Swiss Lick Swissies

Dog Day on the Green

Thursday, August 26th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Yes, I’m still working silly hours. But I feel I should mention a neat event in Chicago that is happening on the 29th.

The second annual Dog Day on the Green will be held at Montrose Harbor on Sunday. There will be a number of events, like a Bark for Life walk, plus vendors and dog-related booths galore! I will be working at the Bone Cancer Dogs tent all day.

Hope to see you there!

Stupid Work

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Sorry – too much work stuff is keeping me from blogging. Please check back next week!

Thank you all

Saturday, January 9th, 2010 | Gryffindor, Uncategorized | No Comments

I wanted to take a moment and say thank you to everyone out there. We have received so many phone calls, emails, forum postings, cards in the mail, and comments on this blog from friends, family, internet acquaintances, and readers about Gryffin. It’s very, very touching. It makes us all warm and fuzzy (and it’s not just the heated seats in the cars) to hear from you all.

We continue to miss Gryffin, of course. But you knew that, I’m sure.

For those of you that get sad when you think of him, I ask you to do what I do.

Smile.

It really helps a lot. And Gryffin would much rather you remember him with a smile. He was never one for tears. Typical male.

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Gryffin the Swissy

Ethoxyquin Follow Up…

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I’ve received a few private, non-posted comments about the Ethoxyquin article written by Dana last week, so I’m going to make a few comments.

Dana’s article is based off of research, but is one person’s opinion. Dana has never provided bad information to me or people that I know, but it is her opinion. You don’t have to agree, and I understand that there is conflicting evidence out there. The point of asking Dana to write about it was to provide you with information that you may not have been familiar with otherwise. I mentioned that I personally would have a hard choice to make if I was told that the Fromm kibble I feed Beowulf contained ethoxyquin because he does so well on it, as did Indy before she went raw.

The only ingredients that we are aware of that contain ethoxyquin are those with fish meal. Some companies have many formulas, but only those with fish meal are of concern. However, there are a few companies that use fish meal in all of their products, regardless of whether the main ingredient in that food is fish.

Some people seem to think that the FDA and/or the US Coast Guard require ethoxyquin to be used as the preservative in the fish meal. I have not been able to confirm or deny this as of yet. My initial research makes me believe that they require a preservative, but it does not have to be ethoxyquin. I hope to be able to get a decisive answer next week, or at least work on getting down that path.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope the information was able to help you make a decision that is good for you and your dog(s).

Sometimes, I’m very happy to be a mostly-raw feeder. Silly, picky Basset.

Tags: Ethoxyquin, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

Competitive Weight Pull

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | Alex, Beowulf, Gryffindor, Indigo, Random Stuff, Uncategorized | No Comments

I’d like to clear something up for any of the non-Swissy readers. Weight pulling for dogs, competitive or otherwise, is not harmful or mean to the dog if done correctly. We’ve hooked Gryffin up to his weight pull harness many times and had him pull a tire up and down the street. We get the standard laughs and giggles, but we also get the mean glares and the “that’s so cruel” statements. Some dogs, like Swissies, are bred to pull. It’s part of their history and it’s certainly not mean. If you are one of those people, take a look at Gryffin’s big, happy smile when he’s dragging his tire around and then tell me if you still think it’s mean.

Now I’ll get down to business. Weight pull for dogs is a competitive sport with rules and regulations. And titles. It was originally introduced in the US in the 1970s. If practiced correctly, your dog will build up stronger hip, leg and shoulder muscles, which potentially means less stress on the joints and possibly a longer, healthier life.

There are different types of weight pulls, which means different rules and organizations. Some weight pulls are held on snow or railroad tracks, while others are held on natural surfaces like grass or dirt, or even carpet or concrete.

Pulls are broken down into different weight classes. If it’s an all breed pull, you’ll see about eight classes – 0-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-100, 101-125, 126-150, 151 and over. You won’t see a small dog (aka squeaky toy) competing with a Swissy. There are awards for most weight pulled and what dog has the highest weight per pound.

When your dog is ready to compete, he’ll be at the start line, while you (or the handler) will be at the finish line. You can use any voice commands and signals to call your dog to you, but cannot use any treats or toys to entice your dog towards you. You must stay behind the finish line at all times. Your dog has 1 minute (which may vary depending on the governing organization and type of pull) to get the front of the sled/cart/etc across the finish line. If you are not disqualified, you will advance to the next leg. If the dog is unable to complete, it is common for them to get a little “help” and praise so it is still a positive experience.

In order to get started pulling, for competition or fun, you need to get a freight or weight pull harness for your dog. Gryffin has a nice one with his name embroidered on the side. Indy doesn’t yet, but since she’s approaching 18 months and will not grow too much more, we will be buying her one soon. Sadly, Dan cannot remember where we ordered our harness, or I would tell you where we purchased it. Many people will recommend a Siwash harness. Nordykn in the Pacific Northwest also comes highly recommended.

Once you have the harness, you should get your dog used to it. Put it on, walk around your yard a little with it with out any weight. Once they are ok with it and not nervous, you could move on to a little weight. We went to our local tire store and picked up a used tire for about $10. Dan attached a hook to it so will connect to the harness and will drag flat. It’s pretty light, so it’s just a beginners training tool.

If you are really serious about getting your dog a weight pull title, I would suggest getting involved with a local club event (the Lake Shore Club has 1-2 per year) to get started. You can also look to an organization like the International Weight Pull Association (IWPA) and their associated clubs. They can help you come up with a good training plan in addition to learning the rules of a pull.

Swissies are not allowed to start competing until they are 18 months, but you can start them on a harness and light weight before then. Harnesses are not cheap, so I would suggest looking for a club event or training class that has harnesses you can borrow for the duration of the event until they are closer to 18 months old.

If you would like to see some pictures from a Lake Shore Club weight pull from a few years ago, click here.

Otherwise, I’ll leave you with a previously posted picture of Moose from a weight pull in January.

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

What is the CD Title?

Thursday, February 19th, 2009 | Gryffindor, Uncategorized | No Comments

As I mentioned last week, I have decided to start working towards getting Gryffin his CD. I figure a fair amount of people know what it is, but since I had to do some research into what’s required, I thought it would be a good idea to post it here.

CD is the Companion Dog title. It is the first in a progression of obedience titles awarded by the AKC. To earn a CD, the dog must score at least 170 out of a possible 200 points, must get at least half the points awarded for each exercise, and must do so under three separate judges at three separate shows. Each qualifying score is called a leg, so three legs equals a title.

Obedience trial classes are divided into sections A and B. Dogs working towards a CD compete at the Novice level. Novice A is for owners who have never owned or co-owned a dog that has earned a CD. (This is us.) Once a person owns or co-owns any CD dog (or if he is handling a dog owned by someone else) he must enter Novice B.

Novice classes consist of six exercises worth a total of 200 points. Each handler and dog team enters the ring with 200 points; the judge then deducts points based on errors made by either the dog or the handler. A zero is scored if the dog fouls the ring or leaves the handler. (No pooping in the ring, Gryffin.)

• The first exercise is the “heel on leash and figure eight” worth 40 points.  The rules require that the dog walk, on a loose leash, with the area between the dog’s head and shoulders in line with the handler’s left hip.  The dog must remain in position as the handler goes fast, slow, left, and right and executes the figure eight on the judge’s commands.  Each time the judge says “halt,” the dog must sit straight by the handler’s side.  A zero is scored if the dog is unmanageable.

• The second exercise is the “stand for examination,” worth 30 points.  The dog must stand in position and stay while being examined by the judge while the handler stands six feet away.  A zero is scored if the dog moves away or shows shyness or resentment, growls, snaps, or sits.

• The third exercise is the “heel free,” which is 40 points.  This exercise is performed and scored the same as the “heel on leash” except that the dog is off-leash and there is no figure eight.

• Exercise four is the “recall,” worth 30 points.  The dog must sit and stay where left by the handler until it is called, then go directly to the handler and sit in front.  A zero is scored if the dog does not stay, does not come on the first call, or does not sit close enough for the handler to reach the its head.  The dog must then return to heel position on command, either by walking around the handler or swinging into place.

• Exercise five and six are done as a group.  The “long sit” is for one minute; the “long down” for three minutes, both done off-leash with the handler standing across the ring.  A zero is scored if the dog moves away from its place, visits another dog, or repeatedly barks or whines.

I see a few things here that Gryffin & I need to worry about. First is that he really is not a fan of standing. He can do it and will, but when a judge examines him, I’m worried he’ll either sit or jump on them. We’ll be working on this. Second is with recall. His recall is very good, but as opposed to returning to me and sitting down like a good boy, he gets very excited and jumps, trying to kiss me in the face. Finally, I am worried about the long down. He definitely can do it, but I’m a bit concerned he won’t.

However, no matter how much I address these concerns in training, he’s got the working mentality. When I had him in class last week, he didn’t jump on the “judge,” nor did he jump on me during a recall. He was actually quite good.

This is why he’s getting entered in a few fun matches first. I’ll have a better idea of how he’s going to react to all the people, judges in particular, and it will also get him used to all of the commotion. First fun match that I’m aiming for is March 3rd.

This is a dog that is driven to please. We’ll see what happens.

Information regarding CD title was taken from the Dog Owners Guide.

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy

The Day After

Friday, November 28th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m still full from eating two Thanksgiving meals yesterday.

Our day is fairly typical. I run the Bonfield Express at 8:30am, I slack off for a couple of hours, we go to my mom’s around noon, we come home for about an hour, and then we go to Dan’s sister’s house in the 4-5pm range. But this is the first year in a while we’ve had that schedule with a 9 month old Swissy pup who is not fully house trained. Which means she would be crated for a long time.

Well, we decided to through caution to the wind. Since her longest time without a person with her was about 3 hours, we thought Thanksgiving could be the test day. Meaning, we left her out of the crate. She’s sometimes left out unsupervised in the mornings while we’re sleeping in, or on nights when we both decide to go to Hapkido and don’t want to crate her again.

Each time we came home, we started the search. The search for pee and poop. It had to be somewhere, right? I am happy to say that she went all day without an accident in the house! And she was not crated! We had her favorite neighbor girl come by around 7pm to feed everyone, so I thought Indy would have left us a nice present, but no. I’m so proud of her.

I have probably jinxed myself. Indy will probably start pooping everywhere today, just out of spite.

Tags: Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Swissy