Let's Clean Up My Brain

Lately there has been so much going on in my life that I think it would help if I cleaned up all the miscellaneous stuff.  Last week, I told you about our nephew that was diagnosed with Lymphoma and how shocking that was.  Well, since the last blog, he has been referred to a Hematologist/Oncologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre.  He underwent a bone marrow biopsy, more lab work and more CT scans.  Yesterday, he started Chemo.  A lovely cocktail of 4 magic drugs that hopefully cure his cancer, but it also has many toxic side effects.  We are taking it one day at a time.  Zachary is my hero.  He has not complained.  He has a great attitude.  He has shown more patience than I will ever be able to have.  

Our family would like to say a heartfelt Thank You to all the people that reached out to us with their prayers, thoughts and well wishes.  You mean more to us than there are words for.    Please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We still need them.

Lyle and I bit the bullet and bought a travel trailer for the shows.  After I calculated what it costs us last year in hotels and restaurant meals, we could save a bundle if we bought a trailer.  I found one I loved online at Niagara Trailers, sent them an email and before we knew it, I was decorating it.  Lyle and Dillon, our wonderful junior handler, took it out last weekend for the first time.   It broke my heart to see them pull out of sight without me, but I needed to be home with Zachary.  I threatened their lives if they made it dirty, scuffed anything or put wet towels on any furniture.  Other than that, they could have a good time.  According to them, they loved it.  I can't wait until I can go to a dog show and sleep in the trailer.  I visualize our friends gathering under our awning, drinking a lovely wine and discussing our day at the show.  I just need to decide where I can hang a wine rack in the trailer.  :o)

 Lyle  Crossing the Border Back into Canada

I get this phone call from Lyle Sunday night.  He is talking low, like he doesn't want to be overheard.  He is telling me he doesn't have paperwork on one of the dogs traveling with him.  Being the honest fellow he is, he admits he only has paperwork on two of the three dogs.  He was sent to the Customs Office.  They confiscated the trailer, tossed it looking for more dogs, his truck, and laptop for any incriminating information.  He and Dillon were made to empty their pockets.  Dillon asks Lyle is that what jail is like.  They start grilling him about the dog.  They accuse him of attempting to smuggle the dog across the border.  He shows them the show catalog, explains its just an oversight.  This is a man that has all the paperwork on 2 dogs, a minor junior handler, his truck and trailer and his own passport.  Common Sense could not prevail.  Oh no!   He had to be the made out to be the Evil Ring Leader of a Imaginary Dog Smuggling Ring and I guess Dillon was his Dastardly Right Hand Man!  Anyway, back to the story.  Lyle wanted me to get the paperwork on the dog and call him back.  I finally got it and when I called him back, he simply handed his cell-phone to the Custom's Agent.  The Agent advised I had called in the nick of time, because he was about half way finished completing the paperwork to send them all back across to the USA and Black Flag his passport.  WHAT?????  Anyway, proof was provided that the dog is in fact Canadian, etc etc and they let them go.  They were only detained for three hours.  

Notebook for holding dog paperwork - $2.50.  Copies of all records - $2.00.  Freedom - Priceless!!!

Cathleen Cogan Bird is one of the lovliest women I have ever met.  She breeds and shows the finest chihuahuas I have  had the pleasure to see.  I have one of her puppies, Oscar.  Some of you know Oscar and his Stink Eye.

Cathleen is always so gracious to youngsters and she has generously sponsored juniors.  I just want to let everyone know how wonderful she is.  She is soft spoken.  She never has a bad thing to say about anyone.  She has been a source of information to me and Lyle and generous with her time.

Last weekend, she allowed Dillon to take one of her puppies into the ring.  She and my good friend Diane Bell worked with Dillon so he would know how to handle a chihuahua.  With their training, I'm sure he did a great job.  The report was that he did a wonderful job.  I wish I had been there to see it.  

She stepped in to help our Junior Handler when I couldn't be there.  That is a Nice Deed!

You can find out more about Cathleen and her kennel by going to http://www.cogiechihuahuas.com

Dr. Joanne Fagervik 
                     on Your Dog's Health

When I last posted a blog, I spoke about vaccines and vaccinations.  At that time I stated that vaccines do not promise to completely prevent disease but are designed to reduce morbidity and mortality.  I will reiterate the meaning of morbidity.  It means the percentage of a population that becomes ill when in contact with a disease as well as the severity of disease that develops in those individuals that do become ill.

We have recently seen this principle in action.  A young Afghan hound, who had received all his puppy shots, became ill following exposure to Parvovirus at a dog show in Novi, Michigan.  While the dog's illness was worrisome and stressful for his owner/handler, I can assure you that this puppy was very mildly affected by the disease.  He was able to stay home, vomited a little, was innappetant for a couple of days, had some loose stools and recovered uneventfully.  This is not typical of this disease.  Unprotected dogs have profuse vomiting and hemorrhagic diarrhea, severe dehydration and death without intervention.  Even with aggressive IV fluid and antibiotic therapy many affected dogs will die.  (Antibiotic therapy is necessary in this viral disease because it causes profound immunosuppression and also destroys the gut's natural barrier to bacteria, allowing them access into the blood stream.)  We know from the fact that this particular dog did become ill and was definitively diagnosed with Parvovirus that he was exposed to the disease.  So why did we not have more affected dogs?  The majority of dogs in contact with the disease were vaccinated.  Why did we have an "outbreak" in the first place?  Because we still have some individuals who believe that vaccinations are unnecessary. 

We saw much finger-pointing and blame placed on various individuals for the presence of parvovirus at a dog show.  We must remember that this disease is ubiquitous, the virus is very hardy in the environment and can be easily transferred on inanimate as well as animate objects.  We can all do our part to help prevent further outbreaks by insisting that the animals in our charge are vaccinated, that we clean up after our dogs at show sites and that we are particularly careful not to expose potentially unprotected puppies at home from our show strings.  Again, a good vaccination protocol will protect puppies even before they receive their first shots.

This outbreak was not an isolated event.  Parvovirus outbreaks occur regularly in cities where people opt out of vaccinating their pets.  This one received a lot of hype in the dog show community because it affected us personally but it was nowhere near as devastating as it might have been.  Kudos to those who vaccinate!  In the horse show world, we are not allowed to compete with our horses (at least on the Trillium circuit) if their vaccinations are not up to date.  Children cannot attend public schools if they do not receive their core childhood vaccinations.  Perhaps we should institute a similar policy for participation in dog shows. 

I like to see people do nice things for others.  If someone does something nice for you at a show or you see or hear about something nice being done, please send me an email at djenkins@shaw.ca.   Be sure to put in the subject: Nice Deed

We will mention that person by name in the blog.

This week the spotlight is on 

We would like to fill this space each week.  Please watch for Nice Deeds being done at your dog events and report them to me.  Let's fill the space!

Be sure to go to Canuck Dogs, http://www.canuckdogs.com, to see all the upcoming events and to check stats.  You should  bookmark it.  That's where you will find my blog. 

                                                                  XXXOOO