My Dear Hard Drive

Archive for the ‘Dogs’ Category

As this is my dogs 8th birthday, to celebrate him and his breed, I decided to write a bit about him and Field Spaniels.

Primo is my second field spaniel, and my second dog. The reason why I got into the breed was pure fate, nothing less. At the time I was 14 years old, and lost all my friends due to the fact that I didn’t drink alcohol nor found it necessary to hide the fact that some of my friends experimented with it. So, as I had no friends left, I managed to talk my mother into buying me a dog. I had to act quickly before she would change her mind (not that she was perticularly prone to changing her mind), so I practically ran to the library to get all the breed books they had and I went through them, page by page. After narrowing my search down to few of my favourite breeds, only one breed felt absolutely perfect to me. The field spaniel. In the description it said that there’s only 3-4 litters born each year, so it was a hard to get type of breed, and as I read it, the light bulb went on in my head. There was an advert for fieldies in the days newspaper! And sure enough, there was. Few weeks later, I was the happy owner of a field spaniel called Pähkinä, a Nut.

I loved Pähkinä to bits, but she loved my mother above everyone else, as field spaniels do. They usually bond with the mother figure of the family, even though they are generally good with kids and love everyone.

We lost Pähkinä to cancer when she was only 8 years old and ever since she passed, I tried to talk myself out of buying another one. At the time of Primo’s birth, I was suffering from severe acute puppy fever, and when a friend of mine forwarded an advertisement of a mating between two of my favourite fieldies of the time, there was no point resisting anymore. I still remember the phone call to the breeder, Kennel Berlottan’s Matti karvala almost to the word. I had been thinking about another female, but when he told me he had a lot of reservations for bitches, but none for males, and it looked like it was going to be a small litter, I said I’d take a male. I also remember the phone call at 5:45 pm on the 24th of March 2001, when Matti called me that the puppies were born and there were two males and no females… I sat next to my sofa on the floor and made a point of remembering the time the phone rang. :p

The field spaniel is one of the oldest spaniel breeds there is. It was developed together with the sussex spaniel in mid 1800’s. The primary goal was to dazzle the show judges (as dog shows were a new thing) with it’s majestetic looks, but it also needed to function as a working gun dog, which was the main past time for country dwellers that were the majority of dog show people at the time. The original fieldie was a black spaniel, but the modern fieldie is mainly liver coloured. (Same as mine.)

Fieldies are good scenting dogs. They are believed to be the best scenting dog amongst spaniels, which is hard to prove, of course. However, I have heard a lot of hunting men be completely won over by their ability to work and retreive game, and I know my Primo goes after a hare like he was on rails. That is one of the reasons I find the field spaniel such an attractive breed. He is gorgeous to look at, but it is, at the same time, a working dog with every body part functional to the fullest. He has wide open nostrils in a healthy long muzzle combined with a long neck that allows him to track and hunt tirelessly on his strong good lenght legs. He is a real dog, real dog size but with a coat and temperament to die for. He is gentle and loving, perfect companion dog, a true friend.

The field spaniel isn’t only a hunting dog, he has been used as a therapy dog (seniors and autistic children that I know of), a truffle harvesting company in Australia is purely relying on field spaniels on doing their scenting work, I don’t know anyone who has trained a fieldie to track down lost people, but I am sure he would be perfect for that as well. I wanted to try that actually, but all training groups were full at the time I tried to get in so I missed the window.

It is really hard to put into words how much and why I love the breed so much. It is majestetic, truly noble breed of dog. They are naturally so well behaved, that I get complimented on my training ability constantly and I have hardly lifted a finger to train him. Not that it would be hard. They are such smart dogs – at least the ones I know – that training them it is easy, even for someone like me with no experience. I taught him the names of each fingers in Finnish, in five minutes and the names of the other hand’s fingers in English in another five minutes. I still can’t believe he remembers them after I “quizz him” again.

Happy birthday my dear doggy. (Although it’s past mid night…)

Popularity: 21%

It seems that there’s some sort of an anti-breeding and anti-dog show movement going around the world at the moment. It is the age old myth raising it’s head again, that pure bred dogs suffer from more illnesses than the mixed. Let me shed some light on this…

I have a pure bred, of course, but I don’t want to go around saying you shouldn’t have a mix. Just that I want to have the same right with my pure dog without having to justify it to people. My dog is a product of a combination that has a risk of mild eye problem, and mild hip dysplasia. If he was a mix, I wouldn’t have a clue of that fact, because neither the eye problem or the hip problem is any way detectable other than through fairly costly medical scans. Most mutt owners don’t take these scans, because they have no use for them, therefore they don’t know that their dog has a problem, because it simply isn’t a practical problem. My dog has been hip scored and eye checked. He shows no signs of eye problems, but scored B and C on his hips. The other hip is scored B and the other one is C. B means “nearly normal” and C means “mild hip dysplasia”. When I saw the X-rays, I actually cheered, because there was nothing wrong with them. I could not see a problem. I was surprised to find out that they were not perfect. And that is exactly how a mutt owner would feel, they wouldn’t have a clue about the underlining health issues of their dogs, if they don’t show symptoms, and therefore they would declare the dog completely healthy.

Pure bred dogs can be bred like they were mutts though. That means, that you take two dogs of the same breed, stick them together and see what happens. It may or may not cause problems. In the long run, it probably will. When a reputable breeder mates dogs, he will have both parents hip scored and eye checked, see the lineage of dogs to ensure they are not closely related unless he wants to reinforce certain genetic trade. He will probably have an idea of what colours he should expect from the litter and avoid using two dogs with similar health problems, reducing the risk of producing sick off-spring. Because genetic manipulation isn’t done, it is impossible to weed out health problems, which a breeder probably would do if he could. Mutts are not immune to genetic diseases, in fact, they can have any mix of bad genes and you wouldn’t have a clue. You won’t hear about sick mutts that much though, because the diseases are not recorded, nor are they of any great interest to anyone. Who would care that some one’s mutt has a disease of some kind, probably just a fluke anyway, right? And who knows where they got the dog from, probably some puppy farm, and you never know about them! And so what, his mix is completely different to my mix, so it wouldn’t really effect me anyway! Ignorance is a blitz.

That is not to say that every pure bred breeder is a responsible one. Good heavens no. They have a lot more reason to lie to you about their motivations, successes and failures than guy with a litter of accidents. They can also get so wrapped up into their image as a breeder, that they can lie about test scores and even use different dogs than what they claim they used in breeding. The kennel clubs are fighting against fraud all the time, but nobody controls the mutt market. I can check an official registry online for any health records in Finland for each dog that has ever checked. I can see if they’re not checked. I can see their show results and their field results. I can see if they are microchipped so I can be sure it’s the right dog. You can not attend a show without a microchip or id tattoo anymore, so that the dog shown is surely the one that it’s supposed to be. Most countries have banned docked dogs from shows, while the breeders applaud. (Some don’t though.) You can’t even use hair spray on poodles in some countries. Most dog owners stop showing their dogs if the dogs seem not to enjoy the shows. A lot of them LOVE dog shows though, you should go see sometime if you think it’s abusive.

I cannot swear that every breeder is doing what is best for the dogs, just the same as you can’t swear that every mutt has been brought to this world with responsible motives. We all just want what’s best for the dogs, and we cannot just down right say that you’re wrong and you should stop doing what you do. We can educate each other of our own methods, and give each other the benefit of a doubt and a bit of understanding. Don’t throw the puppy out with the bath water.

Popularity: 46%

This here is my dog. Cute, isn’t he? Looks very friendly and cuddly, doesn’t he? Most of the time, that is exactly what he is too. He is the most loving and friendly dog with adults and over 7-year olds or so, which would be all that he should be fine with in his every day life. He is not at all used to young children though, especially toddlers… And that is where we constantly get into trouble.

Now, this would not be any kind of a problem if people would just listen to me… But here’s what happened today – and this is not an isolated incident.

Me and the dog were sitting outside at a café minding our own business, when a father carrying about a 2 year old son came to us. Without warning or questions, he shoved his kid into Primo’s face. I told him to be careful, as my dog isn’t used to kids, but the father smiled with the most heart warming smile and said “that’s fine.” Now I repeated myself, putting my hand out in the gesture, that to most people say “stop, stay away, don’t come close” and told him again, that my dog is not good with kids, and that he might bark. “That’s fine”, said the man, and pushed his kid closer, while Primo was escaping further down under the table. “He’s not used to kids” I said the third time, and he repeated, for the third time, that it was fine, and moved closer following the dog towards the depth of the table. I heard Primo letting out a low growl as he was pressing himself against my leg, so I informed the man, who I wasn’t sure heard it from the general noise. I can’t recall what he said, but my guess would be “that’s fine”. I expected that the announcement that the dog is growling, a generally understood message of aggression, would make him go away but no.

I was trying to speak calmly to the father, and reason with him and make him understand that the situation was not “fine”, because I didn’t want to scare the kid by starting screaming myself. Obviously that is what I should have done, because at that point Primo was already freaking out, and let out a huge German Sheppard size bark, that is supposed to say: “Get the fuck away from me before I bite your freaking head off!” The kid got it. He certainly got it. He started screaming, and I could make out the words “he will bite me”. All I could say was “that was what I meant” and look at him apolitically. “That’s fine” he said again, and continued to the kid “That’s fine, he’s just not used to kids…” (Like it would matter to a two year old WHY the big bad dog barked at him.) “Oh, you heard me after all?!” I thought to myself, but just clenched my teeth and tried to smile for as long as he went away. What I wanted to say, was that “No, you stupid idiot, it’s not FINE. It’s not even in the same ball park as FINE. If it would have happened, that my dog would have bitten your kid that you shoved in his face regardless of my warnings, it would have been my dogs fault and he would have ended up dead in this FINE situation. It is not FINE, because your kid will now grow up thinking that dogs hate him, when in fact it is nothing but their uncertain movement that makes dogs nervous.”

Dogs react to toddlers differently to other people. Toddlers are almost without an exception scared of dogs at some level, and therefore they approach with hesitation, even when they do it themselves. That makes the dog assume, that the kid is up to no good, and he wants to HARM ME. That is when they can react unexpectedly, by barking or by biting, and neither one is a good outcome.

What I have found, is that this is so very often a situation with men with their sons. For some reason, I’ve noticed that little boys are more scared of dogs than little girls are, maybe because it’s a male thing to see animals as beasts instead of cuddly toys, or possibly because their dads keep shoving them into faces of strange dogs. Is it some sort of a male ego thing, that you have to force your toddler to pat a dog he’s terrified off? “No kid of mine is scared of a spaniel!” And at the same time the twit makes things worse… And then they have to get out of the situation with a bit of an embarrassed look on their faces as they must admit that their kid was, after all, afraid of a spaniel. (Mothers usually ask if it is fine for the kid to pat the dog and when I tell them “probably not a good idea” they move away, which is all I’m asking.)

I was already thinking of getting a fucking pepper spray to protect my dog and their kids from stupid fathers with a point to prove, but I think I’ll just have to find that tone of voice that says: “I am fucking not kidding, man, keep your kid away from my dog or I will bite you.”

Popularity: 32%

I bet you have heard the tip of activating your dog by hiding treats for him to find. Today, I did that in reverse, and found myself activated as well as the dog. I gave the dog two small meaty bones as he needs 325 grams of stuff per serving, and I didn’t have the right size handy, so I gave him two. So he picks the other one, puts it in the middle of the yard and then runs to get the other one from his bowl. He then runs with this piece around the garden trying to find a place to hide it while he eats the other one. He is the funniest dog when he is on a mission. His head sinks into line with the body, and his steps turn steady and haste, making his long fur fly around him like the cape of a super hero.

Looking very determined he snoops around the yard and then hides the bone behind a rose bush. I don’t know if he dug a hole for it, but I could see his tail sticking out of the bush for some time before he got out and ran back to the first piece of bone to finish that one off. You betcha, that when I let him out the next time he’ll be straight at the bush – that is if the big bad black dog comes in first and finds his stash, which I think he might…

Popularity: 5%

I was appalled today when I read a story about a stray dog starved to death at an art exhibition. I feel physically ill thinking of it. What on earth are these people thinking? How do they justify it, I don’t understand.

The problem here isn’t the artists themselves, as there are fucking lunatics in this world, who rape, molest, beat to death, torture and murder others for the pleasure of it. We don’t need to understand these people, we just need to stop them. What makes these art exhibitions terrifying is the fact that nobody does a thing to stop an artist, because an artist has some sort of an authority over “normal” people. If an “artist” says it’s OKAY to kill a dog or rape a child for the sake of art, who are we to tell him not to?

The other example, child raping, didn’t come to reality thanks to my friend who denied this person from coming to a performance festival. But just to let you in on the mind of this “performance artist”. His idea was to come in, and ask for volunteers from the audience, children. Then he would molest them on the stage in front of their parents and so forth. That was his idea of a good show. Fortunately there’s still some limits to artists, and he was told that he is not welcome anywhere near the festival.

Unfortunately, this dog starvation performance is reality. The artist has been invited to do the same performance again. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Has the world gone mad all over again? Who are the people who invite him? Who is this person who convinces them that it’s a great idea? What are they planning to achieve?

There is a petition you can sign to try and stop him from doing this again. Signing it may not help, but it won’t hurt either. You can find it here.

Popularity: 1%

Australia is a fantastic place for dogs – at least if you compare it to Finland, where we came from. One of the advantages is an easy access to butchers scraps, that make excellent and inexpensive dog food. Quite surprisingly, not all people know what excellent food it is! I mentioned “barfing” to a veterinarian, who looked at me with wide open eyes and said she’d never heard of such diet, and a shop keeper asked what we were planning to cook of lamb neck that we got. She said a lot of customers buy them for dogs, but she could not phantom her dog, a German Shepard of all things, to eat raw meat! We told her that raw meat and bones is excellent food, and cooking only makes the bones splinter and create a danger of cutting holes in their intestines, but raw stuff is just the way the nature intended.

BARF comes from words bones and raw food, but as simple as it sounds, there is a whole science behind it. However, it can sound more complicated than what it is – after all, unlike what you think, a piece of meat probably contains more nutrients than any processed dog food you can find on the market shells. (Sometimes when I forget to go to the butchers, I do buy a can of dog food, but cans only. Dry food is mainly useless.)

One thing that clearly tells you how much of the food your dog actually uses, is the size of his poop. I can tell you that the difference between the size of dry food poop to a beef poop is MASSIVE. Most of the dry food comes back literally untouched.

I’m far from expert at this myself yet, but I am convinced that if you have a butcher near by, you should take advantage of his services and ask for some off cuts and scraps for your dogs. Some even give them away, but the others take a dollar or two for them. And it is all usable. (So if you’re tight with money, and you don’t have a dog, there’s a tip for you. Some of the pieces the butchers throw away, look absolutely lip smacking good.) Like my husband said: “A dog never misses out in Australia.” :p

If you want to know more, please check out this FAQ for beginners for example.

Popularity: 2%

Did you know that dogs don’t sweat? I recently came into an understanding, that it wasn’t such common knowledge as I always thought it was. Dogs don’t have the glands to sweat, and the way they reduce body heat is by panting. The longer their tongue hangs out, the more they reduce heat. Sweating on the other hand, makes the skin damp so that it can sense any movement of air in form of sweat evaporating and thus feeling cool on the skin. Most animals don’t have the ability to actually sense moving air in any other way than pressure on the skin and sense of hair moving, but as their skin stays dry (unless they get wet in water) they don’t have the sense of cool air on the skin. Therefore trying to cool down an animal with a fan is utterly useless, as they won’t know the difference – apart from some animals like horses, that are notorious of their sweat (or foam).

There you have some random information, that I for some reason tend to collect up in my brain a lot…

Popularity: 1%