it couldn't be that. I don't really think that's the case.“The other part of this is to try and determine if there's an underlying cause. It can happen spontaneously in the middle-aged and older female. It can happen after a number of vaccinations are administered at the same time, but we see a lot of it related to tick borne diseases.“(These) are thought to be triggers for this because something makes your body, say that red blood cell that's in your circulation, no, that's not my cell, that's not my protein. My immune system is going to attack it just like it would have bacteria, a virus or other foreign tissue.”Listen in to the entire episode for Dr. Greer’s diagnostic and treatment recommendations. And click over to the Veterinary Voice ALBUM for a compilation of every one of Laura’s in depth and practical conversations with Dr. Greer.

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Temple Grandin to headline NAIA Conference in PortlandPatti Strand, founder of the National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA) joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the lineup of speakers at the conference scheduled for May 26-28 in Portland, OR.The annual NAIA conference kicks off under the banner “Preserving Our Breeds: Preparing for the looming dog shortage.” Strand shared her excitement about the keynote speaker, Temple Grandin, who has been actively involved in animal welfare for decades.Strand said that Grandin’s most recent book “really speaks to me. It's called ‘Visual Thinking, the hidden gifts of people who think in pictures, patterns and abstractions.’ And if you get into this book, she talks about different categories of work that people get into who have these gifts, and animal people are among them.”Additional topics are focused on preserving our breeds, breeding healthy dogs and raising well-socialized puppies. Dr. Marty Greer, Carmen Battaglia and Dr. Claire Wiley will join the star-studded speakers panel.“I could say the looming purebred dog shortage or the looming shortage of dogs that are deliberately bred rather than random bred or bred in countries that don't have the same standards that we have,” Strand noted. “There always will be dogs available as long as there are street dogs in developing countries. We're going to focus more on the deliberately bred dogs and talk about how we preserve them.“The big part of the conference is dedicated to helping people breed better dogs, raise their dogs better. You know, the socialization pieces are all about that. The DNA piece, Marty coming in and talking about different aspects of reproduction.“But again, in order to preserve their breed, a big part of that is breeding dogs. There are so many breeds today where you have a hundred or less dogs in the entire country. Not just 100 dogs that are intact, but just a hundred dogs of that particular breed. We need to encourage people to breed in a way that supports every aspect of animal welfare and so on, but breed dogs. It's part of this preservation piece, you can't preserve from if you don't breed them."Remember to check out the NEW PDT Albums today!!

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Margery Good on the Deep Character of Sealyham TerriersMargery Good joins host Laura Reeves to share her deep love of her beloved Sealyham Terriers, breeding, grooming and the importance of learning.Good started in obedience with a German Shepherd Dog.[caption id="attachment_12141" align="alignleft" width="337"] Margery Good with BIS/BISS CH Goodspice Efbe Money Stache[/caption]“I entered in obedience, but then I spent my day at the dog show stalking the handlers that were sharing their conformation dogs and trying to learn as much as I possibly could, without getting in their way. Peter Green, Bob and Jane Forsyth. Bill Trainor. People that were at the very top of their careers in those days, and I would spend as many hours as I could watching and trying to learn.“Well, I watched a lot of their grooming at their setups and how they handled each dog on the tables and putting them on and off the table. how they brushed them, what direction they use or what tools they picked up. Except for the Forsyths, the handlers were only showing like 6-7 dogs in the show and they’d do some trimming the shows."So I'd watch how they tweak the trim before they take them in the ring. And then with like the Afghan hounds and Poodles I watched, how did they brush the hair? How did they pick up the hair they weren't brushing so that they could get from their skin to the tip of the hair. So I picked up a lot of learning from observing how they prepared the dogs. And then I’d go and watch them actually showing the dog. I actually spent more time behind the scenes than by the rings.Speaking to the challenge of trimming Sealys, Good said “I do try very hard to breed dogs with coats that normal groomers and average dog owners, if they apply themselves, they can work and have their successful finish to them. I also spend a lot of time helping people at shows or at my place or wherever I am to help them tidy up their trims and show them a new technique that they haven't tried or encourage them to keep going until they get it right.“Now that we have things like cell phones, I say take pictures, send me pictures, I will critique your trim. I work with people, they're 12-15 hours away. If they send me pictures, I will help. And it works.Sealyham Terriers – Generous, Big Dogs in Small Package[caption id="attachment_12140" align="alignright" width="408"] Stache sparring, showing the stand up character of the breed.[/caption]“They're so generous. And all you need to do is ask and they will say what can I do for you. They're very strong, sturdy, compact little dogs. They are big dogs just in a small package. They have very strong personalities. Their characters are very deep, as opposed to some of the other terrier breeds, whose characters are rather shallow. Which some people like. But it's not for me. I like the depth of the character that I see in Sealyhams.Classic Breeding Advice“(Starting out) I was able to breed forward and not have a lot of faults that I had to breed away from. I had very good virtues to start with. In a breeding program, you need to concentrate virtues and minimize faults when you breed. So, you need to be able to see what a stud dog can give in virtues and what faults you might get and not double on what you have in your female. See what her strengths are and not double on the faults that they have. So, generation after generation, you do that. To the point of Stash, (GCHG CH Goodspice Efbe Money Stache, Terrier Group winner at the 2022 AKCNC) who’s the culmination of 50 years of my breeding."Listen to the entire conversation full of passion, insight and charm.

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Kent Boyles and Liz Oster on Breeding Plans and Growing the Sport[caption id="attachment_12133" align="alignleft" width="315"] Kent Boyles and Liz Oster share the spotlight.[/caption]Kent Boyles and Liz Oster of Kenlyn and Marquis German Shepherd Dogs join host Laura Reeves from the International Kennel Club of Chicago shows to share their thoughts on breeding decisions and how to grow the sport of purebred dogs.Boyles and Oster, 2018 AKC Breeders of the Year, are the owners and handlers of Rumor, GCH Lockenhaus’ Rumor Has It V Kenlyn, BIS at Westminster Kennel Club in 2017, #1 dog all breeds in 2016 and winner of 104 All Breed Best in Show awards.Boyles piloted GCH CH Kaleef's Mercedes to win the AKC National Championship Herding group in 2022.Boyles started working for German Shepherd breeders at 16, as soon as he could get his driver’s license. Oster was born into the breed and raised with them as her parents participated in obedience and later developed their breeding program.[caption id="attachment_12134" align="alignright" width="389"] Liz Oster and Mercedes winning RBIS at Rose City Classic dog shows.[/caption]“I think (dog shows) need to be more of a family deal,” Oster said.. Like my mom would drag all five of us kids to the dog show. My brothers weren't really into the dog show, but my sister and I were. And so we would show the dogs. They'd go and play and do whatever at the park or wherever we were. And I mean, everybody helped at home and stuff.“And I think exhibitors need to be more open and friendly to spectators at the dog shows. I mean, even this weekend, exhibitors are kind of like, ‘oh, I can't get through.’ Well, if we didn't have these people coming here, they would not buy a purebred German shepherd...”“I think that's key,” Boyles added. “You see somebody with a little bit of interest, Jesus, I mean help them.”“Some of these German shepherd clubs, just the way things have evolved, they've kind of gotten away from the obedience end of things,” Boyles observed. “And some of the working aspects of the breed. With our breed, German Shepherds, the reason almost all new people come and buy a German Shepherd, believe me, is not to go to a dog show and watch it go around in a circle at an AKC dog show.“They wanna get it because of the reputation that the dog has for being a good, sound family guardian. They want it to look over their home, take care of things … it's got the lure of the police dog type stuff … as far as it being a working dog. So a lot of times people get carried away with … the only criteria that you would have to select and keep a dog is just because of its anatomical features and not what's going on inside that dog's head, and the paying attention to the health and the strength and the fundamentals of what's in that dog's mind, … it gets to be a little bit problematic.“I think sometimes people use the word aloofness as a little bit of an excuse to have (the dogs) be a little edgy and not so accepting, so to speak. I mean, to me, like aloof means it doesn't need to just indiscriminately like everybody, you know? It's just like I can take you or leave, , but it's still supposed to be sound minded and comfortable and confident in the surroundings that it's in.“…One of the things that we always try to keep in mind is we're not going to do this breeding today just to try to get a show winner. You've got a concept in mind as to what that animal is supposed to ultimately be like, how you're going to get there, but then what step you're going to take three generations down the road. Where are you gonna go with that? You have to continue on."

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Ears: Yeast, Bacteria and Dr. Greer’s Mind-Blowing Tip for Hair RemovalDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for important information on maintaining healthy ears in our dogs, diagnosing and treating ear infections and her mind-blowing tip for hair removal from the ear canal.“Ears are complicated,” Greer said. “It's not just go pick up a tube of Panalog and you're going to fix the whole problem. It is not that simple. I wish it were. Everybody wishes it were. Clients don't understand why we have these chronic, recurrent, never-ending problems.“Ears can be as simple as … the puppy got some water in its ears. It was out in the rain, playing around, rolled in the snow, had a good time, came in, got a little water in the ear, got an ear infection. However, a lot of dogs have these chronic, recurrent, never-ending ear infections. They can be bacterial, they can be yeast, they can be a combination, they can be allergic and some dogs just have itchy ears.“Our dogs should not have ear wax in their ears. Cats should not have ear wax in their ears. Children should. Ferrets should. Dogs and cats should not have ear wax. So anytime you see discharge in the ears, if you put a Q-tip or a Kleenex in and you wipe out something that's yellow, brown, icky. If you get stuff out, your dog needs to go see the vet. There's a problem.Pro Tip“Don't mess with a healthy ear. If your dog doesn't have a problem with its ears, don't start cleaning it. Don't start putting stuff in the ear canal if there's nothing wrong with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it because you've now taken an environment that was healthy and you've changed it, so don't put something in the ear unless you need to.Mind Blown…“You can pluck hair on the ears (to help keep a drier environment). I think it sets up inflammatory changes …You're ripping hair out of the hair follicles. A lot of people don't know, and I learned this at a meeting. So, this is not Marty Greer going off the rails. This is actually from a dermatologist. You can put Nair in the ear canal and get rid of the hair. You wanna make sure that the ear drum’s intact of course. And I usually use the one with aloe.“I'm careful when I do it. I usually put it down with a Q-tip. I don't wanna push a big squirt out of the bottle and into the ear and then have the dog shake its head. Because if you lose an eyebrow as your dog shook its head and then Nair flew out in your face, I am not responsible for this.“All the hair doesn't come out on the first treatment. It takes a couple of times to do it. I put it down in the ear canal. I give it about 10 minutes and then I'll go in with the Q-tip and just kind of spin the Q-tip and the hair starts to just lift out. It's really cool.”Listen to the full episode for more excellent information on healthy ears for our dogs.

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Kelly Shupp on Campaigns, Rare Breeds and Generational ChangeKelly Shupp, Professional Handler, joins host Laura Reeves for a deeply insightful conversation about running a show campaign, the challenges of competing with rare breeds and the generational change happening in her circle.[caption id="attachment_12116" align="alignleft" width="421"] Kelly grew up with German Wirehaired Pointers bred under the Mountain View prefix.[/caption]Shupp grew up with purebred dogs owned by her mom, AKC judge Claire Wisch Abraham. Starting with Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and transitioning early to German Wirehaired Pointers, the mother-daughter team competed in shows, field events and obedience.In 2012, Phil Booth showed their homebred GWP Oakley, GCH CH Mt. View's Ripsnortersilvercharm, owned by Victor Malzoni, to #1 All Breeds.Shupp was mentored by top professional handlers in the US and Brazil, including Booth, Damara Bolte, Angela Lloyd and Jane Myers, before launching her full-time handling career. In 2022, she showed the Spinone Italiano Josie, GCHG CH Collina D'Oro Solo Un Bacio, to a record- breaking career, capped with winning the Sporting Group at the AKC National Championship.[caption id="attachment_12119" align="alignright" width="419"] Kelly and Josie share a special bond.[/caption]“It is a special thing to run a rare breed,” Shupp said. “They’re not always in the placements. There’s judges that will point to rare breeds and judges that won’t. It’s a game. We learn certain chess pieces that fit and ones that don’t. With a rare breed they’re very specific (pieces) for sure."Generational change is taking over in the handling ranks, Shupp noted.“This year we had so many young people in the group ranking competitions,” Shupp said. “Blake and Arial in the terrier group, me and Joanne in the sporting group.”Planning a campaign includes evaluating a budget, competition and geographical location.“The conversation I typically have with a client the start of the year is you go hard through March, see how it goes. Are you placing a lot in groups? Winning 75% of your breeds? You see if you can start placing more."You never go into a year saying I’m going to be #1 sporting dog. You see how it goes. Those are things you don’t really say. Those high-end top dog races just kind of happen.”Flashback episode on planning a campaign.More pro tips:* Ask the right questions to find the right handler for you. * Have those sounding boards to talk about judges and shows with experience-based knowledge. * You can’t be better if the people around you don’t want to help you be better. * Know your standard. Know about the breed you’re presenting. It’s such an important part of our job. To be an ambassador for the breed. To honor the breed. * Flip flops are deadly…. * Everything happens for a reason. * The greats never stop learning.

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Search and Rescue Titling Events Come to USMelissa Stagnaro, vice president of the American Rettungshunde Sport Association (ARSA), joins host Laura Reeves to share details of the growing Search and Rescue Sport titling events in the US.[caption id="attachment_12086" align="alignleft" width="288"] Dog working in an ARSA test.[/caption]“ARSA started out of a need for some standardizations,” Stagnaro said. “There was an earthquake and flooding in Armenia in the late 1980s and a lot of kind-hearted people showed up to help and it was hard to ascertain what their skill level was. This included search and rescue dog handler teams, but it also included EMT's and nurses and people like that. And so sometimes the well-intentioned helpers caused a little more trouble than help.“So the United Nations worked with the FCI and out of this came an International Rescue dog organization. And so the rule book that we're using is standard across the globe. Most countries, other than the US, use this as their basis for their local community SAR teams.”ARSA offers these tests as a way for people to do titling events that could, if they stick with it and find their dog has the aptitude and they have the aptitude, take them to the point that they could do full on search and rescue missions.“There's three sport levels that get progressively more difficult, and there's a fourth mission ready level,” Stagnaro said. “So the mission ready, if you and your dog were to complete it successfully, you would be a real search and rescue team certified by the FCI rulebooks. The three other levels are just sport.“There's a lot of search and rescue community-based groups in the US and also sheriff's departments who would be more interested in accepting a volunteer that already has the skills. In the US we have many certifications for search and rescue teams, but if you came to them and said, hey look, my dog already has these skills, then they would have an easier time assessing you. None of the sport skills are in conflict with real search and rescue.”The ARSA 2023 Championship is March 31 – April 1 in Leesburg, VA.Listen in to the full episode for more details on this fun new sport.

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Dog Food Behind the Scenes: Meat, Meal and Byproducts DefinedRob Downey, nutritionist, researcher and CEO of Annamaet dogfood company, joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on what ingredients lists on our dog food labels mean.“We have to back up a little bit and look at what those statements mean and where definitions come from,” Downey said. “That really comes from AAFCO. You'll see on the package whether it be canned, frozen or whatever. AAFCO is Association of American Feed Control Officials. They don't regulate pet foods. What they do is they set up the guidelines. And then the regulation goes through the FDA and the Department of Agriculture in most states. So AAFCO is actually a volunteer organization. Each person gets a vote, and you have to be on one of these bodies. So each state has the ability to regulate how they view it. And the sad part is, those regulations are open to the interpretation of each state official. So, every state has a feed control official. And as a pet food manufacturer, for me to sell in each state, I have to be approved by that state. So, you have to send your labels in to each individual state.“They are the ones that determine the terminology that we're allowed to use.  And so, for example, fresh meat. If the meat you use has been frozen at any time, it's no longer considered fresh. So as a manufacturer, I wouldn't trust shipping non-frozen meat. What I call fresh meat, I want frozen and I’ll thaw it when I want to use it, but then I can't attach the word fresh to it.“Then you get into the term meal, and meal is actually a processing term where you take raw meat, and it's heated up, moisture is removed, a lot of the fats removed and it becomes a powder and then that's how it shipped as a meal. And then that's also called a rendered ingredient. AAFCO is pretty strict about rendered. Anytime you change the physical component or whatever, you heat it up or you do this or do that now, it becomes a rendered product. So even in the food chain, like for instance my local meat store, if they make a sausage? If it was in the pet industry, that would be considered renderedAnd the other thing that is kind of interesting, the term meal isn't used in most parts of the world. Like if I use chicken meal, somebody in Europe, they don't have the term meal. They would call it dehydrated chicken or simply chicken."Now the advantage of using a meal, is that basically the moisture has been removed. So, if I'm ordering chicken meal, a truckload, it's only going to be 10% moisture. I'm ordering fresh chicken, a truckload is going to be 70% water, only 30% dry matter. But when you read the label. On the ingredient list, it's according to wet weight, so it includes all that water. That's why when you see a fresh meat formula or a meat formula, there's always seems to be more meat ingredients, because there's so much water. Of course, when you're doing an extruded product that all gets kicked out."So chicken meal is basically skin, muscle and no internal organs. Like you can't have organ meat in it, you can have some bone in it. But when you go to byproduct meal, that's when the organ meat gets involved."Mind Blown…When the label gives the minimum percentages of the contents (30/20 protein and fat, for example), it doesn’t have to specify the maximum, which can vary drastically from the minimum! Listen in for more insider details.

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Skin is Your Dog’s Largest Organ, Keep it Healthy!Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on skin problems in our dogs, how to avoid them, what causes them and how to treat them.Pro Tip? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.In previous episodes, Marty and Laura discuss allergies and external parasites, but today’s topic covers hot spots, seasonal alopecia, demodex and other skin disorders.“The skin, believe it or not, is the largest organ of the body,” Greer noted. “So, it accounts for an important part of our dog's health and it accounts for a huge number of visits. A lot of people have noticed skin problems in their dog. In fact, at some point, almost every dog will have something wrong with their skin during their lifetime. So, the better prepared you are to deal with it, the better off you are.Hot Spots are a Hot Topic“Our typical response to a hot spot, as a veterinarian, is to grab the clippers and shave it. And so that makes it a bit of a challenge for us to try and manage these because a hot spot needs to be treated similar to a wildfire out of the forest -- you have to clear cut it. So, you have to clip out around it so that you're an inch or two out around the hotspot into normal skin to effectively stop the spread of it. And so this is where the show dog people totally freak out because that's that's a year’s worth of hair coat. For some dogs that never grows back the same way.“And this is where having a good veterinary relationship really comes into play. Your veterinarian is gonna be a lot more sympathetic to your needs and expectations if you have developed that relationship.“It's not that we're unsympathetic to it, it's just that we have to balance what your needs are with the dogs health and so that's where this challenge comes in.“It's usually (caused by) a break in the skin of some kind, whether it's an insect bite or they ran into the fence or you know, something that just dinged the skin. Allergies. Anything that causes a break in the normal integrity of the skin then allows bacteria to develop. The official name for it is an acute superficial bacterial pyoderma. It's called a hot spot because it is hot, man. I mean, those things can spread … I've seen them double in size in 24 hours if you don't get it addressed.“You want to keep your dog healthy, their skin healthy. You want to keep them from matting. You want to be careful when you comb them or brush them that you're not breaking the skin. That you reduce their exposure to biting insects because that can initiate it, and if they do have allergies, that you get a handle on those.“Use your shampoos and conditioners carefully. Dilute your shampoo, rinse, rinse, rinse some more. Don't leave any residue. You know, just be smart about how you're taking care of your dog's coat because if the coat is important to you, then treat it as if it's important to you.”Listen to the full episode to learn more on the topic of skin disorders.

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Breeding Theory Q&A From LIVE@5Host Laura Reeves leads a conversation on breeding theory, replayed from a LIVE@5 live podcast from 2022.“As we all know, dog breeding is something of, to put it mildly, a passion project,” Reeves said. “Doing it well is something we all strive for. There are some tools that we can use to accomplish that goal. No matter what type of breeding program we have, we can all use these same tools to achieve success. Sort of the theory side of breeding, reading pedigrees, breeding concepts and health testing.“Coefficient of inbreeding is frequently shortened to COI. One of the great things is if you test both the sire and the dam of your litter, you will be able to get a predicted genetic COI based on the actual DNA. Then if you DNA test each of the puppies in your litter, you will be able to get an exact genetic DNA coefficient of inbreeding that will tell you exactly (what each puppy is). I think one of the things that many of us find sort of mind blowning is that puppies in a litter do not all have the same COI. They don't all have the same genetics.“And so when I did a half brother, half sister, a straight up inbreeding that I'd been planning for quite some time, and I knew what the pedigree COI was, I knew what the estimated or expected genetics COI was going to be, and I Embarked each of the 13 puppies and the actual COI in each of those puppies varied by as much as ten basis points.“So, it's really, really important to look at some of the tools that are now available to us. Dog breeding has always been a little bit of art and a little bit of science. Science is coming to the forefront and I don't want us to lose the art, but I want us to be able to make good use of the science.“Pedigree, genetic and actual COI is a very, very useful tool in our breeding program as we're going forward. Purebred is a level of inbreeding. That's what makes it purebred. Having a higher or lower level and how you use that and the healthy genes that you're doubling up on or the unhealthy genes that you're doubling up on make any enormous difference in your breeding program going forward.”Listen in as Laura and her listeners interact on important topics from breeding theories, health testing and more.Remember that LIVE@5 live podcasts drop on the Pure Dog Talk Facebook page the first Tuesday of every month! Join us there on March 7 for a conversation on GROOMING!You can get more on this topic at the Dog Breeding 101 seminar.

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OFA Launches New Testing for Brachycephalic Breeds[caption id="attachment_11998" align="alignright" width="266"] Dr. Kathleen Smiler, DVM, Pug Dog Club of America Health Committee Representative.[/caption]Eddie Dziuk, Chief Operating Officer at the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, and Dr. Kathleen Smiler, DVM, Health Committee Representative from the Pug Dog Club of America, join host Laura Reeves to introduce the new BOAS testing program.“Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) is a condition which may cause breathing difficulties in breeds such as Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Pugs,” according to the OFA. “BOAS is caused when the soft tissue in the nose and throat are excessive for the airway, partially obstructing the airway and making it difficult for them breathe normally."BOAS is a progressive disorder and can impair a dog’s ability to exercise, play, eat and even sleep. Clinical signs of BOAS are variable and may include noisy breathing, exercise and heat intolerance, regurgitation and dysphagia. Unfortunately, many owners are unaware of the disease, and often interpret breathing noises or difficulties as simply normal for the breed.“In an effort to learn more about the condition, increase awareness, and ultimately reduce the incidence of BOAS, researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK developed the Respiratory Function Grading Scheme (RFGS). The goal of the RFGS was to develop an objective test to measure the clinical diagnosis and severity of BOAS. The OFA has joined this international effort and has licensed the RFGS for use in the US and Canada."The exam is conducted by a specially trained and approved veterinarian and consists of 4 steps:1. A short health survey regarding the dog’s breathing history 2. A brief physical exam while the dog is calm including auscultation where the assessor listens to the dog’s breathing with a stethoscope gently positioned on the side of the neck. This establishes a baseline for any clinical signs of BOAS. 3. A short exercise test consisting of a brisk three minute walk. This is designed to expose clinical signs of the disease in an otherwise calm and asymptomatic dog. It is not designed to assess cardiovascular fitness. 4. A post exercise auscultation after increased airway activity to compare to the pre-exercise baseline.”

“I think the veterinarians were extremely enthusiastic,” Smiler said of the veterinarians participating at a recent event in Portland, Oregon. “And I think the participants were quite pleased too, I think. I went and sat in the meet the breeds box with the pug people in Portland and everybody was quite satisfied. I think our club in general was very satisfied.”“We examined 54 dogs (at the rollout in Portland),” Dziuk said. “We actually did 60 where we had a couple breeds that weren't on the official breed participant list yet. So, we had 54 between Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pugs and we also had a couple of Bostons and Pekes.“Overwhelmingly (we had) pretty good results. We had 10 Grade 0. So, the grade zeros are basically everything was good. These dogs were good breathers, they had nice wide open nostrils. There were no sounds of turbulence or anything during the auscultation, so everything was looking pretty good. We had 18 grade 1, which is also good. It means that in general, nothing could be heard without a stethoscope and you could only hear some of the minor issues with the stethoscope, but the dogs are basically still found to be clinically unaffected by BOAS. We did have 25 grade twos and we had one lone grade three.“I think that goes to prove the point that not all Bulldogs suffer breathing difficulties, not all Frenchies suffer breathing difficulties, and not all pugs do either. That there is a large group in all three of those breeds where they're good healthy dogs that breathe fine, that don't show signs of exercise intolerance, and we can work with those dogs and breed them and hopefully breed lots of future generations of good, healthy Frenchies, Pugs and Bulldogs.”“We're certainly very sensitive to the criticism that's been directed toward brachycephalic breeds,” Smiler said. “I think we're fortunate here in the US, where (breeding) isn't a regulated activity, nor has the Veterinary Association attacked the breeds as they did in Europe. We're going to make this information available to our members and highly encourage them (to participate). Then eventually I'd love to educate the puppy buyers. I think it'll be very positive across the board.”Listen in to the full episode for more details.

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AKC’s New Genetic Testing Program to Offer Expanded Insights[caption id="attachment_11992" align="alignleft" width="358"] Dr. Claire Wiley, VMD and her Portugese Water Dog.[/caption]Dr. Claire Wiley, Executive Director of the AKC DNA Program, joins host Laura Reeves with breaking news about the expansion of their testing capabilities.AKC’s DNA program will soon include the option to identify traits and genetic diseases, in addition to simple parentage, Wiley announced.“For the past 25 years, the AKC DNA program has really focused on protecting the registry,” Wiley noted. “And they did that using unique identification, kind of like fingerprints and also using those fingerprints to verify parentage. It had more of a regulatory role to it.“A couple years ago, the AKC developed an ad hoc genetics committee. They listened to the breeders (who) were really interested in having more from the DNA program. And that's kind of why I got hired, because we've listened to the feedback and are trying to bring things into the future to really serve our most important constituents, the breeder.”Wiley, a second-generation Portugese Water Dog breeder, is a board certified veterinary specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine. Her passion for genetic health testing started early in life after losing two PWD puppies to juvenile dilated cardiomyopathy. She later worked on the breakthrough studies to identify the genetic marker for protein losing nephropathy in Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers.“I'm a breeder. I lived through it from the very beginning and now I'm back here to help bring the DNA program into the future,” Wiley said. “At AKC, we try to focus on all dog owners, but it all starts with the breeders who are producing the healthy dogs for all dog owners.“The fundamental process will essentially be the same where you use a cheek swab to collect DNA and you go online to activate it. When you first go in to buy the swabs, there will be two products. The original parentage product will be called the AKC Original DNA profile and then the one that includes health tests and traits will be called the AKC Signature DNA profile.“So when you're actually on what we call our shop page where you're buying the swabs, you have an option of choosing either just the Original profile, which is the $50 kit that provides parentage, or you can choose the option that still includes that $50 original profile, but also has health and traits available.“We're really hoping to launch this by mid 2023 at the latest, hopefully April. A lot of these companies say there are over 200 markers that they're testing for, but if you actually talk to breeders, they're probably focused on 2, 3, maybe 0 for that specific breed. So, we are taking the experts, you know, the Breeders, and having them tell us what we should be including as important markers for them.“The parent clubs have what we call parent club health statement letters where they actually say this is what we are concerned about as a breed and as a group, and so we're using those letters to determine which testing is the most important for that breed.”Listen to the full episode for more from Dr. Wiley.

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Canine Bladder Stones: Diagnosis and TreatmentDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on bladder stones in dogs, how to diagnose and treat them. The following information is provided by Dr. Greer.Bladder stones are the quintessential “which came first, the chicken or the egg” question. By this, we mean that a dog can have a bladder symptoms that are caused by a bladder stone, or the bladder infection can cause bladder stones to form. Which then becomes a vicious cycle.There are two basic types of bladder stones – the first, struvite stones associated with a bladder infection or second, any of the following other bladder stones, caused by a metabolic disturbance that causes a stone to form in the urinary tract.How do bladder infections cause bladder stones? An undiagnosed, under-treated or recurrent bladder infection can lead to the development of struvite bladder stones. This is the most common type of bladder stone. Or another type of stone can cause irritation to the bladder which can cause a stone to form that is partly any of the types of stone below combined with a struvite stone. These form like a pearl in an oyster – the irritation of the infection or other stone type can cause a struvite coating on an existing bladder stone.Many metabolic stones are associated with a particular breed or disease condition causing minerals to deposit in the bladder, forming stones. These metabolic stones form with long term supersaturated minerals in the urine. With time, the crystals form which develop into a bladder stone. Other factors are the pH of the urine, inhibitors and promotors of stone formation, and macrocrystalline matrix. If something like suture is in the bladder, this can also allow a stone to form.Fortunately, most stones in the urinary tract are in the bladder itself, where they are accessible surgically. Stones in the kidney or ureter (tube from the kidney to the bladder) are not easily managed surgically or by physical removal. Stones that form in the bladder and pack together like sand in a funnel or slip from the bladder into the urethra (tube from the bladder to the outside of the body) cause urinary obstruction. This is a true medical emergency, more common in males that females due to the length and shape of the urethra, the tube from the bladder to the outside.Males have a design flaw – their urethra is more narrow and curved, causing a greater likelihood of urinary obstruction. On the other hand, females have a design flaw, a shorter wider urethra just below the rectum that allows bacteria to ascend into the bladder, increasing the risk that a female will have a bladder infection. That infection can often lead to the formation of struvite stones.SymptomsSymptoms of bladder disease can be virtually non-existent to severe. The symptoms can vary:1. No signs or very subtle signs of discomfort or urinary accidents. 2. Signs of blood in the urine (often not noted until there is snow on the ground or when the urine is wiped up and blood is seen on a white towel), straining to urinate, frequency of urination, inappropriate urination, +/- fever, pain, and/or urinary incontinence. Dogs are rarely “sick” with a bladder infection – they eat, drink, and act normally other than increased trips outside or urinary accidents on the floor. 3. If obstructed, there will be abdominal pain, vocalizing, vomiting, dehydration, depression, heartbeat irregularities, bladder distension, in advanced cases, bladder rupture, collapse and death. 4. Blood work can show elevated BUN and creatinine, kidney values if obstructed. 5. Blood work may show elevated calcium if calcium oxalate stones are present. 6. Blood work may show liver dysfunction in patients with urate stones.

Below is a table showing the different types of bladder stones, comparing the composition, cause, prevention and treatment options.

| Type of stone | Cause | Prevention | Treatment | | Struvite or magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate. Usually located in bladder but can be in renal pelvis. This is the most common stone in dogs at an incidence of 53%. | More common in female than male dogs, usually young dogs. Frequently multiple. Secondary to undermanaged bacterial bladder infection incl most commonly Staphylococcus spp., but less commonly seen urease-producing bacteria include Proteus spp. or Enterococcus spp. Rarely Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp.,Klebsiellaspp., Corynebacterium urealyticum, or Ureaplasma/Mycoplasma spp. May have a genetic component.Breeds:American cocker spanielBernese Mountain dogBichon friseDachshundGolden retrieverLhasa apsoMiniature poodleMiniature schnauzerPekingesePoodleRottweilerSaint BernardShih tzu | 1. Find and manage cause of recurrent bacterial bladder infection.2. Preventive diets lower in protein, phosphorus and magnesium including: Royal Canin® Veterinary Diet Urinary SO, Hill’s Prescription Diet c/d™, Hill’s Prescription Diet w/d™, and Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets UR Urinary St/Ox.3. Increased water intake4. Weekly monitoring of urine pH and intervention if pH rises.5. Periodic imaging for early detection of recurrence. | 1. Dissolution diet combined with appropriate long-term antibiotics. May be dissolved medically unless obstructed.2. Acidifiers such as D,L-methionine combined with appropriate long-term antibiotics.3. Surgical removal or Cystoscopic retrieval4. Physical removal. | | Calcium oxalate or calcium oxalate combined stones. Usually in the bladder but can be in the renal pelvis. 2nd most common bladder stone seen in dogs. | More common in males, middle aged.Patients who have increased urinary excretion of calcium /or oxalate.May include Cushing’s disease, primary hyperparathyroidism, or cancer causing elevated calcium levels.Obesity.Steroid administration.Genetic predisposition.Bichon friseCairn terrierChihuahuaLhasa apsoMalteseMiniature poodleMiniature schnauzerPomeranianShih tzuYorkshire terrier | Calcium oxalate uroliths recur 8-9% after 6 months, 35-36% after one year, and approximately 50% after 3 years.1.Diet Royal Canin® Veterinary Diet Urinary S/O Lower Urinary Tract Support, Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets UR Urinary St/Ox™, Hill’s Prescription Diet w/d™, and Hill’s Prescription Diet u/d™.2.Potassium citrate orally.3.Thiazide diuretics.4.Vitamin B6 | There is no known way to dissolve this stone type so must be physically removed. | | Cystine | More common in males, young to middle aged.Occurs secondary to cystinuria, which is caused by increased levels of cystine excreted into urine. Uncommon. Inherited mutation of SLC3A1 gene, which leads to defective amino acid transport, described in the Newfoundland, Labrador retriever, and in the cat. Missense mutation in SLC7A9 is another cause of cystinuria in the dog. Androgen-dependent cystinuria has been described in dogs. Genetic Test: DNA testing for genetic traits is available at vetGen, Penn Gen, Paw Print Genetics, DDC, Animal Genetics, and UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory in the USA, as well as Animal Genetics-UK, Laboklin, and Animal DNA Diagnostics in Europe.Breeds:American pit bull terrierAustralian cattle dogBullmastiffChihuahuaDachshundEnglish bulldogFrench bulldogLabrador retrieverLandseerMastiff, EnglishMiniature pinscherNewfoundlandRottweilerScottish terrierSouth African boerboelStaffordshire terrier, American/bull | 1. Feed protein-restricted, low-sodium diet.2. Potassium citrate to maintain alkaline urine.3. Some patients may also require 2-MPG therapy.4. Do not breed affected dogs, their parents, or any other offspring.5. For breeds with androgen-dependent cystinuria, castration can help in controlling cystinuria. | 1. Low protein, low sodium, alkalizing diet: Hill’s Prescription Diet u/d™ and Royal Canin® Veterinary Diet UC Low Purine2. Potassium citrate to alkalinize urine with a pH goal of 7.2 to 7.5 and dilute urine.3.Physical removal. | | Xanthine incidence 0.5 to 1% incidence of bladder stones in dogs | An uncommon type of purine urolith.Adults 2 to 6 years of age. No sex predilection.Causes:Allopurinol administrationDietIdiopathic, unknownGenetic, hereditary:Cavalier King Charles spanielDachshundEnglish cocker spanielManchester terrier | Purine-restricted, alkalinizing, diuretic diet helps prevent xanthine recurrence including renal failure diets or ultra-low protein diets with low purine levels (Hill’s Prescription Diet u/d™ or Royal Canin® Veterinary Diet Vegetarian) may help. Add water to food to keep urine dilute. Use potassium citrate may be needed to keep urine pH alkaline. | Will not dissolve. Must be physically removed. Stop allopurinol treatment if possible. | | Silica incidence 0.9% of canine bladder stones | Incidence world-wide seems regional. Primarily male dogs. Usually 6 to 8 years of age.May be genetic with German Shepherds, Labradors, Golden Retrievers and Old English Sheepdogs being over-represented.Cause unknown. | Monitor with urine testing and imaging to check for recurrence. May help to feed more animal protein and less vegetable protein to reduce recurrence. Feeding diets higher in animal protein and lower in plant-based proteins (such as soybean, rice, corn gluten feed, oat-based cereals) may be beneficial. Increasing water intake may help decrease silica concentration in urine. Do not allow patients to eat grasses and soils with higher silica content. | No dissolution therapy known.Must be physically removed. | | Calcium phosphate - incidence 1 to 2% of canine bladder stones | Brushite more common in males.Breeds predisposed includeShih tzuLhasa apsoMiniature SchnauzerYorkshire terrierMiniature poodlePomeranianBichon friseAmerican Cocker Spaniel | Identify and treat the underlying cause such as primary hyperparathyroidism or Cushing’s diease (hyperadrenocorticism). Keeping urine pH of 6.5-7.5 and urine dilute helps reduce risk of recurrence. Ideal preventive diet is unknown; diets aimed at preventing calcium oxalate uroliths are reasonable options. | Associated with primary hyperparathyroidism or Cushing’s disease (hyperadrenocorticism). These also may occur as part of stones that are largely composed of struvite or calcium oxalate. Associated with alkaline pH. | | Urate incidence 5 to 8% of canine bladder stones | Either sex, usually young dogs. Uric acid and its various salts. Associated with liver disease, hepatic dysfunction, portosystemic shunts, inherited, or less commonly, caused by urinary tract infections (UTI) with urease-producing bacteria.Genetic mutation in the SLC2A9 gene:Australian shepherdBlack Russian terrierDalmatianEnglish bulldogMiniature schnauzerNew Zealand huntawayParson Russell terrierShih tzuSpanish water dogYorkshire terrier | Frequently recurrent at rates of 33 to 50%.Annual or biannual imaging with ultrasound or x-rays to monitor. | 1. Dietary therapy with low purine diets (eggs, dairy and vegetable protein) - may be dissolved medically unless obstructed: Hill’s Prescription Diet u/d™, Royal Canin® Veterinary Diet Canine Vegetarian, and Royal Canin® Veterinary Diet Urinary UC Low Purine.2. Potassium citrate at 50-150 mg/kg PO q 12 hrs or sodium bicarbonate at 25-50 mg/kg PO q 12 hrs may be used. Avoid pH above 7.53. Allopurinol4. Physical removal5. Managing underlying liver disease. | | Combination stones | Any combination of the above stones can occur. The largest % component is reported when there are several mineral components to the stone. | Based on analysis | Based on analysis | | Dried solidified blood | Cats only |

The above table is a summary of information published on www.veterinaryinformationnetwork.com. Thanks to this author Kari Rothrock DVM.Diagnosis1. Symptoms are noted. 2. Urinalysis: crystals seen on microscopic evaluation of the urine, bacteria, white blood cells, and white blood cells seen under the microscope. 3. Culture – to identify the causative bacteria. 4. X-rays – seeing stones in the bladder, kidney, ureter or urethra. May require contrast x-rays. 5. Ultrasound – stones or gritty material seen blocking the ultrasound beam on ultrasound. This may be described as a “snow globe”. 6. Stone analysis – essential to know the cause and how to try to prevent formation of future stones. 7. Cystoscopy – when an endoscope is passed into the bladder to look for stones. Removal may be achieved at this procedure.

Physical Removal of stones: there are several techniques available to remove stones from the urinary tract.1. Surgical removal – is a procedure available at most small animal veterinary clinics with basic surgical availability. If an obstruction is present, immediate surgical intervention is essential. 2. Cystoscopic retrieval – requires an endoscope and special baskets to retrieve stones from the urethra and/or bladder. 3. Voiding urohydropropulsion - With sedation or anesthesia, the bladder is catheterized, filled with fluids multiple times, and with pressure on the bladder, efforts to push the stones out through the urethra is attempted. This works best in small dogs with small stones. 4. Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) - This involves using a shock wave to a patient immersed in a water bath. Bladder stones may move too much for this to have a successful outcome so is better suited for stones in the kidney or ureter. 5. Laser lithotripsy - This involves using a laser to fragment them, then the fragments are removed. This works better in female than male dogs. Small dogs and large bladder stones may not lend themselves to this treatment option. 6. Retrograde Urohydropropulsion (RU) – this involves flushing stones from the urethra back into the bladder for removal. In general, the patient will require sedation or anesthesia, followed by removal of some urine to relieve the pressure on the bladder.

Other than surgical removal, the others are usually only available at larger referral centers or veterinary schools.Dissolution – is a process by which bladder or kidney stones can be dissolved using special diets, drugs, and or antibiotics. Not all stone types will dissolve. And not all dissolvable stones will dissolve safely. If the dog has an obstruction and cannot urinate, immediate physical removal of the stones is essential as urinary obstructions are life-threatening. Not all dogs will eat the diet required to dissolve the stones. Not all owners are willing or able to administer the medications and diets necessary to dissolve the stones. Frequent monitoring of the size and location of the stone is essential to safely allow stones to dissolve. The required diets are prescription diets, and the medications are also prescription drugs. Care in selecting the correct food and medication is required, thus the reason for prescriptions from the pet’s veterinarian.Prevention can often be successful. Again, this requires that the owner(s) of the dog take great care to provide plenty of fresh water frequently, let the dog out to urinate frequently, and administer medication and food without “cheating”. Owners may also need to check weekly urine samples to assess the urine pH for early adjustments in medication and food to prevent recurrences.As a result, a mutual treatment plan with the pet owners and their veterinary team is essential for a successful outcome.

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Routines Create Coping Skills in Traumatic Times[caption id="attachment_11966" align="alignleft" width="352"] Dr. Angel Iscovich, MD, author of "The Art of Routine"[/caption]Dr. Angel L. Iscovich, M.D. joins host Laura Reeves to talk about creating routines as a coping mechanism in traumatic times. An emergency room physician and Miniature Schnauzer enthusiast, Iscovich’s book “The Art of Routine” has great suggestions as we emerge from the trauma of the pandemic years.Iscovich studied older patients and found that consistently, folks who lived well into their older years had one thing in common. Routines. Even routines that aren’t necessarily “healthy” were beneficial, Isocvich noted.“I noticed people that were over 100 years of age, centenarians, I noticed two qualities that they had,” Iscovich said. “One is that they have a stable environment. By that I mean both physical and people around them. And two, they had a very, very regular routine. They had a rhythm, a routine, things that they did with great regularity.“But what I also noticed is what they did varied quite a bit. So, some of them were doing not necessarily healthy things, but that got me to thinking. That may be part of the key is more the how than the what we're doing. In other words, the routine may be more important than actually what you're eating because here's this 100-year-old having Dr. Peppers every day, you know, and that doesn't seem like the right thing to do, but that there was something to the fact that you had routine and regularity.“It seemed to me that for us as humans in this world where we're using our digital world as we are today in computers and sort, that we're being constantly interrupted and disrupted and being always tempted to do different things all the time, and that maybe, maybe changing things up too much is not really the way to go.“We seek and survive by having kind of stability. Homeostasis is what it's called in some of the physiological terms. And having equilibrium.”Iscovich’s suggestions for building routine for a healthier outcome:* Recreate your own routine * Get more exercise * Get outdoors * Do daily affirmations * Quiet time ... get rid of the sensory input * Self discipline… dopamine works. Do one event, do it repetitively, complete the smallest task. This makes the body and brain chemistry give you a good feeling. Stick with one thing. This stabilizes us in times of uncertainty

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Bumble’s Story: Behind the Scenes with Donna BeadleDonna Beadle joins host Laura Reeves to share the epic, joyous and eventually tragic story of Bumble the Berger Picard.[caption id="attachment_11955" align="alignleft" width="332"] Bumble, in his glory days as the #1 Owner Handled Berger Picard, with Donna's husband, Mike Beadle.[/caption]Bumble was lost for 10 days in the high desert of Wells, Nevada. Donna shares the lessons she learned, the emotions, the hardships, the dark humor, the kindness of strangers as well as her heartache, hope and second guessing, tips and suggestions for others in similar situations.“If you are looking for a lost pet, especially in an area you don’t know, hire a professional,” Donna said. “They are a wealth of information. I know a lot about dogs, but I don’t know anything about lost dogs. They came they brought their trap, advised me about getting stuff out in the community. Not everybody is on social media, lost dog signs are hugely important.“There were sightings on and around I80, which was terrifying, but that’s where we were focusing our efforts. I had to drive that interstate every day looking for my dog’s body…”Donna traveled from Minnesota to Nevada at the first news of Bumble’s loss. She and a team of trackers, trappers, local residents, co-owners and dog community spent almost a week hunting for Bumble. After losing hope with no sightings and the tracker hitting a dead end on the trail, she returned home.[caption id="attachment_11956" align="alignright" width="337"] Juan, the ranch worker who first sighted Bumble, gave up his day off to help on the search and was instrumental in Bumble's reunion with Donna.[/caption]A sighting by a ranch worker the next day brought her flying back for three more days of searching in a new area.“Why signage and flyers are so important, the ranch owner and the ranch worker’s daughter both called because Juan saw ‘the dog in the picture,’” Donna said.More traps, trappers and local folks restarted the search a mile back on the ranch land.It was like looking for a needle in a haystackStrapped into unfamiliar snowshoes, Donna traipsed through sagebrush and waist-high snow drifts in an area that they’d found new tracks in the snow. Juan, the ranch worker, came out on his day off to help with the search.By a miracle, Donna glanced up to see her dog huddled under a small sagebrush.Donna said, "OMG, I've stumbled upon Bumble."She was able to get a hand on him through careful approach. He was so weak she had to carry him out. While a body builder, Donna isn’t accustomed to the 6000+-foot elevation of the high desert and struggled through snow drifts until a vehicle was able to reach them.[caption id="attachment_11954" align="alignleft" width="349"] Bumble under the sagebrush.[/caption]Bumble was raced to the veterinarian, given emergency treatment, care and love. The extreme stress on his body caused him to crash four days later and, tragically, he couldn't fight any longer.

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Owner Handler Winner: "These Dogs Are Worthy"[caption id="attachment_11905" align="alignleft" width="311"] Dr. Cheryl Stiehl hard at work in her veterinary practice.[/caption]Dr. Cheryl Stiehl, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the journey that brought her to the pinnacle of the Owner Handled Series with her breeder-owner-handled Irish Setter.Stiehl and Declan, GCHS Bramblebush Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, topped more than 825 entries in the National Owner Handled Series finals in Orlando, FL in December.A practicing veterinarian in Maryland, Stiehl offers her life hacks for succeeding as an owner handler while working a full-time job. And she shares the love -- of her dog and the sport.“I think one of the neatest things about this dog is who he is,” Stiehl said. “His nickname is ‘The Dude.’ He's just good for purebred dogs, if you know what I mean. He's funny and ridiculous and silly and he loves kids and loves cats and thinks everything's an adventure. Declan has friends and friends he has not met yet. That's just kind of who he is. He's a bit of a party animal. The other thing and the way I describe him when people say, ‘well, what's an Irish Setter like, what's this dog like?’ I say, you know the guy at the tailgate pouring shots? That's Declan.“I think that owner handled for me is that there was one more thing I could do with my dog. I can walk in this ring and that ring, I can do it twice. If I get nervous, I can try to work through it.“I can take out a spleen in the OR with an animal that has a really potentially dangerous or scary prognosis and barely break a sweat. But you know, sometimes I think we all get nervous. Is the dog going to behave? Is he stacked right? Does he look OK? Am I giving him his due?“On the other side of it too, I think the interesting part of it is your dog's doing double duty and your dog's going into that group ring and hopefully going into another best in show ring. So, if you were lucky to win both breed and best of breed owner handled that day, you show your dog a whole bunch and your dog has to perform a whole lot more really. I've actually had a few judges say that to me. You know, ‘I watched your dog today and you didn't give up once.’ So, he is a piece of work. He's the dude.“The (NOHS) competition is keen. The dogs are beautiful. They are multiple best in show dogs. They are best in show dogs, they are reserve best in show dogs. They're group placers, group and specialty winners, sires and dams of beautiful animals. These dogs are worthy. I think that one nice thing is, is it's the connections you make. I also will say to you that I love the sportsmanship that I have experienced in those ranks. We are really happy for one another.”Listen to the full episode for more of Stiehl’s insights on the NOHS, dog shows in general, her favorite grooming products and more.

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New Tufts University Course: Breeders Teaching Veterinary StudentsGale Golden and Susan Patterson join host Laura Reeves for a conversation about the new and exciting AKC Tufts Whelping Program that provides information to veterinary students about dog breeders.Golden, the AKC coordinator for the program, said that the growing difficulties with finding breeder-friendly veterinarians was a huge concern for her.“As breeders, we've faced many challenges and still face many challenges continuing our right to breed dogs here in the United States,” Golden said. “And one of the biggest challenges has been not only the lack of veterinary care, but the lack of understanding of the purebred, responsible dog breeder and how we work and operate. And that has led to, in some instances, lesser care breeders have available to them or even, in emergency situations, outcomes that weren't the desired outcomes.”Change the ConversationPatterson, who has worked with a similar program at the Ohio State University, noted that “we need to change the conversation at the vet school level. How do we show that students, who most likely have never whelped a litter, will never do anything but triage, what a responsible breeder does, what their parameters are, how they make their choices, and how do they whelp their puppies.“So, we are going directly to the students, who have some pre-formed opinions, but they have no experience. And we are sharing super transparently all the good, the bad, the ugly. We've worked with (the staff advisor) to develop what they call a selective, which in normal academic terms would be called an elective. They get to choose. And so, this last semester we had three students, this semester will have five.“The other thing we've done that I think has added tremendously is we've not just focused on these students, but we have opened up our monthly roundtables to all interested vet students and we have brought in veterinarians. We had them in the classroom and we did have a virtual crop and dock just because of timing.Talk About the Hard Things“So, we've addressed the hard things. We've talked about what it takes to produce a puppy that is going to be healthy. And why we do the testing, why we make the choices, why temperament and different breeds. And so they've been able to ask us really hard questions. And I think the interaction has been very positive.”“The total lack of understanding of what a purebred dog was and how they came to be and why they came to be” was an “aha” moment for Golden. She noted that one of the important topics covered in the course is the breed standard. “What is the breed standard and how did it come to be. The fact that they didn't know was a real aha for me.“The other thing I don't feel like they really understood was how we preserve a breed. And as I'm sure most everyone here knows, French Bulldogs have been just bombarded with every kind of influence from outside the breed gene pool there could be. And it's like a breed being attacked on steroids, you know, from fluffy to pink. It all exists. One of the scary statistics for this breed is last year there were 32,000 Frenchie litters registered with the AKC. 294 were parent club members, 294 out of 32,000. And since DNA really can't accurately show us exactly what's behind a dog, after a few generations of breeding to Frenchies, it looks like it's a purebred Frenchie.“Another aha for me was the health testing process, the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, that it exists. What kind of data was there, who loads that data and that it is a partnership with veterinarians and breeders that actually populates that database and how we use it to make improvements. So those things were major ahas for me.“The preservation message, however, is one that resonates for us. We don't tell our own story. You know, we're kind of invisible. There might be 90,000 of us in Massachusetts playing dog sports, but I find out legislatively many times we're invisible. You know, the fact that we let other people tell our story is a problem.”

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Applied Structure and Anatomy LIVEJoin the live studio audience with host Laura Reeves at Bonneville Basin Kennel Association to discuss why our dogs are built the way they’re built. Laura and members of the audience address structure and why our dogs are built the way they’re built.Form and Function go togetherThere are a lot of differences between herding dogs, depending on the type of herding they did, according to AKC judge and Pumi breeder Chris Levy.Tonia Holibaugh CruzA lot of people think “oh it’s a toy dog, structure doesn’t matter.” What happens is that as companions, these dogs need to be able to live to 10 or 11 years old and still be able to make it to the food bowl. Your expectations of a Pekingese cannot be the same as your expectations of an Italian Greyhound. Even though they're all toy breeds, their purpose is completely different. The construction is different, therefore their abilities (are different.)Linda CulverA properly constructed Italian Greyhound can be just as sturdy as a WhippetCarma EwerI love to see a beautiful schnauzer moving around the ring with great reach and drive, but you don’t have to have great reach and drive to kill a rate. We are starting to lose some of our other qualities. We have to have strong teeth, muzzle and head to be able to do the job. You need to have good bone, muscle tone, don’t want the rat pulling your dog in the hole because it’s so weedy.Lydia Hovanski LyonTail placement on these terriers is so important. My Fox Terrier, when it goes to ground, and it’s pulling out a fox, I have to be able to grab it by the tail and pull it out, to help it. If we can’t grab onto those tails, that dog is useless and going to die. With the dogs that are going to ground, it is essential to pick them up by their tail. It’s showing they can do the job.Hear more on this topic when host Laura Reeves presents on Form and Function at Breedercon this weekend at the IKC show in Schaumburg, IL. Sign up for the seminars HERE.

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4Ever15: Choose Kindness[caption id="attachment_11746" align="alignleft" width="369"] Nick Carroll winning Best Junior Handler at the Great Dane specialty in Des Moines, IA.[/caption]Denise Carroll joins host Laura Reeves to share her story of how the twin epidemics of school bullying and teen suicide affected her, after her son, Nick, took his life last month.Nick Carroll was Denise’s adopted son whose happiest place was dog shows. He had friends and projects and felt safe, showing Great Danes in the breed ring and Juniors.“It didn’t matter who was competing,” Denise said. “He would cheer you on no matter what. If he lost in juniors he’d still cheer on his friends. The friendships he made at dog shows were really close ones. He maintained some really good friendships.”But his school life was another matter. Denise said that Nick was routinely bullied at school, including additional attacks around his service dog.* The 2019 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice) indicates that, nationwide, about 22% of students ages 12–18 experienced bullying.

“What I feel is, when Nick started taking the dog to school is what made him an easy target. School was the biggest issue for him,” Denise said.How to avoid costing someone their life“The biggest thing is to realize what we’re all struggling with something,” Denise said. “You never know what someone is going through at the time. So, you should try to be kind. In today’s society, people can hide behind their phone, be anonymous and say things and not have consequences for their actions.”More survival tips from Denise:* Today’s kids have gone through a lot more trauma than kids did when I was growing up. * Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes * Parents need to talk to their kids, that a difference in someone else isn’t a bad thing * Parents don’t communicate with kids. Kids have electronics that are their parents. They don’t talk with mom and dad or sit down and have meals together.

Statistics from the Suicide & Crisis Center of North Texas:

• Suicide is the third leading cause of death of young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

• 5,000 young people complete suicide in the U.S. each year.

• Each year, there are approximately 10 youth suicides for every 100,000 youth.

• Each day, there are approximately 12 youth suicides.

• Every 2 hours and 11 minutes, a person under the age of 25 completes suicide.

• In the past 60 years, the suicide rate has quadrupled for males 15 to 24 years old, and has doubled for females of the same age.

• For every completed suicide by youth, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made.

“We went to Orlando (for the AKC National Championship),” Denise said. “It was bittersweet because Nick was supposed to be with us. I took some friends of Nick’s and his sister to Sea World. We’d laugh for a while and somebody would say Nick would have loved this. At one point, the four of us just hugged each other and cried. It was special because they loved him just like we did.“Christmas has been hard,” Denise said. “I put off wrapping presents because I had presents for him that he’ll never open….”Nick’s Message:Be helpful and kind.“His shining moments were when he was helping people,” Denise said. “I want more people to be like that. To give to others. And not be takers and just do what’s best for you. We could all take a page from Nick’s playbook.”To offer condolences or support, contact Denise directly.

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Lessons from Orlando and Holiday MusingsThe extravaganza of purebred dogs that is the AKC National Championship week in Orlando has come to a close. I skipped the last couple years with the pandemic and all that entailed, so it was really good to be back with the people I so rarely get to see.I think we all learn something new each time… Like how it’s possible to walk 10 miles and never see the sky…. Or just how many shiny suits St. Johns actually makes…. Or what we jokingly refer to as “snacks in Orlando” … where a cheeseburger, an appetizer and two drinks costs $100….But there are some actually useful lessons to be learned, some that happened to friends, some observed, some that have happened to me over the years, so here we go.Wait, my dog is HIGH?First up, dogs put ridiculous things in their mouths. Even at high-end hotels, be observant and careful when letting your dog roam free in the room. My friend Ingrid learned this lesson the very hard way this week when her Chihuahua found and ingested marijuana in a hotel room on her trip to Orlando. She is now extremely aware of the signs of cannabis toxicity in dogs…. This has become something of an epidemic at veterinary practices, according to Dr. Marty Greer. So, for those who haven’t experienced this, here are some tips. Also, take a listen to our past podcast on the topic of how cannabis can be useful in treating dogs in forms that do not contain THC.Cannabis contains more than 100 different chemicals (or compounds) called cannabinoids. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the cannabinoid that has the most psychoactive effects. It is also the compound responsible for some of cannabis’ medicinal uses, such as treating nausea and improving appetite in cancer patients. Other compounds, such as cannabidiol (CBD), have shown promise for medicinal use and do not have psychoactive effects.Dogs have more cannabinoid receptors in their brains, which means the effects of cannabis are more dramatic and potentially more toxic when compared to humans. A small amount of cannabis is all it takes to cause toxicity in cats and dogs.Per VCA Animal Hospital, most of the signs of intoxication are neurological. Pets may become wobbly and uncoordinated. They may be hyperactive or sleepy, disoriented, and/or very vocal. Their pupils may dilate, giving them a wild-eyed appearance, and they may drool excessively or vomit. They may also develop urinary incontinence (i.e., urine leakage). In severe cases, tremors, seizures, and coma can result.Physical signs include slow or fast heart rate, altered blood pressure, and slowed respiration rate (breathing rate). Lethargy and increases or decreases in body temperature may also be observed. Fortunately, these side effects are usually short-lived but they can still be dangerous and make your pet quite miserable.Diagnosis is based on an accurate history and clinical signs. Although there are tests to determine the level of THC in the urine, the results take time, making them impractical. Human urine drug screening tests are quicker but are not dependable in pets. The diagnosis is made much more quickly, and treatment initiated, when responsible pet owners provide accurate information regarding the pet's exposure.When a toxin enters the body, often the first line of defense is to get it out. If the toxicity is discovered shortly after ingestion, your veterinarian may induce vomiting to prevent further absorption of the toxin. Two factors may interfere with this early defensive strategy. First, the signs of toxicity may manifest only after the drug has been absorbed, meaning it is already in the system. Second, cannabis has an anti-emetic effect that inhibits vomiting. In life-threatening cases, the stomach may be pumped (gastric lavage). Activated charcoal may be administered every six to eight hours to neutralize the toxin. Enemas are also used to reduce toxin absorption from the gastrointestinal tract.The second line of defense in cannabis toxicity involves providing supportive care until the effects of the drug wear off. Medications and supportive care to regulate your pet's heart rate, respiration, and body temperature are used if needed. Since your pet may be lethargic, with no desire to eat or drink, IV fluids can help prevent dehydration, support blood pressure, and maintain organ function. Anti-anxiety medications can minimize agitation. Gastrointestinal treatments may be needed for nausea or vomiting. To prevent self-trauma while your pet is disoriented and uncoordinated, confinement in a safe, comfortable space is helpful. Noise should be kept to a minimum to decrease sensory stimulation.If cannabis is ingested with toxic or problematic substances, such as xylitol, chocolate, raisins, or foods containing a lot of fat, supportive care or additional treatments may be required to treat conditions associated with the ingestion of those substances.Pro TipNext, carpets are slippery! The AKC National Championship show, Westminster Kennel Club, and many of the biggest shows in the country feature beautifully carpeted rings to showcase the dogs. Experienced exhibitors know that dogs don’t move well on the carpet because their feet slip and they can’t drive off their rears. Even in a stack, dogs can have trouble holding their normal position. The best solution to this problem is to keep the dog’s feet wet. Spray bottles of water or wet towels will soften the hard pads enough to give the dog a grip on the carpet. This will allow you to showcase your dog to its best advantage on that gorgeous red carpet.Your feet also need some consideration…. We’re putting in LOTS of hours on our feet… moving, standing, running, walking. Your entire body depends on those feet, so take care of them. Change shoes midday. Just the slightest shift in fit makes an enormous difference. I’m given rations of grief about my “shoe suitcase” but I promise, if I had taken better care of my feet when I was younger, it’s a good bet I’d live with less pain today…Third, we would all do well to learn lessons from the best junior handlers in the country. They are supportive and outstanding sports, they cheer for each other, they encourage each other, they tease friends through bouts of nerves. They are composed under immense pressure, they are driven to succeed, they ooze talent and dedication. They may or may not be the future of the sport, but their futures will be immensely improved by the lessons they take away from the sport and incorporate in their daily lives. We hear an awful lot about millennial this or teenage entitlement that, but when you see these young men and women working their butts off, sprinting over miles of concrete, competing at the highest level and often working ridiculous hours for handlers to support their dreams, you are left with a much different understanding of our youth. The best and brightest of these kids will shine no matter where their life’s journeys lead them.Redemption is a ThingWinston Churchill’s oft repeated quote is more fitting to our sport than most…

"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

Watching friends battle back from injuries, defeats, disappointments and setbacks has been inspiring for me, particularly this year. Kelly Shupp, who just handled our Spinone to win the Sporting group here, shattered her ankle in September and we really didn’t think she’d even be walking by this time. She fought through pain and frustration and disappointment and dedicated herself to being on the end of Josie’s leash to wrap up what had been a history making year already. Her strength and determination and sheer will power literally bring me to tears of awe.Sharing is CaringWhether it’s the YaYa Sisterhood of the traveling outfits when you win the group and didn’t expect to or a corner of a grooming space in a crowded building, this sport really can bring out the best in us. I treasure the people and friendships built over my lifetime in this sport.I know there are Debbie downers out there, but I firmly believe that our lives are immeasurably richer when we focus on the positive and find the beauty around us. It’s lots easier to do that if you simply avoid and/or ignore the folks who would burst that bubble. Big Trips are ExhaustingHaving driven cross country innumerable times, in various vehicles, daunting weather and impossible schedules, I offer a few words of wisdom.* Plan ahead. If something can go wrong, it will and at the most inconvenient time. Have backup plans for your backup plans. Pay attention to the weather apps. I used weather underground to route around upcoming storms. Adding an extra few hours or even a day to the trip to travel safely saved me countless headaches. Factor that into your planning. If you don’t need the extra day to arrive safely, you can always use it to relax and have a little fun on the journey. * Sleep more and eat less. I always stop for a good night’s sleep. I need it to be safe on the road. And the dogs sleep better when the rig isn’t moving. I snack a lot when driving but rarely eat huge meals. I also stop every three to four hours to x dogs, get fuel, walk a little, stretch and keep the blood moving. * Listen to a podcast! Lol

Thank YOU...In closing, as we end the year of competition and transition into the holidays, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you guys. It’s been 6 years now of talking to y’all. I was stopped this week by a lovely young man with a Barbet. He shared with me that the whole reason he was at the show was because of the work we do here. That he’d discovered the breed because of our episode with Judy Descutner. That the podcast gave him the tools and encouragement to stick with it. That brief conversation was the best gift ever. And it’s those stories, YOUR stories, that keep me keepin' on. So, thank you for taking us along …. On your road trips, your workouts, your grooming sessions, and your lawn mowing. I’m looking forward to a whole new year of sharing fabulous stories with you. And I hope you’ll join us on the first Tuesday of every month for the live podcasts on the Facebook page, LIVE@5. If you haven’t had a chance, stop by Pure Dog Talk and join our Patrons getting their Pure Pep Talks.

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Food Fight? Science Based Facts on Feeding Your DogRob Downey, President and CEO of Annamaet, foundational researcher in pet feeding, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the pros and cons of raw vs kibble and how to make sure your pet is fed a healthy diet.“The real thing is, with any product, is how well it’s balanced and the raw materials going in to it,” Downey said. “You can’t say all raw is better or all kibble is better. It really comes down to the formulation. Whether or not its AFCO approved, who’s done the testing and the raw materials that are included.“I’ve studied nutrition for close to 40 years. When we put together our products, not only was I there, we had a board certified veterinary nutritionist and a guy who got his PhD in vitamins. The three of us hammered this out for weeks. It just amazes me that somebody thinks I’ll just put this together in my back yard and I’ll add some green beans and everything will be good.“It’s especially a concern right now when studies have shown how important vitamins and minerals are.“The problem is (vitamin deficiencies) are happening sub-clinically. Studies have shown that 60 percent of home prepared diet are deficient of at least one nutrient.“Most veterinarians aren’t really trained in nutrition. Only about 50 percent of veterinary teaching universities even have a core nutrition course. Veterinarians have to learn so much, they just don’t have time.“One of the things when you’re talking raw or home-prepared diets, you want to be careful you don’t go over about 10-15 percent organ meat. Organ meat tends to be really high in Vitamin A and copper. Copper storage disease is a rising threat in many breeds not predisposed to it….. Copper is stored in the body in the liver.“I don’t care if it’s raw or kibble, if you start with the wrong raw materials, you can have trouble. To say one is better than the other is difficult.“People are loyal to raw because so many people want to feed their dogs like wolves… Wolves only ate every three to five days and had to chase down their prey… Dogs have evolved. Dogs were domesticated before any other animal or crop. The ability to break down carbohydrates is through the amylase genes. Dogs have evolved to the point that they have seven times more amylase genes than wolves.”

From the Study:“A recent comparison of genome-wide patterns of genetic variation in a large panel of dogs and wolves identified genomic regions that were affected by directional selection during early dog domestication “(Axelsson et al. 2013). Through functional characterization of genes residing in these domestication regions, new light was shed on characteristics of adaptive advantage to early dogs. These analyses identified several genes involved in digestion and energy metabolism, suggesting that the transition from wolf to dog was accompanied by a change in diet. Augmented by evidence from expression analyses and enzyme assays, it was concluded that changes in three consecutive steps in the pathway responsible for starch digestion and subsequent glucose absorption allowed dogs to rely on a diet rich in starch relative to the carnivorous wolf diet (Axelsson et al. 2013).”

Find the entire study HERE.

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Holiday Gift Guide, SuperZoo and Small Business SaturdayDr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves throw out some GREAT ideas for holiday gift giving for the animal loving family. Greer's recent trip to SuperZoo and strong support for Small Business Saturday provide heavy influence on the list!Find links below to many of the products mentioned on the podcast and more.Small Business Saturday1. Gift certificate for your vet 2. Gift certificate for your groomer 3. Tips for the groomers 4. Goodies for your veterinary clinic – remember them when it ISN’T a holiday! 5. NAIA Giving Tuesday 6. Gift certificate for freezing and storing semen 7. Gift a Pure Dog Talk Patrons Membership for a friend or puppy buyer

APPLE AIRTAGS – WITH CASES FOR DOGS – chose a waterproof case that is durable. These are not meant to be dog tracking devices – they are for luggage and backpacks but…..Cats

| 1. Litter boxes | 1. https://smartypear.com2. https://www.amazon.com/Catlink-Self-Cleaning-Automatic-Control-Multiple/dp/B09L7Q9446?th=12.https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?IndexInList=5&FromPage=Exhibitors.aspx&ParentBoothID=&ListByBooth=true&BoothID=1579983.https://www.petivity.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maEUZr_VrykNz12IEJDUCEx2lcp0JYNvgTt5dj_kNWLDudcPvUl66dIaAqHlEALw_wcB | | 2. Detection litter | 1. http://www.catcaresand.com2.https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?BoothID=162909&Task=Products&ProdID=21823. https://checkupkit.com/check-up-strips-2/ | | 3. Doc and Phoebes feeding system | https://www.target.com/b/doc-phoebe-s-cat-co/-/N-q643leybvdp | | 4. Meal toppers | 1.https://www.austinandkat.com/products/purrfect-feline-formula-meal-enhancing-topper2.https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/toppers-for-pets | | 5. Pre and probiotics | Numerous | | 6. Medipad – body composition analyzer – weight, water, BMI, Protein, fat, muscle mass, visceral fat, bone mass - | https://www.thelittlecat.kr | | 7. KittyRade hydration | https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?IndexInList=24&FromPage=Exhibitors.aspx&ParentBoothID=&ListByBooth=true&BoothID=159327&fromFeatured=1 | | 8. Hemp cat litter – 3x longer lasting, organic, odor eliminator | https://responsiblyorganic.com | | 9. Really Great litter – from soy | https://www.tuftandpaw.com/products/really-great-cat-litter?nbt=nb%3Aadwords%3Ag%3A17633818253%3A143126466637%3A632778664019&nb_adtype=&nb_kwd=tofu%20litter&nb_ti=kwd-329763809646&nb_mi=&nb_pc=&nb_pi=&nb_ppi=&nb_placement=&nb_li_ms=&nb_lp_ms=&nb_fii=&nb_ap=&nb_mt=b&cmp_id=17633818253&adg_id=143126466637&kwd=tofu%20litter&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maH5_0B0lb4XY8Kf8PcH2vvehimYV7Ms6LU03ZWczSEcJK1vz_VwQRwaArDiEALw_wcB |

Dogs

| 1. Stachios – lick toy with “soothing sauce” | https://www.stashiospet.com | | 2. Licki mats – Tuff series – safer way to keep your dog busy | https://lickimat.com/products/lickimat-tuff-buddy?variant=32730801471621 | | 3. Sodapup lick mats | https://sodapup.com/collections/lick-mats | | 4. Meal toppers | Numerous | | 5. DoggyRade hydration for dogs – revival puppylyte | https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?IndexInList=24&FromPage=Exhibitors.aspx&ParentBoothID=&ListByBooth=true&BoothID=159327&fromFeatured=1 | | 6. Mella thermometers and home wellness system – tape measure, bowl scale, thermometer | https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?IndexInList=0&FromPage=Exhibitors.aspx&ParentBoothID=&ListByBooth=true&BoothID=157432 | | 7. Urine test kits | 1.https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?BoothID=162909&Task=Products&ProdID=2181 | | 8. Puppy warmer incubator and oxygen concentrator | www.puppywarmer.com | | 9. Snuggle puppy soft dog and heartbeat | https://snugglepuppy.com | | 10. Dog health check pee pad – changes color with pH and blood | https://checkupkit.com/check-up-strips-2/ | | 11. Outfox dog hood – protects from eating inappropriate items and foxtails from being inhaled | https://outfoxfordogs.com | | 12. Squishmallows for pets | https://www.amazon.com/s?k=squishmallows+for+dogs&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maEJF5MkuvuGRzlqAxL7TWC1I5zFiwaVAZWZrDc1sB9g0sCra4eSrhUaAjTNEALw_wcB&hvadid=631492119825&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9018934&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=11753780908018681547&hvtargid=kwd-875924792123&hydadcr=7666_13589697&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_35mzs50ep2_b | | 13. Dinbeat Uno – EKG, heart rate, breathing rate, temp, activity, position, vocalization | Best used by veterinary professionals - https://www.dinbeat.com/en/blog/wireless-monitoring-for-pets-what-is-it-and-benefits/ | | 14. Proud pet patch - cone free wound protection leg wraps | https://www.proudpetpatches.com | | 15. Healers booties for dogs | https://www.healerspetcare.com/collections/body-wraps | | 16. RifRuff dog booties | https://rifrufqueens.com | | 17. Goo-eez stretch dog booties | https://gooeez.com | | 18. Eukanuba premium performance puppypro food | https://eukanuba.com/us/premium-performance-puppy-pro?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maFYct6i7H-QoA3COslRepZ-rDmPayCuuYyMg5hve9iYaFlQCjiC7P8aAr76EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds | | 19. Calm Recovery vests | https://www.acornpetproducts.com/product/recoveryvest/ | | 20. Suitical post op suits | https://www.suitical.com/products/recovery-suit-dog/ | | 21. Calmpets recovery vest | https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?BoothID=161979&Task=Products&ProdID=4802 | | 22. Zenpet Elizabethan collars for dogs and cats | https://zenpetusa.com/products/recovery/zen-collar-the-original-procollar/ | | 23. Asobu vacuum insulated bottles for you and your dog | https://asobubottle.com/collections/pet-water-bottles | | 24. Wunderball – virtually indestructible ball – floats, cleans teeth, wacky bouncing action | https://www.gowacky.us/dog-toys-accessories/ | | 25. Chubbies, tugger toys by patchwork | https://www.patchworkpet.com/collections/chubbie-tuggers-rope-tug-toys | | 26. DUZ premium hands free dryer | https://en.duzdryer.com | | 27. Squishface - all natural products for wrinkly dogs | https://squishface.com | | 28. Nite-Ize rechargeable lit collar for dogs | https://niteize.com/pet?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maGElvuYx6hWg6XlayJn9nhnpzUf3jPt1bpx5VIoe-FJ0_5enjUgf5saArCXEALw_wcB | | 29. Wandurdog outdoor dog wash garden hose nozzle | https://www.wondurdog.com | | 30. Westpaw slow feeders | https://s23.a2zinc.net/clients/WPA/SZ2022/Public/eBooth.aspx?IndexInList=103&FromPage=Exhibitors.aspx&ParentBoothID=&ListByBooth=true&BoothID=156800&fromFeatured=1 | | 31. Nox hands free leash | https://www.zeedog.com/products/nox-hands-free-leash | | 32. Jolly dipper – chew toy | https://jollypets.com/products/jolly-dipper-dog-toy | | 33. Oxyfresh water additive for teeth | https://oxyfresh.com/products/dog-cat-bad-breath-solution | | 34. Sanidoo pooper scooper | https://www.sanidoo.com/shop/ |

Miscellaneous

| 1. Patches to save injured toys | | 2. Petrageous designs bowls | https://www.petrageousdesigns.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.20968/.f | | 3. Lighted pet carrier – Wigzi travel | https://www.wigzi.com/carriers | | 4. Hunger for words – talking pet starter series | https://www.hungerforwords.com/shop/ | | 5. WPA pets in the classroom | https://petsintheclassroom.org/home-page/wpa/ | | 6. Hiddin clear pet products - hidden in plain sight | www.shophiddin.com | | 7. Clearly loved pets | https://clearlylovedpets.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maFHE6tXoEE3uXm01BNZI7-OaXIn2t_piH4s5wqHXSAOPW0H7OEt-J0aAjpoEALw_wcB | | 8. BONA FLOOR CLEANER | https://www.bona.com/en-us/products/homeowners/cleaners/pet-multi-surface-dog-32oz/ | | 9. Pooph deodorizer | https://www.pooph.com/?mid=12016823&vendor=google&campaignid=15182310361&adgroupid=132194116729&targetid=kwd-1458241007427&mt=e&network=g&device=c&adid=591526379658&keyword=pooph&adtype=&merchantid=&productchannel=&productid=&placement=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maFtF7lZIemftH9AvHEkPSvFFKUdhbNtfn4TlLe5rHjjJcZCarEW0jkaAmxYEALw_wcB |

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From Chasing to Pacing: Troubleshooting In Ring Movement Issues Laura’s monthly LIVE@5 podcasts offer an interactive opportunity for listeners to ask questions and get personal insight. This particular topic revolved around questions regarding movement. Laura provides techniques to deal with dogs that pull, lunge, lack focus or pace in the ring.

Q: (My dog) has this new thing where, on the go round, he pulls very hard toward the center of the ring and starts to gallop.

A: Our dogs don't communicate with us, and we don't communicate with them, with our words. What they hear is our tone of voice. Our body language and our energy. So, like our nervous energy, or our negative energy, or our very positive energy, or most importantly our Zen.

If the situation happens when going around with a group of dogs, instead of standing there facing the back end of those dogs as they start to run away, I turn the dog. I put him fully perpendicular to that line of dogs running away. I keep him completely focused on me and on a watch me until it is our time to go. We give the dog in front of us three full strides before I start. And then we go and then the dog is going to be more collected, more together.

Q: When gaiting, (my dog) always wants to be looking at me instead of straight ahead where we're going, which I feel throws off his gait.

A: Don’t look at the dog. It seems kind of silly and sort of simple, but we get so worried about what the dog is doing that we're constantly looking at them. And the dog’s reaction of course because again, they don't respond to words, they respond to body language. If we're giving them eye contact, they're going to give it back.

Laura covers everything from chasing to pacing in this great interactive conversation.

Don’t forget to check out the next LIVE@5 on the first Tuesday of every month.

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Dr. Gayle Watkins LIVE: Socializing Puppies Properly Four-time AKC Breeder of the Year in four different sports, Dr. Gayle Watkins, founder of Avidog, speaks about how we create working and competition dogs through proper socializing.

Watkins observes that socialization is building social relationships with humans and dogs. And the current method of socialization causes more harm than good. Puppy development should be manners, mental resilience, civility and trust, she posits.

“The vast majority of people think socialization ends at 16 weeks, the sensitive period. Those first four months so important to puppies. But most dogs need socialization or “development work” through 15 months,” Watkins said.

Another misconception Watkins notes is that 8 to 10 weeks is a fear imprint period, not a time in which dogs are necessarily more fearful.

“They're not more afraid at that age,” Watkins said. “They're going through continual progression towards fear that starts at 5 weeks. It’s what a canine is. They are fearful creatures. This is inherent in this species, so fear is inherent in dogs.”

“If you go online and you Google socialization and puppies, you’ll get a million hits, over a million hits, and you will get checklist after, checklist after checklist. This is not a checklist. We're talking about teaching skills. What is stability? It’s the appropriateness of the dog’s response to stress.

“I also want to build resilience. Putting them under stress very, very early. So that they can be resilient. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from stress and frustration. If you think about it, we can't make every puppy bombproof. More than anything else. It is built through inoculation to stress. When we are aiming for stability, we want to introduce stress to teach them the right behaviors. Here we must introduce stress to teach them to be resilient.”

Watkins’ insights on raising sensible, calm competition ready dogs is invaluable. Listen HEREto one of her first conversations on Pure Dog Talk, on bomb proofing your puppies.

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Dr. Marty Greer’s Passion Project & Anniversary Episode Dr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves celebrate their fifth anniversary of sharing important veterinary topics on Pure Dog Talk.

Greer’s passion project is Breast Cancer Awareness in dogs.

“People sometimes forget that dogs get breast cancer too,” Greer said. “It's not an uncommon kind of cancer to find in dogs, unfortunately. It is definitely linked to spaying at an older age. But, in spite of that, there are still some significant benefits in waiting to spay. So that's a whole ‘nother topic.

“But essentially we see it in middle age to older, normally female dogs that were left intact after the age of two. So, anybody that's breeding their dog is typically not going to spay before two because of health clearances, because she needs to mature before you breed her. So this means that almost every dog in a breeding program is gonna fall into a possibility of breast cancer. Mammary tumors, same thing, different term, all the same stuff.

“And I think it's really important that people know that there isn't a good treatment other than surgery. So early detection and surgery is going to be almost the only thing that we can offer.

“So, really, early detection, finding a nodule, taking it off when it's small and then being very attentive for additional ones to develop is very important.

“Dogs have five sets of memory glands. The littlest ones are at the front between the front legs, and then they go down a nice string all the way down, usually in a fairly straight line. Every now and then they'll be an extra nipple or something else thrown in, and that's OK. It's just a normal variation.

“But what you want to do is go along that chain that goes down, so feel from one nipple to the next and in between the nipples and just gently manipulate the skin so that you can see if you find anything that seems abnormal. A breast cancer nodule will feel firm, like a pea or a little cluster of peas. They'll be firm. They won't be those soft kind of masses. They won't be on the belly button. They'll typically be off to the side. The most common place to find a tumor, and the most serious tumors, are in the glands closest to the back legs.

“I strongly encourage people not to spend the money on a fine needle aspirate. A lot of veterinarians want to stick a needle in it and aspirate it, and because most mammary tumors are mixed of different cell types, that is not going to be an accurate assessment of what you have.”

Listen to the full episode here and then flash back to the first episode, introducing Dr. Greer.

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"In Their Honor We Must Continue Their Paths" Tomorrow is All Saints’ day… It’s also Dia De Los Muertos … So I believe it is fitting to hold up our friends and loved ones today on All Hallows Eve….. Our tribe has lost legends, and legends in the making, just in the last few weeks, never mind during the course of the last couple years.

The days are shorter, colder and grayer today. The mottled leaves are falling. The dry grass is wilting. The winds of change heralding the season have arrived to scurry and swirl the fallen leaves in our path. The fog is settling in, the sun tilting on its axis. It feels as if the world is dying around us as the fall equinox wanes and the winter solstice creeps ever closer. When we lose friends and family this time of year, the anguish seems to seep deeper into our bones than at any other time.

Nonetheless, within our dog community, we are all, at the core, performers. The show must go on. No matter how devastated. How shattered. How destroyed our souls. So, we push through and push away and push down the heartache and angst and horror and sadness. Even as we collapse, crushed, with a dog on our chests to get through the night. “Thinking of you and all the amazing people brought into your life through the dogs. Does not make their passing any less sad, but oh how it has enriched your life.” This small note brought me such comfort. And I wanted to share this bright spot with all of you who are hurting right now. Our lives are all immeasurably enriched by our community of fellow dog lovers. Whether you started yesterday or have spent 50 years in this sport, the camaraderie and shared love of dogs is literally a lifeline for many.

The litany of those gone in the last few years is nearly unbearable. Respected judges. Gifted breeders. Talented handlers. Beloved family. Bastions of passion and commitment to purebred dogs who are so nearly irreplaceable.

Joe Gregory

Barbara Alderman

Pat Laurans

Pat Hastings

Linda Souza

Jerry Moon

Jamie Donelson

So very many more near and far, bright stars each within their own universes.

The smiles and voices that will forever stay with us.

I will never forget literally sitting at Jerry Moon’s knee while he taught me how to trim Cockers properly so I could show an ASCOB dog for a new client. Or the time Jerry went down at the old Brush Prairie show site during the Cocker specialty. He had won the variety with his beloved Fosse and would not leave in the ambulance until he was assured I would take Fosse back in for the breed. We won that day under Dale Simmons and against Don Rodgers with the ASCOB dog. That they are all gone now is hard to navigate in my mind.

Working with Pat Laurans on the GWPCA board. Even before then, picking her brain about old dogs and pedigrees. There was literally nothing Pat couldn’t accomplish if she put her mind to it. She left her mark on Take the Lead, the AKC Reunite Pet Disaster Relief Trailers, the Parent Club Committee for the Delegates and so much more. She was a fierce advocate for our breed and a good friend to me over the years.

Just this spring I spent months working with Pat Hastings, Chris Levy & Nancy Martin on a presentation to vet students at OSU when they were invited to a local dog show. She was such an inspiration to me, not just in her knowledge, but her skill at wielding it to such dramatic effect.

Linda Souza’s support and kindness to me as an Irish Wolfhound handler back in the day… in a breed where professional handlers are not the norm … was such a gift to my young self.

Barbara Alderman’s kilowatt smile and the mind-bending opportunity to join her for dinner as a fellow judge. Joe Gregory’s dance moves. Talking Spinone with Gloria Geringer and Wirehairs with Roger Hartinger. Watching from afar as Jamie Donelson beautifully showed a dog we raised here. These are memories stored carefully away in the heart.

I’ve talked often about our tribe. The people who

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Spinone Italiano: Storied Bird Dogs of Gentle Character Long time breeder Allison Schultz, of del Caos Spinoni, joins host Laura Reeves for a Love the Breeds month discussion of the fascinating history and empathetic nature of the Spinone Italiano.

[caption id="attachment_10948" align="alignleft" width="264"] Allison Shultz' "Limbo," shown by Nancy Martin, the breed's first Best in Show record holder, with five lifetime BIS awards.[/caption]

Schultz acquired her first Spinone in the early 1990s, long before they were officially recognized by the American Kennel Club. The breed dates back thousands of years in Italy, to when birds were hunted with nets.

“(It) probably started 2,500 years ago. Long before there was a gun, there was a hunting dog in Italy. They were known as the pointing griffon, rough coat griffon, because they have a wire coat.

“Interestingly enough, when you go to Italy and you go to some of the palaces as a tourist, you'll see the Bracco in the mosaics and in the paintings, because they were the dogs of the Lords. The Spinone was really the dog of the peasant.

[caption id="attachment_10949" align="alignright" width="270"] Spinoni move quietly through even the toughest cover.[/caption]

“When they first started hunting, it was either maybe slingshots, but mostly nets. So, they had to be really quiet in the field. (The dogs) had to be intuitive because you couldn't yell at them because the birds would fly away. So, they really became very close working, silent hunters.

“They work at a trot so that the human can keep up. They're not one to bolt a half a mile away looking for a bird because it's so ingrained into them and so intrinsic that they had to hunt close (so) the hunters could throw nets over the flocks of birds.

[caption id="attachment_10945" align="alignleft" width="312"] Ch. Elettra del Subasio showing correct coat and skin.[/caption]

“They developed a really thick skin, which is really, really important to the breed. And the thick skin is as thick as a cow. It's called the skin of the bull in Italy. And the name Spinoni means thorn. They can go through any kind of cover without even noticing it.

“They have this ability to move quite silently through even the hardest cover, and even though they could break through easily. They just don't do that. They're very, I hate to say, careful because that implies slow, but they're very, very careful about how they move.

“And the other thing they did is that they naturally flush. So, they point and let the human being know where the birds are. Then if the net gets thrown or they throw the net up in the air, Spinoni will then flush the bird into the nets. That's how they provided food long before there were guns and bows and arrows or anything, actually.

[caption id="attachment_10950" align="alignright" width="283"] The gentle, empathetic character of the Spinone is paramount.[/caption]

“The first thing in the original standard, which the Italians still hold today, is they must be of the sweet temperament. So that means in 1,500 years of record keeping there was never a bite in Italy from a Spinone. One of the reasons their temperament must be so sweet is that they have to live with other dogs. Because the Italians usually had https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/segugio-italiano/ (Segugios) to hunt and take care of the rats and the vineyards and the gardens, and that's what they depended on for living.

"So, the Spinoni had to be a dog that got along well with other dogs, always. But the first thing in that standard is character. And the most important thing about Spinoni is the character has to be  sweet. Dolce, they call it, gentle character. That's very, very, very important.

“And a little interesting point about World War Two, in the Italian resistance, which one of my mentors was in... They used the Spinoni when they went on things because the Spinoni could tell the difference between Italians coming to meet them and...

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Sealyham Terriers: Favorites of Royalty and Hollywood [caption id="attachment_10929" align="alignleft" width="264"] Leslie Jaseph with two of her Seabrook Sealyham Terriers.[/caption]

https://youtu.be/6qr5CEfpFIk (Leslie Jaseph )joins host Laura Reeves for the next in our Love the Breeds Month, by listener request, Sealyham Terriers.

Sealyham Terriers were once the favored breed of Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, and Hollywood legends from Alfred Hitchcock to Betty Davis, Rock Hudson and Cary Grant. Today they are ranked 139th out of the 197 AKC breeds by registration numbers.

Developed in Wales and named for the founder’s estate, Sealyhams were used to go to ground after badgers and run with the Otterhounds hunting otters.

Jaseph, a Sealyham breeder, owner and exhibitor for 50 years, showed her first Sealy in Junior Showmanship.

“They're tough in the field,” Jaseph said. “And they're really engaging. They love to chase and run and track, but they're not aggressive with other dogs. They are a pack animal, so their pack is their home. Beyond their pack they can be a little more assertive in personality, but within their pack it's a very distinct order.

“They're happy to be the boss of the house. If you don't want to do that, they'll take over. They'll be in control. But you might not like how that works. So, you do have to be to stay strong, although you don't want to be heavy-handed with them at all.

“They're very bright, they're very inquisitive. They have a terrific sense of humor. They do things for effect and watch if you're paying attention, and then they'll repeat it. Or maybe sometimes if they see you watching, they'll just stop and walk away.

“They were bred to be a dwarf breed, and so they have nice bone. I think our standard mentions strength and power something like 10 times within the opening paragraph and getting into the standard. Good bone, not overdone. Not coarse, still able to be agile.

“I know Sealys that live very, very happily with cats, that's not a problem. But as far as rodents and other things like that, I think you would need to be very judicious on how you handled that situation. I actually take ours and we've done urban rat hunting in Washington DC and so they do have an instinct to do that.

“So the reason why they're white is because Captain Edwards wanted them to be able to be spotted when they were out hunting. Now, granted, when you're in the mud, you're going to get muddy, but you're still going to have that white. But a good coated Sealyham really is a dog that the dirt doesn't cling to them.

“If they have that harsh, crisp coat, they really don't stain at all. And they do have a double coat. So you have this 50% harsh coat, 50% undercoat, which was weather resistant and kept them warm and somewhat dry.”

“They do love their people and they want to be with their people. They’re wonderful companions. They love to go for walks. They don't need to go running, but they do enjoy being with you as companion dogs.”

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Sturdy, Colorful, Charming Havanese Bring Cuban History to Life [caption id="attachment_10917" align="alignleft" width="230"] Dr. Adam King, DVM with one of his Havanese in a corded coat.[/caption]

Dr. Adam King, DVM, of https://www.askinhavanese.com/ (Askin) Havanese, joins host Laura Reeves in Love the Breeds Month for an overview of the little dogs of Cuba’s aristocracy that survived the Cuban Revolution.

According to King, the precursor of the Havanese was brought to Cuba from Spain and Italy during colonization in the 1600-1700s. More European immigrants arrived in Cuba in the 1800s with Poodle type dogs, which also became incorporated into the developing breed.

Originally developed as the family pet of the Cuban aristocracy, Havanese are sturdy, colorful and charming. King noted that wealthy Cubans fled the country during the Revolution in the 1950s.

“Many of them thought it was going to be a short-lived thing, leaving their dogs with the domestic help at the time because they thought they'd be coming back to Cuba very shortly,” King said. “And that's something that obviously didn't happen for many of those families.

“We are fortunate that a small number of Havanese were taken by their owners to Costa Rica and the US. That's where the majority of the breed then developed. Most of the Havanese, both in Europe and in America, came from those people who just happened to take their dogs with them.”

“They are a toy breed, but the nice thing is that they are not a fragile toy breed for the most part. We don't want them to be clunky, but there should be nothing fragile or breakable about Havanese whatsoever.”

[caption id="attachment_10919" align="alignleft" width="287"] Puppies generally change colors multiple times over the course of their lives.[/caption]

The variety of colors is part of the breed’s charm. Color is immaterial per the standard, with only dilute blue being unaccepted in the ring. Merle is not a naturally occurring color in the breed.

“So, we definitely get people who come to us as puppy owners who say they want a specific color,” King said. “And it really is sometimes difficult to convince them that ‘that's nice that you think this is a good color right now, but I just want to make sure that you know it will not be this color probably in six months, it may come back to this color, but it won't be this color in six months.’

“I wouldn't say that they are Einsteins at the dog world. People disagree with me, but I'd say that they're like a C plus student. They're happy to be here. They're game to do whatever you want, but it's not a breed that you have to out-think all the time.

“Havanese do go through at least one coat change, usually sometime between the ages of 7 and 10 months, that can be pretty maddening. We look at them and they mat, like it truly is quite terrible and you think you're going crazy. But if you can get a coat through that, generally it's something that's relatively easy to do.

“They don't shed like the typical dog and they tend to have a pretty low dander and pretty low odor as well. Everyone’s allergies are different and so starting to come around this breed would be a good idea to see is this something that triggers you or is this a dog that you can really deal with. But because you do have hair versus fur, it is agreed that is a good breed for most people with allergies.

“I can generally place my puppies in homes and know that I'm going to get multiple texts and emails about how much they love their dogs for the rest of the dog’s life.

“They are just like potato chips. They are so charming and so happy that you can't help but fall in love with them. And when you have one, all you can think about is, well, you know, it might be a good idea to have another one as well because they're so fun and easy. It really is a breed that does well in the vast majority of homes.”

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Finnish Lapphunds: Trainable, Lovable, Cuddly Dogs of the North [caption id="attachment_10909" align="alignleft" width="273"] Linda Marden and Tori.[/caption]

Host Laura Reeves kicks off Love the Breeds month talking with Linda Marden, who imported the first Finnish Lapphunds to the US and worked to have them recognized by the American Kennel Club.

“I very pointedly and purposely set out to import Finnish Lapphunds and get them recognized by AKC,” Marden said. “It took pretty close to 25 years to get it done. I couldn't find anybody that would export one to the United States. Back then, we didn't have Internet or anything like that. To them, sending a dog to the United States was basically the same as taking it out and shooting it… it was never going to come back to them. It wouldn't be part of their gene pool because once they're gone and registered in the United States … at that point, because we weren't AKC recognized, we couldn't send dogs back to them. So that line, as far as they were concerned, was lost. Getting a dog was really difficult.

[caption id="attachment_10910" align="alignright" width="358"] Finnish Lapphunds are a medium-sized double coated Spitz-type breed.[/caption]

“When I first started, I had a breed which had a very definite well-recorded history and we had multiple generations pedigrees. This was not in any way shape or form a created breed. Every dog I imported had at least a three-generation pedigree, which was an AKC requirement. We never had anything that wasn't three generations, and they still made us wait until we had 400 dogs in the United States before we could even take another step forward. When I first started working on importing Lappies. It was before AKC had the foundation stock service. So, it instantly became much easier once that got started.

“Finnish Lapphunds obviously are from Finland. That type of breed is all over the northern part of Europe. So, what actual breed you get depends on where in northern Europe you are. So, the “Lapphund” part comes from Lappland, which was an area of Europe that was never a country but "pre-countries" it was recognized area. It covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. And Sammies came from also basically the same area, but it was Russia. So, it's just the area you were in because these were nomadic people that are relatively isolated. So, the breeds that formed, formed because of the human isolation.

[caption id="attachment_10908" align="alignleft" width="233"] The breed comes in a wide array of colors, love to learn tricks and are very docile with people.[/caption]

“All of those breeds were kept by the nomadic people and their primary job was to help herd the reindeer. Now, the dogs were multi-purpose. They were not exclusively bred as herding dogs. So, we see differences in their temperaments because of that. They were also used to occasionally pull sleds. They were alarm dogs. They hung out with the people. We all joke that we know exactly what a “three dog night” is. It's really cold. The dogs lived very closely with their people, and you can see that in their temperaments. All of those breeds actually are exceedingly people oriented because they lived in the tents with the people.”

For more information on the breed: https://www.facebook.com/groups/finnishlappundclubofamerica

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Canine Herpes Virus from the Veterinary Perspective [caption id="attachment_10897" align="alignleft" width="253"] BRUCE W. CHRISTENSEN, DVM, MS, DACT[/caption]

Dr. Bruce Christensen, DVM from https://kokopellivet.net/ (Kokopelli Assisted Reproductive Services), joins host Laura Reeves to talk about treating pregnant dogs and their puppies for Canine Herpes Virus.

Last week we heard from Alaskan Malamute breeder Wendy Korr on her experience with this potentially devastating disease in her litter. Today we are joined by the veterinarian who led the treatment of dam and puppies with a refresher course on CHV.

“Herpes virus is not something that we typically screen for on a routine basis with our breeding bitches,” Christensen said. “It could be argued that maybe we should, but I guess in our conversation today we can probably talk about why that is or isn't so.

“The bottom line is that it's a pretty common virus. And so most bitches, and stud dogs, have been exposed to it and have it essentially, although it's not actively causing disease in most of them. However, the dangerous thing is if a bitch hasn't been exposed to herpes virus and then she's initially exposed to it while she's pregnant, especially in that last half of gestation.

“That would be the most dangerous time because the first time that an animal is exposed to herpes virus, they have the strongest immune response and the least prepared immune response, so the virus has more of a head start. Since the body hasn't seen it before, there aren't any lingering antibodies to recognize the virus and mount a quicker subsequent response. So the initial response is a little slower at coming and gives the virus more time to do damage. And that damage during the second-half of pregnancy will involve the fetuses and potentially much more likely infect them.

“If a bitch has been exposed before, then she'll have antibodies and she's already got the virus in her, just in the latent state. And if it reproduces or comes back out, her immune system should be adequate enough to protect the puppies that are in utero. So if you find that she's naive, in other words that she has not been exposed to herpes virus, then you need to be hyper vigilant about keeping her away from other dogs throughout the rest of her pregnancy because you don't want her to be exposed for the first time during her pregnancy.

“So that dog needs to be on real lockdown and isolation from any outside dogs. If you have dogs in your household that will have contact with her 'cause it just be too difficult to keep them apart, they need to be tested. And if they're negative, then they could continue to have contact with her and no other dogs. If they're positive, then you probably wanna temporarily rehome them to keep them away from her during that pregnancy so that they don't potentially spread it to her while she's pregnant.

“Most species have their own herpes viruses and they're not communicable between species. We all know coronavirus jumps between species because of what the world's gone through in the last couple years, right? Herpes virus doesn't do that. It pretty much stays true to the species it's evolved with.

“But once you get a herpes infection, the viruses pretty much behave the same. They go into your cells and they stay in your cells for your lifetime. Now they're usually quiet and just sit there, not replicating, just quiet inside the cells. Usually, it's in times of stress that they are triggered. Everybody listening to this podcast is going to be familiar with herpes virus in people, ‘Damn it, I got a cold sore.’ So that's because the virus. Once you've got it, it's in your body forever and during times of stress it'll come out and cause those annoying problems. In the dog, it's the same.

“Once a dog becomes exposed to herpes virus, it's in the dog for life, but most of the time it's just quiet inside the cells. During times of stress, it can come back out. And...

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Canine Herpes Virus from the Veterinary Perspective [caption id="attachment_10897" align="alignleft" width="253"] BRUCE W. CHRISTENSEN, DVM, MS, DACT[/caption]

Dr. Bruce Christensen, DVM from https://kokopellivet.net/ (Kokopelli Assisted Reproductive Services), joins host Laura Reeves to talk about treating pregnant dogs and their puppies for Canine Herpes Virus.

Last week we heard from Alaskan Malamute breeder Wendy Korr on her experience with this potentially devastating disease in her litter. Today we are joined by the veterinarian who led the treatment of dam and puppies with a refresher course on CHV.

“Herpes virus is not something that we typically screen for on a routine basis with our breeding bitches,” Christensen said. “It could be argued that maybe we should, but I guess in our conversation today we can probably talk about why that is or isn't so.

“The bottom line is that it's a pretty common virus. And so most bitches, and stud dogs, have been exposed to it and have it essentially, although it's not actively causing disease in most of them. However, the dangerous thing is if a bitch hasn't been exposed to herpes virus and then she's initially exposed to it while she's pregnant, especially in that last half of gestation.

“That would be the most dangerous time because the first time that an animal is exposed to herpes virus, they have the strongest immune response and the least prepared immune response, so the virus has more of a head start. Since the body hasn't seen it before, there aren't any lingering antibodies to recognize the virus and mount a quicker subsequent response. So the initial response is a little slower at coming and gives the virus more time to do damage. And that damage during the second-half of pregnancy will involve the fetuses and potentially much more likely infect them.

“If a bitch has been exposed before, then she'll have antibodies and she's already got the virus in her, just in the latent state. And if it reproduces or comes back out, her immune system should be adequate enough to protect the puppies that are in utero. So if you find that she's naive, in other words that she has not been exposed to herpes virus, then you need to be hyper vigilant about keeping her away from other dogs throughout the rest of her pregnancy because you don't want her to be exposed for the first time during her pregnancy.

“So that dog needs to be on real lockdown and isolation from any outside dogs. If you have dogs in your household that will have contact with her 'cause it just be too difficult to keep them apart, they need to be tested. And if they're negative, then they could continue to have contact with her and no other dogs. If they're positive, then you probably wanna temporarily rehome them to keep them away from her during that pregnancy so that they don't potentially spread it to her while she's pregnant.

“Most species have their own herpes viruses and they're not communicable between species. We all know coronavirus jumps between species because of what the world's gone through in the last couple years, right? Herpes virus doesn't do that. It pretty much stays true to the species it's evolved with.

“But once you get a herpes infection, the viruses pretty much behave the same. They go into your cells and they stay in your cells for your lifetime. Now they're usually quiet and just sit there, not replicating, just quiet inside the cells. Usually, it's in times of stress that they are triggered. Everybody listening to this podcast is going to be familiar with herpes virus in people, ‘Damn it, I got a cold sore.’ So that's because the virus. Once you've got it, it's in your body forever and during times of stress it'll come out and cause those annoying problems. In the dog, it's the same.

“Once a dog becomes exposed to herpes virus, it's in the dog for life, but most of the time it's just quiet inside the cells. During times of stress, it can come back out. And...

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Canine Herpes Virus: Early Detection Saves Puppies Alaskan Malamute breeder Wendy Corr joins host Laura Reeves to share her story of early detection of Canine Herpes Virus in her pregnant bitch and how she managed the situation to produce healthy puppies. This is the first of a two-part series which also includes an interview with Corr’s lead veterinarian.

[caption id="attachment_10885" align="alignleft" width="286"] November 2021 4-6 Beginner Puppy. Later, breeder, owner, handler Wendy Corr related his story, told here.[/caption]

Corr said she had never really thought about CHV much, as a long-time breeder, but had recently heard a presentation on the dangers of the disease to pregnant females. On a whim, she asked her veterinarian, Dr. Bruce Christensen, to pull blood a CHV titer test on her confirmed pregnant 3-year-old Malamute.

She was shocked to hear back a couple weeks later that the bitch had titer levels off the charts.

At the direction of Dr. Christensen and his team at https://kokopellivet.net/ (Kokopelli Assisted Reproductive Canine Services) in Sacramento, CA, Corr started her bitch on a course of acyclovir, a human anti-viral.

Corr, who is a clinical nurse in human medicine, said she was concerned about potential side effects from the drug, which could include cleft palate, but committed to the treatment with that understanding. She also opted for a C-section, rather than a vaginal whelp, in order to limit the puppies’ exposure to the virus in the dam’s body.

Primary among the handling of the four healthy puppies at birth (none with clefts) was incorporating an incubator to keep their body temperature above 99 degrees, the point at which the virus cannot replicate, for the first 2 ½ weeks. Putting the puppies on to nurse every two hours, monitoring temps and keeping mom and puppies content during that time was a daunting challenge, Corr said.

“We had friends who brought us dinner,” Corr said. “We had people who offered to come in and just sit with the dog so I could sleep or take a shower or we could go grocery shopping.”

The entire process took place during the height of COVID lockdowns, enhancing Corr’s challenges.

Stay tuned next week for insight from Dr. Christensen directly on his experience and recommendations on the topic.

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Consistency is the Key to Successful Dog Training Trainer and author https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Dog-Training-uncovering-well-behaved/dp/0999284606 (Shannon Riley-Coyner) joins host Laura Reeves to talk about the key to successful dog training – consistency.

“Really, consistency is something that even as humans, we thrive on,” Riley-Coyner said. “Like if we have a relationship, whether it's with our children, our spouse, our friends. Inconsistency really creates fear. It creates anxiety. It creates a lack of trust.” Five Ways to be Consistent

Be clear about what you are expecting. Does down mean get off or lie down?

Make a doggy dictionary. What is the word for each behavior?

Be clear about reinforcement. Clicker? Food? Verbal? Be consistent with the reinforcer!

Nail your timing. “A punishment that happens 3 seconds after a behavior can be very stressful for a dog. A reinforcement like treat that's given three seconds after the behavior, it will be confusing. But it won't be necessarily be stressful.”

Consistent technique. “Inconsistency is very stressful for a lot of dogs. That's why it's so important to have that timing and your techniques be consistent.”

Clarity is kindness “We need a way of communicating with (our dogs),” Riley-Coyner said. “If I don't have some consistent words that mean something, we’re going to have a hard time communicating because dogs don't talk in language like this. They talk with body language and we need to know about these things.”

Consistency for the dogs within the family is critical, Riley-Coyner said. Which is why using consistent words, rules and a similar tone should be part of the family meeting for any new dog.

“Tone will amp up a dog or bring a dog down,” Riley-Coyner said. “It’s a lot of training ourselves.” Consistency from the beginning and building a foundation, she added, enables us as trainers to show our dogs that "clarity is kindness.”

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Intussusception and Other GI Accidents Dr. Marty Greer, DVM is back with host Laura Reeves to discuss Intussusception and other GI related accidents that may affect our dogs.

“Intussusception is when the intestinal tract invaginates, or folds up on itself, so accordions on itself,” Greer said. “So, a piece of the intestine slips into another piece of the intestine, all aligned. And unfortunately, what happens when that occurs, is the blood flow is compromised to that part of the intestines and very quickly the dog gets into trouble.

“(They have) vomiting, diarrhea, they look really sick, really fast. So, it doesn't look like your garden variety, ‘I ate grass and vomited’ or, you know, those kinds of things. It ranks up there in severity with parvovirus (and bloat). There’s a lot of different GI things, intestinal and stomach things that happen as intestinal accidents.

“So, it's one of those intestinal accidents that happen. If intussusception happens, they're almost always young puppies. They're almost always associated with a heavy parasite load.

“Any parasite, usually roundworms, but any parasite, anything that can make the gut hyper motile. So, increase the motility of the activity of the gut to the point that it gets really angry and it just sucks in. It's sort of like if you take off your sock and you kind of pull it wrong side out for part of it. That's kind of how it looks. It has this double loop of intestines, so it's usually because of hypermotility, although it can happen also with linear foreign bodies.

“A linear foreign body is something long and skinny that gets swallowed that shouldn't be swallowed. It's a non-food item, so it's pantyhose, it's string, it's yarn, it's balloon strings. Those long strands that come off of the rug. Those throw rugs, rope toys when they pull bits off the rope toy. So those are the things that tend to cause foreign body intestinal intussusception.

“Most of the time those dogs and cats end up in surgery because of the risk of intussusception or sawing effect of the long string foreign body kind of thing that just cuts through the intestinal wall. It can be pretty ugly.

“But intussusception is unique unto itself because it may or may not be related to a foreign body. It may look like parvo, 'cause, it's a young dog, comes in acute abdomen, vomiting, anemic, sick. The real interesting thing is either you can feel it or there's sort of a characteristic. look of how intussusception looks on ultrasound.

“So, if you have the suspicion of this, a good diagnostic tool is ultrasound. It's much more effective than X-ray in making the diagnosis, but feeling it is oftentimes what we can do. I've seen this in puppies as young as six or seven weeks old, and those puppies are relatively easy to feel because they're not very big and there's not a lot of body fat.”

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Rights and Responsibilities of the Stud Dog Owner Dale Martenson of Touche Japanese Chin joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the rights and responsibilities of the stud dog owner. The two long-time breeders break down the top five considerations for owners to consider as they decide whether and with which females to breed their male dogs. Compensation Stud dog owners typically will choose to either receive a stud fee or the choice of a puppy from the resulting litter in lieu of a stud fee. The amount of the stud fee, timing of when it’s paid and choice of puppy are all items up for discussion amongst the parties, Martenson noted, but whatever is decided should always be put in writing in a contract. Pick and Choose Owners of popular stud dogs will be in a position to select the ideal mates for their dog. But that requires having specific criteria, knowing the broad background of the breed, the pedigree of both dogs, the health, temperament and potential disqualifying faults and, finally, the ethics of the breeder with whom they are doing business. Popular Sire Syndrome Knowing what the “https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/449-dr-jerold-bell-popular-sire-syndrome-defined/ (bottlenecks)” are in a breed are part of the stud dog owner’s responsibilities. Population genetics come in to play as stud dog owners balance a desire to see beneficial aspects of their dogs used to strengthen the breed with a question of when does that become “too much” and impact the long-term health of the breed as a whole. Preservation Breeding Within small gene pools and truly https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/386-protecting-diversity-and-sharing-quality-in-rare-breeds-pure-dog-talk/ (rare breeds), owners of stud dogs will often make different decisions about allowing their dog to be used than owners of more popular breeds. For breeds with these “gene puddles,” the implications of using or not using a particular stud dog carry significantly more weight simply due to the sheer numbers or lack therof. Relationship Building “Establish a relationship (with the stud dog owner),” Martenson said. “Because I think right now, breeding requires more of a relationship than it did before. I think that you have to have that. You're just not going to take a phone call and someone comes by with a brucellosis test and breed their bitch and take their check. That's just not today's environment.”

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IKC “Phoenix Rising” Blends History into the Future Scott Pfeil and Erika Wyatt join host Laura Reeves to share their excitement about the International Kennel Club of Chicago’s new shows.

IKC was a privately owned kennel club founded in the early 1900s. When the club’s owner, Lou Auslander, passed away in 2018, more than 100 years of tradition came to an end. Scott Pfeil and Erika Wyatt have taken on the challenge of resurrecting the “Phoenix from the ashes” and creating a new breed of dog show – embracing history while building the future.

“I started when I was a kid showing dogs,” Pfeil said. “It was just the most iconic show to me. You know, there are very few really iconic shows. You always go to the Garden. It was some of those experiences, like Tuxedo Park. It was that emotion that got me. How do we bring something like that back? This was something that meant something to somebody.

“Chicago is an amazing city and we've lost our Inner City shows, they just don't exist anymore. And when (IKC) went away, to me, it was heartbreaking. (The show) was exciting because the people were excited. The energy in the room was like, you couldn't believe it. And simply, that's why. It's that excitement. That is why we're putting our asses on the line here, just to make sure that we can bring something like this back to one of the greatest cities in the world, as far as I'm concerned.”

“It will not be benched,” Wyatt said. “The dates of the show will be Aug. 25-27, 2023 at McCormick Place. We looked really hard at (benching). Historically this has been a huge spectator show. Throngs of families from Chicago come through this show. We wanted an opportunity for the public to become educated, be able to actually see breeds of dogs, put their hands on breeds, learn about breeds and we didn't think that in today's climate that benching was the best avenue for that. Meet the Breeds “So instead, we are partnering with AKC and we're holding a full-blown Meet the Breeds within the show. I think this will keep the show dogs that have just been groomed and their handlers not being interfered with. And it will give the public the opportunity to come and see dogs, get information and learn about purpose-bred dogs. It will be a better experience for both exhibitors and spectators.

“We wanted to do something with an open show because we want to give people with foundation stock service and miscellaneous class breeds the same opulent stage that the recognized breeds get.

“We wanted to do something to recognize owner handlers because there are so many owner handlers out there, and owner handlers deserve to be recognized for the fabulous contribution that they make this sport. And we wanted to have a special award to recognize a special dog in Chicago at the Chicago show.” Chicago Challenge Cup Winner of the Chicago Challenge Cup will receive $20,000, with an additional $5,000 donated to a charity of their choice.

“How do I know I've put on a great show?” Scott asked, “When all the great dogs are there.

“How do we do that and how do we bring them together? I think this competition really allows that to happen. In a nutshell, it's all of the winners of the FSS group, of the Miscellaneous group, of the owner handled groups and of the regular groups over the three days in Schaumburg (IKC’s January show in Schaumburg, IL). So, if you win any of those groups, on any of those three days, you're going to get a certificate that's going to invite you to participate in the semifinals of the Chicago Challenge Cup.

“Canine Chronicle is partnering with us to also invite the top 10 dogs in each regular group for the first half of the year.”

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How to Develop a "Political IQ" with Patti Strand Patti Strand, founder of National Animal Interest Alliance, has spent 30 years working within the political system to advocate for dog breeders and owners. She joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how to develop YOUR political IQ. Get Involved “At the very beginning you said that you think we need to be involved,” Strand said. “And I just could not agree more. There's a bunch of old sayings, one is that we all wind up with the government we deserve.

“I do not have a negative idea about politics overall or I couldn't participate in this. I have to stay open-minded and I consider the possibility that some of the people who are there, and it's true, some of the people I've met are very sincere. They care very deeply. But they have not heard from us, is the big problem.

“In the 30 years that I've been involved, I would say that there is greater involvement now and by quite a bit than there was before. But that means like going from zero to something like 20 percent. I'm serious. Our community, they pretty much get engaged when there's a crisis, when the wolf is at the door…

“It is kind of an art form for people to get involved. The first step to getting involved is deciding that you're going to. Right now, because it's an election season, is the time to make that commitment. Get Access “The biggest thing, though, is to figure out how to get access. Because usually when we're facing legislation, most of the people in our group don't know anybody, and they don't know anybody because they haven't taken advantage of moments like now, which is an election season. There are all kinds of opportunities right now to become involved, get to know a few people. It's about voting. It's about actually being involved with process.

“But right now, while you have an election season, there are a number of different ways that people can get involved. If you see somebody’s campaign that's interesting to you, you can go to their website, you can, you know, study them a little more. Study a lot of different politicians and not just at the state level or federal level. But also the local level, your city council, your county commissions. Look at all of those candidates and do some sleuthing. Educate yourself, develop a political IQ.

“I think volunteering is really important. Once you get involved, voting is the obvious biggie as far as being involved is concerned. But volunteering and donating also gets you access, and that's what we're after in politics, the ability to talk to people. When an issue comes up and have your name be recognized so that you're not just a total stranger to them. They have some idea of who you are and what you stand for, and volunteering is a really good way to do that.

“After you've done your due diligence and figured out who you think might be a good person to represent you, go to their website. They'll tell you what they need and everybody has a few minutes that they can spend a week on helping. Now you can do something as simple as promising to deliver 10 yard signs or to deliver bumper stickers to a group that you're involved with, some kind of way that you can get the word out that you support them and they can get the materials into a lot of people's hands. Get Representation "You really need to know who's representing you. If you don't know who's representing you, they're probably representing somebody else. And that's, of course the big issue that we had when I first got involved.

"The Big National Fundraising groups that promote so-called humane ideas, usually that have no subject matter expertise, they're just philosophers with a bank account, that was who had educated everybody I talked to. They were there, they were involved, they were in the ring, they were donating money, volunteering for campaigns and they were telling the politicians what they should think about animal issues.

"So, if you're not there not at the table, somebody...

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Dr. Donald Sturz on Building Community and Continuing Education Don Sturz, psychologist by day, dog show judge on the weekend, provides insight on safe space at the dog show and the importance of continual learning.

[caption id="attachment_10422" align="alignleft" width="349"] Dr. Donal Sturz' first time at Westminster Kennel Club when he was 10 years old.[/caption]

Sturz has discussed being bullied as a child at school and finding dogs and dog shows a “safe space.” He shared his insights on how to make dog shows more welcoming for all exhibitors.

“That’s something that depends on individuals being able to choose situations that are safe,” Sturz said. “People go into situations without full knowledge and wind up in situations that are toxic. It’s up to each individual to know what is their safe space.

“I also think clubs should view the dog show as more of a community event, more than just a dog show. Not just the dog show community, but also the community around it. How do we help people have a good time here.

“(At) Westminster (Sturz is the AKC delegate for Westminster Kennel Club) the club members think a lot about the exhibitors, what makes it pleasant for them. Clubs should be thinking in terms of the human aspect of this. When the atmosphere is devoid of connection and positivity, the activity itself can get really intense. People’s emotions can run high. If you proactively set a tone or atmosphere that is more celebratory, it helps balance that out a little bit.

[caption id="attachment_10423" align="alignright" width="334"] Donald Sturz judging Westminster Kennel Club Hound Group in 2006.[/caption]

“People get jaded, lost in the fog of yesteryear. If you have the relationship, you can help provide a reality check. These can be meaningful conversations, if you have them with the right tone. It’s more inquiry, not confrontation.

“I do think one area that is different now, I think people hung around more (in years past). People’s lives are busy now. It diminishes the dog show experience (because they don’t have time to) watch and sit. People could do more of that. Watching other breeds, having conversations with people from other breeds.

“Also, listening. A lot of people like to talk, not a lot of people like to listen. Listening is much more valuable than feeling the need to weigh in.”

Sturz described a recent experience attending the Pekingese national, “not even about judging, just a breed that fascinates me. I was like a kid going off to the first day of school."

The experience “impacted how I judged. My brain was worked up and tuned in.”

Sturz offered his three best tips for how to learn at dog shows.

Know who to learn from. This is key. Seek out individuals you don’t have a natural connection to.

Be clear on the purpose. What are you seeking, what do you want to get?

Know yourself as a learner and how you learn.

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Umbilical Hernias – What are they and what does this mean? Dr. Marty Greer, DVM shares a deep dive into the question of hernias, different types, and whether dogs with hernias should be included in breeding programs.

By Dr. Marty Greer, DVM

An umbilical hernia is a weakness or opening in the muscle wall of the abdomen where the umbilical blood vessels pass prior to birth. Frequently abdominal fat is in the hernia but the skin is intact across the hernia, so there are no exposed abdominal organs. The fat may be omentum or part of the falciform ligament.

There are several disorders seen in mammals that are similar to an umbilical hernia and may add confusion to the discussion. Other types of hernias Gastroschisis is when a puppy’s intestines protrude outside abdomen through an opening off to the right side of the belly button/umbilicus with a bridge of skin between the umbilicus and defect. The intestines and abdominal contents are not covered by a protective membrane. Because the intestines are not covered by a sac, they can be damaged by exposure to amniotic fluid in utero, which causes inflammation and irritation of the intestine.  This can result in complications such as problems with movements of the intestines, scar tissue, and intestinal obstruction. It is also difficult to keep the intestines and other organs sterile, moist, contained, and undamaged during birth and handling shortly after birth.

Omphalocele occurs when the newborn pup’s intestines, liver or other organs protrude outside the abdomen though the umbilicus. Embryologically, as the puppy develops during the first trimmest of pregnancy, the intestines get longer and push out from the belly into the umbilical cord. The intestines normally go back into the belly. If this does not happen, an omphalocele occurs. The omphalocele can be small, with only some of the intestines outside of the belly, or it can be large, with many organs outside of the belly.

In this situation, the organs are covered with a thin, transparent sac of peritoneal tissue. There are often other associated birth defects including heart and kidney defects. Additionally, the abdominal cavity may not be large enough to accommodate the organs when replacing them surgically. In humans, it is associated with heart and neural tube defects as well as other genetic syndromes. An omphalocele is worse than gastroschisis – it has more associated anomalies and a higher rate of mortality than gastroschisis.

When a puppy is born with intestines exposed, whether an omphalocele or gastroschisis, immediate surgery is necessary. If the pup is born at the veterinary hospital, there is a better chance of successful interventional surgery. However, despite the best efforts of the veterinary team, some pups cannot or should not be saved. Surgery includes protecting the organs while transporting and preparing for surgery, keeping more intestines from pushing out of the abdominal cavity while handling, keeping the intestines sterile, and protected from damage, anesthesia of the newborn pup, enlarging the abdominal wall defect to reposition organs into the abdominal cavity, appropriate suture techniques, post op antibiotics, and post op pain medications.

For most pups born at home, this cannot be accomplished. For some pups born by c-section, this can be accomplished with quick thinking veterinary team members, a skilled surgeon, owners willing to put forth the money and effort, no additional genetic disorders, and a lot of luck.

Other hernias seen in humans and animals include inguinal hernias (in the groin region), diaphragmatic hernias, peritoneal-pericardia diaphragmatic hernias (PPHD) and traumatic hernias anywhere on the body cavity. Inguinal hernias are second to umbilical hernias in frequency. An open thoracic wall rarely occurs. In this case, the pup can rarely be saved as there is usually inadequate chest wall (ribs and skin) to close. Additionally, surgical intervention is too...

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Dr. Donald Sturz, Dog Show Philosopher & WKC BIS Judge Dr. Donald Sturz, 2022 BIS judge at Westminster Kennel Club, joins host Laura Reeves to talk purebred dogs as history and art. And goosebumps at seven contenders in a unique and powerful lineup.

“From a historical perspective,” Sturz said, “I think it's so important that we keep our focus on the history of particular breeds, not just from the point of view of the climate or where they came from, the terrain that they worked on or jobs that would to do, but also how the breed has evolved over time and understanding the difference between the evolution of a breed versus the changing of a breed.

“I think those are two very different things and so I think having a historical perspective, I was gonna say as a judge, but also as a breeder, I think that that informs your decisions, it informs your perception of the dogs that you're looking at when you put them in that historical context of both where they originated, but what they were meant to do and how they've evolved over time. Purebred dogs are history and they are art “When you talk about dogs as art, that really resonates with me, because that's what it's like to me when I go to a dog show. I look at dogs as I would look at art in a museum. I love when something moves me. You know how when you look at a beautiful piece of art, whether it's a painting or sculpture or whatever, and you just have a visceral emotional reaction. I love when that happens for me with a dog. As a judge it doesn't happen all the time, it doesn't happen as frequently as one might like, but when it does happen, it's kind of like the reinforcer. Patience is a virtue “People have gotten so caught up in immediate gratification and looking for the outcome rather than the process. I think it's important for us, especially in dogs, to kind of catch ourselves. If we find ourselves in that kind of moment, I'll say wait a minute, slowdown skippy, you know there's a bigger picture and a much longer story and you need to keep reminding yourself of that.

“I'm big on there being gray areas. I can allow for some stylistic differences on the continuum. But there's a point, there's a line where you get, that's too much, that's too far. It's either too moderate or too extreme. I have a little wiggle room on both sides of that, so that's how I would process kind of that global perspective piece.

“Being able to kind of see the forest for the trees and be able to, as a breeder, see how that dog can add to your journey as you pursue your vision of the breed. I think also being able to think in a more long-term way.

“I think the mistake, unfortunately, is people are like ‘oh, I'm gonna breed to this dog from wherever and I'm gonna bring in these qualities’ and then they have a litter and it's like ‘oh I didn't get what I wanted.’ You’re probably not gonna get what you want. You have to keep working and building and choosing and selecting. It's a longer term process when one tries to do something like that. Does it sometimes click? Yeah, it sometimes happens. But I think that's unusual. You have to kind of make a commitment to a few generations out, at least, to see what you were trying to get to. Deciding in the moment “What was so beautiful was that his breeder owner handler just very calmly stepped out there and guided him very deftly into a natural stance. He just planted his four feet perfectly without any the crossover thing … it was just boom boom boom. And then he just stood there and he literally stared at me. I'm like ‘Oh my God this is a really proud dog. This is a dog who's giving me a dog standing over a lot of ground, a dog of power and strength. And then I sent him around and his gait was just flawless… Powerful and covering ground and elasticity. Head and tail carriage… and it was perfection to me. In that moment, it was like ‘there it is.’”

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Ringside Calculator Brings Technology to the Dog Show Exhibitor and amateur ap developer Ben Reynolds joins host Laura Reeves to introduce his dog show application, called https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ringside-calculator/id1530895743 (Ringside Calculator).

Reynolds went to his first dog show when he started dating his wife. He was hooked and eventually acquired his Golden Retriever to show. 

“If I wanted to win, I wouldn’t have started with a Golden Retriever,” Reynolds noted. “But I got to meet a lot of cool people. It’s pretty intimidating, but the cool thing is every ring there’s always a winner and there’s always a loser. When I lost, I didn’t feel bad. I had fun.

“As I was researching into dog shows, the information is sparse and someone who wasn't raised in it, you don't really know what's going on and then the whole point system was really confusing.”

Reynolds, an engineer by training, used the COVID lockdown to build an algorithm for counting points on a mobile ap with an up-to-date point schedule. Over the last couple years, he’s integrated new features including grand champion points, dog profile, points progression, judge search, show searches and more.

“I didn’t change the world here with this information,” Reynolds noted, “The information is available. It’s just not that accessible. But the ap is much more user and mobile friendly. 

“I’ve also collected every single conformation show result for the last five years. You can click “view results” and all the results for your dog will pop up.”

Available on both iPhone and Android platforms, upcoming features will include a section for notes on dogs, judges, show sites; searching multiple breeds; competitor reports; personal judging schedules and more.

Reynolds is actively seeking user input for new features. 

“Try to abuse it! Break the ap,” Reynolds said. “Tell me how you broke it. I’ll fix it. I haven’t had too many issues, but I want to hear your feedback. There will be a free trial available. There’s a lot of people out there who know more than I do about dog shows. That’s why I want the feedback.”

Reach Reynolds at ringsidecalculator@gmail.com with input or questions.

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Win Photo Do’s, Don’ts and Disasters with Vicki Holloway Host Laura Reeves is joined by Vicki Holloway, dog show photographer and poodle breeder, talking about how to get the best win photo with your dog and the importance of win photos for the show giving clubs. Vicki’s Tips for Exhibitors

Make sure your dog is cooled off. If it needs some water, give it a drink. Just take a minute to chill and kind of relax. You've won a prize with that dog and that dog knows it. There's a lot of energy going on in the air.

If it feels like it's going to be really crunched to have that judge available right then, wait. Come back when they have their break and then bring a fresh dog.

Relax! Just being in a really positive place … goes down the lead.

Dogs are kind of like a four-year-old child. They're not gonna stand there forever. They will do as best they can for the most part what you're trying to get them to do, but just relax.

If you're ready and prepared, it's gonna really make for a better photograph for everybody.

Don't train them to start with food immediately. First it throws them off balance. The dog is leaning forward, you're not gonna get the front set up properly. As soon as you take that food away, they move. It's just a given.

Make it pleasant and acknowledge your dog. Make a fuss (over your dog). I think is really important make him love it.

When you have your new puppy, even if you don't win, even if you're not entered, stop by the photographer stand. Put him up on the stand, give him a cookie. Have the photographer flash around, now they're getting cookies and then they get off the stand. Even if they didn't do everything perfectly, they still should get an “attaboy.”

Make sure you straighten your jacket, fix your face, gather your leash. “I can't believe how much time I've spent getting slobber stains off of a black skirt. People think ‘oh they're photoshopping the dog’ … no, we're taking spit off your jacket.”

Vicki’s Tips for Clubs

Make sure the show photography area is large enough to work in, close enough to the rings for judges to reach easily but enough out of the way that flying toys don’t land on exhibitors.

Check in with your show photographer no less than six months in advance and preferably much more. Especially with the shuffling of show dates and locations due to covid.

“The show photographer is advertising (the club’s) dog show with every photograph we take. Our sign is in every photo and it says (the name of the club), where it was, this was the date… The win photos will be there forever (as the) historical record (of the show).”

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Canine Chiropractic and Measurable Results https://www.cloudberrylanechiropractic.com/ (Dr. Clara Medalen )joins host Laura Reeves to talk about gait analysis and chiropractic treatment of our dogs. She addresses what we can and can’t objectively measure in our animals after chiropractic treatment.

“In human chiropractic, we have a lot of objective measures we can use,” Medalen nited. “We can use X rays, we can use temperature scans, stuff like that. None of those work very well in dog chiropractic.

“What I wanted to find was an objective measure that people could take something home with them. (That) we could really watch (the pet’s) progress through care. (That) we had exact numbers for people, rather than just going on my word alone. I want people to feel empowered in their own dogs care.

“Gait analysis is a big part of animal chiropractic. It's normally a visual thing. Some people take videos, which is great. But I wanted real, hard data. So I found a gait analysis system that worked really well. I use https://www.cloudberrylanechiropractic.com/what-makes-us-different (Tekscan) because they have more pressure sensors per square centimeter than a lot of the other options out there. They also provide a nice print out for people, so it gives the average of every foot step and the pressure on each paw; it gives exactly how much time they're spending standing on each foot; how long they're swinging through; how far they're swinging through; the acceleration; tons of information.”

If people are interested in having Dr. Medalen or another Chiropractor treat their dog, they may need a referral from their veterinarian. Each state is a little bit different.

“In Oregon, we have the vet referral. Which is fabulous because I've had some great conversations with vets. It’s a really good way to learn about each others’ professions. I am not treating any disease process. I am just simply fixing misalignments and helping to regulate the nervous system.”

For more information about animal chiropractic:

American Veterinary Chiropractic Association http://www.animalchiropractic.org/ (www.animalchiropractic.org)

International Veterinary Chiropractic Association  https://ivca.de/ (https://ivca.de)

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Feeding Performance Dogs is All About Balance Host Laura Reeves is joined by Rob Downey, CEO of https://annamaet.com/ (Annamaet), a companion animal nutritionist who conducted seminal research at the University of Pennsylvania on feeding performance dogs.

“Back in those days,” Downey said, “the idea was that you carbohydrate load (dogs) just like you do humans. We realized that that wasn't the way to go with dogs. So, we did a study where we could actually increase stamina by 30% in running dogs by altering (the balance of) proteins, fats and carbohydrates. That has become the seminal study. It's still cited in the NRC nutrient requirements of dogs and cats.

“We found the positive correlation between how much fat was in the diet and how far the dog could run. We found a negative correlation, a slight, very slight, negative correlation between the amount of carbohydrates and how far they could run.

"The bottom line is that any kind of long-term exercise, you’re initially burning stored carbohydrates called glycogen. That really helps you burst out of the gate or run up the hill. But once you start to use that, then these dogs, over time, become fat metabolizers. Eighty percent of the energy these dogs are using when they're running field trials or sled dog races or more long term, they are burning fat.

“It's an oxidative process. So, it needs oxygen. So, you need red blood cells to carry the oxygen (to the tissues) to burn the fat. That's where the protein comes in. So, you need increased fat, you need increased protein, but you do need a minimal amount of carbohydrates to help with stool quality and “feedability.”

“You (also) need that glycogen replenishment. So that if you're starting on day two in a trial, if you don't have muscle glycogen stored in the body, what happens is that the dogs really don't have any zip. They're pretty sour or they just they don't bounce back. Dogs Don't Require Ingredients, They Require Nutrients “There's a whole other group of studies we did on a supplement we make that actually replenishes muscle glycogen. Mother Nature is gonna replenish muscle glycogen over time but if you're doing back to back events, you need something to replenish some muscle glycogen. So if I'm gonna work my dog today, if I use this glycogen replacement immediately post exercise, tomorrow he's gonna have 99% of the muscle glycogen restored in the body. If I don't use anything he's probably only going to have 50%.

“You need the balance and you can balance out whether you're doing kibble, raw, freeze dried or whatever. We're talking about calories and protein, fats, carbohydrates … we haven't even started talking about vitamins and minerals.

“There was an interesting study where they followed 2,000 beagles for about 15 years. The only thing they varied in the formulas was the vitamin levels. They had low, medium, high and extra high. The dogs on extra high vitamins live 23% longer than the dogs on average vitamin levels.

“They had 29% less veterinary visits on extra high vitamins than they did average vitamins and they were 32% less likely to have tumors. The sad part is when they went back and they examined the diets on the market, they found less than 5% of the diets had extra high vitamins.”

Tune in to hear the rest of this fascinating interview and learn from an expert on what and how to feed your dog.

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Changing the Conversation on Cancer Diagnosis in Dogs Dr. Angelo Marco, DVM and Dr. Andi Flory, DVM join host Laura Reeves for an exciting conversation about advances in early cancer detection. PetDx’s OncoK9 test is able to “identify a biomarker of cancer that comes from cancer cells” from a simple blood draw, according to Dr. Flory.

[caption id="attachment_10009" align="alignleft" width="308"] Dr. Andi Flory, DVM, Chief Medical Officer at PetDX.[/caption]

Flory, Chief Medical Officer at PetDx, said the OncoK9 test has the potential to revolutionize our ability to detect cancer in patients, potentially even before they start to show signs and symptoms.

While the blood test identifies a variety of cancers, it is most successful at finding the “big three:” Lymphoma, hemangiosarcoma and osteosarcoma.

“Those big three,” Flory said, “that detection rate is really high. It's 85% and those are the most aggressive cancers that we see in dogs. So the fact that we have the potential to identify those really aggressive cancers sooner, it's just amazing.

“The way that would kind of work, is if you think about dogs that are at high risk of cancer because of they're getting older, for example, we know that the risk of cancer increases with age. Or because of their breed. You're certainly aware there are some breeds that just get a lot of cancer, unfortunately. If we think about testing those individuals as a screening test, like as an annual test before they're showing any clinical signs you know while they're still healthy. If we can identify cancer while they're still feeling good, then we may have a better chance of controlling it longer term.

“I think about the cases that we get almost universally when we discover hemangiosarcoma. It's because the tumor is bleeding or it's already spread and the metastatic lesions are bleeding and that often results in a middle of the night visit to the emergency room. It's a snap decision. Maybe your dog looked normal that morning and then all of a sudden you're in the ER being told your dog has a tumor on the spleen and it's bleeding and we need to do emergency surgery and we need to do a blood transfusion and there's really only one decision that you can make right now. It's shocking. It’s traumatic. It's painful for the dog. It's all of those things and it happens so unexpectedly and it's so emotional.”

[caption id="attachment_10010" align="alignright" width="293"] Dr. Angelo Marco, DVM and his Border Terrier at Palm Springs Kennel Club.[/caption]

“The important thing to know,” Marco said, “is that when we see a cancer signal on this test, it's an indication of malignant tumor cells in the body right now. It's not something that they were cured of five years ago and it's not a predisposition test, so it's not something that is predicting, it is something that is there in the body right now. So that really highlights the importance of going forward on that “cancer hunt” to find where is this cancer signal is coming from.”

Be sure to listen to today’s episode in full and visit https://petdx.com/pet-parents/ (PetDX) for additional information.

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Meet Dr. Darin Collins, Saluki breeder, new CHF CEO Dr. Darin Collins, DVM, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss his new role as Chief Executive Officer at the Canine Health Foundation. Collins, a longtime Saluki breeder, came to CHF in October, leaving his role as the Director of Animal Health Programs at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.

Collins’ trajectory in the world of purebred dogs started as a boy in Central Illinois with hunting dogs, specifically a Brittany.

“It wasn't really until after vet school that I got a Saluki,” Collins said. “I got a Saluki that nobody else wanted, that had recovered from a broken leg. That was my experimental Saluki. I made him live with me in an apartment in Chicago. And then I moved him to Seattle in 1991, when I took the position at the Zoo.”

In Seattle, Collins contacted George and Sally Bell, of the famed Bel S'mbran Salukis. That encounter began a lifetime friendship with a direct through line to his new role at CHF.

“When Dave Frei and George strategized how to film the breeds during the day at the Garden, I was one of the camera people selected. I had that for about 15 years, until which time the contract ended and I was no longer a camera person. But at that point the habit of going to New York in February had already been established.

"I met people (during that time) and one of those individuals was influential in helping (my name) actually surface when the search came out for a CEO for the Canine Health Foundation.

“I went from working with 300 taxonomic groups and over 1000 individuals of 600 species, to working with one species. Looking at all the divergence within the dog world, I find that very, very compelling. I love canine health and I'm very well suited to be in the position that I'm at right now.

"I've only been here six months so I'm still learning the in's and outs of the organization and the job, but it's a phenomenal organization. I work with phenomenal people. We're all devoted to dogs and dog health and understanding disease and treatments and cures and diagnostics. It's phenomenal vortex of opportunity.”

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Breeder, Buyer, Vet: Let’s TALK! Dr. Marty Greer, DVM, best-selling author, dog breeder and practicing veterinarian, is back with host Laura Reeves to talk about the delicate and critical communication protocols, best practices and successful strategies for Breeders, Puppy Buyers and the Buyers’ Veterinarian.

“This is a challenge,” Greer said. “How do you have that three-legged stool and make it all work?”

Reeves questions, “How do we set our puppy buyers up for success? Is their language that we can send home with that puppy buyer, that they can then take to their veterinarian to help bridge this three legged stool?”

“I think the first thing that really has to happen,” Greer said, “is before the puppy buyer gets their puppy, they need to research the veterinarian that they're interested in using.

"Now they may already have a good relationship with the veterinarian that they trust, that they know is open to a certain protocol for vaccinations, delaying spaying and neutering, certain other medical management situations, but I think the first thing they really have to do is know who they're seeing. If they have a great relationship and they're already doing that, that's great.

“If you find yourself in a situation where you have a veterinarian that you're butting heads with, you've chosen the wrong clinic. You need to start doing some research and finding other alternatives. It may mean that you go as far as somebody that does integrative medicine, holistic medicine. You may have to kind of go to that level to get the kind of care that you need.

“But if that's what it takes, in almost every community there are going to be veterinarians that are open minded, that are willing to work with you, that are willing to talk to breeders, that are willing to accept the fact that you wanna do some of these things somewhat differently. But you gotta know who they are. You have to do it before you get the puppy or before you have a crisis. 'Cause in the middle of a crisis is not the time to figure this out.

“You may kiss a couple frogs before you get there, but it's OK. Go in for something simple. Go in for something that isn't complicated. Go for a heartworm test. If the vet clinic does nail trims, go for a nail trim. Just kind of get a feel for who they are, what they are, how they do things.

“You just really need to make good decisions. People come to us frequently, and this makes me and my doctors and my staff crazy, they come in and they say, ‘well, we come to you for the really important stuff, but we just go to the local place because it's just shots.’ I'm like ‘no, no, no, no, no. They're not just shots!' First of all we don't shoot dogs, we vaccinate them. But as Dr. Ron Schultz and Dr. Lori Larson will say, vaccines are one of the strongest medications you give your dog.

“Frankly, not every veterinarian has everybody's best interest at heart. Sometimes it's all about money. I hate to say that about any profession. But the reality is, you need to be very careful how you select your veterinarian, and how you work with them, because that will make or break your pets long term health. It is a hugely important situation that you work well with them. That you understand them.

“It goes back to relationship. It may mean that you buy a bottle of wine for your veterinarian or take a plate of cookies to the receptionist or you take pizza for the whole staff. It really does all come down to relationships. The better relationship you have, the better communication you have, the better chances are that your dog gets the kind of care that you're looking for.”

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Elaine Lessig: “Fashionista” Passionate About Dog Judging Judge and self-proclaimed “fashionista” Elaine Lessig joins host Laura Reeves to share her passion for dogs and dog judging.

Lessig started her purebred dog journey in the 1980s with Cavalier King Charles Spaniels before they were recognized by the AKC. Today she judges the toy, sporting and non-sporting groups.

“I love (judging),” Lessig said. “But I'm smart enough to know that I don't want to judge everything. Every breed has its detail and I think coming from toy dogs was a distinct advantage. Every toy dog breed is a boutique item. I don't look at sporting dogs as retrievers and pointers and spaniels, they're each a unique breed and I think I bring that detail into it.

“I have no other reason to be here than I love what I do and it gives me so much pleasure. I am not a professional judge in terms of this is not my income. I don't have to go out and judge. I'm very happy doing just my three groups. This is a passion. It isn't a product.

“I love to see the connection between whoever it is that’s handling the dog and the dog. I think the dog is better with somebody that they have that wonderful relationship with. I think they perform better. I'm looking for a show dog on those days and then I want to see a dog in good condition. Conditioning is everything here. I'm most offended if you bring me a dirty dog.

“You have to take your losses and you have to put your losses in the loss pile. When you have a chance, you can get them washed and cleaned up again, but you can't dwell on those things because tomorrow is another day, said Scarlett O'Hara. I won't get negative about this. I refuse to do it.”

Known for her fabulous wardrobe and keen sense of style, Lessig shares memories of Sandra Goose Allen, meeting https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/david-fitzpatrick-on-pekingese-the-palace-dogs-of-peking-pure-dog-talk/ (David Fitzpatrick’s) Pekingese Malachy the night he arrived in the US and celebrating after the team won the Garden in 2012.

Hear more from Lessig on health in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqEYjAubTKc (here).

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Poodles, Professional Handlers and Public Image Christian Manelopoulos is back with host Laura Reeves for more Pure Dog Talk on Poodles, Professional Handlers and the sport’s Public Image.

“I think really great people are very generous with their time and advice,” Manelopoulos said. “In the end, the thing we all struggle with is having time to do things. And so when people are generous with that time, you really have to soak that in. But the really great people are willing to do that.

[caption id="attachment_9963" align="alignleft" width="224"] Winning the stud dog class at PCA.[/caption]

“People think of handlers in one way and breeders another way and that they are two separate things. But they're very dependent upon one another. I do think people don't realize how much professional handlers actually influence breeds positively. We always get the negative….

“We've seen a rapid decline in big breeding kennels. There's still a lot of people that breed but when you breed one litter a year or one litter every two years, it's really not enough. As dog show people, we need to pay a little bit more attention to these kinds of things. We do need people to breed litters of dogs. There’s just not enough dogs out there for the people that want them, especially purebred dogs. But we need to market ourselves correctly and we need to promote the breeds, the dogs, in the correct way.

“I mean, we can't be elitists. When people come to dog shows and you're rude to people and you talk to them like they're idiots, they're not going to want to come back. We need to be encouraging to people about the dogs. We need to breed healthy dogs. People buy purebred dogs because they want dependability. It's like what Apple is. You buy an iPhone because it works. You buy a purebred dog because you want to get a poodle that looks like a poodle, acts like a poodle, has a temperament and then is hopefully healthy.

“The first poodles that I bred, I have none of that bloodline in my lines today because of health reasons. So you can't be afraid to start over. You have to eliminate dogs from your breeding programs and move on. That doesn't mean you need to eliminate all of them. You have to be diligent in what you do and examine correctly ‘what I can work with, what I can't work with.’

“We need to promote a positive image of the sport. We see people flying with their fake service dogs and they post videos on Facebook and people talk about how cute it is that you are committing a federal crime. I don't think that that's the right message we should send people. You could see why that would come off the wrong way to the general public. We need to self-examine."

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Christian Manelopoulos: “I’m Going to America” Professional handler Christian Manelopoulos joins host Laura Reeves for part one of a wide-ranging conversation about professional handling, working as an apprentice, the toughest dogs to trim and the challenges of moving to America to begin his career.

[caption id="attachment_9957" align="alignleft" width="257"] Christian with his first show dog, Taraglen Nicholas[/caption]

Manelopoulos started in purebred dogs as a teenager in Australia after a knee injury ruined his cricket game. He eventually worked his way up to earning expense money showing dogs for the president of the Victorian Kennel Association.

But what he really wanted to do was move to the US and show dogs like the pictures he saw in Kennel Review of Frank Sabella’s poodles.

So, when he had a chance to work for Joe and Pauline Waterman in Southern California in the early 1990s, he jumped at the chance.

[caption id="attachment_9956" align="alignright" width="305"] Christian in a team photo with Joe and Pauline Waterman during his apprenticeship.[/caption]

“Going to Joe and Pauline was fantastic because being in Los Angeles, Dick Beauchamp and Frank Sabella would call the kennel. At that time (the Watermans) were still breeding Bichons a little bit. I would study the pedigrees of all the Bichons and all the dogs. I knew their pedigrees better than they did. I was so eager to learn at that time and so that was a tremendous experience.

“The dog show world in Los Angeles in the early ‘90s was a world of its own in that sense. Corky (Vroom) was like the king and then Bruce and Gretchen (Schultz), and then Joe, so it was a tremendous learning experience.

[caption id="attachment_9958" align="alignleft" width="312"] With other assistants in Los Angeles, Jason Hoke, Tracy Szaras, Andrew Peel, Doug Carlson, Jr Alacantara, Amy Thurow.[/caption]

“I tell people it was different also because we didn't have as many dog shows. Most of the shows were only Saturday and Sunday shows. So, all of the assistants, Woody's assistants and Bruce and Gretchen's and Corky’s, we would often get together on Tuesdays and go and do things. So it was a very communal thing.

“Pauline, Sue (Vroom), Gretchen and Bergit Coady, they were very motherly influences on a lot of the (dog show) kids in the LA area. Especially someone like me, I came from another country, my family was thousands of miles away, so in many ways these women replaced my parents for me. I'm very appreciative to all of them. Sadly most of them have passed away now, but it was definitely a different time.

“I groomed all the time. I mean, that's the story of my life for 30 years. I tell people that I started working 15 hours a day and here I am 30 years later, I still work 15 hours a day. Everyday. It hasn't changed.

“You're very much an entrepreneur in this business. You're self-employed, so the businesses is you. When you start out, you go out from being an assistant, you go out to become a handler, you're literally saying ‘for the next 15 years of my life I am gonna work every waking minute of every day. I am going to forego going to people's birthday parties and weddings and things like funerals and baby showers. I will regret many of those things.’

“But those are the compromises you make to be really successful. Now people can say ‘well, I want a work life balance.’ Those people either generally come from wealthy families or they're not that successful. The most successful people, time and time again, that is their story. If you think it's going to be different, then you should probably try something else, 'cause it's not.

“You have to run it as a business. A lot of kids, they think ‘oh, I wanna get a big winning dog and then they travel around (in) a big truck, with a big mortgage for that truck, and make no money. They do some winning and then it's all over. The most common issue dog handlers run into is tax issues. You're...

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Amanda Kelly on Sportsmanship, Spine and #squeezethejoy Amanda Kelly, Fwaggle Toy Manchester Terriers, joins host Laura Reeves for part two of their wide-ranging conversation discussing subjective sports that was sparked by this year’s Winter Olympics. Today’s topics touch on sportsmanship, “spine,” mentorship and Amanda’s new hashtag, squeeze the joy, about tasting every last drop of joy the sport brings its competitors. Sportsmanship “We see the Olympic spirit in many stories every time there's Olympic Games,” Kelly said. “This year the one that really stood out to me was (a skier) from Finland who won the gold in cross country skiing. (Then) he waited for the last place skier to cross the line before he would celebrate his gold. Because he had respect for the fact that every person in that race, no matter where they finished, had worked really hard to get there. I think that maybe we need a little bit more Olympic spirit in our sport. Spine = Courage “This type of subjective sport tends to draw people who are looking outside of themselves for reassurance and validation. Dog shows are an ego sport. We do it on some level for some sort of return in that area of our lives. Thinking about what that is and being able to overcome the challenges that come with whatever reason we're doing it for. I think that’s a self-awareness piece.

“(That self-awareness gives you) the spine to be able to stand your ground and say ‘it doesn't matter to me if it's unpopular. It doesn't matter to me if all of the cool kids are doing it and I don't want to. I'm gonna do what I wanna do the way I wanna do it based on my own opinion and my own values.’ Perspective “I really think that in the dog world we have to be cognizant of context for the importance of our sport and the people in it. There's a lot of stuff going on in the world right now and there's a lot of stuff that's going on in the world right now that is a a lot more important than who wins at the dog show. A little perspective is number one. Number two, do not ever drink your own koolaid. It doesn't matter who you are in the dog world, your importance, celebrity, “fame” is a tadpole in the mud puddle of life. When Ernesto Lara, or anybody really, goes to the grocery store, people are not queuing up for an autograph.

squeezethejoy

“Sometimes we lose sight of what we're doing and why we're doing it. I took a really great pleasure in watching the last Olympic competition for the amazingly great snowboarder Shaun White. He finished fourth. (He was) an incredible competitor, had an incredible career and when he finished, he said that this time it wasn't really about winning, it was about squeezing the joy out of it. I thought, ‘wow, what a great way of looking at our sport. Squeezing the joy out of the moments that you're there means making your trip about more than the ribbon that you leave the ring with.”

Listen today to hear the entire conversation. Listen https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/521-competing-in-subjective-sports-dog-shows-vs-the-olympics/ (HERE) for the first part of the discussion.

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Pre-Breeding Veterinary Exams and Why They Matter Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss pre-breeding veterinary exams for female dogs and why they matter. Among the important clinical observations may be vaginal strictures.

“I think stricture kind of lumps together a couple of different disorders that probably shouldn't really be categorized together,” Greer said. “But we don't know where else to put them. So, a stricture is, by definition, the inability of the vaginal vault or vaginal opening to stretch adequately to allow either a natural mating with a tie and a penis or the vaginal delivery of puppies.

“So what does that really mean? That means that when we do a vaginal exam, for whatever reason the normal amount of space isn't there. It can be that the lips of the vulva, the skin part are really tight and you just can't adequately get them to stretch. It can mean that there's a circumferentially stricture meaning all the way around, it's just not stretchy enough once you get into the vaginal vault. It can mean that there is a column of tissue, a septum, down the middle, usually it runs from top to bottom, so we can reach in sometimes and feel these when we're doing our pre breeding exams.

“If you do find one, you may decide that you're not going to do the breeding at that point. You may see if it's something that's surgically correctable. Some of them are and frankly some of them aren't and until you're in that situation it can be really hard to know. Then we have to make a decision, do we put the semen in? Do we plan a C-section? Do we see what's going to happen…”

Greer noted that brucellosis tests are currently being sent to outside diagnostic labs, so results are taking much longer to return. Regular testing of breeding animals should take place at least every 6 months, she added.

Listen in for Greer’s recommendations about additional complications that may hinder natural matings, including size mismatches, lack of libido or pain in the stud dog and poor ovulation timing.

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Chinook: The Gentleman's Carriage Horse of Sled Dogs Rare Breeds Month continues today at Pure Dog Talk. Our final conversation is with Karen Hinchy and Ginger Corley about the Chinook, the Gentleman’s Carriage Horse of Sled Dogs.

Corley, one of the longest-term Chinook breeders in the US today, acquired her first in the 1980s.

“I wanted a dog that was large but not bigger than me,” Corley said. “I wanted a dog that was friendly. I wanted a dog that didn't require a lot of grooming. Eventually, I kept narrowing down the list and came to Chinooks without really grasping how rare they were at the time.

“It was designed to be a mid-level dog … it fills the niche between the smaller, racier Siberian and the large freighting Alaskan Malamute. The Chinook is the gentleman's carriage horse of sled dogs. It may not be as fast as the Alaskan Husky, which is the racing machine that is on your Iditarod teams. Those dogs are much smaller than your average Chinook. It's not going to be the huge freighting dog that the Alaskan Malamute and some of the other indigenous freighting breeds of the northern extremes were.

“But it can go for a reasonably long distance at a darn good clip carrying a relatively heavy load. Plus it is the sled dog you can live with. They don't want to run away from home like your average Siberian. And they have very little urge to fight with other dogs. A lot of us will own multiples.

“They were developed in the New England area by Arthur Walden, a gentleman who had been up in Alaska during the Yukon gold rush. He had worked as what was known as a dog puncher back then. He was delivering supplies and mail to the prospectors that were looking for gold. His favorite dog while he was up there was one he called Chinook.

“Eventually he decides to breed his ultimate sled dog. They were a unique look of their own. They were a big yellowish, what we now call tawny or might be considered fawn, sled dog. Their coat rather than standing off from the body like you see in a show Husky or Malamute, it's more of a short-coated Saint Bernard type, where it lies flatter to the body, but there is a substantial undercoat. There were three in the initial litter and they turned out to be just magnificent sled dogs. And from there, things took off.”

“The Chinook is the state dog New Hampshire,” Hinchy noted. “I think there are only a few States and dog breeds that we have where American breeds are recognized as official state dog, so we're pretty proud of that. The actual dog Chinook, and his progeny, were a large number of the dogs that competed in the first races in the New England sled dog club, which is a pretty famous group up here. This is before Leonard Seppala and some of the Siberians arrived and took over the speed scene.

“The interesting thing about Chinooks is Arthur Walden sort of created them and stewarded their future and their breeding for the first 10 years (in the 1920s). Then he went off to Antarctica and when he came back, ultimately the breed ended up passing through one person at a time as the main breeder. All the way through the ‘70s there was generally one single breeder in the country that controlled the breeding of Chinooks. As a result, of course, it kept the numbers low and the breed very rare.

"In 1965, Chinooks were listed in the Guinness Book of world records as the rarest dog in the world, with 125 alive. Fast forward to just before Ginger stepped onto the scene, we know there were eleven intact Chinooks anywhere in 1981. There are still only about 1,100 chinooks in the world.”

Listen to the full episode to hear more fascinating details about saving and growing the population of this rare breed, the cross-breeding that was done to salvage them, and their unique characteristics in the working group.

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Nederlandse Kooikerhondje: The Original Duck Decoy Marlene Valter and Susanne Martin join host Laura Reeves to share their passion for the https://www.nkcusa.org/history (Nederlandse Kooikerhondje) during Pure Dog Talk’s Rare Breeds Month.

The progenitors of these rare Dutch duck decoy dogs are depicted in paintings dating to the 1600s, Martin noted. Saved from near extinction after World War II, they received full recognition by the American Kennel Club in 2018.

The breed was used to lure ducks into traps in man-made Dutch ponds. Their flashing white tail acts as a decoy. In fact, the word decoy derives from the Dutch name for these water features, https://picasaweb.google.com/roseshenk/2009_9_20Endenkooi#slideshow/5384343175276437810 (Eendenkooi).

“I fell in love with how pretty they are first of all,” Valter said. “They're really beautiful and attractive. It's a double coat, so it's weatherproof. My dog Harvey, he'll go out, run around in the mud and you can put him away, sometimes not even showered him off or anything at all, he's just full of mud. A half hour later, all the mud is on the ground and his coat is completely white.” Hallmarks Kooiker coloring is very specific, Martin said. They always should have a white blaze and the orange patches. (It was) thought that ducks were most attracted to the orange and white color combination.

“So, the blaze, it goes to the nose,” Martin said. “The orange covers the eyes and then you have these black earrings which are pretty much the signature, the black eartips, and then the white plumy tail. But the real way that you know at Kooiker, in many respects, is because if you look at the standard it talks about lively, agile, self-confidence and that's what they are. They prance and step in this very deliberate kind of movement.” Temperament “There's a 30 second rule with Kooikers,” Valter said. “You meet them and you give them 30 seconds to just think about it. Then, when they come to you, you pretty much got a friend. They're just a discerning group. They're watching whether I'm accepting this person. If I do, they tend to. If I'm being aloof, they tend to be also. They're very kind of quick. One of the most unique things about them, in my mind, is that they’re puzzle solvers. So almost the more complicated the situation, the more interested they are.” Summary [caption id="attachment_9823" align="alignleft" width="302"] Susanne Martin works Search and Rescue with her Kooikers.[/caption]

The Kooiker is a “dainty, pretty, sensitive, active and versatile dog with low maintenance that needs a very special owner with the right intuition,” Martin said.

“I'll share a story of my experience,” Valter said. “So, we're getting ready to go to this show and … we get to the hotel and it has a pond… I need to go take my dog out for a walk. So, he goes out walking, without a leash, and he just starts trotting along and I look up and I see a duck. And then he's trotting along and I look up a few seconds later and there's ten ducks. And then he's moving right along in this very deliberate, quiet movement. I felt like I went back centuries the way he was moving quietly along … I quit counting at 35 ducks within a matter of minutes, (just following him)…”

Be sure to LISTEN to the full episode for more details on this fabulous little sporting dog.

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Norrbottenspets: “Your GPS in the woods” Gabi Vannini, breeder and fancier of https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/norrbottenspets/ (Norrbottenspets), joins host Laura Reeves for a Love the Breeds episode during Rare Breeds month at Pure Dog Talk. Currently judged in the Miscellaneous group with AKC, this ancient hunting dog is used to tree game for the hunter.

“They'll be in the hound group,” Vannini said. “They're hound spitz, so they don't look like every other dog in the hound group necessarily and in Europe they are in the primitive group. They are tree barking hunting dogs, so they're gonna be kind of like a coonhound as far as barking at things up the trees and then letting you shoot.

“Back before we had GPS collars and fancy things, they were kind of your GPS in the woods because they would go hunting on their own and find something for you and then bark their fool heads off until you found them.”

Related to the solid red Finnish Spitz, the Norrbottenspets were the parti colored members of the ancient breed. As breeders selected for the solid color dogs, the spotted dogs dwindled away, Vannini noted, “They actually got really close to being extinct before there was kind of a project made to go out and find some of them.”

More popular in their native Sweden and Finland, Vannini estimates there are only about 250 in the US.

“They are really, really nice dogs and honestly a really well-kept secret. I think a little bit of it is the barking stuff. If they're hunting, they're working but other than that they're really not obnoxious or reactive barkers.

“(At 16-18 inches tall), they're nice little go anywhere dogs. We've got a lot of dogs in and out and that's been one of my big things is having dogs that are very tolerant of that. They're just really good with other dogs and really sweet with people.

“It's a double coated breed. Typically, they drop the coat every six months kind of thing, but it's a nice shorter double coat. We're actually explicitly not supposed to blow dry them for shows. They shouldn't be back brushed and fluffed up. The coat should be a tight natural easy coat and that's something that's really nice about them and easy to live with.”

Long lived with few genetic health issues, Vannini noted, these hardy little dogs often live well into their teen years. Typical hounds, they require creative training but are not demanding or needing a job.

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Special Reproductive Considerations for Rare Breeds Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss some of the special reproductive considerations for rare breeds. Rare dog breeds offer specific challenges for their breeders including health concerns, limited gene pools, DNA testing mazes and infertility issues. April is Rare Breeds month here at Pure Dog Talk! Watch for upcoming episodes with deep dives into Norrbottenspets, Chinooks and Nederlandse Kooikerhondje. “Pick one thing a year that you're going to try to work through in your breed,” Greer said, quoting from Dr. Ian Dunbar. “Pick what your priorities are. You have to pick. I can't pick for you. You know your breed. You know your genes. At some point we have to really say this is what I'm going to focus on, this is what I'm going to try to breed for or away from, and try to take those incremental steps. You're not gonna get it all in one generation.” How do you eat an elephant... “I think that's so important in the rare breed community to emphasize the you eat the elephant one bite at a time,” Reeves added. “It's really important to recognize that and not get discouraged because you're trying to swallow a whole elephant. Be committed to that long term process. From a rare breed perspective, that's one of the things I always emphasize, this is not a fly by night operation. It’s a process, something you're going to dedicate your entire life to.”

“You work with other people and you're honest with other people,” Greer emphasized. “So we need to stop hiding things. We need to stop backbiting. We need to stop saying bad things about other people and we need to be really honest with each other and with ourselves so that when you look in the mirror you can say ‘I'm breeding the best dog that I possibly can.’ Full disclosure “Nobody goes out and deliberately breeds a bad dog but there's so many aspects to how you have to make these decisions. Without full disclosure you really can't get there. So we have to be honest with each other. No breeder deliberately produced a dog with a genetic problem, but you've got to tell people if you have it because if you double up on it you're going to have surprises in your litter.

“Longevity, I think, is seriously under-appreciated. I love breeding females that can still have puppies when they're older. I love breeding old males that still produce sperm. Now that doesn't mean you can't freeze semen when he's young, and you should because then you'll have access to him, but if he lives to be 16 years old and he was fertile till he was 14, you rock man! That means he didn't die of orthopedic disease, he didn't die of bad temperament, he didn't die because he ran away from home and got hit by a car. He didn't die from 1,000 things that he could have died from. Longevity for the win “Don't forget about those old guys and their genetics. Go back to the old publications of your breed. Go back to the old pedigrees and take a look and where are those dogs and what are they doing and how long did they live and what was their lifestyle like and what did they die from.”

Greer also strongly recommends purchasing Dr. Jerold Bell, DVM’s https://www.routledge.com/Veterinary-Medical-Guide-to-Dog-and-Cat-Breeds/Bell-Cavanagh-Tilley-Smith/p/book/9781591610021 (book) for learning more information on genetic diseases in specific breeds.

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EOAD Gene Identified in Rhodesian Ridgebacks Adam Boyko, co-founder of Embark, and Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder Denise Flaim join host Laura Reeves to discuss EOAD (Early Onset Adult Deafness) in Ridgebacks and Embark’s discovery of the genetic cause that can identify affected and carrier dogs before the condition develops.

“EOAD is early onset adult deafness,” Flaim said. “It's a form of deafness that's not related to color. Many breeds, like dalmatians, the way the white overlays the cochlea impacts deafness. This is just a simple autosomal recessive, inherited the same way brown nose color is. If you have two copies of this recessive gene, if you are a Ridgeback, you become deaf.

“The interesting thing in Ridgebacks is these puppies are born hearing. So if you are a breeder who wants to do your due diligence and BAER test your puppies at 8 weeks, they'll all hear. What then begins to happen is they start to go progressively deaf. The males quickly, usually by six months are completely deaf and the bitches can take from 12 to 18 plus months.

“(This test) identifies if your dog is a carrier or not. If your dog is a carrier, you simply don't breed it to another carrier and you're free and clear. This is a really important point because the tendency among dog breeders, especially those who want to be really, really virtuous and really, really ethical, is to say, ‘oh, I'm going to identify all these carriers and get them out of my breeding program.’ Which is, of course, what you don't wanna do.

“You certainly don't want to increase the frequency of this gene in the population, but what you want to do is manage it. The thing is it's never what you know, it's always what you don't know. It's never what you worry about, it's always what you don't worry about. So yes, we've got this marker for deafness, but that deafness carrier you're throwing out of your breeding program may not carry for a really devastating disease for which we don't have a test. So, like anything, moderation and taking the bigger view is really important.” Teamwork for the win… “Project Dog started working with breeders like Denise,” Boyko said, “and recruited a whole bunch of samples and was able to find an associated region. But sequencing of a deaf dog didn't yield any candidate variants that were causing the mutation. So, you're sort of stuck in this world, do we want to offer a linkage-based test, which we know probably isn't going to be 100% accurate, or do we wait until we can find a mutation test. For a while, there was just a linkage test was all that could be offered.

“So, Embark came onto the scene. We, of course, have a large database of dogs, of Ridgebacks and others, and so we were able to recruit more cases, more controls. We were able to verify the association Project Dog found. It's like ‘yeah, this is definitely on chromosome 18, right here. There had been advances in the genomics. We put some scientists on it …. and sure enough a mutation did find itself. It was in gene EPS 8L2, which was a fantastic gene because it's also associated with early onset deafness in humans, in recessive forms.”

Hear the REST of the story on today’s episode. Just click play on the bar above. Adam Boyko Adam is an associate professor in Biomedical Sciences at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, focused on the genomic investigation of dogs. Adam’s research has addressed fundamental questions of dog evolution and history, disease and trait mapping, and advancing genomic tools for canine research. Adam has coauthored over 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including research in Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Morris Animal Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and received an MS in Computer Science and a PhD in Biology from Purdue University before his postdoctoral work at Cornell and Stanford....

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Competing in Subjective Sports: Dog Shows vs the Olympics Amanda Kelly is back with host Laura Reeves to look at dog shows, which as we all know are an incredibly subjective sport, through the eyes and the lens of the subjective sports that we watch in the Olympics. This first of a two-part conversation examines the topics of “substances” and “subjectivity.” Substances “I think of substances from a dog show point of view, I think it's maybe not a whole lot different than from an Olympic point of view,” Amanda said. “Maybe the type of substances differs, but the underlying issue is the same. So we talk a lot in the dog show world about foreign substances and in the sports world in general cheating and drug use always comes up. It doesn't matter what sport it is, there is always some way to cheat.”

“There's some shading, right?” Laura asked. “There's the cheating (that ranges) from ‘I put in an extra nuticle in my dog's scrotum because he only had one, to I put some white chalk in my dog after it was muddy.’ So there's a range here.”

“So, it's always an interesting thing when you kind of take yourself out of something,” Amanda noted. “We take ourselves away from the dog show world and we look at an example in another context and then come back and reapply it, what a different perspective that you can get.

“What I think of when I look at this whole idea of substances and cheating at the Olympics and then I turn from that and I look at the dog world, I think I see maybe from a more Bird’s Eye view the scale and how we've normalized things that are on one end of the scale. So, for example, I don't think any of us would blink at chalking a dog, putting hairspray in its hair, any one of a number of things. A little bit of chalk to cover up that scar or the white bit on its nail or a nose kit to darken in a nose. What about a hair switch in a poodle? So, these are things that I think that we have normalized.

“I think that all of us will, in a conversation, say there are things that are absolutely wrong and lines that we absolutely will not cross. Having that conversation with yourself early on and then sticking with it is important. It can be very difficult. I think what we can do here, in this conversation, is just put it in front of people that everybody is going to have their own line.” Subjectivity “One of the things that I read was that in the aftermath of having changed their judging system (for Olympic Figure Skating in 2002), what they observed was that in the elements of scoring that had a subjective element, so a more subjective element say the artistic aspect, there was an observer bias that they noted. They could replicate it across many competitions and it indicated that that observer bias determines about 20% of the mark given by a judge.

“This isn't my bias that I like such and such a person or I like such and such a dog. It might be a bias like an unconscious bias that I like black poodles more than I like white poodles, or I like this trim more than that trim, or I like a dog presented in a certain way or I prefer this particular head style or those sorts of things.

“When we ask a (dog show) judge to interpret words like ‘slightly’ or ‘moderately,’ where is the clarity as a reference for them? To me it's a compounding issue because we're asking them to interpret things that we don't always equip them to do and on top of that they also have their own personal bias that comes into play.”

Listen in for more of this absolutely fascinating and enlightening conversation. And check back for the "rest of the story" when we talk about sportsmanship and courage.

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Talking Toplines with Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath AKC judge and Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath is back talking toplines with host Laura Reeves. The topline, specifically, is the entire spinal column, from the tip of the occiput to the tip of the tail.

“A lot of people confuse the term back line with the term topline,” Hedgepath noted. “The back line is basically what you may consider to be the back of the dog, like the withers to the set on of the tail. But the topline starts behind the ears, right at that bump, which is called the occiput, on the skull and then it just goes all the way down. It's like a suspension bridge. It goes all the way down, all the way back and all the way down the tail. It's like the links in a chain and it's not a rigid thing. Neck “In mammals there are seven cervical vertebrae. The interesting thing is that one way dogs can differ from dog to dog is in length of neck. When you stop and think about it, they all have the same length of neck, it's cervical vertebrae, there are seven of them. Even a giraffe has seven cervical vertebrae.

“The difference is the size of the vertebrae. A lot of us look at a dog and you see his profile and you think ‘gosh he's got a short, stuffy neck.’ No, he's got the same seven vertebrae as all the other dogs in his class, but because of the positioning of the scapula, if a dog has an upright scapula, it'll cover that up. So yes, they've all got the same length of neck, but it is manifested in different ways because of the rest of the structure of the dog. Back “There are many different functions of the spinal column. One of the most important, in the thoracic, is the ribs fit in the spine, go down and join the sternum at the bottom and make a solid piece. So then we have all these thoracic vertebrae and the ribs fit into those vertebrae and that requires a lot of muscling. The only way that front assembly is held onto the dog at all is through muscles and ligaments. Loin “The loin area (lumbar vertebrae) is the only part of the dog where the internal organs are not protected by this outer armor of the ribbing. A dog is very vulnerable in that area. The dog with a really long loin is one who's more prone to injury. Croup “One of my favorite connections in the dog, when we're talking about hold everything together, is what they call that lumbosacral arch. Where the lumbar vertebrae come into the sacrum, which is the bones there in the pelvis. The last three vertebrae before you hit the caudal, in other words the tail, they're fused. It's the only three and they're fused. That's because a whole lot of energy is going to be pushed all the way through up to the front of the dog when he’s running.”

Listen above to the entire episode for more fabulous insights about our dogs’ structure and how it impacts their performance.

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Spinal Cord Injuries and Diseases on Veterinary Voice Dr. Dan Griffiths, DVM, joins his wife Dr. Marty Greer, DVM to discuss trauma and diseases of the spine in this month’s Veterinary Voice.

“As far as spinal injuries or spinal conditions go in dogs,” Griffiths said, “I kind of look at it as there's about three or four things that can cause it. One is trauma, as you've been saying. It can be from hit by car, can come from a dog-on-dog type thing where they run into each other, it can be a running dog falling into a hole. Those are all trauma incidences.

“Dogs with spinal injuries and/or conditions can also come from a congenital situation. The poster child for those is dachshunds, where they have disc compressions that just happen spontaneously, usually not related to trauma but are prone to it due to their genetics. And then we also get into other things that can be in the spinal cord such as tumors of the spinal cord. You can look at degenerative spinal diseases such as degenerative myelopathy, which we're very familiar with in our corgis and German Shepherds and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. So there's a number of things that all fit into spinal cord mishaps. Surprisingly enough there is a condition called FCE which is … actually a blood clot that causes paralysis because of getting caught in the spinal cord. We call it a stroke of the spinal cord.

“Trauma is probably second (most common) on the list as far as spinal cord problems. The number one cause is the achondroplastic breeds like Dachshunds, where they have a congenital propensity to hardened disks and the disks exploding up and expanding up into the spinal cord causing partial paralysis or full paralysis.

Discussing the use of DNA testing for IVDD, Greer offered a note of caution about how we use those results in a breeding program.

“Like all DNA tests, I tend to be a little skeptical of the accuracy the application, how we use that information, but it's out there. It's something worth discussing, but be careful what you use it for,” Greer said. Treatment “Treatments can go anywhere from strict cage rest,” Griffiths said “and using a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or a steroid drug to takedown inflammation of the disks to laser therapy. We use a lot of cold laser therapy on those situations. We use some other drugs such as gabapentin to decrease nerve pain. If it's severe enough where the patient is actually paralyzed or has no use of its rear limbs, surgery is indicated.

“Most general practitioners aren't doing back surgery, you're looking at a neurologist to do back surgery or a very competent general surgeon, and also they have the capability of having MRI's or CAT scans available to diagnose and locate the bad disks. A flat film or a plain X-ray may give you some indication of a collapsed disk space where the vertebrae are closer together than what they should be. But the gold standard for these is MRI's or CAT scans where you can actually see compression of the spinal cord with the disc material at that time. That's what the surgeons are requiring now is to identify where the lesion is. Spinal joints “Between each vertebra there's about 8 joints. They're called facets. That's where they articulate between the two vertebrae. We do see a lot of damage to those in trauma. We also see arthritis in those due to aging. We see a condition called Spondylosis, where we have calcium bridging of those joints. So, arthritis in the spine is pretty devastating in older patients. They can have arthritis in their spine and do pretty well with it but if they have any type of trauma like falling down the stairs, being rolled by another dog those type of thing, it upsets all that arthritis in there and then you can see some pretty acute pain.

“The whole goal of our crate rest and our anti inflammatories is to have that joint somewhat back to normal. Now most of these joints, if they are injured, our best case scenario is that they stabilize. But...

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Ante Lucin on How to Help Dog Breeders in War Torn Ukraine Ante Lucin, host of https://www.facebook.com/groups/784331345461256 (Talking Dogs With Ante), joins forces with Pure Dog Talk host Laura Reeves to share information supporting the dog people in Ukraine.

“What we have actually tried to do,” Ante said, “is that we have tried to place as much as possible information on our Facebook group. We try to connect directly with the people who are still in Ukraine. Try to find out what is that they need. Ukraine is a huge country, of course. There are still places which are not affected by the war, but there are places which are heavily affected by the war. One of them is obviously the capital city Kyiv. There is a lot of lot of dog people in Kyiv. For your viewers who maybe don't know it, Ukraine is quite famous in Europe as a very professional organizer of dog shows. They are supposed to have the FCI world dog show in 2023. I mean their country has a lot of experience and a lot of good dog people.

“Unfortunately, at this point, things are quite difficult because in the places which are affected by the war at the moment it's impossible to move. This is the biggest problem. There are still a lot of dog people, and there are still a lot of people in general, who would like maybe to go away from the war, at least children and women, because obviously for the men it's not allowed to leave the country. But unfortunately when this all started, even though everybody newspapers, media, they were talking a lot about this, but actually it happened like a surprise to everybody.

“People who really managed to escape in the first 48 hours, they have managed. But the rest of the people are now very limited with the options which they can do. I'm really trying to connect all the people because I think that's the most important thing at the moment. We are trying to see who needs help, where they need help and what kind of help they need. What has been happening in the last 48 hours, I know a lot of dog people from the neighboring countries like Hungary, Romania, Moldova they were driving till the border with Ukraine and the people from Ukraine where finding some kind of ways you know to send their own dogs.

“The thing is that there are unfortunately now a lot of people who cannot come to the border or who cannot organize the transport for their dogs to the border. I have read a lot of posts today where people are begging to find any kind of transportation, if not for human at least for the dogs.

“I'm going to repeat it 100 million times, people are amazing when it comes to these kind of situations and in any country, in any border that people are being able to send their dogs, we find people who will go there and who will catch the dogs and who will put them in the nice homes and everything. And the same for the people. In my group there are hundreds and hundreds of messages from people from all around the world who say we can take dogs, we can take people, we will help as much as we can.

“I go back to the fact that unfortunately now the people who are there mostly will have to stay there for some more time. What is now (an) emergency is the dog food. This is what I was talking with a lot of breeders in Ukraine I was talking with Helen who is the vice president of the Kennel Club, the dog food is a big problem. So what we are trying to see at the moment is we will try to connect with the Red Cross to see if there is a possibility to send some amounts of dog food with them.

“(We are trying) to connect with with any people who will possibly go till the border and take (dog food) from there, because there are obviously still some men who are driving women children and dogs till the border. So, whenever we find somebody like that, when we manage to organize that, somebody takes the dogs, we try to send back some dog food with them. So, it's a lot of organization it's not easy but it's amazing how much that people want to...

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Veterinary Insight on Why Brachycephalic Does NOT Equal Unhealthy Dr. Maryanne Mack, DVM, breeder of top winning Boston Terriers, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss recent developments in Europe in regards to legislating the breeding of specific breeds.

“I went to vet school because I love purebred dogs,” Mack said. “I love their role as companions and I wanted to go to vet school really to focus on that role of the dog in our life… Just really wanting to work with people and their pets and breeders as well to just make healthier companions for all of us.

[caption id="attachment_9568" align="alignleft" width="280"] Photo of host Laura Reeves' champion pug who likes to catch mice in her spare time.[/caption]

“I think that the fact that a lot of groups have started to associate having a short face with being unhealthy is a really slippery slope that we don't wanna go down. There's a couple components of brachycephalic airway syndrome. Those are stenotic nares, or really tight nostrils, an elongated soft palate and a hypoplastic trachea. Those are sort of the three main issues that you see with brachycephalic airway syndrome. “We don't have any studies showing those are directly related to the length of the nose. “The component that we really have to look for, that we know make the biggest difference in these dogs, is the elongated soft palate… “That's not related to how long the nose is, that's related to different genes that are writing for the length of the soft palate. We see long soft palates in dogs with long noses. We see this in Labradors, we see this in mixed breed dogs. So, it's not only a brachycephalic issue. "I think it's really important to note that these things can occur in any breed of dog. They do happen to occur more in brachycephalic dogs, but we don't have concrete evidence that it's directly related to the length of the nose.

“Most brachycephalic breeds, with the exception of some of the more mastiff types, these dogs were bred to be companions. That's their job and they do that very, very, very well. Part of the reason we love them so much is that these brachycephalic facial features elicit almost an infantile like response to people. I think that focusing on the fact that these are companion dogs. "These dogs are not out flushing birds, they're not working dogs, they are meant to make people happy, sit on your lap. I absolutely believe that they should be able to do things like go on a little hike …. they should absolutely be able to do that and be able to breathe while they do that. But this is not a dog that's out herding sheep in the summer. I think keeping that in perspective is really important. “I think we need to focus, as preservation breeders, on doing a little bit of a better job on selecting breeding stock and producing healthier versions of every breed. But for brachycephalic, specifically, we all know that there are some dogs out there that are not good breathers and that happens.

"I think the hard part as a breeder is to say ‘OK this dog might be beautiful, this dog might have a great top line and this has great movement but he cannot breathe and I should probably put him in a companion home where he won't be bred.' That's a really, really hard decision to make, but I think as we move forward, especially in this new culture and climate, we have to make more of those decisions. Preservation Breeders are the Solution “We as preservation breeders are actually the solution. We are the solution to this problem. If we work together to breed healthier dogs and if we work together to breed more of these dogs… I can't tell you how many of my clients come in with a puppy mill puppy and they say ‘Well Dr. Mack, you told us some great breeders but we didn't wanna wait for three years, so we ordered this one online and picked it up at the airport and here he is.’

"It breaks my heart because we as preservation breeders, if we had more available dogs that were well bred, people

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Singleton Puppies: Whelping and Raising Strategies For Valentine’s Day, Susan Patterson, moderator of the fabulous Canine, Fertility, Reproduction and Neonatal Issues Facebook group (invite required) and host Laura Reeves team up to talk about the dreaded Singleton… puppy that is. Susan and Laura discuss proper progesterone timing to help avoid a singleton litter in the first place, planning and managing a c-section if needed. One is the Lonliest Number… Singleton puppies present unique challenges for whelping and raising successfully. In large breed dogs, frequently the single puppy in utero does not release sufficient hormones to trigger the dam to start labor.

“This is again where progesterone timing, knowing your ovulation date, is important,” Susan said. “What most people fail to account for is placentas have an expiration date. You can't go past that date or you will lose your puppy, there's just no ifs, ands, or buts, and possibly your bitch. So knowing when the bitch is due is critical.

“Once you know when she's due, you can be watching for labor to commence. I would strongly suggest you plan a C-section as a back-up, knowing you’re probably going to use it, but plan it as a backup. Give your bitch the chance to whelp naturally and then pull the trigger.

"The other thing, especially a day before you think you're gonna have to pull the trigger, you're gonna wanna be monitoring heartbeats. You don't want your Singleton puppy to go into distress. If (the heartbeat) drops below 180 or 170 (bpm) I start getting really concerned.” Management is job #1 Without the interaction of littermates, the singleton can overeat, under-exercise and may well need additional guidance to understand proper dog interactions.

Susan and Laura discuss monitoring the bitch for mastitis and the puppy to avoid gaining too much weight too quickly.

“The first thing I would do, is the minute she comes out of anesthesia is I would put her on sunflower lecithin,” Susan noted. “What the sunflower lecithin does, is it makes the milk less sticky, thins it down slightly, so that it passes through the memory glands much easier … it's basically one teaspoon of sunflower lecithin for every 20 pounds of dog.

“A swimmer puppy is, it's not just a condition of obesity, but that is definitely a contributing factor. So what you wanna do is you wanna have in your whelping box lots of hills and valleys. You wanna use pool noodles, rolled up bathroom rugs, anything to make that puppy work for dinner.”

Socializing singletons in other litters if possible and absolutely with safe adult dogs enables them to learn the critical life skill of appropriate interaction with other dogs as well as people.

Tune in for more of this great conversation.

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Chesapeake Bay Retrievers: An American Success Story Betsy Horn Humer has spent a lifetime with Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Her parents acquired their first dog in 1947 and Betsy has been deeply involved in the breed since childhood. A conformation and obedience/rally judge, Betsy brings tremendous depth and width of experience to her understanding of the sport.

"They're very different from the other retrievers," Betsy said. "They're not like Goldens and Labs who love everybody and wanna be your friend. They're much more reserved. They're much more like some of the working breeds -- German Shepherds and Dobermans, Rottweilers.

"They have a real work ethic and they're serious. They're much more serious than your average Golden and Labrador. They're not the dog for everyone, especially a first dog.

"They're very protective and that's really because of their heritage and why they were originally developed.

"They were originally developed on Chesapeake Bay, of course. The story is that there was a shipwreck. There were a couple of dogs on the ship and they swam to the shores. One was named Sailor and one was named Canton. They were not Chesapeakes but they were more like the Saint John's dog. The Labrador also goes back to that particular breed.

"They were bred with a couple of the other local hunting dogs and some of the background includes setters and bloodhounds and other retrievers. It's an interesting mix and it does explain why we do have different types of coats and different kinds of hound markings because of the genetics that's actually behind the breed.

[caption id="attachment_9536" align="alignleft" width="290"] 2021 National Specialty show- Award of Merit. GCHB Eastern Waters’ Pink Power O’MesaRidge, BN RI. Owners/ Breeders - Betsy Horn Humer & Rupert J. Humer[/caption]

"The breed was really developed and records were kept by the wealthy land owners who owned property on the Chesapeake Bay and had huge hunting clubs. It was the local marketers, the duck hunters and the water fowlers that used them for hunting back in the late 1800s.

"There were no limits on how many ducks you could take and these hunters would take several hundred a day. The Chesapeake would just go out in the Bay and retrieve them all, that was his job. When he wasn't actually swimming and retrieving, his job was to guard the pile of ducks so that nobody else would take them. These ducks were sold to expensive restaurants in Baltimore. They were considered a real treat.

"Winters were much colder then. There was ice to be broken. The Chesapeake Bay is huge. I mean you're not talking just like a little lake it is huge. You get tremendous amounts of tides, wind. It can be a very unpleasant place during hunting season. But these hunters, that was how they made their living and that was what they did.

"(Chesapeakes) are very strong. They're much stronger than they look. They've got very strong bone. Their coat was developed in order to keep them warm. They have what's referred to as a double coat. There's a very soft undercoat and it's interesting because it's all one hair. The tops of the hair are very coarse and wiry but as you get closer to the skin, the coat is actually very soft and the outside harshness keeps the inside, the other part of it, dry."

Be sure to listen in to this wide ranging conversation for more insights on the Chesapeake, judging in the show ring and the obedience ring, dog breeding and more.

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Doing Battle Against Giardia and Coccidia Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how breeders and dog owners in general can do battle against the dreaded "bad potty bugs," giardia and coccidia.

These single cell organisms can become endemic, Greer notes.

"You can't get rid of it (on your property)," Greer said. "And that's the bad news. There's no really great treatment for either of them. There's nothing you can do that's going to disinfect your way out of it. We can't vaccinate our way out of it. So we need to talk about all of our options.

"Many of the organisms that we see in the GI tract, whether it's Giardia or coccidia or parvo, or tonight I got a text message from a lady in Florida about campylobacter, many of those are secondary to something else.

"So good gut health in general is your best defense. That's really the primary backbone of what you can do. So that means a diet that's appropriate, that doesn't cause your dog to have diarrhea or loose stools. A probiotic that's appropriate to keep the right bacteria there. Making sure you vaccinate for all the things you can vaccinate against, such as parvo. And making sure that you get regular fecal analysis done.

"One of the best defenses you have right now are the monthly heartworm preventives that you give orally... will give you better gut health because it controls intestinal parasites such as roundworms, hookworms and whip worms. So the fewer other things your dog's body has to deal with, the healthier the gut, the better the dog's overall health is going to be.

"The most commonly affected dogs that get sick are gonna be the younger ones or the dogs that are immunocompromised. So in general, if your dog has a little loose stool but they're feeling OK, they're eating OK, they're not vomiting, everything is OK other than their stools are intermittently or consistently loose, you take a stool sample in to your vet and ask if they can send it to a reference lab if they can't do Giardia testing.

"Treatment for coccidia is Albon. Number one, you have to weigh (your dog) so your dose is accurate. Number two, if you're using the liquid, you have to shake it up really well because it does settle out.

"Treatment of Giardia, there is no labeled drug for use in the United States, but there are a couple that are commonly used and very effective. Metronidazole, fenbendazole (Do not use metronidazole on puppies that are very young or pregnant bitches) Panacur, Safeguard, those are fine."

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Owner Handled Journey to Success [caption id="attachment_9470" align="alignleft" width="321"] L-R Jann Butler, Will Bratcher and Terri Ebert[/caption]

Will Bratcher, Jann Butler and Terri Ebert make up the team behind 2021’s top winning Saint Bernard. Their story, and their journey, is an inspiration for everyone.

Will, an Olympic level swimmer, his wife Jann and their friend Terri have forged an impressive team in a very short time. Jann, who suffered a terrifying dog bite as a child, was not a dog person. Will, who grew up with 4H and animals, wanted a Saint Bernard.

After acquiring their first dog from the Thrifty Nickel, they wound up talking to Stan and Joan Zielinski about what would become their first show dog in 2014.

[caption id="attachment_9468" align="alignright" width="294"] Will and Ian.[/caption]

“I didn’t even know what a show home was,” Jann said. “After three interviews with the Zielinskis, we got this dog and we committed to show it. I'm like, I don't even know what that is. But they sent us to (professional handler) Marty Glover. They said Marty will help you.

“OK great! So, we go meet Marty Glover and then the next thing you know, he takes the dog away to train him. Which I didn't think was part of the deal but I was like, ‘oh that's really weird you put your dog in a van with somebody else and they go away and they get trained.’

“Anyway, his first show he got a major as a puppy. And, of course, I had to ask ‘what's a major’ and we learned a lot there right at the beginning.”

“You know Will,” Terri said. “Once he gets started …. for those of you that are interested, if you have someone like this in your family, you just roll with it. So Jann learned to roll with it. He said ‘well, I think we need a third dog.’ I mean who doesn't want three Saint Bernards, which is equivalent to 450 pounds and so we roll with Will.

“We are consummate learners. There is no pride in how we enter this. We come in saying we don't know anything so we're willing to ask everything and we'll ask anybody. And that's a hallmark for us. Stick and stay and make it pay “I think you do it for the fun,” Will said. “As soon as you lose that perspective you need to get out. The other one I have is “stick and stay and make it pay.” You learn a lot of things from training, working to build endurance and everything else.

“I apply the same thing towards my dogs (as in Olympic level swimming). I look at (Ian). I watch him just like my coach used to watch me. It's about technique. It's about endurance. It's the whole package.

“For people who get into the owner handler, it's scary at first. But when you really start winning, start doing, you forget about how nervous you used to be. Now you just start worrying about how did that handler do that, how am I running, … it's just like running a race car too. You just wanna fine-tune and keep improving, and I still to this day.

“If I don't think I did well, I'll go to the judge and ask what can I do to improve. I've got judges just look at me (and say) ‘you sound like a junior handler.’ It all means everything to me. I've been getting a tremendous amount of coaching, encouragement and just that whole mentality of just keep going, keep going, don't stop from the professional handlers.

“They've given me so much encouragement and help in handling and tips. There are so many things when you get down and nitty gritty. Just little things can make a big difference. So it's been pretty humbling and I've really, really gotten quite an education. It's not that easy. I have a lot more respect for handlers in general.”

Listen in to today's show for the entirety of this heart-warming conversation.

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No Best in Show? Looking Back with Bo Bengtson Author, historian, editor and Sighthound specialist Bo Bengtson joins host Laura Reeves again for a fascinating look back at dog shows before Best in Show.

“You gotta go several thousand years back basically,” Bengtson said of people appreciating the beauty of dogs. “Even in the Odyssey, which is Homer 2,000 years ago, there is a reference that cited the people who own dogs because they're handsome, because they look good.

[caption id="attachment_9446" align="alignleft" width="357"] Sighthounds were a favorite subject of artists through the centuries, including this stunning Maude Earl Borzoi canvas.[/caption]

“That's kind of really interesting to me that even in those days people cared about what dogs look like. Going through the Middle Ages and forward, you find several references to not just hunting dogs or war dogs or something, but also to luxury dogs or pets. Greyhounds of all types are very, very frequently portrayed.

“And then we get up to the 1800s and middle of 1800s and the industrial revolution in England. Suddenly, there was a whole new class created by the industrial revolution. People who had money and had time on their hands and what could they better focus on than dogs. That was very interesting to them and that's where the beginning of the modern dog sport really stands. “The dog shows of the past were not at all like modern dog shows. There was often a best in show award but even defeated dogs could actually compete for it. There were no groups and there were not even necessarily breeds. "In 1924, the American Kennel Club introduced new regulations and since then it's basically been (the same). The number of groups has increased slightly and the number of breeds increased drastically, but their regulations for competing have remained unchanged.

“Even in my early days, in the 1980s in this country, there was not even necessarily Best in Show. I remember very, very vividly that I had a group winner who was not allowed to compete for Best in Show because there wasn't a Best in Show at that show. In the beginning, only half the number of shows had the best in show award … eventually that grew up to present day.

“There have always been people who are nuts about competing for best in show and campaigning dogs. I mean you don't think of people in the ‘30s or ‘40s or something that is campaigning dogs. But they were. There was that Pointer in 1860 or something from Wales, that was shown at least 60 times. How do they even get to the show? And he was shown overseas too. How do you even know where the shows were? It's amazing.

"In the 1950s, there were certainly not flights available as today and there were far fewer shows and dogs still managed to win 20 or 30 best in shows per year. People were competitive even then. “I think it's a pretty rarified sport in many ways. I mean they make it fun sometimes and I think it's fascinating. I think there's nothing like sitting with a catalog and watching a bunch of dogs of the same breed being judged by an expert. That's totally fascinating. But most people don't think so. I think you need a special type of interest or mind or something like that. Maybe you have to just be a little weird.” [caption id="attachment_9450" align="alignleft" width="328"] Spoiler alert, a photo of Bo's hound group winner, in his dream BIS lineup, the great Borzoi Vigow...[/caption]

Be sure to listen in to catch Bo’s incredible Best in Show lineup representing dogs of yesteryear through present times.

Purchase Bo's encyclopedic and gorgeous book Best In Show https://www.amazon.com/Best-Show-World-Shows-Kennel/dp/1931993858/ref=asc_df_1931993858/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=266319622787&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5241465104622027348&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031622&hvtargid=pla-589414238637&psc=1 (here) and visit his...

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What IS the Animal Rights Agenda? With Patti Strand Patti Strand, president of the https://www.naiaonline.org/ (National Animal Interest Alliance) (NAIA), joins host Laura Reeves to discuss proposed ballot initiatives that have appeared, in identical form, in multiple states with a definite "animal rights" agendas attached.

The current initiative in Oregon and the previous one in Colorado aimed to criminalize injuring or killing animals, including killing for food, hunting, fishing and criminalizes most breeding practices.

Strand contends that it is unlikely the Oregon proposal will receive enough signatures to make it on the ballot, and the Colorado one did not, but that we should always “be aware.”

“It is possible that other groups will come together and urge this sort of thing to get put on the ballot,” Strand said. “But again, since they're going after every use of animals, in my opinion, it's unlikely to succeed anywhere. Not only because it's way too broadly comprised but also because none of the national groups with money would put money into it.

“But this is all part of the animal rights agenda. The animal rights agenda is opposed to using animals for any purpose, regardless of how humane, how responsible or how much benefit might flow from using animals in this way to people and other animals. A great deal of medical research is done on animals, for animals. So clearly there's an animal rights to agenda behind this.

"I will say that (since) it lacks funding from the big organized groups, either (the initiative sponsors) just didn't understand the process and what they were going to be up against in the beginning or it's a shot across the bow, to let us know 'we're still here and this is truly exactly what we want.'

“You do have to be aware that there are people out there, and that you're associating with them every day, maybe they're not even on the other side, but they definitely have been the recipients of a lot of misinformation and information that's told from a very biased point of view. Propaganda is everywhere.

"One of my favorite articles is from a speech (by) Michael Crichton, the guy who wrote Jurassic Park, and it's his speech to the Commonwealth and he opens it up by saying ‘I've been asked to speak to you today and to tell you what I think is the greatest threat facing mankind. And I have a fundamental answer. It is the ability to discern reality from fiction.’ So, we're in a propaganda war.

“You know, one of the major goals of the animal rights movement is to turn us all into guardians instead of owners. You have to be very very careful that you don't fall into that trap. When you say you’re your pet’s guardian or you are a pet parent or whatever, you are moving the goal post a little bit in their direction. Obviously, you don't wanna sound cold and heartless, because that plays into the agenda, too. So, it's just about being sensitive to the language itself and being very, very aware.

“The truth will set you free. I'm really big on truth telling and just being very honest and open about what you do, what it means, why it matters. You can't speak in sound bites and win. If you try to come up with a sound bite that is going to be the perfect rejoinder to what they just said, you're gonna lose.

"Those of us who spend our entire lives with dogs, put every extra dime we have into our dogs, who spend more at veterinarians than many, many people spend on their kids… I mean, we love our dogs deeply. We just don't confuse them with people. We know that they are dogs and we take care of them.”

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Tackling a Stinky Problem with Dr. Marty Greer Dr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves tackle a stinky problem – the dog’s anal glands. Greer explains how to express them, what to do if they are infected or impacted and stinky stories from the trenches.

“They're the same glands that are the scent glands on a skunk, the scent glands in a ferret,” Greer said. “The ferret ones are, of course, removed if ferrets are going to become pets. They serve as a communication function among animals. So for instance, when the skunk is upset or angry or being attacked or whatever, they'll turn and lift their tail and their anal sacks will express and that's a form of a communication and defense. So unfortunately, when our dogs get nervous, or scared, yeah, sometimes they express their anal glands.

“There's just normal anal gland secretions, then there are the impacted ones, when the material gets thick and doesn't express normally. Then we can see them become infected. They can come in with a bloody kind of discharge in the anal gland. We can see them abscess through the skin, where the dog comes in, clients don't really understand what happened, it looks like there's this opening of this hole next to the rectum…

“A lot of anal sac abscesses are associated with diarrhea. So if the dog has had a loose stool, then some of the watery stool, instead of it passing the anal gland, it will push down into the opening, set up housekeeping in that little gland and set up a bacterial infection. So, most dogs will comfortably empty them on their own, but if they don't and they get an infection then of course we have to treat that.

“From a perspective of ‘does the dog need their anal glands,’ really it's not necessary. It's a communication tool. So, when you see dogs greet each other, dogs that aren't familiar with one another, they go tails and nose, nose to tail, 'cause they're sniffing each other's anal glands as a handshake, as an identification. Really, it's only for social communication that the dogs need their anal glands. In today's society, they don't need to warn other dogs that there is a predator out there, they live on your couch. It's better off to not have them if you're having a dog that's having chronic problems.”

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12-Steps to a Happier You in the Dog Fancy I don’t know about you, but this holiday season I just haven’t had the vibe. I’ve honestly tried. But, all my magic spells for maintaining a positive attitude have been, at best, modestly successful. Even a week at the ocean didn’t cure me this time and that’s my solid go to.

Pretty sure I don’t have to run the litany we all know too well about the “why”. It’s just plain been a rough couple years. The global psyche is literally bruised and battered. Peace on Earth and goodwill to mankind seem like quaint notions of a bygone era. These notions could just as easily apply to the Ming Dynasty for all of their relevance in our world today.

What we all need is a 12-step program for happiness… Fortunately, I have just the thing! Lol

I wrote the following in 2015 for the now-defunct Best In Show Daily online mag back when I was a weekly columnist there.

These steps apply to our dog event world specifically, but can be generalized to daily life without much trouble in three simple rules. Just be nice. Get off your bleeping phone. Learn new things.

I may or may not have included this ditty in a previous episode, but if so, even I can’t find it! Lol 12-Steps to a Happier You in the Dog Fancy January: Say “Congratulations” to the winner or “Thank You” to those who congratulate you. Yes, every time. Yes, even when the winner is your most bitter enemy, actually, especially then.

February: Watch one breed, other than your own, from start to finish, at every dog show you attend.

March: Instill and enforce the “first to look at their phone during dinner pays for everyone” rule each time you go out to eat, whether at a dog show, with co-workers or family. Experience the miracle of direct human interaction.

April: Seek out a club official — show chair, chief ring steward, hospitality chair, etc — at each dog show you attend and thank them, personally, for their hard work and compliment them on a specific piece of the show which you particularly liked. Resist the urge to complain about anything.

May: Volunteer to help at one show. Even if it is an hour of ring stewarding, helping with clean up or set up, judging a fun match, simply restocking the candy dishes or picking up someone else’s poopie. Do one thing for a club for no better reason than you can.

June: Help someone new. It could be as simple as assisting someone with an armband. Maybe a promising youngster with a new puppy shows up and would welcome five minutes of kind and constructive direction. It is important here to understand the concept of help. Focus on the positive. Just be nice.

July: Organize a potluck. Get a whole bunch of people together at someone’s RV or grooming space, even invite someone you don’t know well, break bread together. Laugh. Tell stories. Talk dogs. If there is a water balloon fight somewhere in the mix, this cannot be a bad thing. Remember, we’re still carrying each month’s goal forward, so March’s “no phone” rule applies. By now, it should be ingrained and much easier to implement.

August: Read the standard for a breed about which you know nothing. Then, at the next show, while continuing your February goal of watching a new breed, go find the breed you read about. See if you can apply elements of the standard to dogs in the ring.

September: Go back to school … In your own breed. Re-read your breed standard. Memorize it. Commit the entire standard to memory so thoroughly that you can quote entire sections verbatim. Then pull a random dog out of your pack, stack him up and go over him piece by piece according to the standard. Try very, very hard to be objective and not make excuses. Simply see what’s there and what isn’t.

October: Take the skeletons out of your closet. Look at them in the cold light of day. Whether as a breeder, handler, exhibitor or judge, take a look at your past mistakes, acknowledge them, then burn them at the stake and move on!

November: Talk...

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Breeding, Training and Socializing Decisions for High Drive Dogs https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/ (Denise Fenzi )and host Laura Reeves take a deep dive into the breeding, training and socializing decisions we make with high drive dogs. Are we removing “hard” dogs from our gene pool in favor of “twitchy,” flashy high arousal dogs?

“So, drive always requires arousal,” Fenzi noted. “Arousal does not require drive. That is a good base. I like to recognize that and to recognize that arousal can hinder the dog’s ability to see the world clearly, so your socialization goes to hell, as the dog is so busy moving, they're not actually taking it in.

“Then, when they're three, they take it in and that's a problem. 'Cause for the first time they just saw a garbage can on wheels. It's been there the whole time, they just never slowed down enough to see it. In training, we actually perpetuate that. What we do with these high arousal dogs is we work them. We get the toys and play, we focus on really early and they go for it, because they're high arousal dogs, they need something to attach it to and so we actually undermine our socialization.”

This in-depth, experience-based discussion between industry leaders asks important questions and offers insight for breeders who want to learn more about breeding high drive dogs in any performance venue.

Laura Reeves: “I think it's so important, when we talk about these things from the perspective of purebred dogs and doing events and doing sports and doing show, if that's part of our consideration, all of those things it all is breed specific.”

Denise Fenzi: Absolutely

Laura Reeves: Starting at that instinct piece that you were talking about, the instinct has to be there and then you layer on all the rest of it.

Denise Fenzi: Yes. And then you've got your focus and all kinds of other things that are going to come into play. Even the definition. How do you define drive? My definition is “stays in the game under adversity.” So, it doesn't matter what your game is and it doesn’t matter what the adversity is. It could be weather, could be bad training. There are dogs who are out there in crappy weather, under crappy training and I mean I don’t know how they do it, but they figure out what the trainer wants and they just flat on go forward. To me that's drive … with a good dose of hardness

Defining and understanding drive, considering the inheritance patterns of drive and arousal, addressing anxiety as a corollary, Denise and Laura dig in to the hard topics, the difficult conversations and the implications of our breeding decisions.

Listen to part one https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/507-denise-fenzi-on-drive-vs-arousal/ (here).

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Denise Fenzi on "Drive" vs "Arousal" in Dogs https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/ (Denise Fenzi), Founder of the famous Fenzi Dog Sport Academy, joins host Laura Reeves for Part 1 of this powerful and thoughtful conversation about what drives our dogs to the behaviors we see.

Denise and Laura discuss the difference between drive and arousal, and how that impacts on our dogs, particularly performance dogs, and some of the things that we as breeders need to consider when making breeding decisions.

“In the make-up of the dog, you've got the very bottom level,” Fenzi said. “Let's call that instinct. Those are things that the dog does to stay alive. If you have a highly predatory dog and a rabbit goes by, the dog doesn't think about what it's going to do it goes. That’s the very bottom basic level. I will tell you that, in my opinion, this is where drives are rooted. So, the very bottom level is instinct in my opinion it is the hardest to change.

"Instinctually driven behaviors are very resistant to change. This is both good and bad because this is why your hunting dog goes out for an hour and does the thing. It's painful, it's hot, it's tired, it's cranky and it just keeps doing it and maybe it doesn't even know why it keeps doing it, it just does the thing.

“One level up is the emotional level. That is where you have fear. Anxiety is linked to fear, it's irrational fear, like you don't even know why you're afraid you're just feeling anxious. You have happiness, you have anger, you have joy, you have caretaking for your young. So let's call that the emotional level. Arousal can come from either one of those places… the bottom level the predatory drive instinctual base level, or it can come from the emotional level.

“Drive has a focus. Arousal is scattered movement. Focus sort of ties it altogether. If you have drive for a thing then you have to have focus or you just went out of drive. Now you're looking at something else. Arousal gets complicated, because arousal can look like drive. (But) a dog can be in arousal and have no drive whatsoever.”

Listen to the whole show above to hear more.

Fenzi has titled dogs in obedience (AKC and UKC), tracking (AKC and schutzhund), schutzhund (USA), mondioring (MRSA), herding (AKC), conformation (AKC), and agility (AKC). She has two AKC obedience champions, perfect scores in both schutzhund and Mondio ringsport obedience, and is well known for her flashy and precise obedience work.

While a successful competitor, Fenzi's real passion lies in training dogs and solving the problems that her own dogs and her students' dogs present. She is a recognized expert in developing drive, motivation, and focus in competition dogs, and is known internationally as an engaging speaker and an expert in no-force training for sport dogs. She has consistently demonstrated the ability to train and compete with dogs using motivational methods in sports where compulsion is the norm.

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Pancreatitis: Acute, Chronic and Other Diseases of the Pancreas Dr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on Pancreatitis, a common ailment in our dogs seen during the holidays, and other diseases of the pancreas in dogs.

“Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. It is always an inflammatory condition. The pancreas is a very important organ in your body. It has two sections to it and it lives right outside your stomach and intestines. It does two jobs. One is it produces enzymes to digest your food and the other is it produces insulin to control your blood sugar.

“There's a couple of different kinds of pancreatitis. There's acute and chronic pancreatitis and then there is Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) and then there's diabetes. Those are the most common disorders that we see in the pancreas and the dog we can also on rare occasion see pancreatic tumors they're called insulinomas. (They’re) not common … we see on average maybe one of these every couple of years … if we do see pancreatic cancer it tends to be the insulinoma kind, which causes the blood glucose to drop too low and then the dogs will come in with a seizure type of activity.

“Most pancreatitis is associated with vomiting. About 90% of the dogs with pancreatitis present with vomiting. The reports are about half will present with abdominal pain. I can tell you having had four episodes of pancreatitis, that if your dog turns around and tries to bite your veterinarian during the time that they're feeling their abdomen, palpating it to check if there's any abnormalities that they can feel like masses or foreign bodies or anything, that dog is justified in biting the veterinarian because there is nothing that hurts much worse in my experience than pancreatitis.

“(The cause) tends to be … the dog knocks over the trash and eats the drippings from the Turkey or the chicken or the ham fat or the scallop potatoes. One of those kind of fatty meals that are associated with what we do at the holidays.

“That's a fairly typical history, but even without that high fat meal, we can still see pancreatitis. We also can see some of these patients that have recurrences, so they become that low grade chronic pancreatitis patient. Those dogs have to be managed long term very carefully on low fat well managed diets so that the patient doesn't have recurrences and flare ups. Eventually too many episodes of pancreatitis we feel can probably cause scarring of the pancreas and potentially lead to diabetes.”

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Front and Center with Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath and host Laura Reeves are back, chasing squirrels and discussing the single most important part of canine structure and anatomy: the front assembly.

“If you have a bitch and her front assembly is not what you really want,” Hedgepath said, “what you gotta do is you gotta find a dog that has the front assembly you do want, which is not easy in any breed. The hardest thing to put on a dog's that front assembly. Once you find dog, …when you do that breeding, don't be taken in by that precious little beautiful face if it doesn't have that front assembly you're looking for.

“We all started somewhere. You have to work at it. You have to train your dog. You have to select the proper dog. You have to learn and know what you're seeing. Some people get lucky and they get a magic wand and their first dog is a big time winner. Most of the rest of us work our (butts) off for a lot of years.

“Learn your history. Learn what your dog’s about, even if it's a relatively modern dog and do not try to make it something that it isn't.

“I've never been one that thought that movement and type were two different things. They're the same thing, because every dog moves according to his type and how he's put together. Movement is an integral part of type. Movement is actually the proof of structure.

“I mean let's just say an Old English Sheepdog and its movement and a Bearded Collie and its movement. Both fuzzy dogs, long hair and they come from kinda the same areas and totally different breed type. They worked in different train and different styles of working.

“This is something I cannot say enough times, the work that a dog was designed to do informs the structure it has to do the job the people needed it to do to live. Whether it was to put meat on the table or to have meat to sell or to be a poacher or whatever, whatever it was kept the food on the table.

“We're fortunate today that, yes, we can breed for pretty. But what good is it if it doesn't still represent the breed it was supposed to be. The concept of preservation breeding is to preserve the dog. It was designed to do the job, even if it doesn't still do the job, it should be able to do so.”

In summary, front assemblies are important. They are different between types of dogs based on the work the dog was bred to do. If you are breeding dogs and looking to create better front assemblies, you have to select for the puppy that has the correct front assembly when you evaluate the litter. Once you've selected a good front, you have to train the dog so that the judge can actually see the movement that proves the structure.

For more episodes around this topic check out https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/short-legged-dogs-bred-for-a-purpose-pure-dog-talk/ (here) and https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/168-breeder-education-advocate-claudia-orlandi-shares-knowledge/ (here).

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Dog Trainers and Dog Breeders Working Together [caption id="attachment_8671" align="alignleft" width="270"] Kayley Paylor and her Azawakh.[/caption]

Kayley Paylor, like many professional dog trainers, started in her profession after acquiring a rescue dog that had issues. She became a huge advocate for the predictability and reliability of well-bred purebred dogs as a result. Paylor joins host Laura Reeves to tackle the “elephant in the room” when it comes to dog breeders and dog trainers working together.

“It's one of those issues where you don't even realize that that type of (animal rights) agenda is sneaking in because the line between animal welfare and animal rights activists is a tough one,” Paylor said. “People who love their dogs and want the best for their dogs and trainers who want the best for dogs, it's really easy to lose track of what is actually best for them in the long term. Are we going to let them suffer with mental issues when we could just clarify the issue immediately with a consequence once that is appropriate.

“So, what I tend to see and what I ran into is, again, really well-intentioned individuals who get a rescue as their first dog. Mine had health problems, as is unfortunately common, and I didn't know that going into it. Epilepsy, dental issues, that type of thing. And some behavioral issues that come with, certainly, genetic temperament issues, but also just they didn't have a breeder that cared about the puppy, that gave them the solid foundation.

“I dug into the behavioral issues and what I started to see, when I went through my apprenticeship, … I saw all of these incredible women who had these purebred dogs that were predictable. That you could understand exactly what was going to happen. And so I started to understand ‘oh, OK, you understand exactly what you're going to get when you get that dog.’ I was lucky and I wasn't the only one. All of my colleagues that came in at the same time as I did all came from a rescue background.

“All of my colleagues went that way, where we started with rescues and ended up with purebred dogs. Because if you rescue dogs, you have to understand you're not getting anything predictable. You don't know the background.

“From a breeder perspective, I do wish that breeders had a little bit more trust in trainers … but it's just a breakdown in communication. Neither of them see all the good that the other one can do because of the bad in both communities.

“It's just about getting those well-bred dogs in front of trainers. Even if you know what you're doing. Even if you think you know what you're doing, taking them to a puppy group class for puppy play.

“On both sides of the issue let's just say R+ versus a balanced perspective, you're going to get people who understand dogs and their different needs and their different drives, and you're going to get people who don't.”

Listen to the entire episode above and hear Paylor’s insights on finding a good fit for a trainer to work with, training insights and so much more.

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Examining the History of Sighthounds with Bo Bengtson Bo Bengtson, author, publisher and Whippet breeder, attended his first dog show in 1958 in his native Sweden. He joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive into the intricacies of sighthounds.

“It was, right away, like lightning struck,” Bengtson said. “I was 14 years old and I just knew right away that this was what I wanted to devote my life to. It was really fascinating. It was, as someone once said, a combination of zoo and circus and theater … A passion for sighthounds “You have to know a little bit about coursing if you're involved in sighthounds. They have remained the same for thousands of years, the basic type. They weren't breeds early on but different types of sighthounds. if you look at the early description of coursing which is the pursuit of game with sighthounds … that is a sport that's now these days illegal in most of US… It's been superseded by lure coursing, which is an artificial form of coursing.

[caption id="attachment_8665" align="alignleft" width="372"] "Hunters Homeward Bound," 10th Century AD. Courtesy of Bo Bengston.[/caption]

“(Sighthounds developed) before firearms basically, when the only way you had to hunt was through the dogs and whatever they could course and kill was basically today's dinner. Firearms made sighthounds very much superfluous. And I think the sport then became very much a status symbol. (Sighthounds) are of course aesthetically pleasing and so many rich people and aristocratic people preferred to hunt with sighthounds, not because of need but because it was a beautiful spectacle and pretty expensive spectacle too. In various parts of the world, Queen Elizabeth I was very fond of coursing. In Russia they coursed with Borzoi. And in the Far East there were Salukis. What IS a Sighthound? “There is no official definition of what a sighthound is. So there is a great disagreement about what breeds actually count as sighthounds. You can count as few as four or five as pure sighthounds and as many as 40 as “sighthound related” or different types of breeds we don’t know in this country. Some we wouldn’t define as breeds but more as types.

(Listen to fascinating conversations about the Caravan Hounds of India https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/422-exploring-the-caravan-hounds-of-india/ (here) and https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/420-living-history-on-the-silk-road-asiatic-sighthounds/ (here).) History of sighthound development “I think we have to go back again a couple of thousand years because there have probably always been different sizes of greyhounds. Greyhound types. The big ones which were the ancestor of the modern greyhound. And we have the different, smaller ones that were ancestors of whippet and the Italian greyhounds. I think that Whippets, although they weren't  described as a breed until late 1800s, they have certainly been around much longer. Catherine the Great of Russia had little English greyhounds she called them. And they were very important to her. She nursed them herself and they slept on a pink couch in her bedroom. But whether they’re Italian greyhounds, whether they were whippet, who knows. I mean they were very small and whether Italian greyhounds or whippets, it is kind of irrelevant these days.

“The Greyhound and the Saluki are sort of the “ur” sighthound, what sighthounds are supposed to be like. … if you take one step away from Saluki you get the Afghan Hound, which is a little more powerful. If you take several steps away from the Greyhound, you get the Ibizan Hound and you get the Portuguese Podengo and that kind of thing.”

Listen to the full episode for more detailed insights into all things sighthound.

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Seizures in Dogs: Causes, Treatments and Considerations Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for this month’s Veterinary Voice talking about seizures in dogs. Type of seizure, age of onset, causes and treatments are all up for discussion today.

“Seizures can be actually epilepsy, which has probably got a genetic component to it,” Greer said. “Where the dog has an epileptic tendency. Typically those are going to be seen in certain breeds of dogs and they typically happen between two and four years of age for the first seizure. If we're seeing seizures or seizure type activity or episodes in really young dogs or dogs that are elderly, it's probably not primarily an epileptic situation.

“If it's a very young puppy, the first thing we look at is blood glucose. If their glucose drops because they're not eating adequately, they don't have enough glycogen stores in their liver, and so they’re weak or they’re sick, they'll have a seizure type of activity. So, the first thing we do in anything that’s really young or really old, is reach for some kind of glucose. You can reach your Karo syrup, you can reach for honey. If you have caramels and the dog is capable of chewing them, that's great. You can give sweetened condensed milk. Glucose can be absorbed right through the gums, so the dog doesn't actually have to swallow to get the effect of bringing up their glucose.

“If you have an older dog (with seizure activity) the first thing to do is get some initial blood work. That's easy to do. You can check calcium, you can check glucose. It's easiest and most effective to check it very close to the time of the event. Glucose can go down for multiple reasons. I've seen it go down during severe pregnancy toxicosis. I've seen it go down because dogs have eaten xylitol, sugarless gum and candy. And I've seen it go down because dogs have insulinomas, which is a tumor in the pancreas. Those are functional tumors that create so much insulin that the dog’s blood glucose drops precipitously. Anytime your glucose is too low you can have a seizure. I've also seen it go down in Addison's disease.

“You want to be sure that you’re comprehensive and complete on what's going on with the dog before you jump to any conclusions. There's always the toxins. So, xylitol we've talked about as a possible toxin, but there are some rat poisons and some other neurotoxins that we can see not the vitamin K type of rat poison. There's a lot of other kind of nasty toxins that are out there that dogs can sometimes get into. Sometimes our pharmaceutical medications can cause that as well, so appetite suppressants can cause it, there are a number of different drugs on the market that can cause seizure type of activities. It's really important that we get a good history on these drugs what they might have gotten into.

“The other thing to know is that the new class of oral flea and tick medications can cause neurologic disease tremors. That can also include seizures in seizure prone dogs. If your dog recently had a dose of that, typically within 24 hours, you need to include that too. So you need to go through the list of anything that's possible, anything that's the dog was given deliberately or not deliberately so that we are not missing any information that could potentially be a problem.

“Of course, in the older dog, there are structural abnormalities like brain tumors. That's diagnosed with either CT scan or an MRI … there's a lot of things that make dogs look like seizures, but it's not always epilepsy. Epilepsy is a diagnosis of exclusion. Typically, we diagnose it after everything else has been ruled out.”

Listen in to the podcast for Dr. Greer’s suggestions on treatment plans and more.

And go back to https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/55-seizures-and-epilepsy-genetic-testing-for-the-cause-liz-hansen-2/ (Liz Hansen)'s conversation on the research in this area.

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“The Rest of the Story” -- From Craigslist to Number One Field Spaniel Mikala Seymour and her Field Spaniel, Riley, are an impressive team. Riley, GCHB CH Bruce's Living the Life @ Upland, is currently the number one field spaniel all-systems and a national specialty winner, entirely owner-handled. This is a significant accomplishment for anyone. But “the rest of the story” is the impressive part.

Mikala just turned 18 years old. And Riley came to her through Craigslist, as a three year old. A junior handler and a backyard dog teaming up to successfully take on the dog show world is not an everyday occurrence.

“He was actually found for sale on Craigslist by my mentor,” Mikala said. “He was down in Texas. Three people piled together and were able to get him up here. My mentor when she finally got him had a table with her. She put him on the table, racked him up and said ‘underneath this mess of a dog’ 'cause his fur was matted and disgusting ‘there's a really nice dog under here. I think it needs Mikala’s touch’ pretty much is what she said. She ended up cleaning him up a little bit and shipping to me. That's when I started putting in the hard work. I had to teach him how to run, I had to teach myself how to groom. It was a good almost year of learning for me and we created a special bond and we've just gone from there.

“He was pretty much someone's pet that they barely did anything with. They barely socialized him or anything. But he is the sweetest little thing. He just wants attention and he's done so much for me. He's learned to tolerate a lot too, with the grooming and stuff. He wasn't too happy about it at first, but once he figured it out, he's getting to be good with it now.

“I'm actually third generation with this. We started in Saints. I started showing Saints as well in juniors and in the bred ring. (That’s) the breed that I fell in love with. It made me want to continue doing this. And then somebody said I should try a sporting dogs to be a little more flashy over the big drooly Saint, so we tried that and it just kind of snowballed from there.”

Mikala offered her top three tips for anyone who wants to be successful with their dog in the ring:

Find what makes your dog click. Get inside their head. “Learn what makes your dog special and get that connection with them so that they want to please you.”

Always talk to people. Learn more about your breed. Learn about other breeds. Get advice from other people with your breed. “Learn from them and take everything with a grain of salt 'cause everyone's gonna have a different opinion. You have to do what's right by your dog, while still listening to their advice and thinking about ‘is this gonna work for my dog or can I use this tip but do it in a different way, so it works better for my dog’ kind of a thing.”

Just have fun with it and do your best. As long as you're having fun, you can't go wrong.

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Episode 500!!! Celebration of Pure Dog Talk! Welcome to Pure Dog Talk! I am your host Laura Reeves…..

These words hit the airwaves for the first time almost exactly five years ago … Five HUNDRED times later, I still have to think about my tone and cadence and inflection. Maybe just a bit less these days lol… Sort of like you guys learning to show your dog, I am entirely self-taught how to do this job and I am eternally grateful that you all have joined me in what has been a pretty incredible journey.

Today’s episode is a pure cork popping, champagne swilling celebration of our tribe. YOU guys shared some amazing stories about how this show has impacted your life in dogs. I dug around and pulled out some of MY favorite guests and interview moments.

Pure Dog Talk is not and never has been static. It lives and grows, often faster than I can keep up! As we move forward in the coming years, there will be changes, of course. For example, I’ll once again be podcasting exclusively on Pure Dog Talk. I’ve stepped waaaay outside my comfort zone and will be offering more Facebook Live and Webinar opportunities here at Pure Dog Talk (like the K9 First Aid 911 series with Marty Greer that is available on the website now) as well as moving back to more of the pre-pandemic live seminars and panel discussions over the course of the coming year.

But mostly, I wanted to say thank you. To ALL of you. My listeners, my guests, my patrons, my sponsors, my supporters and even the best compliment of all, my competitors. You have all made me better at this role than I could have ever dreamed of being. My goal of offering meaningful education, FOR FREE, to as many people in our sport as I could possibly reach has absolutely come to pass.

Thank you for taking me with you on your drives, your workouts, even your lawn mower… I am deeply honored to keep you company while you bathe, trim, condition and clean up after your dogs. Thank you for caring, so very much, about your dogs, your breeding programs and the sport of purebred dogs. Without your single-minded dedication, they would all cease to exist.

Following are just a few of the hundreds of Stories of impact from our listeners:

Diane Davis

I first heard about Pure Dog Talk when something came across FaceBook about a handler friend of mine being interviewed about the Professional Handlers Association and how to hire a professional handler to show your dog.  I listened to the episode and thought it was well done, so I decided to try listening to a few more.  I was pleased to discover that these were also well done and informative.  I have about a forty-minute commute to work so I began to listen while driving back and forth.  It wasn't long before I got caught up on the episodes that I thought would be interesting.  But as I started to go through some of the others, what I discovered was that I learned something from every episode.  I began to look forward to the new episodes coming out and would listen to them several times so I didn't miss anything.

Pure Dog Talk has become a big part of my life.  I love learning about other breeds.  The episode about the Bracco Italiano brought back a memory of the Bracco Axel floating around the ring to win the World Challenge Cup at Eukanuba the year I was there.  I loved hearing about judges.  As an owner-handler I always felt that judges were kind of unapproachable, but the interviews helped me to see that they were people too. Veterinary Voice with Dr. Marty Greer was invaluable.  The episode on pyometra gave me the tools to advocate for my girl with my vet when she developed pyometra on her first heat cycle.  We were able to medically manage her condition and she has since had two litters.  And speaking of puppies, Pure Dog Talk has taught me a lot about breeding, whelping and raising puppies. I hadn't bred a litter in nearly seven years because my last litter had been so hard, but with new knowledge, and new resources I have...

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Tips, Suggestions and Ideas for Growing Clubs Pure Dog Talk Patrons join in a roundtable discussion of “how do we grow our clubs.” How do we bring the energy and enthusiasm of new members and combine it with the knowledge and experience of long-term members to make something good that grows. Recorded live at Bonneville Basin Kennel Association in Farmington, Utah. Outtakes

“Cute kids and puppies sell newspapers. Get the media here. Get the media here talking about the great thing the dog shows are. It's a family event. My kids are here doing this instead of off doing something sketchy.”

Meet the breeds at the mall, Responsible Dog Ownership Days, school presentations and involving the club in the local community activities

“Our dogs are our gifts to us and if we could only give the humans in our world the grace and the kindness and the forgiveness that our dogs give us every single day…”

“We're all trying our very best. If someone accidentally does something that might hurt your feelings, they didn't do it on purpose. Be kind, say OK and go about your business. Every moment in time is not drama … everybody's trying to do their best. I just so frustrated with the way we treat each other.

“If you go to the club and say, ‘hey this is a great idea, you guys should do this,’ club leadership will likely balk. If you come to the club and say, ‘hey guys, I've got some amazing idea and I've got this entire six-page plan and my staff and this is how I'm going to manage it and this is what I'm going to do and I'm going to make you money while I'm at,’ the clubs be like ‘alright, go for it.’”

“I'm hearing give grace. I'm hearing kindness. I'm hearing be willing to volunteer your time not just give other people bright ideas. I'm hearing ‘we're not curing world peace at the dog show.’ Let's be nice to each other. Mutual respect, participation, support, working in the community, building local communications.”

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Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath on Structure AKC judge, Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder, author and speaker Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath joins host Laura Reeves for a conversation about canine structure. Hedgepath walks us through what’s important when evaluating a dog’s structure.

“You gotta know where to put your hands,” Hedgepath said. “You've got to understand the skeletal structure of the dog because that's the basis of the whole thing. Now a skeleton by itself can't move. It's gotta have muscles and ligaments and all of that, but you've got to understand the basics underneath … you also have to understand balance.

“That front assembly is laid back, set under the ribbing so as to provide the most support in the front when it acts as a shock protector … I think what people don't understand is the whole front assembly of the dog is held on with muscles and ligaments to the chest. In the rear we have the hip the pelvis is fused to the spine at the sacroiliac joint. It is fused to the spine and then you've got a nice big ball and socket that goes into that. So that is much more rigid. The front assembly, if you don't keep your dog in shape, they can get injured very easily. But if it isn't set up properly and those muscles and all are not going where they need to go to hold all of that together, then we've got a big problem.

“I think that's the thing that the majority people don't understand. That's why (when) dogs are in motion we can have dogs that flip their fronts, they paddle, they go in circles…. (while) in the rear, we don't have as many different ways for the dog to go laterally, 'cause it's a much more fixed assembly.

“What fascinates me is the way everything works together. Anatomy and Physiology is just beyond explanation sometimes because it's like dominoes. If one little thing goes wrong then boom boom boom boom all the way down the chain everything's gone.”

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Owner Handlers: Make a Plan, Manage ExpectationsAmanda Kelly of Fwaggle Toy Manchester Terriers joins host Laura Reeves for some final thoughts on Owner Handlers and how they can earn the advantage in the ring. Have Fun“There is nothing more eye catching than looking in the ring and seeing a dog that is having a good time and a handler having a good time. Maybe the dog isn't standing perfectly. Maybe it's got one foot out in the wrong place or whatever. I guarantee you that if that dog is having a good time it has better posture, he has better expression, it's holding its shape and its outline regardless of whether every foot is where it needs to be it is a more attractive dog to look at then the perfect statue at the end of the line. Take a Video“It is so imperative that you see yourself, because showing dogs is just about making pictures. That's all that we do when we go in the ring. We make a picture on this mat and then we make a hopefully nice picture as we move around the ring and then we get on the table and we make another picture and then we do the down back we make another picture. And in all those photos the handler’s job is to frame the artwork that is the dog but you don't know what that picture looks like if no one's ever shown you. Make the Picture“I think that one of the best ways of figuring out what picture you want to make in the ring is to choose handlers who present dogs in a way that you appreciate. You can do that really easily. Start with Westminster videos or maybe your national video. Watch it. Pick out someone who you think is the whole package and then look at what they're doing, what are the little detailed pieces that make the difference in your mind. Make it Muscle Memory“The entirety of learning how to handle (is to move) from worrying about one thing to worrying about the next thing, because you've mastered the other thing that you used to worry about. Now you don't think about it anymore. I can tell you I've shown my breed 35 years. I still have a thought process when I'm in there, but I'm not thinking about my lead. I'm thinking about things like when is the judge watching the dogs in the lineup and how do I stand so that I have the right angle, showing the profile that I want to show or how do I get this dog to stop shivering because it's so cold. YOU Can Do It“Every single day at every show across America, across the world, people like me, people like you, people like those who are listening, are successful. You just have to make a plan. Learn manage your expectations so that you're picking goals that work and are realistic. I would encourage you to go one step further and make sure that the goals that you set for yourself are achievable goals that have nothing to do with who the judge points to. If your only measure of success is whether or not you won a point or whatever, you're doomed. You are doomed. If your measure of success is ‘I want to go in that ring and I want my dog to do X or I want to remember to hold my elbow in against my body and not have it flail around, whatever it may be. It needs to be something that's within your control. I guarantee you that if you go at it with that attitude and you adjust your idea of winning and losing, you will have more fun. And if you have more fun you will win more.

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Lorraine Bisso on the Irish Setter: “most beautiful of all dogs”AKC judge and Irish Setter breeder Lorraine Bisso shares her passion for the breed with host Laura Reeves. “The standard tells you that it's termed by artists, the most beautiful of all dogs,” Bisso said. “I tell people when I do judge’s education, when the dog walks in the ring, if your heart doesn't skip a beat by the beautiful color, the symmetry, the silhouette, before you even get to know the dog, then something is missing. In this beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous dog beats a soul not to be matched. He would give his life for you. He also cheats at cards.” Bisso has been involved with Irish Setters for more than 50 years and brings us a little myth busting. “They are smart,” Bisso said. “That's something that's very misunderstood in this breed. They earned a reputation at one point for not being smart… they are very creative and often the problem is that they are one step ahead of their owners. "Irish setters do not like to do things over and over and over again. They will go from point A to point B quite willingly several times. Then they will decide to take the scenic route. When they get to point B, they're really mystified as to why you are upset. They got there, they just took the scenic route. It's a charming part of the breed. “The standard describes a hunting dog. When you judge them, you should keep in mind that singular point. They are the most beautiful of all dogs and they are bred to hunt. Everything in the standard relates to those twin elements of type, shall we say. They have to be beautiful, but they also must be the active gundog that the standard talks about. That's the reason for the feet, the tail set, the proportions. the bite, the head, the eye. Everything in that standard is about a working gun dog and as you judge the breed, you should keep that in mind. “Irish Setters are a single coated breed. Their coat is designed to have things come out if you brush them. Again, our standard calls for a “pleasing fringe of hair.” It does not call for a foot of hair, it calls for pleasing fringe. While we all love the beautiful show coats, don't get me wrong on this, I’m a sucker for the full on press, all you really need is the pleasing fringe. So again I tell judges, do not walk past a dog because you don’t think that he has quote enough hair. If it's good hair and it's the right quality and it's the right color then you're good to go.” Tune in next week for more from Lorraine Bisso and hear all about the history and excitement at this year’s Morris and Essex dog show.

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Korean Jindo: Independent, reserved, polite and serious[caption id="attachment_8587" align="alignleft" width="225"] Hannah Yi and her Jindo practicing for Junior Showmanship competition.[/caption] Hannah Yi and Nichole Royer join host Laura Reeves to share information about the rare and fascinating https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/jindo/ (Korean Jindo). Developed on Jindo Island, off South Korea’s coast, as an isolated population of centuries old village dogs, the breed is a cultural icon in its home country. Renowned for its ability to find its way home, a feature memorialized in Korean culture, Jindo are dedicated hunting dogs and very serious about guarding their home. [caption id="attachment_8588" align="alignright" width="156"] Jindo in South Korea.[/caption] “They were developed as a pretty hardcore hunting and guard dog,” Royer noted. “They are generally used for hunting small game, but they also hunt deer and even wild boar in small groups. They are not a breed that developed hunting along with their owners. They actually expected Jindos to go out and catch small game on their own and bring it home. “When they chased down something like a deer, and I should add the deer and the wild boar on Jindo island are not the size of the deer and wild boar we have here in the US. The deer are much smaller … a small group of Jindos would chase them down and then a couple of the Jindos would stay there to guard the deer, while one or two dogs went to find the owner. [caption id="attachment_8589" align="alignleft" width="300"] Jindo in South Korea[/caption] “(They were) designed to go out, be able to think for themselves, be able to make their own decisions. They take their owner’s wishes under advisement, but really are not designed to go around saying ‘what can I do for you.’ It's a partnership rather than being what the dog can do for their owner.” “I visited Korea a couple of times as a child,” Yi said, “and in the neighborhood and a bit of the rural parts, you would see them outside … I always (had them) pointed them out ‘hey, that's a Jindo dog.’ They've always been a really independent spirit. Even though I didn't know much about them as a kid, I just knew that (they were) culturally ingrained in your knowledge. “(The story in Korea is) there was this dog and it was a white Jindo dog … it lived with its elderly owner in the city. But one day the owner had to sell the dog. So it was really far away. Then seven months later, the dog appeared back to the owner’s house. It found its way home. So that's just really stuck to a lot of people. There are a lot of children's books and merch made about that and it was just really interesting to me. I've just always known that story.” While Dog Aggression is a serious awareness with the breed, Royer notes, “They are intelligent guard dogs that are not looking for that excuse. They will act if they have to, but they're not looking to want to act. “Same sex dog aggression is absolutely the norm in this breed. This breed in public should not be aggressive towards other dogs without good reason. However a strange dog getting in their personal space absolutely is good reason. They do not tolerate fools lightly and they do not tolerate rude behavior from other dogs. Jindos never pulled their punches. If they choose to use their teeth, they intend to do damage. “Jindos tend to be a one person or one family dog. They should never be aggressive without good reason. But they also generally are not going to be like my malamutes who will jump into everybody's lap and everybody is their new best friend. They range from being very reserved ‘I don't know you, so I don't really want you touching me’ to being calmly friendly. Very polite.”

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Separation Anxiety: Myth Busting with Malena DeMartinihttps://malenademartini.com/ (Malena DeMartini), canine behavior specialist focused on separation anxiety, joins host Laura Reeves for some mythbusting around anxiety, separation anxiety, genetics and heritability of anxieties and fears, and more. “When we're talking with regard to separation anxiety, your dog is not being a jerk,” DeMartini said. “Nor are they being spiteful. Nor are they just angry at you because you're not spending enough time with them. All of that discussion, that is not what's happening. What is happening is so important that we understand from a compassion and empathy standpoint, as well as from a training standpoint. These dogs are panicked. This is a true phobia to being left alone. I want to remind people that, by definition, phobias tend to be rather irrational, or at least irrational to the person that's not experiencing that. It really isn't your fault“Spoiling, and this is how they represent spoiling: letting a dog sleep on the bed, letting a dog on the furniture, giving them lots of treats or feeding them extra goodies, or taking them on car rides with us, all these sorts of activities, which in my head are part of having a family member, none of those things are either causational or correlational for separation anxiety. “When you have a dog with separation anxiety, you are going to get every naysayer in the universe coming after you saying it is your fault … I just want people to absolve themselves from that guilt and no they did not create an animal with separation anxiety by letting him snuggle on the couch.” Don't "feed the beast"DeMartini also offered recommendations on how to not “feed the beast” of a dog’s anxiety. “When I talk about nonchalant exits and entries, we have to remember that dogs are masters of discrimination. Yes, they know when we're leaving and so taking an extra five minutes to give them kissy sounds can just put more emphasis on the exit. So, I tell people your dog has figured out that you put on your shoes, you've grabbed your backpack, got your keys in your hand, your dog is fully aware that you're about to leave, you don't have to tell him anything. All in the family?DeMartini provided insight on the genetics and epigenetics of anxiety and fear in dogs, as well. “In the last few years (researchers) have actually identified a haplotype, so sort of a genetic marker, that is specifically in accordance with separation anxiety. Here is the important aspect: just because (a dog has) that particular haplotype, where those genetic markers exist, does not mean that the behavior problem is going to occur. That's where the epigenetics play a role. These are like toggle switches. So that toggle switch may remain off for the lifetime of that animal but there are some environmental influences that could flip that toggle switch. “You can have the most beautiful well-bred dog physically, but if they are suffering from a welfare perspective because of their mental health that's a problem. Behavior modification“Separation anxiety is actually a behavior that is quite modifiable. It's not easy and it takes time, but we can do a lot to optimize dogs for a long-term success in the beginning of their lives. Just because there's that genetic potential predisposition, that doesn't mean that we can't change it. Heritability is not a diagnosis of a permanent state. “Separation anxiety behaviors are evolutionarily appropriate for puppies at a young age. How many of us have seen a puppy cry and the bitch comes back. We've seen it over millions of years of evolution that there is a purpose for vocalization and some of these other behaviors when these pups are really, really young. But the majority of them do grow out of it. If they don't it’s become sort of maladaptive. When it becomes maladaptive in a 14 or 16 or 18 week pup, no amount of letting them cry it out and try and get over it is going to help them grow out of it. That...

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Nutrition in Breeding Dogs with Dr. Gayle WatkinsDr. Gayle Watkins, founder of Avidog and Head of Education at Good Dog, joins host Laura Reeves for a fascinating and informative conversation on the nutrition requirements for breeding dogs. Watkins addresses raw feeding, kibble and specific nutrient requirements, especially calcium:phosphorus percentages, that enable the animals in our breeding programs to be successful in conceiving and raising their litters. “We don't have a lot of really good research on optimizing nutrition for breeding animals, either stud dogs or bitches, and we have a lot of myths,” Watkins said. “If you are in the US, you need to feed an all-life stages or growth and reproduction diet to your breeding dogs. Ideally, that is also for stud dogs, but we don't have much information on that. Definitely your bitches, as they prepare to breed, while they're being bred, during pregnancy and during lactation. Adult maintenance food is inadequate for reproduction. It is not designed for reproduction. “Dogs are scavengers … think about the stuff they eat! But breeding animals, we're asking those bitches to do so much. They not only have to create puppies, they have to maintain their own body while that's happening and they have to maintain their brain. So I think we have an obligation to not do homemade foods with our breeding bitches. “I'm a big fan, if we can find those foods that are also certified by AAFCO through feeding trials. The all life stages feeding trial covers just prior to being bred, pregnancy and it covers their puppies for 10 weeks. So it's a big feeding trial and that food has been tested as much as it could possibly be tested.” Watkins continues with specific recommendations on additional micronutrients, fatty acids, probiotics and other supplements. For previous Pure Dog Talk episodes on breeding topics with Dr. Watkins, click https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/11-dr-gayle-watkins-nutrition-of-the-dam-canine-nomograph-and-puppy-immunity-2/ (here), https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/14-dr-gayle-watkins-2-breeders-guide-to-neonatal-puppies-2/ (here), https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/17-dr-gayle-watkins-transition-period-in-puppies-part-3-2/ (here) and https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/20-bomb-proof-your-puppy-dr-gayle-watkins-4-2/ (here).

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When the Best Laid Plans Go AwryAmanda Kelly, Fwaggle Toy Manchester Terriers, joins host Laura Reeves for a conversation about dog breeding when you plan ahead, do your research and then the results don’t match the expectations. Amanda and Laura swap stories about all of the times a breeding looked great on paper and was a disaster on the ground in one way or another. The takeaway? Breeding dogs will keep you perpetually humble and learning. Unexpected markings. Dual sired litter rabbit holes. Repeat breeding pros and cons. And permission to fail. A sense of humor helps keep it all in perspective. Keeping temperament and health as top priorities in a breeding program means that even if the pups in a litter don’t meet your expectations for the show ring, they will still live long, healthy lives as beloved companions. “What I love about (dog breeding) is that there's not clear answers,” Amanda noted. “We can ponder the theories and the different ideas and we can try new things if we give herself permission to do it. I hope when breeders have been around for a long time and are helping others that, I hope, is the gift that they're giving them. Permission to try things, to try something new and different. What's the worst thing that happens? They had some pets. The pet people are pretty happy about that. “There's not a right or wrong way to do this. If I've learned anything from doing this for many years and watching different breeders, there are 1000 different ways to do this. None of them are right or wrong, as long as we have the welfare of our dogs at heart. And we will learn something new every time.“Every breeding that you do has value. You said it earlier, you learn something. You learn about what not to do, you learn about how your line is producing. So when that best in show dog winds up neutered because you made a bad choice in your puppy evaluation, you have to let it go. “You need to be able to make a decision and live with it in the planning of a breeding and the evaluation of puppies. So allowing yourself to fail without feeling like a failure is the greatest freedom that you will give yourself as a breeder. I think sometimes we just get so wrapped up in the breeding that's in front of us that we won't allow ourselves to fail, we won't allow ourselves to say ‘you know what, there's nothing in here that I want to keep and so I'm going to let them go (to pet homes).”

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Bryan Martin: Read Your Standard and Dream BIS Line upBryan Martin, retired professional handler, former AKC executive field representative and newly minted Hound group judge joins host Laura Reeves for part two of his amazing stories and advice for exhibitors. “My family would have dinner (and) during dessert, the book of standards came on the table. We had weekly discussions. ‘OK let's talk about heads tonight.’ We'd go round the table and everyone would say something and ‘OK who do you think has a good head? Who do you think has a bad head? Do you have a picture? Go get a picture.’ One night we’d talk about shoulders and why the shoulder needs to be a wrap-around, why the shoulder needs to be well laid back, why the shoulder blade and the upper arm have to be the same length, to make it a proper working hound, how the back end has to match the front end… How the pieces fit. It's form and function, which has stuck with me forever, and that's my basis is form and function judging. “It's amazing how many people in AKC, UKC … have no understanding how to read a standard. How to interpret a standard and how to go to somebody and talk to somebody about the standard. The how’s why’s and wherefores of studying standards. At the International show where we had to write a critique, we had to know the standards. What I ended up doing was showing people what the standard says about their dog. And they say ‘oh, I didn't know that’ and it's a whole educational program that is missed.” In the “Dream Best In Show Lineup” game, Martin’s choices were: Sporting – English Springer Spaniel, Ch Salilyn's AristocratHound – Afghan Hound, Ch Triumph Of GrandeurWorking – Doberman Pinscher, Ch. Brunswig's CryptoniteTerrier – Scottish Terrier, Ch. Braeburn's Close EncounterToy – Japanese Chin, GCh. Pem We-Syng Lucky MINon-Sporting – Dalmatian, Ch. Spotlight’s SpectacularHerding – German Shepherd Dog, GCh. Altana's MystiqueFinally, Best in Show in this mythical lineup?? Shannon, the Scottish Terrier, shown by George Ward. Listen above to hear all of this and more.  

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Bryan Martin: “Basset Boy," the Early YearsBryan Martin, retired professional handler, former AKC executive field representative and new judge of the hound group joins host Laura Reeves for part one of a wide ranging, fascinating conversation. World famous for his work with Basset Hounds, Martin shares his early history growing up in the sport with his family and early mentors. “I was six years old in 1960 when we went to a fun match for the Fort Dearborn Basset Hound club,” Martin said. His mother had saved up her grocery money to purchase a Basset Hound bitch who was bred to a local stud dog. They brought the puppies to the match and didn’t win anything. A club member after watching the family, approached his father with an offer he couldn’t resist. [caption id="attachment_8558" align="alignright" width="300"] "My Three Sons" taken at the 2006 BHCA Nationals. The ONLY time the top three, all-time Best in Show winning Basset Hounds competed at the same show! L-R Ch Deerhill's Great Gatsby, 52 all-breed bests, Ch Topsfield Bumper Cars, 45 all-breed bests and Ch Topsfield Beethoven, 34 all-breed bests, 131 in total! -- Bryan Martin[/caption] “She said, ‘You know, your puppies, they're not good. If you like to do this, I suggest you just sell the whole lot and come out to my kennel and I'll take care of you.’ So, we did. We went out to this kennel and she said, ‘I think this is a good bitch for you. This will be a good foundation bitch for you and I'll give you a buddy for her and the kids can work on that one.’ “We bred a litter about every year and so I got to show all the class dogs. My brother, Peter, was the Prince and he always got the specials dogs. He didn't mess with the class dogs. But that was to my advantage, because I got to learn that you never show two dogs the same way. Like people, they all have a different personality and they all respond differently to what you do and so you work on adjustments. “The living room (in our house) was big enough that we could move all the furniture to the side and put the couch in the middle and we had a dog show ring. We would practice dog shows. My father would either sit in the corner or on the couch in the middle. We put a mirror on the floor against the couch and we'd learn to set up our dogs in front of the mirror, to see what the judge was seeing. So if you had to poke him in the top line or to hold the tail different or whatever you could see it and that was my learning on how to show the breed." From secretary for horse shows just out of college to marrying Nancy, through showing record-breaking dogs forhttps://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/168-breeder-education-advocate-claudia-orlandi-shares-knowledge/ ( Claudia Orlandi), Martin’s journey through the sport of dogs and his nuggets of knowledge are priceless. Listen to part one here and join us next week for part two.

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Linda Riedel: International Dog Shows and the Secrets of 180 ChampionsLinda Riedel, AKC judge and breeder of Ramblewood English Springer Spaniels, joins host Laura Reeves for a free-wheeling conversation about IABCA dog shows and her journey to 180 champions. A few excerpts follow below.   On International dog showsI really like that it in this Covid time, (https://www.iabca.com/ (IABCA)) shows have been great for people to get their dogs out, which they haven't been able to do. We used to have all-breed matches that were huge. I can remember in California they’d get up to 2,000 dogs in a match. That's where you’d train your dog. Well that doesn't happen anymore, so these International shows are very good for the beginning person, for people who need to get their dogs trained and out and exposed to all kinds of people and other dogs. So, it works out well. I mean there were people that were at matches all the time. It was like a professional match circuit. We don't have those anymore and it's a great loss. And that's where I see something like this sort of filling in. In terms of getting your dog in the ring, getting yourself in the ring, if you're just learning how to show your dog, you have so many chances. You could be in the ring 6 or 8 times in one day. (Exhibitors) find out we (judges) are humans, just like them, and can carry on a conversation. They get a lot more relaxed and enjoy their day and enjoy their dogs. (Writing and receiving critiques of the dogs) helps people breed better dogs and educate better judging. It's a two way street, both for the exhibitor and the judge. You know too many exhibitors are too terrified with all the time (constraints) and everything else, they say to the judge ‘why did I not win today’ and the judge pops out and says ‘well I like the other dog better.’ That is not a reason. 411...Reidel started in dogs working for the famous http://www.thedogplace.org/BREEDS/Akita/Harrell-Liz-InMemory.asp (Akita Tani) kennel winding up as a teenaged advisor to the stars helping train Akitas purchased by Hollywood’s glitterati. On 50 years of breedingNever kept more than 8 dogs at a time. Nobody’s more critical of my dogs than I am. I'm not taken in by their cuteness. Line breed heavily to set type. Retirement homes -- Time for them to find a couch they can sit for the rest of their lives. Breeder of the most titled dog in the history of the breed and the top performance dog of the year.

Hear ALL of this fabulous conversation by clicking the "play" arrow on the podcast bar above.

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Borzoi: Epitome of Elegant yet PowerfulBorzoi breeders Kristina Terra and Corrine Miller join host Laura Reeves to learn more about the powerful, elegant sighthounds made popular by Russian nobility. Once known as the Russian Wolfhound, the Borzoi's history provides a fascinating study of the Russian aristocracy. "I think the Russian Wolfhound, it's a bit of a misnomer," Terra, president of the International Borzoi Council, said. "Because, actually, the breed in its native land used to hunt many things other than Wolves, but Wolves also. So they were initially bred as a typical sight hound that would hunt the European hare, kind of like a jackrabbit. They're big in the Russian steppes and the big open spaces but also the forest meadows. So those sighthounds initially had to have a lot of speed on short distances." Terra, along with her mother, moved from St. Petersburg, Russia to the United States and acquired their first Borzoi in 1993. "The first depiction of a Russian wolfhound, Borzoi, is actually at the Saint Sophia cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine," Terra noted. "It's one of the frescoes. Since Sophia cathedral dates back to 1037, that is one of the first depictions (of the breed) And also in the illuminated Chronicles of a couple of centuries later, there's another beautiful depiction of one of the czars hunting with Borzoi. So that's kind of the second depiction of the breed. "So the breed goes back ancient and it has changed over the years. Different breeds have been added to it. As the country changed both geographically, you know the forests were cleared, so more stamina was required of a sighthound, the breed changed. Also as the country changed politically, for instance when the serfdom was abolished, when the big aristocratic families of Russia could no longer take care of big kennels, then the breed changed again. But it has always been the symbol of that country and just the epitome of an elegant, yet powerful creature. "The Royal family is always the one that draws the most attention and just kind of nostalgia, and these beautiful tales and palaces. Of course the Russian czars, they had their own hunt it was the Imperial hunt and it was in the suburb of Saint Petersburg. But one of the biggest breeders and the most famous kennels of the time was actually the czar's uncle. "But that was just the czar's family. There were many Noble families across this vast country and they all considered it their duty to have their own line of beautiful Borzoi and they all competed against each other in how beautiful their Borzoi were, and how fast and agile they were, and how many Foxes or hare or Wolf they could catch. "They would have many kind of field trials, where different neighboring land owners would get together with their dogs and just compare them. The very first written description of the breed appeared in an article in a hunting magazine in 1888. That description was voted on by the Imperial hunting society members. They all voted on that and I suppose that could be called the first standard of the breed." Miller added, "a lot of them (breeders) wrote their own standards, which was interesting. There was one (that was) like 'oh the black and tan ones are the best' and then this other guy that lived over the other ways like 'Oh no, tan markings is bad."

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Allison On: Tips from the Top on Drop Coat GroomingAllison Alexander, founder of https://leadingedge-dog-show-academy.teachable.com/ (Leading Edge Dog Show Academy) and President of the Canadian Professional Handlers Association, joins host Laura Reeves to talk about grooming drop coated breeds, from maintenance to polish. Allison’s years of experience provide enormous insight into the maintenance on coated breeds from a Maltese to a Briard. Along with professional tips on the tools of the trade…. What kind of pin brush, what type of wraps, HOW to wrap and band. We cover it all right here. Read on for just the tip of the iceberg. And click to listen to the entire fabulous conversation. “Obviously the basics start with line brushing,” Allison said. “And one thing I will say about drop coats, and people might disagree with me, but drop coats more than any other coat type, you can't have a bad day. “Even a poodle in full show coat, you can skip a bath. They could get wet in a rainstorm or snowstorm and it's midnight and you've driven for two days to get home and, I’m not recommending it, but you can let them get away with like towel him dry, sleeping it off overnight and starting the next day. You have a long coat, especially as single-coated long coat, and you do not have those options. “So the commitment is like times 10 to me. There are no days off. So when it comes to line brushing to me to keep a really fully coated drop coat breed in coat, line brushing has to be something that you’re doing every day. You’re going to change those wraps every day. You're going to change that topknot every day. You're going to make sure that they look perfect. “When it comes to line brushing, my kind of general rule of thumb is, the longer the coat the more coat they have, the longer the pin in the pin brush. When it comes to a single-coated drop coat, I'm going to use a brush with a slightly softer pad firmness. The double-coated drop coats, I'm going to use a brush that has a slightly firmer pad that the pins go in. “We also know that no matter what we're brushing, but again more important for long coats, never, ever brush the coat dry. You need some kind of brushing spray, whether it's a brushing spray that's just cutting down on static, whether it's one that's adding some kind of conditioner to the coat or whether it's a detangling brushing spray. But they cannot be brushed dry. You'll just keep snapping those ends off. “When I am line brushing, I like to teach my dog to lay down on their side. Especially a drop coat because obviously, with that longer outer coat hanging down, you're not going to get underneath. So if you're drop coated dog is standing up, even if it's a Skye terrier, even if it's a Briard, how are you going to hold all of that coat up out of your way. You're not going to be able to do that. So the first thing you can do is teach your dog to lay down on the table. “Remember that our grooming tables are fabulous, they have non slip surfaces, but they are not the thing that our dog really wants to lay on. When I'm laying my dogs down to be line brushed, they typically have maybe a yoga mat, a grooming mat or like a thin dog bed, at the very least a nice thick bath towel underneath them. Mine typically have some kind of grooming mat and then a nice thick bath towel underneath them so that they're comfortable. 'Cause you're going to be here for awhile. “You're going to start at the very shortest hair like as far down on the belly as you can and then I like to take the sections when I'm line brushing… so line brushing actually means going line by line through the coat… you have to create those lines. So, you're creating those lines, typically you could use a knitting needle. I like to use a plastic rat tail comb. Some people use a metal rat tail comb, some people get really good at using their fingers. “I like to go about a finger width between each line 'cause sometimes people are lined brushing but they're using

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Autoimmune Disorders: Thyroid Disease[caption id="attachment_8506" align="alignleft" width="199"] Dr. Robin Nelson, DVM and her GWP, Outlaw, CH/VC Scotian Tougher than Leather, JH, UDX.[/caption] Dr. Robin Nelson, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive into the impacts of autoimmune mediated thyroiditis, both on individual animals and on breeding programs in general. “The thyroid gland is a little gland on either side of the windpipe in all dogs,” Nelson said. “It is behind metabolism, so it affects nerves, organs, the brain… it is in charge of a lot of things, so presentation can vary. When I first graduated (Iowa State University, College of Veterinary Medicine), if you didn't have a morbidly obese patient, thyroid didn't cross your mind. It just wasn't a concern. “Certainly, obesity or weight gain without an explanation, without caloric intake increase (is a symptom) but even alopecia across the nose, unexplained lameness, chronic skin conditions, chronic ear conditions, vestibular disease… the list is long. Seizures, I mean if we have a dog with seizures (in the clinic), we look at thyroid function. “The important piece of the equation, when we're talking about thyroid, is how many different bodily systems it impacts … if your gut feeling is -- ‘I've treated my dog skin appropriately or I'm not feeding my dog that much food that it should be overweight or here's my dog that has loved to train, its young still, why is it all of a sudden selecting to sleep in the sunshine not firing up to do its job’ -- those are all subtle (clues)… thyroid disease can also mimic all sorts of medical conditions, so trying to confirm that it's thyroid disease is a whole ‘nother process. “I just think if we don't look for it, we don't see it. It is common. As a practicing veterinarian, it is out there. There's nothing better than diagnosing it and having your patient respond because it is so treatable and the majority of the symptoms disappear with synthetic thyroid hormone (which is) inexpensive. “(Owners should) look for a lab that actively searches for the different numbers that you need to confirm a diagnosis. You need to make sure that the free T4 is measured by equilibrium dialysis that will allow that number not to be affected by medication, not to be affected by most other systemic disorders. “Just as a veterinarian, I worry more about the numbers of people that don't test at all. There are a lot of breeds with thyroid disease. I will tell you that there's even a range, for me, looking at equivocal… I have told people, if you have an equivocal profile and everything else about your dog is so fantastic you can't hardly stand to think that it won't be in the gene pool, then minimally you need to really do a lot of vertical and horizontal https://www.ofa.org/diseases/other-diseases/hypothyroidism (pedigree research) on both sides of the pedigree. "There are lots of equivocals that go on to produce and I think there are lots of people who have equivocals that everything else is looking good, they just breed. But at some point, equivocal can turn into autoimmune mediated thyroiditis. “Hypothyroidism is a process that occurs over years. A dog is not hypothyroid until about 70% of its thyroid gland is destroyed. So, you have a list of numbers that you've used to assess thyroid function and it's such a gradual process … Technically, people should be testing dogs in a breeding program annually, not just taking the two year old result.” For additional insight on thyroid disease, listen to Dr. Jean Dodds https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/118-thyroid-epidemic-in-dogs-dr-jean-dodds-3-2/ (here).

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Talk ON! Juniors and Canine PartnersAs part of Pure Dog Talk’s commitment to engaging conversations, modeling appropriate dialogue and encouraging thoughtful discussion, we are bringing you two sides of the currently white-hot topic in the dog world: AKC’s pilot program to allow junior handlers to exhibit Canine Partners in Junior Showmanship classes. From https://dognews.com/current-issue (Dog News):At its January meeting, the American Kennel Club board of directors green-lighted a proposal from the Delegate Junior Sub-Committee and AKC staff to allow non-purebreds to be exhibited in Junior Showmanship.The AKC pilot program is modeled after the rules used in 4-H, where mixed breeds are permitted. In order to compete, dogs must have an AKC Canine Partner number and meet the ownership eligibility criteria. Juniors will indicate the breed that the dog is being exhibited as on the entry form. So, for example, a dog entered as a Golden Retriever mix would be presented in the same way as a purebred Golden.The rationale for allowing mixed breeds in Junior Showmanship is to provide an opportunity for a wider range of youngsters to participate in the sport of dogs, and give them an opportunity to learn, practice and improve their handling skills, as well as find mentors.This pilot program will go into effect on July 1, 2021, and continue for 18 months before it is assessed in 2022. It is limited to all-breed shows or events holding all-breed Juniors.Predictably, this topic has engendered heated discussion amongst the children and adults who populate this arena. Sadly, many of those conversations have devolved into the 21st century curse of ugly discourse. As an antidote to this, we’re bringing you two weeks of conversation, devil’s advocate positions and insight from two perspectives in this debate. Listeners may or may not agree with one “side” or the other. But I firmly believe that until we hear one another, we can’t make progress … in anything. Feel free to share your thoughts on the Pure Dog Talk FB page, or here in the comments. But rest assured, ANY ugliness, name calling or other inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated. Be passionate AND polite. Today, Jody Davidson, long time Juniors coach and advocate, along with Bevin Towell, junior showmanship exhibitor, join host and moderator Laura Reeves to make the case for their position. Next week we are joined by 4H leader and advocate Sarah Gardner for the “rebuttal.” As always, talk ON!  

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Genetic Ancestry – Deep Dive on Genetic TestingAaron Sams, principal scientist at https://embarkvet.com/breeders/?utm_source=pure_dog&utm_medium=web_link&utm_campaign=brd_eng_pure_dog_talk_20200107&utm_content=&utm_term= (Embark), joins host Laura Reeves to take us through the algorithms and data sets that create the genetic codes for each purebred dog breed. “Dog population and dog evolutionary history is really complex,” Sams noted. “There's a lot of dogs in the world and most of them are what we call village dogs. They are just free-breeding free-ranging dogs that live with human populations … then you have some of these ancient breeds … salukis and other what I think of as landrace breeds, these are dogs that are living with humans, they are purpose bred, they’re adapted to the region in which they live… Then you’ve got the purebred dog breeds that we are most familiar with in Europe and America. “A registration organization decides these are the standards, this is what this dog has to conform to to be a registered purebred of this breed. But genetic variation is a lot more complex. Within each of those breeds, there are genetic variation across those dogs. They're not clones of each other. They're not genetically identical. A lot of breeds are related to each other. “So it's all pretty complex. How do you do ancestry testing and decide, given some random dog, what ancestry is the best fit for that dog? What's our best estimate of the ancestry of that dog? So rather than thinking of it from a single reference genome, we have to think about it as a population. We have a reference database with large numbers of individuals that serve as references for that given population.“What we're trying to do is capture as much of that genetic diversity that represents that population as we can, so that anytime we take a new dog and we compare it to those reference individuals we can see that this dog shares DNA that's very, very similar to those reference individuals. “There's different levels of genetic diversity in each of these populations. If you have a very inbred breed that doesn't have very much genetic diversity, you might need a smaller number of individuals to capture the genetic diversity for that entire population. The more individuals you add to your reference, the more accurate you're going to get, the more you can match those individuals that you're testing identically. “Let’s say you send one of your dogs in and we say it's around 90% German wirehaired pointer and 10% English pointer … that happens. Those are very closely related breeds. Sometimes you have lineages of that breed that we don't have in our reference database. So sometimes you'll see that kind of thing happen. But a year later, you come back and we've added more registered German wirehaired pointers. Now we have dogs in our reference data set that are actually better matches for that DNA … Overtime these things are going to change. “If you take a frozen semen sample from several generations ago, say 5-6 generations in the past, then you bring that forward and you breed a dog with that frozen semen sample. If there was more outcrossing or the breed was still kind of in formation (when that dog was alive), there's definitely a good chance that if we now have a very well-established reference data set for that breed, that you bring that genetic diversity forward, it may not actually be present in most dogs in that breed today. Now you've got ancestry or DNA from earlier in the population that's maybe been lost over time and you're reproducing it … if we don't have that in our reference data set for that breed it's going to be called as something else….” For more on this absolutely fascinating deep dive on genetic ancestry DNA testing, listen to the podcast episode above.

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Dog Breeding: Back to Basics with Dr. Marty GreerDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a review of breeding basics for our bitches. How old? How often? How many Csections? What about an oops? We start with these basic questions and detour into deep dives on critical micronutrients, breed specific cysts, what dog bodies are most difficult for abdominal surgeries and much more of the fascinating exploration of knowledge with one of the country’s pre-eminent canine reproductive specialists. At what age should I breed my bitch for the first time?That depends on the breed. If it's a breed that needs to have hips X rayed after the age of two, then after the age of two is appropriate. A lot of people want to wait until the bitches are older, either because they want to see what kind of health problems they have or the bitch may have a career… when we start to see people breeding when (the bitch is) six or seven years old for the first time, we struggle a lot with fertility. So my recommendation is to not wait too long. If you have a breed that you can do hips early on or don't need to do hips or you don't worry about seizures when they are five, then breeding young is fine. I like to breed young bitches with a shiny pink healthy new unused straight off the showroom floor kind of not beat up and bedraggled when she's seven years old and now you want to use this really valuable frozen semen. Please don't do that. The higher the stress of the semen, like frozen and fresh chilled, the younger and more fertile the bitch needs to be. We can't have a subfertile male and a subfertile female and expect to have a good outcome. I don't like breeding on the first heat cycle for a couple of reasons. One is they tend not to be a fertile cycle. Two is the bitch tends not to be mature emotionally or psychologically. And three is she tends not to be physically mature. So I think that pushing to breed on the first heat is not a great idea. That does that mean it doesn't work … plenty of bitches that plan their own breedings with their own stud dogs in their house. That may have been the breeding that you planned to do after she turned 2 and she and he decided that they would preemptively do a strike. What happens if my bitch has an accidental breeding?You know when you get an accidental breeding, statistically it's 62% that get pregnant 38% don't. There are methods to interrupt those, but I generally recommend against them unless it's a really strong reason, like a brother sister or something along those lines. We have a lot of people who are embarrassed in their breed club, they're worried that people are going to drum them out. If someone tells you, and they have males and females that are intact in their homes, and they tell you ‘I have never had that happen to me,’ either they are lying to you or it hasn't happened to them yet. Because at some point the sex drive is strong and males will chew through doors and females will crawl over kennels. There are ways to interrupt pregnancy if it happens. You have three choices if you do have a mating that went better than you wanted it to. Most the time when we have people crying at the ultrasound it’s because their bitch didn't get pregnant. Sometimes it’s because their bitch did. You can either let her have the puppies and teach her to be a good mom. #2 is you can spay her, which of course is the end of her breeding career. #3 is there is a series of injections and oral medications that can be used that are not estrogen. So please, please, please no diethylstilbestrol, no ECP. None of those drugs. They cause bone marrow suppression and can cause your bitch to die. We can see pyometras and we still see people giving those drugs. So basically, we give prostaglandin and another oral medication. If somebody gets herself into a pickle, email me I'll help you out. I'm not going to go through the whole protocol because it's not really the kind of thing that we want to talk about today but there...

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Rhonda Cassidy: For the Love of DogsDog show photographer Rhonda Cassidy tells the story of the intersection between her lifelong passions for dogs and art. Starting with a newbie’s understanding of dog shows but a lifetime love of dogs and art, Cassidy’s humble beginning and dedication shine through her art in her forthcoming book, For the Love of Dogs. “When I was a kid, I collected postcards of dogs,” Cassidy said. “I made a scrapbook. Back then I’d go to the library and check out every book I could find about dogs and learn about breeds … I would write stories and illustrate them.” From the first photo of her Irish Water Spaniel she had published in the AKC Gazette column to photographing some of the top show dogs in the United States, Cassidy’s journey has been driven by her twin passions. “It wasn't something that I thought I should do,” Cassiday said. “It was something I had to do. It was like I had a hand on my shoulder. It said you have got to do this.” Cassidy’s photography raises the form to an art, reaching beyond the physical specimen to capture the character, the soul of the dog. “I feel it,” she said. “I can explain it to you, but I can’t make you feel it… Whether it's doing candids or ring shots, I get goosebumps… I know what I want to see and sometimes it just happens. Sometimes it doesn't. But it's just there for a second. For the Love of Dogs“I have hundreds of thousands of pictures. I wanted a collection that somebody could hold in their hands. I wanted something just for people to remember me. This was Rhonda Cassidy and here's what she loved. This is who she is.”

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Drentsche Patrijshond: Hunting Dog, Property Dog, Family DogRare breeds spotlight continues with the “Drent,” short for Drentsche Patrijshond, the all-purpose hunting dog of The Netherlands. Brian and Jenna O’Connor join host Laura Reeves to share their passion for this ancient breed. “(The breed is) about 350, almost 400 years old,” Brian said. “They were brought up through the Spanish occupation that went all up through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, in that little bit of western Germany. They brought over camp followers and their dogs, and they deposited all these dogs along the way. The Drent is one of these dogs that was kind of brought up through this phenomenon. “Part of what makes the history of the Drent really unique is the province of Drenthe. It is a province with rolling hills. That's where Vincent van Gogh came from … all those dark brooding skies is very typical of that landscape out there. … “The common man had the right to hunt there… This is 300 years ago. That wasn't normal. So, if you were a priest or farmer, any professional class, you had the right to hunt. That was even unique within the country of the Netherlands, where hunting was reserved for nobility. SUV of hunting dogs“So, you were this relatively poor person, odds are you were a farmer, and you could afford one dog … that one dog had to be able to do everything. So, if you were hunting Fox …if you're hunting Swan or pheasant or Hungarian Partridge, if you’re hunting ducks whatever… oh, and by the way, when you needed to cart your milk or cheese or your vegetables to market on Wednesday, you would rig up your dog and the Drent would haul your goods to market for you. “They're really close to their people, even if they don't need to be sleeping on you. They're going to be near you. There are the kind of dog that will not thrive in a kennel environment because they build that bond with their people and they're not going to do well without their people. We don't have a lot of reports of separation anxiety in the breed, but I would advocate for people to kennel train them. Otherwise, they're going to find something to get into. They fall in the category of that smart continental versatile hunting dog that never should be left on its own.” “(The Drent) really doesn't have a lot of grooming,” Jenna said. “You wouldn't treat a dog for a show much different than you would treat a dog going on a hunt or around the house. (A) good brushing once a week, maybe more when they shed once a year. Some Drents can get a little bit longer ear hair. You can either pluck it with your fingers or you can use a stripping knife and just pull that dead hair out. Other than that, they have feathering but you really don't trim that. If you want to trim their hair on the feet that's great but really they're pretty au natural.” “The numbers we just got last week was 3,600 (Drents worldwide). In the States, we have less than 150. Of that 150, less than 10% of those are approved for breeding. We only maybe have two … active breeders. So we are definitely in the realm of needing some breed fanciers to step in and really invest some time into these guys 'cause they're amazing dogs,” Brian noted. For more info: https://www.twogunkennels.com/what-is-a-drent.html (https://www.twogunkennels.com/what-is-a-drent.html) Brian’s book: https://www.blurb.com/b/5491948-the-drentsche-patrijshond-for-the-north-american-f (https://www.blurb.com/b/5491948-the-drentsche-patrijshond-for-the-north-american-f) Drentsche Patrijshond Club of North America: http://www.dpcna.org/ (www.DPCNA.org)  

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445 – Stud Dog Shopping with Amanda Kelly   Amanda Kelly, Fwaggle Toy Manchester Terriers, joins host Laura Reeves to talk about their favorite thing, shopping! Not for shoes but for stud dogs. Finding the right dog for your specific bitch, your breeding program as a whole and the breed in general, is a process that takes time and effort.   “When you've been breeding for a long time, you don't really stop and think about what that process is,” Kelly said. “I think that there's a couple of foundational pieces that go into choosing a stud dog. They may not seem like they're directly related, but they really are so important.   “I think the first step is to look at your own bitch and your own breeding program and what you want to accomplish with a given breeding. One of the things that I keep coming back to is that you have to think about what your priorities are in a breeding. Before you start looking at any stud dogs or what anybody else has or what might be available or what might be possible, the very first thing to do is to really sit down and look at the bitch that you want to breed. What are her strengths? What are her weaknesses? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the family of dogs that she comes from.   “This whole process is really about research. You're going to research a stud dog but you also are going to look really carefully at your family of dogs that you're working with. You can learn so much about what will be or might be produced by looking at what has been produced. When we start out you kind of feel like you're at a disadvantage because XYZ breeder has been breeding for 25 years and they know all of these dogs. That's true. They have seen them over time, collected information, but some of that information really is available to everybody.   “Look at your bitch and think to yourself, ‘OK, were any of her littermates bred? What about dogs that are out of the same mother. Have they been bred? What about this bitch’s mother? Strong bitches are the cornerstone of any breeding program. What did the mother produce? What has the sire of my bitch produced?   “All of that information is going to fit together like pieces of a puzzle and give you a really clear idea of not only the strengths and weaknesses of your individual bitch but of perhaps the bloodline and what it's producing.   “You can ask 25 breeders and you will get 25 different opinions of the relative merits of any approach to breeding and none of them are wrong. So the experience of your breed mentors, particularly folks who are working in the same group of dogs that you are within your breed, are really invaluable.   “There's a longer term plan rather than 100% just the breeding that's in front of you. I also like to think about what the priorities are for my breed. Coming from a small breed, there's some elements I think of gene pool management. As a breeder in a small breed this is something that's top of mind for me quite often in that there's some gene pool management pieces that I think are important for me to consider as far as what's the best for my breed’s diversity.”

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How to Prioritize the Males in a Breeding ProgramDale Martenson, renowned breeder at Touche Japanese Chin, joins host Laura Reeves for a conversation about when, why and how to prioritize male dogs in a breeding program. Everyone knows to keep a bitch. But it can be much more challenging to keep good stud dogs to move a breeding program forward. With a shoutout to Kenny Rogers, “You gotta Know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em”… “Every gambler knows That the secret to survivin' Is knowin' what to throw away And knowin' what to keep 'Cause every hand's a winner And every hand's a loser” “Most breeders have two or three bitches,” Martenson said. “But (if they) keep a male puppy, he's too closely related to the mother, the sister and the aunt that they already have … so really what needs to happen, is people need to get a circle of friends together where they can keep stud dogs in kind of a joint ownership that they can share … because very quickly after you've used your dog once or twice you may not need that dog … your other option is you can go ahead and collect that dog, freeze it and put it on ice … so you can reuse that later on when your pedigrees are open enough to take it, when you’ve gone down the road a couple generations. “We really have to try to keep as much diversity as possible (in our breeds) and it helps having those dogs available. But the other thin,g when you go to just use a stud dog and you haven't bred from it, you really don't know what you're gonna get from that dog until you've had a couple of outcross litters, and a couple of line bred litters and you've watched the puppies grow up out of them. You won't know your long run health testing for four or five years,” Martenson said. It’s a long range proposition, he added. “We take such comfort in what we don't know. Not knowing is like the blind faith in the universe that we're not gonna worry ‘bout this it's all gonna be fine… You go and you import something from another country … you don't really know much of anything behind it… they're pretty radical outcross and you just don't know.” For more of Dale’s take on prepotent sires, “name brand” sires, NOT breeding to ribbons and so much more, be sure to download and listen today.  

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Veterinary Voice: Infertility in the Stud DogNovember is all about boy dogs! Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a conversation about the causes of infertility in the stud dog. From poor collection technique to managing enlarged prostate and more uncommon problems, Greer provides invaluable insight into the causes and potential treatments of sterility or low fertility in male dogs. “We can start with defining the difference between fertility, infertility and sterility,” Greer said. “Infertility is low fertility. Sterility is a permanent condition. So if your dog is sterile, there's no going back. The implication is that his fertility is low and in some cases, not all but in some cases, we can restore fertility with the combination of appropriate diagnostic work up, appropriate intervention for medications and nutritional supplements and diet. “So those are kind of the four hallmarks of what we can do for your stud dog. Sterile would be, by my definition, on more than one occasion doing a collection of the stud dog and getting no sperm. Zero live or dead sperm on multiple collections. So there may be sperm that are there that are dead. There may be sperm there in low numbers. But if you see absolutely no sperm on more than one occasion, and you think you had a pretty good collection based on his libido, then I would probably classify him a sterile. But we can certainly talk about some of the diagnostic testing that should be done. “The sperm are made in the testicle and then the epididymis is the conduit by which the sperm leave the testicle and make it up into the urethra and are ejaculated. So it's this series of really cool, tightly little coiled tubules that run on the backside of the testicle and up around and then into the urethra where the ejaculate comes from. So the epididymis, if it's blocked somewhere in that on both sides, then you're not going to get sperm. Hands off the junk, lady!Some young or inexperienced stud dogs may not fully ejaculate because “their head’s not in the game,” Greer noted. She shared tips for getting a better collection from the male. “Mostly it's practice. A lot of those are dogs that have been in pet type home, not a breeders type home. You basically need some practice. You need a dog that has a really good female in heat standing in front of him. A really cooperative female. So not a bulldog that's making weird snorting noises, even if she's nice, 'cause sometimes that's misconstrued as a growl. Not a dog that's going to turn around and kind of nibble at the boy. But a girl that's going to back into him and send an engraved invitation, ‘hey big boy it's over here.’ So you want to have an experienced, really cooperative, in heat, at the appropriate time in heat, female. That's not always easy to achieve, as you know, you don't always get to pull one off the shelf when you need one.” Prostate myths“Many people are confused about what to do with prostate disease,” Greer observed. “There's basically four different categories of disorders we can see in the prostate. We can see benign prostatic hypertrophy, prostatitis, prostatic cysts and there can be cancer of the prostate. So those are the four general diseases that we see. A lot of dogs when they’re age 5 and older, when they're around a female in heat … will stimulate the dog to develop some enlargement of his prostate. After age 5 will see these dogs stand up from laying down or walk into the house and blood will be dripping from the penis. Every veterinarian that doesn't do reproduction says ‘oh OK, there's two things we have to do here. One we have to put him on an antibiotic and two we have to neuter him.’ Well actually, both of those things are incorrect.”

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Successfully Collecting, Shipping and Storing “Swimmers”Shannon and Sydney Stone from https://icsbnorcal.com/ (ICSB NorCal) join host Laura Reeves for a detailed and educational conversation about collecting, shipping and freezing a stud dog’s semen, aka “swimmers.” Mother and daughter share their vast experience with different extender media, freezing methods and tips and tricks for a successful collection of the stud dog. Test drive extendersFor fresh chilled collections, Shannon strongly advocates for collecting a potential stud dog and doing a “chill test.” This enables the practitioners to save the semen in a variety of available media in order to be sure which one works best with the specific dog. Dogs are individuals and not all semen will survive in every media. It is critical to know this before that super important, exciting breeding that has been planned for years. “It just basically boils down to finding the best media for your dog,” Shannon said. “There's so many good medias on the market right now, it's just what's the best fit for your dog and what works best for you as a stud owner. “Some of the best collections we see are ones where either the owner has a centrifuge or they took the dog to the vet and the collection is centrifuged and we're only getting that sperm rich fraction added to the media. “Kind of a rule of thumb that we've seen is, no matter what media you're using, you can expect that … the loss of integrity to be about 20% per day that you're holding a sample. So say you get a sample in on Friday or Saturday but the bitch really isn't gonna be ready to breed til like Monday or Tuesday. We can check the semen and if we need to add a little bit, as long as we know what media was sent in, you can sometimes add a little fresh media to perk it up. “What we say to our clients that are going to be shipping basically … a sample is always better in the bitch than in the box.”Pellets vs strawsFrozen semen is stored in one of two methods. As “straws,” the original method developed by cattle breeders, often called “cattle straws” and “pellets” the method developed originally by ICSB. Sydney recommends, again, a freeze test to be sure which method is best for the individual stud dog. The primary importance, Shannon noted, is to work with a veterinarian who is accustomed to the type of freezing method chosen. Thawing pellets and straws is two completely different processes. Using the wrong thaw method for the type of frozen semen will kill it immediately. Collection Tips and TricksTechnique, a teaser bitch and a relaxed stud dog are the keys to success, the team agreed. “You have to know your dog and kind of change things up to accommodate him,” Shannon said. “It's not one size fits all.” Listen to our previous stud dog series with Shannon and Sydney https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/56-stud-dog-series-fresh-fresh-chilled-and-frozen-dos-dont-and-why-nots-2/ (here), https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/53-stud-dog-series-2-management-for-better-semen-production-2/ (here), https://puredogtalk.com/50-get-serious-sirius-stud-dog-management-part-1-progesterone/ (here) and https://puredogtalk.com/captivate-podcast/59-stud-dog-management-4-foreign-affairs-critical-tips-before-you-import-or-export-semen-2/ (here).

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Throwbacks: Competition vs Collaboration, Safety and GraceLaura throws back to 2017 As the Wheels Turn columns touching on big topics during the final day of Back to School month. You Win. I Lose.Many of us involved with purebred dogs find purpose, excitement and enjoyment in the heat of competition. The adrenaline rush is part of the passion we bring to the game. Whether it is realized in the whelping box, in the show ring or in competitive performance venues. It becomes ingrained deep in the grooves of our brains…. Winning is good. Losing is bad. That’s fine as far as it goes. But… Sometimes the passion morphs and becomes something altogether different. The “If You Win, I Lose” mindset is the root of many evils in our fancy. It applies to everything from jealousy over another exhibitor’s win to the fiefdoms of kennel clubs. We encounter it in the expectation that any friendly overture has an ulterior motive. As a whole and with exceptions in emergencies, we are not a cohesive group. Number one. First. Best. Foremost. Record-setting. These are our golden idols and, too often, we guard them viciously. But that “dog in a manger” attitude serves only to divide and conquer our fancy. How does it hurt you to help someone else? What harm to have two good dogs, ideas or events? What if we celebrate, support and cheer on others who are doing well or doing good? Teach the newbie. Help the youngster. Support someone else who has a good dog, a good idea or an exciting plan. What’s the worst possible thing that could happen? That you wouldn’t be the best? The point of the exercise to challenge ourselves to continue to improve — our breed, our skills, our knowledge. The only way that will happen is if someone comes along with a better mousetrap, as they say, and we have to improve on our design. Ours is a tiny microcosm of the real world. We would do well to remember that making it smaller with petty squabbling does nothing more than weaken our ability to resist outside forces working hard to squash us all like bugs. Anybody read the AVMA proposal about “regulating breeders”? I highly recommend Bill Shelton’s article in the June 6 "Dog News Magazine” for a bit of perspective. Let’s make a conscious decision to see others’ success as the same as our own. Because then, the purebred dog fancy becomes a powerful force for good in the world. When you win, we ALL win takes us to an entirely different level of influence. Whether in legislative matters or in creating an appealing and exciting sport which draws participation and builds our future from within. Winter wonderlandTraveling to winter shows can be a little dicey (heck, in some parts of the country questionable driving weather lasts until May!). Ya’ll down there in Florida, just be careful of the weather envy being directed your way. I can remember driving to the St. Paul, Minn. shows when I lived in Nebraska. Driving on I-80 looking at hundreds of cars literally upside down on the side of the road before I decided it was time to pull over and stop somewhere. Or driving home from Chicago and all of the sudden the water on the antenna in the RV wasn’t dripping anymore and the road was freezing around me… In the dog fancy, we sometimes have to make choices. Decisions that should be easy in terms of safety first are often questioned … But, I could win! But, I could starve! But, but, but…. In the Pacific Northwest we don't normally get hammered with the type of weather other parts of the country deal with routinely. Snow, ice, and dangerous roads. Here, sadly, we are often poorly equipped to deal with it… snow plows, de-icer, sand and salt being foreign language in the land where it never (well almost) gets above 80 degrees (F) or below 30… I personally missed out on Palm Springs a few years back due to weather. A good friend (another handler) chose to cancel out on the Puyallup shows rather than fight through sheets of ice on the roads between here and there. As we...

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Richard Reynolds – Rat Hunter of ManhattanRichard Reynolds joins me for part two of our conversation. This time we’re talking rat hunting with Terriers in New York City. [caption id="attachment_8391" align="alignleft" width="224"] Richard Reynolds with a Jagd Terrier, shown in FSS at Open Shows.[/caption] “Quite fairly there was never a transition (from hounds to terriers),” Reynolds said. “I was always interested in hunting the terriers. We don't have as many Fox in the United States as they do in England … and you had to work a little harder. Bringing up the terriers and putting the terriers to ground was always a part of our Fox hunt. “When I left the pack, I wanted a purebred terrier that I could show. Somebody slipped me into a low mileage used Norfolk terrier and that suited me pretty good. But I didn't know whether it could hunt or not. A few years later and a little experience and a few Norfolks later, we proved they were damn good hunters. In fact, the best terrier that I've ever had to this day remains one particular Norfolk.” Reynolds’ rise to fame as the Rat Hunter of Manhattan started at a dog show in Liberty Park at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Rats had overrun one of the handlers’ setups and he turned his Norfolk loose to do its job. The park superintendent happened to see this feat. The rest, as they say, is history. [caption id="attachment_8390" align="alignright" width="240"] Jagd Terrier with Reynolds and one less rat on the streets of Manhattan.[/caption] “If I tell you that my dog is a good rat catcher, you won't care,” Reynolds opined. “If a rat is headed to run up your pant leg and my dog stops it, you'll have a lot of respect for that fuzzy little critter down there. So that's exactly the way we're trying to make our point. “We’re all about an idea. That idea is preserving breed type through maintaining the actual function of the dog. You can simulate all these things but you can't replicate the actual deed of hunting or ratting or whatever. It's different. It's about the dogs but don't tell anybody because we get an awful lot of good press on the fact that we're killing rats. “We can't show purebred dogs to the media. They don't care. Dead rats are a big seller. We have media with us (nearly) every night that we go out. We've had a lot of media. But that's our little way of selling purebred dogs to the public. “We're doing it for the sake of the dogs. There's no money here. All sport is ruined as soon as you monetize it. So we don't charge to hunt. Our members occasionally cough up $5 each time they hunt, but more often than not they forget to pay it and we forget to collect it. So it's kind of a thing for the dogs, by the dogs and of the dogs. A good night is when the dogs work well together. A bad night is when we don't get anything.” Reynolds has been instrumental in setting up a training ground in southern New Jersey. The primary purpose of which is running AKC earthdog tests. “We use it as a basic training ground for terriers and dachshunds,” Reynolds noted. “It's not the same thing (as street hunting). Once they get through the earth dog program there's a lot of on the job training but it's a starting point. The sport of AKC earthdog or den trials or Jack Russell terrier Association go to ground is kind of diminished in recent years. We use it for training Street dogs but really what we're trying to do is rejuvenate this sport in and of itself of earth dogs and den trials.”

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437 – Richard Reynolds on Foxhounds and Favors   Mr Richard Reynolds is joining us today. This is the first part of a two-part episode. We're going to talk about rat hunting and foxhounds and all kinds of fabulous historical stuff, because he is a brain trust of all things history in purebred dogs.   Reynolds said his involvement in purebred dogs “started from a National Geographic magazine. I was a young lad in his early teens and I came upon a National Geographic magazine that had an article Westminster, the World Series of Dogs” circa 1949.   “All of my colleagues had Playboy magazine hidden under their mattresses and I had National Geographic,” Reynolds said, “not for the same purpose of course.”   Reynolds said he acquired his first Beagle “for the princely sum of $35 from a gentleman who hunted them and, as they say, the rest was history.   “The first Beagle fell somewhat short of being a show dog, but the next one was a show dog. It cost a great deal more than $35, although I'm not sure it was worth much more. That kind of got me started with the dog showing thing.”   Reynolds' focus has always been on preserving breed type through concentration on performance ability. He was a Master of Foxhounds with the only dual registry recognized hunting pack. His Old English hounds won a group at Westminster, many Bests in Show, many Large Pack classes at hound shows and the occasional Grand Championship. Most important, each hound hunted a regular three day a week schedule.   Comparing the English and American Foxhounds, Reynolds notes, “The old English Foxhound is heavier, larger. Level top line. Picture, if you will, a bulldozer on feet. The American foxhound is lighter, leggier, has a slight rise over the loin to give it speed. It's of course descended from the English Foxhound, but it's not exactly the same. They both have their purposes and, like all of the hounds and terriers, that purpose is directly related to the country, the land where the dog hunts and works. American foxhounds are suited to the wide open spaces in the United States and the English are suited to the Gorse hedges and stone walls and whatever of England. We found them very useful in Pennsylvania where I'm at because we have a wonderful agricultural phenomenon known as the multiflora rose.”   Reynolds’ most famous dog was Ch. Mr Stewart's Cheshire Winslow.   “He hunted pretty good and he was a reasonably good stud dog,” Reynolds quipped, “but he was a really good show dog. He was the top of all hound breeds in 1983, won the Quaker oats award for the top winning hound, and then he kind of walked out of Westminster in 1984 with the hound group. So having done that, we figured that we were duty bound to get him back to the hunt field the following morning. So he won the group at Westminster on Tuesday night, and hunted Fox from horseback on Wednesday morning.”   Reynold’s wry, self-deprecating humor is a treasure to the dog community. Enjoy this episode and join us next week for our conversation on terriers.   Beagle> Westminster 1977. BoV under Peter Knoop was 13" Ch. Englandale's Crestwood Star. I sold her as a pet, but her owner believed that she could do anything and pushed me to show her. She not only finished her title, and won the variety at "the World Series of Dogdom", she also had several obedience titles.   EF> The hound was Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Federal, a gift to me from Nancy Penn Smith Hannum, MFH. There weren't any other AKC English Foxhounds around, so we finished him the hard way...by winning groups. I believe he was the seconmd AKC Ch. EF,   Horse> When one is a visitor, hunting with another recognized pack, it is courteous to wear a black coat rather than scarlet with your home hunt colors. This was on such an occasion with my ex-three day eventer, Eastwick.   On foot> These were my hounds in the Five Couple class at the...

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Bill McFadden on Dog Shows During COVID: Safety First and Other ObservationsProfessional handler Bill McFadden has attended shows across the country in the four months since the “Learning Cluster” in Oklahoma. A two-time Westminster Kennel Club BIS winning handler, lifetime participant in the sport and all-around good guy, McFadden’s observations, notes on what worked and self-appointed “bathroom police” stories provide a glimpse into this unprecedented time in American history. “My overview would be that I am proud of our community,” McFadden said. “I think that they've stepped up and either endured or participated in whatever protocol was established for each show. I hope it continues that way. I hope that we continue to be safe. I hope we get through this and maybe learn a few things about ourselves and our sport in the process.” Host Laura Reeves commented that the silver lining of the year’s trying times is that we can “apply lessons from what we’re provided by the universe. You don't get to pick (the circumstances) but you can pick how you respond to it.” “Everybody just be safe and set your own limits for what you will or will not tolerate and stick to it,” McFadden added. “I actually have been impressed by people that step outside their comfort zone and say ‘you know, you're standing too close.’ Some of the shows, the stewards actually will come up and say ‘could you guys spread out,’ 'cause we all kind of congregate during the groups. You kind of hang out while everybody else is being gone over. Old habits die hard. It wasn’t being defiant, it's just you need someone to remind you. "So, I've been really impressed by those actions by individuals and by clubs. Some of them do it in the most unbelievably gentle and kind way where you're just like ‘oh gosh I'm so sorry’ … every once in a while there will be someone that's a little snarky, but for the most part I think people have been doing a really good job. “I will admit that I was nervous as I drove 24 hours to Oklahoma … I think everybody was. I know my assistant was. I was pleasantly surprised. Personally, I just thought that there might be a few resistant people that wouldn't want to follow the rules that were set up. I was super impressed. I thought everybody complied. It's definitely different showing with a mask on. “…(P)articularly in the beginning, with the first few shows, we were just so happy to see each other. A lot of us hadn’t communicated so we weren't really sure how our lives had gone and how are you surviving … initially I think there was a lot of that. I mean it was like going to a family reunion. We were just was so happy to see people … as it's progressed, there's people that we've seen several times, so it doesn't feel like you've been away for so long. "But I really think most people are just… we're all in it together. We're enduring it. We know we're going to get through it and we're helping each other out as much as we can. If there is one downfall, it's really hard to control the social distancing after the show…” Listen in as McFadden covers hotels, airplanes, COVID testing and more.  

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Product Review: Summit Joint Performance Brings Fast ResultsHost Laura Reeves visits with Dorian Farmer and Rhonda Arza talk about Summit Joint Performance. This is a chondroitin product, used for years in Olympic horse circles, but now available for dogs and, hopefully, humans in the near future. “This particular product was actually made to go into eyes, human eyes, during corneal lens transplant surgeries as an anti-inflammatory,” Summit Joint Performance founder Farmer said. From the Summit Joint Performance https://summitjp.com/?u=K9movement (website): What is Summit? Summit is simply chondroitin 4 sulfate (C4S), suspended in sterile water. Summit was originally developed to use in human ocular lens transplant surgeries. Summit is the purest form of C4S available. Unlike other products, it has had all heparins and other potentially damaging molecules removed from the single C4S molecule. Summit is an all-natural product, not a synthetic created in the lab, nor polysulfated. Summit has an incredibly low molecular weight, and its small size allows it to penetrate barriers in the body, like joint capsules, much easier than other products. A large percentage of the molecules that make up tissues in the joints is C4S. Replenishing these structures with nature’s version of this important molecule, instead of synthetic lab creations that are over 100x the molecular weight, is of great benefit.

[caption id="attachment_8363" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dorian Farmer and the SJP team.[/caption] Farmer’s story of testing Summit on his personal “guinea pig” animals is inspiring. “We injected Ultra on a Wednesday evening. At that point in time she couldn't get up off the ground. By Thursday morning when we woke up, she was standing in our bedroom wagging her tail looking at me. She had got up off the ground by herself, into the bedroom and was waking us up. She could walk around the house. She could sit down. She could lay down and she could get back up. That was within 12 hours. By the following day she was trotting around the house and actually playing with me. “(A couple days later I got a video of) Ultra chasing the golf cart at a dead run from the back pasture to the front pasture. It's about 900 yards from one to the other. She lived for another year pain free because of it. That truly was the point where I knew that we had something that was incredible. She had been on all the pain relievers and all the other arthritic medication and everything else and nothing was touching it. One shot of this new product and saved her life. I mean, we were going to euthanize her….” [caption id="attachment_8362" align="alignright" width="300"] Rhonda Arza, SJP Vice President[/caption] Arza, Summit Joint Performance Vice President, shared her similar experience. “I was a horse trainer for 28 years and one of the things that I knew was that I didn't want to be a horse trainer for 29 years. So, I needed an exit strategy. Summit last November became a direct sales company. I had experience in the field, so I knew that direct sales was a way to make significant income and create an exit strategy not only for myself, but for other trainers who were looking to retire, get out, whatever they needed to do. “When this came along, because of the level of sponsored riders that this company already had in place, like people were putting it in their $10,000,000 Olympic level horses, we had guys like McLain Ward (using the product), I knew that we had a product that was definitely something that I could talk about. “I put it into my 20-year-old jumper and he just turned right around and acted like he was ten. I wanted to get into the dog space because we have performance dogs. My husband shows in rally and obedience and we have Australian Shepherds. Knowing that it was going to be turning over to oral (versus intramuscular injection) was going to open up the whole planet for us. Not only dog show people, but pet owners and people who have

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Infertility Issues: Regular, Random and Rare CausesDr. Marty Greer, DVM joins host Laura Reeves for a wide-ranging conversation on the causes of infertility in our breeding bitches. From split seasons, ovarian and uterine cysts, to semen allergy and genetic incompatibility, we cover a lot of ground. Marty was kind enough to provide the following "check list" of fertility issues to share with our listeners. Why isn't my female pregnant? What can I do about it?You did your homework – and have the perfect bitch, in her best condition and found the ideal male to mate her to. Both of them have passed all of the health clearances recommended for your breed. They have the temperaments you are looking for and their traits are complimentary to one another. You know the most common causes of apparent or actual pregnancy failure are: Poorly timed breedings Poor semen quality and/or quantity. Failure to maintain a pregnancy

Timing the breeding:The timing of the breeding, based on progesterone levels (bred 2 to 3 days post-ovulation depending on semen type used), was just right. Most veterinarians recommend breeding 2 days after ovulation with fresh and fresh chilled shipped semen and 3 days with frozen semen. Ovulation is assumed to occur when the progesterone reaches 5 ng/dl (different units are used in other countries) with a range of 4 to 10 ng/dl. LH testing is also done in some clinics. LH, Luteinizing hormone, directly indicates ovulation, while progesterone is an estimation of ovulation. Progesterone is easier to measure and test as it can be done every few days, using human technology. LH requires daily testing and is canine specific. Semen quality and quantity:You know the stud dog had good quality and quantity semen – there was a semen analysis completed prior to shipping the semen. Your vet looked at it prior to inseminating your bitch and said the semen looked great, based on the sperm count (for a Bernese Mountain dog, the count should be 1 billion total), the morphology (shape and appearance of each sperm cell) and motility (how active and progressively motile it was on a microscopic evaluation). Yet, she is not pregnant. Why? And if you try to breed her again, what can you do differently to improve the chances she will carry a litter to term? First, we need to determine if she failed to conceive, failed to achieve fetal/placental implantation, or conceived and lost the litter. If you don't have her ultrasounded, you won't know if she failed to conceive or failed to maintain the pregnancy. A relaxin test or palpation is not adequate – these do not assess for fetal viability. This information is big piece of the puzzle. When you are trying to justify the decision to do an ultrasound, this is the best reason to do so – this is not the place to scrimp. If the ultrasound shows no pregnancy, and the semen and timing were good, then causes for failure to conceive or failure for fetuses to implant should be explored. These include: Was there a Semen quality assessment?Was the sperm count low? Was there abnormal semen morphology? Was the semen stained and assessed by a veterinarian? Was there poor semen motility? The semen needs to be progressively normal. Was there poor semen longevity? Holding a small sample of semen in extended in the refrigerator and reassessing it 24 and 48 hours later can be useful.

Was there timing failure? This is a good time to review the timing of the breeding. Did she complete her ovulation?

Failure to complete the ovulation. Did the progesterone testing continue past 5 ng/dl? If not, she may have not had a complete ovulatory cycle. Cystic ovaries? An ovarian cyst can interfere with a complete ovulatory cycle. Split cycle? If she failed to complete her ovulation, she may have split her cycle and will come back into heat in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Failure of adequate semen deposition: Fertile sperm must reach a fertile egg.

If this was a natural breeding, was there a...

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Dalmatians: the “Brilliant, Spotted, Energized” Dogs of CroatiaDalmatians are our Love the Breeds topic today with enthusiasts Meg Callea, Molly Spengler and Stephanie Podejko joining host Laura Reeves for a timely conversation ahead of the release of the “101 Dalmatians” remake. History[caption id="attachment_8353" align="alignleft" width="225"] Historic illustrations of Dalmatians accompanying coaches.[/caption] “Dalmatians have kind of … a mixed historical background,” Callea noted. “There are spotted dogs on tombs in Egypt, on frescoes in Italy… theoretically they were started in Dalmatia … which is a historic province of Croatia. They were developed to be basically a dog to go with horses and a guard dog. They were to guard the horses and guard the stables. While they were in the stables, (a) desired trait was to kill vermin. So they do that really well. They have a lot of prey drive, some of them have a lot more than they need, which is why they do really well at some of the other performance events. [caption id="attachment_8352" align="alignright" width="300"] Dalmatian competing in tracking event.[/caption] “There are illustrations of Dalmatians as far back as the 1600s. They were brought into being a breed more in the early 1800s, during the Regency period, where they were bred for their markings to look real fancy with the carriages and coaches. They were bred to run around and go with the carriage all day long, so that’s somewhere between 25 to 40 miles a day. Their job was to alert the carriage people if there was a bad guy around, to chase off rogue dogs or Wolves, and to protect the carriage and its contents. And to keep the horses company, because the horses that ran were pretty high strung. Which is how they came into being with the fire Department. [caption id="attachment_8350" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dalmatians are iconic symbols for fire departments world wide.[/caption] “The fire Department used to have carriages that were horse drawn. The horses that drew those things were really high spirited, so the dogs kept them company while they were sitting around waiting for something to happen. When something happened, they ran with the horses, they broke up the traffic in front of them. They also kept the horses calm at the fire because horses do not like fire. They also protected the water spigot. Potable, drinkable water was hard to come by, so while the guys were fighting a fire somebody would come in to disconnect their hose and steal the water.” Coaching Competition and Performance Events[caption id="attachment_8351" align="alignright" width="300"] Dalmatians excel in all performance events, according to our panelists.[/caption] “This is a breed that can do it all,” Podejko said. “There isn't a sport out there that I have found, a performance sport, that Dalmatians don't excel at. They're just a brilliant breed.” The https://dalmatianclubofamerica.org/ (Dalmatian Club of America) features a breed specific test and competition called a Road Trial. The most advanced level requires the dogs, horses and riders to cover 25 miles in an endurance competition. According to Podejko, “A Dalmatian Road Trial is a performance event and test in the field designed to evaluate the Dalmatian’s ability to “coach,” or follow the horses. Exhibitors compete as handler on horseback or in a horse-drawn cart or carriage, with dog(s) off-leash. The Dalmatian Standard of the American Kennel Club states that the Dalmatian “should be capable of great endurance, combined with a fair amount of speed,” qualities essential to his successful use as a horse/rider and horse/coach escort. The purpose of a Road Trial is to demonstrate the use of purebred Dalmatians as a companion of man in the role that they have been bred to perform.” Health and longevity[caption id="attachment_8348" align="alignleft" width="300"] Breed specific health concerns have been mitigated by conscientious breeders testing their dogs.[/caption]...

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Genetic Testing Offers “MatchMaking” CapabilitesAdam Boyko, chief science officer at Embark, joins host Laura Reeves for a science geek out session. “There's really three important reasons to do genetic testing,” Boyko said. “The first is the health component that you get from genetic testing. In almost every purebred breed there are inherited disorders we can test for today. It's good to get that peace of mind. It's good to know if a dog is a carrier for something if you're planning on breeding it. It's good (for owners) to know if it's at risk or something so you know what to look out for, if there's a special diet you should be feeding it or what sort of environment you should have that dog in. “Secondarily, you've got genetic traits, which scientists have learned a lot about. So, you might want to know what sort of coat colors the dog carries. If you were to breed it what would you expect the litter proportions to be. It’s also coat type, stature all that kind of stuff. “Finally, inbreeding. Breeders have really been interested in (this) a lot. They've been traditionally using pedigree-based methods to (measure COI), but now that we have genomic information you can actually much, much more accurately measure inbreeding, to predict inbreeding of different crosses and see the affect that inbreeding has on the health and longevity of dogs. (It’s) another breeding decision that breeders use, another metric, as they're trying to balance all the different things.” Embark’s new “Matchmaker” tool is now online for select breeds, which allows breeders to select different combinations to determine which one offers the lowest COI, which dog carries or doesn’t for which traits or diseases, and would therefore offer the breeder the ideal mating they are seeking. Visit https://embarkvet.com/breeders/?utm_source=pure_dog&utm_medium=web_link&utm_campaign=brd_eng_pure_dog_talk_20200107&utm_content=&utm_term= (Embark’s) website for more information on services available for your breeding program.  

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Find a Spot, Make a Spot: Sniffspot for Dogs and Their PeopleDavid Adams, founder of https://www.sniffspot.com/ (SniffSpot), joins host Laura Reeves to share details of the hot new alternative to dog parks. “The easiest way to say it is AirBNB for dog parks and here's how it works,” Adams said. “So the people that are using Sniffspot to rent yards, they’re dog owners, they’re trainers. Some of them are traveling and they need safe and private spaces to exercise their dogs, train their dogs what have you. It's actually a huge need, especially since more dogs are living in cities and suburban areas. Public dog parks, it's important to have them just like public parks and they’re free and open and that's great, but it also has a flip side, which is that there's no control over who's there, often they’re underfunded, under maintenance, not cleaned frequently … “How we're serving this need is by letting anyone turn land or their yard or their facility into a private dog park. It's a very easy process to go through. The host can help dogs. There are a lot of dogs that need this and you can actually make pretty good income. We have hosts that are pushing up towards $2000 a month in income through renting out their space on Sniffspot, so it can actually make a big difference. “We protect our hosts. All of our users are signing a waiver before they can even come use (a spot) …it acknowledges that everything that happens is the responsibility of the user at the spot and they're using at their own risk. If there ever is a problem from a liability perspective we also provide $1,000,000 of liability insurance with each booking. If there's ever a problem with damage, like let's say the gate gets broken or something else we provide damage protection to hosts as well.”

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Living History on the Silk RoadLandrace or Breed in Asiatic SighthoundsDedicated dog enthusiast and researcher Neil Trilokekar joins host Laura Reeves on the fascinating topic of Asiatic Sighthounds and their development from the landrace dogs of the Silk Trail over the Millenia. Listeners may remember Trilokekar as part of our https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/dog-shows-through-the-eyes-of-newbies-pure-dog-talk/ (panel discussion) of “new” exhibitors. This extended conversation touches on his personal [caption id="attachment_8304" align="alignleft" width="300"] Caravan Hound from India. Photo credit: Neil Trilokekar[/caption] journey searching for authentic Caravan Hounds in his homeland. The recent news of researchers nailing down the DNA of some https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/dog-breeding-ancient-archaeology-dna-a9600051.html (sled dogs) as a landrace, prompted the opportunity to dig into the endlessly intricate history of the elegant dogs of Central Asia. Additional DNA https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28445722/ (studies) gather more information on the evolutionary development of landraces and the breeds that follow. Landraces in dogs are defined as "dog or any livestock animal has been bred without a formal registry, although their breeders may have kept written or informal pedigrees of their animals." These are distinguished from dog breeds which have breed standards, breed clubs and registries. Trilokekar expands on this concept in relation to the breeds about which he is passionate. “My understanding of the concept of landrace as it relates specifically to Asiatic sighthounds, which is what I'm most familiar with,” Trilokekar said, “is that this type of dog which we could refer to something similar to saluki, probably originated in Mesopotamia or somewhere in Central Asia at one point. Then just through the natural course of human history kind of spread out to various parts of Asia, and in some cases North Africa as well, and evolved through selection by the local populace or the demands of climate and terrain and the local game into different breeds or types however you choose to see it. [caption id="attachment_8306" align="alignright" width="300"] Sloughi from North Africa. Photo courtesy Erika Wyatt[/caption] “…let us presume this Asiatic sighthound type originated in Mesopotamia and from there spread into Afghanistan and became the type of dog we now refer to as an Afghan hound. They needed more hair because it was cold, and a slightly different structure to work in different terrain. … and spread out to North Africa, where it became the Sloughi. [caption id="attachment_8305" align="alignleft" width="300"] Azawakh from Central Africa. Photo courtesty Patrick Guilfoyle.[/caption] “So this is my understanding of what a landrace is. Something that occurs naturally because of human history more than someone sitting down and, for example like Louis Doberman saying I'm going to create history. I think it varies depending on the location, on the population. The Tuareg bred their dogs (https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/349-azawakh-the-camp-guardians-of-the-tuareg-people-pure-dog-talk/ (Azawakh)) to resemble camels, which they value above all else, so therefore you have the standing rectangle shape. That's an active thing versus the passive. The population’s like this is the ideal of beauty for them so they are going to create dogs that resemble the camel, whereas I would imagine the Bedouin that is a more passive role because they are going solely on bringing dinner in.” Watch this space for part two of this detailed and passionate conversation, continuing with the Caravan Hounds in India.

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Juniors: Skills That Apply in High Powered CareersCarley and Cameron Simpson join Laura Reeves for a frank, inspiring conversation on how the skills they acquired as top tier junior handlers have influenced their high powered career paths 20 years later. Work ethic, timeliness, handling disappointment, setting goals, confidence and the edge of determination carried them from rural Washington to the sets of Hollywood and the tracks of international bicycle competitions. “So really the work ethic and the loyalty and determination and consistency, it all came from having these animals,” Cameron said, “and having to take care of them and knowing that they depend on you, there's no option to not take care of them. “It taught us our work ethic. To this day it's very noticeable in my work environment that I definitely work a lot harder and I take my job very seriously. Anything I do, I put in 100%.”“Currently I produce television,” Carley said. “I'm an executive producer, just finished up with a Netflix series. (T)imeliness is something I feel every day in my work. Literally we are starting on time and it's thousands of dollars every minute we go over you know or 10s of thousands of dollars it can be. So the importance of being at a ring at 8:00 AM because you know that that judge is not gonna wait for you has directly translated into my job today. “When I was in juniors I worked for a number of handlers and I remember I would put post-it notes on my mirror in my bedroom. One of those goals that I had written was to win the Garden. I worked my butt off every little step to try to get to that goal. That goal was always in the back of my mind for everything I did growing up and working with dogs. I didn't win the Garden, but the fact that I made the finals, the fact that I got Third (in Juniors) it was a cherry on top. That to me was winning. When you learn to work at such a high level in a competition like dog sport, it directly translates then into your later life. You want to always achieve that high level of success again. You're always working toward, ‘Can I get there. Can I get to that highest level.’” The only woman in the room“This (is a) career where it is very uncomfortable to be the only woman standing in the room,” Cameron said of her work in the high-end bicycle industry. “And it's even more uncomfortable to be the only woman standing in the room who knows more than all of the men in the group and it only takes that little bit, just that break of ice, before everybody else in the room is like, ‘oh OK, yeah we see you as a human, you know we see you as a person, and as an advisor and as an employee, as a helper. All of that has been from dog shows. It's been from just kind of having that (attitude) of ‘maybe I don't belong here but I'm going to try anyways’ or I'm going to observe and adapt the situation to win. “That was something that my mom always taught us. She had this quote, it lives with me every day, which is ‘Life is a game. Play it.’ And I think I took that to the Max. Especially with juniors. If there was a judge who was very eccentric and I could tell that you could win by doing A, B or C, I would do that. A judge who wanted you to look at her every 3 seconds, I did it. I tripped and fell and I won… so it was things like that. I would never show a dog like that, that's not my style. But that was the game right then and that was the game to win. “Carley and I are strong enough to realize that we have to love what we do in order for us to put the energy into what we do. We have to love it and so both of us really took that to heart early on. I can't sit at an office and do this exercise. I have to go out and get a job that it's gonna push me, that's going to teach me, that's ever changing, that's growing, that has a ton of demand and that's what we both did. I mean both of us hold very unique jobs in very competitive industries." Aim for the Top"It doesn't matter what the task is at hand,” Cameron said.

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Neonates: 6 Danger Signs to Watch for in Your New LitterDoctor Marty Greer joins Host Laura Reeves to talk about a topic that is near and dear to both of them. Troubleshooting guidelines for neonates and baby puppies. “About the time you think you know it all is when somebody puts their thumb on you and says ha just kidding,” Greer said.Greer's four “Hs” for newborn puppies are: Hydration Hypoxia Hypothermia Hypoglycemia

“We need to start with making sure that the puppies get delivered quickly enough that they can get out of the birth canal, out of the sack, out of the C-section, whatever direction they come out, get the sac off the face, airway cleared and oxygen delivered as quickly as possible. That's really critical to good health, good brain development and the whole rest of the cascade starts with that,” Greer said. “Hydration goes along with food,” Greer observed. “With a puppy, if they're not nursing, they're going to dehydrate and if they're gonna not nurse, they're going to have low blood sugar. These all intertwine. “It's really important that we keep the puppies nursing. If they're not adequately nursing then the way to assess that is going to be if they're not gaining weight and if their urine color isn't a pale, pale yellow. Puppies should not have a dark colored urine after the first time that they urinate. So it should be pale yellow. The puppy should be gaining weight. You can't really assess hydration on a puppy the way you do an adult dog or cat where you pinch the skin on the back of their neck and see if it seems tacky or sticky because puppies don't have enough body fat to have that work the way it does another ages of animal. So we really have to look at urine color and weight gain. Danger Signs“You'll see a puppy that seems weak, seems lethargic, seems listless. It may be really quiet or it may be crying. It just depends on the puppy and what stage in which they are.“I see a puppy off by itself, it may not be that the bitch pushed the puppy away. It may simply be that that puppy needs to be warmed, needs to be hydrated, need some oxygen. You do those three things -- you feed it, you hydrate it, you warm it up, you get oxygen. And boom. All of a sudden, that puppy regains its strength and it starts to compete and be back with the rest of the group very quickly. Listen to today’s episode for more tips from Dr. Greer. For more information in previous episodes, check out some of these links. https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/127canine-herpes-and-puppy-fatalitiesdr-jean-doddspure-dog-talk-2/ (https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/127canine-herpes-and-puppy-fatalitiesdr-jean-doddspure-dog-talk-2/) https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/14-dr-gayle-watkins-2-breeders-guide-to-neonatal-puppies-2/ (https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/14-dr-gayle-watkins-2-breeders-guide-to-neonatal-puppies-2/)  

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Virtual Reality: Step by Step to a Rally Title for Your DogTrainer Gabi Vannini from https://www.facebook.com/whatagreatdogrichardson/?eid=ARD1FZ8ZxkjLAErkBXlRThgJiOQ8wAZH5Wdt2GbazQA6QZoVxcUkQl9r4jh_Fewcj0Dy8KCaMmtmi_Hf&timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=666471931&fref=tag (What A Great Dog!) walks us through the process to earn a virtual rally title for your dog. Below is a short excerpt from our conversation. Listen in to the podcast for excellent training tips, rally performance do’s and don’ts and more. “You can submit videos for your rally novice title,” Vannini said. “So the entry level rally, you can submit three videos and get an actual rally title. It's the same as if you went to a trial. You would have to get three qualifying legs. They're having judges actually score these runs and look at them, so it's not just a pass/fail. You're actually getting your score out of 100 on that and having to do it just like you would in a trial. They've got five different courses that you can pick from to try out. They've set courses for you and you can do it in your backyard or your local park. If you have a local training building that you can rent the ring out, I know that's what a lot of people have been doing, but you can get creative with it. Wherever you can fit a reasonably sized rally course and either set up a tripod or get someone to video for you and submit to AKC and get your actual rally novice title. “(AKC has) been really helpful with … the rally maps. (They) have a specific spot on the map, ‘place camera here’ so that they can get the best view for the judges to be able to look at it. They've got the maps laid out for you. All five maps that you can pull up and use. They've got a really simple way to submit everything. They got their instructions and all of that right there. They've got a nice little how to perform the rally sign setup for you, so it's really making it very accessible for people who are wanting to try something different with their dog. “I think this is going to be a really good opportunity. For people that know rally and do rally, you can fly through these if you want to. But I think it's a really nice thing for people that maybe have done some of those trick titles or CGC … and now they have something a little more that they can learn about and do at home. By the time we get rolling back in dog shows, maybe they'll want to jump up and go into rally intermediate, where it's similar signs and are still on leash and see how things go. “You always are gonna get the people that are gonna say that it's gonna cheapen their rally title that they got. All things change. I got an Open title with my dog and no where does it say on my title certificate that he did the long stay in a group. Just because somebody can go do a virtual rally, it doesn't mean yours is less. Those people aren't competing with you. If you're real serious about your rally and you want to get like 100 points on everything, wait for a dog show. The people who are being brought in by this rally virtual program, they're not your competition. You don't need to look at them as some kind of threat.”      

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Insight on the Genetics of Hairlessness in DogsAdam Boyko, Chief science officer and co-founder of https://embarkvet.com/breeders/?utm_source=pure_dog&utm_medium=web_link&utm_campaign=brd_eng_pure_dog_talk_20200107&utm_content=&utm_term= (Embark), joins host Laura Reeves to talk about the Fox I3 gene, that causes hairlessness in many dog breeds. “So it's a gene that's gonna be involved in what we would call ecto dermal differentiation,” Boyko said. “So it's going to affect a lot of tissues that are in the ectoderm. Not just hair follicle formation but also things like the inner ear or the sweat glands or dentition. All of these things that are related because they're coming from the same developmental tissue.” “The canine https://www.genome.gov/17515860/2005-release-researchers-publish-dog-genome-sequence (genome) was first sequenced in 2005, so we have a reference genome now from Tasha the boxer and this was a big $25,000,000 project,” Boyko noted. “(Some of) my colleagues worked on it. This was before I got into dog genetics. I was graduating from Purdue with a degree in biology but I was studying butterflies at the time. So I didn't join the dog field until after we had a genome. I switched because there's so much more cool stuff you can do with an organism that has a genome and particularly with dogs. “In 2008 (researchers) were able to identify the gene that's different between dogs that are hairless and dogs that aren't. This Fox I3 gene. The mutation itself is just this insertion of seven base pairs. Remember, the genome is like 2 1/2 billion base pairs. So that little mutation then is the difference between whether the dog has hair or doesn't. “One of the projects I started out with … we call the village dog project. Most of the dogs in the world aren't purebred dogs and they're not even mixed breed dogs the way you and I think of mixed breed dogs. They're actually natural populations of dogs that have been around for thousands of years and probably have some really interesting biology. If you look at village dogs across the new world, you do occasionally come across dogs that carry this mutation and have the hairless phenotype. If you look at dogs that have a very, very similar sequence, so that the same genetic background but don't have the mutation, these are the closest relatives for where the mutation occurred for dogs that don't have the mutation. It's actually like Alaskan Huskies and other northern dogs that are very puffy, puffy dogs, but they have DNA still in them that pre-Columbian Native American dogs had. “Genetically you get the signature that this is a mutation that arose in the new world before European contact and this is the basis for Mexican hairlessness right so the Xolo, the Peruvian Inca Orchids, as well as the Chinese Crested. Two copies is deadly“This mutation is actually lethal. A dog with two copies of the mutation dies in utero. So, every hairless dog has one copy of the broken Fox I3 gene and one good copy of the Fox I3 gene. “The “powder puff” have better dentition. This Fox I3 mutation not only effects the development of hair follicles and interrupts them throughout most of the body, but the dentition is also affected. The teeth, both the deciduous teeth and the permanent teeth, generally you don't see as many developed, they're not as well formed, they tend to be more conical, they're a little more tusk like, they point out a bit more. These are all kind of developmental defects. The powder puff doesn't have these defects, not because it has a better Fox I3 gene that you want to breed in, it just doesn't have the broken one.” Evolutionary purpose of hairless dogs“I think ultimately the purpose is that people really like unique and distinctive dogs,” Boyko said. “You have this mutation which has a dominant effect, so as soon as it arose that dog was hairless. And it arose in an environment where people thought that this was a sacred dog or a dog that they...

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Breeders Part 2: Family, Friends and Mapping a JourneyTop Breeders discuss building a family of dogs with small numbers and defined goals.Wendy Paquette, Amanda Kelly and Chris Heartz return to finish their conversation about building a family of dogs, using the standard as a driver and mapping out a plan. Wendy: “What I've done over the years is lease males from other breeders. I finished (the dogs) for them in Canada and kept them for about six months to a year. I bred 6-10 bitches to that same dog. So, what I did was, I could tell whether there was consistency or not. And I would keep one or two out of every litter and send the dog back home and go from there with the offspring.“So then, I had a basis with one dog being dominant and if I felt that dominant dog was a great producer consistently, then I doubled on it. But if it wasn't, oh well, I had bunch of pets that year. “The Breeders that just breed to the dog next door or the dog in the next state or whatever don't have a clue what they're producing. They just keep the most pretty marked puppy that has an attitude then they wonder why they're not getting anywhere. Well they don't have any idea where those dogs came from to begin with. They have no foresight. Health and welfareChris: “The health of the breed is everything if you want it to continue. We're not preservation breeders if we say it doesn't matter about the teeth (for example), they're not mentioned in our standard. Well maybe it does matter. And so I think, just by seeing what is available in the rest of the world and how other breeders approach your breed and what they got to show for that is the best education in the world. And to just sit at home and say this is how we've always done it. It's not good enough.” All in the familyAmanda: “I loved Wendy's discussion about building a breeding program and having the ability to try different things and having maybe a critical mass of dogs. One of the things I think a lot of people in today's breeding world struggle with is not having the ability to have that many dogs. For whatever reasons they live in the suburbs or they just can't keep that many dogs or whatever. Chris gave me some really helpful advice and she talked about working with other breeders in a family. Chris: “What we really, really are passionate about is, if we can't sell you a dog and we love this person because they have the same passion and the same commitment to the same type of dog that we have … these are people that dedicated their lives to breeding better dogs … we say we can't sell you a dog but we can lease you a dog. So our males have way more miles on them than I do. “All we can give as our gift is our dogs. (We) will share them … with like-minded people and the reason is selfish. Because those people will use that dog and those puppies will have puppies. (I)n the third generation we will see something we love. We then ask them to do the same thing for us and we borrow that dog back and we incorporate … into our breeding program and they just click.” Developing a planAmanda: “It's about having access to a larger gene pool and it's about having access to a larger number of dogs. I think for newer breeders (it’s) about developing an eye. You know if you are in a breed where there's lower numbers, or whatever the case may be, developing your eye can sometimes be a difficult thing. You just see the ones that are yours and maybe go (to) the national once a year, look at pictures on Facebook. But that's not the same thing as looking at puppies and evaluating and sharing information about what worked and what didn't work and the trial and error pieces of it that Wendy talked about. When you have great friends, you can share in their journey as well as in yours. And learn as much from what they've done and what's worked for them. Chris: “You can't drive to Halifax unless you have a map if you've not been there before. It's no different in breeding dogs. All you need is a plan. If...

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Planning Your "Family" of Dogs: Style and HealthOur topic is breeding. With an emphasis on planning your family of dogs. The question: is consistency of style more important than consistency of health and/or quality? How do you get to your desired goals? Today's guests are Amanda Kelly, Wendy Paquette and Chris Heartz. Wendy: "Coming from a background of Shih tzu, that were only recognized in United States in 1969, I didn't have much choice when I first started my breeding program. Living in northern Ontario, the only way I could buy a female was to import two from England 'cause they were just not available. Luckily I came across https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/28-luc-boileau-westminster-winner-master-breeder-and-akc-judge-2/ (Luc Boileau) in Montreal who was showing English imported dogs at the time. So I was able to take my English import and breed it to one of Luc's dogs. But that left me sort of in a quandary because I had nowhere else to go after that. So I basically started out breeding type to type. "Consistency of type was a goal, but health and welfare, to me, is a major factor. If you don't have health and welfare you don't have quality and type either." 

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“Doggedly” Pursuing Preservation of Purebred DogsHost Laura Reeves and Denise Flaim, author of “Doggedly: Musings on the Breeding, Judging and P [caption id="attachment_8173" align="alignleft" width="242"] Author, Editor, Breeder, Judge Denise Flaim.[/caption] reservation of Purebred Dogs,” cover a lot of ground in their own musings on these topics. What do respect, breed standards, judging, cooking, jazz music, period furniture, museums have in common? Listen in to this wide-ranging and challenging discussion. “It's a real kind of buffet of ideas about dogs,” Flaim said. “A lot of times we talk about individual dogs and a lot of times we talk about very specific surface things but not as often as I would like do we talk about the ideas and the thoughts behind them. The thing I really am most proud about this book is, if you're somebody who really is into dogs in more than a surface way, Pat Trotter said that she read it, she's up all night. So I think of it as the book that keeps Pat Trotter awake at night.” "Doggedly" is available at http://www.revodanapublishing.com/ (www.revodanapublishing.com). Use the code PUREDOGTALK for $5 off on on any book.  

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Gayle Watkins on Educating Breeders AND BuyersDr. Gayle Watkins of https://www.avidog.com/ (Avidog) and host Laura Reeves talk about the importance of educating both breeders and puppy buyers. “We have to take step back,” Watkins said, “and realize how complicated our world is and how UNobvious it is, to even smart people that aren't engaged with us, and help people understand and honestly for us to distinguish what really is important and what isn't important... “Let's say you would like a 50- to 60-pound active sporting breed. You don't care about color and what pops up (in an online search)? Both the German Wirehaired Pointer and the Golden Retriever, which is so wrong,” Watkins said. “So, finding a way to guide people in a more sophisticated way, in a way that you understand and I understand, the buyer doesn't understand. They don't know because they think of (dogs) as cars. They just come in different colors … but those of us who breed know that those cars are very, very different. There's a whole big difference between a Maserati and a Volkswagen Beetle. (Even though they are the) same color and about the same size and they can only carry two passengers.” In order to facilitate outreach and education of both ends of the dog purchase, breeders and buyers, Watkins has joined forces with https://www.gooddog.com/ (Good Dog), a sort of match making service for the general public. “We need people breeding dogs,” Watkins added. “So, if we have people who are interested in breeding dogs and doing it perhaps not to the level we would like to see, what's better? Run them out or raise them up? “We have to find a way to engage people more in producing quality pet dogs. The hobby breeders are going to continue in their sport and they're going to continue to get championships and things like that, but we need more people who are trying to produce lovely pets…” With an estimated 8-9 million replacement dogs needed just in the U.S. annually, as previous guests on Pure Dog Talk have https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/akc-dog-registration-trend-reversal/ (noted), hobby breeders simply cannot meet the demand. “How do we find those breeders, develop those breeders, lift those breeders up so we can keep playing the games that we love to play,” Watkins asks? “Because we're not going to be able to, in my opinion, if we don't change something. The laws, the legislatures, the government… the animal rights activists, they're pretty successful now with adopt, don’t shop. We have got to find a way to fight them. “I strongly believe we cannot fight animal rights if we divide each other. And boy we’re good at dividing. There's got to be a bigger voice and I think that voice needs to be young, technologically sophisticated and able to make enough money to fight for us. In the world that we live in, in purebred dogs, making money is anathema… and that has not gotten us to a very good place in defending our right to breed. “I think what we did when we were attacked by the animal rights people is we said ‘oh we don't make money doing this.’ That became our defense. That became our value. In doing that, it sets us up for failure on so many levels. It costs a lot of money to raise good puppies. If we don't have the money to do our job well, now we're opening ourselves up to attack from that perspective. (I think) we didn't have the confidence or we didn't have the backing or we didn't have the organization to say ‘hey, you know, Mercedes makes a really nice car.’ It's not that you can't make money and do a great job. You can do both of those things. But if you make a puppy into a commodity, where one is the same as the other, right now you're going to run into a problem. So, I think that value is one we have to overcome and then we have got to figure out a way to open our eyes to what's changed in the world.” Amongst the very first episodes on Pure Dog Talk were interviews with Watkins on puppy whelping and raising. These remain some of our most...

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“From the Mouths of Babes”: Learn From YouthThe dog world is frequently seen as “eating its own” – in other words scaring away new folks who are trying to learn. So, I decided to try learning from the new people. I talked to exhibitors who are just getting started, what gave them encouragement to become involved and stay involved. This is the second of these conversations. You can listen to the first one https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/dog-shows-through-the-eyes-of-newbies-pure-dog-talk/ (here). Today we talk with Emily Wright, Jessica Deardorff and Justus Lucey, folks from all across the country, all across breeds, all across ages. I hope these people are the future of our sport, because it will be in good hands. [caption id="attachment_8146" align="alignleft" width="300"] Emily Wright and her Berger Picard Sketchbook Over and Out, Roger[/caption] Emily Wright: We call it Team Sketchbook. We approach it as a team. (Liz Hansen) has made herself incredibly available and that’s a special kind of thing. That's the best thing I can say for people who are long-term breeders or professional handlers or whatever it is. Making yourself available and then not making people feel stupid …try to keep your eye rolls on the down low because I've not come from any kind of (dog) background or anything like that. (I’m) studying all of those things and now learning how to put the best of this dog together with the best of that dog and … these breedings and those pedigrees … it's just so cool to be able to carry on … Justus Lucey: I count anyone who had taught me something valuable and taken some time to teach me a mentor … I haven't really had a lot of bad experiences, other than you know there will always be those few that don't want you to succeed. You have to have thick skin sometimes and surround yourself with the ones that are sincere and honest with you and happy for you. [caption id="attachment_8145" align="alignright" width="300"] Jessica Deardorff and Hawk von Nadar with his breeder, Ash Nadar[/caption] Jessica Deardorff: Honestly, I wish clubs modeled more after horse clubs. In horses you buy a pony and you get membership … and off you go. You show, you get medals. The barrier to entry is very low … if you want to join a dog club, you really don't just buy a dog and send a membership in. I really feel that clubs could do so much more to not just educate dog fanciers but just the general public … I really think if that model was followed you see the little shift in dog ownership in education. Justus: The dog people can learn so much from the horse people. I also think that the horse people can learn so much from the dog people. I think that there's very similar principles. I find that at the horse shows, at the barrel races, the sportsmanship is outstanding. Even if the big winning horse at the time has a total failure of a day, the rider is always so nice. Great sportsmanship to everyone else. I find that dog people can be a little more grumpy. Emily: I was super heavily involved with rescue. And I was super on board with adopt don't shop and now I see the error in my ways because both of them are very valid … in my performance events my rescues weren't cutting the mustard, frankly. I adore my rescue (but) that was one of the big things that changed (my mind) and then another part of it was the health … I think about how much I spent on my rescues at the vet. I'm like well if I'd spent on a well-bred dog … and I just see how many of my friends rescues have died early deaths.

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Mastitis: Causes, Prevention and TreatmentDr. Marty Greer joins us for our Veterinary Voice. We’re talking about mastitis in lactating bitches. This infection can come on fast and furious with no warning. In some cases, it can be minor, in others life-threatening. Enjoy an excerpt here: MG: Mastitis is inflammation or infection of the mammary glands, most commonly associated with a female that's nursing her puppies or recently nursing puppies. It can occur occasionally, not very often, associated with a false pregnancy or some other causes. But most commonly we see it in the mom dog that's just had a litter of puppies and for whatever reason there's developed an inflammation or an infection. LR: So what are those common causes? What do you see? Do you see it most frequently when you've just started to wean the litter? Do you see it (while) puppies are nursing? MG: Sometimes it's a litter with a small number of puppies and there's not enough puppies nursing to keep the mammary glands from engorging and becoming infected. Most of the time it's a bacterial infection that just spontaneously happens … you need to keep the whelping box and the area that the female is in really clean to try to prevent it, but I've seen it occur in places where I know that it's impeccably clean. The most common bacteria that we see are either the bacteria in the GI tract or… the ones that we usually see in the bitch’s own environment… so it can just happen that for some reason they send up into the mammary gland. It can be associated with trauma but most of the time it just spontaneously happens. Early mastitis can be a little bit tricky … so we look at every mammary gland. We express the milk out of every gland. Sometimes we’ll have to look at it under the microscope … many times it kind of slaps you in the face, it’s not that hard to see … when you walk in the room and everything was good when she went to bed, you get up the next morning and you see one big red hot swollen gland that's not a diagnostic challenge. It can occur in more than one gland, so it just depends on exactly how it initiates and what the source of the problem is. LR: So, then my next question continuing in the process of we don't really know what causes it do you see this run in families or breeds? Once you've seen it in an individual are you more likely to see it in that individual again? MG: Most of the literature says that it is not a familial or a breed specific trait… Most of the time it's just a one and done. The other thing is that you need to be just really vigilant. I think once you've seen it once you're probably a little bit more hyper vigilant. … mastitis can be very mild or it could be very serious. We can see a form of gangrenous mastitis caused by certain kinds of bacteria that is really, really nasty. Necrotizing mastitis. Fortunately, it's not common. I've had one case of it and I've seen a couple of others from other veterinarians. Those do require surgical excision of the abnormal tissue and in those cases gangrenous really means that the gland or multiple glands will just absolutely turn black and there's a very clear line where the tissue is normal, and the tissue is abnormal. So, it's not particularly difficult surgically to determine where you need to take tissue and where you need to leave it. But those are the only ones that I'll typically take to surgery. Most of the other mastitis cases, even if they tend to abscess open and leave a bit of a tissue gap, I usually don't close those surgically or remove any tissue surgically unless literally that tissue is black. In those cases, yes, surgery has to be done to save the bitch’s life. LR: What other precautions? Do you recommend antibiotics prophylactically? MG: We don't prophylactically use antibiotics on our bitches. What you do, if you do that, is just end up making more resistant bacterial disease if it does develop. Basically, keeping the whelping box clean. Keeping the bitch clean...

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Auntie Laura Takes on Social Media BullyingWe're going to talk a little something today. This is going to be a little bit of vintage Auntie Laura. We're going to roll out a little bit of carrot and the stick. A little bit of whoop ass. Because there's things going on in our world that need addressing. We're going to talk about bullying and we're going to talk about burnout … I have a special guest I'm going to bring on here shortly. But first I'm going to start with a little bit of a story. … I was that kid. In elementary school. I was that kid that the boys at the bus stop stole my Wonder Woman lunchbox and threw it under the bus. I was that kid. I was bullied because I was different. I was bullied because I was a girl. I was bullied because I reacted to it. I learned and I turned into an angry little kid. If somebody tried to bully me, I kicked them or I bit them. I was a horrible child. It has taken me a long time to learn about life and to learn how to deal with some of these things … one of the things that I've learned over time is that bullies need one of two things or both. They need attention and they need oxygen. If you don't give it to them, they go away. So, in the microcosm of the world in general, in the midst of shut down when everybody is stressed out and freaked out, we come to the microcosm of dog shows where everybody is really stressed out and freaked out. And then we throw in a little social media and it gets a little carried away. Dale Martenson is going to help me. He's going to be the voice of reason, 'cause I can get a little hot under the collar on this topic. So, we’re going to talk today about some very specific ways that we can deal with properly harnessing our frustrations. Properly using social media. And just basically dialing it back a notch. Dog shows, when I started … a kid that had been bullied my whole young life… dog shows and dog people and the dog community are where I found acceptance. I found family and I found peace and I found an opportunity to grow and excel that I did not have elsewhere… I was brought into the tribe and into the fold and accepted and nurtured and raised up. I believe that we have now lost our way. Find a positive instead of looking for someone to tear down. Instead of looking for someone to trash who doesn't agree with you. Instead of looking for a fight. Go find something good to do with your time and be better than the bullies. Compassion and kindness and thoughtfulness … those are the things that our world needs … I really, really, really mean it you guys. This is not how we act. A point of clarification for the peanut gallery. Having an opinion and even expressing said opinion do not constitute bullying. The line is crossed when individuals start name-calling and even threaten reprisals against those with whom they do not agree or have expressed differing opinions. Learn more about social media bullying and what you can do if you are the target here: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/bullying-and-cyberbullying.htm (https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/bullying-and-cyberbullying.htm)  

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WHAT Are Rare Breeds and WHY are They Rare[caption id="attachment_8016" align="alignleft" width="225"] Susi Szeremy, working media at Westminster Kennel Club, with BIS winner GSP, CJ.[/caption] Susi Szeremy, founder of https://nationalpurebreddogday.com/ (National Purebred Dog Day), joins host Laura Reeves to talk rare breeds, the #NPDD Photo Contest and celebrating our purebred dogs on May 1. Enjoy this excerpt of our fun and fascinating conversation. Click the play button to hear all the details in the podcast. “What is a rare breed and why is it rare,” Szeremy asks. “I suppose that rareness is determined by our experiences … I recently observed that if you and I have never seen an example of a breed, given all of our travels at dog shows, it's either because it really is a very rare breed or it's a working breed that hasn't experienced a push for recognition amongst more established registries. Low Numbers or No Exposure“For example, there is a Blue Lacy. There is a kelpie. I've not seen either of them because they don't belong to any registry that I'm aware of. There's not a push to get them recognized, but it doesn't mean they don't exist. In fact, the Blue Lacy is the state dog for Texas. It’s a very cool dog, named after the Lacy family, not because it's like blue lace, but it is a wicked working dog and so is the Kelpie. Unless I hightail it down to Texas or Australia, I'm unlikely to see either of these dogs anytime soon. Conversely, I find it interesting that just four years ago the AKC put out an article entitled ‘11 rare dog breeds you never knew existed’ … I know I've seen every one of those breeds. They are considered rare according to this article. What I consider rare is something that I've never seen. Vulnerable breeds“I think it's a perfect storm of different elements. Now, I make a distinction between what breeds are vulnerable in the UK and what breeds are vulnerable here. In the UK, there are 13 breeds that are coming in at 100 registrations as of 2019. That is in their country of origin. That's how they make it on that list, if that was their country of origin and they have fewer than 300 registrations each year, in the UK they are considered a dog that cannot sustain itself moving forward unless they get over that 300 mark. And there's 13 of them. I think the worst number that I saw in 2019 belonged to the Irish red and white setter and that only had 39. The Otterhound, I think surprisingly, came up a little better at 44. But worldwide there's maybe 800 Otterhounds, which I don't understand because it is a scruffy wonderful dog. Yeah, we don't hunt otters anymore, but in my opinion an Otterhound can be repurposed… to track and trail. Too much Choice or No Choice...“So far as why I think this is happening to some breeds, I think among the reasons is too much choice and no choice. Let me explain. We're getting more and more breeds known to the public. So there's more choices for them to pick from if they go to a breeder. However, the adopt don’t shop and rescue world has had its impact. So if you're vulnerable to feeling the guilt that you must adopt and you must rescue then your choices are very limited because I don't think you're probably going to find a rescue Azawakh. Societal changes“I think size is not all of it because I think a lot of people are inclined to say 'well the dogs are very big and people don't want big dogs anymore.' Yet the King Charles spaniel, 93 dogs in the UK last year were registered, and that's a small dog. It's a marvelous dog. I think the culture has changed as well. We are living in more urban settings. We’re closer together, so a hound that bays is probably not going to be appreciated by our neighbor. “We don't hunt as much … so we have less land … we live on less land and there is less land available to people to hunt on. People I think are vulnerable, if they don't do their homework, they see a dog on TV or in the movies that they fall in love with because the...

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Protecting Diversity and Sharing Quality in Rare BreedsHost Laura Reeves is joined by two of North America’s most successful breeders of rare and threatened breeds, Amanda Kelly, Fwaggle Toy Manchester Terriers and Dawne Deeley, TsarShadow Karelian Bear Dogs. These two talented women share their insights, perspectives and guiding principles in preserving their breeds and moving forward into the future. Diversity not division[caption id="attachment_8008" align="alignleft" width="199"] Amanda Kelly[/caption] “One of the things I personally really hold as a strong belief when it comes to breeding is that diversity of opinion and action within our breeds is what really protects the diversity in our breed,” Kelly said. “So, all of that to say that the fact that I'm doing what I think is right and you're doing what you think is right is what's important. It doesn't matter if those are the same things. In fact, it's probably more important that we’re all doing different things. Being able to accept that there's a thousand ways to skin a cat, for lack of a better example, is a really important thing when you're working in a rare breed. You have to appreciate the fact that there is more than one road that can be traveled. “One of the advantages of having been around for a really long time is that you know who everyone is and you know who likes who and who doesn't like who and … where all the skeletons are in everybody's closet. One of the things that I have found most interesting is looking back over two or three or more decades, that you're always going to have popular lines. You're going to have popular sires. And there's going to be dogs that come in and out of fashion from different lines. But when push comes to shove and you've bred yourself into a corner or there's just a lack of diversity because everyone has used the same dog, the places that you end up going are often places that were created out of a rift… you know a big hatred -- breeder X hates breeder Y and so breeder X would never have anything of breeder Y’s in her line etc etc … and not that I would ever encourage it because I think getting along is also really important, but when you look 20 years down the road and everyone who has breeder Y’s dogs are now going to breeder X with their line because that's where the diversity is….” Why Such Low Numbers?[caption id="attachment_8009" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dawne Deeley and ‘Eenokki’ dog, multi International Ch/World Winner/Nordic Winner/Finnish Winner/MBIS Can.Ch. TsarShadow’s The Berserker[/caption] “Historically (Karelians) are a very tough, single-purpose breed,” Deeley said. “In the Nordic countries up until I would say 2015, the Bear Dog was always in like the top 10 or at the very top 20 because we're talking countries with an entirely different societal MO to North America. I mean I like to joke that every Finn is born with a cell phone in one hand and a rifle in the other. And every Finn hunts. I’m not exaggerating. Everybody. The women hunt birds. The guys hunt. Every Finn I know shoots something and it’s to put meat on the table. It's their way of life. It's what they do. The Swedes aren't much different. Neither are the Norwegians. So this is a breed that was developed with a very specific purpose and it was to hunt big game. You had Finnish Spitz and finish hounds for hares and for birds. You had Bear Dogs for moose and bear. And that's all they did. So now … progress marches on and now we've got dogs that are expected to do more things. We have governments that are saying ‘no, no, you know hunting is bad. You're a horrible person if you hunt … especially in North America we have that way of thinking where ‘oh my god how could you actually shoot an animal.’ Finding the right homes“My mom always said, ‘Choose the quality of the home over the quality of the opportunity,’” Kelly said, adding that her family’s breeding program always emphasized keeping prices fair and accessible for families....

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Rare Breeds: Preservation, Promotion and Purposeful BreedingLet’s kick off a month of Pure Dog Talk conversations, insights and ideas about rare breeds, preservation, promotion and purposeful breeding of these delightful dogs. Today’s conversation is with Jennie Chen, breeder of Lowchen and Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Anna Wallace, breeder of Entlebuchers and Ian Lynch, Dandie Dinmont Terrier owner. How to acquire a rare breed dogJust acquiring a dog in a rare breed is one of the most difficult challenges, our panelists agreed. [caption id="attachment_7952" align="alignleft" width="181"] Anna Wallace and her Entlebucher[/caption] “I mean we're absolutely protective of the dogs,” Wallace said. “So we have that aspect of ‘well we can't keep them all we do have to place some of these puppies’ but we want to make sure they go into the right homes … can they benefit the breed in the long run… pets are very important because (they) become the ambassador the public sees … but we also don't want to lose too much of our breeding pool in our gene pool to dogs that are going to ultimately end up neutered … so there's a balance there and I know that's one of the reasons it's hard to break into (a rare breed). I actually broke in with a male 'cause it's always easier to get a boy.” Public education[caption id="attachment_7946" align="alignright" width="300"] Ian Lynch with his Dandie Dinmont Terrier[/caption] Reaching the general public with information about our lesser known breeds is critical, especially younger people. “I think a lot of times of millennials are kind of going back to our roots in a lot of ways,” Lynch said. “Like the farm to table eating, what's old is new, what used to be called hand me downs is now called vintage clothing. I think a lot of people are really interested in history and I really liked the idea of being able to help a breed that needed a hand. I mean they say this in a lot of ways, that you could go to a shelter and you can save one dog or you can buy a rare breed, an endangered species. and save a whole breed of dog, the whole history of this dog can be saved.”Social media[caption id="attachment_7947" align="alignleft" width="300"] Jennie Chen with her Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and Lowchen.[/caption] Social media, particularly Instagram, including Facebook and Twitter, are great resources for reaching potential new owners. Our panelists agreed that young folks buy from social media and we need to reach potential owners where they are. “I actually started in social media a little bit by accident,” Chen said. “'cause when I got my first greater Swiss mountain dog, I studied psychology and I'm all into early neurological stimulation early neurological training critical periods, I started Keep Austin Dog Friendly… it is a list of restaurants in Austin TX where you could take your dog … I would go take my dogs out and I still do that today for socialization, for training and all that sort of stuff, and that website got really, really big … my dog became the face of Keep Austin dog friendly… the website is still up … I even turned one of our website events into (my dog’s) birthday party … I use Instagram now quite a bit. A lot of my homes… create an Instagram specifically for the dog. I don't have to get photos via email, they’re available all the time on my phone.” Listen to the podcast for more insights, ideas and guidance from our outstanding panelists.

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Veterinary Voice: Progesterone Timing for Pregnancy SuccessDr. Marty Greer and host Laura Reeves talk about progesterone, that wonderful chemical inside our girl dogs’ bodies that tells us so much. Knowing progesterone levels is imperative for not only getting the bitches pregnant, but also keeping them pregnant. “It's really important from the beginning of the heat cycle to know when ovulation occurred,” Greer said, “because we know bitches are pregnant 63 days plus or minus 24 hours. Normal pregnancy is not 58 to 72 days like we've been told for many decades prior to the time that we could do progesterone testing.”“Get her pregnant and unpregnant by doing progesterone testing at the beginning of the breeding,” Greer said.

Veterinary Village LLC/ICSB-WI/IL N11591 Columbia Drive Lomira WI 53048 Phone 920-269-4072 Fax 920-269-2345 veterinaryvillage.com      vv@k9stork.com Client handout regarding infertility: Why isn't my female pregnant? What can I do about it? You did your homework – and have the perfect bitch, in her best condition and found the ideal male to mate her to. Both of them have passed all of the health clearances recommended for your breed. They have the temperaments you are looking for and their traits are complimentary to one another. You know the most common causes of apparent or actual pregnancy failure are: Poorly timed breedings Poor semen quality and/or quantity. Failure to maintain a pregnancy

Timing the breeding: The timing of the breeding, based on progesterone levels (bred 2 to 3 days post-ovulation depending on semen type used), was just right. Most veterinarians recommend breeding 2 days after ovulation with fresh and fresh chilled shipped semen and 3 days with frozen semen. Ovulation is assumed to occur when the progesterone reaches 5 ng/dl (different units are used in other countries) with a range of 4 to 10 ng/dl. LH testing is also done in some clinics. LH, Luteinizing hormone, directly indicates ovulation, while progesterone is an estimation of ovulation. Progesterone is easier to measure and test as it can be done every few days, using human technology. LH requires daily testing and is canine specific. Semen quality and quantity: You know the stud dog had good quality and quantity semen – there was a semen analysis completed prior to shipping the semen. Your vet looked at it prior to inseminating your bitch and said the semen looked great, based on the sperm count (for a Bernese Mountain dog, the count should be 1 billion total), the morphology (shape and appearance of each sperm cell) and motility (how active and progressively motile it was on a microscopic evaluation). Yet, she is not pregnant. Why? And if you try to breed her again, what can you do differently to improve the chances she will carry a litter to term? First, we need to determine if she failed to conceive, failed to achieve fetal/placental implantation, or conceived and lost the litter. If you don't have her ultrasounded, you won't know if she failed to conceive or failed to maintain the pregnancy. A relaxin test or palpation is not adequate – these do not assess for fetal viability. This information is big piece of the puzzle. When you are trying to justify the decision to do an ultrasound, this is the best reason to do so – this is not the place to scrimp. If the ultrasound shows no pregnancy, and the semen and timing were good, then causes for failure to conceive or failure for fetuses to implant should be explored. These include: Was there a Semen quality assessment?Was the sperm count low? Was there abnormal semen morphology? Was the semen stained and assessed by a veterinarian? Was there poor semen motility? The semen needs to be progressively normal. Was there poor semen longevity? Holding a small sample of semen in extended in the refrigerator and reassessing it 24 and 48 hours later can be useful.

Was there timing failure? This is a good time to...

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New Dog Breeders Offer Hope for the FuturePurebred dogs need more, new, young breeders. This is the consensus opinion of our top experts in the field. Preserving our breeds and encouraging more participation in our sports requires the energy and enthusiasm of youth. So, I reached out to the Pure Dog Talk listener community to find some of these folks. This was my conversation with Sam and Curtis Brown about the breeding program they are developing in Bull Terriers (bonus, a teaser for our “rare breeds month” in April!). This was an outstanding conversation that gave me hope for the future. Enjoy the podcast! A couple excerpts are below. Continue striving for betterCurtis: “I'm the one with the puppies all day and I'm the one doing multiple C-sections by myself, which I never would have seen myself doing, and delivering puppies. So, it's difficult in that aspect. But when it comes right down to why we continue to breed, for me is there's two reasons. “The joy on the faces of the families when we get to send companion puppies home with them has always been a remarkable thing. Companion puppies that people just love forever. Our Delicious bull terrier family of everybody who we sent puppies to follows us on Facebook and continuously post pictures of their dogs as they grow and we get to kind of see them grow. “You’re like ‘well maybe we should have kept that one in hindsight,’ maybe next time we’ll think of it differently before we put it in a pet home. But as we go on and as we continue to breed obviously we want to continue to breed better dogs … even if we have an amazing dog or an amazing bitch like the one who we just had win the grand futurity at our Silverwood show this past year … we still want to continue to strive to breed better dogs, not only for our breed but for the betterment of our breed. … preservation breeding, continuing to do things and enhance the breed the best that we can, not just in type but the temperaments and everything. “So that's why I think when we continue to breed. Not just take … that one dog and then just run it until you win Westminster … or whatever the case may be. We have to continue to create the next best thing. … we go to the Silverwood specialty show and a lot of people are showing dogs that we've seen in the ring many, many years over and we're the ones there with all of these young puppies …” Family affair Sam: “It's an incredible journey … you're going to make some concessions in your personal life. Mostly sleep … but you're also going to go all over the world you're going to meet incredible people … we have friends that are closer than our extended family in dogs. … when you're breeding you know you're really doing something that's very special. It's not only special to you, but it's special for those families that are going to be getting dogs from you …“…it's great for kids … we do everything as a family. We go to the shows as a family. We raise the puppies as a family. We do the chores as a family. It is something that a family can do, that's not in an agricultural area. You can raise a litter of puppies in the suburbs, it's not a big deal … it's something that you can sort of instill some of those 4H type lessons into your kids. We always advocate for responsible breeding … but I think it's a positive thing and it's definitely a family thing, at least for us, that everybody can be involved in. My kids, they've bottle fed puppies and they clean up after dogs. I think that's really important stuff when it comes to our sport. I heard Pat Trotter say at one point ‘You know it's great to run around to get ribbons but someone's gotta be doing the cleaning up and the breeding’ and that's kind of where we're at with it.”  

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Bugs are Coming! Safe Products for Breeding Dogs + CoronavirusDr. Marty Greer brings her pragmatic Veterinary Voice to the topic of Coronavirus and what products are safe to use for flea, tick and heartworm prevention in breeding dogs. COVID-19 is not currently believed to be communicable between humans and dogs. Coronavirus is a general term for a shape of a virus and encompasses a variety of viral infections in many species. For more information on recommendations regarding veterinary care during this outbreak, click https://www.foxrothschild.com/publications/coronavirus-response-plans-for-veterinary-practices/ (here). As spring brings the reemergence of various creepy, crawly parasites that affect our dogs, Greer provides in-depth information about which products are safe for use on dogs in our breeding programs, including brood bitches and stud dogs over the course of time, as well as bitches in whelp. Greer said, “I think it's really appropriate for us to stick to the EPA and FDA approved drugs that we know have been tested and safe in breeding animals. So, for instance, Bravecto says there were no clinically relevant treatment-related effects on body weights, food consumption, reproductive performance, semen analysis, litter data, gross necropsy or Histology findings in adults and puppies. So we need to be looking for that kind of language on a label before we go slapping things on or popping things into our dogs … I just want to be perfectly clear for what products have or have not been tested. "So there's three basic categories of flea and tick medications. There's the collar, there's the topical, the oil that goes over the back of the neck or down the back and there's the tablets or the chewables. So there are the three general categories and of those three there's no collar …. labeled for that use in breeding dogs … the topicals, some are definitely labeled and some are not definitely labeled. …if it says like Frontline says safe for breeding, pregnant and lactating dogs and cats, then it's safe. If it doesn't say that you shouldn't use it. It needs to be clear. And if we look at the oral there's …. three oral medications that are not labeled for use in breeding animals. Bravecto is labeled for use in breeding animals. So we need to be really, really clear that we're looking at the labels or reading the instructions and we're thinking at eight weeks of age, what is the this dog’s future, not just is she pregnant right now, but what is her future.” Product Active Ingredients Purpose/Effective Against Minimum Age/Weight Pregnant/Nursing/Male Heartworm         Advantage Multi for Dogs Imidacloprid and moxidectin Flea, louse, heartworm, hookworm, whipworm, roundworm and mange. Topical every 30 days 7 weeks/3lbs Safety not established. Advantage Multi for Cats Imidacloprid and moxidectin Ear mites, flea, heartworm, hookworm and roundworm. Topical every 30 days 9 weeks/2 lbs Safety not established. Heartgard Plus Ivermectin,Pyrantel pamoate Heartworm, roundworms & hookworms Tablet every 30 days 6 weeks Safe in pregnant or breeding bitches, stud dogs Heartgard Ivermectin Dog: Heartworm. Tablet every 30 daysCat: Heartworm and hookworm. Tablet every 30 days 6 weeks Safe Interceptor Milbemycin oxime Heartworm, hookworm, whipworm, roundworm. Every 30 days Dog: 4 weeks/2 lbsCat: 6 weeks/1.5lbs Dogs: SafeCat: Not established Interceptor Plus Milbemycin oxime and praziquantel tablet Heartworm, roundworm (Toxocara canis, Toxascaris leonina), adult hookworm (Ancylostoma caninum), adult whipworm (Trichuris vulpis), and adult tapeworm (Taenia pisiformis, Echinococcus multilocularis and Echinococcus granulosus) Tablet every 30 days Dogs and puppies 2 pounds of body weight or greater and 6 weeks of age and older. SafeNot evaluated in breeding, pregnant or lactating dogs. Only milbemycin has been studied and is safe. Iverhart Max Ivermectin,Pyrantel pamoate,...

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Pugs: Mischievous and Charming Companions CAN WorkThree long-time breeders join host Laura Reeves to talk about all things Pugs. Kim Langlands, Brenda Belmonte and Patti Kolesar Stoltz share the joy of Pug dogs, their companionship, their functionality, their snoring and their health. Ancient history[caption id="attachment_7742" align="alignleft" width="225"] Patti Kolesar Stoltz[/caption] “The exact origin of our breed is actually lost in antiquity,” Kolesar Stoltz said. “What we do know is that the Pug is of Chinese origin … he was known in the Orient as early as 700 BC … the breed was developed as one of three short faced dogs bred in China for the Imperial court … it's believed that the Pug found his way to the western world via Dutch merchant traders … because when people from the Western world, at that time, would go to China and conquer, they would bring back presents for their Royals. Pugs were one of the presents that they brought back and they became the favored of monarchs throughout Europe. There is no doubt that the Royal patronage helped to establish the popularity of the breed. In fact, Pug dogs were twice the most popular breed in Europe, in the late 1600s and during the Victorian era… the wonderful thing about Pugs being so popular in the Victorian era is we can visually follow our breed through history because it was very often the favorite subject depicted in many forms of art -- early paintings, sculptures, porcelains, so we can follow his history … the breed has a wonderful temperament. They make ideal companions. We were admitted to the American Kennel Club in 1885. We are the largest of the toy breeds and we are one of the most mischievous, also the most fun. And we still remain dignified loving and trusting of everybody.” Myth busting[caption id="attachment_7745" align="alignright" width="242"] Brenda Belmonte[/caption] It's a pervasive myth that these flat nose breeds can't breathe normally, Belmonte noted, therefore they can't do normal things. “It's unfair to our breed to just assume that because it's a Pug it's unhealthy,” Belmonte added, noting her work with the breed in nosework, agility and obedience. “I think the general public needs to hear that and they need to see what our pugs can do so that we can combat this belief that, ‘Oh my gosh our pugs are unhealthy,’ that’s very, very far from the fact. As a [caption id="attachment_7740" align="alignleft" width="300"] Belmonte's pug competing in nosework.[/caption] breeder and somebody who's been in the breed a long time, I truly believe that good breeders have the best interest of their dog’s health at heart. So yes, it's about being a good, responsible breeder and it's about knowing that these dogs can breathe normally and they can do the things other dogs can do.” Healthy habitsLanglands observed that, although the breed has evolved as time has gone on, the brachycephalic dogs were never intended to run marathons. [caption id="attachment_7743" align="alignright" width="300"] Kim Langlands[/caption] “This is a breed (that is) more than capable of doing agility and other performance events and going out and being good little happy pets and going for walks,” Langlands said. “They’re as healthy as people want them to be and take care of them to be. If you take good care of your dog, you're going to have a happy healthy pet … and that includes taking care of their teeth, their nose roll, their weight. I mean the weight is a huge issue.” Color questionsKolesar Stoltz, who heads up education for the Pug Dog Club of America, reminds our audience that pugs come in fawn or black. Period. “Fawn has various shades of real light blonde to what we call an apricot fawn, which has got a very, very pale, pale orange tinge to it… the fawn dogs also have black guard hairs … the fawn dogs all have black masks and black hairs and usually black in their head wrinkle. The black dogs are black … black can be various shades of black depending on if your...

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Judges Share View from the Center of the Ring[caption id="attachment_7733" align="alignleft" width="240"] The Prairie Christmas Dog Show judging panel on "pajama day"...[/caption] These judges share their 411 stories and their views from the center of the ring. This is part one of two from our panel discussion at the Prairie Christmas Dog Show in Regina, Saskatchewan. Our panelists share common paths to involvement with purebred dogs. Frances Smith talks about family connections and, bonus, the story of transporting Yorkshire Terriers from England to Argentina by ship. Obedience competition that started with a mixed breed dog brought obedience judge Diana McKenzie to purebred dogs. Sue-Ellen Rempel talks about coming to dogs from horses. You only get one chance to make a first impression and these panelists agree it really is a critical piece to judging. “I want to see type, quality, balance, and to know a dog is a dog, a bitch is a bitch,” Smith said. Rempel agreed, noting outline, angles and breed type are her first look.McKenzie added that she wants to see that each handler-dog team to be a really a team. Making the picture becomes a critical piece of success, as each judge has a picture in their mind of a “perfect” one of each breed. Essentials of type“Many people don’t exactly know what type is,” Smith observed. “Type is the essence of a breed. It’s what makes each breed unique and different from another.” Smith’s clear and concise definition of the six factors of type is magical. The six elements that define each breed: head, color, size/measurement, temperament, coat, movement.“Movement is breed specific. Temperament is type,” Smith said. Applying breed type to obedience performances, McKenzie offered a fascinating perspective. “With different breeds in obedience competition, you still have breed type,” McKenzie said. “Different dogs sit differently and at different speeds, for example. How straight they are affects score. Just because you’re fast doesn’t mean you’re going to be good. Sometimes slower workers are more precise workers.”  

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Beauceron: Rustic Farm Dog and Living FenceOur Love the Breeds panel discusses Beauceron, the ancient French farm dog described as a “living fence” in their native country. [caption id="attachment_7723" align="alignleft" width="300"] Beauceron may be shown with cropped or uncropped ears. This is a litter with dam at center bred by Elaine Giannelli.[/caption] According to breeder Elaine Giannelli, in France, the Shepherd would go out to the field with his sheep and the Beauceron would go out like a fence and keep the sheep where they were supposed to be while they grazed … “The Beauceron was a farm dog so he did a lot of things besides just move the sheep… he would take the sheep out during the day to graze, move them to another graze and then bring them back home and then protect the farm in the evening,” said third-generation French breeder Eric Vavassori. [caption id="attachment_7727" align="alignright" width="300"] Beauceron were developed more than 600 years ago to serve as rustic farm dogs and a "living fence" to move stock to new pastures and keep them where they belonged.[/caption] Moving sheep and cattle required a substantial, hardy dog, the panelists noted. The Beauceron stands up to 27 ½” tall and is considered a stronger, lower key type of dog than the German Shepherd Dog or Malinois. “They definitely have an activity level,” Beauceron owner Sidney Wilcox said, “but they're not manic … they're not a Border Collie, they're not constantly go go go go go go go go go …. they don't have the focus, the intenseness of a Border Collie or [caption id="attachment_7724" align="alignleft" width="196"] Panelist Sidney Wilcox and her harlequin Beauceron.[/caption] Malinois, but they are high-energy with a sense of humor.” New Beauceron fancier Sara Reid agrees. “Never laugh at a Beauceron! They’ll just keep doing whatever made you laugh.” The Beauceron was accepted in AKC’s registry in 2007, but the history of the breed dates back centuries. “They say that when the French settled in Louisiana that they brought a couple Harlequins with them,” Giannelli said, “and that's where the Catahoula (Leopard Dog) got (the merle gene)… that was from way, way back when the French first came to Louisiana.” [caption id="attachment_7726" align="alignright" width="300"] Panelist Sara Reid with her Beauceron, Misha.[/caption] The breed has a strong personality, the panelists observed. It needs firm, fair and consistent training and above average amounts of socializing, they noted. “Temperament could be an issue,” Vavassori said. “Why? Because a long time ago, the Beauceron was a farm dog and he was on the farm only for protect the family and for manage the sheep. So, the dog was not socialized. The dogs must be socialized early, early by the Breeders and after by the owners, more than German Shepherd or Labrador…” [caption id="attachment_7725" align="alignleft" width="200"] Beauceron feature double dew claws on their rear feet, as do their close relative, the Briard.[/caption] A healthy breed, the Beauceron is generally long-lived by large breed standards, with a strong worldwide population. Learn more http://www.beauce.org/ (here).  

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Healthy, Happy Travels to Westminster Kennel ClubDr. Marty Greer provides thorough and thoughtful advice for keeping your dog healthy and happy on the way and at the big show. Preparing the DogEnter the dog. Assure the entry has been accepted. Arrange travel. Have an appropriate travel bag or crate, depending on if the dog will travel in the cabin under your seat or in cargo, with or without you on the airplane. Do NOT try to pass the dog off as an “ESA” – Emotional Support Animal if this dog is not certified as such. There is current proposed legislation that will restrict the use of this term as it has been overused and misused by many travelers. A Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) is required for all animals crossing state lines. This applies whether you are driving or flying the dog to the destination. Most of the time, you will not be asked for this document. However, if you are without it, your travel plans may be interrupted. This must be issued by a veterinarian who is “Accredited” by USDA. Not all Veterinarians are accredited so be sure you have a veterinarian who can sign this paperwork. A current rabies certificate is also required for all dogs traveling. A “Letter of Acclimation” if the dog is flying in cargo. This will reflect the temperatures the dog has been acclimated to prior to travel. This is issued by your veterinarian. Microchip and identification collar with your current cell phone number. Anti-anxiety medication if indicated. Acepromazine and Benadryl/diphenhydramine are NOT anti-anxiety medications. Alprazolam, trazodone, or gabapentin may be suitable if indicated and prescribed by your veterinarian.

Preparing the EquipmentMake a list of the least amount of equipment and supplies you can manage with. Consider shipping these ahead to the hotel. Arrange to rent equipment Travel bag, leash and collar. A quiet toy to keep your dog busy and avoid annoying fellow travelers. Travel crate, absorbent material, leash, collar, ID, small bag of food enough for one meal, bowls (the kind that flatten are easiest) and a toy to keep your dog busy.

Preparing you!Buy tickets for admission to Westminster. Make flight arrangements. Be sure you include the dog(s) on the reservation. Make hotel reservations. Be sure you include the dog(s) on the reservation.

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363 -- Reactive Dogs: Learn to Speak “Dog” for Better Outcomes | Pure Dog Talk   Distance increasing and distance decreasing body language   Hard, sharp barks, showing teeth are distance increasing   Hip check is friendly, shoulder check is not   Circle wags are good   Play bows are good   Avoid threshold to reaction for best results   Some dogs don’t want to put money where their mouth is   Has dog done damage to person/dog – makes a difference as to how to approach situation   Specifically reactive/non-aggressive – causes/solutions   98% of reactivity in this case is fear based   Many dogs learn best defense is a good offense – don’t have to get in interaction that makes them scared   Lack of early socialization or had negative experience or second fear stage around 9 months, can go sideways during teenage months   Can do all the right stuff in 0-16 wks and still have 2nd fear period. It’s a real thing and it happens   Go forward process   Don’t get after the dog -- we’re embarrassed, don’t want dog to act that way … all I successfully did was stress out dog, create more fear/anxiety… don’t know what to do. Give them things to do. Take away behavior you don’t like, replace with a better one. More time focused on what to do right, decreases stress level. Try to keep out of situations they aren’t ready for yet.   If you ask them to look away from what makes them scared, it is your responsibility to protect space bubble. Otherwise degrade trust. Listen to what the dog is telling you.   High value treats – every time we saw someone I jammed treats in mouth, jamming in between barking,   Why rewarding barking?   I’m counter conditioning   See someone and turn to look at me. Changed her emotional response to stimuli, every time she saw neighbor, meant she got a treat.   Drastically reduce # of treats   None of the barking   Applicable traveling to NYC   Test stress level -- over threshold if can’t eat   High traffic, lots of noise, lots of people   Planning going in to environment   Management – how to cut down stimulation, wheel in covered crate, CBD oil, melatonin – wind down for bed calming effect, lavender oil.. drop inside each ear flap, cover crate with blanket misted with lavender oil   Tools, not cures of the root problem. Use in conjunction with resolving core issue.   Breed specific behavior.  

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Specialty vs All Breed Part 2: Identifying SolutionsOur experts are back to help us identify solutions to the dilemma of specialty versus all breed shows. Part one is available for listening https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/360-specialty-vs-all-breed-shows-pure-dog-talk/ (here). All breed shows offer a moderating influence on the extremes that can reign at specialty shows. They also enable judges and owners to see the quality of dogs presented at specialties. “The ultimate learning tool for judges is to get your hands on good dogs.”And, in a special opportunity, I had a listener contribute thoughts on this topic that I think are absolutely on point and applicable to this conversation. Welcome Tracy Dineley, Clandara Perm Reg, with her input. “I just wanted to write to you after listening to your latest podcast as this topic has been on my mind for the last few years and I myself have spoken about it many times and have also written about it.First let me give you my 411. I have been involved in purebred dogs since 1981 as a professional handler and breeder exhibitor. I have been breeding and showing Staffordshire Bull Terriers since 1984. I have bred more all breed BIS dogs than any other breeder in North America and more National Specialty winners in Canada than any other breeder. I have over 80 champions in Canada and the US.It is my opinion that showing strictly or mostly at one or the other, specialties versus all breed shows is actually detrimental to any breed. It divides a breed, usually not for the better, in two directions. In some cases, it has divided breeds to the point that they almost end up looking like two different breeds.All breed judges versus breed specialists have different priorities when judging. An all-round judge will judge the whole dog. They won't focus on one thing. They take soundness and movement into the equation. They may even refresh themselves with the breed standard.The breed specialist judge tends to focus on type or heads. They with forgive movement flaws and sometimes forgiving to the point that they will put up maybe a pretty or typey dog that is just plain unsound.  They might even focus on things that are an issue in their own breeding program. It is not always the most balanced opinion.In my breed I have found that many breed specialists will interpret the breed standard to suit themselves. For instance, the breed standard calls for a level topline, but many breeders say that level doesn't really mean level. I also find that many specialty winners cannot win at the all breed shows at a high level. I think it’s usually because they are not sound enough. Just the same as some top winning BIS winners who cannot win a Specialty. They are not typey enough.In my opinion we should all be striving to win under both judges. To have a dog that is correct and typey enough to win a specialty and sound structurally correct enough to win under all rounders at all breed shows .I think your speakers on the pod cast were perfect for this topic. I think out of the three breeds, Staffy Bulls, Collies and Bull Terriers, the Bull Terriers are the only breed that have it right. I believe you could take pretty much any specialty winning Bull Terrier and do some serious winning at the all breed shows even to BIS level.I think the possibilities of creating extremes happen on both sides and therefore are detrimental to any breed. We need balance. We should always strive for the best to be somewhere in the middle of extremes but having the best of both worlds.Thank you for your podcasts, I look forward to them every week!”   

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Specialty vs All Breed Dog ShowsIn certain breeds, the judging of breed specialists and at specialty shows draws higher entries and is of greater interest to the exhibitors than the day in, day out all-breed shows with which most of us are familiar. In part one of this panel discussion, three exhibitors and judges from some of these breeds share their thoughts about why this is so. "We wanted to take back ownership of our breed. Generic dogs were winning at all breed shows versus the details of breed type that breed specialist judges would reward."Our panelists are: [caption id="attachment_7682" align="alignleft" width="300"] David Alexander[/caption] David Alexander, Bull Terrier Breeder, [caption id="attachment_7683" align="alignleft" width="209"] Jason Nicolai[/caption] Jason Nicolai, Staffordshire Bull Terrier Breeder [caption id="attachment_7681" align="alignleft" width="300"] Marcy Fine[/caption] and Marcy Fine, Collie breeder. Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Collies are all breeds in which specialties are the holy grail and all-breed dog shows are considered less important. Take a listen to part one of this challenging conversation about the "why" and join us next week, when we talk about the solutions. My thanks to Lorelei Craig, President of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America for arranging this panel of experts.

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“Space Whippet,” Insta Celeb, Provides Social Media TipsBeth Gordon acquired a race-bred whippet after her mixed breed rescue developed IVDD (intervertebral disc disease). Kuiper the Space Whippet's rise to fame on social media provides a blueprint for others to follow in promoting purebred dogs. “I wanted a healthy dog I could do sports with. It’s ok to not want a project. We’ve spent as much as my college education on our older dog with health issues. I just didn’t want to have to do that again,” Gordon said. “I decided we needed better influencers on this new-fangled thing called https://www.instagram.com/spacewhippet/?hl=en (Instagram), Gordon said.” She wanted to do something that was informative, not just fluffy. A “space tree” in Salem, Oregon was the idea for the launch of https://www.sciencedog.org/ (Kuiper the Science Dog), https://www.facebook.com/spacewhippet/ (Space Whippet). In just a couple years, Gordon and Kuiper have acquired more than 150,000 Instagram followers and been to Kennedy Space Center for a photo shoot for the account. Utterly shameless self-promotion makes all the difference, Gordon said. “Business cards cost $20 and people love to get them.” “Even though the account name is space whippet, I get a lot of questions about his breed,” Gordon said. “I think it’s a good opportunity. The way you increase representation for anything is by showing it to people, not making a big deal out of it. “When you’ve been fed this line there’s so many rescue dogs, why don’t you have a rescue dog. My answer is that purebred dogs are not fungible with rescue dogs. If my choice was another rescue dog or no dog, I just wouldn’t get a dog. If you have specific things you want to do, you’re much better to get a breed designed for that. “The general public don’t know there’s so many things you can do with your dog. May not consider their dog is trainable. Increasing awareness of the sports they can do is so important. Purebred dogs are not just for beauty, dogs are functional,” Gordon said. Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Genetic Testing Helps You Swipe Right for Your DogToday’s dog breeders are getting a boost from the burgeoning field of genetic testing. https://www.dobermandiversityproject.org/ (Doberman Diversity Project) co-founder Sophie Liu talks about her work using advanced tools to improve genetic health issues in Doberman Pinschers. Liu was a vet student researching her next dog when she became aware of the multitude of health challenges facing Dobermans. According to the DDP website: ​OUR MISSION is to reduce the incidence of heritable diseases in the Doberman by studying and addressing the depression in the overall genetic diversity of the Doberman breed and studying and researching widespread disease-associated mutations, through comprehensive genetic testing and analysis, development and sharing of evidence-based breeding findings, development of online breeder decision-making tools, and long-term tracking of results to measure the effectiveness of varied approaches to breeding -- in terms of genetic health and longevity.Combatting DCMLiu said that a major focus of their research is geared toward reducing the incidence of Dilated Cardiomyopathy in the breed, which currently is plagued by the devastating disease, with nearly half of the breed being affected. A great deal of DDP’s research and studies are directed at developing a tool which establishes a genetic value for the risk of passing on DCM. Building on the work done by Guide Dogs for the Blind, DDP hopes to enable breeders to determine an “https://www.vet.cornell.edu/health-topics/estimated-breeding-values-ebvs (estimated breeding value)” for DCM on a pedigree and genetic basis. “This is a super powerful tool,” Liu said. “This is how guide dogs have systematically improved their breeding program.” The two genes identified to date that are associated with DCM in Dobermans are autosomal dominant, Liu said. Because the disease shows up late in a dog’s life, it can be hard to stay ahead of, she noted. Genetic testing offered through Embark at cost enables DDP to track genetic data. Study participants also update all clinical health data for the research project. Need more dogs testedLiu said that in just about two years DDP has tested more than 2,500 dogs, but they need many more. “We need more dogs tested. Affected and unaffected dogs. We need raw data and clinical updates and medical records,” Liu said. The guide dog programs’ success relies on having the advantage of huge breeding colonies that are all tested in house, she added. DDP’s relationship with Embark enables breeders to find the right balance between the inbreeding percentages needed to fix type and maintain health. Embark’s breeder tool enables people to make that decision for themselves, Liu noted, “just like Tinder for your Doberman.” “We’re finding out that the genetic bottlenecks are worse than we thought,” Liu noted. “Over 99% of Dobermans share a single paternal haplotype, in other words, one stud dog is behind nearly every Doberman tested.”The research is also turning up valuable information about the heritability of various traits – in other words, how much variation of the trait is genetic. For example, studies indicate 40 percent of fear behavior is genetic. For more on the topic of how genetics impact fear behavior, listen to Pure Dog Talk https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/testing-the-genetics-and-biological-markers-of-fear-in-dogs-pure-dog-talk/ (Episode 221). “People go to breeders for consistency,” Liu said. “The better we get at it, the better it is for everyone.”Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Soul Dog: Investigative Journalist’s Poodle JourneyEmmy award-winning investigative journalist Elena Mannes shares her story of the journey on which she embarked with her first dog, a Standard Poodle. http://mannesproductions.com/soul-dog-a-journey-into-the-spiritual-life-of-animals-new-book-by-elena-mannes/ (Soul Dog – A Journey into the Spiritual Life of Animals) chronicles Mannes’ determined quest to harness her inner dog whisperer by learning to decipher the unspoken language present in every animal-human relationship. “I brought Brio home… and it wasn’t really going according to plan. I really just thought I would get trainers and support and it wouldn’t really change my life to have a puppy,” Mannes said with a rueful chuckle. “One time, I had him in Central Park. I had started to have him off leash… he would take off and not come back when I called. I was walking backward, screaming at him to come. All of the sudden, there was no ground under me… I stepped off the edge of the boat pond and fell in…. Brio eventually came back and just stared at me.” Skeptic to believer“I felt sort of desperate. I didn’t talk dog. I heard about animal communicators, but I was a real skeptic. I’m a TV journalist, I don’t like woowoo things. “(Brio) changed me in so many ways as the years went by and the connection became so deep and really life changing for me,” Mannes said. Mannes also addressed her decision to choose a purebred dog. “I respect people who rescue, but in my situation at the time I really didn’t know enough. I had a sense of Standard Poodles that they were so smart. I was scared to death (of adding a dog to my life),” Mannes said, adding that the predictability of a purebred dog helped provide some comfort in this decision.*** Elena Mannes is a multi-award-winning independent documentary director/writer/producer as well as an author. Her first book, http://mannesproductions.com/2011/05/book-the-power-of-music-pioneering-discoveries-in-the-new-science-of-song-by-elena-mannes/ (The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song), is published by Walker Books/Bloomsbury USA (May 31, 2011). Her work has appeared on both public and commercial television. Her honors include six national Emmys, a George Foster Peabody Award, two Directors Guild of America Awards, and nine Cine Golden Eagles. Mannes developed and created a primetime PBS special, http://mannesproductions.com/blog/2009/06/pbs-the-music-instinct-science-and-song/ (The Music Instinct: Science and Song),a co-production with WNET/Thirteen. Mannes productions include the feature documentary film http://mannesproductions.com/blog/1990/05/pbs-amazing-grace-with-bill-moyers/ (Amazing Grace )with Bill Moyers (PBS) which won the Directors Guild Award as well as an Emmy for directing. For ABC, Mannes has produced a special with Diane Sawyer http://mannesproductions.com/blog/1997/06/abc-series-turning-point/ (The Amazing Animal Mind), exploring the intelligence and emotions of dogs and other animals, as well as other ABC hours including Ground Zero with Peter Jennings which won an Emmy for best Historical Program. Mannes has also produced and directed documentaries for CBS REPORTS and segments for 60 MINUTES and PRIME TIME LIVE (ABC).She worked with George Lucas to develop a television project incorporating documentary and dramatic sequences. Mannes is a member of one of the first families of American music. Her grandparents founded the Mannes College of Music in New York City; and her great uncle, Walter Damrosch conducted the Metropolitan Opera and instigated the building of Carnegie Hall. Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Scott Sommer on the Owner/Professional Handlers RelationshipScott Sommer, handler of two different Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show winners is back for the third and final installment of his conversation with host Laura Reeves. Today we’re talking about owner handlers and professional handlers. Plus, Sommer talks about the most difficult trimming techniques he learned and offers invaluable tips from an experienced veteran about working with scissored coats and other tricks of the trade. Handlers compete with the best to improveDiscussing the Owner Handled competition, Sommer reflects on the past when direct competition between amateur and professional handlers forced owners to “Step up and compete with handlers, which made them better.” “Owner Handled allows them to compete against one another. I’m not opposed, but I think it separates the whole dog show world,” Sommer observed. “It takes away from people’s ability to learn. You have to compete with the better (competitor) to make your dog better. It makes a difference.“The Owner Handlers have to compete with people who can make a dog look like it isn’t. It’s a hard thing to do. I worked for Michael Kemp for 16 years. Even now, I struggle with some things. It takes a long time to learn.” Still learning after all this timeSommer said that even after 40 years, his biggest struggle is trimming a dog’s off-side front leg. “It’s horrible,” Sommer said. “The hardest thing in the world for me to get right was the neck in to shoulder. The best thing you can do is never touch the head and neck until a day after they are bathed. You can trim the body. But if you trim (the head/neck of a Bichon Frise) right after you dry, there’ll be no hair left. It needs at least a day.”Sommer noted that climate, humidity, and even water quality makes a tremendous difference in coat texture. He advised bathing a Bichon two to three days ahead of the show in order to have enough spring in their coat. “When I was in dry areas, I’d just spray water and pat the hair down,” Sommer said. “Kaz (Hosaka, legendary poodle handler and protégé of Anne Rogers Clark) taught me that. “There’s so much to tell people. (Learning all of this) doesn’t just happen overnight.”

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Veterinary Legislation is Slippery Slope for Pet OwnersDr. Marty Greer, DVM, NAIA (National Animal Interest Alliance) board member, puts on her legislative hat and talks with host Laura Reeves about proposed legislation in New York and around the US regarding crop, dock, declaw, bark softening and more. “As soon as they start dictating to us what veterinary care we need and need not do, we are on a slippery slope we aren’t going to like,” Greer said. “Once they start saying you cannot do an ear crop, tail dock, declaw, bark softening… You MUST do a spay… then we get into you must do a dental cleaning, you must provide this level of veterinary care, you have all rights taken away as pet owner. If those things are mandated, we will have people stop getting veterinary care because it’s being dictated. That scares me a lot.” These procedures should be a decision made between veterinary and client, Greer noted. “While a veterinarian is involved, we can provide supportive care. Without veterinary involvement, it can fall into the hands of lay people, where we don’t have pain management or appropriate anesthesia. Once veterinarians lose these procedures, the level of care goes down for the animals.” Veterinarians have been coerced into thinking this is not an ethical thing, Greer observed. Noting “those procedures are going to keep happening.” Isn’t it ironic…Meanwhile, as legislation is proposed banning these very safe, minimally invasive procedures, other legislation is advocating mandatory spay/neuter. “Patients are being spayed/neutered too young and with insufficient care. Research has shown tremendous health risks with young spay/neuter,” Greer said. “And spay, particularly, is a major abdominal, full anesthesia procedure. “The primary reason we spay/neuter is because we are unable or too lazy to manage our animals’ sexual behavior. There is no reason to spay/neuter our pets unless they have tumors. Less bone cancer. Less urinary incontinence. Less obesity when pets are left intact. “People are being forced into having an invasive elective procedure done on their pets and then we tell them they can’t have a minor elective procedure, like bark softening, that allows them to keep the dog in their neighborhood. “There are many more functional reasons to do tail docks, for example, than a spay.   “Our ancestors came here because they wanted the freedom to make decisions for themselves,” Greer insisted.

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Scott Sommer: Work Hard and Never Stop TryingScott Sommer, one of only a handful of people to show multiple dogs to Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club, offers his best advice for success. Both JR, the Bichon Frise and Stump, the Sussex Spaniel were surprise, dark horse winners at the Garden in their respective years. JR won under Dorothy MacDonald, defeating Mick, the incomparable Kerry Blue Terrier, handled by https://puredogtalk.com/podcast/26-winners-of-westminster-dog-show-bill-mcfadden-valerie-nunes-atkinson-andy-linton-2/ (Bill McFadden), in a match up of Titans in the dog world. Stump was the oldest dog to win the coveted award. He came out of retirement to celebrate surviving a nearly tragic illness, winning under Sari Tietjen, the roar of the Madison Square Garden crowd ringing in Sommer’s ears. Sommer’s family bred smooth fox terriers. In fact, his mother sold legendary dog man Bobby Fisher his first show dog. Sommer showed his first dog at five years old and was hooked. He later apprenticed for Bob and Jane Forsyth. On his 16th birthday, Sommer moved to Houston and went to work for Michael Kemp. Best adviceHis best advice? “Work hard and never stop trying. This is not something you can learn overnight. Work for it and you will get rewarded.” “I think the initial steps are taking care of the dogs, cleaning them, feeding them, from there go forward,” Sommer said. Top dogsJR was the Number One ranked dog in country in 2001. But Sommer said he’d never shown the dog to MacDonald before that Best in Show lineup. “How she decided between JR & Mick I’ll never know,” Sommer said. “I fully expected the Kerry to win. When she said ‘Bichon,’ I just ran… “JR was a great show dog. He just never let down. It could be hot, cold, wet, it didn’t matter. He was so dependable. When you show a dog at that level that is so important,” Sommer added. Both JR and Stump lived out their lives with Sommer. They were inseparable best friends and died a week apart. Run!Sommer’s best recommendations for the Garden include making sure large breed dogs have boots so the salt on the streets doesn’t hurt their feet. “Go in with all the confidence in the world, hope and pray, and do the best job you can,” Sommer said. “If (the judge) points at you, RUN!” Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Attitude of Gratitude at the Holidays Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, blessed holy days, praise the universe for Winter Solstice and a joyous new year to one and all. As we celebrate the fourth Pure Dog Talk Christmas, I am focused on an Attitude of gratitude. Number one Gratitude to my listeners who encourage me, share the love, provide GREAT ideas and support the show financially through our https://patron.podbean.com/puredogtalk (Patrons) program. I am so grateful that you all take the time to listen in to the incredible conversations I am so lucky to have. We surpassed a half million downloads on Thanksgiving day this year, on the three year anniversary of our debut episode. And our audience and listernership is growing by leaps and bounds every day. Please, continue to share the show, bring people to the table who might enjoy our “talks.” And, absolutely, give me your ideas. I can’t swear I’ll get to every single one immediately, but they are ALL on a LOOOOOONG list of great topics for upcoming shows. Number twoGratitude to my guests. I am not kidding when I say I am the luckiest girl alive. I get to talk to ALL of the coolest people in dogs. And, after 40 years of grooming, training, handling, now judging, I literally learn something from EVERY single episode. My guests give freely of their time, their experience, their accumulated DECADES of wisdom and offer YOU the listener an unbelievable platform on which to gather knowledge. Number threeGratitude to my sponsors. These corporations have made a conscious decision to reach out to the purebred dog community, to support us, our education, our goals, ambitions and dreams. https://trupanion.com/ec/breeder?utm_source=puredogtalk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pdt_092018 (Trupanion) and, for the first time, (drumrollllll) announcing our brand new sponsor Embark, have committed not just money but dedication to the purebred dog fancier that is admirable, and entirely worthy of your business. I am a firm believer that we support those companies who support us. Without these amazing companies, Pure Dog Talk would not exist. And that’s a fact. Check out Trupanion’s Breeder Support program and breeding rider. Investigate Embark’s DNA genetic testing. I cannot say enough about Trupanion and Embark and their willingness to invest in YOUR future. I MUST also shoutout to the Dog Show Superintendent’s Association which was the very FIRST supporter that stepped up and said “YES, Pure Dog Talk is exactly the type of education and mentorship program our sport needs. Here, let us help you.” ALWAYS remember to stop by the superintendent’s desk and give them a shout out for their support of Pure Dog Talk. Our advertisers and partners, from Show Dog Prep School to Leading Edge Dog Show Academy to local clubs, are also due my unending gratitude for their confidence in our platform. Number fourMoving on, I am and we ALL should be offering our undying gratitude to the Breeders who came before us. We are, without exception, building on the shoulders of those who came before. In my own case, Ray and Lyn Calkins, Cascade Wirehairs, Mildred Revell, Weidenhugel Wirehairs, Bernee Brawn, Justa GWP, Silke Alberts Cadenberg GWP, and the additional mentors who took the time to help me like GWPCA founding member Genevieve Capstaff, Pat Laurans, Joy Brewster, Judy Cheshire, Laura Myles, Doug Ljungren and many more. If you haven’t done it already, make that same list. Send them a little note this Christmas and say thank you. Thank you for the help, the guidance, the information, the direction, the encouragement, the criticism and the hard work YOU have done to bring the breed to the place it is today. We NEED Dog BreedersSo, now my stump speech…. When my family & I got involved in purebred dogs 40+ years ago, the dog show was chock a block with, you guessed it, dog breeders. Today, dog breeders at the dog show are phantoms, rarely seen. Today, we have exhibitors. And Exhibitors, dog...

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Australian Cattle Dogs and the History of AustraliaAuthor, researcher and purebred dog enthusiast Guy Hull shares the fascinating history of the development of Australian Cattle Dogs and how they helped build a fledgling nation. Today’s episode is brought to you in cooperation with https://www.facebook.com/groups/caninecandc/ (Canine Construction and Conformation) Facebook group. Hull is the author of https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-That-Made-Australia-Transformation/dp/B07DNL3LZF (The Dogs That Made Australia: The Story of the Dogs That Brought About Australia's Transformation from Starving Colony to Pastoral Powerhouse). https://www.kombinalongacds.com/history-of-the-breed.asp (Australian Cattle Dogs), Hull said, are the only breed resulting from the successful hybridization of dogs and dingoes. “Australia, more than any other country, was so dependent on dogs,” Hull said. “Especially native bred dogs that could cope with all of the hardships of the land.”The progenitors of the breed were created by the Hall family. These early Australian settlers owned 700+ square miles outside of Sydney. They needed a dog that could deal with wild cattle imported from South Africa. Sheep didn’t survive well in the hostile environment of the new country. Beef cattle could survive, but they needed tough dogs to help manage them. The Hall family crossed an English dog known as the “droving cur,” tailless, square in profile, speckled blue, with dingoes. Dingoes, as a species, are classified as wolves. Hall's HeelersDingo genes are so strong they dominate domestic genes, Hull said. It took multiple generations of back crossing to the domestic dogs to create the dog we know today. By 1832 the Halls had two types, including the Australian Cattle Dog progenitor. These dogs, known as Hall’s Heelers, were privately held from 1830-70. Managers of 200 Hall properties carried forward the breeding program. When the family sold all of their holdings after 1870, the dogs became available to the general public. Around this same time, long distance droving dogs became redundant with the advent of wire fencing and railroads. Hall’s dogs were designed to work wild cattle. When cattle became quieter and easier to manage, with the import of new cattle breeds, fences and transportation, the dogs were too “hard” for the domestic cattle. Border collies, kelpies and other “collie” type breeds became popular to work the more domesticated stock. The show fraternity preserved the Australian Cattle Dog after its job was no longer needed. “They are a dog that has re-invented itself as all around Australian guard dog and companion,” Hull said. “They are supposed to have a suspicious glint in their eyes.”Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by Trupanion.

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Azawakh: The Camp Guardians of the Tuareg People“Nothing Fragile About This Breed at All”The Azawakh is one of AKC’s newest recognized breeds. The long-legged, aloof hounds have been in the US since 1988, but were only approved for the hound group in January 2019. With only an estimated 150 dogs in the States and less than 3,000 worldwide, Azawakh fall in to the category of “threatened” breed populations. Aliya Taylor, a retired Philadelphia Police Officer, acquired her first Azawakh in 2012. She grew up in dogs with her family and eventually showed dogs around her police work. Like everyone else in dogs, she scheduled her vacations around dog shows and hoped for no emergencies. A desert dog, the Azawakh is taller than it is long. They hail from West Africa where they were known as the camp guardians of the nomadic Tuareg people in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.  “These guys are basically guard dogs,” Taylor said. Despite appearing emaciated to the untrained eye, “there is nothing fragile about this breed at all. They will guard you and your property.” “Everything in that part of the world is long on leg, tall off the ground,” Taylor noted. “Azawakh are an evolutionary development. Man had nothing to do with how the Azawakh looks. They are not mixed with any other type of hound and developed independently in an isolated area.“If you’re fat in the desert, you don’t survive very long,” Taylor added wryly. While she hears a lot of well-intentioned cooing about her “sick or rescued” dog, Taylor said, “They’re supposed to look like this! These dogs eat more than I do. They are physically unable to carry much body fat.” Taylor encourages judges to approach the breed appropriately. “You should never approach head on. Approach on an angle, on the side. Keep a calm body demeanor. Put a hand on the dog’s shoulder. Don’t challenge with direct eye contact. Dogs are still primitive & semi feral. Approach cautiously but without fear. Calm, confident, not rushing, no fast hand movements,” Taylor said.Azawakhs are not the best choice for a first-time dog owner or someone who hasn’t owned a primitive breed. “They are not Golden Retrievers. They will not be friendly to strangers. They may not be friendly to every person in your home,” Taylor said. Nonetheless, “These guys are highly trainable. You can teach them to do anything, but you have to get their trust. You have to treat them as an equal. They’re not like other dogs in the sense that you give them a command,” Taylor opined. Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by https://trupanion.com/ec/breeder?utm_source=puredogtalk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pdt_092018 (Trupanion).

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Juan Miranda: Survivor, Judge, Influencer Juan Miranda, FCI's youngest all-breeds judge, survived a car-jacking attack and returned to purebred dogs. Miranda was just leaving his office in Mexico City five years ago, on his way to Westminster Kennel Club, when an armed assailant entered his new truck. Miranda struggled with the attacker, who shot him through the neck and face, missing his spinal cord by just three millimeters. A year's journey of healing saw Miranda in a "halo" device, relearning how to walk and all of the motor skills of life. The only child of Afghan Hound breeders outside Mexico City, Miranda, won his first all-breed best in show with an Afghan at eight years old. "I love Afghan Hounds. Their temperament is perfect for us. But we have had other breeds, including a Belgian Malinois who thinks she's an Afghan," Miranda said. Miranda judged Afghans last year at the AKC National Championship sponsored by Royal Canin. This year he'll participate in his favorite show in Orlando, as an exhibitor showing his own dog. A popular "influencer" on https://www.instagram.com/juanmiranda_/ (Instagram), Miranda uses his position to promote the predictability and purpose of purebred dogs. "The people from all over than world can learn, about us, dogs have a purpose to make life more easy," Miranda said.

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Tracy Szaras: “It Looks Pretty Good, but it’s Not Perfect Yet” BIS at Montgomery County Kennel Club 2019.

Professional handler Tracy Szaras, whose Hungarian heritage leads her mother to describe her as a “real Gypsy,” says the pursuit of perfect is her secret to success.

Szaras showed her first dogs in grade school, because her mom showed dogs. Her mom was a great trainer, Szaras said, who helped her process questions. Mom taught her proper conditioning and basic animal husbandry.

Szaras’ first breed is Lakeland Terriers, so her mom took her to Montgomery County Kennel Club for the first time almost 30 years ago.

Montgomery County started it all “I saw all these dogs looking awesome, everybody dressed to the nines. I really got into it that weekend. That next year I went to work for Greg Strong. I thought I knew how to pull hair until I went there. He showed me how to do flatwork, to do it correctly. I became driven. Greg taught me more, about trimming, skittish dogs, etc. I learned a lot in a short time.

“Then I went to https://puredogtalk.com/bergit-coady-kabel-groomed-to-perfection-pure-dog-talk/ (Bergit Coady) and learned about low-legged terriers.  On my days off I went to https://puredogtalk.com/blog/a-lifetime-journey-of-learning/ (Gabriel Rangel)‘s kennel to learn more.

“I was a sponge. I didn’t even date. All I wanted to do was learn and know everything about terriers.

“I learned detail work from Gabriel. Learned by watching. I learned trimming, especially heads, from Gabriel.

Szaras also has added Treeing Walker Coonhounds to her pack.

“I thought I was going out on my own. Next came Maripi Wooldridge. When she was considering quitting, she wanted me to take over her clients.

“I was amazed. I thought I’d learned all I could. There’s always something to learn. Now, I’m always looking. It looks pretty good, but it’s not perfect yet. I want to be the best. I don’t want to short cut anything, thanks to Maripi.

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Safely Incorporating Our Dogs in Holiday Festivities Dr. Marty Greer, DVM and Host Laura Reeves riff on safely incorporating our pets in the holiday festivities, from electricity to plants to food to weather.

Greer’s recommendations include:

Electric cord safety – wrap thin cords with metal safety coil

Jingle bells on low branches for warning that the dog is in trouble

Unwrapped candy canes that aren’t dangerous on low branches

Keep the canned spinach on hand

Secure tree to ceiling or wall

Crate the dog during dinner with a stuffed kong or chew bone to entertain them.

Beware of alcohol consumption. Guests don’t always take the dog into consideration when setting down a glass.

Make your dog part of the meal with snacks of raw carrots, small bits of meat instead of fats

Save broth cooked with bones, carrots, celery for food dressing

No more than 10% of meal should be additive. Commercial kibble is precisely formatted to meet the dogs needs. Substantially altering the contents of the meal can cause problems.

Mistletoe and Easter Lilly and Yew plants are highly toxic. Poinsettia actually isn’t. Macadamia nuts and raisins are food items less known to be toxic.

Boots are good for dogs in extreme cold or wet snow. Greer recommends  the musher boots used in the Iditarod.

Pet safe deicer and antifreeze — both products are excellent. If dogs walk on salt or deicer that isn’t suited to pets, rinse their feet thoroughly as soon as you can.

Dressing up our dogs entertains us, but not all dogs find it funny. Let your pet make the choice on outfits.

Slushy snow is bad as it can freeze in the feet and undercarriage.

For more information about preventing and dealing with potential intestinal blockages, listen https://puredogtalk.com/intestinal-blockages-prevention-treatment-recovery-pure-dog-talk/ (here).

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Ideas to Grow Our Sport: Amateur Champion, Critiques, Welcome Join a conversation between judges and exhibitors brainstorming ideas to grow the sport of purebred dogs. Lesley Hiltz, Karen Ericson and Sid Marx join  moderator Laura Reeves along with exhibitors at the Whidbey Island Kennel Club.

This is part two of the Pure Dog Talk https://puredogtalk.com/saturday-symposium-preservation-breeding-with-experts-pure-dogtalk/ (Saturday Symposium) posted last week. The Q&A discussion examined various perspectives on ideas to help increase conformation numbers and enthusiasm.

Building on a suggestion from Marx in part one, audience questions focused on the idea of creating an actual amateur championship, akin to the same title in field trials, for the sport of conformation.

“I’ve always thought there should be an amateur division and an open division everyone can enter,” Ericson said, similar to horse shows.

“In Australia, every kennel club is only allowed one Championship show a year and are required to hold an open show, where no points are awarded,” Hiltz added.

Marx spoke to the idea of a “breed level show” judged by provisional judges and “group shows” judged by regular status judges. Provisional judges can learn at the “breed level” where they can take more time.

Critiques redux A common theme in our exhibitor conversations is the ongoing desire for critiques.

Our judge panelists, who judge internationally, spoke to the practice in other systems.

Hiltz noted that in Denmark, for example, judges receive extensive training in the skills required to offer useful critiques. She also noted that technology is such that the judges words are uploaded almost instantaneously.

One exhibitor comment referenced the common practice in livestock/4-H judging whereby judges give reasons for each placement

“We give critiques to the rep after we judge when we have provisional breeds. If we can do that, we should be able to give them for exhibitors as well,” Marx observed.

Ericson noted that all judges have a learning curve. “It’s easy to pick out faults. There’s a real training process to pick out virtues and achieve positive judging.”

On those same lines, Marx made a point about the process that judges go through and that while adult learners do best when they use their knowledge right away, the process in place functionally means judges receive provisional approval and it might be a year before they have a chance to judge.

Ericson reminded the participants that dog shows can be intimidating for new folks. “We just have to be a lot more welcoming.”

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Inspiring True Story: From First Show to Best in Show Antoinelle Vulpis and “Archer” winning BIS Sunday at The Kennel Club of Philadelphia.

Antoinelle Vulpis chose a Skye Terrier as her first show dog. Two years after their first show, Vulpis and Archer won Best in Show at The Kennel Club of Philadelphia’s National Dog Show.

Vulpis offers another inspiring “newbie” story as she shares her journey, the importance of her breeders/mentors and the support of the dog show community.

“I grew up like any kid watching Westminster on TV. We had Golden Retrievers as family dogs, but I always kind of wanted something a little different. I was a total dog geek,” Vulpis said.

After college, Vulpis got a job at AKC that required her to attend dog shows.

“I decided I wanted to try this myself. Then I saw Larry Cornelius and Charlie the Skye Terrier. THAT was the dog for me,” Vulpis said.

Parent Clubs and Handlers Vulpis made contact with Michael Pesare through the http://stca.us/ (Skye Terrier Club of America). She then waited a year for the right dog from the right litter.

Her puppy arrived exactly two years before her first best in show.

“My mentors drove three hours one way without a dog entered just to cheer me on at my first dog show,” Vulpis said. Her breeders helped her learn how to groom the rare breed and supported her at every step, she added.

“My handler friends are so willing to help me and share. They’re the people who inspire me. I try to learn from them,” Vulpis said. “Asking someone more experienced than you will really pay off.”

Vulpis counts professional handlers from Greg Strong to Ernesto Lara in her list of people who have helped her along the way.

Listen to the input “I asked all kinds of people for advice,” Vulpis said.

Vulpis’ favorite grooming product is #1 All Systems Invisible Hold “It’s the holy grail for keeping the part to stay in place.”

“I don’t brush him every day because it takes hair out. Only once or twice a week to keep mats under control. I keep him clean, and bathe him weekly,” Vulpis noted.

“Now that I’m realizing I can make a difference in how he’s presented and how he looks. I get to the dog show early and spend time bathing his under-carriage and blow dry him. The extra time and care really has paid off,” Vulpis said.

For more stories from new people to the sport, listen https://puredogtalk.com/secret-to-success-with-owner-handler-matt-palmer-pure-dog-talk/ (here) and https://puredogtalk.com/dog-shows-through-the-eyes-of-newbies-pure-dog-talk/ (here).

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Saturday Symposium – Preservation Breeding With Experts Host and Moderator Laura Reeves is joined by breeders/judges Lesley Hiltz, Sid Marx and Karen Ericson at the Whidbey Island Kennel Club with a robust conversation about preservation breeding. This is part one. Part two, including audience participation, conversation and more idea generation will be posted next Monday.

Preservation of our breeds to save their place in history Lesley Hiltz

“When you judge in Europe,” Hiltz noted, “the average exhibitor age is mid 30s. There are lots of families, often three generations together. It’s a family sport. But they also only have one show a month. If we had fewer shows we could see more support for the ones remaining.”

Marx observed that too often exhibitors haven’t even read the standard for their breed.

“People become captive to what’s winning. Breeding to what’s winning rather than what’s correct. We want to get as many new young exhibitors involved in the sport as we can. But they need to make an effort to find mentors and learn the history of their breed,” Marx said.

Sid Marx

Ericson encouraged folks to “Get our dogs out among the public.” Clubs need to do things besides dog shows, she added.

“To get a dog from a breeder, you might as well apply to be a CEO of a fortune 500 company,” Erickson said. “Trust people with your best, not your worst. Tell them you are trusting them with a piece of my heart and legacy.”

“Dog shows in Australia are less stressful and more fun,” Marx said. “Certainly more wine is drunk. It’s a party at their shows. It’s an event.”

Proactive policies Karen Ericson

Some ideas from the panelists:

Encourage altered dog competition

Encourage anyone who shows a spark to come to the dog show. Stop what you’re doing and share with public. Share excitement about the show.

Bring back dog shows that stop at the breed level. Rankings are hurting us. The average person isn’t at the dog show to fight for Group 1.

Follow Austalia’s lead: “class in group awards.” So if your 6-9 puppy wins his class, he competes in 6-9 competition in group. People stay for group, talk to other people in other breeds. Gives a whole lot of other people the chance to win something in group.

To hear previous discussions on this topic, click https://puredogtalk.com/bill-shelton-on-positive-messaging-in-purebred-dogs-pure-dog-talk/ (here) and https://puredogtalk.com/preserving-our-breeds-what-can-we-do-discussion-pt-1-pure-dog-talk/ (here).

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History: To Understand the Present, Must Know the Past Lesley Hiltz, long time Beagle breeder and conformation judge, details a new history project launched by Beagle enthusiasts worldwide.

“The Beagle History Resource is a non-profit website with the aim to preserve the history of beagles and the community surrounding it for the future. All is maintained by volunteers and beagle enthusiasts, and we rely purely on donations to keep the service free for the public,” according to the http://beaglehistory.org/ (website).

The driving forces behind this initiative are: Toke Larsen from Denmark, Hiltz from the USA, Jonathon Willis from New Zealand and Alice Cancikova from Czech Republic. Additional volunteers are needed, Hiltz noted. http://info@beaglehistory.com (Email) the committee to help in any way, she added.

Saved to the cloud Hiltz praised Larsen for his technology skill and abilities to preserve the history utilizing the “cloud” into perpetuity “or whatever comes next.” The website has the capacity to host photos, writings and other documents.

Other breeds also have developed similar concepts, including:

https://whippet.breedarchive.com/home/index (https://whippet.breedarchive.com/home/index)

http://borzoipedia.com/ (http://borzoipedia.com/) (currently under construction)

Beagles at sea Hiltz’ story of transporting two of her early Beagles from England to Australia via cargo ship is mesmerizing and puts all current import/export complaints in context. Actively involved in Beagles since the early ‘60s, in Australia, England and the United States, Hiltz offers a wide ranging and compelling narrative of her personal history in the breed.

Preserving her breed and its history is the driving force for Hiltz in working on the development of this online resource. But she envisions it as an opportunity to develop a worldwide, all breeds repository.

“I can envision a kennel club taking up this project and having a central location for all of the information that’s out there,” Hiltz said. “To understand the present, we must know the past.”

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How One “Dog Person” is Revolutionizing Flying Our Dogs Pilar Kuhn is revolutionizing flying purebred dogs. Kuhn and her husband Rod Ott are breeders of Scottish Terriers and Bouvier des Flandres. They also run a shipping company transporting dogs for breeders and exhibitors world-wide.

In her work, Kuhn has established strong relationships with the major US carriers. When she identified a problem, specifically crate sizing and helping her clients meet the needs of the airlines, she just naturally decided to devise a solution.

“After six months working with the airlines, I said, ‘how can we solve this!’,” Kuhn said.

K9 PreCheck Kuhn’s solution was enabled by understanding both sides of the equation:

exhibitors and breeders’ needs to get their dog from point A to point B without any hassle or concern about the dog being in the proper crate for the airline’s requirements, and

airlines’ needs to provide safe, reliable transport for the dogs in their care.

Kuhn’s new domestic service means your dog will fly in cargo with zero complications. A nominal membership fee with K9PreCheck, means your dog is “in the system” and is guaranteed to fly. Kuhn also has negotiated lower rates with the airlines and can often save owners money on the flight.

The basis of the service is that exhibitors and breeders need (not just want) their dogs to get to point A at a certain time and get home again. Clients provide Kuhn with photos of the dog, crate, buckets, etc, as well as proof of entry or other timeline. K9 PreCheck assures the airlines the dogs and owners are “following the rules” and removing the “discretion of the agent” worries aside.

Kuhn’s service is not for exhibitors flying with their dogs as “excess baggage.” It is specifically for clients flying dogs as “cargo.”

Contact Kuhn at her pet shipping website, http://www.casafairviewk9s.com/?fbclid=IwAR1qHDjB0JIWoMOorecIYAqrppRmfYWI4mXojNITKPK4XCkgEegIjU_tCDQ (www.casafairviewk9s.com) or call 310-742-2242 for more information.

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The Uber Dog Needs a Job: German Wirehaired Pointer The German Wirehaired Pointer is generally the smartest dog in the room, according to panelists at the GWPCA national specialty show.

“They’d rather break in to your house than out of your house. They want to be with you. They want lots of attention and want to be part of the family. I want to sell a dog to someone who is active, does a lot, tries new things. You need to do something with the dog.” — Breeder and Judges Education Coordinator, Judy Cheshire

Robin Nelson

“They do require a tremendous amount of time. You have to be with them. You cannot not have a plan regarding all the events you do with them and commit to that from day one. I can’t even imagine not crate training a wirehair. I love how they learn, I love how they think. They’re people in their previous lives.” — Veterinarian and GWP owner, Robin Nelson

Laura Myles

“Owners with small, furry, edible pets are screened out from the beginning. They’re incredibly smart loyal and manipulative. To successfully live with GWP, you need structure. Left without structure they are sort of like Dennis the Menace crossed with Home Alone. It’s not enough to just exercise the dog. They enjoy doing things. But they tend to thrive in a benevolent dictatorship.” — Breeder, Conformation, Hunt Test and Field Trial Judge, Laura Myles

Versatile hunting dogs, versatile performance dogs Judy Cheshire

“The Germans in the late 1800s wanted a dog that could do everything. Hunt fur and feather, retrieve on land and in water, track wounded game, dispatch small predators, guard hearth and home,” Cheshire said.

“A lot of breeds were being developed at that time. This splinter group broke off  who decided performance was most important. The early GWP motto was ‘Breed as you like, be honest, tell what you’re breeding to, make progress,'” Cheshire added.

“They don’t quit. They go til they’re dead. I love their drive. I truly believe you can teach them anything,” Nelson observed.

“If you can break it into the steps, there is nothing you can’t teach them. They get bored easily and they rewrite the lesson plan for you. The dog needs to buy in to the lesson plan with you. You have to be prepared. And always stop on a positive,” Myles noted.

For more information, visit: https://gwpca.com/ (https://gwpca.com/)

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Crowd Sourcing Knowledge of Devastating Disease Barb Jenness, chair of the Newfoundland Club of America http://www.newfoundlandforelimbanomaly.com/ (Forelimb Anomaly Committee), joins host Laura Reeves to talk about the crowd sourcing their group is doing to identify and research this little-known but crippling disease.

A 1981 case study conducted in Norway first described the condition:

ABSTRACT

A description of a litter of Newfoundland dogs of which six out of seven puppies suffered from, more or less, deformation of the elbow joints, is presented. The two male dogs were, because of the condition, destroyed at 20 weeks of age. The patho-anatomical examination revealed abnormalities of the joint cartilage of all the major joints of the extremities. The condition is described as a generalized fibroid, proliferative degeneration of the joint cartilage.

Photo courtesy of NCA Charitable Trust, Forelimb Anomaly Committee.

Jenness said puppies affected with FLA “their front legs bow out. It’s not dwarfism, but that’s what it looks like. Dwarfism affects all the legs, this is just the front legs.”

According to the FLA website: “We believe it is not viral, bacterial, caused by rapid growth, or a specific diet. Most researchers believe it is genetic but the exact mode of inheritance is unknown.”

The defect is often not recognized until eight to 12 weeks of age and the puppies may be in their new homes before anyone determines there is a problem, Jenness said.

Not Just Newfoundlands A current study, and working with OFA, has enabled the Committee to identify other affected breeds, including Tibetan Mastiffs, Saint Bernards, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Jenness noted that all of the breeds with affected puppies have some relation to the Newfoundland.

Jenness’ committee was established to create a clearinghouse of xrays and information because the disease is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Her other primary goal is to “get the word out” to owners and club members so that if a puppy is affected, it’s xrays, DNA and case history can be added to the committee’s crowdsourcing approach to gathering data.

“Nobody wants to come face to face with such a crippling disease,” Jenness said, addressing the challenges of working with breeders on the problem.  “Overcoming stigma is a challenge.”

Jenness said a test breeding was done in the ‘80s, before the availability of DNA and genetic testing available today. The test breeding mated two affected dogs, which produced zero affected progeny.

From that test, Jenness said, “We have determined it is not a simple recessive. At this point we believe it is a polygenic trait with a trigger that turns it on or off, although this still unconfirmed.”

“It’s hard to get studies funded that are focused on just one breed,” Jenness said. “As we’ve identified other breeds affected, we have ongoing studies and promising information is coming out. But we need more samples, more x-rays, more confirmed cases to be reported so we can add to the information.”

Anyone with questions or concerns about their dogs, or who would like to participate in the studies, contact Jenness at forelimbanomaly@gmail.com

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Intestinal Blockages: Prevention, Treatment, Recovery Dr. Marty Greer DVM shares some horror stories of what and why dogs eat things they shouldn’t that cause intestinal blockages. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Greer said.

Puppy Proof Your House Puppies explore their environment with their mouths, Greer noted. “If it’s smaller than their head, they may swallow it,” she said.

Be careful with your pets’ access to anything they can eat, bottom line. The dog that eats things often will repeat the behavior. The owners need to learn from the dog’s mistakes and be sure their environment is safe.

Even a crated dog isn’t always out of danger — be sure not to put anything on or near the dog’s crate.

Retrievers at High Risk Teaching young dogs to trade something inappropriate in their mouths for a treat is a helpful way to set the dog up for success and avoid dangerous blockages.

Induce Vomiting We have all been told to use hydrogen peroxide to make the dog vomit if you see it eat something inappropriate. Greer strongly recommends, instead, a trip to the vet for a dose of https://www.diamondbackdrugs.com/apomorphine-for-vomiting-in-dogs/ (Apomorphine). This is a safer alternative than the peroxide, which can have dangerous side effects.

Difficult Diagnosis Even when you suspect the dog might have eaten something, the x-rays are not always successful at showing a blockage. Cloth and non-metal items won’t show up.

A lethargic dog that doesn’t eat and has repeated vomiting, can’t keep down food or even water, is one that is going to be suspect for a blockage.

Pregnancy Increases Danger Pregnant bitches may have nausea that they will try to assuage by eating whatever they can get ahold of, Greer said. Hyper awareness with them is imperative.

Treatment Intestinal blockage is a life-threatening situation. The dog will need emergency and often exploratory surgery. The recovery is extended and difficult. After surgery, the dogs are required to stay on IV fluids for 48-72 hours.

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Black & Tan Dynamos: The Wash & Wear Manchester Fun loving, smart, active, long-lived, wash and wear… The Manchester Terrier is an all-around favorite as a companion.

The https://americanmanchesterterrierclub.wildapricot.org/ (Manchester Terrier) has two varieties, Standard and Toy, both descended from the extinct black and tan terrier, according to a panel of experts at the American Manchester Terrier Club National Specialty.

The Manchester’s job was to hunt rats and other vermin in England and they retain the high prey drive today. Our experts encourage new owners to be sure their Manchester is on lead when outside a fenced area.

“You can have a good recall, but a squirrel will always take precedence,” said Marla Zoz.

Key Manchester Points:

High drive, are food motivated but easily distracted.

Very smart, pick up new skills quickly.

Get very attached to their people. Suitable for a house or apartment.

Need lots of physical activity.

Require a lot of attention.

Love being a part of the family.

Need to spend time to develop well balanced companion.

Low maintenance grooming… nails, clean teeth, wash and wear.

Longevity – 15+ years.

Health issues include cardiomyopathy and vWD, a bleeding disorder. When visiting with a potential breeder, be sure to ask if he/she is testing for these conditions with available DNA tests.

Standard Manchester Terriers are allowed to have naturally erect ears, button (shown here) or cropped. Toy Manchesters are only shown with naturally erect ears.

“You want to go, they’re ready at a moment’s notice. You want to cuddle on the couch, they’re right there,” said Jim Burrows.

Toy Manchester Terriers are under 12 pounds, Standard are 12-22 pounds.

These dogs are terriers, whether standard or toy sized, our panelists noted. They can “talk a lot.” Everyone agreed that the “four-footed burglar alarm” breed can be vocal. “They’re going to bark if they see something they don’t know,” Burrows said.

While generally aloof with strangers, the Manchester will warm up to new folks quickly. The breed needs a lot of socializing to develop a well-rounded dog, the breeders all agreed. Dog aggression, typical of many terriers, is manageable with appropriate socializing and training.

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20th Century Secrets in a 21st Century Format, Jaraluv MBIS Ch. Jaraluv Ouija – Faith’s daughter who holds the BIS record for Deerhounds in the US with 21 All Breed BIS. Pictured here at 8 years at the SDCA national specialty.

Part two of the powerful interview with Ray and Jana Brinlee of Jaraluv Scottish Deerhounds applies their breeding secrets to today’s society. The small number operation modeled by the Brinlees is far more applicable to today’s world than the huge kennels maintained in the heyday of the sport.

“We need breeders to mentor new people,” Ray said. “There might be 20 good breeders and 80 people who breed dogs. There’s a difference.”

Ray’s solution to the “more exhibitors, fewer breeders” matrix that is at the center of dog show’s perceived decline is – it’s part of mentorship

“Breeders need to encourage pet people to show dogs,” Ray said. “We need breeders to tell folks, ‘that’s a heck of a dog I sold you, let’s try this, let’s go to this show, don’t waste those genes.”

The subjective nature of dog shows often is a driving force for exhibitors who turn to companion events, but the Brinlees see a different perspective.

“The difference is, as a breeder, you are doing it for the love of the breed,” Jana said. “You are trying to maintain the breed in the best way you can. All these other events are nice, they are fun, but they are not about preserving or maintaining your breed.”

Form IS Function “We have to be concerned about the function of our dogs,” Ray noted “but many of our breeds are not allowed to do their historical jobs.” The Deerhound, for example, hunted in mountainous terrain. The flat track racing style of lure coursing doesn’t accurately test the breed’s function, Jana observed.

On the other hand, Ray contends that the classic “Deerhound movement…. Easy, active, true… if they do that, they will get around eight hours with the Hunt Masters hunting deer.”

Breed standards were written to describe the dogs that were best at their job. “We have to rely on that written word and be careful when you read it. That scares me about the generic show dog judging … the race to get more breeds makes me uncomfortable,” Jana said.

“It is important to us breeders that judges are a custodian for our breeds,” Ray added.

Listen to part one of the interview https://puredogtalk.com/jaraluv-scottish-deerhounds-7-secrets-to-success-pure-dog-talk/ (here).

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Jaraluv Scottish Deerhounds: 7 Secrets to Success BIS & MBISS Ch. Jaraluv Keep The Faith, shown here at Eukanuba. Three-time consecutive national specialty winner — 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Ray and Jana Brinlee, Jaraluv Scottish Deerhounds, have a truly notable record. Breeding on a very limited basis since the early 1980s, they have produced a total of 94 dogs. Of which, 75 are champions of record and 11 are Best in Show Winners. A 12 percent ratio of BIS winners to puppies produced is remarkable in any breed, never mind an aloof, tousled sighthound.

The Brinlees are world-renowned for producing a very identifiable style of Deerhound. They were selected as AKC Hound Breeder of the year in 2016. In this part one of a two part interview, Ray and Jana share what developed very organically through their time in the breed, which they have distilled into seven “secrets to success” for any breeder.

Secrets to Success

Imprint

Experience, mentors

Foundation stock

Dedication and commitment

Breeding plan

Presentation

Sharpen the Saw

Imprint the image of perfection in your breed in your mind’s eye. Be SURE that the vision you breed to is accurate to the standard!

Gain experience and seek mentors who will guide you, both in the breed and in other breeds. These folks can give you direction and encouragement.

Start with the best foundation stock you can get your hands on. Whatever your goals are, start with best and do the research to find complementary breedings.

Breeding dogs successfully requires dedication and commitment of time, money and effort. As Jana notes, nobody is getting rich doing this.

Every breeder needs a breeding plan. This is a point of distinction that is worth noting. Plan ahead. KNOW what you want to do and how you want to do it. Admittedly plans can change, but start with a plan and work the plan for the best chance of success. Outcross? Linebreeding? What’s your plan?

Presentation is a major key to success. If you’re breeding show dogs, they need to be in condition, in proper weight and trim and they need to be immaculately presented whether that is by an amateur or a professional, don’t ask judges to “find the diamond in the rough.”

Sharpen the Saw is a great “Rayism”… Ray describes this as a wrap up, as a continuing striving for success. Of knowing history – “you can’t mow the lawn in the dark because you can’t see where you’ve been.”

Join us for Part 2 on Thursday of this valuable series.

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Golden Retriever Breed Education with Michael Faulkner In honor of the Golden Retriever National Specialty, currently under way in Southern California, Host Laura Reeves visits with legendary judge and breeder Michael Faulkner. Actively involved with Goldens since 1969, Faulkner is deeply passionate about his breed.

Primarily a hunting dog “This is the GOLDEN Retriever,” Faulkner said. “They have a coat of lustrous gold, they are a water dog, their form and function is to retrieve.

“The standard says ‘primarily a hunting dog,’ moderate, to be shown in good, hard working condition,” Faulkner said

“Yellow Wavy Coated Retrievers” The double coat protects and wraps the body, Faulkner said. Early historians talk about the development in Scotland of “https://www.grca.org/about-the-breed/breed-history/origin-of-the-yellow-retriever/ (yellow, wavy coated retrievers).”

“Quite often when you’re judging my breed you’re going to see a coat that wraps the body and it may have a slight wave. That’s perfect. We love it when you can see the natural wrap and frame. The coat should never be curly, but wave is perfectly acceptable,” Faulkner said.

Moderation in all things Faulkner compares the correct Golden Retriever to a cow: “Moderate, legs underneath them, big rib cage, short loin, level back, thick thigh, tail straight off the back. It’s not a complicated breed.”

A well-known stickler and “old guard” in the breed, Faulkner insists that Goldens were never meant to be “fluffy” and that they “should not look like a baby Newfy.”

Proportions are the biggest thing next to grooming, Faulkner said. The https://images.akc.org/pdf/breeds/standards/GoldenRetriever.pdf (breed standard) calls for the body to be [12:11], just off square. They should never be long and low.

Gentleman’s gun dog “The dogs are not supposed to roll, or lumber (when they move),” Faulkner said. “They are supposed to converge to the center line of travel. People forget that they are supposed to be primarily a hunting dog.

“They were kept by the nobility. Bred to go out with the hunter, work close to their side, bring the bird back, shake dry and lie next to fire.”

The cold water and rocky terrain of the breed’s native Scotland made endurance essential, Faulkner noted. Any exaggeration would hinder the working dog’s efficiency.

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Pyrenean Shepherd: Small, Smart, Rare Joni McKeown with Pyrenean Shepherds

Pyrenean Shepherd fancier Joni McKeown shares details of this endangered herding breed from the Pyrenees mountains of France.

The small herding breed accompanied the Great Pyrenees guarding the flocks that moved between the isolated and remote regions of the mountains and valleys.

“When people come to shows, everyone thinks they are cute.  They have a mischievous, funny sense of humor, and a really cute little head, but this is a working dog. It should not just be a pretty face,” McKeown said.

A brindle PyrShep showing cording on the back half of the dog as is correct.

From the AKC website: These tough, lean, and lively herders, famous for their vigorous and free-flowing movement, come in two coat varieties: rough-faced and smooth-faced. Roughs have profuse, “windswept” hair above the muzzle and a generally harsh coat; smooths have short facial hair, a finer-textured coat, and a slightly longer, pointier muzzle. Both varieties of this sinewy, rectangular breed come in many colors and patterns. Pyr Sheps see the world through dark almond-shaped eyes conveying an alert and cunning expression.

Pyrenean Shepherd puppy

PyrSheps are a prime example of why pet owners should learn the history of a breed in order to better understand its temperament and behavior.

“Because of their job, the breed is just hardwired to see the world as friend or foe. There’s not a lot of grey area for them. Preserving that heritage is so important. French judges fuss at us for how friendly our dogs are. We kind of live in a world where we need the dogs to be friendlier. But we’re losing genetics if we start turning a Pyrenean Shepherd into a Golden Retriever (temperament). You can’t expect to have that across the board,” McKeown said.

Faces rough or smooth Differences between the two “types” are notable. Head and body structure are different and both types are born in the same litter. Traits definitely pass together, McKeown observed.

The rough face develops a characteristic “windblown look” of hair on its face, she added.

“This is the only breed that only cords on the back half of the body. In France all the adult dogs are corded. Different dogs have different types of cords. In the US you don’t see that many people cording the dogs. It’s a very rustic look. But you can keep them brushed out,” McKeown said.

The standard offers no preference for corded or not in the show ring.

PyrShep on the move.

The coat is described as half way between sheep and goat hair. It has a very coarse texture. Exhibitors are encouraged to not do a lot of bathing or blow drying as it changes the coat texture. The standard also includes strong penalties for trimming anything but the pads of the feet.

Best owners PyrSheps can live 17 to 20 years. They need a dedicated owner who will give them lots of activity, McKeown noted.

“These dogs really, really need a job. The breed is brilliant. Almost frightening sometimes the things they figure out. They’re not always the best breed for a novice dog owner. More intense even than other herding breeds because they’re closer to the roots,” McKeown said.

For More Information: http://www.pyrshepclub.org/breed-info/history/ (http://www.pyrshepclub.org/breed-info/history/)

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Secret to Success with Owner-Handler Matt Palmer Missouri public defender Matt Palmer, with his Golden Retriever, on his way to winning Best of Breed at Westminster Kennel Club with his first show dog.

The 2019 Secret to Success award goes to owner-handler Matt Palmer winning Best of Breed at Westminster Kennel Club with his first show dog. Host Laura Reeves gets up close and personal with everyone’s newest hero.

A Missouri State Public Defender, Palmer discovered Golden Retrievers at the Kennel Club of Philadelphia dog show he visited on a whim. He took AKC’s advice on how to find a reputable breeder, winding up with “great mentors, breeders who took a chance on selling a nice puppy to someone they didn’t know.”

“It’s remarkable the number of people who have “scaffolded me” in this sport,” Palmer said. “People have been amazing. Everyone I’ve come across has helped me in one way or another.”

Palmer said his secret to success came when he was working his dog at a handling class. An instructor noticed the dog tensing up when he was hand-stacked. After working through the problem, Palmer said he realized he “was worried about my jacket riding up and basically mooning everyone.” He bought a pair of suspenders on Amazon and his confidence skyrocketed. The team’s success took off from that point.

“I now own 10 pairs of suspenders and have a couple pair of extras in my tack box,” Palmer said.

“I wanted the purple and gold” Palmer said his high school sports experiences left him “competitive to a fault,” and gave him the drive to achieve more. While he competed in the National Owner Handled Series his first year or so, glad to have extra time in the ring to practice, “I wanted purple and gold, not the maroon ribbon,” he opined.

Missouri to Manhattan Deciding to attend Westminster Kennel Club was sort of a lark for Palmer. “I thought it would be cool to go see it. I had absolutely no expectation of significant success,” he said.

As his case load was starting to build up at work, Palmer had planned not to go. After visiting with professional handler friends at the dog show, he finally decided to go ahead and make the trip with them.

Professionals, not adversaries “I think there is a divide between owner-handler and professional handler when there doesn’t need to be one,” Palmer noted. “I tell people I’m happy to help, hold dogs, etc  if they could give me a few minutes of feedback.

“Any chance to learn from professionals is invaluable. I try to absorb things that are second nature, reflexive to them.

“My (professional handler) friend came early to meet me at the Piers so he could be ringside for the breed. He could have been in bed, but instead he grabs a bucket and a towel and stands ringside and cheers me on.”

Poop strike The most terrifying moment of the Garden experience, Palmer said, is his dog wouldn’t potty. “He grew up in Kansas and Missouri, he’d never seen all that concrete. He wouldn’t poop! I was mortified he was going to touch that green carpet and decide it was a perfect place to poop,” Palmer said wryly.

“Dog shows have been a great social outlet,” Palmer said. “We’ll keep going. It’s so cool, everywhere you go, you see somebody you met somewhere else…

“Sometimes we win, most the time we don’t. But when we do, it’s pretty fun.”

For more inspiring stories of owner-handlers check out some of these past episodes:

https://puredogtalk.com/57-best-in-show-how-an-owner-handler-competes-with-the-pros-tricia-stanczyk-2/ (57 – Best in Show: How an Owner-Handler Competes with the Pros – Tricia Stanczyk)

https://puredogtalk.com/owner-handler-secrets-make-a-plan-and-be-consistent-pure-dog-talk/ (318 – Owner Handler Secrets: Make a Plan and Be

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John Buddie part 2: Respect, Reverence and Romance Master Breeder, John Buddie, Tartanside Collies, talks about the three “Rs”: Respect of the individuals who went before, reverence of finding and holding these people in high regard, and the romance of the history and studying the lore of the breed.

“If it’s all statistics and numbers and cut and dried, I think you burn out,” Buddie said.

In the second half of our interview, Buddie talks about maintaining virtues, the importance of selection and having heroes.

“You can lose the existing quality in a line by not maintaining emphasis on virtues, especially when you are trying to achieve improvement in an outcross,” Buddie said. “Don’t put so much emphasis on that new added characteristic that you lose sight of what you’ve worked so hard on to date”

Outcrosses “You don’t always get the results you were aiming for until the generation after what you’ve done. The key is what you do with the outcrossed generation that makes or breaks you.”

Selection, selection, selection

Take time to really observe and evaluate puppies at various ages.

Don’t get rid of a puppy too early or too late.

Good, but not good enough. Is it the best of the best or the best of what you have?

Make a list of virtues of sire/dam… Identify what you most want to keep a puppy for from the litter.

Watch puppies in a pen. Too many folks want to just pick up and look at profile.

I take my time when evaluating puppies. People rush to judgement.

Photos give you a static picture and can be inaccurate based on how legs are placed.

More important to see in a natural position.

Back in the day, the optimum time to finish a dog was three years old, Buddie noted.

“I’m afraid too many people are just getting the points, not really appreciating the dog show itself, the evaluation process, who you showed to and what a difference it made.

“Be stimulated by being inspired. Just make sure you’re inspired by the right person who really believes in the sanctity of the breed and the sport,” Buddie said.

Listen to Part 1 of our conversation https://puredogtalk.com/breeding-rules-from-john-buddie-tartanside-collies-pure-dog-talk/ (here).

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Breeding Rules from John Buddie, Tartanside Collies John Buddie with L to R – Ch.Tartanside Picturesque, Ch. Tartanside Audaicious (lying) Ch. Tartanside Arabesque, Ch. Tartanside Limerick Debut, Ch. Tartanside Aliage, Ch. Tartanside Imagination.

John Buddie has spent a lifetime with Collies. His Tartanside family of dogs is world famous and widely respected. His https://www.mcemn.com/buddie.html (Breeding Rules) are a distillation of more than 50 years’ experience and success. This is part one of a two part series.

Buddie’s original breed mentor gave him much of the knowledge he continues to share today.

“This was mentorship in the days of letter writing, plus weekends spent doing kennel chores, brushing dogs, really hands on work,” Buddie said. “When I asked a question, she would ask me a question to make me think.”

Spoon-feeding someone an answer doesn’t have the same impact as helping someone come to their own conclusion, Buddie observed.

Buddie’s “rules” are guidelines that are applicable across breeds and generations.

*Leave the sport/breed no worse than you found it Show respect for the lines and breeders who came before by preserving that quality.

*The number of champions finished/ribbons earned is not the measure of a breeder “There have been many important contributing breeders who changed the face of a breed who bred on a small scale,” Buddie said. “For every record achieved there will always be someone who can break that record.”

*Learn to read a pedigree Research, look to breeders of the past, learn what they accomplished and how.

*Look to the grandparents Most top producing dogs are just carrying the pedigree forward. Top sires, often the strength comes from dam side.

“I’ve had great success using the Maternal grandsire effect, in other words breed a quality bitch to her maternal grandsire,” Buddie said.

*You can never outrun a problem “It’s a lot easier to rid yourself of problems with testing now. But you have to admit the problem and deal with it. It can mean scrapping a couple generations of breedings to clear it out. But you have to protect your breeding program as a whole.”

*Learn to see quality in other people’s dogs “We make evaluations of dogs when we’re competitors… when you’re judging you realize you weren’t as open minded as you thought you were.”

*Attend national to see dogs that you wouldn’t see any other time Join us next week for the continuation of this fabulous conversation.

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Dogs Saving Cats: Livestock Guardians and Cheetahs Dr. Laurie Marker with one of the Livestock Guarding Dogs bred and raised by the Cheetah Conservation Fund to give farmers in Namibia safety for their flocks.

My very special guest today is Dr. Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. We discuss her work with Cheetahs and “dogs saving cats”… dogs as “emotional support” animals for Cheetahs raised in captivity, as livestock guardians for flocks in Namibia so the farmers don’t kill the Cheetahs who might otherwise prey on their stock, even dogs tracking down “scat” for research.

I first met Marker some 40 years ago when she was working in my hometown at the Wildlife Safari. What an incredible opportunity this conversation was!

LGD Program began in 1994 “We decided to celebrate the program anniversary by naming 2019 the Year of the Livestock Guarding Dog. The program holds a special place in my heart. It has been incredibly successful at mitigating human/wildlife conflict not only in Namibia but across the cheetah’s current range,” Marker said.

“Anatolian shepherds were chosen for many reasons,” Marker notes on the organization’s website. “The breed has a 6,000-year pedigree and history of guarding sheep in Turkey. Their short coats protect them from thorns and bushes being caught in their coats, and make it easier for them to adapt to fluctuating temperatures – both hot and cold. Their independent nature and ability to think for themselves means they don’t need to have people with them to successfully guard their livestock. They were the best choice for the conditions faced on Namibian farmlands. They have the will and drive to travel vast distances with their herd due to their natural loyalty and endurance.

In February, 1994, four Anatolian shepherds, the breed of dogs used in the research that took place in Oregon, were established with herds of sheep and goats here in Namibia. The dogs were donated by the Birinci Kennels in the USA.”

Endangered species and endangered breeds Puppies in the CCF’s Livestock Guarding Dog program.

The LGD program has since placed close to 700 dogs with farmers in and around Namibia. Marker said she has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of big cats killed to protect livestock and a stabilization of the numbers in this critically endangered species. Fewer than 7500 Cheetahs are believed to exist in the wild.

Listen to the podcast for more of this outstanding discussion.

Amazingly, genetic diversity concerns of the same kind we face with purebred dogs are also an issue for these unique big cats. Learn more about Marker’s Cheetah Studbook!

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Poopy Happens: Puppy Diarrhea Causes and Treatments Puppy diarrhea can be serious and dangerous due to dehydration risks, says Dr. Marty Greer, DVM. While “poopy happens” is a pretty common issue in a litter of puppies, some causes are more serious than others.

Causes of “bad potty” can range from the benign to the deadly and knowing which is which and how to treat them can be a matter of life and death.

“I can’t believe I ate the WHOLE thing….” Overeating is pretty common, particularly when puppies transition to solid food during weaning.

“While nursing, the diarrhea is white in color, and the puppy is very hefty,” Greer said. She strongly recommends dog specific probiotics during weaning, particularly Proviable or Fortiflora.

“What do you have in your mouth?!” Eating inappropriate stuff like rocks, sticks, leaves is another common problem in puppies that can cause stomach upset and loose stools. Since puppies are curious and often investigate their new and expanding world with their mouths, it can also be dangerous! Watch what they pick up and police their areas for hazards.

All kinds of bad bugs Viral infections such as parvovirus and distemper are life threatening emergencies. Certain breeds don’t titer well to parvo vaccines and these diseases can even be transmitted by raccoons in “latrines.”

Parasites, Greer noted, affect as much as 95 percent of puppies. Worm puppies at 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks if the bitch is not on dewormer during pregnancy. Greer recommends a specific protocol of treating the pregnant bitch with fenbendazole daily from the 5th week of pregnancy to the 2nd week of lactation.

“You can worm bitch forever, but parasites will encyst in her muscles,” Greer said. “The stress of pregnancy and lactation reactivates these into her bloodstream. The parasites are then passed through placenta AND milk to the puppies. Puppies that are still nursing, are still receiving the larval form of the parasite through milk.”

Giardia and coccidia are common in puppies. Giardia responds to Panacur. Coccidia responds to Albon.

Cleanliness is next godliness Bleach is my favorite disinfectant. Visit this site to learn about proper dilution in different scenarios: https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/bleach-dilution-calculator

Treatment Kaopectate, the human grade over the counter item, has changed formula and metabolizes as aspirin in the dog, Greer said. She strongly recommends a low-cost and effect solution, the original kaolin-pectin.

And don’t forget to send your puppies home with insurance!!

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MORE on Preserving Our Breeds. What can WE do? Today we have more lively conversation. Pure Dog Talk’s host Laura Reeves moderates part 2 of a Saturday Symposium panel discussion at the Rogue Valley Kennel Club show on the topic of “Preserving Our Breeds. What can WE do?”

Panelists are Ed Thomason, professional handler and noted breeder of American Staffordshire Terriers; Michelle Santana, AKC Breeder of the Year of Doberman Pinschers; and, Fran Stephens, Saint Bernard breeder-judge and AKC delegate for Puyallup Valley Dog Fanciers.

The panelists discuss a recent presentation to the delegate body by Bill Shelton and Doug Johnson among other areas of interest in which purebred dog fanciers can promote their breeds and purebred dogs in general.

Reach out to the community “Quit blaming other people,” Reeves said. “WE need to step up and not just on Facebook, all social media is important. All breeders are on the same side. We don’t have to like how other people breed. We can help them do better. Help them improve.”

Thomason agreed. “Some of the greatest breeders in this country that ever bred dogs kept and housed over 100 dogs. Why wouldn’t we help these commercial breeders breed better dogs.

“We don’t breed enough dogs. It’s as simple as that,” Thomason said.

Go out in public with your dogs Stephens related her all breed club’s struggle to get club members to come share their dogs at the Washington state fair on Labor Day weekend.

“We have a barn and booth space from PVDF,” Stephens said. “We see hundreds of thousands of people, families with children. come to see the dogs… It’s like pulling teeth to get club members to come. Go, take your dogs to public events. Put your dogs out in public so people can see you. Then breed more dogs.”

Audience member Ray Brinlee, who started showing dogs in 1959, noted that the ’73 oil embargo is what brought on dog show clusters in order to save gas. “It was a terrible mistake,” Brinlee said. “Dog shows need to serve the community.”

Just Be NICE! An audience member, Rebecca, recounted her own efforts to educate clients who hire her for behavioral training of their dogs.

“When I recommend they come to a show and talk to people, the breeders start with why they shouldn’t own this breed,” Rebecca said. “It took 15 years to talk someone into selling me a show dog. It frustrates me that my clients go to people with no health testing on their dogs because those people are nice to them. It’s sad that we have to tell people to make friends in other breeds and get a thick skin. Hardest thing to be a new person, and you don’t know who you can go to…”

“The main thing we need to keep in mind,” Stephens said, “is we have to keep breeding our dogs. Our breeds. If we don’t, they’ll go away. It’s as simple as that. Deciding to spay/neuter everything not in your control is detrimental to the breed. The dog may have a fault you don’t want, but may have good qualities from your line that can complement someone else’s lines. We have shot ourselves in the foot by spay/neuter more than 50% of our litters.”

Borzoi breeder Kristina Terra ended the discussion with a positive idea. When members of the public as if one of her dogs is a rescue, she replies “No! In fact she hasn’t had a bad second in her life. And neither has her mother or grandmother…”

Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Preserving Our Breeds. What can WE do? Pure Dog Talk’s host Laura Reeves moderates a Saturday Symposium panel discussion at the Rogue Valley Kennel Club show on the topic of “Preserving Our Breeds. What can WE do?” This is part one of the discussion. Part two will post next week.

Panelists are Ed Thomason, professional handler and noted breeder of American Staffordshire Terriers; Michelle Santana, AKC Breeder of the Year of Doberman Pinschers; and, Fran Stephens, Saint Bernard breeder-judge and AKC delegate for Puyallup Valley Dog Fanciers.

The panelists discuss a recent presentation (watch the entire presentation here) to the delegate body by Bill Shelton and Doug Johnson among other areas of interest in which purebred dog fanciers can promote their breeds and purebred dogs in general.

“Tell our story” “We have fallen into hiding the fact that we’re breeders,” Thomason said.

“Don’t be afraid to say I breed purebred dogs because I’m want to know what I’m going to get,” Stephens said.

“We have allowed doodle breeders to become a fad,” Thomason said. “You go underground because you have more dogs than you’re supposed to. But on social media, you can promote your breed, your breeding program without telling where you live.

The pet puppy market is a billion dollar industry. Not saying leave here and be puppy mills. Market being manipulated by doodle breeders and rescues. We don’t share our stories. We have to or this ain’t going to be here.”

Education is critical

Santana discussed her goal of educating John Q Public.

“I picked a random pet Doberman social page,” Santana said. “Thousands of people who own a companion Doberman. They need education. Any time I come across an educational article I share to that page. Spay/neuter as an example. Just pick one site that doesn’t get a broad spectrum of education and share to that page. We need to spread this information to people not in our circle. We’re myopic. We can talk to ourselves all we want. But we need to reach out to these people outside our circle.”

Stephens noted that there is a vast market for dogs in this country that is largely being filled by doodle breeders and rescue imports.

“There are plenty of people wanting dogs,” Stephens said. “It’s how we reach them. How we talk to them.”

Join us next week for Part 2 of the discussion!!

Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Dog Judging, Rumors and Reality Checks AKC judge Lee Whittier, founder of Dog Show Mentor and a former AKC Field Rep, and host Laura Reeves talk turkey about judging, judges, the process and the results.

Some of the key take-aways from the conversation: * Judges are not all created equal. Some ARE better than others. * Judges WANT and TRY to do a good job. * Judges spend a LOT of time, money and grief to earn the honor of presiding from the center of the ring. Check out the YouTube video of the PureDogTalk Friday Night Forum panel discussion. Current AKC Executive Field Representative Bryan Martin, and AKC judges Brian Meyer and Sylvie McGee share a TON of information about the process of becoming an AKC approved judge. * What a judge sees in the center of the ring is often WAY different than what you see outside the ring. When you see a dog week in and week out, the accumulated knowledge may, in some cases, create a different picture than what the judge has during his/her 2 minutes in the ring. * Judges are NOT hatched from an egg! I say this all the time at the panel discussions. I think exhibitors forget this part. All judges started at basically the same place you are today. They showed dogs, they bred dogs, they schlepped the gear and scooped the poop, they drove the miles and slept in the sketchy hotel rooms. Every single judge in the ring has been there, done that and most likely a whole lot more. * Lee and I agree that we risk accusations of being a bit Pollyanna and acknowledge that bad apples exist, but that we, the exhibitors, should not allow them to spoil the whole basket. * Exhibitors will get the most enjoyment from their dog show experiences if they choose a positive social group, do a little research about their judges and try not to get wrapped up in the rumor-mongering when it happens.

Make sure you download and listen to the episode for more “inside insights”… Pure Dog Talk is sponsored by:

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Veterinary Voice: Allergies! Food, Inhalant, Fleas & More Food allergies are not as common as people believe, according to veterinarian Marty Greer. Inhalant, contact and flea allergies are more prevalent. Food allergy is mostly associated with chronic ear infections and recurrent skin problems. Conclusive diagnosis requires tedious food elimination diets.

“Fall is a terrible time for allergies,” Greer noted. “Especially inhalant allergies and contact allergies of pollen in the grass. You can wash the dog’s feet at night to help reduce symptoms.”

Foot chewing is the top symptom for inhalant/contact allergy, Greer said. She also observed that allergies can also be additive. A dog may have a food allergy that is only triggered by the addition of a seasonal contact allergy, for example.

It only takes one! Flea allergy is signaled by dogs that are itchy around the rump, Greer noted. She added that one flea bite is all it may take to set off an allergic response.

“Flea control products today are really good. Topical or oral, they are very effective. Vacuuming regularly is an important control system for fleas,” Greer said.

Newer flea/tick control products affect the nervous system of only the parasite, Greer said. Older organophosphate-based products were not as good, she added.

Pro/Con of flea/tick preventatives Oral meds are not recommended for patients with a history of seizures, Greer said. “They are not going to make a normal dog have a seizure. But they could trigger seizure sensitive dogs. Bravecto is the only oral medication labeled for breeding dogs,” she added.

Advantages to the oral preventatives are that they leave no residue on coat, Greer said. The advantages of topical treatments is they are not a concern in seizure sensitive patients and they make a repellant shield to biting insects. Topicals also get rid of fleas/ticks more quickly.

Anti inflammatory treatments “In the last 10-15 years, new products have come on the market to help to replace long-term steroid use,” Greer said. “Short course steroid use is effective and the side effects are minimal.”

Links and information from Dr. Greer to learn more: 1. Atopica https://www.elanco.us/products-services/dogs/atopica-cyclosporine-capsules-usp-modified Dog Quiz: https://us.atopica.com/survey-dog , Cat Quiz: https://us.atopica.com/survey-cat 2. Apoquel https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/apoquel/index.aspx 3. Cytopoint https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/cytopoint/the-itch-cycle.aspx

• Do not use APOQUEL in dogs less than 12 months of age or those with serious infections. APOQUEL may increase the chances of developing serious infections, and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or pre-existing cancers to get worse. APOQUEL has not been tested in dogs receiving some medications including some commonly used to treat skin conditions such as corticosteroids and cyclosporine. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. APOQUEL has been used safely with many common medications including parasiticides, antibiotics and vaccines
• CYTOPOINT is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment for dogs that specifically targets and neutralizes canine IL-31*,† an important cytokine‡ involved in sending the itch signal to the brain in chronic atopic dermatitis2
• Because it is highly targeted to a specific cytokine involved in canine atopic dermatitis, CYTOPOINT has minimal impact on normal immune functions3
• CYTOPOINT is eliminated via normal protein degradation pathways in the same way as naturally occurring antibodies; metabolism does not involve the liver or kidneys

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Marketing Strategy Ensures Viability of Endangered Breed Dandie Dinmont Terrier

Jody Moxham is a Dandie Dinmont Terrier fancier and a globally successful marketing professional. She was asked by her club to create an ad for the breed. She refused. And created far more than just an “ad.”

DDTCA created the Strategic advisory committee, which Moxham chairs, exclusively dedicated to ensuring the long-term viability of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier.

Surging numbers In three years, the work of the committee has increased registrations of the breed by more than 150 percent. Membership in the club is surging to the point it can’t keep up with printing the membership roster, Moxham noted. According to AKC statistics, the breed has risen six points in popularity after years of decline.

“I asked myself, ‘How would best marketers address this.’ There is a thing called the product life cycle in marketing,” Moxham said. “A lot of breeds are in the “decline” phase…. Marketers reposition a “product” and put it back in to introductory stage. That’s what we’re doing.

Product marketing techniques “I created a methodology for forecasting success of marketing communications while they were just ideas on paper. We marketed it to multi-national corporations and helped them strengthen the persuasiveness of their strategies and their communications. We were proven effective in 40-some countries, according to the tough measures marketers use. A month after 9/11, the US Government called and asked if we would be willing to see if the methodology that worked so well in the commercial world could also work for national security interests. We gained contracts from across all arms of the USG – Defense, Military, Intelligence, and State.

“It has been a fascinating journey. What drives me is making a difference. I thrive on doing things that have never been done before. Or that are super tough. Easy can be done by anyone. Really hard piques my interest.

“We will not stay vulnerable” Betty-Anne Stenmark and Jody Moxham bred Dandie Dinmont Terriers together for many years.

“That is the background that I brought to tackling the objective of ensuring the viability of the Dandie Dinmont Terrier for generations to come. You probably know we are a highly vulnerable breed. But we will not stay vulnerable.

“We started this program three years ago and formed the Strategic Advisory Committee as an action arm of the DDTCA.

“The first of four surveys has been released, each dealing with a specific area of breeding and raising healthy litters. Collectively they will be the foundation for mentoring programs for DDTCA and other breed clubs that want to use our findings. We want the DDTCA to be known as the innovator of support programs for breeders … and as a sponsor of best breeding practices.”

To learn more about the DDTCA visit: https://www.ddtca.org/

To hear conversation with legendary Master Breeder Betty-Anne Stenmark about the Dandie Dinmont Terrier and its “gene puddle,” click to listen here.

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The Winning Edge! Panel Discussion With the Masters Host Laura Reeves moderates a Friday Night Forum Panel Discussion on the topic of the “Winning Edge” with Judges Rick Gschwender and Pluis Davern and Professional Handler Bill McFadden.

It is not the judge’s job to find a “diamond in the rough,” Reeves posits. “Polish your “gem stone” for your best chance of success.”

Good habits Gschwender starts the discussion by asking the audience about their habits with the dogs they exhibit.

“How many of you train your dog? Road work him? Take video to see what the judge sees? Clean their teeth?” Gschwender queried. “I see people all the time, they’re paying $30 to enter the dog and haven’t even cleaned teeth.”

Gschwender adds, “Watch the judges. If you pay attention, you will see consistency in what they put up. You might not like it, but you will figure out what I like and come back and show that to me.”

Motivated by motion

Davern noted, in a fascinating observation, that people are predators. Which means “we are motivated by motion. What are judges looking at?” Davern asked rhetorically. “Motion. It catches the eye. You can subtly move your hand to show a pretty head, for example.

“You’re in the ring, you’re all showing the same “product.” There’s 20 boxes of cornflakes. What makes yours better than the others?”

Owner handlers have a huge advantage, Davern said. They are spending time with the dog they love.

“This is a great sport! Nobody takes a golf club to bed at night,” Davern said. “Life is not all about winning.”

Be prepared

“Take a deep breath and don’t rush,” McFadden advises. He also notes that in some cases, owner handlers who are long time breeders are “experts showing to novices.” Judges are life-long learners and may be new to a breed. “Present your breed the way it should be shown.”

Most importantly, McFadden said, be prepared. “Make sure your dog is in condition, physically, mentally, emotionally.”

“You’ll have successes and failures you deserve and ones you don’t. It happens to handlers too. We show 20 dogs and might win with two,” McFadden added.

For more insight from a couple of these panelists, you can listen back to:

https://puredogtalk.com/10-bill-and-taffe-mcfadden-live-at-akc-nationals-wisdom-wednesday-2/

https://puredogtalk.com/26-winners-of-westminster-dog-show-bill-mcfadden-valerie-nunes-atkinson-andy-linton-2/

https://puredogtalk.com/34-sussex-spaniels-hunt-tests-search-and-rescue-pluis-davern-tells-all-2/

https://puredogtalk.com/35-dogs-to-the-rescue-firefighters-first-responders-and-pluis-davern-2/

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Tricks Are for Show Dogs! Improve Focus in the Ring Show Dog Prep School founder, Vicki Ronchette, provides tips for training tricks to show dogs to help them focus and have fun.

“Training tricks is fun,” Ronchette said. “People and dogs enjoy it more than they do training traditional exercises. It is relaxing. And it’s a good way for people to improve their mechanical training skills.”

Teaching a “bow” is a great trick for the conformation ring.

Dogs get bored in the ring, Ronchette noted. Having a repertoire of tricks available helps dogs and exhibitors relax, she said.

Bonus, the dogs and handlers having fun makes a good impression on audience and serve as crowd pleasers. Note the phenomenal success of the “sit up” by the Sussex Spaniel, Bean, at the 2018 Westminster Kennel Club show.

Ronchette shared a few of her favorite “tricks” to teach clients that provide specific benefits to dogs and their performance.

Touch! Target training is a favorite of Ronchette’s. She trains the dog to touch its nose to her hand.

“It’s so beneficial,” Ronchette said. “It’s easy to teach. And when you have a distracted dog, it gets their attention.”

Sit Pretty Sit up and beg can be a controversial trick, as some feel it can be harmful to the dog’s back. Other trainers argue it is indispensable core conditioning that strengthens back muscles. Either way, that super cute “begging” for attention is a sure fire winner.

Get on top Teaching the dog to get up on a big rock, grooming table or other high perch, Ronchette says, is a great confidence builder. “They need to own these behaviors,” she noted.

AKC’s Trick Dog program allows owners to put a fun title on the end of the dog’s name, Ronchette noted, helping them “get their feet wet in something other than conformation.”

To learn more about the origins of the Trick Dog program, take a listen to my interview with AKC’s Doug Ljungren, the program’s biggest advocate.

128|Doug Ljungren is Up to Tricks…Trick Dogs|AKC VP of Sports and Performance|Pure Dog Talk

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You ARE What You Eat and So is Your Dog Dr. Diane Brown, CEO of the AKC Canine Health Foundation, joins us again to talk about fascinating new research on the “gut-brain axis.” In other words, the microscopic bugs inside the dog’s body are being proven to interact with what’s going on in its brain.

From the CHF Newsletter: “The adage “you are what you eat” may be more profound than we ever realized. A growing body of evidence shows a complex system of two-way communication between the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and neurologic system in humans and dogs. The link between GI health and diseases such as multiple sclerosis, autism, and epilepsy has been studied in humans. In fact, patients with celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease have an increased risk of developing epilepsy. Since the community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tract – known as the gut microbiome – plays an important role in GI health, what impact does it have on neurologic disease? AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF) funded researchers are exploring the role of this microbiomegut-brain axis in canine epilepsy.”

http://www.akcchf.org/educational-resources/library/articles/AKC-CHF-Discoveries-Summer-2019.pdf

Gut microbiome “The bacteria that live in the gut have been shown to have importance to both health and disease,” Brown said.

CHF research is determining what type of bugs normally live in the gut (literally any part of the digestive system from top to bottom). Which ones of those bugs are pathogens and which ones prevent disease is an enormous topic.

Many of us understand, for example, that antibiotics completely change the gut microbiome. But this new research is documenting associations with other disorders, including the impact of bacterial content in the gut and how it is influencing epilepsy and anxiety.

Using proprietary probiotics to manage post antibiotic diarrhea is one thing. But Probiotics used over the course of six weeks is showing an impact on anxiety behaviors in dogs, providing a non-drug based treatment for this frequent issue in all dogs.

Poop is cool! Researchers speaking at a recent CHF conference even discussed using fecal transplants, delivered as an enema, to transplant healthy flora fecal material thereby improving the health of the dog.

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Cavalettis for Show Dogs with Vicki Ronchette Vicki Ronchette with her Lowchen.

Show Dog Prep School founder Vicki Ronchette shares her tips and tools for using cavalettis to train body awareness, conditioning and more.

Cavalettis, Ronchette said, are useful for a variety of issues. Dogs who pace, forge on the leash, need to know where to put their feet amongst other topics are well served by practicing with caveletti training.

One of the most common uses is to build muscle memory to increase reach and extension, Ronchette said. “Most dogs love doing the cavalettis,” she added.

Using simple, inexpensive materials, Ronchette provides direction for building and utilizing these obstacles in an exhibitor’s “tool kit” of preparing the dogs for the show ring.

How To’s and Why For’s One of Ronchette’s most frequently asked questions is how far apart to set the poles for proper gaiting. She said she measures from the front toe to the back toe when the dog is in a comfortable stack. That is the “elementary” distance the poles are placed apart. As the dog gains skill and confidence, the poles are moved further apart to make them the dog increase its stride.

“We’re asking these dogs to be athletes in the show ring,” Ronchette said. “It’s more than just walking around. It’s walking around and looking fabulous.”

One specific training opportunity Ronchette uses the obstacles for is to teach not to chase other dogs. “I make them concentrate on foot work instead of chasing,” she observed.

“I strongly believe that if there is any physical limitation the dog is aware of it and it increases anxiety,” Ronchette said. “When you do these type of exercises, the dog ‘owns’ that behavior and it creates confidence. Confidence changes a dog’s carriage.”

Ronchette’s course at Show Dog Prep School.

Canine Conditioning with Dixie Rae Sick.

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Owner Handler Secrets to Success: Make a Plan and Be Consistent Remy Smith-Lewis, breeder, owner, handler of Portugese Water Dogs, shares the secrets that took him to the top, winning his National Specialty as an owner handler.

Remy Smith-Lewis, winning best junior handler.

Smith-Lewis said he did not come from a “dog” family. He was awestruck by his breed when the San Francisco Giants began using the dogs to retrieve balls that were hit over the fence.

He started as a junior handler, worked for professional handlers Sally George and Bill and Taffe McFadden. He showed his first big winner to multiple Best in Show awards and a national specialty win before turning over the dog’s career to the McFadden team to manage.

“I was at a place in my career that I really needed to decide what to do and focus on it,” said Smith-Lewis, who began his career at Google and now works for a new tech start up in the Bay Area.

Remy Smith-Lewis handling his Portugese Water Dog to Best in Show at Del Monte Kennel Club under judge Pluis Davern.

His recommendations to owner handlers working a full time job is, “You CAN do it!” But his secrets are: dedication, making sacrifices, having a plan, keeping on a schedule and staying consistent.

Condition, Condition, Condition Whether it is road work, coat work or trimming, competitive dogs MUST be in condition, Smith-Lewis noted. If that means skipping company happy hour in order to spend the extra time brushing, bathing, biking or trimming your dog, that’s what needs to happen.

“Complaining about handlers always winning is the easy way out,” Smith-Lewis said.

Owner handlers need to remember that dogs need routines, Smith-Lewis noted. The dog can’t always be on the couch. And the owner needs to find a mentor and listen to the mentor.

Smith-Lewis laughingly recalls a favorite admonition from one of his early mentors, Bill McFadden, “God gave you two ears and one mouth, use them wisely.”

“We need to break away on our own at some point,” Smith-Lewis said. “But a mentor’s job is to guide you back onto a good path when you get too far out of line.”

One final suggestion? “Join an all-breed club and work and learn,” Smith-Lewis said.

Want to hear more from Owner Handlers? Check out these past episodes:

57 – Best in Show: How an Owner-Handler Competes with the Pros – Tricia Stanczyk

25 – Patricia Trotter: Legendary Breeder, Author, and AKC Judge – Vin-Melca’s Norwegian Elkhounds

103 – Ed Thomason Tips for the Owner Handler – From a Breeder Owner Handler Turned Professional Dog Handler

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New Resources for Purebred Dog Enthusiasts Host Laura Reeves visits with two exhibitors, Cara Ryckman and Michelle Conroy, who have each taken huge steps to create resources to benefit purebred dogs and their people. These three 50something women with passion, dedication and a desire to “do something, not just complain” encompass close to 120 years combined experience in purebred dogs.

Both Ryckman and Conroy saw voids in the world of purebred dogs and created ingenious ways to fill them. Spending their own time and resources, they have created a brand new social media ap (Ryckman) and a certification of breeders/rescues for the general public’s use (Conroy).

Cara Ryckman – Social media gone to the dogs Cara Ryckman with her heart dog, GCH-S CH Hi-C Chanel Pearls and Ice at Terlingua.

“Dogs are our life!

This page and our site brought to you by Cara Ryckman of Terlingua Chihuahuas. I strive to create a friendly, positive, free social experience for people who love purebred dogs!

This site was created as a positive step in uniting the dog fancy and the general public in the hopes of preserving our heritage breeds for the future and bringing awareness to the predictability and dependability of purposefully-bred dogs and the fun of the purebred dog world. All are welcome!”

https://dogpeoplelife.com

Michelle Conroy – Applying a lifetime of knowledge to certify breeders Michelle Conroy with Willie, Caeruleus Winds of Fortune

“After more than 30 years working with animals, we have seen a lot and we haven’t always liked what we saw. Bad breeding practices and low-quality rescue operations are gaining ground. Many buyers and adopters hold negative views of breeders, and that’s largely due to a lack of quality control across the industry.

Here’s the truth: There are many quality breeders and fantastic rescues out there.

The problem is that it’s almost impossible for buyers and adopters to identify them. From mountains of misinformation to practically zero credible resources for finding ethical breeders or rescues, the public struggles to figure out what’s what.

We think it’s time for that to stop.”

https://breedercertification.org/

Listen now to hear their stories. Then check out these amazing new resources. Join Laura in her ongoing initiative to build up and showcase other innovative folks in the sport. You, too, can support MORE dog people helping dog people.

Listen to our previous episodes with OTHER great resources.

79 – Valerie Nunes-Atkinson Handling Seminars: Ready to Handle Like a Pro?

60 – National Purebred Dog Day: Susi Szeremy

91 – Dog Show Grooming, Poodle University, Online Handling and Allison Foley

201 – Exhibitor Education Courses Come Online | Pure Dog Talk