More and more I�m appalled when I see people showing pictures of their dogs and puppies whether on one of the e-mail lists or on Facebook. What I�m appalled about is looking at the background of some of these pictures. I�m seeing a gazillion dogs cramped in one muddy, dirty looking dog run after another. I�m seeing dog houses that are ready to fall in on their occupants. I�m seeing filthy looking puppies that look like they roll around in their urine and feces all day. I�m seeing many more dogs than the owner can possibly give the much needed attention that they all deserve.
I�m seeing nails that look like claws, and ears that look as though they�ve never been cleaned. Some of these people are �proudly� displaying these pictures and are advertising their animals for sale. Even sadder is seeing the positive comments that people write about the pictures that they are looking at. Besides feeling sorry for the poor dogs, who wants to buy them? I mean really. Coming from a filthy environment, how can one expect the dogs to be healthy?
Now I understand that this time of the year when the springtime is "trying" to sneak in the backdoor of "Old Mister Winter" that along with the warmer weather, she brings the sticky, yucky mud right along with her. We all have dogs that track more than a few muddy paw prints in on the kitchen floor. This is part of normal dog ownership. But I'm not talking about a few muddy paw prints. I'm talking about dogs that are literally living in the mud! It's one thing that they are, but letting the public see it, well let's just say that they're advertising the fact that their dogs are very poorly kept.
Throughout my lifetime involvement with the German Shepherd Dog breed, I have been to some very well known breeders kennels as well as the smaller less known breeders. Let me tell you, being well known doesn�t necessarily mean their kennels and therefore, their dogs are being very well taken care of. Some of these animals only feel a brush going through their coats to make them look pretty just for the show ring. Once it�s all over, back to their �not so nice� kennel enclosure they go. Now I�m not talking about people that are poor. I�m talking about dogs that are kept poorly!!! You can be poor, but be clean.
And how about those dog bowls and water buckets? I bet those bowls don�t know what hot water and soap feels like. The water buckets match the color of the mud that the dog is running through. I mean how much does it cost to give your dog fresh, clean water every day? How much effort does it take to pick up those dog dishes and soak them in hot soapy water?
I have a friend that bought one his Select champions from a breeder that told me that the mother of the dog was decorated in caked on mud and when he went into the breeder�s home, he was afraid to touch anything for fear of all the germs that he was sure to contact. Yuck!
I went to a very well known breeder one time that owned some of the top producing Select dogs in the country. I mean if you went in his back yard, one dog was more outstanding than the other as they gaited through piles of thick ice and snow laden with dog droppings. Oh he was a very well liked old guy alright and boy could he breed some great dogs. But those great dogs lived in not so great living conditions. Looking at the man�s house neither did him or his family.
Why just a couple of weeks ago, a breeder calls me up and asked me if I saw some puppy�s pictures that were being advertised on Facebook. I told her that I did. Then she asked me, did I notice the person�s house where the pups were set up. I did. What she was saying is the place was a mess. Now I�m not going to win the �Martha Stewart� award for the best kept house in the dog world, but if I were advertising puppies, I would make sure that the place I was taking their pictures wouldn�t attest to the fact that I need to hire a housekeeper!
The way a person takes care of their dogs and their living quarters says a lot about that person. Many times if the dogs are kept dirty, the owner isn�t that much better. Certainly people that advertise their dogs looking like this and showing the environment that they live in one could easily say that �truth comes to advertising!� What you see is truly what you get!!! Dropping a bowl of food on the ground and in some cases, dropping the food on the ground without a bowl��well let�s just say that animals deserve better than this!
From the book: "It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff"......This book changed my life! Veteran "organizational consultant," TV show host and author Walsh (How to Organize (Just About) Everything) has more ideas in his latest book on clutter management than the spare closet has junk, and, even better, it's organized, in-depth and entirely user-friendly. Part One examines the "Clutter Problem": how it happens, how it hampers and how to face it without excuses or discouragement. Part Two presents a step-by-step approach to "Putting Clutter in its Place," which begins with "surface clutter" and developing a household plan before moving on to the bulk of the book, a walk through of each room in the home. Also included are ideas for involving other family members, letters Walsh has received from viewers of his TLC show "Clean Sweep," vignettes illustrating how real people deal with common organizational challenges and plenty of charts, checklists and sidebars ("Clutter Quiz," "Yard Sale Planning") for added utility. Walsh is upbeat and funny throughout, treating the task at hand like "a thrilling archeological dig," a "positive and exciting" way to unlock your "ideal home" and "unearth those things that are most important in your life." Entertaining and instructive, this is one guidebook readers should place in their "keep" pile.
My rating: Dogs deserve clean living quarters: (4)
Showing posts with label dog kennels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog kennels. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Friday, 3 September 2010
SO YOU WANT TO BREED A LITTER OF PUPPIES - (Part 4)
So your girl is digging up her papers in her whelping box. She�s shredding them with her teeth. She�s whining and is naturally restless. She might run out of the box and then jump back in. She circles some more. You see her first contraction. Most German Shepherd bitches don�t have too many problems when they deliver their puppies. But there are those few times that things don�t always go as you had hoped. That�s why I said you should have your vet on call.
Some breeders let their bitches do all the work and don�t interfere with the birthing process. I�m not one of those breeders. I am very hands on. Each and every puppy is valuable to me and I want to make sure that I give it every chance for survival. Losing a puppy or even puppies is something we all want to avoid. For the new mother, I believe it�s even more important to be right there when she is giving birth for the first time. I want to be on top of any problems while they are happening. I don�t want to walk in the room after a problem and it�s too late to save a puppy or the mother is in distress.
When the puppy is delivered, the most important thing to do is to remove the sac from the head that the puppy is in. Then I take the puppy and rub him with a soft towel and open his little mouth to make sure it�s not filled with mucous. Normally when I rub the puppy, he will let out a little (or sometimes a big) cry. This is good as it opens his air passages so he can breathe. I also cut the umbilical cord although most of the time the mother will do this. My main focus is that the puppy is breathing normally. I put the puppy down so the mother can lick and clean him. Most of the time the puppy with look to nurse right away. Sometimes you have to encourage them by placing them on a nipple. If he�s still reluctant, I make sure I squeeze the nipple to expel some milk to entice the puppy. Then there are those that take a little longer to nurse. Sometimes the trauma of birth is exhausting to the puppy and he just lies there resting. If all is well, he�ll come around and nurse on his own.
Remember to keep the puppies warm at all times. You don�t want them to get a chill. In between the mother delivering her puppies, I will normally put the puppies that she already delivered in a box with a plush towel in it so they don�t get stepped on while she�s delivering her next puppy. I keep the box in the whelping box so as not to stress the mother and to ensure that they remain warm.
Sometimes your bitch will run into delivery problems. Some of those reasons can be because the puppy is huge and the mother is having a hard time delivering him. This is when it�s wise to have two people there when she�s delivering. Sometimes when she is contracting you can help gently guide the puppy out, but many times because of his size this is a painful birth. So if one person can gently hold the mother�s head while the other person removes the puppy, it can make it easier on everyone. I hate breech births��you see the puppies little feet and tail sticking out of the mother and the sac is already broken. Then she sometime sucks him back up and you�re ready to pull your hair out.
Other problems that can arise is that the puppy is laying across the birth canal and you may have to gently turn him around because he will not be able to be delivered in that position. Then you can have a bitch that has uterine inertia which I�ve already written an article about on this blog. This is when the bitch has delivered a puppy or even several pups and she stops contracting. There are still puppies inside her, but she�s no longer contracting. Call your vet immediately for advice. I told you one of my bitches did this every time she delivered puppies���.that was the biscuit eater that I mentioned earlier in this article. I lost a few puppies with this bitch in her first litter because of this condition. I was better prepared in her next litters. My vet was on call all the time with this girl.
The mother will be exhausted while she is delivering her babies. I like to offer her a little refreshment in between delivering her puppies. Sometimes they will drink a little water. Other times they won�t. The last litter I had, I offered the mother some vanilla ice cream. She loved it and it also helped with her contractions.
When the mother is finally finished delivering her puppies, take her out to go potty while you stay with her to make sure she doesn�t deposit another puppy on the lawn. Sometimes a bitch will eat a little food when she is finished with her delivery. Give her whatever she wants to help restore some of her energy.
Check the puppies to make sure they are all breathing correctly and nursing on the mother. Watch for any puppies that lay off on their own away from the mother. Sometimes the mother will even push a puppy aside. This may indicate that the puppy is sickly. So watch for this. Many breeders will have weighed each puppy and made note of it in a journal that they keep on their litters. I always kept one for each of my litters and I would write in it everyday reporting on their progress.
Normally your vet will want to see the mother the next day and he will give her a pit shot (it helps clean her out). Many breeders have this shot on hand and will do it themselves. It will help expel any afterbirth that did not come out with the puppies.
Okay, so now you have your first litter. The mother and babies are content and resting peacefully. Now the fun begins. The raising of those puppies is when your work really starts.
To be continued��.
DESIGNERS EDGE E-240 INCANDESCENT BROODER LIGHT - The Incandescent Brooder Light comes with a 9' Cord and 10.5" aluminum shade with a wire guard. The heavy duty clamp and hanging hook make it easy to hang. It has a 250 watt bulb socket. It has a 1 year limited warranty, no bulbs are included.
My rating: Breeding puppies: (1 - 4)
Some breeders let their bitches do all the work and don�t interfere with the birthing process. I�m not one of those breeders. I am very hands on. Each and every puppy is valuable to me and I want to make sure that I give it every chance for survival. Losing a puppy or even puppies is something we all want to avoid. For the new mother, I believe it�s even more important to be right there when she is giving birth for the first time. I want to be on top of any problems while they are happening. I don�t want to walk in the room after a problem and it�s too late to save a puppy or the mother is in distress.
When the puppy is delivered, the most important thing to do is to remove the sac from the head that the puppy is in. Then I take the puppy and rub him with a soft towel and open his little mouth to make sure it�s not filled with mucous. Normally when I rub the puppy, he will let out a little (or sometimes a big) cry. This is good as it opens his air passages so he can breathe. I also cut the umbilical cord although most of the time the mother will do this. My main focus is that the puppy is breathing normally. I put the puppy down so the mother can lick and clean him. Most of the time the puppy with look to nurse right away. Sometimes you have to encourage them by placing them on a nipple. If he�s still reluctant, I make sure I squeeze the nipple to expel some milk to entice the puppy. Then there are those that take a little longer to nurse. Sometimes the trauma of birth is exhausting to the puppy and he just lies there resting. If all is well, he�ll come around and nurse on his own.
Remember to keep the puppies warm at all times. You don�t want them to get a chill. In between the mother delivering her puppies, I will normally put the puppies that she already delivered in a box with a plush towel in it so they don�t get stepped on while she�s delivering her next puppy. I keep the box in the whelping box so as not to stress the mother and to ensure that they remain warm.
Sometimes your bitch will run into delivery problems. Some of those reasons can be because the puppy is huge and the mother is having a hard time delivering him. This is when it�s wise to have two people there when she�s delivering. Sometimes when she is contracting you can help gently guide the puppy out, but many times because of his size this is a painful birth. So if one person can gently hold the mother�s head while the other person removes the puppy, it can make it easier on everyone. I hate breech births��you see the puppies little feet and tail sticking out of the mother and the sac is already broken. Then she sometime sucks him back up and you�re ready to pull your hair out.
Other problems that can arise is that the puppy is laying across the birth canal and you may have to gently turn him around because he will not be able to be delivered in that position. Then you can have a bitch that has uterine inertia which I�ve already written an article about on this blog. This is when the bitch has delivered a puppy or even several pups and she stops contracting. There are still puppies inside her, but she�s no longer contracting. Call your vet immediately for advice. I told you one of my bitches did this every time she delivered puppies���.that was the biscuit eater that I mentioned earlier in this article. I lost a few puppies with this bitch in her first litter because of this condition. I was better prepared in her next litters. My vet was on call all the time with this girl.
The mother will be exhausted while she is delivering her babies. I like to offer her a little refreshment in between delivering her puppies. Sometimes they will drink a little water. Other times they won�t. The last litter I had, I offered the mother some vanilla ice cream. She loved it and it also helped with her contractions.
When the mother is finally finished delivering her puppies, take her out to go potty while you stay with her to make sure she doesn�t deposit another puppy on the lawn. Sometimes a bitch will eat a little food when she is finished with her delivery. Give her whatever she wants to help restore some of her energy.
Check the puppies to make sure they are all breathing correctly and nursing on the mother. Watch for any puppies that lay off on their own away from the mother. Sometimes the mother will even push a puppy aside. This may indicate that the puppy is sickly. So watch for this. Many breeders will have weighed each puppy and made note of it in a journal that they keep on their litters. I always kept one for each of my litters and I would write in it everyday reporting on their progress.
Normally your vet will want to see the mother the next day and he will give her a pit shot (it helps clean her out). Many breeders have this shot on hand and will do it themselves. It will help expel any afterbirth that did not come out with the puppies.
Okay, so now you have your first litter. The mother and babies are content and resting peacefully. Now the fun begins. The raising of those puppies is when your work really starts.
To be continued��.
DESIGNERS EDGE E-240 INCANDESCENT BROODER LIGHT - The Incandescent Brooder Light comes with a 9' Cord and 10.5" aluminum shade with a wire guard. The heavy duty clamp and hanging hook make it easy to hang. It has a 250 watt bulb socket. It has a 1 year limited warranty, no bulbs are included.
My rating: Breeding puppies: (1 - 4)
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