So Easter Sunday has come and gone. The kids woke up at the crack of dawn to open baskets and go on their egg hunt. We made a breakfast of French Toast with whip cream and strawberries. There was LOTS of chocolate eating, since this was one of the days during the year we indulge the kids and let them pig out. I kept thinking that if we are lucky, this time next year we are going to have to monitor the kids and their chocolate endeavors.. just to make sure all family members stay safe.

But a little place in my heart felt sad this morning because I kept thinking how today would be the perfect day to go hiking with a dog.

Image borrowed from Tucker And Stuart, Our Swissies

I’m finding the waiting pretty difficult to the point where I have had to really stop talking about it with my friends. Mainly because they are starting to look REALLY bored when i start talking about swissies. And I’m starting to bore myself. I’ve heard of people who’ve waited 3 years before they actually got a Swissy. THREE YEARS. Not to mention… I feel like a poser in the dog community. I lurk and read the posts and I form opinions on certain training techniques or ideas about owning a dog, but I don’t own one yet. Poser!

A friend of mine has invited us to go with her to her dog’s training session at a facility we are interested in. Hopefully we’ll get to do that soon. A dog we are interested in is having her litter in about 10 days. I’m on pins and needles. We’ll see I guess. If all goes well, it will mean we only have three AVAILABLE weekends left to finish The List. EEK!!!

One of the bigger projects on the list is the loft. While we have a perfect property for a dog, our actual house is only 1000 square feet. When the kids were old enough, we moved them in the one “true” bedroom, and Brian and I moved into the alcove. It is really only big enough to fit a queen bed and that’s it. We were worried about where to put the dog’s crate. We wanted it out of the way, but we still wanted it with us and part of the family.

The solution? Put our bed up on a loft, and put the crate underneath!

This is one of the bigger projects that will take a few weekends to complete. But that’s ok. Everyone is helping.

I haven’t posted for awhile. A few weeks ago, I had two breeders narrowed down and we were in this horrible position where I really liked the breeder in one set, but I had some questions about one of the dogs’ health history. And the other, where I really liked the dogs but it seemed painfully obvious that the breeder had more important things to do than talk to me.

During this period, I was asking a LOT of questions about idiopathic epilepsy, otherwise known as genetic epilepsy. Idiopathic epilepsy occurs anywhere from 0.5 to 5.7% in all dog breeds, but in Swissies it occurs at a higher rate of 6 to 14%. This is not the most prevalent of the health problems that befall Swissies, but it the one that has everyone sweating and touchy. The reason for this is simple: the swissy population has a small gene pool. Epi usually doesn’t present itself until the dogs are older (3 or 5 years seems to be standard when it does occur) and is well past the time breeders start breeding their dogs. Because of the small gene pool, it is suspected that no lines in America are free from Epi and I’ve been told that Swissies in Europe have even more of an occurrence of the disease. Currently there is a great research project headed up by the University of Missouri, College of Veterinary Medicine, that is attempting to map the genes responsibly for the disease. But they seem to be years out from identifying a marker or even discovering what the mode of inheritance is.

Its a difficult subject to bring up with a swissy breeder. Almost all of them tout that people who want to get a Swissy should ask questions about it and if they don’t like the practices of the breeder, they should walk away. But they certainly don’t make it easy for us PPB’s to research it. There is no public data base mapping the lines for us to research. While almost all will talk about it in general terms, no one wants to talk about which dogs, when, and how often. The whole subject seems to be scarred with scandal, rumor and laced with pointing fingers and public witch hunts. More than once, I felt like I had entered a mine field when talking about this subject, but there was no other way around it.

Ah yes. What would we do without our drama. I understand there is pride and ego wrapped up in this, not to mention standing and history. Every breeder I talked to was practically bursting out of their sides with love and pride for their dogs. Every single one believes they are doing right by their breeding program. But there does seem to be a “not in my backyard” attitude with this issue and a fair bit of competition between them. I can’t help feeling that by NOT working together in a collaborative fashion they are just hurting the breed. It seems logical to me to try and map which lines should refrain from breeding, and if that means you stop breeding your prize line, so be it. But the argument is.. if they did that, they wouldn’t have anyone to breed to and since there is no genetic marker, its just elaborate guess work what is causing it.

So what does this mean for yours truly and any potential Swissy buyers? It means, that if you take on a swissy.. you need to go in with eyes wide open to the idea that YOUR dog might seize some day. Know the symptoms so you know what to do and what you are in for.

Riley owned by Carol Hightower

I’ve been currently waiting for ultra-sounds, learning about canine epilepsy, talking to breeders and researching dog training methods. But in terms of things actually happening or moving forward? Nope. I’m just waiting and masturbating mentally. Honestly, I’ve got nothing. The most eventful thing that happened last week was I went to a dog show up in Vallejo to meet more swissy folk and remind myself why I’m doing all this craziness. While at the show I met some really cool Swissy people and got to hang out with lovely puppies. The one above is a sweet girl named Riley. I snapped this picture of her and thought it was so pretty I needed to post it.

Troy Riewe, president of Golden Gate GSMD club taught me what a “bucket bitch” is. Do you know? I bet you don’t. Its the person who runs after the handler with the bucket or toolbox full of grooming supplies. It is the BB’s responsibility to keep the dog pretty before it goes into the ring. In this case, it was a rag. I carried a rag and wiped his dog down before she went in. Oh, and before you feminist-folk get up in arms about the term… have no fear. “Bucket Bitch” can be both a feminine or masculine. Gender need not apply…