November Program - Sandy Dickens with Smoke and Libby Wagner with Dakota provided a fascinating program of the ins and outs of competing in Rally trials. They provided handouts which set out the official rules for Rally and all the signs used in the Rally ring, demonstrating all the signs in the Novice level.

http://www.pawmark.com/ccoc/rally.htm

http://www.akc.org/events/rally/index.cfm

In addition, they discussed some of the local trainers who have rally and agility classes:

and also Man’s Best Friend in Belton

Dog Show Stewards Published by The American Kennel Club

Webster’s Dictionary defines a steward to be, among other things, either “one employed to manage domestic concerns, supervise servants, collect rents, keep accounts, etc.,” or “one who actively directs affairs; a manager.” The first thing to bear in mind is that a show committee must choose its stewards with care. Persons should be selected who are familiar with the most current judging procedure, breed classifications, and the AKC’s “Rules Applying to Dog Shows.” A good steward makes the work of judging easier by relieving the judge of unnecessary details. By assembling classes promptly, one will be able to keep the judging on schedule and eliminate, to a large extent, delays between classes. Stewarding is hard work with little or no compensation save the satisfaction that comes from the knowledge that the work has been done well.

November 2008 Program - Dr. David Senter of VSEC and Mission MedVet gave a presentation of dermatological and allergy issues affecting our Danes at our November membership meeting on Wednesday, November 5th.

He discussed several different conditions:

Demodex Canis - a mite every dog is born with, transferred from the mother shortly after birth. The “localized” variety usually shows up between 3 and 6 months of age as a single spot and 90% of cases will resolve by themselves by age 1. The “generalized” variety presents as 3 or more spots and only 50% of cases will resolve by themselves; can be juvenile or adult, but if adult, could indicate a problem with the dog’s immune system. Diagnosis is made by deep skin scraping, hair plucking or skin biopsy and is treated with Ivermectin over a 4 month period.

Scabies - sarcoptic mange is highly contagious, spreading from animal to animal (including people); very itchy. Very hard to diagnose; only 25% chance of finding it, but it should be treated even if the diagnosis is not confirmed.

Color Dilution Alopecia (hair loss)—blue Danes and possibly fawns would be prone to this; there is no cure because it’s genetic; can be alleviated slightly with melatonin.

Allergies:

Atopy - hypersensitivity to innocuous environmental allergens; affects 10% of all dogs and is the second most common allergy after fleas. It can be inhalant or percutaneous (skin). Allergies are genetic—if both parents have allergies, 40% of their offspring will too. If the dog is born during a high allergen season or is exposed to a high allergen load at a very young age, it can cause a dog who’s genetically predisposed to tip over into chronic allergies. Potential allergens are pollens, dust, mold, epidermals (dander from humans, cats, etc), feathers and, the most common for dogs, dust mites. Typical onset is 1 to 3 years; 80% start out seasonally and then progress to yearround. If onset is at a later age, it may be due to a major change in environment, such as a cross-country move.

Acral lick granuloma - the dog licks a particular spot obsessively, creating a wound. Allergies are the main reason, although it could also be caused by an injury; requires antibiotics. Steroid pills are a good treatment, but avoid injectable steroids as they stay in the system for 6 to 12 weeks and can lead to calcification of the skin.

Diagnosis of allergies - rule out fleas, scabies and infections; do a skin test or biopsy. Blood tests are not accurate, there’s only a 50% correlation between blood tests and skin tests.

Treatment of allergies - an allergy vaccine customized to that dog’s particular problem; Great Danes are among the best responders to allergen treatment.

September 2008 Program: Melissa Andrasik of VSEC and Maple Woods Community College gave a presentation on Pet CPR which included a video portion as well as hands-on demonstrations with CPR dummies.

CPR should be administered when there is a lack of respiration or there is no pulse or heartbeat.

Melissa pointed out that CPR is actually old-school; the new approach is CPCR, which stands for cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation—the purpose is to get blood primarily to the heart and brain. With the dog lying on its right side, several long breaths should be administered to the dog by placing your mouth over the dog’s nose which holding the mouth tightly closed with the dog’s lips pulled down under the lower jaw, then chest compressions should be administered over the heart (at the point where the elbow bends back and meets the ribcage) using the same technique as for people—with the elbows straight and putting your weight into the compression. There should be 2 long breaths for every 15 compressions. Melissa said a positive outcome is more likely with a younger, healthy dog when CPCR is started within 5 minutes of the dog’s collapse; however, only 14% of dogs can be saved by CPCR and only 5% will survive past a week.

July 2008 Program - Lourdes Carvajal, chair of our Standards and Health Committee, gave a presentation about the CHIC program. CHIC stands for Canine Health Information Center and is a joint effort of the AKC and the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals). It has four main goals (per the GDCA website)--to work with parent clubs in the definition of health issues for which a central information system should be established, to establish and maintain a central health information system in a form and manner that will support research into canine disease, to provide health information to owners and breeders, to base the availability on individually identified dogs on the consent of the owner, and to establish scientifically valid criteria for the acceptance of information into the database.

Lourdes explained that this is basically a database for breeders to post the health condition of their dogs; this is a great tool for breeders when determining what dogs would be suitable for breeding to their dogs, for puppy buyers to ensure they are acquiring a puppy free of certain inherited health problems, for the parent club to promote better health and longevity in its registry and for health researchers.

Parent clubs have to apply for membership and each parent club requires different tests. The GDCA joined this program in 2003 and requires tests for hip dysplasia (results are accepted from OFA, PennHip, GDC, or OVC), eyes (results accepted from CERF), congenital cardiac disease (results accepted from OFA) and autoimmune thyroid disease (results accepted from OFA). As of June 28, 2008, 532 Great Danes are entered in the database.

Lourdes stated that tests should be done at about two or three years of age, preferably before the dog is bred, and it’s just as important for males to be tested as it is for females. Bitches should not have hip xrays within 3 weeks (either before or after) of being in season as hormonal changes cause the pelvic bones to open. Even those not planning on breeding their pets would benefit from these tests by receiving advance notice of conditions their dogs may develop in later life and steps can be taken proactively to alleviate those conditions.

Owners make the decision prior to any testing as to whether the results will be released to CHIC, before knowing whether the results will be good or bad, so those who do so obviously have a certain amount of confidence in the soundness of their bloodlines. Each separate test receives a separate determination; the cardiac test may result in a grade of “normal”, while the hips may only be evaluated as “fair”. Upon acceptance into the registry, a CHIC identification number is assigned and information about the dog is posted. That information includes not only the results of the various health tests, but also birth date and pedigree; a picture can also be posted if desired.

To be accepted into the CHIC registry, each dog must have permanent means of identification, such as a tattoo, microchip or DNA profile.

Lourdes also touched briefly on the Champion of Health program begun by the GDCA to encourage Dane breeders to register their dogs in the CHIC database. This started with the 2006 National Specialty; requirements are as follows: the owner must be a member of the GDCA or an affiliate club, the dog must have a CHIC number and the dog must have recently achieved a significant accomplishment at the national level, whether in the ring, in the field or as a producer.

Three to five dogs are nominated for this honor each year; several dogs from our Club have been among those nominated.