Volume 18 Issue 2 Summer Best Baby Puppy in Group - June 16, 2018 at the Prairie Canine Academy 45th Annual All Breed Dog Show - Balgonie SK

Transcription

1 The Coton Malgache Volume 18 Issue 2 Summer 2018 Best Baby Puppy in Group - June 16, 2018 at the Prairie Canine Academy 45th Annual All Breed Dog Show - Balgonie SK HAWKS N HOOVES Amelia Rose (Amée) Inside This Issue President s Message Linda Brookes p. 2 Marigold - Part 2 p. 3 Homemade and Uncomplicated Dog Biscuits p. 5 Meet Our Breeders Alika Tia p. 6 Five things you think you know about breeding (but you re wrong) p. 10

2 Remembering when.. President s Message By Linda Brookes I recall when I was just beginning in the world of the Coton de Tulear. I had decided that I wanted to breed and show dogs. I had done a lot of research to find a breed that would suit my family s needs for a dog with low allergens. I wanted one that was a small breed and I wanted something that was not a common breed. After selecting 7 breeds that I was willing to consider, and discussing them with my husband, we decided on the Coton. What was I armed with at this point? A goal, a dream, enthusiasm, and determination. I didn t know then how important the enthusiasm and determination would be to bring me to my goal. I began researching breeders and contacting those who I thought looked reputable. I was looking for my foundation stock for my kennel. I was met with a wide range of acceptance, encouragement, or a lack there-of. Many breeders did not respond to me at all. I began to wonder if I was putting too much information about myself in the . Perhaps it would be better if I didn t tell them about me, where we lived, our family, my goal. Perhaps I should tell them more. I don t think there was a right answer. It was just perseverance. Sometimes I would get a very short reply. Most of them said, I don t sell dogs for breeding, only for pets. Throughout these first months I did speak to a few by phone. Some would give a little information but were not too open, some would string me along saying they may have something but hadn t decided. I did learn that in this breed it was not common for breeders to provide stud services. Many told me my males are for my own use only; I don t allow anyone else to use them. Finally, over time I was fortunate to find not one, but TWO breeders who took the time to talk to me, understand my goals, and were willing to not only sell me quality dogs for breeding but also to mentor me. My first dogs came from Sandees Cotons in Texas and Polana Cotons in Nova Scotia. Both Sandra and Marie-France provided me with countless hours of their time, answered my plethora of questions and encouraged me. As each of us who breeds understands all too well, there is no end to the learning we have to do. There are still experiences we have no idea will come along or could ever image that would happen. Through camaraderie, reading, researching, and asking questions we learn ever more than we could have imagined. Things have really changed since those early days for me over 8 years ago. Or have they? When someone gets the fire in their heart to become a breeder and begin their plight, when they contact those with the depth of experience and knowledge, when they knock on your door beaming with energy and motivation, how do we respond? Do we answer the door? Do we open it a wee bit, peek out at them, and quietly close it again as though we didn t see them? Do we chase them out the driveway with a stick shouting at them to get off our land? Or do we open the door, invite them in, spend some time with them to see if they, just like we were all those years ago, have that same spark that we had. Do we open our hands and our book of knowledge to pass down what we have learned? As breeders, we are the face of the Coton in Canada. We are the breed s reputation each time someone contacts us for a pet or for a breeding dog. What we do and say, or don t do and don t say, is building our breed in the face of the public let s make it good. 2

3 MARIGOLD PART 2 by Marie-France Prayal In the last Malgache edition, I wrote about our little puppy, Marigold. Here is what has happened in the last few weeks. I went to the vet with Marigold, her brothers and sister, when they were 6 weeks old. My vet was not optimistic about her. We decided not to give her the first vaccine and wait to see her development. I was talking to a very good friend, Lynne, who is a Chiuhuahua breeder about Marigold. She had a puppy with similar problems and he was doing much better. I went to see Lynne with Marigold. Lynne was much more optimistic than my vet. She suggested some reinforcement exercises for Marigold s legs and neck. At home, she started to eat Starter Mousse (Royal Canin) by herself. I couldn t put her with her brothers and sister as she was not big or strong enough to defend herself. She stayed in her pen, watching and even started to bark at them! I took her outdoors on the grass and I was really surprised to see her using her legs. It was a great improvement. Lynne called me one day, offering to take care of Marigold. I accepted the offer as I thought it was the best thing that could happen to her. So off we went to Lynne s house. Lynne started Marigold s treatments, exercises in water, on a tread mill, massages and prepared her special food. She was welcomed by all her Chiuhuahuas who were very curious about this little white wooly thing. Lynne took Marigold to her vet for a complete exam and perhaps her first vaccine. There were 3 vets to evaluate her. Their comments: Puppy presented does not walk well IF at all with front legs. Very lethargic and quiet at time of exam. Overall health was very good and she seems content. Lungs clear and she has an over bite. Eats a puree of baby food and goat s milk. Significant heart murmur grading about 4-5 out of 6. Heart rate at 168 very high. Significant molara. Given her first puppy shots. Lynne sent updates frequently about Marigold and her progress. She now has a very good Chiuhuahua friend, Dodo : Dodo is so kind he carried her over a piece of dry kibble yesterday and dropped it in front of her nose then went back to get himself one and ate it along side of her. He s such a gentleman and he did this for about half an hour. I went for a visit and I was really surprised by her progress! She is now walking, following her friends, she comes when you call her AND she loves to cuddle and give kisses. Comments at the second visit to the vet: Puppy presented RUNS--use of front legs is significantly better and extremely happy over all. YES, I CAN WALK! 3

4 MARIGOLD PART 2 continued... Wonderful disposition and very strong. Very nice weight gain and her growth is better as well her coat has a nice texture and fullness. Overbite is still there. Heart has improved rate at 120 in play and active, much better and the murmur is down graded to 3-4 out of 6 and only heard at the ventral cautil of the chest. (lower end of the heart itself). Excellent improvement and with more exercise and growth perhaps she can outgrow this more in time. Molara is still present. Second shot given and ok for Revolution. DODO, MY BEST FRIEND! LYNNE AND MARIGOLD MARIGOLD S FRIENDS Over all the vet was truly amazed and pleased with the puppy. The head still falls slightly to one side but she is optimistic that the muscle and tendons can be strengthened over time to properly support her head; an amazing little girl. Last update : She is now able to go up and down the 3 stairs to the garden! Nothing will stop this little girl! Marigold had a difficult start in life. With Lynne s help, she has a good quality of life, she has friends and she is well-loved. Yes, it takes a lot of work, but overall, we made the right decision for her. We don t know how long she will live but we are sure she will continue to enjoy every day in this world. A big thank you to Lynne for all you did and will do for her. Your faith, willingness and tenacity to see Marigold s potential has made us all believers. MARIGOLD! 4

5 Homemade and Uncomplicated Dog Biscuits by Christina Bollenbach I ve come up with a simple dog biscuit recipe after experimenting and combining three recipes that I ve found on Pinterest. I believe this is a nice alternative to commercially prepared products as the recipe has a short list of ingredients. After several test batches, the ingredients are as follows: 2 cups fresh chicken liver 3 cups oat flour (or the flour of your choice) 1 egg oat flour, or the flour of your choice for dusting olive oil to grease the cookie sheets Liquefy the chicken liver with either a food processor, a blender or an emersion blender. Transfer the liver to a large bowl and add the egg, then stir in the oat flour one cup at a time until combined. The liver can be messy and sticks to utensils like glue! Immediate rinsing is important to prevent excessive scrubbing. If the mixture becomes too loose or moist to form a doughball that can be rolled and flattened, simply add additional flour. The opposite is true if the dough becomes too dry. Add an additional egg or a little water until you come up with a dough that becomes manageable for rolling and flattening. Once the dough becomes compliant for flatten- ing with a rolling pin, it can be treated as any dough where shapes are cut out with cookie cutters of your desired shapes and size. The rolling pin and surface will have to be dusted. Roll out to approximately ¼ thickness. Grease cookie sheets with a very thin layer of olive oil and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 13 minutes. 15 minutes if you d like your dog to have a crunchier biscuit. The dogs will appreciate them in any case! This recipe is very forgiving in that ingredients such as peanut butter, oat bran, cooked pumpkin, or whole flax seeds for example, can be added without compromising the final product. Simply adjust the flour according to the looseness or dryness of the entire mixture, keeping in mind that this will simply increase the volume of the dough. I rarely measure additions such as peanut butter or flax seeds. I find that a dollop here and a sprinkling there has never ruined the outcome. The biscuits can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for three weeks. They can be frozen as well. The taste testers have been the dogs of friends and family. The test batches have always been well received! Please feel free to use our new "ask a breeder" for any questions you may have. This CCTC service is exclusive to our members. any questions to: askacotonbreeder@gmail.com and you will receive an answer within 48 hours. One of our board of directors will answer with possible collaboration from the board. Feel free to ask anything Coton related from breeding to training! We hope you enjoy this new service! 5

6 CCTC Meet Our Breeders by Linda Brookes Your Kennel Name: Alika Tia Your City & Province: Ellershouse, Nova Scotia love the coat of these dogs and their facial expressions are so endearing. About you: What is the name of your most memorable dog you have had and why are they so memorable? It s got to be Griffin! Griffin was my very first Coton. Also the very first male I owned. He turned out to be an incredible Coton and earned tons of titles. I always loved showing him in the ring! He strutted his stuff and knew what he was to do, he was a real show boy. He had the best coat I ve had so far in a Coton and I m hoping to get more puppies from him to keep his beauty going. Who have been some of your mentors? When I began looking for Cotons to breed it was difficult to find a breeder who was willing to speak to me let alone consider selling me a dog for showing and breeding. I was fortunate to find two breeders who worked with me. My first Coton, a male, came from Sandra Bearden. My first two females came from Marie-France Prayal. Both of these ladies provided me with countless hours of advice, support, direction, and information at all hours of the day and night through many years as my adventure unfolded. Over the years since I began I have worked with a few other breeders as well who I consider mentors. Every person involved in the breed has something to offer each other. We each have different experiences in breeding, whelping, health testing/issues, showing, and raising the dogs. When we take the time to learn what others think and do we are then able to make more logical decisions on what is best in our own situation. About Breeding: What is the background of your kennel name? Alika Tia means Dog Love in Malagasy, the native language of Madagascar. What was it about the Coton that appealed to you? Why did you choose it? I choose the Coton de Tulear because the breed is hypoallergenic (hubby and some of our kids are allergic to some breeds), it is a rare breed and is, for the most part, healthy. I didn t want a breed that was too popular because popular breeds are then bred by more backyard breeders and puppy mills. In those cases it is more difficult to obtain healthy dogs as foundation dogs. I What are the decision factors you use in deciding to breed a particular male with a particular female? It s a balance of strengths and weaknesses. This goes for health test results as well as physical traits. For health issues, I am always looking to breed to better the outcome for the puppies. If I have a dog who is a carrier of a DNA diagnosed illness, I look to breed to one that is clear. For physical traits, I look to improve the straight legs, coat colour/texture/volume, and great pigment. Check the coefficient of inbreeding to keep it as low as possible. Review the pedigrees for several generations to see if there are any dogs in the pedigree known to have had illnesses and move further away from 6

7 Alika Tia continued... that issue. Looking into the future of my breeding program I try to ensure that the offspring I produce will be able to be kept for breeding to an existing or available mate in the future. and we each had litters from each girl. This allows increased genetic diversity for each breeder s program. I currently co-own one female with a non-breeding family. She lives with them more time than with me and is their family pet. She is with me for grooming, training, showing, and breeding. I think it s very important to discuss as many what if scenarios with each other before agreeing to a co-ownership as possible and put in writing what each party is responsible for throughout the lifetime of the dog. About Coton Health: What health or genetic testing do you do prior to breeding? Do you find big differences in the genders in terms of temperament? Growing up, I always had female dogs so that is what I just always gravitated to. My first Coton, Griffin, was my first ever male dog. We connected and bonded deeply. He really stole my heart and has always brought me joy. The next male I had was his son, Seamus. Seamus and I also formed a wonderful bond. Both of these boys have been so connected to me so affectionate. I have had several females and have also been very close to each of them. I m not certain that the temperament of the dog is so much based on the gender, but likely more-so on their innate temperament they are born with. I think you will find that there can be some of both genders who will be extra loving and cuddly, and others who will be more self-sufficient. Are you involved with co-ownership? I have done a couple of different types of coownership and overall it has worked out fairly well. I have co-owned females with another breeder where the females went between us The tests I do can change depending on what I know of the dog s parents. If both parents of the dog are mine and I have DNA results on them, I am less likely to test the offspring. The DNA tests I have typically done are: DM, PH, VWD1, BNAT (NCA), CMR2, HU. The Hyperuricosuria (HU) is one test that I won t be doing in the future since there have not been any Cotons with this health issue according to the OFA records. The newest test for IVDD is very important at these early stages since the test has become available. At the age of 12 months I do the OFA certification of cardiac and patella plus the preliminary hip and elbow exams. After 24 months of age the final hip and elbow OFA is done. Eye exams I try to do once every 2 years on each dog. About Grooming: How frequently do you typically bath your dogs? On average I do a full bath, dry, and groom once every 2 weeks. This will change depending on the season and how dirty they are getting from playing outdoors. When dealing with the coat change I do a full bath or a mini bath as often as every 2 days but more likely twice per week. I don t brush my dogs unless their coat has just been washed so they get brushed generally 7

8 Alika Tia continued... two of them need to be in the ring at the same time. I prefer to stay on site at the dog shows so if there is an early morning ring time I don t need to factor in travel time. I have come to really enjoy the camping in a parking lot which is where I usually end up parking the RV for the weekend. every 2 weeks. If they have tangles, they go into the tub first then brush out as they are drying. What percentage of your dogs do you keep in full coat vs. cut down? I usually have all my dogs in full coat and have only cut down dogs on about 3 occasions. If the dog is no longer showing, I will often trim down the hair on the top of the head since most of them do not enjoy having the elastic in their hair. We call this the Coton Mullet. It keeps the hair out of their eyes allowing them to see better and decreases eye irritation. About Showing: Do you show your Cotons? How often? I participate in conformation shows with my dogs. I only attend perhaps 6-8 shows per year. I enjoy showing my dogs very much. I like the challenge of presenting them better each time I show and I like to reach goals such as reaching the point level for a Championship title. I have shown up to 3 dogs at a time which is likely the max I can do. It s a lot of grooming to get 3 adult dogs in full coat ready to show and keep them well groomed throughout the show days. I also need a helper in the ring if I show that many dogs as there will nearly always be a time where It is just a really relaxing time between shows then evenings and mornings. And the dogs love to go camping. The main reason for participating in shows is so that judges can provide their opinion as to whether a dog I am showing meets the standard which provides confirmation to me that they are worthy of breeding. I have also discovered my deep competitive side with dog shows and I love the challenge to win and do better in another show. 8

9 Alika Tia continued... On Raising Puppies: How do you decide on a family for your pups? First, I have the family complete an extensive questionnaire. That is followed by a phone call or Skype call where I can dig a little deeper in more information about them and their lifestyle. They are also encouraged to ask questions. For families that live close enough, they typically will come for a visit at my home. They will meet us, tion evaluation if I am looking to select a puppy for show or breeding purposes. our dogs, see how the dogs and puppies live and are raised. They can see the whelping area, grooming, sleeping area, and yard. The family is given extensive information about how I raise the puppies, training, testing, what is included with the puppy and also to review my contract so they know what to expect from me and what I expect of them. Do you evaluate your puppies for temperament and/or conformation? Yes, I do the Volhard Temperament Test at 7 weeks of age and conformation evaluation at 8 weeks of age. I will only do a formal conforma- 9

10 FIVE THINGS YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT BREEDING (BUT YOU RE WRONG) by Johanna Kimbal posted January 24, ) Line breeding is better than out crossing. I m sorry, but that is the biggest piece of total crap on earth and if I could change ONE thing about dog breeding that would be it. This is population ecology 101: A diverse population is healthier (and this means REALLY healthier, not whether your meerkat passed his hip tests) than an inbred one. You know what one of the very first and most important things scientists do when they re trying to determine whether a population is going to become extinct? They look at inbreeding. If you have two otherwise identical populations same numbers, same food source, same conditions and natural disasters, if the diverse population would be extinct after ten years, the inbred population will be dead after seven. Line breeding reduces genetic diversity. That s why breeders like it. You get more consistent results when you line breed. However, you are hamstringing the ability of your population to thrive over time. You ll do great in the show ring during your lifetime, which is why linebreeding has been so lauded. But it s making the typical mistake humans make, which is forgetting that anybody exists before or beyond them. Think about it if all but two of your dogs had been wiped out by a fire ten years ago, would you just breed the two of them and the daughters back to their father and now, ten years later, say you re OK? Of course not. Now think, if you could somehow live for three hundred years, which means the period from WWII from now would be just a small part of your breeding effort, would you still be linbreeding the populations that came out of the 40s with seven or eight individuals? But that s what we do, and that s what is said to be the best breeding. Make no mistake. It is the BEST breeding only for producing show winners during your lifetime. If that s what you care about, if that s what your legacy is, then go on doing it. Otherwise, forget what somebody told you the best breeding was and breed for the longevity and survival of your entire population. That means sound to sound, then preferring outcrosses, then preferring very loose breedings, then preferring tight breedings, and avoiding inbreeding unless there is absolutely no other choice. 2) If you health-test, you re producing healthier dogs. If you health-test, you re looking at a certain aspect of your dogs. LOOKING at a CERTAIN aspect of YOUR dog. You are not changing anything. You have not yet improved anything. You may, in fact, go on to torpedo the longevity of over a thousand dogs throughout your lifetime; I have no idea and neither do you, and that s the truth. A health test is a data point. Hundreds and hundreds of health tests over ten or twenty years are just data points. They have nothing to do with you. Where you come into it is if you can understand those data points and use those data points to make decisions that change things. I ve seen hundreds, if not thousands, of breeders health-test their dogs. I know of probably ten thousand more. I ve seen a bare handful who have genuinely made a positive difference in the health of their breed. The majority of them are not known for health testing. I know a slightly bigger handful who are famous for producing or buying a dog who radically injured the overall health and longevity of a breed or variety. In that bigger handful all of them health tested. a) Understand the data points. b) Use the data points to draw conclusions that are supported by evidence. c) Make decisions that are based on that solid evidence to turn things in the right direction. If you are not absolutely solid on all three steps, you are not making any good changes except by bare accident. You re just flailing. And if you re going to flail, it might be a good idea to not base your decisions on those factors. Base the decisions on data you CAN see, CAN understand, and that DO have a basis in solid evidence. Unsurprisingly, that s pretty much the way all good breeders have been breeding since the 10

11 FI VE THI NGS YO U THI NK Y O U KNOW A BOUT BREEDI N G C ONTI N UE D... beginning of time, and why so many do so much good completely without the existence of x-rays and DNA tests and why you can do so much wrong when you forget what you re looking at in real life and decide to breed based on those things. 3) Lots of show homes mean you ve succeeded. Lots of show homes means you convinced lots of people that you had show puppies. The word convinced should not be taken lightly. Sometimes it was your effort, sometimes their effort, sometimes their mentors effort. Sometimes it was the pedigree, your reputation, your lack therof, sometimes the dog or the bitch. Sometimes it was based on solid evidence; often it was not. Sometimes it was based on nothing more than the fact that you re convinced that show homes are better and so you held on to a ton of puppies until you found people who were willing to tell you they would show the dogs. There s nothing wrong with lots of show homes. But there s nothing particularly right either. It s an adjective, not a medal. 4) Dogs who can t make it in show homes are usually great performance prospects. You have to be harder on performance prospects than show prospects. Show dogs, while being shown, live a pretty soft life. If they get somewhat injured you re likely to not even know it. Performance dogs, on the other hand, are athletes. Poor biomechanics leads to lifelong pain and compounded injuries. I very much prefer the idea of separating puppies into performance and pet prospects, THEN subdividing into show picks. If it s a show+pet (which certainly does happen), be honest about it. If it s performance-minus-show, celebrate. 5) Breeding for the pet market is wrong. Breeding for the pet market is the only market that matters. Every single one of us SHOULD be a pet owner 99% of the time and a show owner 1%, and every single one of us, even if we don t act like pet owners, relies on a pet market. They re where we put our failures, which end up presented to the world in a much, much more effective way than our successes. If you realize that, if you really internalize the fact that we re putting our rejects out there, effectively on TV, while our successes may be seen by a few of our friends but usually by nobody in the real world, you realize that there is no more important group of people than our pet buyers. Pet buyers are also the ones who keep us sane and humble. They don t care if you ve finally succeeded in getting an entire litter of round feet. They will NEVER know, their entire lives, what round feet are. They care if the dog lives a happy normal life in the suburbs. They also, regardless of what you may think, very rarely care about health testing and they don t know a lot about longevity. The meteoric rise of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the enduring appeal of anything involving a Golden Retriever is incredible evidence of that. Those are not dogs who are going to live a particularly long life and they re not dogs who are going to have no issues diagnosed by vets. They are dogs who are delightful and easy to live with and who adore their owners and everyone else. If you are selling pet puppies, THAT is where you will be seen to succeed or fail by 99.9% of all humans. It places a huge burden on us to educate owners when we have a breed who has a hard time doing those things and should not be penalized for not being able to do them. But even with education we rely on a steady supply of NONbreeding, NON-experienced homes so our breeds can survive. The overwhelming majority of all the dogs you ever produce will be in those homes. Forgetting that and thinking your responsibility is to your show-breeding peers is to your great detriment. When you breed, you must breed first for your breed AS A WHOLE. Then for yourself, with your conscience and your good mind, your understanding of evidence and solid decisions. Then for your pet buyers, knowing that you have responsibility to support them forever. Then for your peers because at three in the morning, your peers are the only ones NOT in your bed, on your phone, or as a still small voice in your heart. 11

12 About Us. Denis Carriere founded the Coton Malgache Publication in 1994 so that breed fanciers might share their mutual interest. The club s aim is to support, educate and advise owners, members and prospective owners about the Coton de Tulear. All members of the CCTC will abide by a code of ethics that will govern the breeding and prosperity of these lovely animals, protecting and preserving the qualities of the Coton de Tulear, and striving for its betterment. CCTC publishes the Coton Malgache quarterly in March, June, September and December. We encourage your submissions! Please send photos of, and articles about your Cotons. Photos will be returned upon request if you include a S.A.S.E. CCTC Executive President: Linda Brookes shoes.and.dogs@hotmail.com Vice-President: Sonja Femia femias@sympatico.ca Secretary: Nicole Pike npike1@cogeco.ca Treasurer: vacant Director: Paula Campbell Deadline for the Coton Malgache Fall Issue is Sept 15, 2018 Theme s for this issue are:, Introducing a breeder belonging to the CCTC Please send all submissions for the Coton Malgache to: hawks_n_hooves@yourlink.ca Subscriptions to the Coton Malgache are included with a CCTC membership. The CCTC is a Canadian non-profit organization. All renewing memberships are due January 31 each year. The opinions expressed in the Coton Malgache are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or CCTC. The articles in the Coton Malgache belong to their authors and cannot be reproduced either in whole or in part in any form without written permission of the author. Director: Maggie Stagg Director: Christina Bollenbach Director: Karen Ward ccccctc@yahoo.com Website Liaison : Marie-France Prayal polana@ns.sympatico.ca Newsletter Editor: Linda Stevens hawks_n_hooves@yourlink.ca Advertising is available on our website. * Sponsor Advertising $25 per calendar year for a business card $45 per calendar year with a live link to a website * Breeder Directory Members Only * Litter Announcements Available FREE of charge to Breeder Members Only Contact Marie-France Prayal polana@ns.sympatico.ca Tel This magazine is your opportunity to share your stories. All submissions printed! 12