Busy week

The week is already underway and we are at Tuesday already. I don't know about you but starting my week off on a Tuesday messes me up. I hope everyone had a great Memorial weekend, I did. Nothing hugely memorable but nice. The dogs had a full weekend of exercise, getting bathed and fun and are crashed bigtime.

Unfortunately with summer comes fleas and the hunt for a little less non toxic treatments to keep the beast away is a huge undertaking. Last year we were innundated and I finally found out the cause; MY NEIGBORS DOG WAS INFESTED. Fleas had taken over the dog nextdoor who lives outside, at the side of my house. So with so many fleas they decided to hop the fence and look for more dogs to eat.

We finally got it under control when a vet told them that their dog was infested with fleas!!!!!!!!!!! So reasearch, research to find out how to ward these things away without doing any longterm damage to my dogs. I've decided to bath the pooches regularly as those little beast drown during a bath. If you have a pool, let your dog swim for the good of them and the death of a flea.

I highly recommend looking into all those "topical" treatments that are so amazing. Just what are we putting on our dogs? Did you ever think twice when the label says "keep children away." And we are putting it right on our dogs? How about flea and tick killer that we have our dogs ingest? If you think about it really hard, it doesn't make sense. Something that is so toxic that it kills fleas and ticks in hours; get your dog to eat it.

I am using Natural Defense; at a minimum. A little spray here and there, washing the beds and the dogs regularly and keeping a close eye on anything moving that shouldn't be moving on my dogs. I hate fleas.

I've got a full spectrum of dog stuff going on this week, a couple of shoots, some training, a poodle meet up, working up photos for a magazine submission and getting my two books off to some new publishers.

Busy, busy.

Happy B-day Jessie

Today is Jessie's 12th birthday; no one would ever guess that she is a day over a year old. I am always stopped by people wondering how old my puppy is; and when I tell them she was 11 they think I mean weeks. They are totally shocked when I tell them years. Now at 12 years old she looks great; the lady at the petstore today told her so today. I took her into get a special treat and the cashier gave her a huge ice cream cone shaped cookie for her birthday.

To have Jessie reach the age of 12 years is pretty much a miracle. We have had a bonus 6 years so far with her as she was at deaths door 6 years ago. To think that these past 6 years could have be spent without our little Jessie would have been very sad indeed. I have to admit that she is the cutest Jack Russell Ive ever seen, not because she is mine or anything. ;)

We got Jessie almost 12 years ago at the request of my husband; he had wanted a Jack Russell for years. Other than this single little JRT its been Standard poodles. So when I realized he really want a Jack Russell I set off to find a good breeder in Ontario. I found The Bowery in Bancroft, Ontario. I set up an appointment to come out and check out their dogs and perhaps bring home a tiny puppy.

When we arrived I was amazed at the set up and impressed by the quality of dogs. She had set two puppies inside for us to choose from. Knowing our family history, children and dogs she had chose two puppies that would fit. I was immediately drawn to the white broken coat with a tiny spot on her eye. My husband immediately fell in love with Jessie. At that moment I decided to step back and let him choose the dog he wanted; afterall it was his breed of choice. So the decision was made and Jessie joined us on our trip home.

She was definitely a handful in the beginning but made a big turn around at around the age of 3. Now at 12 she is a tiny angel; but still very much a Jack Russell. She is always ready for a rumble, up to hunt and kill at any moment, chase anything that moves, eat anything edible; sometimes even not edible, she is the continual enforcer and keeps everyone smiling always.

Happy Birthday Jess

Not for the sensitive type-diarrhea

You might want to have breakfast before reading this one people. I know it is gross but with dogs comes the issue of diarrhea.

With a pack of three dogs it seems that every so often someone has either loose stool or diarrhea. Dogs are very much like us in that they can have steel stomachs or not. My guys are pretty much great in the stomach department; Jessie is completely amazing and rarely has any bouts of diarrhea.

The worst we ever had was when Luke was just a puppy and brought Coccidia into our home.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_coccidia.html

We had three dogs with diarrhea at one time. If your dog has never had coccidia you are very, very lucky. Luke was a very bad dirt eater when he was a puppy, he could not help himself from grabbing mouthfuls of it everytime he saw dirt. When we were at the vet I told him of this problem and he said "once a dirt eater always a dirt eater." I took it as a challenge and my mission in life to stop him from eatting dirt. I won, I stopped Luke from eatting dirt and we had no more coccidia problems.(How I did it in a later post)

Tilley has a problem with eating coyote poop; we didn't have this issue in Canada but we sure have it here. We actually had to stop taking her down into the canyons for her runs until we did some anti poop eatting training. Just like Luke she did great and we don't have the problem too often. Except that now she is getting older and naturally hangs back on my husbands runs. I think she knows how to get to the poop by waiting until my husband is up ahead. Gross but remember they are dogs, not people and dogs do tend to like to snack on other species poop every now and again.


So now she has an upset stomach, yesterday I went and bought pumpkin. Pumpkin really helps if a dog has loose stool or diarrhea. She seems better this morning so I'm hoping that she is on the mend. If not I will once again collect a sample and be on my way to the vet.

Its a dirty job but someone has to do it. :)

Breed talk - The Golden

I've decided to do a weekly "breed talk." I have been researching different breeds since the age of 13; from then until now makes alot of dogs I've checked out. I love learning about dogs and their purpose, where they came from, who wants them and meeting individuals of the breed. Of course there are many still that are so rare that I have yet to meet and new breeds popping up all around so I don't think I'll run out of breeds to discuss.

I will write from my experience with each breed; so this is a JMHO.


Golden Retrievers

In my line of work the Golden is definitely in the "top 5" in popularity. I have worked with many, many goldens and although they resemble one another in looks; they are very individual. Typically a sensitive breed, they are easily trained and love to work for their guardian. Their soft face gives the breed a friendly look and their personality lives up to that. Over the years I have worked with a wide variety of Goldens both in looks and in personality.

Goldens have a wide range of Gold, from the platinum beauties all the way to the dark red which is seen much less often these days. Coat length and density varies as well; the dogs in the conformation ring have much more coat with their feathering being exaggerated. As with most breeds who have dual purpose; dogs bred for working generally have much less coat.

Goldens shed alot; you must not mind golden tumble weeds rolling around your home to be a Golden lover. Many of my clients comment on all the hair but say having a golden outways any hair issues.

The height standard for the golden: Females 21 1/2 -22 1/2 males 23-24 at the shoulders. Females weight is around 50lbs, give or take. Males weigh in at approximately 60 lbs.

The golden has suffered many health issues over the years with the predominant problems being hip dysplasia, allergies and cancer. I have known many individuals who have suffered from one or all of these problems. One couple I worked with had done their research, gone to a great breeder who was a longtime family friend and had their puppy shipped to them. Not long after her 6 months they discovered she had severe hip dysplasia.

And; I have known way too many goldens who's lives were ended far too early by cancer.

The velcro dog, yes the golden is the true velcro dog. Many people call their breed a velcro one but I quickly correct them, the Golden Retriever is the original velcro dog. I have a very good article which I wrote on Velcro dogs and the dog I wrote it for was a Golden boy.

Most goldens that I have had the pleasure of working with loved to work for their guardians. Their gentle enthusiasm is uplifting, their submissive body language unmistakable. The golden is a soft breed, sometimes too soft which can lead to difficulties in training. Not that they cannot learn but you must be so very careful with your tone and body language. I have rarely met an aggressive golden and that aggression was specifically directed at other dogs.

A young golden is often overly enthusiastic leading them to the airborne greeting. Jumping is a typical young golden issue. How many times have I been sent flying by my new clients? Once you can get the excitement level under control they are one of the easiest dogs to train. My regular comment to new clients is to give their dog the training articles and thats it, trained.

And watch the waistlline; goldens do seem to be a breed that puts on the pounds easily. And for some reason it is accepted more readily to have a fat golden; not in my books. A lean, muscular and athletic golden is a beutiful vision.

All in all a wonderful breed, and with the work of some great breeders the health issues will soon be a thing of the past.

Dried up chicken

Dried chicken breast, it is one of my dogs favorite treats. I buy these at Trader Joe's and the dogs go crazy for them. This is one of my secret weapons when Luke is in his "not eating" moods. This morning I was getting one ready to bring upstairs with me; I turned to grab my coffee and heard it hit the floor.

Knowing full well that Jessie was right behind me I turned in an instant to grab it from her. It was already in her mouth when I turned; she is like lightening when it comes to food. I told her to drop it "fat chance." A 12 year old Jack Russell on prednisone is going to drop a piece of chicken out of her mouth, yep!

I have to say she is pretty good about dropping things, being a JRT and all. But I could tell by her face that her brain had shut down and her stomach had taken over. It is a look that I am accustom to working with. I grabbed one end of the chicken and told her to drop it; again. It wasn't happening.

Although she loves food beyond life itself I am use to her finally giving in; this was not going to happen this morning. Maybe it was because she hasn't eaten yet this morning, maybe she thought the consequences were going to be such that eating the chicken was worth it. For whatever reason; her stomach told her to hang on tight.

As I am well use to her crazed love of food; I am also not use to loosing. So as she held tight, so did I. The chicken finally broke in half and she swallowed her way too large piece. Yes she stood there in discomfort as it lodged in her throat. I waited to see if it would go down or I was going to need to perform the heimlic manoeuvre: Abdominal thrusts, also known as the Heimlich Maneuver (after Henry Heimlich, who first described the procedure in a June 1974 informal article entitled "Pop Goes the Cafe Coronary," published in the journal Emergency Medicine. Edward A. Patrick, MD, PhD, an associate of Heimlich, has claimed to be the uncredited co-developer of the procedure, and has been quoted calling it the Patrick maneuver.[4] Heimlich has objected to the name "abdominal thrusts" on the grounds that the vagueness of the term "abdomen" could cause the rescuer to exert force at the wrong site.

After a few seconds she managed to down the chicken and was banished from the kitchen. Ya gotta laugh.

The amazing Tilley

I was at the beach again yesterday; my two daughters and all the dogs went. The sun had just peeked out at our house but by the time we hit 1/2 way on Laguna Canyon Rd we were covered by marine layer. I love the beach in any weather; not only when it is sunny and beautiful. And it obviously means nothing to the dogs if the sun is out or not. My dogs all love the beach.

As we made our way to the beach we stop at a traffic light to wait for the green. This is where the first people took photographs of the dogs. They were amazed by them; oooohhing and aaawwwwing as they snapped away. We had quite a few people taking pictures of the dogs yesterday. I've occassionally had people ask to photograph them but this was alot and no one was asking. I'm not sure if it was just the dogs or my daugthers and the dogs; quite possibly the appeal was a combination. So there we were walking the length of the beach, each of us with a dog. I of course had Luke.

About halfway through our walk my daughter who was walking Tilley asked me "how is Tilley go good?" I told her that I always call her my Lassie in poodle clothing and that she came that way. Yes Tilley had quite a bit of training but her polite, non pushy, extreme level of compliance is who she is. She does not like conflict, always gives way to the other dogs, she always does as we ask and is devoted beyond belief to her family. What more could ask for from a dog?

When I chose Tilley from her litter; she was already very different. At that time all of the puppies were pretty much black so it was hard to tell them apart. Tilley was playing with the others but there was something different right from the start. As her sister yanked on her coat; she turned and connected eyes with me as if to say "do you see what she is doing to me?" The eye contact was so direct that I asked about it. Tilley's breeder told me that it came from her Uncle; he used his eyes to comminucate as well.

All of my dogs have been so different; they may look similar; (except for Jessie of course) being the same breed but no two have been alike. I have a great combination of dogs in my pack. I love them all for who they are and would not want three of any one of them. They balance out each others behaviors making life with this pack always interesting, complex and a blast.

Dreaming dogs

Good morning; I have three dreaming dogs on my bed this morning. My husband is away so lastnight I had three bed buddies who were fairly quiet. Until 4:45 this morning I didn't hear a peep from them. Typically Luke sleeps at the end of the bed but Tilley nabbed that spot first lastnight so Luke slept beside my head. So when he had a huge sneeze this morning I got the full affect "I'm up now."

So after being awakened abruptly I lay there listening; listening to their dreams. Luke is the most dreaming dog we have ever had. But all my dogs dream; they dream alot. After reading up on dogs dreaming they apparently have the same Slow wave sleep and Rapid eye movement parts of sleep as we do. But they slip into REM much faster than we do. And from researching my own dogs I know this to be very true.

Luke dreams very quickly after closing his eyes. Infact I comment on this regularly. He can be watching out the window intently starring at a crow and the next minute he is sleeping and dreaming. How can they possibly be in such a deep sleep so quickly? The answer is relaxation; a dog must be relaxed to fall into a deep sleep.

What do they dream about? No one can be sure but I think that it is regular dog activities; some good some bad, very much like us I would imagine. Their body reacts to the dreaming; often while sleeping Jessie's hair will rise on her back. She is usually growling when this occurs and it will remain up until her body seems to relax. Tilley seems to be a more relaxed dreamer; quietly twitching, deeply engulfed in her dream. Every once in a while she has a burst, legs going full out with her body convulsing; she is at this point very vocal as well.

Luke dreams constantly; from the tiniest face and feet movements to full on charging; he dreams alot consistenly and very regularly. Being an epileptic dog; does this factor in his dreaming cycle?: Is his brain so different that it interferes with his dreaming patterns? I think so. His brain obviously functions differently than a non epileptic dog. When awakened abruptly and forced into action by reactive response his brain sends his body into convulsions. Yet the girls can be sleeping one second and charging to the door the next and suffer no ill effects. What happens to his brain?

Although Luke slips into REM within seconds of closing his eyes; his brain seems to have a problem waking quickly. This is always a problem leading to a seizure. If he wakes normally he suffers no effects; this leads me to think that his dreaming patterns are different as well.