Friday, March 25, 2011

Sleep over continued....

Inside we had fun playing with toys.  Here is Titan playing with the boomerang.

And the Orange ball...















The boys sleepy after all the playing they did.
















It was tons of fun to have two berners!! I guess like they say you can't just have one :-D Although Titan had lots of fun, I think he was very happy to see his family the next day.  After Titan's departure Aspen was once again the center of our world... sigh... he is a bit spoiled and was slightly jealous when Titan was visiting.  We are going to have some work to do when we finally bring another puppy home!!

Sleep Over

Last weekend we had a guest :-) Our neighbor Titan popped over for the weekend while his family was out of town. Titan is obviously a berner and is about a month older then Aspen.  Below is a picture of the two of them.  Aspen is on the left and Titan is on the right.


Lucky for us we had some nice weather. Here is Titan and Aspen playing some ball... well Titan stopped to smile for a photo :-)


Titan also had a great time digging.  I think he is almost to China!!

I was sad I cut Aspen's nose off but look at that take off!!

Inside Titan and Picasso met.  While Titan did like to follow the kitty around and smell him, no major problems.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Berner Garde, Silvers Twisten Oliver's Story & My thoughts on Breeding.

Berner Garde

In January those of you who read this on a regular basis know that we went to the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of the Greater Twin Cities.  At that play pals event they had a mini clinic on Berner Garde.  Berner Garde  is data base with a sort of genealogy for all Bernese Mountian Dogs.  It contains Birth and death dates,  health information, tittles, and even a spot to put a picture of you dog!!  It's very neat and is very useful when researching breeders and dogs. Although the data base is very helpful in the search for a puppy, during the meeting we learned that it is important for "just" pet dogs to enter their info.  This gives feedback to the breeder as well as future puppy buyers of the kinds of puppies being produced.

Silvers Twisten Oliver

After attending the clinic we entered Aspen into Berner Garde data base and started searching. If you want to look him up his BG# is 77808.  I was very surprised to see Aspen's family even on the data base. I found some birth dates but not much else.  One of Aspen's sisters can be found but no information on the owner.  I kept searching until I ran across Aspen's great grandfather Silvers Twisten Oliver.  There was a birth date, death date and health information.  In the space provided for rescues was BARC. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened with him? Why was he in a rescue?

I was unable to contact the person who had rescued him initially because his info was not available on the BG site (you have the option to remove your contact info from the public).  I then decided to googled the original owner of the dog.  He was no where to be found. At this point I decided to contacted the owners of Aspen's grandmother Sharon's Mellow Marla (Oliver's daughter). The individuals that owned Aspen's grandmother were very reluctant to tell me anything about the dog other then she retired in 2008.  They wouldn't even tell me if she was alive.  They continued to be very defensive with questions.   I'd hit a road block.  I wasn't sure if  Berner Garde operators would give out the rescuers info, so I requested that they give him my email, but it turned out that they were able to give me his email address we got in contact.  He was able to answer all my questions and told me Oliver's story.

Oliver was rescued in 2006 with another berner named Sammy from a horrible place!  He and the other dog were the last of the breeders berners and had been placed in a news paper add for sale.   When some people went out to the farm to look at the dogs they saw who they think to be Aspen's grandfather carrying the jaw of another dog!!  The breeder explained that the other dog had been killed by coyotes but even so he left the dog out there for the others to eat.  Sammy the other dog was only about 43lbs!! After seeing the conditions they contacted the Rescue and both dogs were removed. Sadly Oliver died only one month after being rescued at the age of about 5 with some sort of cancer :-( For only a month Oliver knew what it was like to live in a home.  He was a stud dog his entire life and that was pretty much it.  He never got to go for car rides, snuggle on the couch, play tug-a-war, chase a ball, go to the park, get treats... it's sad.  Sammy went on to move to CA and lived there 4 years a very happy dog.  He died at the age of 11.

Breeding Programs

While I cringe at the thought of supporting what I would consider a puppy mill, I am so very thankful we got Aspen out of there.  Maybe it's a little bit of fate that I didn't do what I was suppose to? I truly think that Aspen and I were ment to find one another.  While I will never go down that road again Aspen was a once in a life time find!  He has taught me so much about dogs, life, and even myself. He is our best friend who is loved and adored everyday.

As for our future puppy I have some new ideas about breeding now and have picked up some pretty strict rules.  

#1 I will not buy a puppy from someone that does it for a source of income.  It's is impossible for the goal of making money not to interfere with the breeding program.  Think about it more puppies more money regardless of how thoughtful they are in selecting mating pairs.

#2 They must have all their dogs on Berner Garde and have up to date info.  This way I can do my own homework.

#3 The breeder must have ALL health clearances done and I want to see hips, elbows, eyes, heart, thyroid, DM, VWB.- I think that's all of them.

#4 They must be active in BMDCA.  They hold breeders up to certain standards.

#5 They also must be active in show.  I know sometimes dog shows seem sort of "snobby". Some people at the shows are but it cannot be argued that they are looking for evaluation on their dogs.  Evaluation so that they can maintain or even make a better dog.

#6 I want a breeder that is also involved in rescue.  

#7 They must truly love their dogs. Meaning never ever getting rid of an adult dog after retirement. I want a breeder who has a bond and attachment to their dogs.  The way they want me to bond and attach to their puppy. I want our next dog from a long line of dogs getting rides in the car, playing tug-a-war, sleeping on the couch, playing ball, going for walks, and being loved... What about you?

I value ALL of these things because I LOVE the Bernese Mountain Dogs.  I want breeders to produce a better long lived Berner.  This said even if I found the most perfect breeder in the world... things can still go wrong and your dog can still get sick :-(  In life there is no certainties, but I do believe that carful breeding can improve the odds.  The point of all this is that we want to be educated buyers and we want to support the health and longevity of the breed. After all isn't that why we have pure bred dog in the first place? 

Sunday, March 13, 2011

NEWS: Random post about what's going on here with the Big Paw Berner

I haven't posted anything specifically about Aspen as of late so I thought I would update.  Last weekend we had more tummy trouble and on Sunday night Aspen was NOT himself at all.  Ray and I decided "this is it!!" we are going to take him to the University of Minnesota!  We wanted to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

So lucky for us we got in Tuesday.  Being a paramedic and the fact that I live about 7 miles from the world renowned Mayo clinic I had this expectation for greatness!  I expected a team that would collaborate and figure this out.  That my dog was going to be the focus of some intense medical care. I was sadly disappointed :-(

No super team came in to see Aspen just a 4 year vet student and a resident. I was told management was the best option.  Something I'd been told before by other vets.  Seriously?? This was a very expensive visit to yet again leave without answers. 

On a side bar it reminds me of the time we thought Aspen was bloating.  Last summer Aspen started wretching. I can't think of anything else to describe it other then wretching. He really didn't have any clinical signs of being uncomfortable other then the wretching (violent coughing is maybe more descriptive). He did it maybe 3-4 times intermittently and we were off to the ER.  We called them in rout.  By the time we got there he had stopped. We brought him in and they gave him a can of dog food.  The vet had no idea why he did it.  I had a horrible time writing a $112 dollar check for a can of dog food.. If you can't tell I fall under the category of over protective dog parents apparently!!

Ok sorry back to the U..They did say that they may in fact be able to figure out what is causing Aspen's problems but are unenthusiastic that it would change treatment. For them to biopsy it would require putting him out and I do not feel that would be in his best interest at this point. 

In positive news they did a complete blood cell count and chemistry profile and everything came back great.  He is not losing weight at all. We put him on an antibiotic(Tylosin 625mg x2), Psyllium Fiber (2 table spoons per day), Fish oil, Probios (probiotic x1). That has helped and his tummy trouble has stopped. So we will see.  Our new vet had also suggested synacore digestive support.  She recently went to a conference and it had been suggested.  It has promising research to back it up but it's very new.  I'm going to do some of my own research and see if that is something we want to consider.  That is all the news on Aspen's tummy trouble.

In fun news we just got back from play pals Allignment park.  Aspen had a blast of course running and chasing all the other dogs :-) He also made some attempts at making friends with some non dog club members which is always precious to us!! Sorry about the lack of pictures ... I for got my camera in the car :-(

Stay tunned for more posts regarding Berner Garde-Silvers Oliver twists story, Clicker Training updates, and the big sleep over with Aspen's BFF Titan this weekend. 

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend... !!