Hard lessons from the whelping box

I had so hoped to report that Lark’s first litter was a breeze, reminiscent of her great grandmother’s litters and her mother’s first litter, where I became quite spoiled by a common pattern of 6 or 7 puppies arriving healthy and viable within a two hour period. Instead Lark labored over 3 hours on the evening of March 3rd before she delivered her first puppy and no amount of rubbing or attempts to remove fluid from nose and lungs could revive the puppy. We lost two more in a similar fashion, the 3rd and 6th puppies whelped. There was nothing obviously wrong with any of these pups; to the best of our understanding they simply spent too much time “in transit” and their sacks opened before they were out of the birth canal. However, we are fortunate to have three very robust males which we are temporarily calling Crosby, Stills and Nash. Walking Lark in between deliveries and judicious administration of Oral Cal Plus before the first, second, fourth and sixth puppies appeared to help move things along. In addition, I’m extremely grateful my friend Lin (with vet tech experience) was on hand to assist. Without her help we very likely would have been headed to the emergency vet for assistance.

Lark has turned out to be an incredible mother, much like her mother and grandmother. She is extremely attentive to her pups and they are gaining weight rapidly. Their skin is a healthy pink and they always feel warm and full to the touch, which is exactly how a healthy puppy should feel. Lark is very concerned when we take them away for a few moments to weigh them or perform the early neurological stimulation exercises we started on day three, though she is beginning to relax a bit more as she realizes we return them to her after only a few moments of separation.

About 2.5 days after she gave birth, I noticed Lark’s rearmost teats seemed enlarged and somewhat hardened. Even though this is the first time I have had a bitch develop mastitis (http://elizabeth-skoglund.suite101.com/canine-mastitis-a71661), I was pretty certain that’s what Lark was experiencing so I started applying warm compresses right away. Later that day my vet confirmed the diagnosis. Lark was already on antibiotics as a precaution due to our invasive efforts during whelping so I continued to apply warm compresses and drain the affected glands. Things were pretty well back to normal within three days.

"Larkie's boyz" all hit the 2lb mark or above on day 8. They are the most roly poly bunch of pups we have whelped to date. I'm looking forward to watching how they interact with their environment and seeing their personalities emerge.

Happy 17th birthday, Gem!

I'm a bit in awe that Gem is 17 today. We are so happy she is still with us and doing so well for her age. She does need help up and down stairs but otherwise is pretty mobile for her age. Per her usual birthday requests, she was not groomed today, so please excuse the scruffy picture below. Gem had lots of great treats today and a nice chew on a dried tendon.

Teen Toller

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Tobago this month. While he did not fare very well in the breed ring against his more mature looking contemporaries, I think he looks as he should for an 18th month old "teen" Toller.

He has nice movement from the side as well as coming and going. He's definitely still very leggy compared to most other Tollers showing right now, but I remain confident he will grow into his leg as he matures. He has lot of filling out to do over the next few years.

 

He is fortunate to live with talented and dedicated trainers who are already beginning to bring out the best of what he has to offer in just about every venue imaginable. Tobago is currently active in disc dog events, and in training for rally, obedience, agility and field.  

He is a super social dog, though currently to the detriment of his one Rally Novice performance. Best of all he is a real lover of a dog, and quite content to be held like a baby in anyone's lap, just like his cousin Lark. Of course, as he's larger than Lark it's a bit more than a lap full for me.

The king of reserve gets his first major!

Finn (Zephyr's Fine By Me) was the top conformation pick in my Dux ex Tilia litter from 2010. He resides with a wonderful family and is quite a spoiled and happy guy. He has people walking and cat herding duties to keep him busy. Finn is a sweet charmer of a dog with rich red coat and flashy white markings. He is also a bold and unapologetic counter surfer and outright stealer of food of the unwary but it's hard to stay mad at him when he wags his tail and flashes his golden eyes at you after an exploit.

Before last weekend, Finn had been in the ring a total of nine times. Six of those times he went Reserve, and at least two of those reserves were to majors. He earned his first point at the Rockford-Freeport Kennel Club shows on Oct. 1st, going WD, BOW and BOS. Last weekend he surpassed my expectations by going WD and BOW for a 5pt major at the Skokie Valley show in Rosemont, IL on December 10th. There was a large entry of almost 20 Tollers, half of which were class dogs. I was simply hopeful he would place in the Open Dog class since he just turned 18 months at the beginning of this month.

I'm doubly amazed when I consider his shenanigans last fall during his first conformation class with me. About 20 minutes into the class he threw a full blown puppy temper tantrum, throwing himself to the floor and screaming the Toller scream - as if I was beating him instead of asking him to stand and gait nicely on a leash while feeding him tasty treats. We've come a long way since then and I rather think he's starting to enjoy the show ring a bit. He still has some maturing to do, both physically and mentally, but we are in no hurry and I am enjoying my time in the ring with him.

Steadying June

As a breed, Tollers have been known to lack impulse control. June is an on again, off again poster child for this trait. I have worked especially hard to steady her in agility because she is lightning fast and I often need a good, solid lead out in order to set her up correctly for a course. I must have been feeling overly confident about her start line stays last November when we competed in Ohio, though it could have been the long ride out there or the extra restraint she had to exhibit as a house guest. Regardless, our first run of the weekend was an Excellent Standard run that was best managed by leading out from the first few jumps and calling her over. At least that was my plan. June had other ideas. She was over three jumps and had her nose and a paw in an off course tunnel before I even realized she had broken her stay. I will say this for June, she has excellent brakes and steering, and came off the tunnel immediately though it was too late to salvage our run. Obviously we went back to emphasizing start line stays in our training after that. I also find it helpful to remind her of my presence by doing front crosses, especially during our first courses of a trial weekend, to stress the importance of taking direction from me while running a course. In our Zen agility moments this isn’t necessary, as June directs wonderfully from behind and running her in this manner is definitely a less breathless endeavor for me.

Steadiness is an issue for June in field events as well. In fact this is the main point holding us back from attempting the higher levels of fieldwork, as steadiness is a requirement in the higher stakes. June finished her SHR title last fall and I can now confess my arm was sore after that weekend from holding onto her as I sat on a bucket, waiting for the birds to hit the ground. No judge’s comments regarding June will ever say “lacks enthusiasm”.

I’ve received lots of helpful advice from members of my HRC training club on steadying June. Unfortunately almost all the advice involves some type of positive punishment, from shock collars to riding crops to running out and scaring June away from the bird when she breaks. I simply can’t bring myself to employ these suggestions. They just don’t feel appropriate for a dog who lives to run and retrieve. What I have been focusing on, and what I believe will be the answer in the end for June, is a form of negative punishment (http://www.pgaa.com/canine/general/punishingbehavior.html, http://ahimsadogtraining.com/handouts/training-basics.html?alt=learning+theory)  When she breaks, I take away her retrieve. She’s a smart dog and has been catching on, though it still is a long, challenging process. As always, most of what’s holding her back is my lack of consistency and effort as a trainer. I’d better work on that!

Eta the beautiful and talented

It's been a busy year for Eta. She completed her  AKC CH, WC, CD and RN titles. This made her eligible for the NSDTRC USA's Rusty Jones and Versatility awards. We are very proud of Eta and very grateful her co-owners Mike and Mary have put in the training time to allow her to shine in so many areas. This fall Eta also completed three JH passes, only one more to go! These are some of the photos Eta's owners have sent me of her recent exploits in the field.

Part monkey - all Toller

Or as my friend Amanda would say, "that's how we breed 'em at Zephyr Kennel!"

We've now had four litters in a row where one or more puppies have managed to scale their expen. Pictured below is June's daughter Pond (soon to be known as Zoom). As June was our first climber, it's only fitting that a puppy from each of her two litters to date has followed suit.

I confess, she's only scaling a 24" gate, but in the past when we've raised this most of the puppies have simply risen to the challenge and had further to fall once they hit the top.