Jan 2010 Newsletter

Conyers Kennel Club Newsletter

Officers Board Members

President – Don Watson Anne Crum

Vice President – Randall McCurry Mike Shelton

Treasurer – Rhea Spence Audrey Lycan

Secretary – Jerri Dandelske Merry Carol Houchard

AKC Delegate – Mike Houchard Renae Watson

Hello Everyone and Welcome to the Conyers Kennel Club Newsletter. Things will be back on track this month and we will meet at IHOP in

Conyers on the second Monday of the month which is January 11, 2010 at 6:30pm to eat and the meeting usually starts around 7:30pm.

We all had a good time at the Christmas party with the gift exchange and we enjoyed the good food.

Since we didn’t have a regular meeting there will be no minutes in this newsletter. The election of officers and board members was

discussed. There were no nominations from the floor so the panel stands as below.

        OFFICERS:
        President - Don Watson
        Vice President - Randall McCurry
        Treasurer - Rhea Spence
        Secretary - Jerri Dandelske
        AKC Delegate - Mike Houchard

        BOARD MEMBERS:
        Anne Crum
        Merry Carol Houchard
        Mike Shelton
        Renae Watson
        Jan Moore*

One of our new members, Steve Donahue, suggested a fun field day. I look forward to this and I am sure many of you look forward to this

as well. I will get the details out as soon as he gives me the information on this.

The Cherokee Rose Cluster show is February 5th, 6th, & 7^th. Our day is Saturday the 6^th.

If you haven’t paid your club dues for 2010, don’t forget. I will get a new list of club member phone numbers out by March 1^st.

There will be a Cluster Meeting January 12^th, 2010 at 7:30pm. at the Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church , 800 Lawrenceville Hwy.,

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American Kennel Club and Canine Health Foundation Release Podcast about Responsible Breeding Practices [Thursday, December 17, 2009]

The American Kennel Club and the Canine Health Foundation are pleased to debut the next podcast in the Genome Barks series.

This week we welcome Dr. Jerold Bell, the Director of Clinical Veterinary Genetics Course at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. In this interview,

Dr. Bell discusses why genetic testing is important, describes the different types of genetic tests and how to best use the test results.

The Genome Barks podcast series features lectures from the highly successful AKC-CHF Breeders Symposia and provides responsible breeders and pet owners

an inside look at the work being done by the AKC and the Canine Health Foundation.

New podcasts are released every two weeks and can be accessed from either the American Kennel Club website at www.akc.org or the Canine Health Foundation

website at www.caninehealthfoundation.org - click on "Podcasts." They are also available on Apple's iTunes® or directly at www.genomebarks.com.

Clubs are encouraged to add the Genome Barks Podcast link to their home pages. Contact the Canine Health Foundation to obtain graphics and links.

American Kennel Club and Canine Health Foundation Release Podcast about Nutrition for Chronically Ill Dogs [Thursday, December 17, 2009]

The American Kennel Club and the Canine Health Foundation are pleased to debut the next podcast in the Genome Barks series.

This week we welcome Dr. Kathy Michel, Associate Professer of Veterinary Nutrition at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. A

Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition, Dr. Michel discusses therapeutic diets, feeding dogs with illness and other topics useful

for dogs with health challenges.

The Genome Barks podcast series features lectures from the highly successful AKC-CHF Breeders Symposia and provides responsible breeders and pet owners

American Kennel Club and Canine Health Foundation Release Podcast about Bartonella Infection [Thursday, December 31, 2009]

The American Kennel Club and the Canine Health Foundation are pleased to debut the next podcast in the Genome Barks series.

This week, we welcome Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt, a specialist in internal medicine and infectious disease at North Carolina State University. Dr. Breitschwerdt has

received funding from the Canine Health Foundation for various infectious diseases including Bartonella spp. In this podcast, Dr. Breitschwerdt describes

Bartonella, explains what clinical signs to look for in a potentially ill animal, and also discusses the various research projects underway.

The Genome Barks podcast series features lectures from the highly successful AKC-CHF Breeders Symposia and provides responsible breeders and pet

owners an inside look at the work being done by the AKC and the Canine Health Foundation.

New podcasts are released every two weeks and can be accessed from either the American Kennel Club website at www.akc.org or the Canine Health

Foundation website at www.caninehealthfoundation.org - click on "Podcasts." They are also available on Apple's iTunes® or directly at www.genomebarks.com.

Clubs are encouraged to add the Genome Barks Podcast link to their home pages. Contact the Canine Health Foundation to obtain graphics and links.

    Contact:
    Erika Werne
    Director of Education & Communications
    Canine Health Foundation
    919-334-4010
    888-682-9696
    www.caninehealthfoundation.org

     AKC CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

-- AKC's 125th Anniversary Filled with Celebrations --

   New York, NY - Our anniversary year has been filled with celebration, the marking of milestones, and new opportunities.

   In 1884, the AKC began its all-breed purebred dog registry with just 9 breeds. As of December 30, we will recognize 164 breeds with the addition of the Bluetick

Coonhound, Boykin Spaniel and Redbone Coonhound.

In addition to AKC holding several press conferences tied to our anniversary, the AKC Publications department dedicated the entire September issue of the AKC

Gazette, which has been the 'Official Journal for the Sport of Purebred Dogs' since 1889, to the anniversary. We have also chronicled our accomplishments in Dogs:

The First 125 Years of the American Kennel Club, an update to the well-known AKC Sourcebook last printed in 1984.

One of our most exciting events and another wonderful way to commemorate our 125th year was the first stand-alone Meet the Breeds event organized by the

AKC and Cat Fanciers' Association, and presented by Pet Partners, Inc.

We've celebrated our companion and performance events, hosting the National Retriever Championships just a few weeks ago, the biannual National Tracking

Invitational at a brand-new location, and the ever-popular National Agility Championships. And not to forget that the team we sent to the World Agility

Championships in Austria this September returned home with two silver medals!

Also in 2009, the Obama family finally got their dog - a Portuguese Water Dog named "Bo." The Portuguese Water Dog Club of America and the AKC PR

department worked closely to make this an opportunity to educate the public about the breed, purebred dogs, and responsible breeders.

The AKC started the public conversation and followed the "Obama Dog" campaign from President Obama's first mention of a possible dog all the way through to

Bo's arrival. Their work on this campaign helped them win many local and national PR awards and keep the AKC and purebred dogs front-and-center with pet owners.

Finally, we began looking to the AKC's next 125 years with the creation of several new programs. We launched our S.T.A.R puppy program, a precursor to our

popular AKC Canine Good Citizen test, which will get puppies and their new owners off to a good start.

The Canine Health & Welfare Advisory Panel was created and has met several times to review public perceptions on this topic and to ensure that AKC has access

to the insight and information that will allow us to continue leading the dialogue when it comes to enhancing and protecting canine health and welfare.

The AKC Canine Partners program also launched this year and has already listed more than 1,300 dogs. Beginning in April 2010, more than 300 AKC clubs will

be hosting stand-alone obedience, agility or rally events open to mixed breeds.

Beyond the competitions, millions of additional dog owners we may never have reached will be able to access a myriad of AKC resources and services bringing

together like-minded people who share our passion for dogs and our commitment to responsible dog ownership.

This has been an historic year of great achievement and progress for the American Kennel Club. In addition, I'm happy to report that despite the current economic

   climate, our preliminary numbers show that we will have a reasonable operating profit for the year, in addition to record-breaking investment results.

   Once again, I want to thank all of you for your support as we look forward to another 125 years of history as "the dog's champion."

   Sincerely, Ron Menaker
   Chairman

   Do you have a win photo that
   you want the dog world to see?
   Send it to us now.

Be a part of the first official AKC Weekly Wins Gallery email.

Publicize your wins, share your pride and make a splash in the first edition of this weekly digital media showcase. Never before has there been a way to reach the fancy

Each standard listing includes a jumbo color photo of your win shot, plus captions including dog's registered and call

judge and even a live link to your web site. See the sample format at right. Your actual listing will be enlarged to fill the

computer screen.

Be among the first 20 submissions for this first big email blast and qualify for the low, low introductory rate of just $395.

That's far less than a penny per email. Compare that to print advertising where you'd pay more, reach far fewer people

and usually take weeks to appear.

It's easy to participate. Just click the Weekly Wins Gallery order form HERE, or call me, Samantha Smith, directly at

212-696-8259 so I can personally be of assistance to you.

The deadline for our special First Edition is Tuesday, January 5 at 3 PM eastern time. You'll be in the big email blast

    scheduled for Wednesday, January 6.

    Don't miss out. Call 212-696-8259 or email me today at winshot@akc.org.

   A SAOVA message to sportsmen, pet owners and farmers concerned about protecting their traditions, avocations and livelihoods from

   anti-hunting, anti-breeding, animal guardianship advocates. Forwarding and cross posting, with attribution, encouraged.

   From: Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA)

Once again Cindy Cooke, Legislative Specialist, is right on target with this essay. Cindy notes that our acceptance of the animal rightist term

puppy mill was a mistake and "it’s rapidly becoming fatal today." I recently attended an HSUS Lobby Seminar where the HSUS Director used

the terms commercial breeder and puppy mill interchangeably, and stated that anyone with more than 6 dogs or who bred more than one/two

Even if you have read this article in UKC’s Coonhound Bloodlines it is worth reading one more time.

    Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance - http://saova.org

    Issue lobbying and working to identify and elect supportive legislators

by Cindy Cooke, Legislative Specialist

You can't really ban a word. In fact, an attempt to ban something often backfires, particularly in the United States, where we don't like people

I'm going to give you some very good reasons for not using that phrase.

I speak to a lot of dog clubs and frequently hear dog breeders supporting so-called "anti-puppy-mill" laws. When I ask these people to define

Let's look at these definitions in turn. What is "overbreeding"? In the wild, most canids can only reproduce once a year. Most domestic dogs can

have two litters a year. When I first became a dog breeder, it was almost a religious belief that no female dog should be bred more than once a

year. We were told that it was important to "rest" the uterus between litters. Today, however, thanks to advances in veterinary medicine, we

know that a uterus is actually damaged by the elevated progesterone levels that occur in each heat cycle, whether the dog is pregnant or not.

Veterinary reproduction specialists recommend that dogs be bred on their second or third heat cycle, that we do more back-to-back breedings,

and that we spay the dogs at around age six.

The "overbreeding" argument also treats reproduction as something that female dogs wouldn't do if they had a choice. Dogs aren't people -

female dogs actually want to be bred when they're in heat and, with few exceptions, enjoy raising their puppies. It's not an unwelcome event for

dogs.

People who don't take care of their dogs are already guilty of a crime in all 50 states. There is nowhere in the United States where it is legal to

neglect or abuse dogs. Sadly, a small minority of all dog breeders - commercial, home and hobby - commit neglect and abuse. Some of these

do so out of ignorance, some out of laziness, and some out of meanness. All are already breaking the law. It just needs to be enforced.

One of our biggest problems now is that animal radicals insist that every dog be raised like a hothouse flower. One bill proposed this year would

have required every kennel to be air conditioned. Many owners of working dogs prefer that their dogs be acclimated to hot weather so that they

can work when the temperature goes up. Likewise, sled dogs in the north often sleep outdoors in the snow. Dogs can live and thrive in a wide

range of environments. The Arctic Circle, the jungles of Africa, and the deserts of Arabia have all produced breeds of dogs that can live happily

in conditions that might not suit all dogs. It is important that we not let activists redefine the needs of dogs to the extent that we are forced to

What is "too many" dogs? Most of our breeds were developed by wealthy people who kept large numbers of dogs. Hound breeders traditionally

kept good-sized packs, and early show breeders did as well. Now that our sport includes more mainstream people - people with jobs or people

who need jobs - it's hard for many of us to keep large numbers of dogs. There is no inherent link between numbers of dogs and neglect. People

who have the resources to keep big kennels provide a service for all of us, particularly if they maintain a good number of useful stud dogs.

Breeding dogs is expensive, and getting more so daily. It's just plain silly to pretend that none of us needs the money generated by puppy sales

and stud services. Without that income, the vast majority of middle class breeders could not afford this sport. When our sport was solely in the

hands of rich people, it was the norm to sneer at people in "trade", and part of that attitude was handed down to us with the culture of our sport.

Today, however, the majority of us in the sport are "in trade", in the sense that we have to work to support ourselves. Our dogs must, at least in

part, support themselves or most of us would have to get out of the game.

We have among us a small but vociferous group of people who think that breeders only care about producing great hunting or show dogs, and

nothing about health. In fact, I've never met a breeder who wasn't concerned about the health of his dogs and the health of his breed. Most health

problems in dogs don't have simple solutions, so it is only natural that breeders are often going to disagree about how to address health problems.

When there's no right answer to a question, then breeders who follow a different path than you might choose are not necessarily wrong or

unconcerned. I know that many believe that commercial breeders don't care about health, but the fact is that their professional organizations

provide some of the most sophisticated health seminars in the country for their breeders.

Twenty years ago, animal activists created the phrase "puppy mill". Back then, it was only applied to commercial breeders, and then only to those

who were breaking the law by neglecting their dogs. In a futile attempt to placate activists, many hobby breeders adopted the term "puppy mill"

and used it to separate "them" from "us". It was a mistake then, and it's rapidly becoming fatal today. Every one of these so-called

"anti-puppy-mill" bills has a definition that could easily include breeders of hunting and show dogs. Every time you use that phrase, you're

contributing to the idea that dog breeders need to be regulated out of existence.

The message we need to send to America is that purebred dogs are good, not just because they have pedigrees, but because of their

predictability, and that people should shop at least as carefully for a puppy as they do for a car. We don't need to help the animal radicals spread

    The message above was posted to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky residents by

    the Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA).



                                SAOVA is a nonpartisan volunteer group working to protect Americans from the legislative and political threats of radical animal rightists. It is the

    only national organization fighting this struggle for both sportsmen and animal owners, natural allies, in these arenas. Visit our website at

    http://saova.org for this program's goals, methodology and list signup details.

________________________________________________________________________________

AKC has a veterinary scholarship program and also invites vet students to the Canine Health Foundation conferences. Those students who attend

take information back to the schools, sharing what they have learned about dogs. AKC also provides copies of dog books to upper class vet

__________________________________________________________________________________

     The right to breed

    The state that has no business in the bedrooms of the nation seeks to insert itself into the fallopian tubes of its poodles

    *Catherine McMillan, National Post *

    I still recall my first visit to the Small Animal Clinic at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon. As the young resident took down my

puppy's health history, she advised that if I spayed my little dog before her first heat cycle, the risk of mammary cancer could be eliminated. "Good

to know," I replied. "But how will that affect her future as my foundation bitch?"

Some 25-plus years later, "Peras" has hundreds of champion descendants across six continents, while I am quite likely the first and only

commercial artist to co-author a peer-reviewed paper for the American Journal of Veterinary Ophthalmology.

That young resident's words were a warning, though I didn't know it at the time. Veterinary medicine, once an equal partner with breeders,

sportsmen, and food producers, is being transformed by an activist reduces owners to "guardians" and elevates health providers to the

self-appointed role of animal "advocate."

"Spay and neuter" has achieved cult mantra. Dog breeders are held in suspicion: The only good dog is the "natural" one. Defects are blamed on

breed standards, despite the fact that the majority of purebreds are produced by family pets and commercial breeders, their puppies as far

removed from the show ring as a second-hand pickup from the Formula One track.

This attitude is reflected by provincial boards that recently have moved to impose bans on ear cropping and tail docking. Though long the subject

of some controversy, these procedures serve both aesthetic and practical ends, injury prevention and hygiene among them.

This current turf war over puppy tails is just a preview of coming attractions. The state that has no business in the bedrooms of the nation seeks to

insert itself into the fallopian tubes of its poodles.

A Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) director recently recounted the hostile atmosphere at a recent meeting with the Canadian Veterinary Medical

Association (CVMA): "These vets are not only speaking of cropping and docking. Several, led by New Brunswick, are openly critical of the CKC's

breed standards, feel that breeders are poorly educated with respect to health, genetics and breeding practices to support an animal's welfare and

are censorious of breeders -- in particular those breeders who breed conformation dogs for show. They are criticizing our standards for individual

breeds and are of the opinion that we are not supporting the puppy purchasers with healthy dogs."

To achieve this, they hint at legislation. After all, who better to condemn the docking of a puppy's tail than the person who will, in a few weeks time,

slice open her abdomen to remove a healthy uterus? Who better to seek criminalization of ear cropping than a profession that declaws kittens for

profit?

For as often as they're consulted by media and policy makers on matters canine, a veterinarian receives no training in basic breed identification,

much less the diverse origins and forces that shape gene pools. It's unreasonable to expect them to -- it takes a lifetime of study to master a single

breed, much less hundreds.

The film Best in Show presented the dog-show circuit as a caravan of loopy narcissists. Omitted from the script were the contributions of the fancy

to everyday canine society -- rescue efforts, training classes, consumer advice, the millions raised, the efforts donated to health research. There is

no profit in showing dogs, for costs quickly negate the returns. It's an esoteric pursuit, driven by love of breed, competitive reward, and that

appreciation of form and symmetry shared by all artists, a thing we know as "beauty." The Doberman's "look of eagles," the merle collie's loud and

luxurious coat, the silhouette of the Skipperke -- those things that fill the eye can determine the fate of breeds, for it is their beauty that so often

attracts and inspires human beings to devote resources to their perpetuation.

The distance between a breed and extinction is five years, for this is the average reproductive lifespan of a female. For rare breeds and those with

limited genetic diversity, it takes only one ill-conceived edict on the part of policy makers to start it down the road to collapse.

It seems like a small thing, this battle for a veterinarian' s liberty to practice as he sees fit, a dog breeder's quest for perfection. After all, no one

needs to crop ears on a Boxer. But then again, no one needs a Boxer at all, or any sort of pet. Purebreds (of all species) carry health risks derived

from their genetic founding fathers. Breeds weren't created to compile longevity records, but to perform tasks for mankind -- to dispatch vermin,

predators, and enemy barbarians, locate game, retrieve over water, to pull sleds, or warm a dowager's bed on a cold winter night. And so, they

remain imperfect.

The Borzoi is living history of czarist Russia, the giant Mastiff a modern echo of ancient Rome -- but they suffer high rates of bloat. Poster artists

recruited the English bulldog as a symbol of resolve in World War II, but the massive head that encouraged a nation results in caesarian sections.

The Dalmatian's spots are beloved of Disney and children everywhere, but the genetics that create them can result in deafness. The merry spaniel

can wag an undocked tail to bloody pulp, but no one hunts woodcock in these parts. Better no cocker, they say, than no tail.

Like so many other small things in this brave new humane world -- history, property rights, individual liberty, and the beholder's permission to

declare something "beautiful" -- the eradication of the purebred dog is underway, aided and abetted by those we once considered friends. And yet,

to this breeder at least, so seldom has one small thing carried with it such symbolism for what it is we are allowing them to destroy. There is an air

of nihilism in what they do. Like "green" zealots who insist millions will die from climate change unless we reduce the earth's population by billions,

their ideological sisters in veterinary activism would solve the problems of purebred dogs by eliminating them altogether. They seem oddly

disconnected from the reality that for veterinary medicine to survive, the patient must reproduce.

- Catherine McMillan lives in Saskatchewan and runs the blog "Small Dead Animals." In 2009, Miniature Schnauzers descending from her

"Minuteman" kennel line include those ranked #1 in the breed in the USA, Canada, Brazil and England, along with the #2 MS in Australia and the

I decided to voice my opinions on the things brought up in the above article. I see nothing wrong with tail docking. It is done at 3 or 4 days old when

a puppy doesn’t have much feeling in their tail yet, and it heals very quickly. Tail docking is most often performed in puppies to prevent tail damage

in certain breeds, for hygiene reasons and to comply with specific breed standards.

In my opinion ear cropping is just for cosmetic reasons. There may be a time when it served more of a purpose and maybe for some breeds it still

does but ear cropping is most often performed to comply with standards for various breeds. Several breeds either require ear cropping or accept

cropped ears in the show ring. Whether or not to have the ears cropped, however, is a personal decision. People do a lot of things to themselves

for cosmetic reasons, lipo-suction, tummy tucks face lifts and many other things. If we do these things to ourselves to make us look better what

is the harm in making our dogs look better also. Some breeds of dogs would not be recognized if you didn’t crop the ears.

I believe as a whole that most breeds have improved over the years. Look at the Golden Retrievers now compared to a few years ago. However I

also believe that is not the case with all breeds. I don’t believe we should strive to get heads so big that our dogs (such as the Bulldogs) have to

have a caesarian sections in order to have their puppies. I also don’t like what has happened to the German Shepherd. They look deformed to me,

crippled. If breeders would stop and think about these things before we breed then maybe these animal rights groups would leave us alone.

As I said previously, these are my opinions and do not reflect the opinions of this club or anyone else. If you have an opinion you would like