431 – Dalmatians: the “Brilliant, Spotted, Energized” Dogs of Croatia
Dalmatians: the “Brilliant, Spotted, Energized” Dogs of Croatia
Dalmatians are our Love the Breeds topic today with enthusiasts Meg Callea, Molly Spengler and Stephanie Podejko joining host Laura Reeves for a timely conversation ahead of the release of the “101 Dalmatians” remake.
History
Historic illustrations of Dalmatians accompanying coaches.
“Dalmatians have kind of … a mixed historical background,” Callea noted. “There are spotted dogs on tombs in Egypt, on frescoes in Italy… theoretically they were started in Dalmatia … which is a historic province of Croatia. They were developed to be basically a dog to go with horses and a guard dog. They were to guard the horses and guard the stables. While they were in the stables, (a) desired trait was to kill vermin. So they do that really well. They have a lot of prey drive, some of them have a lot more than they need, which is why they do really well at some of the other performance events.
Dalmatian competing in tracking event.
“There are illustrations of Dalmatians as far back as the 1600s. They were brought into being a breed more in the early 1800s, during the Regency period, where they were bred for their markings to look real fancy with the carriages and coaches. They were bred to run around and go with the carriage all day long, so that’s somewhere between 25 to 40 miles a day. Their job was to alert the carriage people if there was a bad guy around, to chase off rogue dogs or Wolves, and to protect the carriage and its contents. And to keep the horses company, because the horses that ran were pretty high strung. Which is how they came into being with the fire Department.
Dalmatians are iconic symbols for fire departments world wide.
“The fire Department used to have carriages that were horse drawn. The horses that drew those things were really high spirited, so the dogs kept them company while they were sitting around waiting for something to happen. When something happened, they ran with the horses, they broke up the traffic in front of them. They also kept the horses calm at the fire because horses do not like fire. They also protected the water spigot. Potable, drinkable water was hard to come by, so while the guys were fighting a fire somebody would come in to disconnect their hose and steal the water.”
Coaching Competition and Performance Events
Dalmatians excel in all performance events, according to our panelists.
“This is a breed that can do it all,” Podejko said. “There isn’t a sport out there that I have found, a performance sport, that Dalmatians don’t excel at. They’re just a brilliant breed.”
The Dalmatian Club of America features a breed specific test and competition called a Road Trial. The most advanced level requires the dogs, horses and riders to cover 25 miles in an endurance competition. According to Podejko, “A Dalmatian Road Trial is a performance event and test in the field designed to evaluate the Dalmatian’s ability to “coach,” or follow the horses. Exhibitors compete as handler on horseback or in a horse-drawn cart or carriage, with dog(s) off-leash. The Dalmatian Standard of the American Kennel Club states that the Dalmatian “should be capable of great endurance, combined with a fair amount of speed,” qualities essential to his successful use as a horse/rider and horse/coach escort. The purpose of a Road Trial is to demonstrate the use of purebred Dalmatians as a companion of man in the role that they have been bred to perform.”
Health and longevity
Breed specific health concerns have been mitigated by conscientious breeders testing their dogs.
Spengler shared information on breed specific kidney stones and how to manage them with appropriate diet. Our panelists also discussed the success of preservation breeders testing for and drastically reducing the number of dogs produced with deafness issues and how that was managed.
“It’s very important to do your research (when considering purchasing a Dalmatian) because there are some key things that go along with the breed,” Spengler advised.
Panelists:
Meg Callea
Stephanie Podejko
Molly Spengler
430 — Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from My Dog
Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from My Dog
Kelly Lyn Marquis, professional dog handler and life coach, joins host Laura Reeves for an uplifting, insightful and powerful conversation about our messaging to ourselves and how everything we need to know about life, we can learn from our dogs.
“This is a transition to be able to go let me take what I was doing with dogs and teach dog people how to be that person that their dog sees in their eyes,” Marquis said. “If only I could be as grand as my dog thinks I am. Well, what if you can?”
Biography
Marquis’ mother, Linda Marquis of Marquis Dobermans, and AKC judge George Marquis were dog enthusiasts. Falling asleep in crates and whelping boxes with puppies and raising, training, and playing with dogs was an integral part of her childhood years.
As her parents’ involvement in the pursuit of conformation exhibition deepened, so did Kelly’s. She began competing in Junior Showmanship at the age of ten. She honed her craft as a dog handler by apprenticing with some of the most respected Doberman handlers in the country. In addition to her hands-on training, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of New Hampshire.
Upon graduation she worked full time in marketing and public relations while building her professional dog handling business. In 2000, she transitioned full time into showing dog professionally.
In 2003, she handled Ch. Blue Chip Purple Reign, AKA Raisin, to #1 Doberman all systems, #1 Working Dog, and #5 All-Breeds, and was recognized as the Working Dog Handler of the Year.
Kelly has campaigned several breeds on the national breed level including a Miniature Pinscher, Rottweiler, Portuguese Water Dog, Boxer, and several German Shorthaired Pointers. In addition to these nationally ranked dogs, Kelly has handled hundreds of dogs to championship and grand championship tiles.
Her interests and talents continued to evolve and in 2018 she began writing professionally for Dog News Magazine. Her writing offers provocative insights on human and canine dynamics. That same year she completed certification as a life coach from the Coach Training Alliance. In addition to professional dog handling, Kelly now also operates Winall Coaching LLC. Her specialty is teaching people how to apply canine wisdom in daily living, and she particularly enjoys working with members of the dog show community because of their deep love and respect for dogs.
Her coaching approach is a unique extension of skills she developed as a professional handler in which she is able to sense, feel and receive intuitive information that guides her sessions with clients. She utilizes her gifts as a professional dog handler and life coach to help guide dogs and people to their highest potential and live life to the fullest.
She is currently writing a book titled, Behind the Scenes of Best in Show, a compilation of interviews with some of the top professional dog handlers in the country.
429 – Tough Talk on Big Questions
Tough Talk on Big Questions: How To’s from Judges and AKC Rep
This is part two of our panel discussion on the “Road to Center Stage” featuring audience Q&A with AKC judges Brian Meyer and Sylvie McGee, and AKC Rep Bryan Martin.
How to approach judges with questions
Bryan Martin: “If you’re not proactive by knowing what your standard is, it’s harder to have the discussion. Most judges will enter into a discussion with you. Don’t go into the conversation with your hair on fire. Take time to calm down, come back, catch them on the judge’s down time. Don’t ask ‘why didn’t you like my dog.’”
How to learn from handlers
Bryan Martin: There’s nothing wrong, as an Owner Handler, to sit and watch a handler. Follow them all day. Ask them if you can sit out of the way and watch them trim. If you make an effort to ask, there isn’t a handler out there who won’t share. That helps the rapport of all the exhibitors.
How judges are reviewed by reps
Brian Meyer: I have no problem with the way it is set up now that you have a discussion. Everyone can learn from the discussion. Some of the people in the past in Brian’s position maybe came on a little harsh. If you have the best dog and you missed it, you left it out of the ribbons, then we maybe have a discussion, but we have a *discussion.*
How judges learn Rare Breeds
Sylvie McGee: To me it’s all an extension of talking about dogs. we want to have a deeper understanding of where your breed is coming from, where your breed is going, what you want your breed to be like.
How can judges prevent breed drift?
Sylvie McGee: We can only judge what you bring us. If your breed is going off the rails, we can still only judge what you bring us.
How to give and receive mentorship
Sylvie McGee, “If we are not good mentors, which means having difficult discussions with people in our own breed, this (breed drift) can happen.” Meyer added, “You have to read your own standard before you criticize. Know your standard well enough that you can say, ‘If I beat that dog, this guy doesn’t know anything.’”
Listen to part one here.
428 — The Versatile, Velcro Vizsla: Hunting Dog of the Magyar
The Versatile, Velcro Vizsla: Hunting Dog of the Magyar
Vizsla enthusiasts Kathy Rust, Ashley Uffman and Vizsla Club of America President Melissa Lembke join host Laura Reeves for a conversation about this medium sized, short coated versatile hunting dog.
From the Vizsla Club of America website:
“The Hungarian or Magyar Vizsla … is mentioned in the very early times in Hungarian history, while his exact origin is lost in the midst of ancient European history. It is known that the ancestors of the present Vizsla were the trusted and favorite hunting dogs of the Magyar tribes who lived in the Carpathian basin in the Eighth Century. Primitive stone etchings over a thousand years old show the Magyar hunter with his falcon and his Vizsla.
Companion dogs of the early warlords and barons, Vizsla blood was preserved pure for centuries by the land owning aristocracy who guarded them jealously and continued to develop the the hunting ability of these “yellow-pointers,” the golden rust coloration from tip to tail. Records of letters and writings show the high esteem in which the Vizsla has always been held through the centuries.
The Vizsla survived the Turkish occupation (1526-1696), the Hungarian Civil War (1848-49), World War I, World War II and the Russian Occupation. However, the breed suffered a decline in the late 19th century, and the true Vizsla was close to being extinct. A careful search of Hungary and a poll of Hungarian sportsmen revealed only about a dozen Vizslas of the true type still alive in the country. From that minimum stock, the breed rose to prominence once again.”
“We can do just about anything with this breed,” Uffman said. “We hunt waterfowl, you know, ducks, geese. Also Upland birds: quail, chukar, pheasants … they have webbed feet. They love to swim and they’re just built for it.”
Three Dog Night
“… originally the term came because they like to burrow underneath the covers,” Lembke said. “They like to be covered up. In the past, when it got so cold out that they needed three dogs to keep them warm they called it A 3 dog night. So what I love about the Vizsla is that they are constantly trying to steal the covers. They want to burrow … under the covers, right on top of you, touching you … they are a furnace. If you think of the castles way back in 1300-1400, they had no heat, so literally they helped keep the kids warm under the covers.”
“A great Vizsla owner is the person that wants that dog to be part of their lives every minute of the day,” Rust said. “They’re called the Velcro Vizsla for a reason. When you stop and you’re sitting in the house, they’re touching you, they’re sitting in your lap or cuddling with you. When you get up to go to the bathroom, there there to watch you to make sure that everything’s fine. They want to have that continuous companionship … I think that’s due to the fact that they were bred to be very close to their people.”
427 – The Road to Center Stage
Road to Center Stage: Panel Discussion on the Process to Become a Judge
Throwback to a Friday Night Forum when we could all go to dog shows. Bryan Martin reviews the judging application process that was put in place most recently. Martin gives a thorough overview of the various systems that preceded the current updates. (Note: This event was held prior to 2020 and the temporary changes/revisions applied to this process due to the Pandemic).
Anyone beginning the judging process or moving forward will find this useful. Exhibitors will be able to understand the requirements for the judges in the center of the ring.
AKC judges Brian Meyer and Sylvie McGee share their experiences, what drives them to judge, what they enjoy and what frustrates them. This valuable input helps exhibitors understand that the judge in the ring was not hatched from an egg.
Meyer says that finding the dog nobody else has found is part of his joy in judging. “Maybe it’s a puppy dog, maybe it’s a puppy bitch. I don’t care. I really don’t care what class it came from. It could be a novice person that doesn’t really have any idea what they’re doing. You’re not judging their ability. You’re judging what the dog is supposed to look like according to the standard.”
His frustration? “You use the same pattern all day long. And your last breed of the day. Your last class of the day, the person looks at you and goes ‘did you want me to make a triangle?’ when you been going down and back all day. I mean, you have to watch what a person is doing before you walk into the ring to prepare yourself.”
McGee notes her enjoyment of assisting new handlers and her frustration at dirty dogs.
“I love the dogs,” McGee said. “I love everything about judging really. I love it when novice people come to the ring … if I could give him some encouragement or maybe say ‘you know let’s move that dog one more time maybe you could loosen up that lead a little bit.’ That’s a gift to them and it helps me to see the dog better.”
“I think if you talk to any judge, dirty dogs (are a frustration),” McGee said. “So imagine you’re the judge, standing in the middle of the ring, everyone is watching you, and you’re thinking to yourself ‘do I dare, now that I’m going over this dog who is filthy, go over and visibly use a handiwipe or use hand sanitizer before I touch this next exhibit because I don’t want to transfer whatever I just picked up on my hands. Please bathe your dogs.”
Meyer adds one important note of emphasis.
“You, as exhibitors, are not necessarily the most compassionate people with new people. Yeah, I’m going to put some of that on you people because you’re the ones that should be helping these new people that are coming in …”
To watch the video from this event, click here.
426 – Love is in the Air: Genetic Testing Offers “MatchMaking”
Love is in the Air: Genetic Testing Offers “MatchMaking”
Adam Boyko, chief science officer at Embark, joins host Laura Reeves for a science geek out session.
“There’s really three important reasons to do genetic testing,” Boyko said. “The first is the health component that you get from genetic testing. In almost every purebred breed there are inherited disorders we can test for today. It’s good to get that peace of mind. It’s good to know if a dog is a carrier for something if you’re planning on breeding it. It’s good (for owners) to know if it’s at risk or something so you know what to look out for, if there’s a special diet you should be feeding it or what sort of environment you should have that dog in.
“Secondarily, you’ve got genetic traits, which scientists have learned a lot about. So, you might want to know what sort of coat colors the dog carries. If you were to breed it what would you expect the litter proportions to be. It’s also coat type, stature all that kind of stuff.
“Finally, inbreeding. Breeders have really been interested in (this) a lot. They’ve been traditionally using pedigree-based methods to (measure COI), but now that we have genomic information you can actually much, much more accurately measure inbreeding, to predict inbreeding of different crosses and see the affect that inbreeding has on the health and longevity of dogs. (It’s) another breeding decision that breeders use, another metric, as they’re trying to balance all the different things.”
Embark’s new “Matchmaker” tool is now online for select breeds, which allows breeders to select different combinations to determine which one offers the lowest COI, which dog carries or doesn’t for which traits or diseases, and would therefore offer the breeder the ideal mating they are seeking.
Visit Embark’s website for more information on services available for your breeding program.
425 – Breeder Hacks, Tricks, Tips & Products for Healthier Puppies
Breeder Hacks, Tricks, Tips & Products for Healthier Puppies
Dale Martenson, renowned breeder of Touche Japanese Chin, joins host Laura Reeves to talk about some of our favorite hacks, some of our favorite products, some of our favorite things as dog breeders that don’t necessarily make it into the textbooks.
LISTEN to the episode for more details, by clicking the triangle arrow above.
Milk Balloons
“Litters of puppies, if we were going to put it in the hands of Mother Nature,” Martenson noted, “it would often be more like sea turtles … a certain percentage of them were meant to make it to the water and a certain percentage are not. As breeders, we want to tip the scales. We can add some supportive care, just to give those little turtles a boost to the water, to make it to a healthy adulthood…”
Martenson uses surgical gloves as an alternative method of supplemental feeding. Tube feeding can be difficult and even dangerous if not done properly. Plus, the actual process of suckling is important to the puppies’ digestion and development.
Heat from Down Under
Martenson shares methods for warming puppies while offering the bitch a cooler location in the whelping box, the dangers of heat lamps in general and the importance of providing a heat source *under* the puppies.
Do the Hoky Poky
Flooring for puppies in the whelping box is critical. A number of studies indicate that puppies whose feet slip while nursing or navigating the box are more likely to develop hip dysplasia. Martenson recommends small carpet remnants for toy breeds. We agreed that large, rubber backed washable fleece pads are a better choice for larger breed dogs.
Pumpkin Powder to the Rescue
Only dog people are as obsessed with poopy. The product Martenson recommends helps pups transition to new water, new schedule, new environment, possibly new food with no intestinal upset.
Eat up!
“ENTYCE is a fantastic appetite builder. So say your female isn’t wanting to eat and she’s 50 days, she’s trying to have pregnancy toxemia on you. Then you’re looking at hand feeding, syringe feeding, whatever kind of feeding we can do to make this happen. We’ve had fantastic results with that or traveling to the dog show and they’re not wanting to eat on the road. “
424 – Senior Living: Simple Hacks and Good Medicine for Old Dogs
Senior Living: Simple Hacks and Good Medicine for Old Dogs
Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a discussion of Senior Dogs in this month’s Veterinary Voice. Marty and Laura drill down on current medicine and important life hacks for our old dogs, adding to the information in our episode on Canine Cognitive Dysfunction.
DHA and Fatty Acids
Specially formulated and prescription diets from the top dog food companies are researched and tested just for senior dogs, Greer noted.
“We’ve seen (for example) Purina come to market with two diets,” Greer said. “One is called Bright Minds. You don’t need a prescription for it, you can buy it at your local feed store. Then their higher level, it’s got three times the amount of fatty acids and some of the other important nutrients in it called Neural Care, which is a prescription diet. We’ve seen behavioral changes on that. We’ve seen reduction in number of seizures. So there’s a lot of really interesting things we can do. We feed our dogs anyway. You’re not talking about putting him on a drug or putting him on anything different, you’re just talking about changing their diet to something that’s going to improve their cognitive function.”
Pulse Dosing
“One of my favorite things to do for these old guys that you’re reluctant to do anesthesia on is called pulse dosing of an antibiotic,” Greer said. “The pulse dosing works that you give it for five days every other month. It does a really good job on the anaerobic bacteria that live under the gums of our dogs as they get older that cause that really foul, nasty breath. So, it actually reduces the bacterial load in their mouth. It’s a really nice way to keep your dog’s mouth more healthy without using an anesthetic procedure.
“The dose is 11 milligrams per kilogram, twice a day for five days, and it will considerably improve your dog’s health. We know bad teeth aren’t just a bad breath issue, we know that it causes heart disease, kidney disease and systemic disease.”
Download today’s episode or more products recommendations, tips and hacks!
423 — Cancer Specialist Provides Important Tips on Early Detection
Cancer Specialist Provides Important Tips on Early Detection
Dr. Lori Cesario DVM DACVIM (Oncology), Owner, Canine Cancer Academy, joins host Laura Reeves for a life-saving conversation on early detection of cancer in our dogs.
Whether the signs are fleeting and faint, or rapid onset and obvious, Cesario provides tips and tools to help our dogs live longer and healthier lives by catching cancer early.
“Cancer can honestly look like anything,” Cesario said. “A toenail or skin infection. Or it could just look like your dog is a little tired or has a nosebleed or is drinking a ton of water and normally he doesn’t do that.
“So I think the best place to start is just knowing what is normal for your dog and trusting your instincts. Is this normal and this something new isn’t normal. If something changes and is either getting worse or just isn’t getting better, and what your vet suspected just isn’t turning out to be the reason, just don’t blow it off. Pursue it until you have an answer.
“I had a client who did a lot of dock diving with her dog. That dog was just so energetic, so full of life walking down the street, you’d never know there was anything wrong with her. At her most recent dock diving competition, she just wasn’t diving as far as normal. So her incredibly astute owner just said ‘ya you know, I just don’t think somethings right.’ So she took her in for a blood test and the blood test showed that she was just a little bit anemic. Her red blood cell count was a little bit low. They decided to do an ultrasound and found a mass in the spleen.”
Some specific cancers and warnings signs Cesario described include skin tumors, mast cell tumors and hemnagiosarcoma.
“Skin tumors can come in all shapes and sizes,” Cesario said. “We all want them to be benign. The difficult thing about skin tumors is that there are some malignant tumors, especially things like mast cell tumors, that can look exactly the same as a benign tumor, like a lipoma. We’ve all felt lipomas. They’re just the squishy thing under the skin, not too exciting. But whenever a dog develops a new skin mass, you always ask your vet to sample it and get a diagnosis.”
“Our Eyes Aren’t Microscopes”
Cesario reminds listeners of a few warnings signs, but insists that the best answer is to get a tissue sample for a firm diagnosis of visible masses or lesions.
“If you see a mass and it’s waxing and waning, that’s very common with mast cell tumors,” Cesario said. “If you are noticing something like that, don’t think that you’re just making it up in your head. It could very well be a mass. You’re not losing your mind. I tell people to just draw a little black magic marker with a sharpie around the mass (and watch if it increases or shrinks). If it’s a fast growing mass, if it’s open or ulcerated or hairless, very pink, that can also be a mast cell tumor. The only way to know is to sample it.”
Cesario also references the long-awaited blood test for cancer antibodies as a potential game changer in early detection of these deadly diseases.
“(Researchers) have developed a blood test that detects antibodies that the body has produced against the tumor. It sounds like the one that they’re going to release first is a blood test that can detect antibodies against hemangiosarcoma,” Cesario said.
422 – Exploring the Caravan Hounds of India
Exploring the Caravan Hounds of India
Neil Trilokekar (in photo with Caravan Hound puppy) returns for part two of this fascinating conversation with host Laura Reeves. The Caravan Hounds story is equal parts intrigue and investigative work through the mists of time, with a frisson of danger and a large helping of reverence for the common man.
“First and foremost it’s a hunting dog,” Trilokekar said. “They hunt largely for hare and fox. Fox ’cause it’s a vermin and hare for food. In the old days, they would also take blackbuck which is type of gazelle, but that doesn’t really happen these days. So it’s a hunting dog, but it also is general alarm around the property. They are not aggressive. They’re not supposed to be super guardy or aggressive.
“(They are a) typical sighthound. Reserved, kind of cat-ish in their mannerisms. Personality wise, they are reserved like most Asiatic sighthounds. Most of them, they’re raised in a very rough manner, the ones that live in villages. But they still end up being very easy-going dogs. They know how to interact with the world. I’m very impressed with their characters.
“(The Caravan Hound is) a very ‘dry’ dog. Lean dry musculature. Minimalistic in design, if you think about it that way. Very square or even slightly shorter than they are tall. Very deep chested with a really good tuck up. Not a very long loin, it’s a fairly moderate loin. The top line is fairly level more like an Afghan type top lines. Fairly level or there might be a very slight incline from the Withers up to the hip bones, not sloping down from the Withers sloping slight incline and the hip bones are prominent. Angulation is very moderate. They have very refined head. There’s two basic head types in the breed, but even what they call the more moderate head is a very refined head to begin with.
“Thin skin. The coat is a very unique coat. Nearly the only breed that I’ve felt the coat on which is kind of the same is some Shar Pei have a similar coat that they call a horse coat. That really hard bristly hair. I think some of the Chongqing Dogs might have a similar coat too. It’s very sparse. It’s almost hairless on the undersides and it looks glossy when you look at it from afar like it gleams but you touch it and it’s got like a bristly harsh feel to it. It’s a very short coat like you can see the skin through the coat. That’s definitely a very unique and prized characteristic of the breed.
“Colours, they are usually very drab colours so they blend in with the land over which they work. They work over black cotton soil largely and so you get a lot of blacks, you get a lot of seals, shades of seal and also some of the dogs work over red soil so you get Reds and fawns and occasionally get a grey. Not blue, not a dilute like a grey, grey. Generally, a lot of old hunters and breeders, village people, they do not accept brindle and they do not accept parti colours, ’cause those are thought to have been brought in with Greyhound influence. There is not high incidence of feathered caravan hounds. Out of all the people I know and they had a meeting of 50 different people that have known the breed for years and years there was two people that have seen a feathered caravan hound born.”