Thought you might enjoy watching the animals sing a Christmas carol.

Pretty litter of blacks and chocolates with lots of retrieving desire throughout their pedigree. Check out their Photo Album for more pix - http://www.justamere.com/Dog/S_album.asp

AKC set up a new program for dog breeders and we recently found out that we qualified!

AKC Breeder of Merit

I was cleaning house - having to move ribbons around to dust - and got reminiscing about everything Arwen has accomplished. I’m so proud of my girl! In between having three litters of beautiful puppies, she finished her Companion Dog obedience title; Junior and Senior Hunter field titles; Hunting Retriever and Hunting Retriever Champion field titles; Rally Novice, Rally Advanced, and Rally Excellent titles; a Canine Good Citizen Award and a Conformation Certificate.

Yes, we still have more to do - finish her Master Hunter title, earn at least one Tracking title, and she’s even dabbling in Agility. But even more important than all the initials around her name - she’s a champion snuggler!

An all-around black Labrador Retriever!

Read an interesting article this morning.(1) Are breeders blind? Or are we operating under a misconception? The article postulates that the majority of dogs are not normal. WHAAAT?

“According to Padgett (1991), most breeders continue to believe that the dogs they own are genetically normal.” Well, gee, I thought they were.

Padgett also reported that “the average number of defects in most breeds may be fourteen.” Some breeds could have as many as 58 defects. Well, not MY breed.

When the Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC) test came out, I tested my dogs and was blindsided to learn that one was a carrier. OMG! My dog is defective! I had no idea that one of my dogs harbored that dreaded disease.

My reaction seems to be typical of many breeders. Not only do we believe most dogs are genetically normal, but that having a dog with a defective gene was so out of the ordinary that it should be kept a secret. If we talk about having a defective gene some people might feel our dogs are “less than average or perhaps abnormal.” So we bury our heads in the sand and hope that it will go away.

If we can change our way of thinking - most dogs are not genetically normal - then it won’t come as such a surprise to get results showing defective genes. If it’s not such a surprise, then maybe we’ll be more willing to share the results thus making it easier to erradicate that gene.

My dog carries one copy of the EIC gene. Dogs with two copies of the gene may collapse under some circumstances. She was fine, but I had to be careful to only breed her to a male who was clear of the gene. Whew! That doesn’t sound so bad. So we test before deciding to breed and choose mates wisely. But what about drag of the breed? More on that in another article…

(1) Breed dilemmas and extinction by Dr. Carmen L. Battaglia in The Labrador Quarterly, Winter 2010-11, discussing Padgett, George, “Genetics I Introduction,” 1991 Beagle Review, Darcroft Publishing, Wilmington, VT, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 1991, pg. 14-16.

I love my little puppy; she makes my house a home.
She is my very sweetest little friend; I never feel alone.
She makes me smile; she makes me laugh; she fills my heart with love.
Did someone breed her, or did she fall from above?

I’ve never been a breeder, never seen life through their eyes;
I hold my little puppy and just sit and criticize.
I’ve never known their anguish; I’ve never felt their pain,
The caring of their charges, through snow or wind or rain.

I’ve never waited the whole night through for babies to be born,
The stress and trepidation when they’re still not there by morn.
The weight of responsibility for this body in my hands,
This darling little baby, who weighs but 60 grams.

Should you do that instead of this … or maybe that was wrong?
Alone you fight and hope, one day, he’ll grow up proud and strong.
You pray he’ll live to bring great joy to someone else’s home.
You know it’s all just up to you; you’ll fight this fight alone.

Formula, bottles, heating pads, you’ve got to get this right,
Two-hour feedings for this tiny guy, throughout the day and night.
Within your heart you dread that you will surely lose this fight,
To save this little baby, but God willing … you just MIGHT.

Day one, he’s in there fighting; you say a silent prayer.
Day two & three, he’s doing well, with lots of love and care.
Day for & five … he’s still alive; your hopes soar to the heavens.
Day six, he slips away again, dies in your hands, day seven.

You take this tiny angel, and bury him alone.
With aching heart and burning tears, and an exhausted groan,
You ask yourself, “Why do this? … Why suffer through this pain?”
Yet watch the joy your puppies bring, and everything’s explained.

So, when you think of breeders and label them with “Greed,”
Think of all that they endure to fill another’s need.
For when you buy your puppy, with your precious dollars part,
You only pay with money … while they pay with all their heart.

– Author Unknown (Reprinted from The Labrador Retriever Quarterly News. Please let me know if you are the author or know who wrote it. We’d like to give credit, where credit is due.)

We had a great weekend - despite the heat and wind near Boone, CO. Arwen passed a tough Finished test, Tory passed his 3rd Seasoned test, and Jazzy got to run two Started tests and passed both!

The Finished test started with a wide-open triple “dove” hunt and a diversion as the dog was coming in with the last bird. Then a blind retrieve with lots of suction to the dike and old falls. Arwen did fabulously! I, on the other hand, “missed” every bird. Afterward we decided to try for ducks. This series was a mind-bender of trying to remember which bird is shot at by which handler and which dog gets to retrieve. It started off with a buddy on the honor bucket with his dog as Arwen and I walked down the muddy path to the pond. On the way, a duck comes sailin’ in from the left. Both handlers take a shot at it, but remembering not to shoot in the direction of the other handler! The honor dog picked up that bird while the working dog had to watch. Once we got settled on a bucket, a duck came in from over our right shoulder and quickly thereafter another duck came in from the left. Both handlers shot at the birds. Arwen picked up the left bird after a long swim and then rooted the right bird out of the reeds. Somehow with all that “shooting” we put down another bird way off to the left. The line to the blind was just off the beach with suction to the shore and to the old fall. Couple whistles and Arwen picked up that bird. Time for a new “buddy.” As he came down the path with his dog, we moved to the honor bucket. But this dog was amped! When he came into sight Arwen must have figured she’d need a headstart to beat him to HER birds and took a few steps toward the water during the double, but luckily decided not to go any further! Good dog!

I came across a great article about a first-timer’s experience at a dog show. He was asked to come out and experience a dog show and then talk with the club members about the threats they were facing from the Humane Society and the rest of the animal rights movement.

The author made some great observations and some suggestions. I guess some people don’t realize yet that the main purpose of the HSUS and PETA is to destroy our right to love and be loved by our pets.

Here’s the link: http://humanewatch.org/index.php/site/post/what_i_learned_at_the_dog_show/

I was dusting my shelves and noticed I have a LOT of books about dogs. Here are some of my favorites:
The Nature of Animal Healing - Dr Martin Goldstein
Keep Your Dog Healthy the Natural Way - Pat Lazarus
The Book of the Labrador Retriever - Anna K Nicholas
The Official Book of the Labrador Retriever - LRC
Peak Performance - M Christine Zink DVM
Mike Lardy’s articles collections 1 & 2
Tri-Tronics Retriever Training by Jim & Phyllis Dobbs
Training Retrievers to Handle - DL & Ann Walters
Training Retrievers for the Marshes and Meadows by James B Spencer
Retriever Training Drills for Marking - James B Spencer
Retriever Training Drills for Blind Retrieves - James B Spencer
The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior by Clarence Pfaffenberger
The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs - Kyle Onstott
Beyond Basic Dog Training by Diane L Bauman
Tracking Dog Theory & Methods by Glen R. Johnson
And of course the classic - Water Dog.

Yeah, some are rather old and out of date, but there’s still good information in them, even if just for starting a discussion! What are YOUR favorite dog books?

Cat’s puppies are growing up - eyes are opening and they’re starting the gecko walk! So much fun to watch!