Why are we so divided?

I apologize for my blog this week, but I'm going to step on my soapbox for a moment. 

Look at the coat colors above.    This is the accepted range of coat color for Golden Retrievers EVERYWHERE in the world except for my country, The United States of America.    The country of origin for Golden Retrievers is Scotland.  The Golden Retriever Breed Council and the Kennel Club in the UK say the following about the Golden Retriever breed standard as it pertains to color:

"Any shade of gold or cream, neither red nor mahogany. A few white hairs on chest only permissible."   

The FCI or The Fédération Cynologique Internationale is comprised of 90 member countries that follow their breed standard.  These 90 countries subscribe to this same standard for Golden Retrievers that they follow in the UK. 

But the US, always the one to be different, says the following from the Golden Retriever Club of America about the color of a golden:

Color -- rich, lustrous golden of various shades. Feathering may be lighter than rest of coat. With the exception of graying or whitening of face or body due to age, any white marking, other than a few white hairs on the chest, should be penalized according to its extent. Allowable light shadings are not to be confused with white markings. Predominant body color which is either extremely pale or extremely dark is undesirable. Some latitude should be given to the light puppy whose coloring shows promise of deepening with maturity. Any noticeable area of black or other off-color hair is a serious fault.

Even though today's judges are supposedly being told that a cream coat is not to be faulted, it is faulted all the time.   You can only find a handful of American Kennel Club show champions in my country because this standard caters to the American Golden. No one knows why the standard was amended in the 1980's where they took the word "cream" out of the breed standard.  If a golden is a golden no matter the type, the color standard should be what the rest of the world recognizes, and not anything different in the US!    American Goldens came from the UK.  They share the same DNA.  It's time to start looking at all Goldens the same without prejudice!

Off of my soapbox now!

New Health Issues in English Golden Retrievers

They have come a long way in health testing with dogs and specifically with English Golden Retrievers.  In addition to the normal tests for hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, eye issues and heart issues, there are new tests that have just come out.  They now have tests for PRA-1 (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) and Ichthyosis.  These are conditions that apply to English Goldens. What does this mean to pet owners?   This is just another test that responsible breeders will do to make sure their lines are free from health defects.  PRA is an eye issue that doesn't show up until later in a dogs life.  It causes blindness in the dog, and it usually doesn't show up until after age 5.   If you have two clear dogs, you can't pass it to their offspring.  If you have a clear dog and a carrier, your puppy still can't get it.  But if you put an affected dog to a clear or carrier, your puppy can develop it.  It's for this reason that breeders with dogs that are affected with PRA-1 should not be breeding them.  Be sure you ask your breeder if they have tested for this.

Ichthyosis is a much  more common problem.  Ichthyosis is a skin condition similar to dandruff, although in some puppies, they can develop very painful sores and lose their hair.  It's not an ideal situation to have with your dog, but breeders can have an affected dog for ichthyosis and put it with a clear dog and your puppies will never get the disease.  But this is only possible putting an affected dog with a clear dog.   Again, this is something that responsible breeders should be testing for. 

Be sure to ask your breeder if they have done all health testing and don't be afraid to ask for copies of it.   We can't protect the breed we  love without knowledgable pet owners asking questions.  

Furry Family Members

                                        Boy with his best friend

It's funny how the four legged family members in our life are more than just family pets.  I know when my middle son is upset about something, the first thing he does is go straight to the dogs for their hugs and kisses and unconditional love.  My youngest says the dogs are his best friends.  He would spend all of his time talking to them and playing with them if he could.

And my husband is hysterical when it comes to our furry companions.  As much as he complains about the state of our backyard because they dig and dig and chew and dig some more, he is so happy when he is greeted by our dogs each night as he arrives home.  He'll spend five minutes giving and receiving love from them before he ever walks in the door to us.

And a dear friend said that our dogs have helped me find my 'heart place.'    When you work full time at your own business, have children and a husband and schedules to juggle, practices, homework and work deadlines, there is very little time for yourself to just be.  It's amazing how the dogs find your 'heart' place and remind you how to just 'be.'  For me, nothing is more peaceful than the time each evening I spend with the dogs.  After they've eaten and before the sun goes down, I spend time with them, just me and them, and we'll play fetch, I'll give them pets while they give me kisses, we'll dance (yes, my dogs love to dance!) and I'll sing crazy made up songs to them and we are content to just 'be.' 

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
- Unknown

Summer fun with your English Golden!

Summertime is such a great time of year with your four legged friends.  My dogs love to be outside running, playing and being in the water.  If you have a ball, they have the will to play fetch any time!   They also love sitting inside in the cool air conditioning in the 100 degree days of summer.  In NC, there have been many 95+ degree days as of late.   In areas around the globe it's even hotter.  So what are some things you can do with your dog in this type of heat, and what precautions should you take?

First, you should always bring lots of water for both your dog and yourself.   Their coats act as built in air conditioners but they will need a lot of water to keep cool.  It's good for you too!

Avoid playing in the hottest part of the day if possible.    As with people so with dogs and they can get overheated just as we can.   If you have to be out in the hottest part of the day, make sure you take a lot of breaks for water and rest.  Again, you don't want either of you to become overheated in super hot weather.

And if you're like me with English Goldens, water is a great place to spend time.  My dogs love the water whether it be a lake, an ocean, a pool or a garden hose!    You may not like the mess that comes with a day at the water, but you're sure to have a lot of fun together!

Oh, and be sure to bring lots of sunscreen for you!  A non-sunburned owner makes for a much happier day!  Enjoy the weather and your furry friends.  Fall will be here before we know it!

Talented English Goldens

Most people know that dogs bring joy and unconditional love to their families.   But did you know dogs can be quite humorous with little personalities all their own?  Take Zoe for instance.   She's sweet and quiet and oh, so obedient until there's something that catches her eye.   Then she morphs into "S Squared" or "Super Sneaky" as we like to call her.     Let me explain what I mean.

The above image is a photo of my son, Harrison jumping on the trampoline.  Zoe LOVES to do what Harrison does so she decided to jump up on the trampoline with him.   Now I told her five times to get down because I didn't want her to injure herself.  But the minute I went into the house, the above scene in the photo happened.

Really, it's quite humorous.  Here's a girl with a mind all her own.  She's sweet and obedient, but by God when Harrison jumps on the trampoline, why should he have all the fun?   So up she goes and shows the rest of us she can do what we can do.  That takes talent!

But all of my dogs have their own personalities.  Max will play fetch until my arm falls off.  He has a retrieving instinct like nothing I've ever seen.  Emma is the "alpha" and if she doesn't like something one of the other dogs does (ie. try to take her toy) she lets them know.   Reagan just wants you to pet him.  He's such a little love bug!   He looks at you with these beautiful brown eyes and begs you to love him.  There's no way you can say no to that!

Like people, dogs have their own personalities and idiosyncracies.  And some are multi-talented.   I would love to hear about what your talented dogs can do!

English Goldens....too smart for their own good at times!

 This is my boy Finn.  He's gorgeous, talented and super smart.   He's gorgeous both inside and out.  I have yet to find a sweeter golden.  He's talented because he can find a ball in 5 seconds flat.  You throw it, he'll retrieve it.  Yes, he is an English Golden Retriever so he should be good at retrieving.  And he's super smart because he can do things regular dogs can't.  That is except for my other goldens.  And the English goldens some of my friends have.  And of course, my Bernese Mountain Dog, Sadie, but that's another story.

Now I have been saying how I really need to get back in shape.  It's so hot outside in NC in the summer that it's hard to get motivated.  I could be wrong, but I think my goldens got tired of hearing me complain about my weight so this morning, they decided to help old mom out.

Some how my babies figured out how to open the gate to get out of the backyard.  That in itself is a feat.  You have to lift up a bar that locks the gate into place.  You have to open the lever.  AND you have to unhook a dog collar that I put in place that serves as a second lock for my gate just in case.   Somehow the little buggars figured out how to unlock all three and all of the sudden I hear my six year old running down the street saying, "Mommy!   Get the leashes!!" 

In a panic I immediately grab the leashes and head toward the door.  Thank goodness two of mine came right back home and were happy to drink water and be in the cool air.   But the other three were half way down the neighborhood with my six year old  in tow.   Bionic Mom took over.  Here comes Jamie Summers toting her leashes running as fast as she can to catch three English Goldens and a six year old.  

When they saw me running toward them shouting their names they came right to me with their sweet smiling faces.  And Emma just smiled as if to say, "We just wanted to help, Mom."  I guess that's what I get for complaining about needing to lose weight.   My English Goldens made sure I was the one who was going to start my weight loss program whether I wanted to or not.   Gotta love those smarty britches!!

Hip Health Testing

One really can't stress enough the importance of health testing when breeding animals.  There are so many hereditary things that can be passed down from parents to offspring that it's crucial for a responsible breeder to do as much health testing as possible.   While nothing in life is perfect, a responsible breeder will test their dogs to try to avoid health issues in offspring.

This leads me to the topic of hip testing.  The norm in the breeding world in the US is to use a company called OFA or the Orthapedic Foundation for Animals.  They look at one view of an x-ray of a dogs hips and grade it.  You can get either an "Excellent," "Good," "Fair," "Borderline" or some degree of hip dysplasia.  The thing to note which is quite frustrating to me is that the OFA will grade anything you send to them.  If the hips are not positioned properly, the OFA will still grade the hips.  They don't send the x-rays back and tell you to redo them so the hips are positioned correctly.  To me, this is just plain laziness on the part of the OFA.   

When it happened to me, I decided to see what other options were out there and made the decision to use the BVA or British Veterinary Association.   I import my dogs from Europe so it made sense to me to use their hip scheme.   They look at the same view an OFA vet will look at, but the difference is they will give you a number score between 0-53 on each hip.  Their scores are like a golfer's game....the lower the score, the better.   The "standard" score that most breeders use is a total score of 20 or under, but some breeders require lower scores than that.  And some will use higher scores if they know the scores of the ancestors behind a dog.  The thing I appreciate about the BVA is if a hip is not positioned properly, they will send the x-ray back to you refusing to grade it.   The BVA only gives you a grade once in the lifetime of a dog and they want to make sure they are grading fairly.  You can send your x-rays to the OFA over and over again.    But the OFA refers back to anything you've submitted previously instead of grading the x-ray for how it looks that day.  They also don't tell you what degree of "Good" or "Fair" your dog may be.  Are they just barely fair or good?    As you can tell, it's just not a system I am a fan of.

There are MANY breeders who have been breeding for years who won't look at a dog without an OFA rating.   And there are many more who will tell prospective puppy owners to ask about health testing.  While I agree that puppy families should know how healthy the parents of their puppies are, I also believe there are different hip schemes that as good or better than what the OFA offers.   For me and  my dogs it's the BVA. 

Puppy Socialization

Making sure that a puppy has proper socialization is key to having a friendly, loving adult dog.   This means taking your puppy with you out in public to places where there are many people.  Your puppy should get used to all sorts of sights and sounds and one of the best ways to do this is to bring her with you as you run errands to animal friendly places.   Your local home improvement store is a great place to socialize your puppy.  There are lots of people and sounds in a store like that.  Even the electric doors that open and shut can be a lot for a puppy to take in.  Some pups will walk right through doors like that while others will hang back and be somewhat afraid until you show them there's nothing to be concerned about.  And she's sure to get a lot of attention from people while you're there because who can resist a sweet puppy??

Your pup should also get used to having strangers come up to pet her.  My Bella is a loving, sweet natured girl, but in new surroundings she can be a bit timid.   I brought her with me to our neighborhood Halloween party yesterday.  I thought having her be around lots of children and adults would be a good way to further socialize her.  She was somewhat timid as we approached the noise, people and especially when she saw the bounce house.   That was a bit scary to her until she realized it wasn't going to get her.  But as soon as some of the neighborhood children saw her coming, she was in her element.  She couldn't wait to be petted and loved on by the neighborhood kids and their parents.  She just sat still or laid on her back for her favorite thing...a tummy rub!   On our walk home, she was quite proud of herself as she had been the "Belle" of the ball!  

One thing you should never do is leave a puppy with young children unsupervised.  Children (especially toddlers) don't have a good understanding yet that it's really not ok to pull a puppies tail or poke them in the eye and that can set the socialization of your puppy back.   Showing children at a young age how to treat an animal is good for both the child and the animal.   It helps both the child and the animal develop confidence with one another.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on how you socialize your puppy, we'd love to hear from you!

Puppy Body Language

The more time I spend with my dogs, the more I think they are so much like humans.  Have you ever had to scold your dog for doing something wrong?  Do you notice how they act like children?  It's amazing how similar they can be.   And their body language says so much!

This is Max (left) with Bella.  The life of a dog is hard work!

I had to scold Max the other day because he is completely fascinated with toilet paper.  I keep rolls of it in baskets in my bathrooms.  He was inside playing with me one day when he decided to walk around the house.  After about five minutes of "quiet" I knew he was up to something.  I came into the sunroom to find shredded toilet paper all over my floor and in Max's mouth.  This was not the first time Max has done this, but he just couldn't help himself.  It is such fun to shred!  But when I said, "Max, naughty boy!" he knew he had done something wrong.  He put his head down, his ears down and his tail between his legs.   As upset as I was with him, I couldn't be too hard on him because he looked so pitiful.   I scolded him and put him outside for a bit to run and get some of that excess puppy energy out.   The photo above shows him after he ran himself ragged!

Interestingly enough, dog body language really says a lot about how they are feeling. For example:
Tail between the legs says "I'm afraid" or "I know I'm in trouble."
Ears down with the head down says "I know I'm in trouble."
Lying on their back with their four paws bent up says "I'm very comfortable."
Drooling says "I'm hungry."
Tail wagging says "I'm happy."

I'm sure there are many other things dogs do that convey how they are feeling.  These are just a few of the things I see with mine.   Pay attention to your dogs body language in different situations.  It's fascinating to learn what each position means.  Email your findings!

The Scary Doggie Door

This is Reagan, my puppy I co-own with a fellow breeder.  He's the best puppy.  He has wonderful manners, he never jumps on people, he loves people and will give you lots of kisses if you pet him, and my breeder friend says he's house trained.  He lives with her most of the time, but he's living with us right now because one of her dogs just had puppies.   I believed that Reagan was house trained until the morning after his first night with us when I walked in a puddle of pee in my sunroom. 

Dogs are pack animals.  Older dogs are wonderful teachers to the younger ones.  I have four older English Goldens and they are all house trained.   They sleep in our heated/AC sunroom at night in crates that I leave open so that if any of them need to go potty, they can go through the doggie door outside to do so.  All of my dogs use that doggie door and don't have accidents.   I assumed Reagan would follow his teachers and learn to do the same thing. 

What I didn't count on was his fear of the doggie door.   No, we didn't do anything to it for Halloween.  For some reason, it just scares Reagan.   I tested my theory one day when I walked outside and called my dogs to me.  One by one they all came out until it was Reagan's turn.  I called him by name.  I looked at him through the window and called to him.  And he just sat there not moving.  My five year old (who is Reagan's best friend) went through the doggie door to show Reagan it was easy.  He still wouldn't move.   I opened the door, let him out and then went inside.  All of my dogs followed me in except Reagan.  Again, I called him and saw him looking at me through the window, but he would not budge to come in through that doggie door.   I thought once he saw the dogs do it a few more times, he'd start doing it too.

Three weeks have passed and guess what?  He's still peeing every night in the sunroom!  Tonight I finally did something that I hope will make a difference.   I brought treats outside with me.  Every dog that went through the doggie door got a treat.  When it was Reagan's turn, I lifted the doggie door flap just a bit, let Reagan see the treat, and Voila!   Out came Reagan!   I screamed so loud you would have thought I won the lottery!  We tried it inside and outside about a dozen times until he was comfortable going in and out that door.  I can't promise that I won't have a pee pee puddle in the morning.  But I think we're off to a good start!

If you have good doggie training tricks to share, please post them!