GENETIC HEALTH - Cataracts
by Sharon Schaefer
Cataracts are the most common disease of the lens of the eye and are an inherited eye disorder. Cataracts occur as an aging change in the eyes of dogs (after age 9-10) and people; a few cataracts result from injury, toxins, or diseases such as diabetes; but the vast majority of cataracts is an inherited problem. In most breeds the genetics producing cataracts is not yet defined. In those breeds where the inheritance has been established it varies from autosomal recessive to autosomal dominant to incomplete dominance with variable expressivity. This indicates that we need to carefully study and track the occurrence of cataracts in Icelandics to begin to establish our own breed pattern.
There are also breed differences in the age of onset, degree of symmetry between eyes, rate of progression, and actual abnormalities seen on the lens. This again is information we need to gather and study in Icelandics who have cataracts. Cataracts present before 8 weeks of age are called congenital (considered at birth), cataracts appearing up to 4 years of age are considered juvenile or developmental, and after this they're called later onset cataracts. Various breeds may be prone to only one or all three of these types. In different breeds having cataracts, some may occur in only one eye while in other breeds it will be both eyes. In some breeds the original cataract (independent of age of onset) will never change very much and in other breeds it will continue to grow leading to blindness. Probably through their superior senses of smell and hearing, dogs are very good at compensating for vision problems. If they are kept in a familiar environment, owners may be unaware of considerable vision loss.
The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists controls certification for freedom from heritable eye diseases. Clearances for vision must be performed annually by a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist and not by a local veterinarian. Both the Canine Eye Registration Foundation (CERF) and the Institute for Genetic Disease Control in Animals (GDC) offer certification on an annual basis if the appropriate form and fee is forwarded to them. CERF is a closed registry and failed reports are completely confidential (up-to-date 'clear' reports may be accessed on the website). The research copy of the CERF form is always forwarded to the Veterinary Medical Database of CERF for breed information (individual identity is confidential). This data is used to form the C.E.R.F. data base which is useful in researching trends in eye disease and breed susceptibility.
CERF charges $10.50US for each new entry and $8.00US for recertification with a kennel rate for 10 or more sent back to same owner of $7.50 each. GDC maintains an open registry (all reports are publicly shared) of inherited eye diseases so breeders can track families more easily (KIN report available). There is no charge for entering an Affected Dog into the GDC database. Fee for a first Unaffected is $10US with annual updates $5US. Three or more littermates or related dogs entered at once are $25US.
The general breeding recommendation concerning cataracts is not to use affected dogs (and sometimes their parents and siblings) and to examine close relatives. Considering the small gene pool available to Icelandic breeders at the moment, all close relatives of an affected dog should be examined annually and breeding decisions made with care. Certainly dogs which are affected with cataracts should not be bred so breeders need to have annual eye examinations on all their stock. Breed associations need to develop recommendations and guidelines for their members anticipating future difficulties. If cataracts are discovered in a dog at 5 years of age it will probably already have a couple of generations of potential carriers produced.
These offspring need to be tracked even more carefully and possibly removed from the reproductive pool?
If we are lucky enough to have cataracts in Icelandics which are autosomal dominant and early onset they can be fairly easily bred away from! Sharing annual eye results and pedigree information internationally can help all Icelandic fanciers learn the patterns of cataract occurrence in our breed so more informed breeding decisions may be made in the future.
References
Canine Inherited Diseases Database, www.upei.ca/~cidd
Canine Eye Registry Foundation, www.vmdb.org/cerf.html
Institute for Genetic Disease Control in Animals, www.gdcinstitute.org
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Kennel Spotlight: Pineridge Icelandic Kennel
SPOTLIGHT BREEDERS: PINERIDGE ICELANDICS
By Jill Fike
Our farm is in the Interior of British Columbia, cold and snowy usually for about five to six months of the winter, and often up to 100 degrees in the summer. Our Icelandic Sheepdog journey began quite by accident. We were at one of the large Icelandic Horse breeding farms close to us looking for a mare and happened to mention that we were getting Icelandic sheep. The owners of the farm, who are Dutch, had bred ISDs in Holland and said we absolutely must get one to round out our Icelandic family and they had friends in Gimli, Manitoba, which has a significant Icelandic settlement, who were looking for a home for a two year old male. We have always had German Shepherds and had never heard of the Icelandic Sheepdog until then and weren’t sure how we’d feel about a mid-size dog, but decided to try.
In March 1996 we set off to pick up Eric, who, I was told on the journey "was to be an outside dog." When we arrived, Eric was stretched out on a leather couch and we were told he really likes to sleep on your bed! I didn’t want to look at Norm at this point!
Anyway we duly arrived home and as Eric was two years old, we quite expected it would take him a while to settle in to his new farm surroundings. However, not so! Once he was through the door, he hustled around until he found our bedroom, hopped up on the bed and fell fast asleep. Our "outside" dog still sleeps on our bed every night, ten years later!
The next morning when we went out to feed, every time you looked back at the house, Eric had managed to get to a window so that he could keep an eye on us. He was such an affectionate dog and settled in so well, was so good with our grandchildren, tolerated the cats, learned quickly that we preferred him not go in with the horses and donkeys, and won our hearts over for the breed in no time at all.
My husband had always wanted to breed dogs and when we finally had our farm, it hadn’t worked out with our chosen German Shepherd because she had a bad case of hip dysplasia, so he began to consider it again, this time with Icelandic sheepdogs. We had a friend going to Iceland so he brought Una fra Skalmholti (11 mos.) and Lukka fra Keldnakoti (nearly 3 mos.) back with him for us from Iceland in June of 1996.
In December 1997 Una and Eric had their first litter, three little girls, two little boys, and there was huge excitement over this. We kept Frekja and Samur from this litter as we couldn’t bring ourselves to let them all go, but then came the interesting job of finding people who would like to own an Icelandic sheepdog! Like us, hardly anybody in B.C. had ever heard of them and when we advertised them, we had questions like "are they like the English sheepdog?", "are they a good deterrent to unwanted visitors?", "are they a good guard dog?" and on and on went the questions, so it did take quite a while to get the breed known and the Icelandic Sheepdog to become a recognized dog, and the Internet initially was our best advertising tool. Since then Dogs In Canada has been excellent at introducing the ISD to the Canadian market and we’ve had many people come back for a second dog, and many of our puppy owners who have been approached by people enquiring about the breed and then contacting us.
Una was a marvellous mother, as all our ISDs have been, with the exception of Frekja from this first litter, whom we had kept, and who didn’t enjoy being a mother. There was no point in continuing to breed her so she went very happily to live with friends of ours. The variation in colours of Una’s puppies was so interesting – two were cream, the remaining three darker shades of brown, tan and white but who lightened to the traditional chestnut colour over the years.
I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Iceland in 1998 to choose a breeding male, and that is how Kolur came to our farm. I saw him and his littermates at three days old, all dark charcoal grey with some white markings, at Anders Hansen’s farm in Hella and chose him immediately. This Farm also had about 250 horses, so my attention was severely divided and it ended up not only being a puppy that came to us from Arbakki but a stallion and three mares too! This was my most interesting ISD colour observation as Kolur is far from dark charcoal grey now, as are his littermates, some of whom I still hear about from their owners and have seen pictures of them.
You will now know that we have been breeding since 1997 and have had the good fortune of making many friends through this endeavour. We did anticipate that it would be as straightforward to register our Icelandic sheepdogs with CKC as it was to register our Icelandic horses and sheep with Canadian Livestock Records. We soon discovered this not to be the case and it took nearly ten years to get to that point. We currently have eleven Icelandic sheepdogs at our farm. Sometimes when they have finished their breeding careers, they go to live with either family or friends who are able to give them a one dog, one family life, which enables them to have much more attention than we have time to give each individual animal on our farm. Otherwise they will live out their lives with us.
We have many visitors here either to see our dogs, our horses, our sheep or our Jersey cows, sometimes even the donkeys! One of the most fascinating characteristics of all our Icelandic animals, and interesting for visitors, is the huge colour variation in all of them. One reason we’ve been so pleased to be able to keep our dogs after breeding is to enable visitors to see examples of this colour variation, also the different look depending on the coat length, i.e. from Tofra Ljosalfur, very short, to Kolur, very long! The difference in coat length can almost make a different breed look.
Tofra Ljosalfur (Alfur) Kolur
Of our dogs, Kolur, Una and Lukka came from Iceland, Alfur from Monika when she lived in Norway, Raf from Denmark, and Narri and Kari from Portugal. Eric came from Gimli, Tryna from Washington, Isa from a breeding of Eric with TK Icelandics Bjardna, Ala from a breeding of Kolur and one of our earlier dogs, Gaela, in Alberta, Frekna, an Eric/Una puppy, Gletta from an Alfur/Lukka breeding. We also have Zoe, a long haired German Shepherd and Misty a Great Pyrenees.
Many of our puppy owners still keep in touch with us and we hear great stories. Last year a little boy called Cody was waiting for a puppy from us. He wrote his puppy a letter and asked us to read it to him, earned the major portion of the price of his puppy himself, and arrived here to pick it up and sat in the car giving him his present that he’d saved for and reading the story he’d written for him inside the card he’d made. It was so sweet.
Quite a number of our dogs are taken into care homes for visits and used as rehab dogs and the breed seems to have an innate capability for this, knowing when they can run up to someone or when they have to be slow and careful. Even their almond-shaped, trusting eyes, are designed for loving visits I think and they dispense affection wherever they go. A fascinating story was the time I was at the coast and we had a pup to ship and the flight was delayed for a day, so my friend Judi was going to visit her mother, who had Alzheimers, in a residential home and she suggested we take the puppy as well as Thor and Frekja, which we did. Norma hadn’t spoken a word for years. We put the puppy on her lap and after a bit it must have nipped her finger. All of a sudden we heard "Don’t you do that!", followed by a big smile. We couldn’t believe our ears, here not only was a word, but a relevant sentence. When we left, we put the puppy on her lap again and she looked up at us and said "You won’t let him go will you." Then everything closed over again. Then there’s the family in California who hike a lot and sent a picture of their dog with his little backpack made specially for him! Sandi’s dog Perla who, when she was out riding and had ridden to the top of a hill, refused to come and just stood there at the bottom of the hill barking. Eventually Sandi had to go back, and Perla was standing beside Sandi’s wallet that had fallen out of her pack.
There are so many stories of the contributions the Icelandics have made to their owners and their families. By far the majority of our puppies have gone to be family pets and it is a great joy to be able to recommend this breed with such confidence for this purpose. We are always available if questions or problems arise and have taken two dogs back where family circumstances required it and had no trouble re-homing them to very happy new home situations. We give a two year health guarantee, the same for hip dysplasia.
Eric is our most special Icelandic because he was our first and introduced us to the breed. There are different endearing qualities about all the others. Our observations have been that the males are equally as affectionate as the females. This theory was tested when Lukka was expecting a litter and we had seven people waiting for little girls, and she had seven little boys!! Fortunately no-one wanted to have a female for breeding! Some love to run and play frisbee, others are happiest settled on your lap. Some like water, some don’t. Our sheep roam freely in the summer and come to call so we haven’t yet used our dogs with the sheep, but some of them have shown their herding ability when we’ve heard thundering of hooves, not necessarily at our request! Our dogs are always so delighted to see us, whether it’s first thing in the morning or last thing at night!
We hope to have the opportunity to show one or two of our dogs this year but our farm, particularly the horses, keeps us very busy. Also we live in an isolated area fairly high in the mountains and away from larger cities, but we definitely hope to be able to introduce some of our Icelandics to the world of the show ring this year. We did take Kolur to the Parade of Spitz Breeds at the coast in 2004 and while he was overwhelmed with the 6 – 7,000 dogs there, he did take several days for his superior attitude to wear off when he got back to the farm! We offer a stud service. Also we’ve considered it a great pleasure to have some of our dogs come back to stay with us while their owners are away. Meanwhile we will continue to breed and do our best to produce puppies with characteristics that will sustain the proud heritage of the Icelandic Sheepdog.
www.pineridgeicelandics.com
By Jill Fike
Our farm is in the Interior of British Columbia, cold and snowy usually for about five to six months of the winter, and often up to 100 degrees in the summer. Our Icelandic Sheepdog journey began quite by accident. We were at one of the large Icelandic Horse breeding farms close to us looking for a mare and happened to mention that we were getting Icelandic sheep. The owners of the farm, who are Dutch, had bred ISDs in Holland and said we absolutely must get one to round out our Icelandic family and they had friends in Gimli, Manitoba, which has a significant Icelandic settlement, who were looking for a home for a two year old male. We have always had German Shepherds and had never heard of the Icelandic Sheepdog until then and weren’t sure how we’d feel about a mid-size dog, but decided to try.
In March 1996 we set off to pick up Eric, who, I was told on the journey "was to be an outside dog." When we arrived, Eric was stretched out on a leather couch and we were told he really likes to sleep on your bed! I didn’t want to look at Norm at this point!
Anyway we duly arrived home and as Eric was two years old, we quite expected it would take him a while to settle in to his new farm surroundings. However, not so! Once he was through the door, he hustled around until he found our bedroom, hopped up on the bed and fell fast asleep. Our "outside" dog still sleeps on our bed every night, ten years later!
The next morning when we went out to feed, every time you looked back at the house, Eric had managed to get to a window so that he could keep an eye on us. He was such an affectionate dog and settled in so well, was so good with our grandchildren, tolerated the cats, learned quickly that we preferred him not go in with the horses and donkeys, and won our hearts over for the breed in no time at all.
My husband had always wanted to breed dogs and when we finally had our farm, it hadn’t worked out with our chosen German Shepherd because she had a bad case of hip dysplasia, so he began to consider it again, this time with Icelandic sheepdogs. We had a friend going to Iceland so he brought Una fra Skalmholti (11 mos.) and Lukka fra Keldnakoti (nearly 3 mos.) back with him for us from Iceland in June of 1996.
In December 1997 Una and Eric had their first litter, three little girls, two little boys, and there was huge excitement over this. We kept Frekja and Samur from this litter as we couldn’t bring ourselves to let them all go, but then came the interesting job of finding people who would like to own an Icelandic sheepdog! Like us, hardly anybody in B.C. had ever heard of them and when we advertised them, we had questions like "are they like the English sheepdog?", "are they a good deterrent to unwanted visitors?", "are they a good guard dog?" and on and on went the questions, so it did take quite a while to get the breed known and the Icelandic Sheepdog to become a recognized dog, and the Internet initially was our best advertising tool. Since then Dogs In Canada has been excellent at introducing the ISD to the Canadian market and we’ve had many people come back for a second dog, and many of our puppy owners who have been approached by people enquiring about the breed and then contacting us.
Una was a marvellous mother, as all our ISDs have been, with the exception of Frekja from this first litter, whom we had kept, and who didn’t enjoy being a mother. There was no point in continuing to breed her so she went very happily to live with friends of ours. The variation in colours of Una’s puppies was so interesting – two were cream, the remaining three darker shades of brown, tan and white but who lightened to the traditional chestnut colour over the years.
I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Iceland in 1998 to choose a breeding male, and that is how Kolur came to our farm. I saw him and his littermates at three days old, all dark charcoal grey with some white markings, at Anders Hansen’s farm in Hella and chose him immediately. This Farm also had about 250 horses, so my attention was severely divided and it ended up not only being a puppy that came to us from Arbakki but a stallion and three mares too! This was my most interesting ISD colour observation as Kolur is far from dark charcoal grey now, as are his littermates, some of whom I still hear about from their owners and have seen pictures of them.
You will now know that we have been breeding since 1997 and have had the good fortune of making many friends through this endeavour. We did anticipate that it would be as straightforward to register our Icelandic sheepdogs with CKC as it was to register our Icelandic horses and sheep with Canadian Livestock Records. We soon discovered this not to be the case and it took nearly ten years to get to that point. We currently have eleven Icelandic sheepdogs at our farm. Sometimes when they have finished their breeding careers, they go to live with either family or friends who are able to give them a one dog, one family life, which enables them to have much more attention than we have time to give each individual animal on our farm. Otherwise they will live out their lives with us.
We have many visitors here either to see our dogs, our horses, our sheep or our Jersey cows, sometimes even the donkeys! One of the most fascinating characteristics of all our Icelandic animals, and interesting for visitors, is the huge colour variation in all of them. One reason we’ve been so pleased to be able to keep our dogs after breeding is to enable visitors to see examples of this colour variation, also the different look depending on the coat length, i.e. from Tofra Ljosalfur, very short, to Kolur, very long! The difference in coat length can almost make a different breed look.
Tofra Ljosalfur (Alfur) Kolur
Of our dogs, Kolur, Una and Lukka came from Iceland, Alfur from Monika when she lived in Norway, Raf from Denmark, and Narri and Kari from Portugal. Eric came from Gimli, Tryna from Washington, Isa from a breeding of Eric with TK Icelandics Bjardna, Ala from a breeding of Kolur and one of our earlier dogs, Gaela, in Alberta, Frekna, an Eric/Una puppy, Gletta from an Alfur/Lukka breeding. We also have Zoe, a long haired German Shepherd and Misty a Great Pyrenees.
Many of our puppy owners still keep in touch with us and we hear great stories. Last year a little boy called Cody was waiting for a puppy from us. He wrote his puppy a letter and asked us to read it to him, earned the major portion of the price of his puppy himself, and arrived here to pick it up and sat in the car giving him his present that he’d saved for and reading the story he’d written for him inside the card he’d made. It was so sweet.
Quite a number of our dogs are taken into care homes for visits and used as rehab dogs and the breed seems to have an innate capability for this, knowing when they can run up to someone or when they have to be slow and careful. Even their almond-shaped, trusting eyes, are designed for loving visits I think and they dispense affection wherever they go. A fascinating story was the time I was at the coast and we had a pup to ship and the flight was delayed for a day, so my friend Judi was going to visit her mother, who had Alzheimers, in a residential home and she suggested we take the puppy as well as Thor and Frekja, which we did. Norma hadn’t spoken a word for years. We put the puppy on her lap and after a bit it must have nipped her finger. All of a sudden we heard "Don’t you do that!", followed by a big smile. We couldn’t believe our ears, here not only was a word, but a relevant sentence. When we left, we put the puppy on her lap again and she looked up at us and said "You won’t let him go will you." Then everything closed over again. Then there’s the family in California who hike a lot and sent a picture of their dog with his little backpack made specially for him! Sandi’s dog Perla who, when she was out riding and had ridden to the top of a hill, refused to come and just stood there at the bottom of the hill barking. Eventually Sandi had to go back, and Perla was standing beside Sandi’s wallet that had fallen out of her pack.
There are so many stories of the contributions the Icelandics have made to their owners and their families. By far the majority of our puppies have gone to be family pets and it is a great joy to be able to recommend this breed with such confidence for this purpose. We are always available if questions or problems arise and have taken two dogs back where family circumstances required it and had no trouble re-homing them to very happy new home situations. We give a two year health guarantee, the same for hip dysplasia.
Eric is our most special Icelandic because he was our first and introduced us to the breed. There are different endearing qualities about all the others. Our observations have been that the males are equally as affectionate as the females. This theory was tested when Lukka was expecting a litter and we had seven people waiting for little girls, and she had seven little boys!! Fortunately no-one wanted to have a female for breeding! Some love to run and play frisbee, others are happiest settled on your lap. Some like water, some don’t. Our sheep roam freely in the summer and come to call so we haven’t yet used our dogs with the sheep, but some of them have shown their herding ability when we’ve heard thundering of hooves, not necessarily at our request! Our dogs are always so delighted to see us, whether it’s first thing in the morning or last thing at night!
We hope to have the opportunity to show one or two of our dogs this year but our farm, particularly the horses, keeps us very busy. Also we live in an isolated area fairly high in the mountains and away from larger cities, but we definitely hope to be able to introduce some of our Icelandics to the world of the show ring this year. We did take Kolur to the Parade of Spitz Breeds at the coast in 2004 and while he was overwhelmed with the 6 – 7,000 dogs there, he did take several days for his superior attitude to wear off when he got back to the farm! We offer a stud service. Also we’ve considered it a great pleasure to have some of our dogs come back to stay with us while their owners are away. Meanwhile we will continue to breed and do our best to produce puppies with characteristics that will sustain the proud heritage of the Icelandic Sheepdog.
www.pineridgeicelandics.com
A New way of Walking CISC Newsletter Spring Issue 2006
Train Your Dog – A NEW WAY of WALKING
By Laura Ford
I’m cheating in this column – instead of writing about training your dog, I’m going to address a common problem, pulling on leash, and one way to manage it. The ideal solution is to teach your dog not to pull, and there are various methods to do this, which are addressed in training books and most classes. The key is to NEVER reinforce pulling by moving forward while there is tension on the leash. However, in real life we sometimes need faster solutions, so that our pups can get out of the driveway for socializing, or we can walk two or more dogs at once without being pulled in different directions.
There are several anti-pulling harnesses, collars and head-collars on the market. Since my husband and I walk dogs and board them in our home, we have tried many of these devices. In our experience, the Halti or Gentle-Leader head-collars do work well for some dogs, but others will never settle or will just shut down and be depressed with the head-collar on. They are generally humane but some people feel they cause problems with the dog’s neck. Head-collars must never be used with extendable leashes. We have walked other dogs, especially large, strong ones, whose owners use Sporn or Lupi harnesses which are designed to put pressure under the dog’s armpits to stop pulling. However, less sensitive dogs will still pull into these harnesses when they are stimulated, and we don’t like the idea of causing discomfort to the dog in order to control it.
When I brought our puppy home, her breeder, Sharon Schaefer, recommended the chest-attachment harness. I wanted to train her to walk nicely on a leash and flat collar, but I soon found that Soley has a rather soft trachea and just a few lunges against the collar would result in gagging and hacking. By strictly using the recommended techniques for leash-walking, I could barely get as far as the sidewalk. I soon got her one of the Sense-ation chest-attachment harnesses at a local dog store. The size Small probably could be adjusted to fit most Icelandic Sheepdogs up to 35 pounds. At first I didn’t see how these harnesses could work, but I quickly found out that they do! When she tries to pull, she is guided back towards me, and pulling quickly looses its incentive. I went back to buy one for my seven-year old committed puller, and on the walk home from the store, he felt like a different dog. I had to look down a few times to check that he was still there. The transition to using the harness was seamless, he didn’t fight it or stop walking as he did with a Gentle Leader head-collar. I now enjoy walking both dogs, without being yanked around, or teaching the puppy the bad habit of pulling.
Since the leash clips onto a ring at the chest, when you are out walking you can still pull your dog toward you when she is lagging or getting into something she shouldn’t. I like the fact that this exerts pressure from the chest to guide her towards me, rather than pulling her around by the neck or head. So far we have used this harness in all our training classes, but we will have to practice heeling using just a collar and leash, which is the only equipment allowed in the CKC obedience ring. This type of harness is not a substitute for teaching your dog to walk nicely or to heel. It only prevents the dog from getting into the habit of pulling and it cures the dog-walker’s disorder of having one arm longer than the other.
There is a similar harness made by Gentle Leader, which works on the same principle and it is worth looking at both brands in case one fits your dog better.
By Laura Ford
I’m cheating in this column – instead of writing about training your dog, I’m going to address a common problem, pulling on leash, and one way to manage it. The ideal solution is to teach your dog not to pull, and there are various methods to do this, which are addressed in training books and most classes. The key is to NEVER reinforce pulling by moving forward while there is tension on the leash. However, in real life we sometimes need faster solutions, so that our pups can get out of the driveway for socializing, or we can walk two or more dogs at once without being pulled in different directions.
There are several anti-pulling harnesses, collars and head-collars on the market. Since my husband and I walk dogs and board them in our home, we have tried many of these devices. In our experience, the Halti or Gentle-Leader head-collars do work well for some dogs, but others will never settle or will just shut down and be depressed with the head-collar on. They are generally humane but some people feel they cause problems with the dog’s neck. Head-collars must never be used with extendable leashes. We have walked other dogs, especially large, strong ones, whose owners use Sporn or Lupi harnesses which are designed to put pressure under the dog’s armpits to stop pulling. However, less sensitive dogs will still pull into these harnesses when they are stimulated, and we don’t like the idea of causing discomfort to the dog in order to control it.
When I brought our puppy home, her breeder, Sharon Schaefer, recommended the chest-attachment harness. I wanted to train her to walk nicely on a leash and flat collar, but I soon found that Soley has a rather soft trachea and just a few lunges against the collar would result in gagging and hacking. By strictly using the recommended techniques for leash-walking, I could barely get as far as the sidewalk. I soon got her one of the Sense-ation chest-attachment harnesses at a local dog store. The size Small probably could be adjusted to fit most Icelandic Sheepdogs up to 35 pounds. At first I didn’t see how these harnesses could work, but I quickly found out that they do! When she tries to pull, she is guided back towards me, and pulling quickly looses its incentive. I went back to buy one for my seven-year old committed puller, and on the walk home from the store, he felt like a different dog. I had to look down a few times to check that he was still there. The transition to using the harness was seamless, he didn’t fight it or stop walking as he did with a Gentle Leader head-collar. I now enjoy walking both dogs, without being yanked around, or teaching the puppy the bad habit of pulling.
Since the leash clips onto a ring at the chest, when you are out walking you can still pull your dog toward you when she is lagging or getting into something she shouldn’t. I like the fact that this exerts pressure from the chest to guide her towards me, rather than pulling her around by the neck or head. So far we have used this harness in all our training classes, but we will have to practice heeling using just a collar and leash, which is the only equipment allowed in the CKC obedience ring. This type of harness is not a substitute for teaching your dog to walk nicely or to heel. It only prevents the dog from getting into the habit of pulling and it cures the dog-walker’s disorder of having one arm longer than the other.
There is a similar harness made by Gentle Leader, which works on the same principle and it is worth looking at both brands in case one fits your dog better.
Cooking for Dogs CISC Spring 2006 Issue
WELCOME to COOKING FOR DOGS : Birthday Celebrations
by Valerie Sharp
Well it happens to all of us, where we want it to or not, Yup, I’m talking about that fact that like clockwork, your dogs all get older, and at some point in time, it’s their birthday. Now some of you will think this birthday cake recipe is a bit over the top, but when you see how happy it makes your dog, and puts smiles on everyone’s face that is there to share.. Perhaps you to will give it try.
Dog Birthday Cake
1 Pound Hamburger (lean is great) or to make a double cake, double everything.
2 Shedded Carrots
2 Largre Shedded Potatoes
1 tsp minced Garlic
2 Large Fresh eggs or One large Duck egg
In a large bowl mix all ingredients. Then place in a any shape baking pan you want, I like a slightly round cake, so I mound it together in a large pie plate, and then flatten the top a bit, and bake for around 45 min in a 350 oven.
At the same time, peel and cook around six to eight med to large potatoes and whip them well with some butter and milk, you want a it whipped enough to be spreadable but still stiff enough to stay in place.
Cool both the mash and the doggy meat loaf, and then spread the mash potatoes on the loaf, if you want to be able to write on it, save some of the mash, add a few drops of food color and then write away with the same thing you would for icing bag, or just use the little fine gel icing that they sell, the rest of the cake is so healthy, that tiny bit of gel won’t hurt anything :)
Can be served right away or chilled to serve at a doggy Birthday party, have a few friends and their dogs over, and everyone will get a good laugh and smile out of the birthday cake.
Here is a shot of my own crew, well a few of them anyway, waiting for the ok for them to be able to dive into their cake, in this case it was a dog cake, not the birthday cake above but the idea is the same.
If you are thinking about having a doggy get together for someones birthday, dunking for hotdogs is a ever popular party treat, think bobbing for apples doggy style. You will need a cut up hotdog per dog, a bucket of room temp water in a old ice cream pail and place that you don’t mind that the water gets all over, and then the fun begins, if the dogs don’t to put their whole head under, or you have a small dog, lower the water level, but as they can see and smell the hotdog, they will want it.
If it’s winter time and the idea of having splashing water does not appeal to you, try this indoor party game instead, gather up a few different things, baskets, towels, bowls, cups a pillow or two and in an area, hide a cut up hotdog, try and make some really easy to find, and some med-hard to find, normally food under a towel is one of the hardest for the dogs, they can smell it and they can bite into the towel, but it takes thinking to move the towel away from the food. See how many pieces of hotdog they can find in one minute, and then do the next dog, and have a little prize for the winning dog, and owner, perhaps a new throw toy to take home with them.
For those that are wanting a little team play, how about musical chairs with dogs, it’s best if a larger crowd to do this outside but with a few folks and dogs, inside works as well, so have someone in charge of the music and watching the dogs. The goal is of course to be the last person on the chair with their dog in a sit-stay. So you are heel walking in a circle, and when the music ends, the person needs to be sitting and then they need to sit/stay their dog, when the dogs butt is on the floor they are safe.. If everyone gets really good at this, and likes the game, the more difficult level is to do a down/stay…
Have fun and hope this gives you a few ideas for your next backyard doggy get together.
by Valerie Sharp
Well it happens to all of us, where we want it to or not, Yup, I’m talking about that fact that like clockwork, your dogs all get older, and at some point in time, it’s their birthday. Now some of you will think this birthday cake recipe is a bit over the top, but when you see how happy it makes your dog, and puts smiles on everyone’s face that is there to share.. Perhaps you to will give it try.
Dog Birthday Cake
1 Pound Hamburger (lean is great) or to make a double cake, double everything.
2 Shedded Carrots
2 Largre Shedded Potatoes
1 tsp minced Garlic
2 Large Fresh eggs or One large Duck egg
In a large bowl mix all ingredients. Then place in a any shape baking pan you want, I like a slightly round cake, so I mound it together in a large pie plate, and then flatten the top a bit, and bake for around 45 min in a 350 oven.
At the same time, peel and cook around six to eight med to large potatoes and whip them well with some butter and milk, you want a it whipped enough to be spreadable but still stiff enough to stay in place.
Cool both the mash and the doggy meat loaf, and then spread the mash potatoes on the loaf, if you want to be able to write on it, save some of the mash, add a few drops of food color and then write away with the same thing you would for icing bag, or just use the little fine gel icing that they sell, the rest of the cake is so healthy, that tiny bit of gel won’t hurt anything :)
Can be served right away or chilled to serve at a doggy Birthday party, have a few friends and their dogs over, and everyone will get a good laugh and smile out of the birthday cake.
Here is a shot of my own crew, well a few of them anyway, waiting for the ok for them to be able to dive into their cake, in this case it was a dog cake, not the birthday cake above but the idea is the same.
If you are thinking about having a doggy get together for someones birthday, dunking for hotdogs is a ever popular party treat, think bobbing for apples doggy style. You will need a cut up hotdog per dog, a bucket of room temp water in a old ice cream pail and place that you don’t mind that the water gets all over, and then the fun begins, if the dogs don’t to put their whole head under, or you have a small dog, lower the water level, but as they can see and smell the hotdog, they will want it.
If it’s winter time and the idea of having splashing water does not appeal to you, try this indoor party game instead, gather up a few different things, baskets, towels, bowls, cups a pillow or two and in an area, hide a cut up hotdog, try and make some really easy to find, and some med-hard to find, normally food under a towel is one of the hardest for the dogs, they can smell it and they can bite into the towel, but it takes thinking to move the towel away from the food. See how many pieces of hotdog they can find in one minute, and then do the next dog, and have a little prize for the winning dog, and owner, perhaps a new throw toy to take home with them.
For those that are wanting a little team play, how about musical chairs with dogs, it’s best if a larger crowd to do this outside but with a few folks and dogs, inside works as well, so have someone in charge of the music and watching the dogs. The goal is of course to be the last person on the chair with their dog in a sit-stay. So you are heel walking in a circle, and when the music ends, the person needs to be sitting and then they need to sit/stay their dog, when the dogs butt is on the floor they are safe.. If everyone gets really good at this, and likes the game, the more difficult level is to do a down/stay…
Have fun and hope this gives you a few ideas for your next backyard doggy get together.
Risks of Ivermectin CISC Newsletter 2006
SPECIAL HEALTH REPORT: Risks of Ivermectin
By Robin Smith
Oliver [an Icelandic mix] kept having re-occurring bouts of Giardia. They decided to try something outside of the normal range of treatment, which was giving him invermectin. Within a few days he fell suddenly very ill. He had diarrhea, then he stopped eating (which for him was unheard of); by the next morning he was listless and still not eating. By that evening he was refusing water. When I called him to come up stairs with me he didn't move and when I went to tug his collar gently he growled at me. Then he started throwing up. I knew that we needed to take him to the vet immediately, because at the minimum he was at risk of dehydration.
As we were getting him ready to go to the emergency room, he started having blood in his vomit. We took him to the ER - they thought he had swallowed something that was lodged in his stomach or gut. I said that was highly unlikely because he doesn't swallow things. They also asked if he could have gotten into rat poison or anything else. I don't keep anything like that in my house and we don't leave him out unattended in the yard.
They put him on an IV drip, gave him medication to keep him from vomiting and kept him over night. When we came to get him the following morning to take him to his regular vet he was still unable to hold down any food or water. They told me the tests that they had run indicated that his liver was in very bad shape. In essence he was experiencing liver failure. They ran all sorts of diagnostics to try to find a viral cause. They couldn't.
Then one vet said "it could have been the medicine we gave him this last time for his giardia. Some dogs have been known to react badly to that medication". Oliver stayed in the hospital for 3 days before he could hold down food or water. The vet stated that he probably would have died had he not been hospitalized. I know he was in pain and suffering greatly during this time.
The vet never warned us that the medicine they were giving him could cause him trouble. It is down on his paperwork that he is a border collie mix.
While we now know that he is most likely an Icelandic mix, the vet still should have known that invermectin and collies don't mix well. The vet also never apologized or gave us a reduction on our $1,200 vet bill.
All I can say, is that I am glad that I know enough about dogs to know when to take an animal to the ER. Otherwise Oliver would have died from liver failure at 2 years of age.
It is my understanding that this medication is a regularly used medication in skin conditions like mange. It is also regularly used as a heartworm medication. Since my vet didn't raise the issue with me, I now know to always ask what the potential side effects and risks are for any medication they are prescribing.
(Editor’s note: Icelandic Sheepdogs, like Collies and related herding breeds, may have a serious reaction to the drug ivermectin. About 75% dogs of these breeds or mixes have a specific gene mutation, which causes the ivermectin to build up to toxic levels in the brain.
Ivermectin is used in low doses in Heartgard-30 Plus for treating heartworm and other worms, and in higher doses it is used to treat sarcoptic and demodectic mange, ear mites and Cheyletielliosis (Dogs In Canada, March 2006).
If your dog needs to be treated for any of these conditions and ivermectin is suggested, inform your vet that, because of his breed type, he is at risk of a bad reaction and consider either alternative treatment or an ivermectin sensitivity test.
By Robin Smith
Oliver [an Icelandic mix] kept having re-occurring bouts of Giardia. They decided to try something outside of the normal range of treatment, which was giving him invermectin. Within a few days he fell suddenly very ill. He had diarrhea, then he stopped eating (which for him was unheard of); by the next morning he was listless and still not eating. By that evening he was refusing water. When I called him to come up stairs with me he didn't move and when I went to tug his collar gently he growled at me. Then he started throwing up. I knew that we needed to take him to the vet immediately, because at the minimum he was at risk of dehydration.
As we were getting him ready to go to the emergency room, he started having blood in his vomit. We took him to the ER - they thought he had swallowed something that was lodged in his stomach or gut. I said that was highly unlikely because he doesn't swallow things. They also asked if he could have gotten into rat poison or anything else. I don't keep anything like that in my house and we don't leave him out unattended in the yard.
They put him on an IV drip, gave him medication to keep him from vomiting and kept him over night. When we came to get him the following morning to take him to his regular vet he was still unable to hold down any food or water. They told me the tests that they had run indicated that his liver was in very bad shape. In essence he was experiencing liver failure. They ran all sorts of diagnostics to try to find a viral cause. They couldn't.
Then one vet said "it could have been the medicine we gave him this last time for his giardia. Some dogs have been known to react badly to that medication". Oliver stayed in the hospital for 3 days before he could hold down food or water. The vet stated that he probably would have died had he not been hospitalized. I know he was in pain and suffering greatly during this time.
The vet never warned us that the medicine they were giving him could cause him trouble. It is down on his paperwork that he is a border collie mix.
While we now know that he is most likely an Icelandic mix, the vet still should have known that invermectin and collies don't mix well. The vet also never apologized or gave us a reduction on our $1,200 vet bill.
All I can say, is that I am glad that I know enough about dogs to know when to take an animal to the ER. Otherwise Oliver would have died from liver failure at 2 years of age.
It is my understanding that this medication is a regularly used medication in skin conditions like mange. It is also regularly used as a heartworm medication. Since my vet didn't raise the issue with me, I now know to always ask what the potential side effects and risks are for any medication they are prescribing.
(Editor’s note: Icelandic Sheepdogs, like Collies and related herding breeds, may have a serious reaction to the drug ivermectin. About 75% dogs of these breeds or mixes have a specific gene mutation, which causes the ivermectin to build up to toxic levels in the brain.
Ivermectin is used in low doses in Heartgard-30 Plus for treating heartworm and other worms, and in higher doses it is used to treat sarcoptic and demodectic mange, ear mites and Cheyletielliosis (Dogs In Canada, March 2006).
If your dog needs to be treated for any of these conditions and ivermectin is suggested, inform your vet that, because of his breed type, he is at risk of a bad reaction and consider either alternative treatment or an ivermectin sensitivity test.
Hypothyroid Part 2 CISC Newsletter Spring 2006
GENETIC HEALTH – Hypothyroid Part II
By Sharon Schaefer
As stated in the first article, accurate diagnosing of thyroid dysfunction in dogs is not as simple as in people. The veterinarian needs to consider a blood panel to eliminate other possible illnesses as well as careful interpretation of three to six thyroid functions, including Free T4 checked through equilibrium dialysis and not a less reliable method. Prebreeding screening should include TgAA.
The dog should be tested at least 90 days after vaccination, when it is not on any other medications, and 12-16 weeks after the start of the last heat cycle in females. Dogs with TgAA present should not be bred from and should be retested in 6 – 12 months as this could be the earliest indicator of a thyroid problem. If the retest is negative for TgAA, and the other thyroid functions are still normal, the dog is a candidate for breeding. In families with known hypothyroid the recommendation is to do a full thyroid function test annually until age three before breeding.
Dogs which are symptomatic and confirmed hypothyroid as above should be treated with levo-thyroxine a synthetic thyroid hormone. The dose should be split, 12 hours apart, morning and evening and preferably not given with food (especially on blood test day). Dr. Jean Dodds, supported by an increasing amount of recent clinical evidence, also recommends treating those with consecutive tests showing rising TgAA. Since about 75% of the thyroid gland needs to be destroyed before a dog may show significant symptoms, treating at the first clear blood test indication of hypothyroid avoids significant trauma. Maintenance levels of thyroxine are then lower.
Given an appropriate dosage of thyroxine, the dog with symptoms of lethargy, heat seeking, or mental conditions should show improvement in less than two weeks. Changes to skin, coat, and weight will be a slower process taking two to three months. Hair loss might get worse a few weeks after starting treatment. Blood levels (total T4 and TSH or T4 and FreeT4) need to be checked in 6-8 weeks for dose adjustment. The blood test needs to be done close to 6 hours after the morning dose of thyroxine.
If symptoms are not responding then blood levels should be checked sooner and elimination of all other possible disease conditions reconsidered. After every dose adjustment, blood levels will need to be retested in about 2 weeks to ensure ongoing appropriate correction of the problem. For maintenance many dogs are fine with a single morning dose and complete thyroid retests every 6 or 12 months.
References
www. upei.ca/cidd/intro.htm
www. itsfortheanimals.com Click: Dr. Dodds/HEMOPET
www.ofa.org
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov Search: canine hypothyroidism
By Sharon Schaefer
As stated in the first article, accurate diagnosing of thyroid dysfunction in dogs is not as simple as in people. The veterinarian needs to consider a blood panel to eliminate other possible illnesses as well as careful interpretation of three to six thyroid functions, including Free T4 checked through equilibrium dialysis and not a less reliable method. Prebreeding screening should include TgAA.
The dog should be tested at least 90 days after vaccination, when it is not on any other medications, and 12-16 weeks after the start of the last heat cycle in females. Dogs with TgAA present should not be bred from and should be retested in 6 – 12 months as this could be the earliest indicator of a thyroid problem. If the retest is negative for TgAA, and the other thyroid functions are still normal, the dog is a candidate for breeding. In families with known hypothyroid the recommendation is to do a full thyroid function test annually until age three before breeding.
Dogs which are symptomatic and confirmed hypothyroid as above should be treated with levo-thyroxine a synthetic thyroid hormone. The dose should be split, 12 hours apart, morning and evening and preferably not given with food (especially on blood test day). Dr. Jean Dodds, supported by an increasing amount of recent clinical evidence, also recommends treating those with consecutive tests showing rising TgAA. Since about 75% of the thyroid gland needs to be destroyed before a dog may show significant symptoms, treating at the first clear blood test indication of hypothyroid avoids significant trauma. Maintenance levels of thyroxine are then lower.
Given an appropriate dosage of thyroxine, the dog with symptoms of lethargy, heat seeking, or mental conditions should show improvement in less than two weeks. Changes to skin, coat, and weight will be a slower process taking two to three months. Hair loss might get worse a few weeks after starting treatment. Blood levels (total T4 and TSH or T4 and FreeT4) need to be checked in 6-8 weeks for dose adjustment. The blood test needs to be done close to 6 hours after the morning dose of thyroxine.
If symptoms are not responding then blood levels should be checked sooner and elimination of all other possible disease conditions reconsidered. After every dose adjustment, blood levels will need to be retested in about 2 weeks to ensure ongoing appropriate correction of the problem. For maintenance many dogs are fine with a single morning dose and complete thyroid retests every 6 or 12 months.
References
www. upei.ca/cidd/intro.htm
www. itsfortheanimals.com Click: Dr. Dodds/HEMOPET
www.ofa.org
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov Search: canine hypothyroidism
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