Pure Dog Talk

Canine Influenza Outbreak and How to Manage It with Dr. Marty Greer Dr. 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

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.

Dog Judging Process and Ethics with CKC Judge Steve Dainard Host 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.”

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.”

Protecting Breeds Into the Future Dr. 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.”        

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.  

Creating Better Outcomes for ALL Dogs Host 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 u

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

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.”

Add Years to Your Dog’s Life with One Simple Step Dr. 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.

Mentors, Mentees and All the Love Welcome 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.

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.”

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.”

Puppy Strangles, Pyoderma and Neonatal Ophthalmia Dr. 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.”

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.”

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_12411" align="alignright" width="437"] Baha, Ch Srinagar Bhavant Bhairava CD LCM, Coile's first saluki, in 1975.[/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.”

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.”    

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.

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.

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.    

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."

5 Simple Strategies for Improved Websites [caption id="attachment_12311" align="alignleft" width="314"] Jo Stern, ecommerce and technology specialist[/caption] 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. LINKS: Easy Website Builders: - Wix.com - Wordpress.com - Squarespace.com - Weebly.com Important Social Media Platforms: - Instagram - Facebook (Business Pages) - Pinterest - Twitter Listen to the full episode for more of Jo’s great suggestions. Or contact her at [email protected] for consultation.

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.

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. Photo Red River Kennel.[/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. Photo Red River Kennel.[/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_12279" align="alignleft" width="390"] PQRA is encouraging clubs and owners to allow the breed to participate and title in various sports. Kaladin is owned by Professor Alex Gilewski.[/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_12283" align="alignright" width="470"] Hoang with her Phu Quoc Ridgebacks.[/caption] “And that's actually one of the things that Kira did in Vietnam was as she was talking to the breeders, she's helping give them information, like here are some of the practices that we have that can help improve your program, things that they didn't know before.” Learn more about this fascinating breed at https://www.pqrassociation.org/ Cover photo is Chapi courtesy of Phi Anh Kennel.  

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 that. Make sure that your linoleum is large enough that it is got room for the whelping box and an additional area where the puppies will be able to go out and potty when they get older. Where they're still in their area, but away from their sleeping area.” Listen to the full episode or the extended LIVE on YouTube for more insights.

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, HERE.

Veterinary Industry Struggling with Overwhelming Staff Shortages Dr. 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.  

Book Teaches Children How to Train and Socialize a Puppy   Authors 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 of 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.

New Children’s Book Devoted to the History of our Best Friends Host 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.

AKC’s Breeder Symposiums Aim to Level the Playing Field Host 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!

Tara Martin Rowell on Drop Coats and Competitive Spirit Tara 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.

Dr. Marty Greer on Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia Dr. 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.

Temple Grandin to headline NAIA Conference in Portland Patti 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!!

Margery Good on the Deep Character of Sealyham Terriers Margery 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.

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."

Ears: Yeast, Bacteria and Dr. Greer’s Mind-Blowing Tip for Hair Removal Dr. 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.

Kelly Shupp on Campaigns, Rare Breeds and Generational Change Kelly 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.

Search and Rescue Titling Events Come to US Melissa 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.

Dog Food Behind the Scenes: Meat, Meal and Byproducts Defined Rob 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 rendered And 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.

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.

Breeding Theory Q&A From LIVE@5 Host 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.

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: A short health survey regarding the dog’s breathing history 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. 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. 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.

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.

Canine Bladder Stones: Diagnosis and Treatment Dr. 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. Symptoms Symptoms of bladder disease can be virtually non-existent to severe. The symptoms can vary: No signs or very subtle signs of discomfort or urinary accidents. 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. If obstructed, there will be abdominal pain, vocalizing, vomiting, dehydration, depression, heartbeat irregularities, bladder distension, in advanced cases, bladder rupture, collapse and death. Blood work can show elevated BUN and creatinine, kidney values if obstructed. Blood work may show elevated calcium if calcium oxalate stones are present. 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 spaniel Bernese Mountain dog Bichon frise Dachshund Golden retriever Lhasa apso Miniature poodle Miniature schnauzer Pekingese Poodle Rottweiler Saint Bernard Shih 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

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  

Bumble’s Story: Behind the Scenes with Donna Beadle Donna 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 haystack Strapped 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 a careful approach. He was so weak she had to carry him out. While a bodybuilder, 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. Bumble was raced to the veterinarian, and 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.

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.

New Tufts University Course: Breeders Teaching Veterinary Students Gale 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 Conversation Patterson, 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.”

Applied Structure and Anatomy LIVE Join 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 together There 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 Cruz A 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 Culver A properly constructed Italian Greyhound can be just as sturdy as a Whippet Carma Ewer I 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 Lyon Tail 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.

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.