While I am not a vet, it seemed reasonable to me that removing organs which produce vital hormones before a dog was fully developed would cause developmental issues. I compare it to teenage girls and boys going through the puberty. Teenage years mean hormones are released which turn girls into young ladies with curves and boys into young men with muscles. Most obvious to us are male dogs neutered at a young age and how they lack muscle build and are “leggy” in appearance.

We personally prefer the well-developed muscle and build of a fully developed Golden Retriever and have advised families to  wait until the females goes through her first cycle and a male be at least a year old. While there are inconveniences associated with this decision, such as keeping a female from becoming pregnant, we personally do not mind the inconveniences in order to achieve full development of dogs. We would make this choice even if we were raising “pet only” dogs.

I discovered an article that was written by Laura J. Sanborn, M.S. “Long-Term Health Risks and Benefits Associated with Spay / Neuter in Dogs.” It is important for all pet owners to read this article, and take it to their vet in order to make a truly informed decision about spaying/neutering early. While there are inconveniences and risks with spay/neuter at a later age, there are also long-term health consequences for doing it at a young age.

A few health risks associated with spay/neuter dogs at a young age are:

• Osteosarcoma (bone cancer)
• Cardiac Hemangiosarcoma
• Hypothyroidism
• Orthopedic disorders
• Adverse reaction to vaccinations

Osteosarcoma is the third most common cause of death in Golden Retrievers and spay/neutering early “significantly” increases this risk.   Obesity is a great contributor to hip and joint problems.  Hypothyroidism is found to be in 1 out of 4 Golden Retrievers, which is often diagnosed with obesity.

We all know the problems with hip dysplasia in the large breed dogs.  Golden Retrievers are no exception.  Spay/neutering early has been shown to delay the closure of growth plates causing those bones to be significantly longer.  If spay/neutering is done when some growth plates have closed and others haven’t, it results in a dog having unnatural proportions and impacting the performance and long term durability of the joints.

Each choice has health risks and benefits.  Delaying spay/neutering has inconveniences associated with it also.  All must be weighed carefully in making a decision what is best for your dog.

You can download the full article at:  Long-Term Health Risks and Benefits Associated with Spay/Neuter in Dogs

This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with  2 legs.

He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.

His first owner also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of ‘putting him to sleep’.

But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him.

She became determined to teach and train this little dog to walk by himself.

She named him ‘Faith’.

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the movement.

Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him for standing up and jumping around.

Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk..

Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward.

After further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human being.

Faith loves to walk around now.

No matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.

He is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.

There is now a book entitled ‘With a Little Faith’ being published about him.

He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.
His present owner Jude Stringfellow has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul’.

In life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better you just need to look at life from another direction.

I  hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day.

Faith is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of life.

A small request: All you are asked to do is keep this story circulating.

Moleskin has journals for all occasions and that includes Dog Journals.  What a great idea!

I have several photos of my oldest Golden Retriever, Rusty, but I have never thought of writing and documenting his life, like I did my children.  Now, that he is 13 years old and in the last years of his life, I wish I had his life documented in such a beautiful way.

Our dogs are such a big part of our family and what a great way to be able to remember the relationship we shared with them when they are no longer with us.

Some of our Wisteria Golden families have been interested in training their puppy to eventually become a therapy dog.  The dog must pass a certification program in order to be allowed to visit hospitals, nursing homes, or other places where therapy dogs are needed.

The first step in qualifying for this certification is for your puppy to pass the American Kennel Club’s “Canine Good Citizen Test.”

Testing requires:

• Dogs must be tested on a plain buckle collar or harness.
• Dogs must be at least one year old in order to be tested
• Current rabies and required vaccines must be presented at testing

The first 10 requirements are the same for achieving the AKC Good Canine Citizen Award and Therapy Dogs Certification.  These requirements include:

1.      Accepting a Friendly Stranger*

2.      Sitting Politely for Petting

3.      Appearance and Grooming

4.      Out for a Walk (walking on a loose leash)

5.      Walking Through a Crowd

6.      Sit and Down on Command/Staying in Place

7.      Coming when Called

8.      Reaction to Another Dog

9.      Reactions to Distractions

10.   Supervised Separation

* This test includes being tested around medical equipment, such as a wheelchair, crutches, cane, walker or other devices ordinarily found in a facility.

There is one additional test beyond the AKC CGC the dog must know in order to complete the TDI certification:

11.   Say Hello

The TDI Certified Evaluator will test the willingness of each dog to visit a person and that the dog can be made readily accessible for petting.  (Small dogs can be placed on the person’s lap or be held; medium or larger dogs can sit on a chair or stand close to the patient to be easily reached)

In order to be a good candidate for a therapy dog, the dog must be able to work well around all types of people, including children.  The dog will be observed for their reaction toward children playing, running or in the general presence at the testing site.  Any negative reaction will result in automatic failure.

To learn more about AKC’s Good Citizen Program visit their website at: http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/

To learn more about TDI Testing and their requirements visit their website at: http://www.tdi-dog.org/

We would love to hear from our families that have achieved either of these rewards and showcase them on our website.

Really?

I called and ask my vet and he said, “Yes, there is “canine flu.”  Who knew?

I asked, “How can I tell if my pet has the flu?”

He stated, “The same way we know when we have the flu.  Fever, cough, runny nose, achy, and your dog will feel really bad.”   They recently had a dog test positive and he was so sick, he almost died!  Wow, how scary.

Canine influenza is a highly contagious respiratory infection in dogs and often misdiagnosed as kennel cough or tracheobronchitis.

My next question was, “Can I catch the flu from my pet or they catch it from me?”

“No, it is a different strain and is not transferred from canine to human.”

I come home and in the mail I get my new AKC Family Dog Magazine and there is an article titled “Controlling the Canine Flu.”

I am not an advocate for more vaccines.  I think we are over vaccinating our animal in the United States and it has contributed to health issues our pets are experiencing.  I do think though that families should be aware of these type of illnesses and what they can do to prevent their dog from getting sick.  As with humans, getting plenty of rest, good nutritional support for their immune system, and proper exercise helps to keep our pets healthy.

Check out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to learn more and see if your dog is exposed to any of the high risk factors.

Let’s keep our pets safe!

Sue and Pete just can’t figure it out. Their once housetrained, calm dog has become psychotic. Dear Suzie is now peeing all over the house, cowers and shakes when the phone rings and goes into an absolute panic when the smoke detector starts tweeting when the battery is getting low.

Sharon’s dog Max used to love kids but now growls and lunges when he sees them in the distance.

Fritz the Labrador retriever used to love to play with other dogs. His owner can’t figure out why he almost killed at dog at the dog park the last time he was there.

My dog Reggie winces and screams when I throw a ball for him. He cringes when I pour his kibble into his metal food bowl.

Can you guess what these dogs have in common?

Quick fixes are so alluring when you’re training your dog. Perhaps you’ve seen the displays of shock collars and electric fencing systems in your local pet store. Maybe you read a dog training book that suggests that you throw a can of noisy rocks near your dog or spray him with a water to get him to stop jumping up and grabbing things off your counter.

The fact is, when you use scare tactics to attempt to train your dog, you can create problems you may never be able to remedy.

Let’s look at dear Suzie, the once-sweet dog who is now acting psychotic. In recent months, her family decided to install an electric fencing system. They followed the training protocol and taught her that the beep of her collar predicted that she’d get shocked if she proceeded across the property line. That made a big impression on Suzie. She only got shocked a couple of times but, now, has learned to stay within the boundaries of the yard. The problem is that other sounds are now reminding her of the beeping sound of the collar: the cell phone, the smoke detector, the buzzer on the dryer that signals the clothes are dry. Suzie no longer feels safe in the yard either. Last week, she was busy sniffing the trail of a neighbor’s dog that wandered through her yard (remember, the electronic fencing doesn’t keep the other dog out) and didn’t notice she was near the shock zone of the fence. As she trotted over to scent mark on the other dog’s urine mark, she got a whopping big shock. She no longer feels safe peeing outside.

You can guess what happened in the other scenarios. Fritz the Lab visited the dog park that is run by the lady who sells shock collars as a training device to teach a perfect recall. Dear Fritz had been shocked a whole year ago while playing with a dog at the park while the owner thought he was training him to come. Instead, Fritz associated the pain of the shock with the presence of the other dog. Now he becomes so anxious and aroused when he sees another dog that he’s ready to attack and bite to protect himself from another “shock attack.”

Sharon was worried that Max might overpower kids when she was walking him on a leash, so she’d tighten the leash and jerk Max into a sit position every time a child approached. Now Max gets nervous and defensive even when he sees a kid in the distance.

Reggie’s former owners probably followed the advice of one of their friends and rattled or threw a shake can, a can with a few stones in it, to stop behaviors they didn’t like when he was a pup. He still gets anxious and scared by sounds and movements that remind him of the scary can.

Aversive training methods, things that are scary to your dog and attempt to suppress his behavior, can always have fallout that you may never be able to reverse. Not only that, your dog may generalize his fear to other situations that you never imagined. Is it worth it to you to risk making your dog psychotic in your attempts to train him? Commit to positive reward-based training and management and you’ll foster a relationship that is built on caring and respect rather than fear and suppression.

Finding  a Positive Trainer

Either you can get great advice on positive training methods by devouring the many great training books on the subject (www.dogwise.com ), or you can hire a training professional to give you guidance. If you’re looking for a trainer who is proven to be experienced and has done continuing education to stay versed in the field, you can check out these links:

For a Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Trainer (Have you seen her great show “it’s Me or the Dog”

http://positively.com/dog-training/find-a-trainer/

Certified Professional Trainer:

http://www.ccpdt.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=32

Certified Clicker trainer:

http://www.karenpryoracademy.com/find-a-trainer

Remember, you want to work as a partner with your dog. Training him using scary methods may suppress him into doing your will. Training him using positive methods will help him become a cooperative friend!

Beth Duman, CPDT-KA is a Victoria Stilwell Positively Trainer in Michigan. She’s one of the core trainers for Dog Scouts of America (www.dogscouts.org). Check out her web site @ www.EarthVoices.net . Watch for her training book, The Evolution of Charlie Darwin, to be released in about two months.

How to Make a Puppy Pie

Take one puppy, roll and play until lightly pampered, then add the following ingredients:

1 cup patience

1 cup understanding

1 pinch correction

1 cup hard work

2 cups praise

1 ½ cups of fun

Blend well.

Heat with the warmth of your heart until raised or until puppy has doubled in size.  Mix with owner until consistency is such that owner and puppy are one.

Bon Appetite!

I have heard of others who have done these and how many of their vision items, whether written or created on a vision board have come true.  They have always been other people though I have never met — people on TV, at seminars, or guests on the Oprah show.  While their stories were very inspiring, they didn’t seem real because I personally didn’t know them.

At the Life’s Abundance convention this past week, Judy shared her vision letter with all of us.  I knew Judy, had spoken to her several times on the phone.  I had a connection with Judy!  I sat there amazed as she shared an “old” vision letter.  She described her dream home, in detail….the one she wanted  not the one she currently had, and her letter was written as IF she was already living there.  After reading her vision letter, she then went on to tell us about how she  looked at over 100 houses with her real estate agent.  Some houses she never even went inside.  They would drive  up to the house and she “knew” it was not her house.

Her real estate agent would say, “How do you know Judy, you haven’t even been inside?”

She would reply, “I just KNOW, this is not my house.”

Then one day, she was driving down the street and saw a house for sale.  She KNEW it was her house.  She pulled over to the side of the road, called her agent and told him to make an offer.

He said, “Judy, you haven’t even seen the inside of the house yet!”

She replied, ” I don’t have to, it is MY house.  You better hurry and call them because I am taking down the for sale sign now.  This is MY house.”

It is her house and she is now living in it!

There were others that also shared their letters — their letters for this coming year.  Their goals and dreams for them and their families.  I couldn’t believe how courageous they were sharing their visions, being open and vulnerable to all of us there to what they wanted in the future — not what they already had.

I started to wonder why I haven’t taken the time to create my vision letter or board when I have heard many stories from others (whether I knew them or not) of having done so and how their dreams became true.  I can make up many excuses for not having done so; not enough time, don’t know how, don’t personally know anyone it has worked for….  These are all excuses.

The real reason is FEAR.   If I write it down, then I make it real and become vulnerable for it not happening, of being disappointed, and being a failure in not achieving it.   I choose not to let fear stop me.  So, today I am writing my vision letter and creating a roadmap in order to achieve it.

How about you?  What is stopping you from achieving your dreams?

What does this have to do with Wisteria Goldens or English Cream Goldens?  Nothing.  I just felt like sharing the inspiration I received and hope it helps to inspire you!

I emailed a few of our customers the last few days and asked why they had chose not to continue with Life’s Abundance and what they were using.  Most of the feedback has been in regard to price and shipping.  In pricing it really is important to compare apples to apples.  You have to look at how much you are feeding with the other dog food in comparison to the quantity of Life’s Abundance.  Some dog foods are cheaper, but require you feed  more.  If you  use the auto-ship benefit, the shipping and the cost of the food, treats, supplements etc. are reduced.

While we have always been great supporters of Life’s Abundance products we learned so much about their formula, ingredients, and why they have a superior product.  They only use organic, human-grade products, and have been using the same manufacturers for over 12 years.  They have never had any of their products recalled.  They have strict guidelines and quality control on how the product is shipped from the manufacturer to the warehouse.  It continues with how much inventory they keep on hand, as well as continually improving the delivery time from their warehouse to the customer.  I was impressed with their well thought out protocol and system to ensure the highest quality product be delivered to your door.

Let’s face it — there  are many high quality premium pet foods on the market, but most of them, have had their products recalled because of contamination of their products.  Some are cheaper than Life’s Abundance and some are more expensive.

We talked to several breeders, dog and cat, and show breeders who have been using Life’s Abundance products for years.  Most of them will not sell or guarantee the health of one of their puppies if the family chooses not continue with Life’s Abundance pet food products.  Wow, that is really believing in your products!

Listening to Dr. Jane and her passion for healthy pets and providing quality products was very inspirational.   It also brought up so many questions for us as breeders.  If a family chooses to feed a dog food that does not have the quality of nutrition or reputation that Life’s Abundance provides in the long run, does it save them money?  If they choose not to use a dog food we recommend, after we have done tremendous research within the industry, should we have any guarantee at all on the health of the puppy?  We are exploring the cost vs. the benefits, as well as what our responsibility as a breeder needs to be in regard to guarantee for health when families choose to feed less quality food.

We  put so much nutrition and care while raising our puppies here at Wisteria Goldens and would like to learn why some families choose the food and treat products they do.

I had one family tell me they were continuing on Life’s Abundance because they felt like they had just purchased the Lamborghini of Goldens and they were not going to put in cheap gas! LOL  I love that.

While Life’s Abundance “seems” expensive upfront, is it really in the long run?

Please send me your questions and concerns about using our products.  I would love to ask to Dr. Jane and the company these questions in order to help me educate our families on the importance of nutrition for our “furry family members.”

This is a new avenue for us and we would love to help provide information to our families to support and increase optimal health of their puppies, as well as into adulthood increasing the longevity of their life!

One of our Wisteria Golden family members recently had her girl spayed and the procedure did not go well.  While this is a common surgery for our pets, it is not without risk or without error and you should be aware of how it can go wrong.

Brooke (Lyra/Aspen) went into be spayed. Everything went as planned and the family took Brooke home to rest and recover from her surgery.  From the moment they got home she was incontinent, constantly peeing every couple minutes – even in her crate, which had never happened before.

The family called the vet immediately and it was “assumed” she had a UTI, even though her urine was clean and Brooke was started on an antibiotic.  It was shortly realized this was not helping.  The vet decided it must be estrogen related after the surgery and prescribed PPA.  It also didn’t help.

After a few weeks of struggling with what was happening the family went to another vet and Brooke was sent to get an ultrasound.  The vet who did the ultrasound saw a granuloma at the neck of the bladder.  The next day a Board Certified Vet Surgeon operated and found the vet that did the surgery left most of the uterine body in and tied it off at the neck of her bladder.  The suture that tied it off kept poking her in the bladder giving her the sensation of needing to go to the bathroom no matter how little urine was in the bladder – this was the reason for her discomfort all along!

This had also caused irritation to the tissue on the outside of the bladder finally causing this granuloma to form around the suture and into the outside of the bladder wall keeping constant pressure on the bladder.  The vet that had done the surgery had botched it terribly.

According to the surgeon, the ovaries and uterus in a female dog form a Y.  The ovaries are the tops of the Y on either side and the tail forms the uterine body.  The entire uterine body should be removed and tied at the bottom of the bladder.  The biopsy showed there was not only uterine body and suture material, but a little bit of ovarian tissue as well.  He said some vets make the mistake thinking they can do the procedure the way it was originally done with Brooke.  It may only cause a problem in 1 out of 200 surgeries doing it this way, but it is wrong and dangerous for your dog.

As with our own health, we need to be proactive in asking questions, but we don’t always know the right questions to ask.  I hope sharing Brooke’s story will help you with asking the right questions for the health of your dog.