Bhima after his clipdown

I think Bhima's owner was horrified by this cut but honestly, look how easy he will be to keep clean! I cut all our dogs' coats down here on the farm so am used to the look. The good news is that at least the groomer left his beard!!

As we all say, hair grows :)

Wanted to give you an update and also wanted to ask of you could put me in touch with the owner of Bhimas brother Gus. I read the post you put on the blog and am possibly going to use the facility he used in Denver for training. I wanted to ask his opinion on the trainers and the facility itself if he doesn't mind. As for our Bhima he is amazing basic training is doing very well working on the off leash that is one of the main reasons I want to take him to the trainers. We had a small incident with our neighbors who have two horses next door to us apparently they were giving Bhima dirty looks at least thats what my son told me when Bhima decided to run over and chase them around the electrified horse area. My neighbor thought it was funny but we didn't want Bhima to get kicked or hurt when he is focused on something he does not listen to my command and I can't have that. I will attach some pics of him including the latest on of the before and after shot of the groomer not listening when I said just a inch off. Well I will keep you posted as we go and as corny as it sounds I thank you for helping me find my Best Friend and companion I love him to death.

Gus update

the board and train facility is local. it is called american canine academy. it offers lifetime group clases and 5 one-on-ones after a 4 week board and train ... now this training was to get gus started on the basics. i had a surgery done the first week of august and felt that because of that and the recovery time that i didn't want to blow a prime learning age....and it also gave me a respit for recovery. however, gus got very good remarks and he took to the training very well. since getting him home i have been taking advantage of the group classes to further things along. He does very well on lead and ok off lead. what i am working on now is to improve his off lead results. they are working with me on that as well. The only real issue i have with him, and he is getting much better, is to not be so mouthy. he isn't too bad with me, but more so with my significant other.... she isn't the assertive alpha type with him so he tends to take advantage of her. but he is learning and we are making progress. now the mouthiness is not an aggressive type of thing but more of a "keep on petting me and loving me cause i am not done yet" sort of thing.

He is wonderful though and lots of fun. we enjoy his companionship tremendously. he is at my side almost 24/7 and likes to help out no matter what i may be doing..... lol

Otis

I am happy to report (and hope I am not cursing myself) that Otis is doing much better! My bruises are fading. He is much more attentive, the trainer noticed that he is watching me more. After the first couple minutes w/new people (if they survive), he settles down nicely. We are SO thankful! He is quite the clown, too. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

End of the year report!

Well, yesterday I sent in entries for an AHBA Duck trial to be held in St. Paul at the University of Minnesota. This is a fundraising event for the Great River Stockdog Club and it's a 'bring your own ducks' trial at that! We have both Indian runner and Call ducks to offer and it will be fun for Trouble.

I wanted to let everyone know that Solo went High in Trial at an obedience trial on December 26 - with a 197.5 out of 200 - he did a great job and you can be proud of your pup's dad!

I appreciate all the notes and pictures you have all sent this year and hope they continue into 2012 as this litter matures!

Spaying or Neutering

Because I know many of you will be contemplating this issue, here is some information regarding spaying and neutering. I do have a lengthy article if you'd like me to send it to you.

On the positive side, neutering male dogs
• eliminates the small risk (probably <1%) of dying from testicular cancer
• reduces the risk of non-cancerous prostate disorders
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• may possibly reduce the risk of diabetes (data inconclusive)

On the negative side, neutering male dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a common cancer in medium/large and larger breeds with a poor prognosis.
• increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 1.6
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of progressive geriatric cognitive impairment
• triples the risk of obesity, a common health problem in dogs with many associated health problems
• quadruples the small risk (<0.6%) of prostate cancer
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract cancers
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations

For female dogs, the situation is more complex. The number of health benefits associated with spaying may exceed the associated health problems in some (not all) cases. On balance, whether spaying improves the odds of overall good health or degrades them probably depends on the age of the female dog and the relative risk of various diseases in the different breeds.

On the positive side, spaying female dogs
• if done before 2.5 years of age, greatly reduces the risk of mammary tumors, the most common
malignant tumors in female dogs
• nearly eliminates the risk of pyometra, which otherwise would affect about 23% of intact female dogs; pyometra kills about 1% of intact female dogs
• reduces the risk of perianal fistulas
• removes the very small risk ( 0.5%) from uterine, cervical, and ovarian tumors

On the negative side, spaying female dogs
• if done before 1 year of age, significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer); this is a common cancer in larger breeds with a poor prognosis
• increases the risk of splenic hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 2.2 and cardiac hemangiosarcoma by a factor of 5; this is a common cancer and major cause of death in some breeds
• triples the risk of hypothyroidism
• increases the risk of obesity by a factor of 1.6-2, a common health problem in dogs with many
associated health problems
• causes urinary “spay incontinence” in 4-20% of female dogs
• increases the risk of persistent or recurring urinary tract infections by a factor of 3-4
• increases the risk of recessed vulva, vaginal dermatitis, and vaginitis, especially for female dogs
spayed before puberty
• doubles the small risk (<1%) of urinary tract tumors
• increases the risk of orthopedic disorders
• increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations

One thing is clear – much of the spay/neuter information that is available to the public is unbalanced and contains claims that are exaggerated or unsupported by evidence.

Gus is wonderful and we are enjoying his companionship very much. He was off to 5 weeks of board and train which he did very well. Since then we have been going to group classes and he is doing a good job of training me. ha but really he is doing good. He is very smart. we have been working mostly on leash and he is learning more and more off leash now. He does have a stubborn streak but we have found ways around that. We had our first snow a few weeks back and that was quite funny. went to bed and it was dry and woke up to about 8 inches on the ground. Watching his reaction and investigations was hilarious. He loves playing in the stuff. I have kenneled him in the bedroom every night since he got here but in the last month or so i have let him sleep loose next to the bed at night... he does very well with that. He has his 'place' in the living room that he is learning to go to when told. and kinda doing ok with that but getting better every day. we take our daily walk and go to the park for some ball fetching and he is learning 'drop' pretty well. His favorite toy though is a tree limb of all things.

I weighed him the other day and he is at 79lbs and right at 26 inches at the shoulder. So he is getting to be a big boy. it is amazing how fast he is growing.

Thanks so much for the note! I'm amazed at how BIG he and some of his littermates are already! Be sure to keep him on the lean side --- you'll want to be able to very easily feel his ribs. With young dogs growing so fast you need to be aware that they can develop joint problems ~ keeping them on the thin side will help reduce that possibility.

Solo's very favorite thing is his big horse jollyball...but his second favorite is also a tree limb. He will fetch and run with them, sometimes TOWARD me...yikes!!! Where did you send him for board and train? Somewhere local? I used to offer that service but it was difficult to have the owners understand how to maintain the training ~ do you have an ongoing training program with them? I'm curious how it works in your area.