The. A day In the life of a Lab. Central Florida Obedience Dog Club Obedience. Rally. Agility. Volume 4 Issue 4. Good morning! Good afternoon!

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1 April 2013 Happy Heeler The Central Florida Obedience Dog Club Obedience. Rally. Agility Volume 4 Issue 4 Good morning! Good afternoon! A day In the life of a Lab good night! Central Florida Obedience Dog Club Inc. President Betty Van Dellen Vice President Fran Brown Treasurer Susan Handy Secretary Ron Wallace Board Member Chris Jeffrey Board Member Harilyn Adler Board Member Jan Naigus Newsletter Editor Chris Jeffrey Oak Prairie Circle. Sorrento, FL Subtlesmoke1@comcast.net The Happy Heeler is published monthly by The Central Florida Obedience Dog Club, Inc. The views and opinions listed herein do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of The Central Florida Obedience Dog Club, Inc. or the editor. New, brags, etc., must be submitted by the 20 th of each month to be included in the following month s edition. We re on the Web! www. cfodcinc.com Club Phone: (352)

2 2 THE HAPPY HEELER From the President s Desk April 2013 Another successful trial has come and gone - we have a really great team that works together to get the job done - thanks to everyone who helped - your contribution is very much appreciated. Got lots of flattering compliments on the trials and we have worked hard to earn a good reputation around this area. To each member who helped - a pat on the back and well done. No trial is a one-person show, and we have assembled a great team. Susan will tell us about how we did financially so I won t steal her thunder. Now our thoughts go ahead to even more challenges - DOCOF will be here before we know it - we need a team captain and need to know who wants to be on the team and at what level. We need to get started on this right away. If you cannot be at our next meeting and want a place on the team, let us know! That will be a major topic in the April meeting. Then the seminar, followed almost immediately by the first joint trials with LEKC. They have been working hard to get everything set up, this time we are just along for the ride - we will have 2 trials Friday and they will have trials Saturday and Sunday. Judges are in place and they have some innovative ideas - isn t it wonderful to have someone else do most of the work! Looking forward to seeing you all at our next meeting, Tuesday April16th, at the 448 club. My surgery went well and I am getting along better than I expected to. I even cut out and started a new quilt today. No pain after the first day but can t breathe through my nose - ever try to breathe through the mouth and eat at the same time? Be grateful for the little things! Betty From Betty VanDellen Knight s big day If you see a Purina commercial with a tri-color Aussie and a kid wearing capes - yes, that is Knight. It was really unexpected, and I almost told them I could not make it to the filming - I had company from out-of- state that I had to leave to fend for themselves when I was told I couldn t not come - he had 40 people lined up to be there and executives were flying in from Purina. So I said o.k. I will be there. It was filmed in Belle Isle on Lake Nona - a beautiful home and they had taken over the neighborhood - there were 3 police cars helping direct traffic and they had assigned places for everyone to park in resident s driveways. In one yard they had set up an awning and were serving breakfast - I just had some fruit then took Knight to the yard they would be using and let him become familiar with it. It was a beautiful home - lovely view of the lake and terraced with steps and landings. I played with him a little to make him more comfortable, then the crew started arriving. They had an awning set up for the Purina and ad people who had dreamed up this. I set up my chair and crate and Vanessa in the shade nearby. Bill briefed me on what to expect, and gave some tips on how to work with them. I was dumbfounded when they started asking if this was the hero dog - turns out the dog is the hero and the young boy is the talent. Also had an actress to be the mum. First scenes filmed were the boy and dog running around the yard - not easy since the boy was a little leery of dogs and Knight was a little suspicious of him. We tried a ball in the pocket, a squeaker to get Knight to run closer. Then they wanted to get Knight walking toward the camera - really - Knight walk??? We finally slowed him down a little! Next scene was having the talent and the hero dog run down the steps and landings - Knight had to be left on a sit stay while they got the talent to run down and sometimes Knight was to run in front and sometimes to run after him. Tell Deb that is a new distraction - having a kid run passed - sometimes kick boxing or turning summersaults while the dog holds his sit while wearing a cape! By that time we were pretty tired and it was after one, so stopped for lunch. They had about 8 young men catering and had a special truck they used to prepare the meals. I put Knight in the crate in the car to rest. continued on next page

3 3 Spotlights From Deb Smith... Patsy, DOI March trial, First place in Starters Std and her Agility Dog title. Stunn, DOI March trial, Fourth and Q in Masters Gamblers. Stunn, Pawsitively Fun Dog training, March trial, Ft White. First Place 26: Grand Prix, First Place Masters Gamblers, Second Place and Super Q Masters Snooker. From Chris Jeffrey... Fletch, Border Collie, won his first legs in Beginner Novice (1st Place - 197) and Rally Novice (4th Place) at the Central Florida Obedience Dog Club Trial on March 17. From Candy Zimmerman... Here at our "house" we take St Patricks day seriously since our dogs are from Shamrock Acres, we looked like this at our trial. From Ellen Heinis... Bella, All American, placed 4 th with a score of in the Wild Card Novice class at the Central Florida Obedience Dog Club Trial on March 17. MARK YOUR CALENDAR Trial Dates K-9 Obedience Club of Jacksonville April Location: Jacksonville Closing Date: April 3 IPOC April indoors Location: Lakeland Closing Date: April 10 Dog Training Club of St Pete May 4-5 indoors Location: St Petersburg Closing Date: April 17 Brevard Co Dog Training Club May Location: Melbourne Closing Date: April 19 Inverness Florida KC May Location: Brooksville Closing Date: May 1 IPOC June Location: Lakeland Closing Date: June 5 Knights Big Day Continued from previous page Next is the scene with the mum planting a garden and then interacting with the boy and dog - this is holding a down-stay while the boy picks grass and scatters it all over him, then puts flowers on the cape. Then the boy lays his head on the dog - here is where Knight broke several times but he did come through for us. Of course Knight had to eat the food - we got a break while they finished filming with the boy, then after he left to go home we did Knight s part. Bill had warned me that they would fill that bowl and they did - I told them Knight only gets one cup, and I think they had 3 cups in there. Well Knight runs in to get the food and turns his back to the camera. He is pulled off the food so he gets a second chance at it he stuffs as much as he can hold and bolts it - and you know what happens next! We got the mess cleaned up - they told me the same thing happened with the lab they filmed yesterday. Well Knight has been pulled off the food bowl twice - now he is not about to go near it again. So we have to let him know it is all right to go. This director does the same scene times with different cameras - usually 2 on the subject - so we only put one or 2 pieces in the bowl. Finally finished about 4:30. It was a lot of fun but I am glad I do not do this every day! Really proud of Knight - one of the crew said he was a real trooper. Obedience Club of Daytona July Location: Deland Closing Date : June 28 Seminars Ward Falkner Obedience Seminar Lakeland, FL Sponsored by CFODC October Contact: Robin Scott fourdogsr@embarqmail.com Victory Hulett Secrets of Attention and Precision Lakeland, FL Sponsored by IPOC August 3-4 Contact: Becky Babicz Sheepy143@aol.com

4 4 THE HAPPY HEELER How to Set a Price on a Beloved Pet... I guess when you go into it you don t really know how much you re going to spend, she said. So it keeps kind of adding up, and you don t really know. We were thinking, O.K., there is a limit, but when it s $500 here or $1,000 there, you don t really see it adding up that fast. After Kiefer died, the family got Perry, a 6-month-old golden retriever. When Ms. Sobieri took the dog to the vet to have him neutered, a routine blood test showed Perry had a genetic kidney disease. I actually didn t believe them, she recalled. I said, No, you re looking at my other dog s file by mistake. Unfortunately, they weren t. The vet sent Ms. Sobieri to a veterinary oncologist who said Perry probably would not live more than three years. Aggressive treatment gave Kathy Bowler, of Sacramento, six more months with Brogan, her Irish wolfhound, before he died this month of bone cancer. But it wasn't cheap. Max Whittaker for The New York Times By TESS VIGELAND (Tess Vigeland is an independent writer and producer and former host of the public radio program Marketplace Money. ) Published: March 25, 2013 I COULDN T begin to add up the number of times my husband and I have had the Talk. We know illness and death are two of life s certainties. And we ve taken care of the issue when it comes to ourselves. We ve signed medical directives saying we want no extraordinary measures taken to extend our lives if we become incapacitated to the point that we re a burden, emotionally and financially, to our families. But when it comes to our pets, the Talk never resolves anything. Luckily our two 14-year-old cats, 8-year-old Border collie and 3-year-old Labrador retriever are all in fairly good health. We haven t had to make decisions about whether to spend thousands of dollars, possibly tens of thousands, to save or extend their lives. But those decisions are coming, and despite our efforts to have the Talk, we have no idea what we ll be willing to do to keep them around as long as possible. That so many more technological advances are available now than there were 10 years ago means pet owners have more ethical and financial choices to make. In the last 30 years there s been an increase in specialty veterinary medicine, said our veterinarian, Dr. Woody Walker of La Cañada Pet Clinic, north of Los Angeles. And the technology is amazing. Whatever we can do in people, we can do in pets. Pet owners, who represent 68 percent of United States households, spent a collective $53 billion on pets last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. That s for everything from medicines and operations to toys and food. No one has a figure for how much people spend on end-of-life care for their pets. But it s safe to assume that the number mirrors ours; for humans, 90 percent of medical spending occurs in the last 10 percent of life. The choices involved in keeping pets alive can be as numerous, expensive and emotionally thorny as they are with people. Lisa Sobieri of Greenwich, Conn., knows the choices all too well. The 49- year-old married mother of two lost two dogs to kidney disease in the last three years. The first, Kiefer, an American Eskimo, died just before turning 15, only after the family had spent several thousand dollars on chemotherapy for bladder cancer and then other drugs to keep him comfortable as his kidneys failed. I was thinking, Well, we re such great dog owners that we re going to defy that, give him all the medications and diet, experimental treatments, and he s going to live longer, Ms. Sobieri said. The family decided against a kidney transplant, which would have cost a minimum of $25,000 just for the operation, an amount she said would have taken money away from the children s college fund. There was also no guarantee it would work. But they still spent, by Ms. Sobieri s estimates, tens of thousands of dollars to keep Perry comfortable for the duration of his life, with pet insurance picking up the rest. Many pet owners struggle with whether to buy pet insurance, because it has a mixed track record. Consumer Reports, in its August 2011 issue, said the insurance was rarely worth the price. Pre-existing conditions are usually excluded from coverage; routine care, like annual checkups, is sometimes not included in plans; and premiums can rise significantly as the pet ages. The Sobieris, though, said their insurance, provided by Embrace, was invaluable and made their decision-making just a little easier. Still, Ms. Sobieri said, We did some pretty good damage on the credit card toward the end. The puppy lived only an additional 18 months. And Ms. Sobieri said she now wondered if the money would have been better spent as a contribution to research to find a cure for the disease, even though they cherished the extra year and a half they had with Perry. She and her husband have not drawn a bright line on a dollar amount they re willing to spend on their new dog and any future pets, in part because their family income is enough that they don t have to, but also because they, like so many pet owners, consider their dog part of the family. Paying to extend that pet s life is no different from doing the same for a human family member, though the decision about the transplant would clearly have gone another way. Dr. Philip Nelson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., said pets were indeed family members, but that their presence in the home forced owners to make relative value decisions when it came to the sanctity of life. We have to start comparing the value of our dog to our child or wife or anyone else who may require those resources, he said. And he contended that an even deeper debate was at play. Our own life-value issues have evolved and not necessarily in a good way, he said. I believe that, and this is a personal belief, that many of us are loath to have to face the end-of-life issues. And some of us have been mesmerized by the advances of medicine. The agonizing questions around human end-of-life medical intervention have now made their way to the pet kingdom, he said, and owners often feel guilty if they don t do everything possible, no matter the cost, to save or extend their animals lives. Death is part of the cycle of life, and we have to accept that, Dr. Nelson said. The real question here is, How much of your resources do you invest in the extension of that life?

5 5 Continued For Kathy Bowler, a political consultant in Sacramento, if there s a line to draw, I haven t seen it yet. Ms. Bowler, 57, and her husband, Steve Coony, lost their 6-year-old Irish wolfhound, Brogan, this month. He had been undergoing treatment for osteosarcoma, a fatal bone cancer treatment that included chemotherapy and radiation and it seemed to be working. But then, she says, he suddenly stopped eating, and his tail stopped wagging. I knew that was it, she said. I have no regrets about everything I did for him. I m so grateful we have so many advances in veterinary care that we could get six more months of absolutely normal behavior. He didn t know he was sick. So I owed him that much. I would ve liked to get seven months, or more, but it was meant to happen the way it did. Ms. Bowler and Mr. Cooney own four dogs, four cats, a parrot and several fish. They recently lost a duck to testicular cancer. The way I think about it with pets is they re like children, she said. They get everything from you, and you have to be there and do everything for them. And when they re sick it s the same situation. They re your dependents. She says it is impossible to estimate how much money they ve spent to treat illnesses and extend their pets lives. In 2008, their Great Dane Eamonn spent eight months in chemotherapy for lymphoma, which cost at least $7,000 and gave them an extra year with him. Costs tend to be higher for large breeds because they weigh more and require higher doses of medication. I m lucky that I want to do this and I can do this, Ms. Bowler said. A lot of other people, I don t know what they would do. People in this case say, Look, at the end of the day, whatever happens, I can spend a ton of money but he s still going to die. I just always want to beat the odds if I can. Alana Yañez of Highland Park, Calif., faced a similar decision in October, when her 11-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, Max, started limping. Ms. Yañez, 34, works with the Humane Society s Pets for Life program, which provides free training and veterinary care to low-income communities. She counsels clients almost daily about end-of-life care for their pets and did the same in college while working as a veterinary technician. But she still faced wrenching decisions when it came to her own animals. Max was found to have a tumor that was pinching his colon and compressing his spine. Chemotherapy could keep the tumor from growing, at least for a while, but would cost a minimum of $10,000. It would have been a really long and hard process, she said. And when we re in this situation, excuse me, you get so caught up in the emotion that at one point I just stopped and said to her veterinarian, Tell me what to do. The vet told her that unless she had about $40,000 available for all the medicines and follow-up care Max would need, she should think about euthanasia. Ms. Yañez and her mother decided not to put Max through any more pain. They went to a craft store and got supplies to immortalize the dog s pawprints in clay, then had a service come to her apartment to put Max to sleep. Ms. Yañez is in a unique position to understand how lucky she was even to have a decision to make. The clients she works with in low-income neighborhoods often have no choice but to euthanize their sick pets; they cannot afford even basic treatments, much less the expensive lifesaving options other pet owners must choose from. Ms. Yañez and her mother spent days deciding what to do about Max. Her clients do not take as much time. The reality of not having money to take your own child to the doctor, not have enough money to buy groceries, she said, the conversation is not very long. But having resources doesn t blunt the agony. I still sometimes struggle with whether or not we made the right decision, she said. Putting $10,000 on a credit card I could afford it. But what stopped me was thinking about my auntie who had breast cancer. Recalling that as horrible, the most brutal treatment, she said she decided not to make Max go through chemotherapy. And the chances of him living weren t guaranteed, either, she added. Ms. Yañez said she also had to think of her remaining pet and the resources that saving Max could take from him. But a week after putting Max to sleep, she lost her 14-year-old cat, Jimmy, to kidney failure. A few miles away, in Burbank, Calif., Tom and Jeanne Herrman, both 64 and retired, face the impending death of 11-year-old Bentley, one of their two golden retrievers. They rescued both dogs less than a year ago, and in December discovered a fast-growing tumor in his leg that Dr. Walker, also their vet, said could be treated with amputation and chemotherapy. But Dr. Walker also told them the treatment would not prolong his life significantly or lead to a life that Bentley would enjoy. And the treatment would cost at least $6,000 to $8,000. They could afford it, Mr. Herrman said, and money wasn t the primary concern. But Bentley s happiness was. We ve been through it with both of our parents, Mr. Herrman said. We had to make the quality-of-life decision. They re not easy. But you d rather make it than have them suffer a lot. So instead, they are managing the illness with pain medications, which are also expensive. Bentley will often sidle up to Mr. or Ms. Herrman and place the paw of his cancerous leg on one of their legs, and they ll stroke and massage it for him. They say he has four to 12 weeks to live. Dr. Walker said the decision whether to spend tens of thousands of dollars to extend an animal s life was a highly personal one. Some of his clients from more rural areas, with agricultural backgrounds, do not embrace the notion of the animal as a family member and allow nature to take its course. On the other hand, one client paid for a 13-year-old cat to have a kidney transplant, and the cat lived another four years. Another paid for 20 radiation treatments for a dog that wasn t able to walk because of a tumor, and afterward, the dog walked again. Most people can t afford to do that, Dr. Walker said, and such treatments are palliative care, not a cure. You re adding a few weeks, months or, if you re lucky, a couple of years, to that pet s life. But 20, 30 years ago, he said, it would have been I think your dog has a tumor, there s nothing we can do for it. No longer. But, he hastened to add, that doesn t mean you have to or should. Some people are more rational about the decision and can do a costbenefit analysis. Others operate purely on emotion, and he s seen clients hurt themselves financially to prolong a pet s life. His advice is to always go back to the suffering of the animal. He s struggled over euthanizing his own pets. (He has three dogs, a cat, nine chickens, a tortoise, a horse and a few fish.) I feel selfish sometimes, like, O.K., I m letting you live even though you re uncomfortable, but that s for my benefit, Dr. Walker said. It s a very personal thing, and everybody has their own threshold. But it s almost impossible to figure out what that threshold is before the decision is upon you. Can you really say that you would spend $2,000, but not $3,000? If you re really good at budgeting, and at setting emotions aside, maybe you can. But placing a financial value on pets is, these days, nearly as difficult as doing so for any other family member. I think in some ways, it does prepare you for dealing with, and better sensing, the quality-of-life issue for a parent, in our case, when you know that things just aren t right, Mr. Herrman said. Thing is, I can t spend 20 years harping on Bentley about advance directives and living wills. He s not going to pay much attention to me. But then, neither did my dad.

6 6 THE HAPPY HEELER About our Club The purpose of the Central Florida Obedience Dog Club is to promote the training of dogs. To disseminate knowledge regarding obedience training. To conduct classes for the training of all dogs and their handlers. To encourage and cooperate with individuals and other groups with similar purposes. To encourage the training of judges. To hold and support all AKC events including but not limited to obedience trials, tracking tests, agility trials, under the rules and regulations of the American Kennel Club. To promote cooperation and good sportsmanship among its members in the training and exhibition of dogs. Training classes for Basic and Novice Obedience are held on Monday evenings. Call for a class schedule, pricing and additional information. The Happy Heeler Chris Jeffrey, Editor Oak Prairie Circle Sorrento, FL Club Phone (352) CFODC Meeting Minutes March 19, 2013 Minutes from Awards Dinner at Vincent's Restaurant. President: no report Vice President: no report Secretary: not present Treasurer: not present The membership Chair had the 2nd reading for Jean Devlin. She has two Havanese; one earned a RN in Eustis. She is now our new member. Congratulations to Jean. November show at Eustis will have Maine Thang food truck. They will offer the following items in addition to the regular seafood fare: salads, hamburgers, and sticky buns. We do not charge Maine Thang a fee to set up as a vendor. The following judges will be at our trial in November. All these judges are approved to judge the new classes. Frank Washabaugh--does not do Rally Suzanne Hemminger--all classes Jean Porter Lynch--all classes Carol Ann Klein--all classes Discussion was held regarding transportation for the judges from the airport. March 2014 judges discussed. Sharon Redmer and two more judges will be needed. CFODC AWARDS Betty Van Dellen Segdi s Vanessa CD Fran Brown Tess UD Ann Shinkle Dream BN, GR, CH Harilyn Adler Hero AKC CH Marie Zaman Jesse AKC CDX, BN UKC CD, RO1 Jan Naigus Mickey RA Sandy Jones Trac BN, RN Mary Ann Sanford Bling VER, TT, ITD, ATD Candy Zimmerman Cooper - UCI-CH, U-GR, CH, TT, RN Dea Jaffey Silas G.CH., BN Zeva RN Ellen Heinis Bella AKC- BN, RN and USDAA SPR, SPJ Deb Smith Stunn AKC- NA, USDAA AAD And Patsy Cline AKC NAJ, USDAA SJ Bobbie Kurivial ZeeZee AKC VER, GN, NAP, NJP, OFP, Tricks NTD, ITD, ATD Arden AKC BN, CGC, NA, NAJ Tricks NTD CFODC Training Class Schedule Club cfodtc@gmail.com Next General Meeting: Tues - April 16, :00 pm 448 Club Tavares, FL Cheryl Knapp will be offering another class on Tuesday afternoons for combined Open/Utility training at 2:30pm Jan Naigus mentioned that she learned first class mail now takes 7-10 days for letters. Meeting adjourned at 7:05pm. Bobbie K. presented an award program. It was a nice keepsake. Respectfully Submitted, Dea Jaffey BASIC CLASSES May 13 June 17 July 1 August 5 August 19 Sept 23 October 7 November 11 RALLY CLASS May 13 June 17 CGC Class: May 27 June 17 Trick Class coming soon! Stay tuned for more details!