Category Archives: Health
The eyes have it….
….Or at least are tested clear of any defects or abnormalities 😉
We took Gable in for his OFA eye exam two weeks ago and, as expected, he passed with flying colors.
We also sent off for his PRA test to be done officially. While we know he is line clear, having it officially recorded can be important to some breeders and puppy owners as well.
His OFA results can be found here:Â http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1668840#animal
Catching Up, Nationals, Etc…
Seems like all I do is catch up lately…
We had a great time at the 2014 CWCCA Nationals. The only ribbons we brought home this year were from the photo contest, but then again, the only dog I took was 11 month old Gable, who looks very much like a gawky 11 month old right now. And he was in 2 of the biggest dog classes. His brother Jake did well, making the cut in both sweeps and his regular class. It was a grand adventure for Gable, he took flying in stride, and enjoyed the trip. We actually drove home, which was another adventure, and brought a cute baby girl back with us 😉
Not half bad for a hairless, gangly teenage boy Cardi 🙂
We brought back baby Flutter with us. Flutter is from the now infamous Dickens/Lowri litter that had an amazing debut at the National, at 6 months and a minute old…
I just got home last week, and have been catching up on things around the house…but I took Camille in for her BAER test yesterday. While I was pretty certain she hears just fine, since she is a white headed dog, and because she “pretends” to not hear quite often, I figured it cant hurt anything to get her tested! She, of course, came back with perfect hearing in both ears. She no longer has an excuse for being naughty 😉
And speaking of testing, I sent Gables DNA tests off before we left for Nationals, and got the results emailed to me while I was gone. We tested him for DM (although we knew he was line clear), Pink, Fluff, and we wanted to see if he carried Black (both his sire and dam do, but since the entire litter was brindle, there was a 50/50 chance that the boys would carry or would not carry for black). He came back as DM Clear (as expected) but a carrier for Fluff, Pink, and Black. *sigh* But not the end of the world 🙂 Fluffy puppies are pretty dang cute 😉 Wish he would have been clear for pink, but oh well. And we are sort of excited he carries for Black. Which means if bred to a black girl, there should be black puppies. And if bred to a brindle girl who carries black, there could be black puppies as well. (although, you know, much like Nash and Lexi, that isnt always the case! LOL)
I think thats all thats going on here…lots of getting ready for summer and dirty muddy dogs and no more snow and waiting for summer shows to come around 🙂 Will try to get better about keeping things updated on here….but I cant promise anything 😉
ABQ…
What a crazy few weeks it’s been…
Puzzle broke a toe playing in the yard right before I left for Nationals…
Juno got a hematoma in her ear the week before I left for Nationals…
We picked up kennel cough while at Nationals and it’s been working it’s way through the young dogs. I look at KC like the chicken pox – once they’ve had it, they generally don’t get it again. The only dogs that got sick this time were the ones who weren’t here two years ago when we had KC going through the house (the puppies – Dom and Puzzle – and the two visitor puppies)
To top it all off, Juno came in season the day I got home from Nationals, so the boys have been making life pretty miserable the past week!
So, last Friday, I took two dogs (Dom and Juno) and drove to Albuquerque for 4 days of shows. I had no dogs entered myself since Domi is out maturing, and Puzzle was broke when entries closed (fine now, of course!!)
I picked up Rango Friday night, and met Penni who has Chase and Nola at the show on Saturday morning.
To keep this from becoming a novel – here are the short version results:
Sat: Rango RWD; Nola 1st in AmBred; Chase BOB (5 PT GCh major)
Sun: Rango 1st in 9-12; Nola 1st in AmBred; Chase SD (1 PT)
Mon: Rango WD/BOW/BP (4 PT major); Nola 1st in AmBred; Chase BOB (5 PT GCh major)
Tues: Chase SD (1 PT)
Rango had a bad day on Tuesday. Decided he was done playing show dog for the weekend. Sometimes 4 days is just too much for the babies.
Penni and I decided to skip the Durango shows since it was only a single point and just Nola entered, wasn’t worth the time or money for either of us.
Next show is Flatirons in Longmont…will be Puzzles first show, and Pointers show outdoors so should be an interesting experience for her!! No points, but good practice regardless.
OFA…
Health testing always scares the crud outta me! I always worry that years of putting time and effort and love and seemingly endless amounts of cash into a dog will end in failed hips or bad thyroid or a seemingly endless list of other things that we test for not because of the high risk of them being bad, but so that we can catch those things before they do go bad…
We are blessed with a relatively healthy breed in Pointers. What bothers me is the “Oh well, why test for what isnt there?” attitude so many breeders have. So so so so so many dogs walk around their whole lives unilaterally deaf, or only able to partially see, or with a thyroid condition, or even with hip dysplasia. Asymptematic is just that – not showing visible symptoms of an underlying problem. Do you think Dobermans got the way they are because breeders were testing every dog before it was bred? Nope. And the average lifespan of a Doberman is 8 years. I never want to see Pointers go down that road, in this lifetime or the next. So I test. Anything in the house that I am even thinking of breeding, I test.
So, as we were sitting here debating pros and cons and possible future stud dogs, Juno turned 2. Now, its not only my personal morals but also in my contract with her breeder that she will have her hips xrayed and submitted to OFA at 2 years old. I managed to find a pretty awesome health clinic where I could get Hips, Eyes, and Thyroid done for the price my regular vet charges for just Hips, and I got her hips done with absolutely no sedation. Pretty awesome if you ask me!
So, we did all 3 tests. Hip xrays, a CERF exam, and an OFA Thyroid lab are required for submission to the CHIC program for Pointers. We obviously found out the results from the CERF exam while we were in the office, and Juno CERF’d normal, with no notations. We had to wait nearly a month for her hips and her thyroid to come back, and we finally got them back this past week. We also managed to get ahold of her BAER test results from when she was an 8 week old baby, and will be submitting those to OFA to add to her record as well (she is BAER normal as well, in case anyone was wondering! Thanks Sarah for sending them!)
Juno’s hips came back rated EXCELLENT. Her thyroid came back Normal, and her CERF we already knew was Normal. Proud of our little Junebug, even if we decided that breeding her is just not in the cards this year 🙂
Her OFA results page can be found at:
http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1490498#animal
