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…

Brian’s breeder visit went really well! He got to visit with swissies of all different sizes, ages and temperament. I think in my last post I was lamenting that I was the one who didn’t get to go? Well, in the end I think it was a good thing. Since Brian will be primary caretaker he needed to be around all the different personalities and see the differences. I already gave him the 3rd degree, but I’m sure after he decompresses there will be more to tell. We are considering two different breeders at the moment. We need to talk some more about what we want in a breeder… so for now I will stay mum on who and where and when. But our goal is to settle with a person we most gel with and feel like we can trust, and then we will wait on the best match of pup based on the parents. We are trying not to rush this, but things could move very fast if we decide on a breeder and they decide on us.

In the meantime, here’s some more puppy love.

Right now I am sitting at work waiting for a text or a phone call my lovely husband. He’s out-of-state with the kids.. and because he was going to be in the vicinity, we set up a meeting with a breeder to visit her house and meet her dogs. This is a difficult thing to do when you live in a state that doesn’t have many breeders or the breeders that you do have only breed their dogs once a year.

But you see, HE’S the one who is visiting. I’m stuck at work 400 miles away. I’m the one who knows what to ask.. he has been leaving this part up to me. So of course, i had to write up a whole questionnaire so he knows what to do and what to ask.

He asked me for a list of questions and I obliged. Here’s what I wrote up:

1) What kind of health guarantee does she provide?
2) How does she socialize her pups before she sends them to her new owners?
3) What is her view about socialization vs parvo? What does she recommend?
4) Does she start any crate training? Any other training? What kind of training method does she feel works best for Swissies?
5)What does she feed her dogs? What’s her views on what to feed the puppies when they go to their new home?
6) What vaccinations does she give and what is her view on the kind of vaccination schedule the puppies should have?

xxoo
-m

Ok. Seriously? Breeders are CRAZY.

The ultrasound hasn’t even been done yet and I’ve talked to this one 4 times. Sweet wonderful guy.. but he talked to my husband and asked to have me call him back today. I do.. and its like crickets on the other end. It’s painfully obvious the guy didn’t have anything to say and wasn’t really serious when he told brian to have me call him back.

And what is terrible about this conversation is that it feels obvious that we don’t really have anything to say to each other beyond what has been already said. So it’s just chit chat, which makes me feel terribly fake and insincere. The guy wants me to bring all the questions and honestly.. if he’d bother to read my application and my blog, he’d see that I’m incredibly researched and really don’t have any questions beyond what i’ve asked him already. He did have to reiterate that there are 39 applicants for this breeding.. but then he reassured me that there are a few that are 20-somethings who live in an appartment with 3 room mates and maybe they should be considering a toy poodle or something.

Another thing that is kind of funny? He really has no interest in me beyond if I’m appropriate for his dogs. I could be a trash collector or an axe murder for all he knows. I tried showing him all the films I’ve worked on just so it might strike up some conversation and he didn’t have a single question or reaction. As far as I can tell, the only thing he wants to talk about is his dogs and their show record. Which brings up another point: It is absolutely apparent that people who breed dogs? This is their ENTIRE world. Reminds me of geeks who go to star trek conventions and build those crazy one-of-a-kind-costumes just because they can and they LOVE star trek.

Breeders are geeks... in their own way.

All I can say, is this process is driving me crazy. The ultra sound is not for another two weeks. Think i could just get drunk and forget about it all until then?

With the big tsunami and earthquake of Japan and organizations asking left and right to give.. this may seem like a small need in comparison. But our pets mean the world to each and every one of us and I just heard something recently that made me compelled to dig into my pocketbook yet again and help.

I’ve been hanging out on this forum called Love of the Dog and there is a mighty fine lady on it who runs the New York St. Benard Rescue. This is a woman who works tiresomely for these big dogs and saving their lives.. and yet her own dog Stoli went into the hospital yesterday due to BLOAT. For those of you who may not know, bloat kills far too many big dogs a year. He needs surgery to survive, she is unable to pay for this lifesaving emergency surgery and fears she may have to put Stoli down. Brian and I are signing up for a big dog and someday our dog may experience Bloat..so this is something that hits home. Please, if you can…. make a donation; even if it is just 10$. It can make the difference between someone losing their pet or saving its life and I hate to see someone who works so hard for others not be able to do the same for her self.

I can’t use the cool widget on my blog, but if you can donate a few bucks to help out a good lady, GO HERE.

This weekend it was stacking the washer and dryer and building shelves.

But first the plumbing and electrical needed to be moved, which required going into the wall.

So now we have a proper laundry area with more shelving. We can even store *gasp* DOG FOOD here!

At this rate, we might actually get it all done on time…

Image from Matterhorn GSMD website.

No matter where I get this puppy from, he or she will require training and socialization. Laziness and apathy in terms of the dog’s education will create a dog that can’t be trusted in public, and regardless of our lack of experience in dog training.. we cannot let this happen. Swissies are a working dog personality and have a tendency towards climbing hierarchy within their family. They can be stubborn and willful in their adolescence. All dogs have this innately in their nature, some more than others.. but the reason it’s especially troubling in a Swissy is because this dog will likely be 115-135 pounds at full grown. These are incredibly strong dogs that can easily overpower someone if one decides to go after another dog or run across the street after a cat. This is one of the reasons the GSMDCA doesn’t recommend this dog for a newbie. #1 reason these dogs get surrendered to a rescue is because the owner couldn’t deal with the dog and behavioral issues cropped up.

So I am determined to not be a statistic, and trying to figure out ahead of time how we are going to train this dog.

First off: There is Socialization. Week 9-11 of a puppy’s first year is considered to be the Fear Inprint/Impact period. During this time it is incredibly important for a pup to be exposed to children, men, other dogs and all sorts of experiences. They need to be positive experiences because any negative impact that happen during this time will imprint on the pup and could cause issues later down the road. I found THIS ARTICLE that adequately maps out the socialization process of puppies and what one should do in the first 30 days after you bring the puppy home.

Once the pup gets its second round of shots, it should be ready to go to some sort of Puppy Kindergarden. There are all kinds; everything from group classes at big box stores like Petco and Pet Smart and ones at professional dog schools. There’s lots of methods to consider: everything from off leash, to leashed training. Clicker training to food reward system. I am still researching this, but so far all I do know is that I want to work in a Positive Reinforcement system. I’m not too interested in the kind of school that just lets the puppies run around and play the whole time. I’m look for something with a little more structure.

I am told that the best way to go about this is to actually go and check some of these schools out and sit in on them. This is going to be my goal before the puppy gets here. I have found three that seem to have a robust enough program that I could continue my dog’s training into Obedience as he or she grows. Two are in Santa Cruz and One is in Los Gatos. All have weekend classes THANK GOD!!!

Santa Cruz:
Living With Dogs
Bingo Dog Training

Los Gatos:
Sirius Dog Training

I also found one that may not be good at first but sounds kind of fun to do when the dog is older. Its a school taught by a guy who trains K-9 cops. He has a lot of experience with dominant personality breeds and his program also included obedience and therapy dog training. It’s in Corralitas, CA.

The K-9 Clinic