AKC Announces New Program for Mixed Breeds April 20, 2009

Source: AKC.org, April 14, 2009

New York, NY – For the past 125 years, the American Kennel Club® has been the nation’s premier advocate for dogs and the people who love them. The AKC’s Board of Directors has voted unanimously to proceed with a program for mixed breed dogs which will allow it to act even more broadly and effectively as the dog’s champion. The creation of this program ushers in new opportunities for AKC’s constituents and clubs and will allow the organization to grow and flourish.

“Our goal in creating a program specifically designed for mixed breeds is to share our passion for dogs and our sport,” said AKC President and CEO Dennis Sprung. “AKC will broaden its legislative influence by representing more dog owners and achieve greater exposure for our responsible dog ownership messaging. But ultimately, the positive developments that this program creates will benefit dogs the most, and this is what we value above all.”

The mixed breeds program will be implemented in three phases. As of October 1, 2009 owners can begin enrolling their pets and receive an AKC ID number. Then beginning April 1, 2010 enrolled dogs will be eligible to compete in mixed breed classes at stand-alone AKC Agility, Obedience and Rally events. Soon after they will have access to benefits such as discounted AKC Companion Animal Recovery Lost and Found service, a free AKC Canine Good Citizen® certificate for dogs passing the CGC test, a free initial veterinary visit, a trial offer of pet health insurance and discounted coupons for dog supplies.

The third phase will offer a dedicated Web site where dog owners can interact via an online community with discussion forums and access dog care video downloads, advice from experts and the most up-to-date news on canine health and welfare. The site will be continually enhanced with new features and benefits in order to respond to the changing needs of pet owners.

This new AKC initiative is the first designed to specifically benefit mixed breed dogs and their dog owners, however the AKC has long included mixed breeds in programs such as AKC Canine Good Citizen®, AKC S.T.A.R. Puppysm, AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day and the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund’s disaster relief efforts. In addition, AKC has always actively advocated for the rights of all dog owners and the welfare of dogs through its Government Relations efforts and serves dog owners through its affiliate organizations such as the AKC Humane Fund, AKC Canine Health Foundation and AKC Companion Animal Recovery.

For more information about the AKC’s mixed breeds program, visit www.akc.org/mixedbreeds.

Winners of the 5th Annual Top Ten Dog Products of the Year Awards Were Officially Announced Today by PupLife.com January 13, 2009

Source: PRWeb.com

Each year, PupLife.com honors the top ten dog products of the year. PupLife.com prides itself on offering only the finest dog supplies available. Safe, healthy and unique, PupLife.com features the highest quality dog products for pets and their people. Now celebrating its fifth year, PupLife.com’s Annual Top Ten Dog Products of the Year gives special recognition to the best of the best.

Fennville, MI (PRWEB) January 13, 2009 — Winners of the 5th Annual Top Ten Dog Products of the Year were officially announced today by PupLife.com. Now celebrating its fifth year, PupLife.com’s much anticipated Top Ten Dog Products of the Year gives special recognition to the best of the best. PupLife.com selected its Top Ten Dog Products for 2008 based on a number of factors including customer feeback, product consistency and performance, innovative design and overall sales.

PupLife.com President, Eric Houtkooper said, “PupLife.com prides itself on the fact that we only carry the finest dog supplies available. We search far and wide for the healthiest, safest, highest quality dog products and only the best are selected for inclusion on the site. For every item that we add to our selection, hundreds are turned down. For a dog product to make the cut, we think it has to be pretty special.”

PupLife.com prides itself on the fact that we only carry the finest dog supplies available. We search far and wide for the healthiest, safest, highest quality dog products and only the best are selected for inclusion on the site. For every item that we add to our selection, hundreds are turned down. For a dog product to make the cut, we think it has to be pretty special.

And now, here are PupLife.com’s 5th Annual Top Ten Dog Products of the Year:

Lupine Dog Collars
Lupine® dog collars are stylish, functional and extremely durable. In fact, Lupine collars are guaranteed for life – even if chewed. If your pooch destroys a Lupine collar, simply mail it back to Lupine’s headquarters and they will send you a free replacement! Matching Lupine Dog Leashes and Dog Harnesses are available for all Lupine patterns, and Lupine even makes wonderful Martingale Collars for Greyhounds and other dogs that can back out of regular collars.

Manners Minder Remote Dog Training System
We love the Manners Minder Remote Reward Training System developed by world renown behaviorist, Dr. Sophia Yin. The Manners Minder Remote Reward Training System can help you train your dog to behave appropriately — not with punishment but with positive reinforcement!

Nina Ottosson’s Puzzle Toys for Dogs
Nina Ottosson’s interactive puzzle toys enhance canine problem solving skills and provide stimulating activity for dogs of all ages. These unique wooden puzzles are designed to enrich your dog’s mind and foster a stronger bond between you and your pet. Nina Ottosson’s puzzle toys for dogs (The Brick, The Tornado & Dog Smart) will revolutionize the way you play with your pet and provide a positive outlet for your dog’s energy and intellect.

West Paw Eco Slumber Dog Bed
The West Paw Eco Slumber Dog Bed is the ultimate in earth-friendly design. Your pooch will sleep in eco heaven in this super comfy, earth-friendly pet bed. The Eco Slumber dog bed combines eco fabric, made with 85% recycled IntelliLoft™ fibers and then filled with our 100% recycled IntelliLoft™ fiber fill.

Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Raw Dog Food – Keen
A nutritious raw dog food diet can be wonderful for your pet’s health and well-being. Honest Kitchen’s line of dehydrated raw dog foods offer the performance of raw dog food without all of the preparation hassles. Specially formulated for gluten-senstive dogs, Keen combines the wholesomeness of a home made diet with the convenience of an easy-to-prepare, scientifically balanced blend.

Red Dingo Stainless Steel Dog ID Tags
Attaching dog tags to your pet’s favorite collars is the best protection you have against losing your pet. Red Dingo Dog Tags are made from durable enamel and stainless steel, so you can trust them to protect your pet when you need them. These designer inspired dog tags come in a variety of fun patterns and colors. Plus, custom engraving is FREE!

Tazlab Joshua Tree Healing Pet Salve
Developed by rock climbers in the Mojave Desert, this healing salve contains a potent blend of antibiotic and healing herbs in a beeswax base. 100% organic and petroleum free. This unique formula effectively treats your pet’s cracked paw pads, abraded pads caused by urban dwelling, dermatitis, pink ear, pruritus. It is wonderful!

Stella & Chewy’s All Natural Dog Treats – Carnivore Kisses
These delicious freeze-dried treats can be given whole as a training reward, or crumbled over food at mealtimes for added flavor and nutrition. These all-natural, all-meat treats contain no preservatives, no dyes or colorings, and no sugar or salt. Carnivore Kisses are perfect for travel or training. They come in a screw-top plastic jar for easy storage and should be kept in a cool, dry place. Available in four awesome flavors: Turkey Tidbits, Angus Beef, White Meat Chicken or Grass-Fed Bison.

New York Dog Carriers
New York Dog makes luxurious dog carriers that are simply charming. With a multitude of styles and patterns to choose from, New York Dog certainly has the perfect carrier for your precious pet. Our favorites include their glamorous Hollywood Dog Carrier, the versatile faux suede Croco Dog Carrier and the popular Westport Dog Carrier. A PupLife.com favorite!

Dynamic Accents Dog Gates
Dynamic Accents’ beautiful hardwood gate construction is top notch and the hands only operation means no tools are required. They are gorgeous, durable and they fold away for easy storage when not in use. They also make amazing dog toy boxes!

A list of the winners along with pictures and descriptions can be found online at
PupLife.com.

All products are available for purchase. For more information, contact Leslie Hayes-Houtkooper at 773-620-0050 or visit PupLife.com.

A Revolutionary All-natural Spray is Now Available for Dogs with Rough Paw Pads January 8, 2009

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, January 07, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ — Natural Paws, LLC (www.naturalpaws.net) introduces the first all-natural paw pad spray, Sweet Pea’s TenderPaws.

Sweet Pea’s TenderPaws has been carefully developed to give dog paw pads the natural elements needed for instant recovery from hot summer pavement, icy winter sidewalks, and chemicals in the soil. The paw pads connecting dogs with their world are transformed from dry and tagged, to soothed and refreshed.

“Living in the extreme heat of Arizona,” recalls Elyse Horvath of Natural Paws, “we noticed early on that (our dog) Sweet Pea’s paw pads were really getting worn. Determined to find a solution, we started looking for a product that was non-toxic, clean to use, and all-natural…there was literally nothing to fill this need. It seemed that the only way to get the qualities we were looking for, was to make it ourselves.”
Most people have had to accept that their dogs’ paws are a lost cause. Now there is a company emerging with a human-grade quality, nutritive remedy for paw pads in need.

Sweet Pea’s TenderPaws is an aromatic blend of high quality, all natural essential oils, antioxidants, vitamins, and omega-3s. It is made in small batches in the USA from the finest botanicals available. All ingredients are organic or wild-harvested. These essentials from nature’s garden make it possible to soothe & restore paw pads, strengthen them for what’s to come, and easily maintain them once they’ve recovered. It is absorbed almost instantly, providing active moisturizing and active restoration, for active paws.

Natural Paws, LLC is a company that is pioneering the canine paw care industry. It is dedicated to helping dogs in different ways; from directly improving their comfort and well-being, to aid through established charity organizations and rescue shelters. Natural Paws’ mission is to provide pet owners with all natural solutions to endure everyday challenges. More information can be found at www.naturalpaws.net.

About Natural Paws

Natural Paws’ mission is to provide dog owners with all natural paw care solutions. For further information, please contact us at (480) 205-9959.

Hunter turns bird-dog training into art form, MN October 23, 2008

Source: Star Tribune, by Dennis Anderson, October 23, 2008

SANDSTONE, Minn. — Art takes many forms, not least those fashioned by hands, as clay is turned by a potter, or oils put to brush and canvas by a painter.

Jerry Kolter is that kind of artist, and more. In his hands are nurtured dogs of a special kind — those that can run like the wind, carrying their heads high, processing one scent from another and dismissing most before detecting the target aroma, that of a ruffed grouse.

At which time these pointing dogs lock up board stiff.

King of the forest. Queen, too. In the entire world there flies no bird more delectable — nor, when undertaken properly, more challenging to find and fell, to bring to hand, than the ruffed grouse.

“Hunting grouse is very different from hunting other birds, such as pheasants,” Kolter was saying the other day, on the eve of Minnesota’s 2008 ruffed grouse season, which opened Saturday. “Grouse take a special kind of dog.”

Kolter, a former software developer, and his wife, Betsy, a horticulturist, are refugees from the Twin Cities and owners of Northwoods Bird Dogs (www.north-woodsbirddogs.com), located near this east-central Minnesota town.

Surrounding the kennel is deer country, bear and wolf, too, but perhaps especially a land hospitable to grouse and woodcock. These last often are found in forests of mixed deciduous trees, aspen particularly, much of it interspersed with meadows and clear cuts, high-bush cranberries, and alder thickets in the lowlands.

In Kolter’s case, the dog-trainer-as-artisan analogy is no stretch. With his tutelage, promising puppies born from reputable parents and grandparents are continually encouraged and occasionally coaxed toward futures that place them among the planet’s best grouse finders.

No easy task, this, considering that a trainer of ruffed grouse dogs must be as knowledgeable about the quarry as he is the dogs in his charge.

Grouse often anticipate approaching hunters and their dogs and seek escape on foot rather than flying. Or they don’t.

Indeed, some ruffed grouse seem almost diabolical in their abilities to confuse pursuing dogs by acting one way on a given day and another way the next.

“A young dog needs to be put on a lot of birds to know how to handle them,” Kolter said. “And not just liberated (planted) birds. But wild birds.”

A master falconer who once hunted with goshawks and other aerial predators before turning his attention full-time to grouse dogs, Kolter grew up in southern Minnesota near Henderson and flew his first red-tailed hawk at age 12.

“When I was a kid, I couldn’t have a dog, so the first thing I did when I went to college was buy a Brittany spaniel puppy,” he said.

That dog years later gave way to an English setter, and soon Kolter cast an eye toward field trials.

Now, some 20 years after he first entered grouse dog competitions, and having won many of them, he still runs 10 or so trials a year, some in Minnesota, some as far away as Pennsylvania.

Add to these travels an annual August training trip to North Dakota to run young dogs on wild sharp-tailed grouse, and another monthlong winter trip to Texas or Oklahoma, and the process of shaping English setters and pointers — some owned by far-flung customers — unfolds in alternating installments of yard training and field work.

“When a puppy is 12 to 16 weeks of age, I put them on birds,” he said. “I start with liberated birds but move fairly quickly to wild birds.”

Much is made of a pointing dog’s “range,” or the distance a dog works from its handler. Owners of flushing dogs such as Labrador retrievers and springer spaniels, for example, want their animals ranging no farther from them than shotgun range, or about 35 yards.

Pointing dogs typically move out more expansively, and Kolter said he is less worried about an animal’s distance from him than whether “he is working with me.”

All breeds of water-loving canines welcome at 2008 Dog Olympics, FL October 18, 2008

Source: Gulf Coasting Live, by by amy sowder, 10/17/2008

Imagine your dog sailing through the air, ears flopping and tongue dangling.

Then — splash! — as he catches the yellow tennis ball and simultaneously plunges into a pond.

Cheers erupt from onlookers.

Your dog is a star.

That’s the point of the 2008 Spook Splash and Dog Olympics.

Spectators and owners of any dog breed are welcome to the three-day event on Buckingham Road in Fort Myers starting today. It’s hosted by the Southwest Florida Dog Diving Club and Splash Dogs, a national group originating in California.

Labrador retrievers are the most common dog to participate, but people bring all sorts, from German shepherds to chihuahuas.

“Alex actually shakes with adrenaline when he’s waiting to go on,” Jen Gaytan of Fort Myers says about her 4-year-old black labrador retriever. “We’ve been doing this ever since he was born.”

The contests include: dock jumping, super vertical jumping, fastest dog on the dock, speed retrieve, speed swim, a “Chase Away Canine Cancer” fundraiser and a Fort Myers Police canine demonstration.

There are specific rules and regulations for the main contests.

Dock jumping involves measuring how far the dogs can jump. The 40-by-8 foot dock must be used.

The most popular method is the chase technique, says Cristin Madden, a club member from Bonita Springs and owner of 4-year-old Casco, a lab retriever.

People use a chase object, which is usually a floatable toy, to entice the dog to jump off the dock for distance, although it is not required.

Measurement is taken where the base of the tail meets the spine.

“Casco only jumped 10 feet her first time,” says Madden, 37. “That’s OK. Some don’t jump, but you can see they want to. They want to get the toy.”

If the dog takes to it, dock jumping becomes addictive, Madden says.

She’s traveled to competitions in West Virginia and Georgia.

Now Casco’s best jump is 20 feet, 7 inches.

“You kinda get a hankering to do it after the first time, and if your dog likes it, it’s fun,”
she says.

The second major contest is super-vertical jumping.

A bumper is extended 8 feet over the water from the dock and starts at a height of 5 feet. The dog must grab or knock the bumper off to clear the height and move on to the next round, which is 2 inches higher.

It’s funny when people try it for the first time because sometimes they have to get in the water to entice their confused pooches, says Terri Alexander, president of Southwest Florida Dog Diving Club.

But owners shouldn’t get discouraged, she says.

Alexander founded the group about five years ago after she saw a dog-diving competition on the sports TV channel ESPN.

She drove more than 1,000 miles to Little Rock, Ark., to participate the following year.
That’s when she formed her own group in Florida.

Alexander has been adding contests, such as dog olympics and pond races, to the event every year since.

Winning dogs receive a pot of entry fees and also medals and ribbons.

The best reward isn’t material, though, Alexander says.

“It’s bragging rights, man,” Alexander says. “If your dog is the fastest of Southwest Florida on land, water or dock?”

Oregon dog headed to national dock leaping event October 6, 2008

By Associated Press

OAKRIDGE, Ore. (AP) 

An Oregon dog who loves to leap off docks is heading for a national championship to compete.

Heidi is a yellow Labrador retriever who has a personal best of 25 feet, 2 inches, good enough for the 2008 DockDogs National Championships in Richfield, Wis. The three-day competition begins Oct. 10.

Her owner, Hannah Gordon, is a 14-year-old freshman at Oakridge High School who had planned on training Heidi as a hunting dog.

But when Hannah told her PE. teacher at Oakridge Junior High, John Warren, that Heidi could leap a 5-foot fence at home, Warren suggested Hannah look into DockDogs.

Since she started jumping as a 1-year-old in 2006, Heidi has won about a dozen first-place ribbons and trophies in DockDogs competitions, Hannah said.

Heidi’s first big wins came at the Lane County Fair in 2006 when she won both the high jump and long jump, said Hannah’s father, David Gordon, a fifth-grade teacher at Oakridge Elementary School.

Now Heidi and Hannah are ranked first nationally in the DockDogs “youth” handlers category for handlers ages 15 and under.

Heidi averages 24 feet and 1 inch in DockDog’s “Big Air” competitions — the long jump event for dogs.

What’s the secret? Hannah hasn’t figured it out. “She just does it,” Hannah said. “She likes it.”

Hannah saved money for three years to buy Heidi, a purebred, from a breeder in Astoria for $350 in 2005.

Her father is proud of them both.

“What I think is neat is she’s been able to do a lot with her dog, and she’s learned a lot about life,” David Gordon said. “She’s been very responsible.”

DockDogs is a national organization that began in 2000 and hosts events all over the country in which dogs compete in three events Big Air, Extreme Vertical (high jump) and Speed Retrieve, where dogs swim after a duck decoy that’s been thrown into the water and return it as fast as they can.

Training-collar advances give hunting dogs more leash September 25, 2008

As an owner of not only a hunting breed but a dog that has already wandered off chasing birds, only to be found 4 days later… I have seriously reconsidered my opinions about using a training collar….

by Elizabeth Shaw | The Flint Journal

Wednesday September 24, 2008, 8:03 PM

Kinder, gentler collars• Hunters can check out the latest products and learn the basics of e-collar conditioning at a free Tri-Tronics seminar, 5-7 p.m. Friday at Gander Mountain, 5038 Miller Road, Flint Township.• Details: (810) 230-1212.

FLINT TOWNSHIP, Michigan — Ever wonder if an electronic collar could help improve your dog’s hunting performance? Successful collar conditioning starts with training the trainer, said Tri-Tronics field product specialist Jim Trotter, a retired Haslett teacher who’s been training his own retrievers for waterfowl and upland birds since 1971.

“When I first started working with dogs, all there was were shock collars, which a lot of people felt were inhumane — and for good reason,” said Trotter. “Over the years, the technology has evolved so that now we have the ability to turn them down (and) fine-tune the stimulus to suit even the most sensitive dog.”

But seeing is believing, Trotter said.

“They’re now truly training collars, not shock collars anymore. In demonstrations, I actually let customers feel the stimulation and show them the ability they have to control it,” he said.

An electronic collar, or e-collar, delivers an electrical stimulation controlled by a remote device. When used properly, the dog quickly learns it can avoid stimulation by obeying the trainer’s commands.

“It’s allowed us in the dog training world to speed up the training process and allowed us to increase what we’re able teach by a good 30 percent,” said Trotter.

But it isn’t magic, and it isn’t instant. One of the biggest mistakes novices make is using an e-collar on an untrained dog.

“The dog should already know the basic obedience commands of here, heel and sit. Once they’ve got those down, then you can begin to reteach those commands using the collar for reinforcement,” said Trotter. “If you start your dog’s very first teaching sessions with a stimulation, the risk is the dog not understanding and not drawing the right conclusion to what is going on.”

Some dogs can become “collar-wise,” learning to obey only when the e-collar is on. A trainer can avoid that pitfall with a good understanding of how behavioral conditioning works, said Trotter.

“Before doing any stimulation at all, the dog wears the collar every day for a full two weeks. Every time we go out, the collar goes on. They get to associate the collar with something good happening,” said Trotter. “After two weeks, all of a sudden in association with your voice and a base command he understands, he gets his first stimulation. So he associates it with your command, not the collar.”

One of the biggest benefits is the increased range it’s given trainers for reinforcing commands.

Until the early 1970s, a typical long blind in a field trial might have been 100 or 120 yards. Today’s dogs are running open blinds at three times that distance.

“It’s like an extended leash. It has totally changed the retriever aspect of things, what we’re able to do with dogs today and how we’re able to get dogs to respond 300, 400 yards away from us,” said Trotter. “I can put a dog out on a water blind and he will respond flawlessly at 350 yards and handle right to a tee. The dogs of 30 years ago couldn’t do the tests the dogs of today are put through, and it’s because of this kind of advanced technology.”

It’s improved real-life hunting situations too.

“Guys don’t have to walk nearly as far to pick up their birds. Now they can send the dog because the dog is under full control even hundreds of yards out,” he said.

Ultimately, the dog’s safety might be the best payoff of all.

“He may be running deer or chasing birds halfway across the field. Or maybe he’s running straight for the road. That’s when you just want to know you have total control, to stop him when he’s doing something wrong.”

Sound vs Silence, Silence May 17, 2008

Next time around I kept my mouth shut (so as not to confuse my dog) and just tried to keep going while using big hand/body movements…

The result of this experiment ended just as expected, I should just shut up & let you dog do what she knows! The reality is we “speak” much louder than we think we do when we move. Dogs are physical animals, they communicate through body language… so whether you can see it, understand it or believe it, it is….. and as Ive proven to myself above. When I try to get my brain to think as fast as we are moving, I’m much better off if I just speak to my dog through body language as the actual human speech part is where it gets lost in translation.

Sound vs Silence, Sound May 17, 2008

Over the years I think I have drawn towards training because I think I can easily spot what Ive screwed up after watching myself run. Not that it makes it any easier to not DO the same thing next my next run, but at least I can spot it and work on it. Last year I was doing a very random training session with Eli after months of no practice. She was having a good time, enjoying her time back out in the ring but wasn’t too interested in following me too closely.

We experimented with sounds vs silence and my dog once again proved to me that as usual, “it’s the handler’s fault. Not that I didn’t know that every spot I lost her was due to my brain lagging behind my dog…and even my own feet sometimes. On my first run we went as usual, I talked, moved, ran, etc…. and Eli went where she wanted to. I also managed to skip a cross that would have made that back row of jumps a lot easier but, once again blame the handler…

Here is what it looked like with sound….

Agility Training Videos ~ Alicia & Eli May 17, 2008