October Dove Hunt

Personal Trainers for Your Pets

A new study shows that 60% of dogs in America are overweight. So of course California now has a company that is offering personal fitness training for your dogs. This shouldn't be much of a problem for active hunting labrador retrievers and field trial and hunt test dogs.

Article on Personal Training for Dogs

News Article: Picking the Right Puppy

From the Kansan.com

Finding puppy wuv
How to find the right dog for you

By Kaitlyn Syring (Contact)
Thursday, April 10th, 2008

“You should choose your dog the way you choose your friends—very carefully.”

James McKee, 2005 graduate, offers this wisdom on selecting the perfect canine companion. His chocolate Labrador Retriever, Callie, was the result of careful planning and consideration. He says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I needed to know that was the kind of dog that would fit into my house and my lifestyle,” McKee says. “And I needed to know that I would have the time to take care of her.”

McKee demonstrates a preparedness that a lot of college students don’t. It takes a lot of time to figure out if you should get a dog and which dog would be right for you. You have to think about several things—money, time, space, breed—before committing to a dog. Such planning will ensure you pick your ideal BFF—best furry friend.

Dog vs. life

One of the most difficult things about owning a dog when you’re in college is finding the time to care for the animal properly.

Callie Rost, a veterinarian at the Animal Care Emergency Room in Salina, says it’s very important that, before you buy a dog, you evaluate the amount of time it takes to have a healthy dog and you compare that time with your regular life. If you don’t think the two mesh, Rost says, then it’s time to reconsider having a dog.

McKee remembers how hard it was to take care of his Lab, Callie, when she was a puppy, and he was still in school. He says he tried to develop a routine that suited both of them. He got up early, around 7 a.m., each day to take her out and let her run around outside, he says. Next came chow time.

“I put her food bowl in the bathroom along with some toys, so she could eat while I showered,” he says. “She wanted to be around me all the time, and she wouldn’t eat if I was out of the room.”

McKee says that after getting dressed, he played with Callie for about 15 minutes more while trying to eat his breakfast. He says he kept her in the kitchen with a baby gate so that she couldn’t chew on things while he was away. He left for class each day around 8:30 a.m. and returned home when he had an opening in the day, he says.

“I came back to my house during a break between classes, around lunchtime, to let her out again and clean up whatever poopy mess she’d made during the morning,” he says. “I’d usually have to give her a quick bath because she had poop on herself, too, and then love on her a little and feed her and go back to campus.”

McKee says that his school day ended around 4 p.m. and was followed by cleaning the kitchen—and Callie—again.

“It was so tough,” he says. “I had this adorable thing that was so fun and so frustrating at the same time. I remember being kind of excited for her to grow up.”

Now that McKee is out of school and Callie is an adult, he says that things are easier. He can leave Callie alone much longer and his schedule is more relaxed, so he has more time to hang out with her and take her for walks.

“And I don’t have to clean up poop anymore,” he says.

Though McKee tackled the dog-owning process on his own, many college students solve the time constraints by having a roommate or significant other take care of the dog while they’re gone.

Kait Wilson, Topeka senior, gives a lot of credit to her roommate when it comes to balancing school, work and having Lupa, a Maltese-Poodle mix. She says she is lucky to have a roommate who is willing to help her walk, feed and play with Lupa. Wilson says she is always sad to leave Lupa each day, but the welcome she receives when she returns is unbeatable.

Students like Jill Kanterman, Chesterfield, Mo., senior, find it more difficult. She works in Kansas City all day three times a week and goes to classes most of the day twice a week. Her Golden Retriever, Louie, stays home. She, too, has some assistance from a roommate, but she says she makes it a point to find time to personally spend playing with or walking Louie.

“I would probably go insane without my Louie time,” she says.

Dogs require dough

Perhaps more than anything else, it takes money to own a dog.

Rost says that the first six months of owning a puppy are tremendously expensive. You have to pay for the dog, then for vaccinations and spaying or neutering on top of the usual food, toys, collars, leashes, flea and tick preventative and heart worm medication that all ages of dogs need each month. Rost estimates that most puppies will cost about $200 a month for the first six months if properly taken care of. Buying a dog from a shelter can be less expensive, Rost says, because these dogs will be spayed or neutered already and will have up-to-date vaccinations.

After spaying, neutering and shots are completed, the average smaller dog—fewer than 35 pounds—costs around $50 to $75 a month, says Kym Base, a dog breeder, trainer and groomer at Barks ’N’ Bows in Salina. A large dog—more than 35 pounds—will cost closer to $100 or $150 each month with a little room for emergencies or illnesses, Base says.

....

Bottom line: You have to do lots of thinking, talking and reading before you get a dog. You have to find out which dog would be well-suited to your house, your personality, your schedule and your activity level. Be prepared to spend some cash and shower attention on your new companion. Then, look around at a few shelters or rescue groups. A good friend might be waiting for you there. All these things will aid you in discovering possibly the best and softest buddy you will ever have.

West Mississippi HRC Hunt Test

West Mississippi HRC Hunt Test

Cash went 2 for 2 at his first hunt test and received two HRC started passes. The test was put on by the West Mississippi HRC and was held near Vicksburg, MS.

Disabled War Vet is Given a Labrador Retriever After Post on Ducks Unlimited Message Board

LITTLE ROCK, AR, January 30, 2008 - Sgt. Randall Vallee, a Bronze Star winner and disabled veteran from the Gulf War was not looking for charity when he posted a message on the Ducks Unlimited Waterdog message board searching for information about where and how to buy a new puppy to hunt with his family.

As you can imagine, he got the shock of his life over the next few days as the Waterdog message board members showed him what veterans mean to them.
One of the first people to respond to his question was another partially disabled vet, CW2 Tim Wright of Dixie Brit Gun Dogs, who not only thanked him for his service to our country, but also offered him a free chocolate Labrador Retriever female puppy from his last litter. However, there was one problem; the puppy had to get from Wright in Hartselle, Ala., to the Vallee's home in Las Cruces, N.M.

That was when Waterdog members decided to pitch in with everything from gas money to help with transportation, and offers to drive the pup to retriever training materials. Stanwood Motorsports organized donations from other Waterdog partners including: one year's worth of free dog food from Eukanuba, Mossy Oak® Duck Blind® hunting gear, Avery Outdoors, Inc. donated a Pro-trainer's bag, and Dogtra contributed a training collar.


The pup started her cross-country trek on Sunday, February 10, 2008. She will be handed off to Kevin White at Mack's Prairie Wings, the famous waterfowl outfitter located in Stuttgart, Ark., where Wright, White and the pup will get an on-camera interview with the host of Waterdog, Justin Tackett. From there, White, the puppy - aptly named Dixie Brit's Waterdog Dream Come True (yes, she will go by Dream) -followed by a camera crew, will continue to Sealy, Texas, to meet Vallee and his wife Vickie, and continue to her new home in New Mexico where with just a little more luck Vallee and his new pup will enjoy many years as best friends.

For more information on Duck's Unlimited Waterdog go to www.waterdogtv.com or contact Brint Ramoly at bramoly@waterdogtv.com

Petwellbeing.com Award Nomination

"Black Lab Cash" has been nominated for "best pet/dog website." Please visit http://www.petwellbeing.com/awards/awards-dog-writing.cfm and vote for us.

PetWellbeing

Impact of One Dog on Field Trial Retrievers

The following is a post made on the RetrieverTraining.net message boards by Travis Skeen. It is an interesting take on the impact of 1976 NFC-AFC San Joaquin Honcho. He is an ancestor to Cash and to many other field-bred retrievers.

Tonight I was messing around on gooddoginfo.com and started crunching some numbers of how [much impact]l certain dogs have [had on current field trial champions].

I started out by calculating possibly the two greatest producing bitches of all time: Lottie and her daughter Ms Costalot. Lottie produced 22 titled dogs and Ms Costalot has produced 14. The impact of these two great dogs is still living on and growing through their offspring and grand offspring.

Then I wanted to really give myself a math headache and I started adding up the impact the Great HONCHO has had on the labrador breed and the wonderful retriever games that we love so much. HONCHO produced 76 titled dogs. He was also the grandsire of 270+/- titled dogs. I was going to take this next part several generations but, not wanting to create a spreadsheet for it and take up the rest of my evening I made it a little more simple.

HONCHO's top three producing offspring were:

1) Trumarcs Zip Code who produced 62 titled offspring and was the grandsire of 124 titled dogs.

2) Super Tanker who produced 51 titled offspring and was the grandsire of 121 titled dogs.

3) Trumarcs Hot Pursuit who sired 36 titled offspring and was the grand sire of 55 titled dogs.

So basically HONCHO sired 76 titled dogs. He was the grand sire of around 270 title dogs. His top three producing offspring produced a little more than half of those 270 dogs. Those three great ones produced about 150 titled offspring. These three great ones were the grandsires of about 300 titled dogs.

The impact of one fantastic animal is absolutely breath taking. Basically from Honcho to his offspring to their offspring to their offspring adds up to over 700 titled dogs. SIMPLY AWESOME!! Congrats and thanks to Judy Aycock (and Dr. Ed) and all of those who have made such an amazing impact on this sport and labrador retrievers.