Blog

07/02/12. Well yesterday I met the biggest German Shepherd Dog in the world. He was very nice, called Zen and I had a great play with him. What a lot of different types of dog there are! My mum doesn't let me meet every dog as she says some are "Sabre Toothed Tiger Dogs" I'm not sure what that means but it sounds scary. I love dogs so much sometimes I try to say hello to them and forget to ask my mum, but I only managed to do that once. Actually she was a bit embarrassed on Saturday as I went out for a play date with my favourite dogs Cassie and Fudge. I was playing happily and then I saw a Cocker spaniel with its mum, dad and little girl. I'm afraid I couldn't help myself as they had such a nice big ball I just had to have a play! I heard my mum whistle but I just had to say hello to the little girl before I went back. I haven't quite finished learning manners about jumping and my mum had to apologise to the family as I did jump up a bit. I just can't help myself as I love people so much but mum says I could hurt someone and doesn't let me do it!

15/01/12. Well, my mum never seems to take me to the same place more than a couple of times so I don't quite know what I am doing but I like it, it's always a surprise. I have now been to the heath, the river, green fields, and the town centres. When I went up to the field today it was covered with people and they were playing football. It was ever so noisy and at first I wanted to run away. But then some nice people came over to talk to me and I played with a dog. For some reason mum kept me on a lead. Something to do with dogs being under control in a public place. I guess she wasn't sure that I wouldn't try to join in the football fun!

12/01/12. I love going with my mum to the dog training classes. I get to meet so many nice puppies and dogs. At the end of class I am allowed to stay up late and run around the hall with the big dogs in the advanced class. They are so nice and ever so clever. I can;t wait to be able to do the things that they can do!

07/01/12. Well I had such a lovely time with my mum, aunt, brother and breeder, Claudia. I ran and ran. My auntie wasn;t too keen on me for some reason but I kind of won her owner in the end. When we came back I went to Claudia's for more play and a cup of tea (for my human mum). But when we got there I had a nasty burning sensation on my paws and very soon I couldn;t stop myself from squealing and cahrging around biting my paws. Mum got Anna fromVets 2 You to come out and see me and it turns out I got chemical birns on my paws from the river at Cow Grove.  It seems that after the heavy rains pesticides have been washed down from the arable fields and built up by the river banks. I screamed at home for two and a half hours, every time mum put me on the floor I tried to hurl myself through the glass front door as I just couldn;t cope with the pain. Mum and dad had to hold me tight for two and a half hours until the cortizone injection and piriton started to work. I had very sore paws for days. I don;t think I want to go to the river again.

06/01/12. Well I have been a busy pup. I have met quite a few nice dogs now and been to two pubs. Mum doesn't let me talk to all dogs though and some have even barked at me from across the road. I wonmder what that is all about? Perhaps it's my spots?I have met lots of children and I love to sit down and shake paws with everyone. I have been off lead and played with other dogs and I return to the whistle. Haven't told mum yet but in a few months time I will shock her by not coming when I'm called. Ha ha! Us dogs naturally start to explore when we reach about 7 months old and we don't need you humans quite so much! I don't like walking by cars very much. Mum and dad took me to Ringwood yesterday and I didn't like it much. But I did enjoy going to the pub afterwards for a coffee where everyone admired me and complimented me on my good settled behaviour on my blanket by the table. The most exciting thing I have done it collect my little boy from school. Oh my goodness so many children. I loooove children and just want to talk to every single last one of them! What fun! Mum is rubbish with the camera. I have asked her to sort her act out so I can upload my photo for you all to see! I am so excited because I am meeting up with my real mum, aunt and brother plus the lady who looked after me for the first 8 weeks of my life.

25/12/11. Well I can quite get into this idea of presents. I love ripping up the paper!

20/12/11. Well, now I am starting to grow up I have decided to write my own BLOG. Mummy is helping me with the spelling! I can now sit, lay down, go onto both sides, give paw, wait, go and sit on my mat in the kitchen when mummy is busy and I also do a pretty good job of coming back when called. But my vice is a little bit of carpet in the hall which my predecessor Amy chewed up and I am trying to finish the job! Mum and dad said that they decided to wait until after I had grown up before replacing it! ha ha!

12/12/11. Poor girl, had her vaccination today. No worries, Anna from Vets2You saw her at her centre at the Oaks in Merley for her jab and Lily didn't even know it had been done. She was having too much fun! Well done Anna and well done Lily!

10/12/11. Well at last we collected Lily. We took along some blankets and put them in her family's basket so it could take on all their scents. Her mum also let us have a bit of the family vet bed so we could bring her homw with familar scents. I did see her 4 times for over 2 hours a time so she knew me anyway. Apart from a couple of whines on the way home she was fine. When we got her home I was surprised to see a lot of lo0ng dog as she moved about cautiously. Just goes to show you can;t really say from the litter how they will cope. She settled well and we had her sleeping in our room in a carry kennel for the first couple of nights. This way she could get used to being alone more in the daytime before having to cope at night. After two days she is weeing and pooing on cue in the garden, well done Lily! 

08/12/11. Well I'm afraid I am quite beside myself as it is only two days before Lily comes to live with us. We are all set and I have bought her a snuggle buddy which I hope will help her to settle in with us. The Snuggle Buddy has a lifelike heart beat and it will go to sleep with her to simulate snuggling with her litter mates. By the time I collect her there will only be two three other puppies with her so hoefully she will be getting used to less buddies. CLaudia, the breeder sent a lovely photo with a note saying "Hello mummy, I am looking forward to coming to live with you." That was so sweet. And already little Lily has been invited to her first party. It is the Radio Solent Christmas party. How exciting. I do hope she will behave as we wont have been able to toilet train her before this day! Oops!

28/11/11. Well today is my birthday and apart from pressies my special treat has been to see Lily again today. The whole litter is a delight and Lily again consistently nice and confident, playful, inquisitive and not too mouthy. Actually she has a nice soft mouth so far. I am so much wiser now hopefully we will keep it that way. She is a dear little thing and the next two weeks will drag!!!! I would like to say that Claudia Carvell who has bred this litter certainly knows her stuff.  Her two adult females get on so well and to cope so well with a litter and one in season is a credit to their temperament. There is one dog puppy left as the person who had reserved him has sadly lost their job and no longer able to take him. So anyone reading this, if you know of GOOD owners who are looking for a dalmatian puppy (not jusyt for Christmas) check out the kennel Club assured breeder list and look for Claudia Carvell. She is great and truly knows her stuff. I had been going to take a LUA (Low uric acid) litter puppy as I liked the idea of having dalmatians which don't develop crystals which can be painful and even lead to death if left. My concern is that the two litters aiming to produce low uric acid puppies (not guaranteed actually) are using the same stud. The only male uric acid kennel club listed dog! Oh dear! I fear this may lead to interbreeding if we are not careful! I didn't want the responsibility of breeding from a bitch if she had normal uric acid, also ownership had to be shared which I am not keen on. In addition, tracability would be difficult as one low uric acid breeding bitch is from the USA so finding out about the temperaments in the lines would have been almost impossible. I am very pleased to have found Claudia and delighted with our puppy! We have had three dalmatians none of which developed crystals. Surely a lot of this depoends on nutrition and access to water? I suspect the worst issue in dalmatians is now epilepsy! Hope the time passes soon as I can;t wait to have Lily living with us!!

22/11/11. Well I just couldn't wait until the 28th to see her again so I saw Lily again today. Lily is the name the breeder gave her and it suits her so we will stick with Lily. She was the third out of the crate to come and see me and while the first two were hanging off my trouser legs she sat politely in front of me and was happy to be picked up and cuddled for quite a long time. She's not too bitey and if I had had the pick of the litter she is the one I would have chosen. Decision made. We have now found our puppy and are looking forward to having her join our family. It seems a long 6 months since we lost our beautiful Amy and still I cry when I think of her. I know that won't change when we get Lily as Amy had such a huge impact on us all that I fear the gap will never close. However, Lily will be a different dog and I suspect she will be very sweet just like her  mum. I am looking forward to a new chapter in our life.

14/11/11. Well the litter is now 4 weeks old today and we went to see them. We didn't take Oliver this time ... just in case. However, we needn't have worried. The mum is sooo sweet and the aunt also lives there and was in season. Despite a bitch in season and a new mum with litter in the same house there were absolutely NO fireworks. These two get on sooo well and had good fun playing too. Mum was happy for me to sit with the puppies and she fed them and nurtured them quite happily with me there. She was totally relaxed and totally friendly with the best dally smiles I have seen! At last we have seen a litter where the mum wasn't protective of her litter. A very good sign as we want to avoid guarding since this was one of the main problems with had with Amy. The puppies are great and the one we looked at has nice markings. Not too spotty, we like lesser spotted ones! But a few nicely placed spots on the face. Yahoooo! I feel sure we have found our puppy. She is active, confident and fine to be handled. We will look at her again in a couple of weeks and hopefully she will still be nice and confident. At four weeks none of them were too "bitey" but that will all probably have changed by 6 weeks! I'm so excited to think we have found our next puppy and we have been able to select this one with more knowledge. Then it is all down to us and how we socialise and train etc. I can't wait! Lily will not replace Amy we know that but a new focus will be good.

29/10/11. Well, who would have believed that after 165 miles trek to see a litter that we would then have a litter less than 5 miles away? As soon as we got back I started looking at the kennel club puppy list and found a new one at Wimborne. Sounds good and breeder knows her lines which is really important if you are nreeding for temperament. When I talked about Amy this breeder was able to say what lines were in her pedigree.... and she was right! 

27/10/11. Well, bless her, still very jumpy. I wonder if it is possible that she doesn't see that well, she has one blue and one brown eye. Lovely boys in the litter but set on a bitch. Lovely breeder, such a shame. Not helped by the mum trying to bite our son though! I still remember that when we saw Amy in the litter her mum bit Martin on the forehead when he went to talk to one of her puppies. Maternal protection? Or resource guarding? Will we ever see a litter where the mum doesn't nip?  The journey continues. Never been so long without a dog and missing Amy so badly! maybe it is too soon for us yet?

26/10/11. Have seen the puppies. Really nice litter. Only one lightly spotted female now and she was a bit nervy, the only one in the whole litter!!!!! We will take a look again tomorrow!

25/10/11. Well we went up tp see them. 165 miles trip, such a long way. Got a call to say they had been BAER tested today and one of the little girls we were hoping to see was PTS (Put to sleep) because she was totally deaf. Such a shame and wish they had called as I may have taken a deaf puppy if the temperament was right!

14/10/11. Sounds good. Two of the female puppies are lightly spotted so hopefully we will have some choice! SO excited!

23/09/11. Puppies born. The 23rd is a good date for me! Big, great, important and devastating things always seem to happen on the 23rd!

18/09/11 Only a week to go before Lulu has her puppies. Although we didn't go for one of the  puppies from her other girl because my husband is so fussy about looks(!!!!!) She has another female called Lulu who is due to whelp in about a week. I am so keen on these puppies because she is one of just a few breeders that I feel is someone who has the best interests of the breed at heart. Today I have been talking to another Kennel Club accredited breeder who is breeding from the same lines as Amy was from. She told me that aggression and nervousness isn't tolerated in show dogs trying to imply that show success is an indication of temperament!!!! Aha, I happen to know that is not true as I have helped someone to teach her show dog to accept the handling by the judges and also to ignore the other dogs in the ring. Actually he is quite aggressive but has been taught to behave in the ring. He was showing aggression from 8 weeks old. He has qualified for Crufts now. So I know that this is simply not true. I get annoyed by people who try to say that they breed for temperament when they are breeding for show which may not be the same thing! What a dog looks like bears no relevance to how they behave or how healthy they are!  I asked this breeder for the COI% and also hip scores of the parents (which is recommended by the Kennel Club) but information was not forthcoming. In fact I have now checked the COI myself which is 13.4%. This shows in breeding more closely related than grand parent and grand child! I'm sorry, but this is just shocking! This information is available but some breeders just don't seem to bother about what the implications for this are.

26/08/11 Well I am rather disappointed as my husband didn't see the puppy he was looking for in this wonderful litter. A bit gutted as this breeder is really good and has ticked all of my many boxes! However, the good news is that another litter is due later this year. Hopefully they are not fed up with us!

Also we are on the list for a rather interesting litter due to be born in January. This litter is going to be interesting as the Coefficient of inbreeding is zero, the dam has been hip scored, elbow scored, eye tested, thyroid tested and also carries a single copy of the uric acid gene. This is a particular problem for dalmatians where uric acid levels build up leading to urine crystals and at times urinary blockages in male dogs. Occasioanll this also affects females, however, in the three that we have had over the years not one has been affected by it. If the litter works out from Essex I have a feeling we may end up with two (but don't tell my husband!!!!!!!)LOL.

However, all this requires waiting and I feel desperate not to have a dog at home with us. I cannot express how much we miss Amy dog, our litter Spotster. She was such a presence her spirit is deeply missed. Maybe it is just as well that we have to wait. Sometimes you can get a dog too soon as it can be hard to bond.  

14/08/11

Well I'm getting a bit excited. I have been talking to a lovely dalmatian breeder in Essex. SO nice to find someone who is doing so much with the litter. They have been meeting an 18 month old child regularly and have met men, women, babies and other dogs (dalmatians). Yesterday they even went out for a day trip. This is great because during a time in which their brains are developing rapidly their brains are being stretched by all these experiences. Haven't been able to see the photos yet of the pups which are available but I am really hoping we will be able to get one from this breeder as all the boxes have been ticked for me! Feeling guilty though about Amy. We will never replace her any more than she replaced Bella before her or Bella replaced Sharnie before her.

07/08/11

A good time to start a Blog is perhaps at the end or beginning of something. My journey as a behaviourist started with the arrival of Amy (Sugardale Sunglow) our third dalmatian. She was the most amazing dog in so many ways and the greatest teacher.  We are still reeling from the shock of losing her in June 2011 only a week after mother in law died. 6 weeks on and only just really starting to accept that she is no longer here. Still from time to time I find that I go to her to say hello and find this empty space or prepare her bowl of food only to find she isn't there. For a  while I felt that I just couldn't get another dog because I just hate the inevitable decision at the end. To quote my husband "She thought we were going to help her and we killed her". A profound statement. As a behaviourist I don't believe that she "thought" we were going to help her but she knew that we always took care of her. And at this time we did. We helped her to stop suffereing and I know it was the right thing to do but felt bad about it for a long time. Not helped by husbands comments though!!!!!

So, emerging now from the dispair I have started the journey to find out about breeders. The more I look into this the harder it gets and I know it will be a long time before I find someone who I feel comfortable with. If you are looking into buying a puppy then I think it is a really good idea to be as informed as possible. My website contains info on how to choose the puppy etc but I am now looking more into how to know that the breeder is good, ethical and isn't in breeding. I have found on my journeys that some of the lines in Amy's pedigree are known to have been aggressive/nervous or both. Why it is that people continue to breed from lines known to have problem behaviour is really down to what the dog looks like and breeding for champions or just plain lack of knowledge or worse, down to making money. We will try our hardest not to fall foul of this again. And of course there are those out there who are listening to the research and changing their ways. But there are still those that have no intentions of doing this!

What have I learned? Well, it is now possible to check the rate of inbreeding in your puppy by going to the Kennel Club's "Mate Select" and putting in your puppy's pedigere name or registration number. Mate Select This will tell you the average coefficient (rate) of inbreeding for the breed and it will tell you the rate for your specific puppy. Altermatively, if you are selecting a breeder who has not yet had the puppy, you can put in the dam (mother) and sire (father) names and it will tell you the coefficient of inbreeding rate of any litter as a result of that mating. A coefficient rate of 12.5% indicates breeding between grand daughter/grandfather or grandson/grandmother or half sister/brother. You need to be aware that this level of inbreeding is considered risky due to the risk of inheriting deleterious (bad) genes. Basically this means that bad genes/behaviour carried through the line will be magnified (as well as good genes). This is tricky when it comes to poor temperament or conditions such as hip/elbow displasure etc as it means the condition is more likely to arise because the gene carried for it is repeated across many matings.

What did I find when I did this for Amy? Well the average rate of inbreeding in the breed is 6% and Amy was 8%. So this does not imply a high rate of inbreeding. However, where her nervous/aggressive streak came from was the three lines within her pedigree which were known to be this way but had champion in their genes and so were bred from. At 12 weeks Amy first showed aggression when she flew at a waitress removing empty plates from a picnic table at Milton Abbas. This was not something we had caused but was in her breeding. How I handled if after that point did make matters worse as I used punishment on her (smacked her and shouted at her for showing this aggression. I also removed objects from her which she was guarding which made things much worse) not realising that the reason for her aggression was fear. This made her fear worse and created bigger problems.

That's it for today! I promise more as I find out more!