Pure Dog Talk

Infertility Problem Solving Protocol Host Laura Reeves is joined by Dr. Marty Greer for a conversation about the problem solving protocol for infertility using a case study submitted in the private Pure Dog Talk Patrons group. Greer's first recommendation for fertility issues is to have a complete semen analysis on the stud dog. “There are six parameters that we should look at for semen quality. It should be volume, sperm count, the motility, the morphology, the longevity and speed of progression. …(I)t's much easier to analyze the fertility on a male dog that is a female.” Greer continues with discussion of “lifestyle” choices of the bitch. Nutrition choices, sunlight exposure and more. “The foods that we see that we have good success with, are going to be Purina and Royal Canin. Those are the two diets that we reliably see good fertility with. Purina, their Sport 30/20, which is 30% protein, 20% fat is a really good diet for fertility and the Royal Canin makes a pregnancy diet, the only pregnancy diet that currently is on the market. “Dogs need 14 hours of daylight. And if you don't have the opportunity to have it, if you don't live in a climate that you can do that. Where you're building isn't set up for it or whatever it happens to be. You can get full spectrum light bulbs and turn them on for 14 hours a day. “We also see high performing dogs,  dogs traveling with a handler or they're out at field trials every weekend and they're running hard or hunt tests or whatever activity you happen to be doing. Sometimes just being away from home can be really stressful for the dogs and we can see that affecting their fertility.” Greer continues with other potential infertility causes and treatments. Be sure to listen to the episode to catch her 2-2-2 "infertile bitch protocol."

Dual Dogs Serve Dual Purpose [caption id="attachment_14045" align="alignleft" width="496"] Brittany puppy with big dreams.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bobby Brian Lewis to talk guided quail hunts in Georgia and how his dual champion Brittanies help create goodwill for purebred dogs and dog breeders generally in this very old Southern tradition. Lewis has been guiding quail hunts since he was a teenager and his dad is still guiding in his 80s. The vast plantations and preserves of Georgia are a perfect backdrop for these hunts, Lewis said. “A lot of people we take, they've got the money to do it,” Lewis noted. “So they're influential. I mean I've taken senators, representatives, ex governors, state senators from Tennessee have all hunted with us and that kind of helps promote (purebred) dogs also. “You kind of get to know them a lot of more. They e-mail me, text me the next day and say ‘hey, where can I get training birds,' they're involved in our sport now and we've kind of got an advocate on our side. “Just this year we had some legislation coming through in Georgia on dog breeders. The first thing I did was call a couple representatives I know and go, ‘this is gonna hurt our business here and we're trying to get good purebred dogs that have all the health testing and those type of things. And those are the puppies we're trying to sell. And this is going to kind of hinder this a little bit.' And they were like, well, ‘tell me more.'” Lewis also noted that he's “sold” on the importance of correct conformation in his bird dogs because they are sound and able to hunt well into their older years. “The conformation means I can hunt them till they're 10, 12, thirteen years old. Doing this type of hunting is very strenuous. We can guide 5-6 days a week. I kept some stats at the end of the season last year, where a dog on the ground retrieved 32 birds in 42 minutes.” All the birds shot during the hunt are eaten by guests and the family. Lewis even shared some of his favorite quail recipes (if you don't happen to have quail available, cornish game hens are a reasonable substitute.)

Movie Star Great Dane's Owner Helps Educate the Public Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bev Klingensmith, breeder, owner and trainer of the canine star of the new movie, The Friend. [caption id="attachment_14029" align="alignleft" width="671"] Bev Klingensmith and Bing on set filming The Friend.[/caption] Klingensmith's dog, Bing, CH Flighty Foto White Christmas CD RA CA DCAT TKI CGC TT, plays the part of the Harlequin Great Dane in the movie which stars Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, about a solitary writer who adopts and bonds with a Great Dane that belonged to a late friend, helping her to come to terms with her past and her own creative inner life. Bing is Klingensmith's fourth generation of homebred Great Danes, starting in the late ‘90s. “The production company actually sent an e-mail to me back in January of 2020. When I first got the e-mail I deleted it. People, I've told that story and people ask if I thought it was a scam or fake. And I'm like, no, I just didn't think it was realistic for me. They're talking filming in New York. I live in Iowa. And then I was like, you know, I do have lots of friends on the East Coast with Danes. Maybe I can help point them in the right direction, give them some contacts at least. That was really my only initial reason to reach back out.” Klingensmith is very aware of concerns about the risks posed by purebred dogs appearing in movies and has used the movie as a platform for education about her beloved breed. “I worked with the production team and we put a piece in the credits encouraging folks to visit the Great Dane Club of America's website for breeder referrals and rescue contacts. I have worked with a few rescues for fundraising. We've done so many Q&A events and things like that. And that is one of the things I always hit on is Great Danes are not for everyone. “They are not couch potatoes. They're giant, their expenses are giant. If you choose to get a Great Dane, where you get the Great Dane is so important. It's not just selecting the right breed for your home. It's also selecting where to get that dog. And that's almost more important than selecting the right breed. And that's been a huge statement that I've been trying to make over and over to the public and fingers crossed the message gets out there. “One of the things I like to point out, he is a champion. He's purposely bred, carefully bred, thoughtfully bred with generations of all the same behind him. That none of that has happened by chance. His temperament and his behavior, none of it has happened by chance. “I try to stress that to people as much as I can because we're talking about where you get your dog is so important. I told people a lot, ignorance and apathy, they're both really bad traits to have in a breeder. I might love my dog, but if I don't know what I'm doing, I'm still gonna be a bad breeder unintentionally. And that's just as damaging as the breeders that don't care.”

How to Battle Anti Breeder Legislation Around the US [caption id="attachment_14021" align="alignleft" width="446"] Jennifer Clark joins fanciers at an event in Washington DC.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Jennifer Clark, AKC director of legislative outreach, to talk about legislation in Oregon and what's happening elsewhere in the country and why it matters that fanciers get involved. “For those who are not in Oregon, or may not have been following it,” Clark said, “what this bill basically said initially is that the state has to start regulating anyone who breeds and sells in the state. So if you sell one dog, you suddenly have to be regulated. We don't have any idea what these regulations are going to be. “That was a huge concern for us because why should someone who's breeding and raising one litter in their home be regulated and inspected by the state? A lot of times in states when they're regulating breeders, it's on a commercial level. They're regulating the large commercial facilities or people who are doing this professionally and not those who are hobbyists or financiers. “And there are very specific guidelines that are often in place, such as drainage in your floors and kennel setups and temperature records. All these things like flooring are great if you have a large kennel building, but what if that's your living room? Then how are you going to be able to comply? Does that mean I have to tear up my carpet because it can't be completely sanitized? Do I have to put a drainage system in my laundry room? And does that mean that state has to come in and inspect my kitchen because that's where the whelping pen is. How do we handle these questions? So that was a huge concern. AKC Government Relations, NAIA, local clubs and fancier reaction resulted in an amendment to state ‘more than two litters,' Clark added and the bill is currently not passed into law. You can track legislation in your state with AKCGR's fantastic tool HERE. [caption id="attachment_14020" align="alignright" width="307"] Clark's grandmother with her show bred Cocker Spaniel circa 1930s,[/caption] “(Legislators) need to understand this group of people and who you are and what you do. And that is what's going to make the difference to them because you are the ones that are going to be directly impacted. You are the ones who are going to vote, and that's why they need to hear from you. And that's why we've seen any change on this bill at all. And that's why it's slowed down a bit is because of everyone who has written in and called. And we hope that you'll continue to do so,” Clark said. AKCGR is holding a legislative conference to help people learn how to interact on this type of legislation. The conference is scheduled in St. Louis on Saturday, June 14. “We will give updates on legislation around the country, provide fun, interactive sessions on how to be effective advocates for your dogs and our sport, and discuss how clubs can make a difference in their community,” Clark noted. For more information and to register, visit www.akcgr.org/midwestconference2025

Mastitis is not Metritis is not PyometraDr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves to walk through the differentials in diagnosing possible infections in the breeding bitch, including mastitis, metritis and pyometra.“There's a lot of reasons that postpartum bitches can run a fever. So I think it's a really good topic because when you go to the vet or if you know if you're calling for a vet appointment or you're getting to the vet, it can be a little more muddy than you think it should be.“Before you call your vet with a sick postpartum bitch, take her temperature. Please take her temperature because the second thing the receptionist is going to ask you is what's her temperature? And you'll be like, I don't know, I can't find my thermometer. So have a thermometer dedicated to the dog, have a jar of Vaseline, and be sure that you've taken it and written it down. Because by the time your postpartum bitch is sick, you are stressed, you are tired, and you can barely remember your own name. So write down the stuff.“How are the puppies doing? Are they gaining weight? Losing weight? Are they sick? Because there is a big difference. Both metritis and mastitis can cause the puppies to be sick as well. Because the bitch is sick. So mastitis is inflammation and infection of the mammary glands, and metritis is inflammation and infection of the uterus to be differentiated from pyometra.“The top two differentials are always going to be metritis: infection of the uterus, inflammation of the uterus, and mastitis: infection, inflammation of the mammary glands. Now, just because the mammary glands are firm does not mean the bitch has mastitis. And just because the mammary glands are firm does not mean you automatically slam her on antibiotics.”Marty continues with a complete discussion of metritis (within 24-48 hours of whelping), mastitis (not exclusively, but commonly 3-4 weeks post whelping) and pyometra which generally occurs when a bitch is not in whelp and normally is not accompanied by a fever.Remember, if you enjoy our conversations, check out our new show! Recorded for you, your puppy buyers, your non-doggy friends and your cousin's uncle's girlfriend, the show is designed to reach the general pet owning public with reliable accurate information in an accessible format.

Purina Events Center Reopens Host Laura Reeves is joined by Angie Minges, Director of partnership marketing and events for Purina to discuss the rapid response that reopened the Purina Event Center in time for PCA. [caption id="attachment_13976" align="alignleft" width="563"] Tornado damage at Purina Farms has closed the Visitor Center, but the Events Center is open for business.[/caption] The Purina Farm and Events Center outside St. Louis, MO was hit by an EF2 tornado on March 14. The barn and visitor center were badly damaged. The events center and surrounding grounds sustained significant wind damage wiping out trees, light poles and more. “What was hit the hardest on our property besides the lovely trees and just the fields themselves were our barn and our visitor center, so both of those two buildings will have to be demolished. It's so sad and the community has been so supportive and loving and caring of our farm and we couldn't be more thankful for the people that we have in our lives that love Purina Farms. So yes, it was tragic that that natural disaster happened, but it's also pulled the community together and we're just so grateful for everyone that is sending their love and care our way.” While several events were canceled or relocated, the team worked round the clock to have the RV sites and Events Center ready to safely open in time for Poodle Club of America's National Specialty last week, Minges said. She added that the Visitor Center will be closed for at least the rest of the year. “We have the incredible dog arena on Purina Farms and we have a great incredible dog team that does all the fun tricks and the dock diving. We can't take the dock diving with us, but we'll take an agility show to some of the festivals and different wine tastings and events that are taking place in the region throughout the summer. Just to stay connected to the consumer and bring the farm to the community.

Own Your Digital Property with an Optimized Website [caption id="attachment_13813" align="alignleft" width="431"] Matt Stelter from Better Breeder Institute with one of his collie puppies.[/caption] Matt Stelter from Better Breeder Institute joins host Laura Reeves for a LIVE@5 live podcast about SEO and how to optimize your website. “Somewhere along the line, conservation dog breeders took on the mindset that they should not be marketing themselves, apparently because it's just something that for profit or commercial breeders do,” Stelter said. “However, nothing could be further from the truth. It is a limiting belief that harms our conservation breeder community. And puts us at a disadvantage. “Conservation breeders have failed to make themselves visible. They failed to plant their flag in the ground and they failed to market themselves. Sharing the tremendous value and the story that our purebred dogs possess. We have hid our light under a barrel and given the antis and the doodle mania a free pass to indoctrinate the general public. “Ask yourself, would you rather rent or own an asset, be it a home, real estate or even a vehicle? When you spend money on paid online advertising or social media, you are investing good money and effort as well on rented digital property and renting is generally a poor long term financial decision. “If and when you stop paying for it, the traffic stops instantly. My recommendation is that you never spend money on rented digital real estate. Puppy marketplaces, paid online breeder directories, and social media are all rented real estate that you unfortunately. Will never control. The number one strategy to get more and better puppy buyers is an optimized website. A website is owned real estate that appreciates in value and performance over time. “Facebook has changed dramatically over the past 15 years, and it no longer works the way it used to. All the while, the power of an optimized website has continued to increase. An important fact to realize is that while ideas and inspiration may start on social media, most purchases begin on Google. “When a prospective puppy buyer starts looking for a breeder, just like with any other important purchase, the grand majority are going to start with a Google search. There's a famous quote from Jimmy Wales who is the founder of Wikipedia and he said if you are not on Google you don't exist. And it really is true when it comes to selling puppies. “It is Google's world and to be successful, we need to be playing in it. And I can tell you what puppy buyers won't find at the top of Google your Facebook page. An optimized website is simply the strongest digital asset a breeder can have. It is owned digital real estate that is yours, and its value and performance are going to appreciate over time if managed properly.”

Akitas: Guardian Dogs of the Samurai [caption id="attachment_13805" align="alignleft" width="441"] Colleen Sullivan and one of her Sondaisa Akitas.[/caption] Colleen Sullivan joins host Laura Reeves for a Love the Breeds episodes on Akitas. The breed, one of six national monuments in Japan, was introduced to the US by Hellen Keller in 1937. Originally used as guard dogs and companions for the Samurai warriors, the breed is quiet, clean and very devoted to their owners. Sullivan notes that the breed is best for owners who are willing to be leaders in the relationship and that same sex aggression with other dogs and wariness with strangers is par for the course with the breed. Sullivan agreed with Laura's description of the breed as “people with fur” and treating them that way. “They think too much sometimes,” Sullivan said. “If you hesitate, if you're not a calm, confident person, yeah, you're suspicious (to the dog). You're not gonna walk up to some stranger or allow some stranger to give you a hug and a kiss. You know, you're just not. It's like dogs there's Golden Retrievers the extrovert and then there's Akita the introvert. "One of the things we all have in common that have owned an Akita is pride. They're such magnificent dogs, magnificent beings. They're like artwork but with power." Easy grooming, with the exception of “blowing coat,” and a cat-like insistence on cleanness make the breed easy to live with in Sullivan's experience. Training Akitas requires some creativity, Sullivan said, and an ability to make the dog think the work is their idea. Consistency is key to training. “You can't let your dog jump all over you one time and then get mad at it the next time,” Sullivan said. “You have to mean what you say.” Bloat can be an issue with the breed. Sullivan encourages owners to be educated about this disease. “I hesitate to make this statement, but one of the things that I do because the Akita is such a primitive breed, it's one of the oldest breeds, is I look at more the wolves and the coyotes and how they exercise and how they eat. All the exercise is done because they're chasing their prey. Then they're gorging themselves and they're getting all these bodily fluids and all of that, and then they rest. So all my (dogs') exercise is before eating, they get lots of fluid on their food when they're eating. And then rest.”

Tube Feeding: When, Why and How with Dr. Marty Greer Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a run down of when, why and how to tube feed neonates. New born puppies who can't or won't nurse for whatever reason may be fed with a tube passed directly to the stomach. “I just want people to know that dying of starvation is not an option at my house,” Greer said. “Different people have different thresholds and that's my threshold, is you are not going to die of starvation.” Marty and Laura walk through the “why”s of tube feeding, along with when to make that decision, what to do and what not to do. “Usually it's just for a few days,” Greer said, “sometimes a week or two until they catch on, start latching, start gaining and then they do great. But some dogs are slower than others and I see some puppies that are just really slow to grow. They may be half the size the littermates. And again, they may have swallowing defects. There is a lot of things that (can cause puppies not to nurse well.” Greer cautions that all puppies should be checked for cleft palate to rule out that as a cause for failure to thrive/nurse well. “Number one is pre warm the puppy. The puppy needs to be at least 96° on a rectal thermometer. Do not feed a cold puppy #2 is pre warm the formula. Number 3 is pre measure the tube. You measure the tube from the tip of the nose to the last rib. Have a marker or piece of tape, something that you mark on the tube so that you know exactly how far the tube has to be to go to the last rib because the stomach is behind the last rib. The trachea divides about halfway there, so if you're only in halfway, you could be in the trachea. If you're in all the way, you have to be in the stomach. “When you pass the tube, you keep the chin down and you pass to the left. A lot of people throw the puppy's head up and look in the back of the oral cavity. And if you do that, you open up the airway. So keep the chin down so that you close the airway, you pass it to the left because the esophagus is left of the trachea. So go to the left. “And then the most important thing before you feed is you pinch the puppy on the tail or the toes and make sure it can cry and you can hear it vocalizing. If the puppy can vocalize, you're in the esophagus. If the puppy can't vocalize You could be in the trachea, so pull out the tube, take a deep breath, go get a cup of coffee, come back and try passing the tube again. Those tips will keep you out of trouble 99% of the time. Is there a guarantee? Absolutely not. But I'm going to guarantee you that your puppies aren't going to thrive if they don't get enough calories.” Marty's video and more details on Revival Animal Health's Learning Center.

Canine Health Foundation Celebrates 30 years Stephanie Montgomery, CEO of the AKC Canine Health Foundation, joins host Laura Reeves to catch up on what the powerful non-profit has done and continues to do for all dogs. Montgomery, an Airedale fancier, joined CHF as the CEO in 2023, but “I was able to kind of blend my passion for science and dogs and started volunteering for the Canine Health Foundation as a scientific reviewer. And then I always say I'm a failed volunteer because now I'm working here. “We are celebrating our 30th year anniversary this year, founded in 1995. And what I was so impressed by was that folks had this vision. So what we do is we fundraise, right? And we distribute that money. To fund the best research that will advance the health of all dogs. So we do that through awarding grants to researchers that tend to be at veterinary schools. And when we evaluate those grants, we wanna find the most cutting-edge research that's going to have the biggest impact on dogs, and that's what we've done for 30 years. Canine Health Foundation helped fund the work conducted at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center that identified the canine genome. This is the basis for all ensuing DNA testing since 2004. “Prior to 1995 when CHF started, there was no dog genome,” Montgomery said. “The human genome had only been completed two years prior and it was pivotal. It changed the way that we could look at genetic testing and evolution of dogs and develop tools in veterinary medicine. CHF's contribution to ground breaking science continues to this day with research at hundreds of Universities, including studies into mitral valve disease that impacts millions of dogs. “I'm so happy to see the work being done because mitral valve disease is so common in all of the dogs,” Montgomery noted. “I'm a pathologist and the number of older dogs that don't have some mitral valve disease is really next to none. They all have it and we understand so little about it, even though it's so common. And so I'm so excited that we have new studies going that help us understand the physiology of how this disease develops. It will help us identify targets for future therapies. We also have studies on how to best diagnose and monitor progression so maybe we can make a difference and impact all these dogs that have mitral valve disease.”

Black Russian Terrier: "The Black Pearl of Russia" [caption id="attachment_13770" align="alignright" width="354"] Emily Fagan showing one of her Black Russian Terriers.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Emily Fagan, breeder of Black Russian Terriers, for a Love the Breeds episode talking about the “big black fluffy bearded beasts” that have become her “spirit animal.” “Like they are the Black Pearl of Russia and they really are like the hidden gem. Most people, they see them and they're like, ohh, boy, that's kind of this big black scary kind of looking dog. And they're so stoic and regal in public and then they come home and they're absolute goofballs, complete clowns,” Fagan said. “A short background history that Stalin basically was jealous of the Germans, you know, and their wonderful police military dogs. So he's like, you know what, I'm gonna make a superior breed of dog for military and police work. He got a bunch of scientists, geneticists together and actually started developing the Black Russian Terrier. The four main contributors are the Rottweiler, the giant Schnauzer, the Newfoundland and the Airedale Terrier. So there's the terrier. But they are very much NOT a terrier.” [caption id="attachment_13768" align="alignleft" width="389"] Black Russian Terrier training for "bite work" competition.[/caption] The breed was utilized by the KGB, and still is today by its successor agency, the FSB, as well as being used in the Russian prison system. It's job, Fagan said, was to terrify people. And they're very good at their job. The best owners of BRTs are not first-time dog owners, Fagan said. She added that structure and very defined rules are critical. “You do need to be fair because they are very smart,” Fagan noted. “This is not an old school, put the dog on its back. You can't do that. Absolutely not. You would ruin your relationship with this breed because it's built on trust too. You have to build respect. So a person who understands a structured environment is really going to thrive.”

Resurrecting a Legendary ProductTasha Mesina, new owner of Cindra, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss resurrecting a legendary grooming product.“I had used the brand Cindra since the beginning of time on the Belgians and I loved it,” Mesina said. “Unfortunately, Cindra closed with COVID like many things did, supply chain issues, blah, blah, you know the story that everybody has. And I missed it. I really missed it.“And I maybe didn't realize they had closed for a hot minute until I tried to find Super Coat and then it was like why am I going on eBay to find super Coat? And so I kind of followed the chain, and found out that the company was for sale.“It was kind of a little bit of a process to buy it, but unfortunately with them closing (during) COVID, it made it affordable for me. I couldn't afford it before so and then closing a grooming shop, selling a property in California, it just kind of all came together at one moment.“The Phillips started the company. Cindy Phillips was the gal and actually I got to talk to her. I actually bought the company from her son, Seth They have been absolutely fantastic to help me transition. I literally have every document that Cindra ever produced in the history of time, which is really cool. It was a lot, but it was neat to see, you know how the company got started. I mean, they had testimonials from the 80s, you know?“It was the family owned company. It was the mom, dad and a son that took it over when they retired. Fantastic people. I mean, they're just great. Still to this day, if I have a question, I pick up the phone, they instantly have an answer. I mean, he really, I feel, wants this to succeed because it was their baby for so many years.“I was a dog groomer. I'm a dog breeder. Like, I didn't understand the nuts and bolts of running a shampoo company. So it's kind of been a huge, huge learning curve for me to understand how all of it works. People can find it at distributors, they can order it directly.

Overcoming Obstacles by Giving Grace [caption id="attachment_13611" align="alignleft" width="429"] Rebecca Fletcher with her Dogo Argentino.[/caption] Rebecca Fletcher joins host Laura Reeves to talk about her journey as a service dog trainer and breeder owner handler of Dogo Argentino, while overcoming extreme obstacles after losing her leg. Fletcher, a retired Marine, started her journey by training her own Dogo Argentino as her first service dog. “Don't give up, but give yourself grace,” Fletcher said. “Grace is absolutely vital. And I wasn't very good at it. I get mad myself. You know, I train service dogs for disabled people and I tell them all the time, you know, you gotta be patient with yourself. And I give them some great advice. I'm not always good at taking my own advice. “I got my first Group One under Doctor Keating. And it meant so much to me because I was on the verge of not willing to do this anymore. I don't know if he'll ever know how much it meant to me to actually be in his ring and have a dog that I love so much be awarded. But it was amazing. “I didn't know anybody in the dog show world really. And it was a process, but a lot of people were very, very welcoming and guiding me. It's been a great learning process of figuring out how I can be in the ring with my disability. And again, advocating for yourself, you know, the AKC is not exempt from providing reasonable accommodations to us. "I hope to continue inspiring people to get out there and try and do whatever they can do. My goal is to help inspire other people to overcome their challenges and keep going. "We all have challenges and how we face those challenges I think is what makes all the difference."

Brucellosis or CHV? Deadly Diseases for Puppies Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a Veterinary Voice topic that can be devastating for breeders and deadly for puppies. Brucellosis and CHV (Canine Herpes Virus) can both decimate a litter. “If you lose even a single puppy in a litter, have testing done on that puppy,” Greer said. “Have a necropsy done of some form at your vet clinic or at a referral center or at a reference lab, so that you find out what happened because you can't learn from it if you bury your mistakes. You can't learn anything and you can't move your breeding program forward until you know what happened. “There is no diagnosis of fadubg puppy syndrome. So if your vet says that's what you have, you need to find another vet or dig a little harder with the one you're working with. Because you need to find out what happened. “Brucellosis hasn't gone away. There's no vaccine for it. So yes, you can have anything from a normal looking bitch and a normal looking stud dog to a stud dog that has inflamed testicles. You can see normal adult dogs develop brucellosis symptoms. “These can be uveitis, which is inflammation of the eye. They can be disco spondylitis, which is inflammation of a disc. So if you go in for a diagnosis at your vet clinic and you have certain symptoms, even in a normal dog that isn't a breeding dog they may test for brucellosis because it can cause other diseases. “In bitches we can see anything from apparent infertility where she looks like she didn't conceive but she actually conceived and lost the litter, to puppies that are born weak that died shortly thereafter, puppies that are born normal and die afterwards, bitches that have infertility. It is shared through venereal spread, which is male to female breeding, but it can be spread through any body fluid. So urine, placentas, all those things. “Brucellosis survives freezing semen, so it doesn't even get killed at that -300° that we see semen frozen at. So you need to be aware that when we say you should test for brucellosis, we're not joking around. You should test for brucellosis.” Listen in for more information. Learn more about USDA approved brucellosis testing HERE.

“Each puppy is another little sketch” – Liz Hansen and Sketchbook [caption id="attachment_13591" align="alignleft" width="300"] Liz Hansen with Seasar at WKC.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Liz Hansen, Sketchbook Standard Schnauzers, AKC's Breeder of the Year nominee for the working group. With a degree from the University of Minnesota in scientific illustration, Hansen named her breeding program Sketchbook. “Sketchbook came just sort of naturally from that because these are little sketches I make. Each little puppy is another little sketch,” Hansen said. “Almost 26 years ago, another breeder and I ran into a problem. We had epilepsy show up in our lines that were related and went looking for somebody to help us keep the good and get rid of this problem. And we were at a show in Columbia, MO, and went and talked to Gary Johnson at the university. And after about a year of bringing him samples and getting other clubs involved and helping to write grants and all this kind of stuff, he said, ‘You know, you just need to come work for me, so I changed jobs over epilepsy. (Listen to Liz' conversation with Laura about this project from 2017!) [caption id="attachment_13590" align="alignright" width="444"] Standard Schnauzers compete in herding competitions.[/caption] "That's good people that I gave a good dog, just like my sister and I got a great dog to start with. I try to coach people along.” “I like to coach the people that get my dogs,” Hansen said. “We've got over 200 champions and most of those are standard schnauzers and well over 250 performance titles on the standard Schnauzers. And that's not all me. That's good people that I gave a good dog, just like my sister and I got a great dog to start with. I try to coach people along.”

Irish Wolfhounds: Soulful Gentle Giants Love the Breeds returns as host Laura Reeves talks with Jamie Souza Bartlett about Irish Wolfhounds, the gentle giants of the dog world. [caption id="attachment_13583" align="alignleft" width="318"] Jamie grew up with Irish Wolfhounds with her mom, Linda Souza.[/caption] “They're just, they're soulful, they're sweet. They're the gentle giants and I was very, very fortunate to grow up with them,” Jamie says. “Wolfhounds, much like a lot of breeds, were bred for a specific purpose, which was to hunt wolves in Ireland. Eventually, the wolves became extinct in Ireland, and consequently the wolfhounds almost became extinct. And then several years later Captain Graham came along and really found that this was a breed that required rejuvenation and real, real rescuing and bringing back because they're just so wonderful. “You don't own wolfhounds, you're owned by them. It's not an easy breed to have by any means. It comes with its own set of issues. But when you do own them and you're owned by them, there's just really no greater thing in the world. They are so soulful and so wonderful and like, you become part wolfhound. Feeding “As a young dog, they eat quite a bit because you're looking at a puppy that is a pound when it's born and it'll be 100 pounds by the time it's six months old. So the growth rate is very rapid and they do eat quite a bit as babies. And then quite quickly, once they kind of reach their full height it curbs significantly because you're not looking at a dog that's like a Doberman or something that's constantly pacing, constantly moving around. They will have bursts of energy. Big burst of energy in the morning, big burst of energy when it gets cold at night, and the rest of the time they're chilling. So they really don't eat as much as an adult as one would think, considering their size. [caption id="attachment_13582" align="alignright" width="521"] Puppies in the breed grow fast![/caption] “I always encourage anybody to listen to their breeder and their breeding program because different lines tend to evolve differently and grow at different rates. We were always just really careful. We wanted them off of puppy food and anything that was promoting rapid growth as quickly as possible. We're trying to do things that are keeping them from growing too fast, which is kind of like the opposite of what a lot of other people do or they want them to like beef up. Really, that's absolutely what we don't want to do. Exercise “We also have a lot of protocols, not just around food, but around exercise. And we tell all of our new puppy buyers like you have to be very, very careful with this breed as they're growing up. And again, the inclination is like, ‘ohh, I got a puppy and I want it to go run around and play with my other dogs and I want it to be jumping around and being goofy' and it's just a hard no. “Until these dogs' growth plates close you can do really, really irreparable damage and we tell people don't take them into the hotel rooms and let them jump on the beds and jump down, you don't want all that impact on them as they're growing. Once they hit that two year old range then we'll start putting them out carefully with other dogs. It was one of the great things actually about having whippets. My whippets are fantastic exercising our wolfhound puppies, right, because there was no to low impact, but it helped with their movement. They're running, but kept them developmentally in a good place where they weren't getting injuries to the shoulders or elbows or anything else.”

Maripi Wooldridge on How to Make Your Dog a Winner Host Laura Reeves is joined by Maripi Wooldridge, handler of the 1995 Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show winning Scottish Terrier, Ch. Gaelforce Postscript. More recently, Maripi's Lakeland Terrier MM won the group here in 2022. Maripi takes us through how she thinks about making a dog a winner. [caption id="attachment_13576" align="alignleft" width="468"] Maripi Wooldridge judging the 2024 Wire Fox Terrier National Specialty show.[/caption] LR: If you want your dog to always be best in show ready? Any breed, what are your three top tips? MW: Conditioning both mental and physical. They have to be fed right, exercised right. Mentally, they have to be treated like they're best in show dogs so they know it. I think you always have to start out with a good dog and people think that ‘oh good enough is good enough' and good enough is just not good enough. A lot of people do some winning with “good enough” but to really have a top dog you have to have good ones and you have to manage them right. You have to manage how you go to dog shows, where you go to dog shows, and have a good relationship with your clients. Nowadays, there are way fewer good clients and money clients that can afford to do this business. LR: Treat it like a best in show dog. What does that mean to you? What does that look like to you? MW: Well, as far as my breeding program, I bring every puppy up like if it's going to be a good one. I think most good breeders and successful breeders do that. Anybody that can pick a puppy at eight weeks and put their mortgage on it, they're way better than me. But when you get them in as a handler, they have to feel special. They have to feel special over the class dogs that are gonna go home in a month and a half. They have to have things whether it's walks, whether it's put on the table every day, and even if you just brush their coats or clean their coats or pet 'em, so that they know they are special. Bring them in last instead of first, so that they are the big dogs around. I mean, little things that mean a lot to the dogs that people don't even think about. First out in the morning, that's very big if you want a dog to feel special. It makes a huge difference, especially with the smart breeds. I mean, there's some dogs that doesn't really matter, they're fine, I'm here. But with breeds that are clever and smart, you have to bend over backwards. I had an assistant when I was showing Peggy Sue that would go in the crate room in the middle of the night with a flashlight to look into her crate to see how she was laying because she would wake up in the morning and have like a little wrinkle on the side of her coat. So she made bedding so that she would not get that little wrinkle on the side of her thigh. That level of attention is absolutely needed for a dog to give you everything they have. The second half of the episode is available for Patrons Only. Subscribe at https://puredogtalk.com/patron/to hear more from Maripi's decades of insight.

Lumps and Bumps: From Benign to Bad Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the various lumps and bumps we see on our dogs, from benign to bad, from histiocytomas to osteosarcoma. “Histiocytomas are really, really common. And they are really scary looking because there are these pink bumps that show up on young dogs and they come seemingly out of nowhere. It's usually on the head, neck or on the feet, the front legs. You're gonna be afraid that it's something like a mast cell tumor. And mast cell tumors are bad, terrible, bad tumors. But histiocytomas are almost always in young dogs … if it's an older dog, it's more likely to be a mast cell tumor and not necessarily benign. A chance to cut, a chance to cure “And people are always under the impression that if you take (a lump) off that you're going to make it spread or it's going to be bad faster. And the answer is really that's not the case. You need to go in, take it off, take good enough margins that it's not likely to come back. But there are some masses that have little finger -like projections. And no matter how careful the surgeon is, they can sometimes be recurrent. And there's kind of two kinds of serious masses. They're the kind that are locally invasive and are likely to come back, but they're not going to metastasize to other organs like the lung, like the liver, other things like that. And then there's the bad ones that they're just gonna spread.” Listen in to the full episode for a complete rundown on everything from sebaceous cysts and lipomas to mast cell tumors and osteosarcoma, how to differentiate them, treat them and when to see your vet. Marty's pro tip is to be sure to physically locate and mark the specific lump or bump in question on the dog before visiting the vet. While generally not an emergency, various lumps and bumps should be evaluated clinically.

Beagles! Phenomenal Little Hounds for Families [caption id="attachment_13522" align="alignleft" width="421"] Lindsay Bryson showing her Beagle at Westminster Kennel Club.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Beagle breeder Lindsay Bryson for a deep dive on Beagles as we ramp up the Love the Breeds specials again. Lindsay started her Beagle journey with an obedience dog and shares why that challenge helped her understand the breed better. “I decided to really jump into the dog world with the biggest challenge I could find,” Lindsay said. “He was not even supposed to be a show dog. I had no interest in doing conformation shows. I just wanted to do something with my dog and this woman that I got my first Beagle from, she was in obedience and I thought, well that sounds like fun. “I took him to the pet store one day and the cashier there said, wow, you have a really beautiful Beagle, you should show him in conformation. And I thought, ohh, why not? We'll give that a try too. Sure. So that is how I fell down the rabbit hole, for lack of a better term, of conformation dog shows. “I teach my dogs a quiet command very, very early. You do actually, technically want a loud Beagle because if you're out in the field, you essentially send your pack out and you don't see them, you are focusing on hearing them. So if you have a quiet Beagle that doesn't open up and bay when they catch the scent, you're gonna lose it. It's going to be gone. And many people know that Beagles, once they get going, they're not necessarily going to come back. So you need to have a loud Beagle. “If you're going to be taking that into your home and living with it. obviously, you don't want that. So one of the things that I teach my dogs very, very early is ‘quiet,' knock it off, you know, keep your volume down. Because that is what's going to work in neighborhoods and when you have people living around you versus out in the field or on acreage. “Living with beagles is like having a permanent 2 year old. They are just forever toddlers. They're constantly looking for things, they're looking for stuff to get into. They're looking for ways to occupy their mind. It is so important to keep a Beagle's mind busy. Because as soon as they get bored, that's when you start running into the problems that people talk about. Digging, barking, destructive behavior, separation anxiety. [caption id="attachment_13526" align="alignright" width="429"] Beagles love FASTCat[/caption] “If you have a tired Beagle, it is a happy Beagle. So I always encourage people to go out and do things with their dogs, take them hiking, take them running, you know, do performance work with them, even if it's not obedience. I've started running my dogs in Fast Cat and they love it. They think that is the greatest thing because all they get to do is run for 100 yards and then they get cookies at the end. It's like the perfect Beagle job.”

Emergency Medicine Best Practices [caption id="attachment_13516" align="alignleft" width="515"] Dr. Callie Harris at her "day job" in emergency medicine.[/caption] Dr. Callie Harris joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on emergency medicine, urgent care and which is right for you and your dog. “I got bit by the emergency bug,” Dr. Callie said. “This is when the magic started to happen, where I recognize I was an adrenaline junkie. I loved working with really scary crazy cases and I also enjoyed being part of the entire team in my exam room. With very frantic scared pet parents, I knew that I could provide not only life saving techniques, but communication strategies to try to promote calm. “This is what I tell that next generation of aspiring veterinary professionals, animal welfare professionals, anybody in the pet care industry, pets are attached to humans. They kind of have to be prepared to talk to other people because my patients, they don't get in their own cars, they don't drive to the practice, they don't fill out their own history forms. Guess who has to do that? The pet parent. So it's a whole thing. “At the end of the day, I have seen any and everything. Emergency veterinarians, we're definitely like the Cowboys of our profession or Cowgirls or cow people, where nothing phases us. We will eat while we're looking at a really gross wound. We can just get through anything. “The development of emergency facilities came about and so now you have practices that are just dedicated to seeing your non vaccines preventative Wellness types of appointments. We're really seeing the sick patients but even then, ER's became over inundated with cases, pet ownership skyrocketed. “So over the past handful of years is really when we started to see the uptick in urgent cares in the vets space. And so an urgent care is going to provide that middleman if you will. So this is going to be the facility that's going to still treat those ear infections, UTI's, vomiting and diarrhea, coughing, you know, your standard, “my pet is sick on a weekend or after hours and I don't know what to do.' “The reason why you would bypass an urgent care is for those real critical scenarios such as my pet's unable to breathe or my pet is bleeding out profusely, my pet got hit by a car, my pet has a really severe fracture. These are going to be the ones that I would urge pet parents to drive past the urgent care and go to an emergency.” Listen to the full episode to hear Dr. Callie's adventure with Moon Pie the goat and more.

How to Climb the Mountain to Owner Handled Success Antoinelle Vulpis joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how she climbed to the pinnacle of owner handled success, winning Best in Show at Montgomery Kennel Club with her Skye Terrier. Vulpis discussed the beginning of this journey in an episode with Laura five years ago. Today's conversation brings the story full circle. “After our big win at Kennel Club of Philadelphia, I was thinking, we got some awesome momentum,” Vulpis said. “We got two more best in show after I spoke with you. I was like, this is incredible. And then the pandemic hit, so all that momentum and excitement just went away for me. For everyone, you know, it was just kind of a weird time. And then when we were lucky enough to have shows again, trying to pick that back up and make people believe again is kind of tough. So it was a little of a unique experience in that. “Then (I) realiz(ed) that I have these goals in mind, just these little things that I want to check off my checklist. I want to show him at my national. As a veteran. That was a goal of mine and that's what our whole plan was to do. And then I went to Canada too. I was like, let me get his Canadian Championship. Go to Canada with my girlfriends, have a girls weekend and try to get a title. So yeah, I literally only showed him in June (2024) to finish his Canadian title and then Montgomery. …if the judge can't see it, it doesn't matter… “(In Best in Show) we're showing to Lydia Coleman Hutchinson, the legend. I've shown to her several times throughout my dog's career, maybe half a dozen times. But just to be in the ring and like to put my dog on the table as you know, a 7 1/2 year old dog, like just knowing that she's seen him as a puppy, it was very emotional for me and I just kept on being like ‘Don't cry. Don't cry.' “It's just such a full circle moment. And I felt so fortunate to just be in her ring again at this stage because this is going to be my last time showing him at the National. “(On his down and back) I took a knee, man. I mean, it was my Hail Mary. It was the last move, the last card that I had in my deck. So I just got down and just tried to manipulate the lead a little bit and to get him to react to me. And just to see like, ohh, mom is eye level, that kind of thing. And so if you get that, you can get the ears to react a little bit and just let him show off that beautiful top line and his long neck. So you just want him to just for a brief second show off these qualities that we know he has. But you know the answer right? I know my dog has it, but if the judge can't see it, it doesn't matter.” To hear all of Vulpis' tips and tricks, listen in to the podcast today…

Pro Tips on Raising Orphaned Puppies Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves to discuss how to raise orphaned puppies. How to help dams not reject their puppies, increase milk production and deal with mastitis are all covered. Pro tip number one is avoid having orphaned puppies, Greer notes. Increasing the dam's calcium intake, using Adaptil collars and saving placental fluid after a Csection are on Greer's list of ways to encourage the dam's maternal instinct to kick in. Pro tip number two is helping dams increase their milk production. “I don't know what there is magical about a Bratwurst, if it's the fat, if it's the salt, and I'm sure there's other things as well, but that's what I've had great success with. It helps them to eat better. It helps them to lactate better. The things that people use on the human side for lactation nurses are oatmeal and vegetables like sweet potatoes. So those are some things that you can do and they'll eat those sometimes when they won't eat their regular dog food. “But whatever you have to do to get them to eat, jump through hoops to make it happen. Because if she is eating and drinking, then you don't have to feed the puppies nearly as much. So you feed the machine that feeds the puppies. “Now the other things that help. Are fenugreek and that is in the Oxy Mama product that Revival has for improving lactation. And then Reglan which is metoclopramide, a prescription drug that you can get from your veterinary clinic. And one of the side effects is that it improves lactation. “So fenugreek and reglan make milk and oxytocin lets the milk be released from the glands so they work complementary to each other neither one replaces the other.” Pro tip number three regards mastitis. “I don't wean puppies unless the bitch is really, really sick or there's a giant necrotic opening in a gland. I will typically let the bitch still nurse her puppies because the amount of antibiotic coming through the milk is infinitesimally small. “First of all, let's talk about preventing mastitis. That means bathe her with a Chlorhexidine shampoo 3 or 4 days before she has puppies. So she goes into this clean. Don't let her go out in the mud or herd your sheep into the trailer when she's got newborns. And put her on a probiotic because that's going to all reduce the risk of her developing mastitis. “If she ends up with mastitis, make sure she gets enough fluids. She needs to be on an appropriate antibiotic and I put them on pain medication to bring down the fever, to reduce the inflammation and that again is safe for the bitch to take and still have the puppies nurse. There's not enough that gets into the milk, but it's going to hurt the puppies. “It's not just milk, it's maternal skills as well. She's licking the puppies, she's stimulating the puppies, she's treating the puppies the way puppies need to be treated. No amount of human hand-raising can substitute for that. I know we do our best but it's still always best for a bitch to be with her puppies than it is to be separated if there's any possibility of making that happen.”

2025 Kick Off and Looking for Potential As 2024 draws to a close, we're left, as usual, staring into the abyss of a new year… upheaval nationally, internationally and even in our tadpole pond of purebred dogs has left all of us off balance at some level.  Poised precariously here on my rickety soap box, I hope you'll join me on a journey of retrospection, through a few glimmers of hope and on to a couple new year's resolutions. Eight years ago this month, the first Pure Dog Talk episodes dropped just in time for the AKC National Championship shows. I racked up 10s of thousands of steps dropping flyers on every grooming table, interviewing treasures of our sport and gathering support for this novel way of sharing 20th century knowledge in a 21st century way.  Pure Dog Talk was the very first podcast dedicated to purebred dogs. Today we have a couple million downloads and have reached nearly 400 thousand listeners globally. Several major corporate sponsors and a couple hundred Patrons keep the lights on and the mp3s rolling so that YOU can stay on top of news, interviews, reviews, events and ideas. We've shown up in the AKC Gazette (shoutout and thanks to the Gazette crew!) I just found myself quoted in a TikTok posted to a Reddit “millennials” thread  fgs… I love hearing from all of you all the time. About how Pure Dog Talk “saved your life” or made it better or saved your dog's life. PS We've added a page to the website where you can upload your stories complete with photos! Check it out on the Testimonials tab at pure dog talk dot com. If you'd be so kind, indulge me while I take this opportunity for some shameless promotion. If you find Pure Dog Talk has helped you or someone you know, please consider joining our paid Patrons. This funding covers only overhead – website, audio editing and more – not me personally. When I launched the Patrons in 2018, I was paying for the podcast out of my pocket and eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches.  A lot has changed since then (although, I still eat a lot of pb&j). The crowdsourced funds from Patrons of the show have enabled the growth and professionalization of the website, continued the outstanding production values of the pod and made us able to keep growing this resource to reach new audiences. Your Patrons membership adds value to the pod by initiating you into a devoted community of purebred dog enthusiasts including judges, handlers, owner handlers, newbies and master breeders. Patrons only After Dark gatherings each month let us hash out problems, share ideas, stand in community with one another and gain knowledge.  Visit https://puredogtalk.com/patron/ and select your Patron Package. You can join us for as little as $10/month or save 10% with an annual Patron membership. Come on over and join the best community in dogs. Aaaaaand, Starting Jan. 3, our new Patrons Only pod, Unleashed, delivers “let your hair down” episodes on all the hot takes in purebred dogs. Mailbag topics, commentary and insight with your favorite guests. In our first episode of the new show, Amanda Kelly joins me with thoughts  on "How Not to be a D*ck at the Dog Show”.... Patrons, BOLO an email with access deets!~ And, speaking of new stuff…..  We're SUPER excited to announce that, after EIGHT years in the...

Research Shows How Dogs are Affected by Human Emotion [caption id="attachment_13446" align="alignleft" width="515"] Author Jennifer Holland with her dog.[/caption] Author Jennifer Holland joins host Laura Reeves to discuss her new book “Dog Smart: Life-Changing Lessons in Canine Intelligence.” This cutting-edge science narrative, chock-full of heartwarming case studies, is one woman's quest to learn the true meaning of dog intelligence and how they are affected by human emotion. Holland interviews trainers and handlers of various working dogs doing their jobs. She was led by a seeing eye dog through the streets of Manhattan and took a sleeve hit in a protection dog training demo. “I have some video of it,” Holland said, “and my head just sort of flops around like a rag doll. And the dog did not want to let go. It took a little while to actually pry him off of me and I got a good bruise. “But again, what I was trying to think about was how you train this animal that, here we've, you know, raised them to be sweet and loving animals. I was told training them to bite a person is a really hard thing to do because they don't necessarily want to do that. “And so it has to be a game. It has to be a game for them. The sleeve is a sleeve. It's not a person and then to be able to train them to stop if they're in mid bite. And here they're getting that thrill and you have to tell them no, the bad guy has waved the white flag. It was remarkable to me that dog can stop and have that self control.” Laura commented that the part of the book that really jumped out at her was research showing that puppies who were given unhappy or negative sweat smell grew up to be unhappy negative puppies. And the ones that were given a happy sweat smell grew into well-adjusted, happy dogs. “(Dogs) are just so affected by us in that way,” Holland added. “Just the importance of our level of stress or for them the feeling that we're feeling good is important to how they respond and how they behave. It just shows that incredible kind of co-evolution that's happened and that bond that we have that really I think makes (dogs) particularly special.”

No Ghoulish Green Monsters Here Author Dawn Secord joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the release of her new book “No Ghoulish Green Monsters Here.” Secord describes a lifetime in dogs, her time with Irish Setters and her childhood starting with Milk Bone snacks. “Combining my love of art and writing and looking back on being a child with so many kids not acclimated with dogs and not realizing what a wonderful opportunity it is to find companionship,” Secord said. “Find security and to use words to make the kids feel safe. And so in 1984 it was laid on my heart when I got my first Irish Setter that I was going to do a book about an Irish setter for children and share my love of my dogs. “I want to give parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and nieces, whomever, a book to sit down and talk about dogs and talk about their fears. This first book has messages about facing fears because everybody's afraid of something. And I wanted kids to know it's OK to be afraid and talk about it. Don't be afraid by yourself. “The book comes with a free download that's on my website. So if they want to make it into an educational tool, it's got a glossary and it talks about Irish Setters. I even made maps for kids to learn how to read a map and some pictures and coloring book pages for the little ones, some things to research for the older ones. So I really wanted parents or adults, whoever they are, they have an opportunity to turn the book into an educational opportunity if they desired. “I really want to promote that having a purebred dog is cool. So that's one thing. For the writing, I feel that it's timeless and I want to make an impact.”

Show Safe Team Wants to Make a Difference Board members of the Show Safe organization join host Laura Reeves to discuss the grassroots development of an organization that supports a safe dog event environment. “I think there were several of us that felt, you know, we're just frustrated because you wanna do something, you know, everyone wants to do something to make a difference,” said Show Safe Secretary Lindsay Fetters. “I think it was very easy to throw blame and throw the responsibility on other parties. And you know, something needs to happen, but it's somebody else's problem. “I think we all can agree that we really wanted to focus on education. We wanted to promote recognizing issues. We wanted to be able to respond to issues. We wanted to be able to restore things once we knew there was an issue. “We all put our egos aside. And, you know, we come from such a variety of backgrounds. You know, you have all ages, you have all interests, you have all levels of involvement in our sport, and so we were able to really look at what strengths does everyone bring to the table and kind of align that with what we need to get done and kind of run with it. And that's exactly what we've done.” “It's about boots on the ground,” said Show Safe Executive Director Diane Moore. “It's about raising the money and the awareness and the energy to actually accomplish something. Like Lindsey said, everybody wants to do something. They want to make the world a better place. But to take that into tangible steps, this board has done a phenomenal job. So we essentially have 4 initiatives and those four initiatives, the first one is education. “It's also going to be outreach and workshops. It's going to be education for clubs, for juniors, for people who report on the sport or on abuse and neglect, just all of those things where we can educate and just say, hey, look, these are these dynamics and this is how you recognize it. You know, our tagline is recognized, respond and restore.” The team also has created a toll-free number (1-888-474-9723) to call for immediate response staffed with someone who is trained to listen and trained to “say what's going on, what's your concern and to assess what you need to create safety.” “Our aftercare program is really about, OK, so something has happened, something has happened to you and you are part of the dog show community and you need some support,” Moore added. “So it's not right now, it's not immediate response. It's not like you're unsafe right now. It's historical mostly but it's impactful, it's impacting you, it's still with you and so we're going to be there to say ‘OK, what resources do you need?' How do we help navigate this resource world and ultimately be able to assist you in paying for … mental health resources and survival resources and how do we bring that to you in a way that is you are in control.” “I'm second generation, so I grew up in this sport,” said Show Safe Director Jason Hoke. “Many of us have grown up with our parents and even our grandparents taking us to the dog show, leaving us in x-pens alone. We grew up feeling like everybody in this sport is our family and that everything is safe and in the majority of it, it really is. But what we want to do is be able to teach people things that can protect and educate other parents, other youth other elders to recognize where shortcomings are in dog shows in show locations, in areas within the show.”

Anxious Behaviors Linked to Gut Dysfunction in Dogs Dr. Jason Gagne, board certified veterinary nutritionist, joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive into dog food feeding trials, anxious behaviors linked to gut dysfunction and more. “It's one thing to open up the AAFCO book,” Gagne said. “The Association of American Feed Control Officials who set this model bill, as it's termed and says you need this much zinc, you need this much selenium and so forth. Then pet food company XYZ, whoever that may be, goes ahead and puts that much in or hopefully a little bit more to meet those requirements. “It's another thing to actually be the company (Purina) that does these feeding trials. Again, as I mentioned before, we're obtaining these ingredients, we're formulating our diets. We have very tight control over our ingredients specifications and have very high standards for who our suppliers are. But it's another thing to then take that diet that you make and feed it out to a colony of dogs and we do do that and we're proud of that. “The purpose of doing that and having that colony is to feed these diets. Because when we do that, we can measure the digestibility of our diets. We can assess the fecal quality and the fecal score, which I think is important to a lot of breeders and sporting enthusiasts. And we can even assess the performance on the diet. “It's not just important to meet the AAFCO requirements, but it's more important really to optimize those recommendations for the betterment of the dog, right? We put those diets out there on the market after we've assessed, hey, we put this in the diet, we want to make sure it's actually in the diet. We can analyze the diet itself, but then again, we're analyzing what's going in and coming out of the dog as well. “This microbiome, what else is it doing? It's actually been linked to behavioral issues as well when it goes out of whack, that dysbiosis as you mentioned earlier. “We actually did do a study with dogs displaying anxious behaviors, and paired it with physiologic as well, so salivary, cortisol and we also had Holter monitors on them for heart rate. We were able to show that when the dogs were being supplemented with the bl999, they (had) a decrease in barking, jumping, spinning and pacing, which was anxious behaviors that they were displaying, versus when they were on the placebo.”

GRRRL Power Team Carries Forward Longo Great Dane Legacy [caption id="attachment_13331" align="alignleft" width="602"] Carol Grossman became synonymous with black Great Danes and the Longo dogs.[/caption] Host Laura Reeves is joined by Carol Grossman, Jackie Van Delft and Tristen Lawrence with a tribute to Tootie Longo, who passed away in May of this year, and the Longo Great Dane legacy. Grossman, the "Queen of Great Danes," piloted dogs for Longo for decades, including legendary greats like the second Black in Breed history to win an All Breed Best In Show, BIS BISS Ch. Longo's Chief Joseph. She shares her memory of Tootie Longo this way: “As much of an icon as she was, she never really thought of herself as an icon, whereas Joey (Vergnetti) and Peter (Green) were icons. She didn't realize they felt that way about her. That was Tootie. She just was not assertive about who she was. And she didn't realize, I think, until the end, how famous she really was, that she carried a legacy of dogs through the years. She knew she had beautiful dogs and she knew she had a great line and she knew that she was lucky in picking dogs, but she never really realized what an icon she was.” Van Delft is the more recent member of the group, a Great Dane enthusiast who had wanted a Dane since childhood. She sought out Tootie Longo to acquire a dog, and wound up as a “member of the family.” [caption id="attachment_13330" align="alignright" width="700"] Jynx with (from left to right) Tristen Lawrence, Jackie Van Delft and Tootie Longo.[/caption] “Tootie pretty much took us under her wing,” Van Delft said. “We became really good friends… I got my first Longo puppy and he was amazing. He was my heart dog. But we would go to the Longos every weekend to twice a month. We were very lucky we only lived 45 minutes away from them. So we spent a lot of time and we got to go to all the shows together. And, you know, she just became a part of the family or I became part of hers, you know, and it's just that was it. She wasn't getting rid of me.” Grossman and Van Delft were instrumental in selecting Lawrence, a third generation Great Dane exhibitor, to campaign Jynx, one of the last of Tootie's dogs, to 36 specialty wins. “I'm a Great Dane handler my whole life,” Lawrence said. “My parents and both of their parents on both sides were very active in the breed as breeders as well as handlers. So there's never been a time that I didn't do this. I remember Tootie Longo as long as I've been alive. And so growing up, knowing the power and what she built in our sport, it was incredible and for her to come to me and say ‘we want you to show our dog,' I can't describe how proud I was, how incredible that was to me.”

Peacock Feet and Finding Breed Type in Toy Dogs Dale Martenson, breeder of Touche Japanese Chin, joins host Laura Reeves for an enlightening discussion of breed type in toy dogs. He encourages judges, exhibitors and breeders to focus on the critical details of beauty and not get hung up in fault judging. “I hear people talking about either how they judged a group of dogs or breeders when they're evaluating their puppies and all they're talking about is the faults,” Martenson said, “and (all I can think is they're looking at a) beautiful flock of Peacocks and all they see is a bunch of ugly feet and crooked toes running at them. They're missing the point of this breed and all of the work that goes into the details that make these breeds so hard to raise and so intricate and so desirable. “I think the biggest insult somebody can give you is that you were generic because there's nothing about the toy dogs that's generic. And we have a whole lot of very breed specific type that you have to get into and start pulling apart. “If you're cute enough, somebody will bring you food … they do not need to get their own food. “These toy breeds have very specific things in each of them that you can't get away from. If you don't have those, you don't have a show quality specimen. You have a dog that's irrelevant to the people who like the breed. “We become a little bit like axe murderers when you miss our type because we're trying to get markings, we're trying to get size, we're trying to get breed specific things in tiny litters with a lot of mortality. In Japanese Chin, we don't have the good fortune of the Pointer where it says a good Pointer can't be a bad color. “The Japanese Chin, for example, their job was to be really pretty. Hang out with the geisha, you know, very quietly sit with their friends and say, ‘ohh, my gosh, she's gotten fat.' You know, I mean, just being that little best friend and not really liking anybody else.”

When Sh*t Happens in Your Breeding Program Host Laura Reeves is joined by Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs, International Partnership for Dogs, for part two of a challenging and informative conversation about when sh*t happens in your breeding program. “If you have a stud dog,” Llewellyn-Zaidi said, “and I'm gonna use stud dogs because that's what tends to be the bigger contributor to a genetic breeding plan. If you have a stud dog or you're using a stud dog or you've used a stud dog and there is a problem. Step number one is to not panic. Genuinely, that's the first kind of step, because you will know in yourself that you've made the best decisions in that moment with the information you had up until that point. “You now have maybe new information. So then the second step is investigate and you gave some great examples. Is this something that is heritable? Is this something that isn't in the breed, but maybe actually is in the breed? And if you start asking, you start realizing that you're not the only one that has been observing this challenge. “So just do a little bit of investigating, get a diagnosis for when there isn't a genetic test. Do a little asking around with friendly people to see if this is something that it is heritable or potentially heritable, and then if it's something that is kind of unique to your lines or if there's potentially a broader breed conversation. “I keep wanting to throw traits because very understandably we focus on poor health, but actually many, many breeders want to be focused on the characteristics that are valuable and important. “The more we're able to think about our individual breeding plans as part of a whole, the term collective action, I think the more successful we will be at meeting our goals and reducing the risks of inherited diseases. “Whether you're in a healthy breed that has no breed specific health conditions but being a dog means you're going to have a health condition. Or whether you're in a breed that has maybe a different path that they need to take to get back to where people feel there's a better balance between health and the traits that they want, collective action is key. “And that's the thing. It's like the collective action on your individual part is are you communicating with your puppy owners? Are you communicating with the bitch owners if you have the stud but don't keep the bitches. Who are your breeding friends that you've used your stud dog to. Are you keeping those accurate records? Are you including a friendly vet into your system that can kind of help you with identifying or investigating any of these health issues? “In summation, we're not gonna panic, we're gonna investigate, we're gonna maybe pause breeding and we're going to think about the steps that we need to take to have those collective action solutions, that's going to include you and your breeding plans and your breeding partners.”

Resources for Veterinary Medicine Practices and Staff Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves with advice for veterinary medicine practices, vets, techs, staff and clients alike. “The veterinary field is full of really, genuinely great people in a way that we don't see in a lot of other career choices. It's an amazing field to be in,” Greer said. There are, though, plenty of challenges for staff and clients both. “Most veterinarians come out of veterinary school without a lot of experience, they understand how to do the medicine, they don't know how to do the business part. I remember being in vet school and they tried to teach us to us and we're like, ‘No, no, we want to just be a doctor.' Well, that was kind of short -sighted. And a year out of vet school, I started a practice. I'm like, ‘I should have been listening.' Greer offer her top recommendations for vet practices to succeed. “Number one, join IVPA, join a VMG group, join some other buying group so that you have the opportunity to improve your cost of goods, to understand the management techniques and principles, that's number one. “Number two get a great accountant and a great attorney that understand the veterinary practices. There are many veterinary specific accountants and veterinary specific attorneys. Use one of them. “You have to spend time working on your practice, not just in your practice. “Hire yourself a practice manager. It's really hard. It's really hard when you don't have enough money. You can't figure it out. Hire somebody to help you with your HR and with your bookkeeping and with all the parts of practice that you have to have because their practice manager can be a God Send. “A lot of people are afraid to start a practice because they think that because they have student loans that they can't afford to start a practice. And in reality, owning a practice is proven to be the fastest way to pay your school loans back because the profitability is better as an owner than it is as an employee. “We have a sign on the wall, ‘WWJHD.' What would James Harriet do? I love that because I want my staff and my doctors to think about what fits the needs of their client and their client's pet.”

Dog Behavior Expert on Nature vs Nurture. BONUS Purple Leash [caption id="attachment_13263" align="alignleft" width="363"] Dr. Annie Valuska, Principal Scientist – Behavior, Global Pet Behavior for Nestle Purina.[/caption] Dr. Annie Valuska, Principal Scientist – Behavior, Global Pet Behavior for Nestle Purina joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on dog behavior. “I think even for any animal, (nature vs nurture) is a challenging question,” Valuska said, “but I think for dogs in particular, that might be the muddiest waters out there. Dogs have been domesticated for longer than any other species on earth. They have this long history of kind of co -evolving with us. And as a result, in my opinion, it is now in dogs' nature to be nurtured by us. “And so that just really, really blurs the lines. Everybody that loves dogs, you don't have to be a scientist to know that there's something really special in that bond. But the science behind it is really cool. And it all started with the domestication. “So dogs diverged from a common wolf -like ancestor about 15 ,000 years ago,based on the latest science and there's a lot of evidence that they kind of domesticated themselves. That the friendliest, most outgoing wolves, we'll call them, were willing to approach people for the benefits that we could provide, mostly food. “And then those wolves produced more offspring. They survived longer. They had higher fitness and evolutionary terms. They reduced offspring that were also friendly, tame, curious, approachable. And then over generations, we've ended up with the dogs that we know and love today. “And while there are several differences between dogs and wolves, most of the big ones are really defined by the fact that dogs have this relationship with humans. They have, for example, changes in their digestive system that allow them to digest carbohydrates much more effectively than wolves can. They have changes in the muscles around their eyes that allow them to make that puppy-dog-eye expression and show the whites of their eyes that we respond really strongly to. “So they kind of hijacked that in us. And one of the coolest changes in my opinion is that dogs are so much better just naturally at paying attention to and responding to what we're doing. So things like where we're looking, they will respond to our pointing gestures by going to where we're pointing. They do this pretty much innately. Puppies are kind of made to respond to people. “Wolves just can't do that, even when they are raised and socialized exactly like the dogs are in these studies. And so that certainly speaks to something about the DNA. The genetic changes, what makes a dog a dog, makes them attuned to us and wanting to build that relationship and that bond with us. “I think of the genetic component as starting the dog somewhere on a spectrum. It's like dropping that dog on the spectrum from extremely fearful to extremely friendly, their genes are giving them a starting place. I think that the socialization and training that the dog gets throughout their lifetime can absolutely move them on that spectrum. “Now, a dog that has a genetic background that is resulting in them being on the very far fearful end is probably never ever going to be socialized well enough to get to the very far friendly end. There is a limit to how far on that spectrum they can move from where their genes drop them. But I think there is generally a lot more wiggle room there than many people give credit for. “And one of the interesting studies on this that came out just a couple years ago in 2022 was looking at breed specific genetic backgrounds. And what that study found was that while the genetics of specific breeds were pretty tightly correlated with physical traits, there was really not much behaviorally, which surprised a lot of people because there are many beliefs that, ‘Oh, Golden Retrievers have this temperament and...

How Breeds Have Managed Population-wide Health Crises Host Laura Reeves is joined again by Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs at the International Partnership for Dogs. The wide-ranging conversation covers how different breeds have managed population-wide health crises. Llewellyn-Zaidi discusses specific issues with Irish Setters in the UK and Pointers in the US, as well as Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and French Bulldogs in Finland. She also uses knowledge of the inbreeding in dairy cattle to address some of our questions about the potential of "inbreeding depression" in dogs. "Education is us making the best decisions we have with the information we have in that moment," Llewellyn-Zaidi said. "And then where those unintended consequences can go wrong. Bear with me, I'm going to pivot from dogs for just a minute and talk about the dairy cattle industry because I think that is a great warning to the dog breeding world about what we want to keep in mind when we're making our breeding decisions. (This gives insight into) how we might want to work collectively to solve some of these problems that we're all facing and also collectively how we might want to achieve the goals and the positive traits and positive characteristics we have in our breeding stock. "The dairy industry historically had a philosophy of not particularly using a wide number of stud bulls. Their goals when they're breeding dairy cows are not our goals when we're breeding dogs. They're wanting to produce animals that have a very specific trait characteristic, but also are not required for longevity. Generally speaking longevity is kind of a priority for dog breeding. So they had two challenges with that and that if you don't include longevity or if you are removing those cows at a certain age before their natural lifespan would end then you don't really know what may be coming into middle or older age. "There's a study in 2015, so 10 years ago, where they looked at where the genesis of modern American dairy cattle came from. They realized that all of the American dairy cattle at the moment descended from two bulls from the 1880s. Those were the bulls' lineages that have survived various breeding strategies over the years. "If you are a livestock nerd or if you're interested at all in dairy cattle, you probably have heard of Toy Story, who sired over half a million offspring and he's within living memory. What's interesting and, harkening back to our previous conversations again about genetic diversity, funnily enough, in dairy cattle, they started noticing that infertility issues were coming into dairy cows. "What they didn't think about or they didn't really maybe appreciate how inbred those female cows were as well. Because essentially Toy Story was breeding over and over and over and over and over again with his daughters and granddaughters and nieces. So the inbreeding was compounding and they were already inbred to begin with." Listen in to hear Llewellyn-Zaidi's conversation about how different breeds and clubs have solved health issues and genetic diversity questions in positive and constructive ways. And don't forget to tap in next week for part two.

Nancy Talbott on Dual Dogs and Breed Specific Judging AKC judge Nancy Talbott joins host Laura Reeves for an in depth discussion on the philosophy of dual purpose dogs and breed specific judging. "I didn't really embrace or understand the significant division between show and field until I started showing more and conformation," Talbott said. "And then it started to really strike me, and increasingly, and continuing to strike me at just how extreme, not just conformation and conformation breeders, but also field and field breeders had become. The word extreme should never be in the vocabulary about a Golden Retriever in any way, physically, mentally, energy level, any of that. "As we know, if you specialize in a high level sport, there is a tendency to go to extremes. Modern day field trials, not hunting tests but modern day field trials are so extreme in what's required of the dog. I admire the trainers and handlers truly. I could never do it. But it almost creates this idea that you have to breed for what in the field world is called 'go.' That would be extreme drive. "I have heard field breeders who say, 'I can do anything else as long as I have a lot of go. And so they're breeding for more 'go.' Trainability, yes, but more go. "The conformation side, as we see when we're in the ring, when Goldens became a really impressive group dog, therefore it has become primarily a handler breed. There are still tremendous owner handlers, and I applaud every owner handler out there. It's a tough breed to show and compete with. "And that has led us to extremes of movement, where you have dogs in a flying trot, not a moderate ground covering gait, the extremes of coat, the extremes of bone and weight, because that's what people think is necessary to compete in that venue.

Corporate Takeover of Veterinary Clinics Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a very current conversation about corporate takeover of veterinary clinics. “The trend to purchase veterinary clinics has been going on for probably about 12 to 15 years,” Greer said. “It started with just a couple of consolidators. It's now up to about 80 and some of the consolidators have consolidated. So we now see some of these groups recapitalizing and then moving on and being sold to another consolidator. “So it's been kind of interesting to watch and frankly pretty scary. Just before COVID, the prices of veterinary clinics were at an all -time high, and then it dropped during COVID. “They tell you that they will give your staff better benefits, and they probably do. They tell you we will unload all that stuff off of you that you don't want to deal with. The HR, the purchasing, all the back-office stuff that you as a veterinarian didn't go to vet school for, didn't learn in vet school, don't want to learn, don't want to know, don't want to deal with. “They'll say we're gonna lift all this off your shoulders, you can just practice medicine, it's gonna be awesome. And if you're a large producer in the practice, the owner or one of the bigger producers, they want you to stay for two years. “It has different impacts in different practices. The practices that we've really watched the most closely personally are the practices that have done a lot of reproductive services in our community, either in our immediate area or across the country because these are colleagues of ours. “And that to me has been really hard to watch because a lot of the practices have not continued to thrive after the sale of the practice.” Marty and Laura continue with a conversation about how breeders can work with the larger community to help change the conversation about dog breeding that trickles down to the people who become veterinarians.

Back to Basics: What to Wear at the Dog Show Veronica Wolfe from Best in Show Clothes joins host Laura Reeves to talk just basic what to wear at the dog show, how to be comfortable, how to live your own truth and still be respectful of the environment that we're in. They cover outfits for the fall weather's coming up and a little bit about good colors with your dogs and stand out versus blend in. “So, when my junior was becoming a teen and bucking the suits, I reminded her that this is a sport like any sport and every sport has a uniform,” Wolfe said. “I mean, if you're going to be in the soccer team, you get assigned a uniform and there's no, ‘oh, well, it's not my color,' too bad, you know, that's what you have to wear. But fortunately, in the dog show world, we have a little more flexibility. [caption id="attachment_13179" align="alignright" width="526"] Tall, flat heeled boots, a skirt, vest and turtleneck make a classy fall outfit.[/caption] “Looking professional is the key. Well, what does that mean in the dog show world? Classically, men will be in two -piece suits, or slacks, and maybe a tweed blazer for fall, right? And the women will either be in professional dresses or a two -piece suit, whether it's a pantsuit suit or skirt suit. That's the general uniform that you see out there. “Alternatives to blazers because we were kind of talking about dressing to your truth right so not everybody wants to be in a blazer. “I personally hate blazers. I've got broad shoulders, busty, and I'm tall. They're not my favorites. “So a lot of things I like to find and more than ever you can find stretchy fabric like this one actually has some stretch to it just look for spandex in the list of fabrics. Cardigans look great. A navy blue cardigan with a floral skirt … you can find some really nice cardigans and you can find them in every color of the rainbow “The other thing you need to consider is your movement when you choose what you're going to wear and you also need to consider what looks good with your color and your dog's color.”

Breeding Dogs Around Diseases that Don't Have a “Test” Host Laura Reeves is joined for part two of her impactful conversation with Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs at International Partnership for Dogs. Today's conversation covers some of the biggest hot button diseases impacting all dogs – seizure disorders, cancer, bloat and other life-threatening issues. Llewellyn-Zaidi offers insight, information and details about new tests coming online and the ways we can minimize risk while working with small gene pools. “(S)ome cancers are just kind of part of dogs, just being a dog. Or sometimes they're part of being a type of a dog, like some types of dogs are more likely to be at risk than others, whether it's size -related or maybe they're a herding breed, and it's just at some point in ancient times, (when we) started dividing out into generalized proto-breeds, when we started having our wolfie looking ones and spitzy -looking ones, and we started having our molosser looking ones, and we started having our retrieving looking ones. Before they were such distinctive breeds, there would have already been selection causing inbreeding and increasing some genetic duplication to get those desirable traits. “And you may bring some things along with that. So some of these cancers are not specific, necessarily, to your breed and they're just specific to that type of dog. “With cancers there are two cancer tests that are available to all dog breeds or all dog types. There is something called a C -kit somatic mutation for mast cell tumors. All of this is on www.dogwellnet.com so you can check it out. And there's also the BRAF mutation, so invasive transitional cell carcinoma. That's for all dogs as well. And for my dear beloved Bernese people, there's histiocytic malignancy that's available as a genetic test as well. “So for some of these specific cancers and specific epilepsies, there are genetic tests available that you can use to help you maybe make some decisions or at least to eliminate what might else be going on, right? So you know if you're not quite sure what kind of a cancer it is, the genetic test might help give you some information on that. “All of this really comes down to how risky do you feel? We can rebuild any breed from scratch if we needed to. It would just take a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of consideration. So in some ways, being very radical, and I'm setting health and welfare aside for just a second, being very radical, it's kind of up to a breed to make a choice. Do you want to keep breeding to your breed standard until you reach a point of too much poor health and inbreeding depression and then you start again? “Or do you want to try to conserve and maintain kind of where you are now? Or do you want to try to improve or expand your genetic diversity from where you are now? “And all three of those kind of philosophies are acceptable, assuming you're keeping at least welfare in mind. And all three of those philosophies probably will fit all the different kinds of breeds in their unique situations. “Followed very closely by conserving that breed type or those breed qualities that are important to you, right? That's the point. That's the point and the pleasure and the art side, right? “So if you're keeping in the back of your mind those chess moves, whether it's ‘I'm gonna use this type for a couple of times because I really like that or I want to introduce that and then I'm gonna have a couple of litters where I go out and just kind of rebuild that diversity and then maybe go back to that type I happened to like,' that's how you kind of weave through the genetic variation that you have within your breed population. “You probably can't do that forever...

Bridging the Gap Between Art and Science of Dog Breeding Host Laura Reeves is joined by Aimee Llewellyn Zaidi, project manager for the International Partnership for Dogs. Llewellyn Zaidi's work is bridging the gap between art and science in dog breeding. They talk about inbreeding and genetic diversity, how those things go together and what you can do when there isn't a test for a health problem. [caption id="attachment_13097" align="alignleft" width="300"] Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi and her Corgi.[/caption] “International Partnership for Dogs offers free resources for dog breeders and for vets to kind of give you some unbiased transparent guidance,” Llewellyn Zaidi said. “I am a third generation Pembroke Welsh Corgi owner. My grandparents had beef cattle in Oregon in the 1960s. They started their farm up in Silverton, Oregon. And my grandmother was a little bit of an Anglophile. And so she got two corgis back in the 70s in Oregon, which there weren't too many corgis out here then. “And she had these great aspirations of having them being working corgis and they worked really hard at cuddling. And they maybe, you know, barked at things, but yeah, they started as working dogs but were 100 % professional lap dogs, you know, as corgis really know how to do it. And I just never lost my love for the Pems. “I started working as a health manager for the Kennel Club in the UK (in 2012). And by the end of my time in the UK, I had developed a team and I was the head of health and research there, really focused on bringing evidence-based education resources to breeders and to the veterinary community and to breed advisors with lots and lots of tools and resources available. “I really wanted to take the science and kind of translate it into something practical. There wasn't a lot of in between at the time between researchers and the people who actually have to make the breeding decisions and that disconnect really bugged me. I think it really bugged me that there wasn't such an easy way for communication between really the art and the science of dog breeding, trying to bring those things a little bit closer together. “I want to take some of the mystery out of some of science or some of the resources that are available. I try to be really honest and transparent about what we know, what we don't know, what's still kind of out there, what things might be not the most ideal resources. “I feel like that honesty is the best way for people to be informed and to make ultimately the breeding decisions. You guys have the hard job. You have the job of deciding, right? So, I just want to give you information that can help you hopefully make those really informed decisions.”

Breeding a "Star" requires depth of knowledge Join host Laura Reeves for part two of her conversation with Cody Sickle, Cherokee Legend Bulldogs, breeder of Star, GCH Cherokee Legend Encore, BIS at the 2022 AKC National Championship. [caption id="attachment_13057" align="alignleft" width="442"] GCH Cherokee Legend Encore, “STAR”. Breeders-Cody T Sickle, Connie Chambers and Sherry HazelettOwners- Alaina Moulton, BJ Whitlow, and Kevin & Natalie MasonLe[/caption] "I think there's a lot of things to think about in breeding," Sickle said. "I think one of the things to really focus on in breeding is watch what everybody else is doing. Just like in picking puppies, knowledge makes a difference. Knowledge makes a difference in this too. Look who's breeding successfully. "I think most breeders would actually be better if they never owned a stud. Because I don't think most breeders have the fortitude, the self-control, not to think they're going to make their own stud famous. I think the best breeders think in terms of 'I don't care who owns this dog, if I think there's a stud out there that will improve my breeding program, even if I don't care for the people that own the dog at all, doesn't matter. I'm not marrying them, I'm breeding to their dog'. "And when you do a breeding, be honest about it. When I do a breeding, I don't have the idea that, well, I'm going to keep the best this or that out of the breeding. I don't think of that. I'll keep the best out of it if it's good enough. But just because it's out of two dogs that I have a high regard for if the puppies aren't good enough, move on. "We will frequently do grandfather to granddaughter breedings. I've only once done a brother and sister breeding. And it turned out to be wonderful, but they were the only brother and sister I've ever seen in our breed that I would have considered breeding together. "We've been fortunate to have good studs. And a good measure of that is the last 40 years for the national specialty at least one Cherokee stud is behind every single breed winner. And that impresses me. And a lot of the record stuff doesn't impress me. "I think the future of Bulldogs in general is good. Bulldogs are a wonderful family dog. Not every family, you know, if you're a family of athletes who's going to go out running the marathon every weekend, Bulldog's not the right dog. If you want a dog that is going to be a terrific family pet, love everybody, get along with everybody. A bulldog is an excellent dog. They're just nice dogs. "I think we are so fortunate to have the sport of dog shows. For a lot of us, it's a major part of our lives and has been for the major part of our lives. But I like the dogs, I like the competition, I like the people, I like the camaraderie. There's no place that I feel more comfortable than a dog show, and that's because of the people for sure, and as much complaining as we see on social media, I think it's a wonderful sport."

Veterinary Advice on Free Whelping Following C-Section Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the question of when your female has had a C-section and you breed her again. Is it safe to have the bitch whelp her puppies naturally? This question comes from a listener request. “The most important thing to ask is why did you have a C-section in the first place,” Greer said. “If you had a C-section in the first place, because she's a Bernese Mountain Dog or because she's a Bulldog or a Frenchie or maybe a Clumber or a Corgi, some of the breeds that are more commonly having their puppies by c-section, you still have a Clumber or a Bulldog. They didn't change breeds while they were pregnant, so that's the most important reason. “Secondly. What were the other reasons? Did she just have too many puppies? If she had 14 and she's going to have eight this time, yeah, that's a whole different conversation. If she had a puppy that was oversized or misdirected, that's a different conversation. But it's going to depend on what happened previously. So you really need to have a good history on what went on when this last C-section was done. “Statistically, according to the numbers, 75% of the time the bitch has the C-section because of a bitch cause and 25% are a puppy cause. So that kind of gives you some numbers to work with is 3/4 of the time you're probably going to need another C-section, but 1/4 of the time it was an anasarca puppy, it was a misdirected puppy, it was oversized, it had some other kind of a birth defect, two were coming at the same time, so you had a log jam. I mean you just have to try and sort that out. “That's the general thought. It's “V-back” on the human side, it's vaginal birth after C-section, V-back. So most of the time you absolutely can go ahead. From a safety perspective, there's reason to believe that it's going to be unsafe. You assume that the veterinarian did a nice job closing the uterus. “What I always kind of laugh about is when veterinarians say, ‘ohh, the uterus was paper thin when I did her C-section. You can never have another litter.' OK, you take a uterus and you put 14 puppies in it and you stretch it out like a pair of old pantyhose and you wonder why it's paper thin. It's supposed to be thin. That's the way your stomach looks after Thanksgiving dinner. That's the way your bladder looks when you need to go to the restroom. That's the way the organ works. It stretches out and it becomes thinner, but that doesn't mean that it's so thin that she can't have a normal pregnancy and a normal vaginal birth.”

Famed Bulldog breeder-owner-handler Cody Sickle joins host Laura Reeves for the first of a two-part series on owner-handlers, dog shows, Bulldogs, breeding and camaraderie. [caption id="attachment_13037" align="alignleft" width="399"] CHEROKEE LEGEND NOR'EASTER DEREKLong Island Bulldog Club Specialty. Winners Dog & Best of Winners. Judge: Phoebe Booth[/caption] Sickle's renowned Cherokee Bulldogs have quite a record. According to his records, he has bred or owned 256 Champions, more than any other Bulldog breeder ever in the USA. His dogs have won 99 All Breed Bests In Show and 591 Bests In Specialty Show, five National Specialty Bests Of Breed and 15 Westminster Kennel Club Bests of Breed. All of which rank as #1 all-time results in the breed. Sickle says he knew he wanted a Bulldog from the time he was 5 years old. His parents said he had to pay for it himself. So he skipped going to the movies, did extra jobs, saved his allowance and finally was able to purchase his first dog for $60. "I find the Bulldog people are terrific," Sickle said. "They are just as you say. We go in the ring, we're competing with each other and we're obviously all trying to win. When it's over, it's over. We are all friends when it's over. We are a good representative of what sportsmanship should be almost all the time. There are exceptions, but not very many. "I've listened to people say, well, you know, the Bulldog people are good, but this breed is not. I'm not intimately familiar with the interactions of people in other breeds. But I am very into the dog people in general and the dog people in general are helpful. [caption id="attachment_13036" align="alignright" width="403"] Cody Sickle with CH. CHEROKEE MORGAN. Best In Show…Penn Ridge Kennel Club. Judge: James Warwick. August 1969[/caption] "I've never once in my life went up to any dog person and said tell me about this or tell me about that and had them say no, not ever. And when I was 13 years old, I used to hang around the handlers. Richard Bauer when Jimmy Mitchell was his assistant. Wendell Sammett when Paul Edwards was his assistant. Peter Green, the Forsyths, they were all terrific. They were all perfectly willing to share their knowledge. They're perfectly willing to answer all my questions, and my questions were incessant. "The Bulldog people were the same way. One of the benefits about the Bulldog people being good people is that, in order to learn I think it's necessary to speak to lots of people. Because people have different views. Some people just can't communicate what you're trying to learn and sometimes whatever they're saying, even though it's just right on, it doesn't register properly. So if you ask everybody and work at weeding out what sounds like nonsense and keeping what sounds like it's valuable, you're going to learn a lot more."

Building Blocks to Success in the Ring and the Whelping Box Host Laura Reeves is joined by breeder-handler Christian Rutten in part two of a wide-ranging conversation touching on some of the critical building blocks to success in both the show ring and the whelping box. On Owner Handler vs Professional Handler [caption id="attachment_13028" align="alignleft" width="358"] We all started somewhere. Christian reminds us we are all at a dog show for the same reason. To win and to have fun with our dogs.[/caption] “One of the things people say is ‘I just went to a dog show for 10 straight shows and I didn't get any ribbons. And that it's all political. And the handlers have the upper edge.' I did the math because I was at a big string of shows and I walked in the ring 28 times and won two majors. This (other person) didn't go into the ring 28 times in the year and she didn't win any majors. So (handlers) have the opportunity to present a lot more dogs. So, although it looks like we're receiving a lot more ribbons, but we're also going to a lot more shows. On Selecting Judges “There are judges who I've taken a barrage of type and styles to over a multitude of times, and I can never get past them. And that's fine. I just don't necessarily want to ever exhibit under them again. And there's other judges who are consistent as all get out. And you'll say, well, they're judging in North Carolina today and you look at their results and they put up litter mate to what you showed to them the week before that went winner's bitch. And so I think finding that kind of balance of knowing what those judges are going to put up, if you can bring that to them every time, they're going to love it. “For me, there's probably 20 people that I really seek out to show what I think are the best of what I have. The rest of them are just there and just kind of doing their thing, right? I don't want people to get burned out on the fact that maybe they're not winning, maybe they shouldn't, right? That's fine. But maybe they're mentor says this is a great one. And what's holding you back is your ability and the judges you're exhibiting to. And once you figure that out and you find the right judges who appreciate that style, you've got the golden ticket. It's a fine line between understanding that not everybody who's putting the finger are experts. You need to become an expert yourself first and do this for yourself. And then from there, that's when the success comes. “I think that people, they want The Polar Express ticket to dreamland instead of just take the train and enjoy the view and the destination is worth it once you get there. On Dog Show Basics [caption id="attachment_13029" align="alignright" width="528"] Christian brings basic husbandry and manners to the forefront of the conversation.[/caption] “First one is you never leave a dog on a table unattended. Seems like a very simple thing to a lot of us, but some people are never taught that. The second thing is don't leave dogs in ex pens unattended. You're asking for a disaster to happen. I see this from owner handlers to breeders to professional handlers. “The other thing is, and this is a big one for me, and I kind of thought it was standard and I'm seeing it less and less. Congratulate the winners. I have probably walked into, I couldn't tell you, thousands of rings from juniors as an owner handler, as a breeder owner handler, as a professional handler. I could maybe count on one hand the amount of times I didn't say congratulations. If you're in a full group, whether it's the owner handler group, or the regular group, you don't have to shake everybody's hand, all you got to do is walk up to the winner and say Congratulations."

The Conversation at the Top is Different: Finding a Mentor [caption id="attachment_13021" align="alignleft" width="482"] Christian Rutten with one of his top winning Golden Retrievers.[/caption] Breeder-handler Christian Rutten joins host Laura Reeves to encourage new exhibitors and breeders in finding a mentor. “I think the biggest mistake people make is they cut corners,” Rutten said. “They find the people who are sitting and just have a lot of downtime because they're easy to talk to. But what you need to do is go to the top. The conversation at the top is different. “Everybody's collaborating ‘who can do this for what and what reason.' The conversation at the bottom is usually, ‘it's crooked... Oh, my dog is perfect and that one isn't.' “I would say that the most successful breeders of any breed are way more critical on their own dogs than there are of anybody else's. When they say, you know, my dog is the greatest that's ever been and the other one only wins because of who shows it, that's problematic. “You need to be self -reflective about what is this dog's strength and weaknesses. And you know what? If you go ask a judge, right, you lost and you aren't sure why. And you go ask the judge and the judge says, well, he didn't ask for it on the day or the other dog showed better or whatever it is. I just discard that. "When they say, you know, I wish your dog had a little better shoulder, a little bit shorter back, you could use a little bit stronger muzzle, and gets into the finite details, those are the people whose words you hang on, and from there you move forward. So look for the people who are extra critical first, not angry because they lost, but extra critical. And I think if you approach any judge from a standpoint of questioning, ‘what was it that you liked about the other dog better than my dog today,' they'll be honest with you. [caption id="attachment_13022" align="alignright" width="394"] Christian started at ground zero in Junior Showmanship and worked his way up through the ranks.[/caption] “Where do you start from ground zero? First thing, anybody, whether you've done dogs for 20 years or you're just starting, go to YouTube and look at Dog Steps. It's not breed specific, right? It's just about basic anatomy and how it works in motion. “The other thing is attend the largest specialties and the nationals that you can and see a broad array (of dogs). If your breed has an illustrated standard, keep that. Go and you seek out those breeders that are just kind of next level. A, I want you to seek out the best breeder there is. B, trust their judgment. But C, be happy if you don't have the Best in Show winner because when you get handed that Best in Show winner on a golden platter, you cannot figure out what it takes to make it. “I wrote a thing one time that says sacrifices are made in the whelping box to preserve and protect individual pieces, not to breed just for winners, right? And that's the thing. Talk to your breeder, what are the health issues that you face and how are you kind of navigating that in your breeding program? “There's a fine line between discarding everybody's opinion and asking everyone and absorbing as much knowledge as you can. There's 20 ways to get to the bus stop, but getting on the bus and going to your destination is on you.”

Puppies and Kids: Expert Insight on Best Practices Dr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves talk about bringing home your new puppy, introducing it to your children, how puppies and children interact appropriately, and how to make that be a really positive experience. “The first place I would start,” Greer said, “is if you don't already have a breed that you have selected and you have children, pick a breed that's good with kids. “You know, why start off with something that's likely to set you up for a failure when you could get, oh, let's say a Labrador or a Golden Retriever, which are notoriously outgoing, happy dogs, and, you know, they're just easy to live with. They're great dogs to have her own children. So, you know, don't start off, and I don't want to badmouth anybody's breed, so I'm not going to specifically call up breeds that aren't good, but don't start off with a dog that you have concerns about. “Start out with something that's happy, friendly, outgoing and was raised in an environment that's likely to be successful. “There are situations where if the kids are inappropriate with the dog or really afraid of the dog or the parents aren't working well with the children, that I just simply have to say to them, ‘you know, this is probably not a good match. Let me help you find another breeder.' “For starters, I don't leave the children and the dog unattended ever until maybe the dog's five. That's what what XPens are for. That's what playpens are for. That's what crates are for. And you can put X-Pens up across doorways. “And it's also a great way to introduce a dog to children or a puppy to children. And vice versa, they can see each other without the puppy jumping on the child, without the child shrieking, without the child having a meltdown, or without the child doing something else that's inappropriate with the dog. So it's a really safe way to start off is for them to see each other and interact with one another, but through the xpen or through the crate.” Marty and Laura talk through dog body language, bite inhibition training in baby puppies and the sheer joy of kids and dogs raised together. [caption id="attachment_13012" align="alignnone" width="674"] The Dog Body Language Chart Marty Greer recommends.[/caption]

Sheila Goffe On the CDC's Importation Regulations Sheila Goffe, AKC Vice President of Government Relations, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the CDC's soon to be implemented rule about importing dogs into the US. Goffe provides background on retail rescue as the impetus for CDC's regulations, the work AKC, NAIA and other stake holders have provided to the CDC and the most recent update to the rule. "CDC put out an announcement saying that they heard the concerns about the rabies certificate," Goffe said. "Remember they had (originally) required that you had not only a rabies certificate, but a rabies from a USDA or Canadian accredited vet. So it's not just like your regular vet. It's like, OK, I have to go find basically the same vet I would go to if I'm importing a dog to another country. "So that veterinarian-specific requirement, they have dropped that requirement. As of now, they're saying that all you need to enter the United States with a dog from Canada or another low risk rabies free country is an import form. It's now available online. You can fill it out online. It takes less than 10 minutes. You're going to have a picture of your dog on it. You know, a little bit of information about you and an attestation that this dog has not been outside of a rabies free, low risk country for the last six months. Dogs still need to be at least six months of age to enter the US from any country, Goffe added. "Blame the irresponsible importers," Goffe said, "because frankly, they claimed to be us. They claim to be personally owned dogs. And now CDC is saying we can't tell the difference. So where we need to go with CDC is create a solution where we can say 'we can tell you the difference, we can show you what we do that those folks would never be able to do. We can show you that this dog has been registered from a registered litter. You know, we can demonstrate this dog was at the vet at two days old getting dewclaws removed. I can prove to you this dog was here in this country and it has not gone to Azerbaijan and come back." Goffe encourages exhibitors and breeders to reach out to their representatives to share their concerns. Find resources HERE.

Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bo Bengtson, legendary breeder, judge and author of The Whippet: An Authoritative Look at the Breed's Past, Present and Future. Questions for Bo: [caption id="attachment_12997" align="alignleft" width="490"] Bo Bengtson judging the American Whippet Club National Specialty.[/caption] 1) This is your fourth edition of the quintessential book, “The Whippet,” first published in 1985. What made you want to update it again? What will readers find that is new? I guess it's pretty unusual for a dog book that was published that long ago to be reprinted, but it was last published in a much enlarged edition in 2010 and so much has happened in Whippets in the last 15 years! Whippets have become one of the most popular breeds at many shows: Crufts in England has had about 400 for the last few years, only Labs and Goldens have more... I have judged a show with 250 Whippets in Sweden, they have a Sighthound show in Germany that has 235 Whippets as a top figure, and it has become amazingly popular in many countries where you wouldn't necessarily expect it: the big shows in e.g. Poland all have more than 100 exhibits NOW.  The 2024 FCI World Dog Show was held in Croatia last month and there were 171 Whippets entered, which is fairly typical figure for the World Shows. And there are over 6,000 entries from the Czech Republic alone to the Internet's Whippet  Archive, so that's probably the  next big Whippet country!  USA doesn't have the biggest registration figures, but the American Whippet Club holds a National Specialty in April every year that is the largest in the world, sometimes with more than 600 Whippets present and over 1,200 entries.  I made a point of including all countries that have affected the world population in some way. Did you know that there is a world class Whippet breeder in South Korea that often wins in Europe and works with American bloodllines? I read parts of that 1985 book recently … It's not a bad little book for its time and a lot of the content is in later editions also, but it's fairly typical of breed books then, both in scope and size. Not many photos and all black and white, but I'll always remember how proud I was to get into Foyles Bookstore on Charing Cross Road in London and seeing my book on the shelf there! To get back to the new book, I'm so grateful that Denise Flaim convinced me to update it! The book is available both on Amazon and via Denise's RevodanaPublishing.com —they did a beautiful job: the book is much bigger than I expected — I don't know why I didn't expect that because I know that we added a lot of text and about 200 photos of winners from the last 15 years. Anyway, it weighs about 3.25 pounds, covers 530 pages, and when I took an advance copy to the National specialty in Tennessee in April, one reader actually started to cry because it was so beautiful!!  2) Share with our listeners some of the fascinating breed history you have gathered over the years, from its humble beginnings hunting hares, to its popularity as “the poor man's greyhound,” to today. Well, of course the Whippet became popularly known as the favorite dog of the poor mining families in the North of England in the 1800s. There was organized racing with considerable sums to the winners, so of course the dogs were really well taken care of and in fact fed much better than the people. What's really amazing is how many people turned out to watch the races: there are some grainy black and white films still in existence from the late 1800s, and they prove...

Espen Engh Offers a Master Class on Dog Breeding Famed Norwegian Greyhound breeder and judge, Espen Engh, is back with host Laura Reeves offering a Master Class on dog breeding. “When we started out, there was a combination of two very different British strains that had proven that it worked really worked,” Engh said. “Those two breeders were at the end of their career and they hadn't mixed their dogs a lot while they were still active. But some very clever breeder very quickly found out that combining those two lines worked extremely well and produced dogs that had been almost unheard of before truly high quality. “So we collected different crosses between those two lines to combine our own strain to start out with. And I do think it helped a lot that my mother had been active in the breed for 20 years before breeding the first litter. She had been judging for many years as well. We didn't have to do a lot of the beginner's mistakes. So from day one, we were able to start at a high note. “When the breeder repeated (that successful breeding of two disparate lines) by luck or persistence, we were able to buy what we considered to be the best bitch in that repeat litter. And she turned out to be just as good as or probably better than those puppies from that first combination. So we were able to start with a really phenomenal bitch. “We had a phenomenal male at the time too. He was runner up top dog all breeds in Norway. And maybe if we were amateurs, or if my mother was an amateur, we would have bred those two together, but they didn't really fit. We would double up on faults. The male turned out not to be a good stud dog at all. And we had lots and lots of litters for other breeders. We never used him. So rather than using that top winning really beautiful dog, which didn't fit the bitch, we didn't do that from the start. “So our first combination was quite successful and we got an outstanding bitch in that first combination. And then we quite quickly realized that in order to progress, you know, now we have like two generations of phenomenal bitches, we would never be able to be big breeders number wise. We didn't have a big kennel, we didn't have the style, the facilities to breed dogs on a large scale. So we had to make a system where you can actually breed successfully from a limited number of dogs. “And I thought, why not just base it on breeding from the very best bitch of each generation? And that's what we did. When we were at the most active, we would have three or preferably four litters from the very best bitch of each generation. “As Greyhounds are very fertile, you'll get an average of like 10 puppies or nine, 10, 11, 12 puppies. Each of those top bitches would then have 20 daughters to choose from. I mean, in every litter, we would keep all the bitches that were thought were good enough. Most of them never just one, two or three. And we'd run them on until they were fully grown so we would know for sure who was the best. And selected the best bitch of each generation and repeated that. “Now, if the mother is great, the grandmother is great and the great -grandmother is great, you're very likely to get the really good one out of 20 bitch puppies, aren't you? But We also need some males to breed them to. “We also chose the second-best bitch in the generation. Remember the mother had four litters, she would be bred to four different males. We selected the second-best bitch from each generation, preferably a half-sister to the main bitch, which I call the alpha bitch. So the second best bitch, the beta bitch, we would try outcrosses on her.”

Espen Engh on Greyhounds and Judging Host Laura Reeves is joined from Norway by famed breeder and judge Espen Engh of Jet's Greyhounds for a two part conversation about Greyhounds, judging, breeding and why the Scandinavian dogs are so consistent in quality. [caption id="attachment_12982" align="alignleft" width="376"] Int. Ch. Jet's Elegant Negress, Engh's first Best in Show winner from his first litter.[/caption] “I kind of inherited the interest for dogs in general and Greyhounds in particular because my mother started up with a Greyhound in 1955 so she was the source of everything,” Engh said. “She got her own mother hooked on the Greyhounds as well. So I'm a third generation Greyhound fancier and lover. “My mother was only a teenager when she started out. She was very quickly bitten by the bug and started showing her first Greyhound all over Scandinavia. She didn't breed, however, she didn't have the possibility to do that. So my mother and I started breeding Greyhounds, 20 years after she got her first one, in 1975. And although my mother is no more with us, I keep reading from the same strain, actually from the same bitch line that was started in the early ‘70s. “There are many things that make the Greyhounds unique. And one of them is their long, long, long history and the amount of generations that have gone into breeding greyhounds. I'm quite sure that the Greyhound is the only breed where you can actually trace the pedigrees back to the 1700s. “(The first description of the Greyhound as having the “head of a snake, the neck of a drake”) is from a poem that was attributed to a woman called Juliana Burners more than 500 years ago. [caption id="attachment_12981" align="alignright" width="317"] Ad for one of Engh's multiple BIS winning Greyhounds.[/caption] Actually, she didn't exist. So it's somebody else wrote it. But that you could say is kind of the first Greyhound standard, because it describes the Greyhound, the head, the neck, the feet in a poem. Greyhounds are a very sophisticated breed. They are very close to their owners. They are about a combination of substance with elegance.” Engh has been invited to judge at the highest levels worldwide. “It certainly is a privilege. It's certainly something very enjoyable to be able to travel around, somebody else picking up your bill, to enjoy looking at dogs, feasting your eye on dogs, getting that little tear in your eye every now and then, maybe a goose bumps every now and then too, which is really one of the reasons for doing it. “But it does also present some challenges and some difficulties. Some breeds do have very different breed standards and that can certainly pose some difficulties. Other breeds, actually the breed standards themselves are not that different, but the development of the breeds are. So they have developed in quite different directions. “Obviously, and I think we need to state that from the beginning, if you are willing and able and do undertake judging a breed in a foreign country, you have to respect the breed standard in that country. I mean, that should go without saying, but it doesn't always.”

Drinking from a Firehose: Puppy Enrichment Weeks 5 to 8 Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a continuation of their conversation about puppies and neonates. Puppies raised properly are given the best possible start to their future. Today's topic is enrichment, all of the things that we can do in the five to eight week period between “their eyes are open, they're eating solid food, they're probably weaned or close to it” and go-home day. Laura asks, “What's happening in those little tiny puppy brains in that five to eight week period?” Marty's response is, “They're taking in the world so fast, it's like drinking from a fire hose. “There's a lot of people who talk about this and a lot of people who pontificate about it. I think Sophia Yin talked about a hundred experiences in a hundred days. That gives you basically three months to get all kinds of information into their little brains. “Even when you don't think you're teaching your puppy something, you're teaching your puppy something. And so I think we have to be ultra aware of even the things that we do when we have our back turned that if we're making dinner or there's a puppy jumping on the other puppy or there's puppy going potty on the floor because they didn't get our attention to take them outside. We just taught them something. “You have to be ultra aware of everything you do. Not paying attention to them doesn't mean that they're not learning something. I think we really have to pay attention to that and there's lots of really fun things we can do to teach them cool stuff, but be careful, because they're learning every second. “If they learn that they put their feet on the breadboard and pull something off (the counter), even if you weren't looking, they just learned they can put their feet on the breadboard. And if it takes them 100 tries to get one thing the next time, it's like winning the lottery. “We think about our little tiny puppies and there's all this stuff going on. They've got littermates, they've got other dogs in the house, they've got smells, they've got sounds, they've got all this stuff. You don't want them to hear the ketchup bottle make that funny, squirty noise when it's almost empty when they're in their new home for the first time and it freaks them out. “So you have to really think about all the input that we want to have for our dogs. How do we set them up for success? How do we provide them those things? So I do smell, I do touch, so I give different surfaces, we do different visual things, we do different toys, there's different tastes, so there's so much we can do.”

Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and Love Author Kerry Nichols joins host Laura Reeves for a review of her new book, “Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and Love.” Nichols' book is written for the dog buying public to help them understand how to find a breeder, what a responsible breeder looks like, how puppies learn, and how breeders and buyers can work together to raise well-adjusted dogs. “We all know you have to prepare your families,” Nichols said. “Like the more prepared your families are the better your puppies' lives will be. So from litter number one, I started to joke around ‘hey, you know you're enrolling in Nicholberry boot camp. If you're not ready to read and watch and listen I'm not the breeder for you, because I really want you to be ready. “That actually evolved into requiring that our families take a training course, you know, I really want them to be prepared because we've all seen it go badly when they're not and you send home this lovely puppy who very quickly gets into trouble and that's heart -wrenching to see. “I had this whole backlog of a private blog that I was keeping for our families and basically they needed to read a pretty hefty article or watch a video every day for the eight weeks that their puppy was growing.” As a content creator, Nichols has proven suggestions for breeders also about how to grow their educational social media outreach about their breed and their breeding programs. It's a marathon not a sprint … don't think that you're going to post 10, 50, 100 posts and you're going to get this following. It is consistency, consistency, consistency. Authenticity, which is why I think it doesn't work to hire a social media manager.I've had arguments with people on this topic, but there's no way I could have never hired anybody to do what I do because, it's all in my DMs. I'm responding, it's in my comments, I'm interacting. And that's fantastic because the questions will inform your content. I think it's super important that breeders allow people to see what they're actually doing on a daily basis.Yesterday, someone asked me to vet a breeder for them of a different breed, and I went on the website and it said that they followed puppy culture protocols. And they have a big following on Instagram, but I couldn't find a single video that demonstrated puppy culture protocols.So that's fine to say it, but I don't just trust that they're doing it. I want to see them doing a barrier challenge, right? So I'd say that, show what you're actually doing.

Juniors' Best Advice: Always Strive to Improve Octavia Stensen, Best Junior at Westminster Kennel Club this year, joins host Laura Reeves for the behind the scenes story of how a non-dog show kid just capped off the triple crown of junior showmanship, having also won Best Junior at the AKC National Championship and made finals in Juniors at Crufts. Stensen's family acquired a Norwegian Buhund when she was 10 years old. Her first time in the ring left her in tears, but she persevered and nine years later she reached the pinnacle of the sport for juniors. “We ended up getting Fiona and she became our new pet but the one catch of it was that we had to get her grand champion," Stensen said. "I was like, ‘I'll do it. I don't even know what that means but I will do it. I don't even know what this entails or what I'm doing in this, but I am going to do it.' And so it started from there and it wasn't easy by any means. “I went to bed that night (after my first ring experience) thinking, I can do better and I can do better here and I could have done this and I'm gonna do that next time,” Stensen said. “And there was a next time, you know what I mean? There was like that idea of the future. “I did eventually get her Grand and she is now our pet and we have since then bred her and got my heart dog out of that, Pineapple. [caption id="attachment_12963" align="alignleft" width="426"] Octavia Stensen with her mom and Pineapple after the WKC Best Junior win.[/caption] “I am so, so lucky both my mom and my dad have been so supportive, but my mom really steps up. My dad is like, I'll pay the bills, but my mom is like, I'm going to be here next to you and I'm going to travel with you to all of these things and I couldn't be more grateful for that. “They have definitely supported me in more ways than I could have ever, ever asked for. I mean, after winning at Orlando and walking out of the ring and then being like, so I guess I need to go to London now. And they were like, ‘okay, so let's figure out how we're going to finance that.' Stensen's advice to juniors coming up is always have fun and never stop improving. “It is so, so hard to get caught up in the competition and freaking yourself out and getting all nervous but this is meant to be fun. It's all for fun. We are coming to these things to have a good time, we're not coming to these things to torture ourselves with nerves. Listen to your mentors and your peers and you can always be better. You can consistently improve. I mean, there's never a moment in your life where you can stop getting better at things.”