Posts by Laura Reeves
482 – Nutrition in Breeding Dogs with Dr. Gayle Watkins
Nutrition in Breeding Dogs with Dr. Gayle Watkins
Dr. Gayle Watkins, founder of Avidog and Head of Education at Good Dog, joins host Laura Reeves for a fascinating and informative conversation on the nutrition requirements for breeding dogs.
Watkins addresses raw feeding, kibble and specific nutrient requirements, especially calcium:phosphorus percentages, that enable the animals in our breeding programs to be successful in conceiving and raising their litters.
“We don’t have a lot of really good research on optimizing nutrition for breeding animals, either stud dogs or bitches, and we have a lot of myths,” Watkins said.
“If you are in the US, you need to feed an all-life stages or growth and reproduction diet to your breeding dogs. Ideally, that is also for stud dogs, but we don’t have much information on that. Definitely your bitches, as they prepare to breed, while they’re being bred, during pregnancy and during lactation. Adult maintenance food is inadequate for reproduction. It is not designed for reproduction.
“Dogs are scavengers … think about the stuff they eat! But breeding animals, we’re asking those bitches to do so much. They not only have to create puppies, they have to maintain their own body while that’s happening and they have to maintain their brain. So I think we have an obligation to not do homemade foods with our breeding bitches.
“I’m a big fan, if we can find those foods that are also certified by AAFCO through feeding trials. The all life stages feeding trial covers just prior to being bred, pregnancy and it covers their puppies for 10 weeks. So it’s a big feeding trial and that food has been tested as much as it could possibly be tested.”
Watkins continues with specific recommendations on additional micronutrients, fatty acids, probiotics and other supplements.
For previous Pure Dog Talk episodes on breeding topics with Dr. Watkins, click here, here, here and here.
481 – When the Best Laid Plans Go Awry
When the Best Laid Plans Go Awry
Amanda Kelly, Fwaggle Toy Manchester Terriers, joins host Laura Reeves for a conversation about dog breeding when you plan ahead, do your research and then the results don’t match the expectations.
Amanda and Laura swap stories about all of the times a breeding looked great on paper and was a disaster on the ground in one way or another. The takeaway? Breeding dogs will keep you perpetually humble and learning.
Unexpected markings. Dual sired litter rabbit holes. Repeat breeding pros and cons. And permission to fail.
A sense of humor helps keep it all in perspective. Keeping temperament and health as top priorities in a breeding program means that even if the pups in a litter don’t meet your expectations for the show ring, they will still live long, healthy lives as beloved companions.
“What I love about (dog breeding) is that there’s not clear answers,” Amanda noted. “We can ponder the theories and the different ideas and we can try new things if we give herself permission to do it. I hope when breeders have been around for a long time and are helping others that, I hope, is the gift that they’re giving them. Permission to try things, to try something new and different. What’s the worst thing that happens? They had some pets. The pet people are pretty happy about that.
“There’s not a right or wrong way to do this. If I’ve learned anything from doing this for many years and watching different breeders, there are 1000 different ways to do this. None of them are right or wrong, as long as we have the welfare of our dogs at heart. And we will learn something new every time.
“Every breeding that you do has value. You said it earlier, you learn something. You learn about what not to do, you learn about how your line is producing. So when that best in show dog winds up neutered because you made a bad choice in your puppy evaluation, you have to let it go.
“You need to be able to make a decision and live with it in the planning of a breeding and the evaluation of puppies. So allowing yourself to fail without feeling like a failure is the greatest freedom that you will give yourself as a breeder. I think sometimes we just get so wrapped up in the breeding that’s in front of us that we won’t allow ourselves to fail, we won’t allow ourselves to say ‘you know what, there’s nothing in here that I want to keep and so I’m going to let them go (to pet homes).”
480 – Which Comes First: Show Ring or Whelping Box?
Which Comes First: Show Ring or Whelping Box?
Dr. Marty Greer, DVM, joins host Laura Reeves for a discussion about whether we should show or breed our dogs first. Our consensus? Breed them, *then* show them.
“The whole reason that we show our dogs in AKC,” Greer said, “and the whole reason that AKC makes us show dogs that are intact, is because they are meant to be reproducing.
“I really think we need put a bitch’s breeding career way up the list of priorities. It is difficult when you’ve got a bitch, or a male for that matter, out there winning. It’s hard to pull them. It’s hard to miss that opportunity. But I look at it as most bitches, most dogs, get better with age. They look better when they get to being mature at five, six years old. But fertility isn’t so kind. Fertility is an elusive and a God given right. If we don’t take advantage of the youth and the fertility associated with youth, I think we’re missing a big opportunity.”
Better living through chemistry
Greer runs through the pros and cons of using drugs to inhibit heat cycles in bitches, including including Cheque drops and Ovaban. She also covers medication that can be used to bring bitches into season as well as nutritional considerations that may need to be addressed first.
Greer’s advice for breeders on how to transition a nursing bitch successfully into a show career following a litter includes exercise and Witch Hazel.
Discussing the importance of collecting males for frozen semen while they are young, Greer again offers this advice.
“I have people that come in all the time with older dogs. They may be sick. They may be elderly. And they’re just like I really, really, really wanna puppy out of this guy. I really need semen… and they’ve got three sperm and two of them are swimming backwards and there’s nothing we can do with that. Nothing you can do. We have a sign on our wall in big letters that says ‘Freeze early and freeze often.’”
479 – Anxiety, FOMO or Frustration?
478 — Bryan Martin: Read Your Standard and Dream BIS Line up
Bryan Martin: Read Your Standard and Dream BIS Line up
Bryan Martin, retired professional handler, former AKC executive field representative and newly minted Hound group judge joins host Laura Reeves for part two of his amazing stories and advice for exhibitors.
“My family would have dinner (and) during dessert, the book of standards came on the table. We had weekly discussions. ‘OK let’s talk about heads tonight.’ We’d go round the table and everyone would say something and ‘OK who do you think has a good head? Who do you think has a bad head? Do you have a picture? Go get a picture.’ One night we’d talk about shoulders and why the shoulder needs to be a wrap-around, why the shoulder needs to be well laid back, why the shoulder blade and the upper arm have to be the same length, to make it a proper working hound, how the back end has to match the front end… How the pieces fit. It’s form and function, which has stuck with me forever, and that’s my basis is form and function judging.
“It’s amazing how many people in AKC, UKC … have no understanding how to read a standard. How to interpret a standard and how to go to somebody and talk to somebody about the standard. The how’s why’s and wherefores of studying standards. At the International show where we had to write a critique, we had to know the standards. What I ended up doing was showing people what the standard says about their dog. And they say ‘oh, I didn’t know that’ and it’s a whole educational program that is missed.”
In the “Dream Best In Show Lineup” game, Martin’s choices were:
Sporting – English Springer Spaniel, Ch Salilyn’s Aristocrat
Hound – Afghan Hound, Ch Triumph Of Grandeur
Working – Doberman Pinscher, Ch. Brunswig’s Cryptonite
Terrier – Scottish Terrier, Ch. Braeburn’s Close Encounter
Toy – Japanese Chin, GCh. Pem We-Syng Lucky MI
Non-Sporting – Dalmatian, Ch. Spotlight’s Spectacular
Herding – German Shepherd Dog, GCh. Altana’s Mystique
Finally, Best in Show in this mythical lineup??
Shannon, the Scottish Terrier, shown by George Ward.
Listen above to hear all of this and more.
477 — Bryan Martin: “Basset Boy,” the Early Years
Bryan Martin: “Basset Boy,” the Early Years
Bryan Martin, retired professional handler, former AKC executive field representative and new judge of the hound group joins host Laura Reeves for part one of a wide ranging, fascinating conversation.
World famous for his work with Basset Hounds, Martin shares his early history growing up in the sport with his family and early mentors.
“I was six years old in 1960 when we went to a fun match for the Fort Dearborn Basset Hound club,” Martin said. His mother had saved up her grocery money to purchase a Basset Hound bitch who was bred to a local stud dog. They brought the puppies to the match and didn’t win anything. A club member after watching the family, approached his father with an offer he couldn’t resist.
“My Three Sons” taken at the 2006 BHCA Nationals. The ONLY time the top three, all-time Best in Show winning Basset Hounds competed at the same show! L-R Ch Deerhill’s Great Gatsby, 52 all-breed bests, Ch Topsfield Bumper Cars, 45 all-breed bests and Ch Topsfield Beethoven, 34 all-breed bests, 131 in total! — Bryan Martin
“She said, ‘You know, your puppies, they’re not good. If you like to do this, I suggest you just sell the whole lot and come out to my kennel and I’ll take care of you.’ So, we did. We went out to this kennel and she said, ‘I think this is a good bitch for you. This will be a good foundation bitch for you and I’ll give you a buddy for her and the kids can work on that one.’
“We bred a litter about every year and so I got to show all the class dogs. My brother, Peter, was the Prince and he always got the specials dogs. He didn’t mess with the class dogs. But that was to my advantage, because I got to learn that you never show two dogs the same way. Like people, they all have a different personality and they all respond differently to what you do and so you work on adjustments.
“The living room (in our house) was big enough that we could move all the furniture to the side and put the couch in the middle and we had a dog show ring. We would practice dog shows. My father would either sit in the corner or on the couch in the middle. We put a mirror on the floor against the couch and we’d learn to set up our dogs in front of the mirror, to see what the judge was seeing. So if you had to poke him in the top line or to hold the tail different or whatever you could see it and that was my learning on how to show the breed.”
From secretary for horse shows just out of college to marrying Nancy, through showing record-breaking dogs for Claudia Orlandi, Martin’s journey through the sport of dogs and his nuggets of knowledge are priceless.
Listen to part one here and join us next week for part two.
476 – Research Study Seeks to Predict Hip Dysplasia Early
475 – Multiple Sired Litters: When, Why and How with Dr. Marty Greer
Multiple Sired Litters: When, Why and How with Dr. Marty Greer
Dr. Marty Greer and host Laura Reeves review the when, why and how of multiple-sired litters. AKC instituted the policy for multiple-sired litters in 2000 with the advent of reliable parentage DNA testing.
Planning for a multiple-sired litter requires taking a variety of factors into consideration.
- The quality and condition of the semen. Greer notes that poor-quality semen should get a “head start” and be inseminated first. Frozen, fresh chilled and live semen all have different rates of motility and viability as they journey toward the eggs.
- The age and reproductive viability of the bitch. Greer advocates for a first litter. “I like a pink, shiny, healthy new uterus,” Greer said. “But it’s got the risk of not knowing what her fertility is and it’s got the risk of not knowing what kind of maternal skills she has.”
- Cost is a factor, as sire, dam and all puppies require DNA parentage testing through AKC in order to be properly registered.
- The “relatedness” of the sires being considered. While DNA testing can differentiate related sires, a father and son or similar closely related dogs can be more challenging to nail down. “We had a Border Terrier… usually they go out, I think, 13 genes and they had to go out 23 because the dogs were so closely related,” Greer said.
- The knowledge and experience of your veterinarian. “(Work) with somebody that does a lot of canine reproduction. This is not for your ordinary, garden variety veterinarian. Those are good people, don’t get me wrong, but when you’re doing something of this level of sophistication, you need to have somebody that doesn’t misunderstand what you want to do and doesn’t think that fresh chilled semen goes in the freezer and knows how to put it in so that it gets into the uterus.”
- Freeze potential sires while they are young and healthy. “If you have a young up and coming stud dog, freeze early and freeze often. Even if it’s not up and coming, even if it just might be up and coming … if he’s good enough for you to keep, freeze him. You can always do the health screenings later.”
- Consider creating a “sperm bank” for your national breed club. Working with AKC, Greer said the prototype created by the Otterhound Club of America is now available to all clubs. “We’ve got a tool kit put together. Our next step is to start educating breed clubs. So if you’re listening and you have a breed club and you’re on the genetics committee or you’re a member or you have a dog that you would like to have semen retained on this is really really, really super important. We’re going to need to breed our way out of some of these corners and without that genetic material stored, it’s not going to happen. So, you now have the opportunity to work with your breed club, your veterinarian, the AKC, the society for theriogenology… there’s a whole bunch of people that are involved in this because everybody sees the big picture value of this.”
474 – Dreaming of Dual Dogs: Rush Hill Golden Retrievers
473 — Endowing the Future of Veterinarians
