Now for one of my favorite non-doggie videos. This was taken in the evening, just after sunset. There were some clouds and the missile is seen emerging from behind them near Venus and above the roofline of my house. This was a great time for a launch to occur – we were heading into darkness but the missile exhaust was in sunlight.
This is the final video from our field training day on December 23, 2011, at Prado Dog Recreation in Chino, California. This is Kaywin, daughter of Dijon and sister to Firefly. Kaywin had a litter of pups in September 2011 and this is her first foray back out to the field. She’s not quite as driven as sister Firefly, but she can get the job done!
Firefly’s first time out field training after a LONG lay-off that included time in the conformation ring in Canada and the USA plus having a litter of pups. In this video taken at Prado Dog Recreation in Chino, California, on December 23, 2011, she is just starting to put her coat back on from having puppies in June 2011.
Her strong points are desire and drive. Her weak points, which are really my weak points, are her line manners. We’ll be working on those over the next few months!
One of the hallmarks of a responsible breeder is performing breed specific health checks on their dogs. Most breed parent clubs, such as the Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) and the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Club (USA) (NSDTRC (USA)), recommend the minimum health clearances that are tested for on breeding dogs. As an example, GRCA recommends four basic health clearances:
While NSDTRC (USA) recommends three minimum clearances:
The reason for performing health checks on parents is to produce sound, healthy, unaffected offspring. However, a puppy buyer must realize that these clearances are not a 100% guarantee that their puppy will be unaffected. Performing these health checks should be thought of as improving the odds of producing healthy pups. Currently, the only health clearances that can guarantee unaffected offspring are the recently developed DNA tests.
One health certificate that puppy buyers may be presented with by a breeder is a “CHIC Certificate” or “CHIC Number”. The Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) collects health results from different sources and combines them all on one form. Here is an example of a CHIC certificate issued on a Golden Retriever:
Note that the “REQUIRED TESTS” are the basic four tests recommended by GRCA. There are also “OTHER TESTS” listed which are optional testing that can be performed on breeding dogs.
Here is a CHIC certificate issued on a Toller:
Once again, note that the “REQUIRED TESTS” are those recommended by the breed parent club, NSDTRC (USA), and that additional tests are listed under “OTHER TESTS”.
One thing to realize about CHIC certificates is that they may be issued to dogs that did not pass a particular clearance. If a dog has all required tests done and the breeder authorizes public release of failed tests, the dog will be issued a CHIC number. Here is an example of a Golden Retriever that did not clear elbows, but received a CHIC certificate:
“DJD II UR” stands for “Degenerative Joint Disease Grade II Unilateral Right” which means this dog had arthritis detected on x-ray in his right elbow. So it is important for the puppy buyer to look at the individual health test results listed on the CHIC certificate to make sure the dog did not fail one of the clearances.
In future blog posts, I will go over each individual health clearance, show examples of the certificates/reports issued by the organizations that do the clearances, and explain how to understand the clearance gibberish (ex.: GR-PA74/23M/P-PI).
Dijon had a great day! She went field training with her two daughters, Kaywin and Firefly, at Prado Dog Recreation in Chino, California. At 11 1/2 years old, she’s a little slower going up the hills, but that doesn’t stop her enjoyment.
Leeloo had a recheck at the reproduction vet today. Dr. Casey was kind enough to print out a picture of one of the pups. The skull and the spine are visible in the picture. The pups are on about day 45.
Dog Show Person Reacting To Hearing "Confirmation Show"
There is nothing that can make a long-time dog show person twitch like Bill the Cat more than someone saying “confirmation show” instead of “conformation show”. I’ve heard it said by non-dog show people (a strange breed), “newbies”, and even experienced doggie people.
Ok, here’s how to remember which is correct. At a “conformation” show, the judge is trying to decide which dog “conforms” best to the written standard of the breed.
If you really need to use the “I” word, then you can say that the judge’s job is to “confirm” which dog “conforms” best to the standard!
I thought I would put some of my past YouTube videos here.
This one is from January 2010. Dijon is crazy about her ‘egg ball’ and had a good time playing with it as the snow was coming down.
This was a rather long response to a friend on Facebook about Progressives being UnAmerican. I decided to turn it into a blog post:
Progressives don’t believe in the Constitution and Individual Rights. If someone doesn’t believe in what is written in the Constitution or The Declaration of Independence, how can they possibly be a “true” American? Progressives believe in Social Justice as opposed to Justice for Individuals. An Individual’s Right to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness are the ideas that America was founded on. The Progressive’s destructive march towards Socialism/Marxism is antithetical to what our Founding Fathers established. Americans are (should be) free to believe anything they want and to do anything they want so long as they don’t harm another. Progressives don’t believe that. They believe Big Government has the right to make you do what is good for the collective. That is so very wrong and that is what I mean by UnAmerican.
All the bad dog laws we have fought are just a small symptom of the Progressive ideas that are permeating ALL aspects of our lives. It is leading to our destruction.
I certainly don’t want to insult individual people, but Americans need to wake up to what has been done to them; NO, we need to wake up to what we have passively allowed to be done to us, and we need to stand up, take responsibility, and say “ENOUGH”! We have allowed ourselves to be pushed towards a system that enslaves and has never done anything but fail and cause misery. It is once again failing in Europe. The Europeans are starting to wake up to their plight, unfortunately probably too late, and they are wondering what the hell is the USA doing still heading down that road? It is absolutely irrational behavior.
Personally, after having been ‘asleep’ politically for most of my adult life, fighting ‘dog laws’ began my awakening. I have discovered my beliefs are Libertarian. I want Big Gov the hell out of my life and back to its original role as described in the Constitution. I’m a former life-long Democrat who has awakened to find the Democrats no longer believe in Individual Rights but in Socialist ideology. I am not a Republican although I may agree with their conservative beliefs on government & economics even though they don’t follow these ideals all too often since Progressivism is found in both parties. I certainly do not agree with Republican social conservatism.
I’m one of the many Americans who are suddenly waking up and going “what the hell has happened?” We are at fault for having allowed the Progressives on both the Right and the Left to head Our Country towards the brink of destruction.
Remember, at the close of the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government the Constitution was bringing into existence. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Unfortunately, we are currently failing in our duty as American Citizens to keep the Republic intact.
The Audi Green Police video:
How I would have this commercial end:
A stunning classic American muscle car pulls out from the line of cars with engine revvin’ and horn a-blowin’. It would race pass the PC GPs while the driver is whooping it up. The waiting sheep would see the error of their ways and follow the muscle car down the road to FREEDOM!
After all, Green Is The New Red.
The sniffer anteater is hysterical!
