Naming the Spaniel - It's Toller Related!

Finding the right name for a dog is very important to me, and for the first time in over 25 years I was tasked with naming a dog that was not a Toller. Angws's puppy name was Tommy, and we thought about keeping that but Tom was my father-in-law's name, and he was still with us when we brought Angws home earlier this year. I thought a WSS pup deserved a good Celtic name and I did quite a lot of research before settling on Angws. My studies revealed that Angws means "one choice", "superb" or "unique" and I thought this was a very fitting name for a singleton pup. 

The registered name was more challenging. My breeder's kennel name is Wyndyn. Because Angws was a singleton, she asked that I use "one" as the theme. So many choices! But I didn't want to make an obvious choice like "one in a million", "one for the road" or "one and only". I would run an idea past George, only to have it shot down. At one point I said, a little sarcastically, "How about, Takes One to Know One?" He said "yes!" and as I said it out loud, I realized how fitting it was. Koan is also a singleton. So it takes one to know one. Emphasis on our two ones vs. the catty way this phrase is usually delivered. Angws's breeder approved and he was registered as Wyndyn Takes One to Know One.

Our New Mismark

In the effort to heal from our multiple dog losses this year I reached out to my long-time friend and early Toller mentor, Patty Beran, to ask about a few breeds I had seen over the years and admired. She was able to help me make some amazing connections with both a Welsh Springer Spaniel and Field Spaniel breeder who've been in their respective breeds far longer than I've been in Tollers (which is currently 26 years). I found much to admire in both breeds as I researched and got to know them better, but in the end, George and I were completely smitten with the Welsh Springer Spaniel. We found them lovely, lively, and engaging. 

Marleyna, the dam of the puppy we ended up with, sussed us out by barking at us in a way that might have turned some people off but reminded us of June, who was the queen of our house and never shy about expressing it. Tayler, the Lyle's male WSS, was friendly but very laid back and was soon snoozing by my side as we talked to Karen and Keith about the breed.

It seemed like serendipity that a handsome male puppy was available. That he was a singleton, like Koan, tugged at our hearts. The fact that there are multiple UDs on the dam's side of the pedigree clinched it, since as with Tollers, I primarily want a dog to "do stuff" with.

I guess I thought spaniels would be more fawning and subservient than their retriever counterparts but I couldn't have been more wrong. He's got moxie, or "spanieltude", and really doesn't seem too far removed from the Tollers we've raised over the years.

✅ - Super smart

✅ - Very food motivated
✅ - Likes to retrieve

✅ - Likes to pick up and carry things he finds on our walks
✅ - Preferred sleeping position is upside down on his back
✅ - Stands on open door of the dishwasher when I am loading or unloading it (remind you of anyone, Amanda?)
✅ - When corrected he repeats the infraction, just to be sure you meant it

One thing that's different is the amount of closeness he likes to have. Over the years I've had my Toller entourage, primarily June and Baco, who liked to follow me around the house. Angws takes it up a notch. If I sit or stand in one place too long I often discover his head draped over my feet.

Koan has decided Angws is ok most of the time, which is a good thing because she helps to wear him out. He is pretty good about downtime while I'm working, but is definitely revved up both early and later in the day. He already knows sit, down and come on command, and is catching on quickly to the idea of getting rewarded for finding odor as I plan to do scent work with him. We hope to have wait, stand, and an around finish pretty solid by the end of puppy class. He's a lot of fun to train and it will be interesting to see where he takes us.

Angws and Koan Tug a Duck

Inside Play with Koan

Outside Play with Koan

Out of the blue

CH Zephyr's Lively Baco Noir RN AX AXJ NF CL1-F, CL2-R, CL2-H - 7/19/14 - 3/24/21

It is still almost impossible to speak or write about this without provoking tears. The loss of any dog is unbelievably sad, and hard, but the sudden loss of a dog in the prime of his life is a deeper, more agonizing wound.

Baco was an impossible dog who seemed likely not to survive his first week. I worked very hard on him when he was born, massaging, keeping him warm, and constantly putting him back on a nipple. Amazingly he thrived, and grew into a lovely, flashy puppy. I thought he deserved a show home but I didn't have one so I held onto him and he never left. Despite his relatively small stature, he finished with 4 majors from the BBE class.

In my house, everyone does at least some agility. I did not have high hopes for him initially, as he was rather sound and motion sensitive. However, by the end of our Level 1 agility classes one of my instructors dubbed him "the weave pole savant". Once he had the basics down, my ongoing challenge was how to handle and channel that much drive. It was like trying to drive a race car with one finger on the steering wheel and almost no brakes, though to his credit, if he knew what I wanted he would try to do it. He really wanted to work with me. My ability to train him was complicated by the fact that beginning the same year he was born, my time and attention became divided between my dogs and some personal family issues. For a couple of years Baco even lived with my in-laws and was their loving and devoted companion. When time and energy permitted, I would pick him up for classes and events. In the fall of 2019 he came back to live with us full time and the added connection of our once again full time relationship helped improve our agility skills.

He was only seven weeks younger than his cousin Koan. They were lifelong dog bed buddies and playmates.

On March 24th he had breakfast and a morning walk and seemed his normal self and then a few hours later he was not. He came to me looking extremely uncomfortable, but I didn't know what was wrong at first. It was not until he went down in the rear that I suspected a disc issue. Even though I was fairly quick to get him to the ER vet, by the time he was examined he had lost deep pain sensation in his rear legs. This greatly decreased his chances for a surgical recovery. In addition, his presentation made him potentially susceptible to myelomalacia, which could have resulted in complete paralysis post-op even if we had moved forward with the surgery. We did diagnostics through an MRI to confirm the issue, two herniated discs with significant swelling, between L1 & L2 and L2 & L3. George and I made the very difficult decision to let him go. It wasn't the cost of the surgery or the work of rehab that kept us from going forward, it was his odds combined with his personality. He had two speeds, on and off, and because he was so intense, we don't think he would have had a good quality of life if he couldn't have continued to run agility.

As hard as this is to write about, I think it is important to get my experience out there for public consumption, and in particular for people in the breed who don't believe CDDY is an issue in Tollers because they have never seen it. That mindset reminds me of an old obedience adage, "There are the dogs that have gone down on the long sit, and those that will." We have a breed that is genetically predisposed to IVDD if they carry even one gene for CDDY. While it's true many Tollers carry one or two genes for this issue and make it through life without experiencing disc herniation, too many, like Baco, do not. Despite my experience, I'm not comfortable advocating for the immediate elimination all CDDY carriers from our gene pool because our pool is relatively shallow as it is and we have multiple health issues to balance. However, I do believe it's imperative for breeders to give serious consideration on how to manage this issue in their breeding progam and to make choices that reflect a strong concern for the health of our breed above all. The next dog lost to this might be your own.

Baco was like a tuning fork that never stopped vibrating. As high energy as his grandmother June was, Baco was even higher - and yet he did have an off switch. Our house is too quiet without him and I still miss him every day. In the words of Neil Young: "The king is gone, but he's not forgotten..."

Baco's last AKC agility run

There's a fox behind you... and she has a new CD!

This morning I was out walking Koan and a guy drove by in a silver van, rolled down his window and said to me, "Watch out, there's a fox behind you." I said, "Um, ok thanks." He drove on. I looked behind us but spotted no fox. They can be stealthy creatures, though in my experience not something to worry about unless you are a small, furry rodent or bunny. Tollers are bred to mimic the antics of foxes when hunting, so perhaps he thought he was making a sly joke about Koan? Unlikely, as most people we meet don't have any idea what a Toller is. We continued on our walk. A block from home, I spotted an actual fox trotting through a front yard and down the street with breakfast in its mouth. I hope it was a bunny or rodent, and not one of the neighbor's very small dogs.

Last weekend Koan earned her second and third Novice obedience legs, completing the requirements for her CD (Companion Dog) title. She was a most enthusiastic worker both days. Her happy expression and constantly wagging tail gained her a lot of compliments even though she was not in the placements either day. However, I'll take that attitude over all else any day. My friend Sheila was nice (sneaky) enough to record our Saturday run and my friend Susan took a new title shot for us.

UACH SHR AKC/NSDTRC CH Zephyr's Day in June CDX RE MX MXB MXJ MJB OF WC - 6/1/05 - 2/1/21

Baco and June

Of all the dogs I have had, June has been the hardest to let go. In a breed known for high energy and spirits, she was at the top of that curve. In her younger days, every time I would complain about her drive my husband would remind me that's what I said I wanted in a Toller. Which is true! Sometimes I think our bond was so tight because she was so challenging. In her later years, she was my entourage and would follow me around the house to see what I was up to. She would push the bathroom door open when I was in the shower. When I was out walking another dog, I knew she was feeling good on the days she would be at the backdoor, barking a greeting as I returned.

I said a lot about June 10 years ago that bears review: https://lifeamongtollers.blogspot.com/2011/03/all-about-june.html

June in April of 2020

Around the age of 12, I had to retire her from agility. When she was young she had an ACL tear that we rested and rehabbed, but we knew at some point arthritis would become an issue. Thanksgiving weekend of 2019 she seemed to be in a lot of pain and I thought we would lose her. Until then we had been managing with gabapentin, supplements, and regular visits to the canine chiropractor. Working with my vet, prednisone was added to her mix of medications. Miraculously, this bought her another year of pretty good quality of life, though we were always conscious of being on borrowed time with her. I was unable to completely wean her from the drug, and in the past few months the long-term effects of prednisone took their toll and her bad days slowly became more numerous than her good days. Though it was heartbreakingly hard to let her go neither could I bear to see her suffer. As much as I love my other Tollers that have come before and after her, there is no question June was my heart dog. Her loss is profound. 

June on her 15th birthday