THE PACK LEADER
May 2001 Newsletter

Pine Rivers Sweepstake Obedience Trials -
CD
1st place: Tony Collins & German Shepherd “Saber” - 193pts.

Congratulations to the competitors both in the in-house comp's and the Dog Obedience Trails. We have introduced a new level 5c in which Monica competed. This routine consists of a CDX routine with no verbal commands, hand signals only. There are also full distractions during the course of the routine such as food strewn on the ground in the ring area, people offering the dog food during the figure of eight, whistle noises, starting pistol fired, balls thrown in the dogs path, and dogs in the stay positions within the ring.

Monica and Mariska have one more trial to successfully complete in their respective areas and they will have gained their UD & CD trials respectively.

Tony Collins also won the perpetual trophy at the Gympie Trial for the highest scoring dog. Last year it was won by Monica, so it is a great honour for our students to win this prestigious award two years in a row. I might mention also that Monica and Eddie were sitting on a possible 194pt score until Eddie whinged in the out of sight drop stays losing two points. Eddie’s strong desire to bark and whine in protest during the out of sight stays is in character with the Standard Poodle breed, and it has taken a great deal of effort subduing his desire. We now have our fingers crossed he can keep quiet next Saturday night at Jimboomba trials for Monica’s third leg in UD.

Next In-House Competition
The next in-house will be held at the Beerwah Sport Grounds on Saturday 23-6-01commencing 1pm. Interested persons please inform Jeffrey. There is a small fee of $5.00 for levels one & two. And $10.00 for all the higher levels.

Seminar
A talk will be held at the Guide Dog Centre, Bald Hills on a forthcoming Wednesday evening. The speaker, Robert Humphreys is a practitioner of Animal Chiropractic Therapy, who is well known to myself and many of my students for his good work. Back pain is most common to dogs and the subject is important to all dog owners. The cost for the evening is $20.00 with $10.00 of that fee donated to the Guide Dog Centre. Robert will also manipulate dogs on request with his usual fee of $25.00.

Website
Practising veterinarian Dr. Bruce Syme believes that he and many of his colleagues have seen a dramatic increase in common pet ailments, and he has developed a natural raw food diet to combat this trend. As a consequence Bruce has developed, among other things, a dehydrated raw food which is reconstituted in water.

Bruce opposes the feeding of normal dry foods to dogs believing they are detrimental to their health, (I have no doubt about that) and has made up a product 100% free from preservatives or artificial additives and are made from natural, raw, unprocessed Australian produce.

Interested in feeding the dog natural foods the easy way try www.vetsallnatural.com.au on the net for more info.

Book Review
"Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat and published by Pan.
Mowat was a Biologist for the Canadian Government as a Wildlife Officer in the mid 1940's after serving in World War 2, who was sent into the Artic Regions to study wolves.
To cut a long story short Mowat found that wolves were not the scourge of man or beast as believed in those times and his research makes fascinating reading.
Written in a highly entertaining fashion this was a book I found enjoyable to read and very informative. Although published in 1962, I see on Amazon Internet site that it is still in print.

Reminder
There will be no training at the Guide Dog Centre on Friday the 6th of July. We will be attending a Schutzhund trial at Norths Rugby League Club commencing at 7pm. This trial is the German dog sport and is a most interesting discipline well worth taking the time to watch. Spectators are always welcome.

I was talking to an old acquaintance recently who is a keen participant of this sport. Amongst the many topics of interest we discussed, I was interested to learn that food training is no longer used in Germany - they couldn’t produce reliable training with it so it was dropped. That just leaves dog obedience trialers dragging the chain with this sort of training. Over the years I’ve seen food training come and go for the same reason. Food training not producing dogs reliable in their work is not new news - it's old news.

Police Dogs are really Pusssycats.
Article - in part - from 'Fidelty', a publication of the German Shepherd Club of QLD.

German Shepherds are becoming too cowardly and unbalanced for Police work and may be replaced with other breeds.

The N.S.W Police Service’s Dog Unit is looking at breeds such as the Rottweiler and Belgian Mallinois to play an increasing role in crime fighting because of a chronic shortage of suitable German Shepherds.

So dire is the problem, Police have set up a breeding program to help build up numbers.

The move coincides with Police in parts of the UK ditching the German Shepherd.

Dog Unit Commander Inspector Peter Crumblin said while the German Shepherds were likely to always have a role in the service, handlers were frustrated by the availability of suitable animals.

He said unscrupulous breeders wanting to win dog shows had bred animals which were pleasant looking but had poor temperament.

Others had bred smaller and more docile dogs to better suit family homes and in the process eliminated the drive that made Shepherds good Police dogs.

"A lot of breeders have looked at the cosmetic side of things as being of primary importance," Inspector Crumblin said. "For us, the thing that is most important is the dog's temperament."

Inspector Crumblin said the ideal Police Dog was not vicious but well balanced, playful and inquisitive. Animals that displayed aggression or frightened behaviour were rejected for Police work.

He added that that while there were responsible breeders, others driven by profit had weakened the overall genetic gene pool.

Health
All animals, just like all humans need, from time to time a little help with their physical bodies. This week I will introduce to you Calcium Phosphate (Calc Phos).

Calc Phos is found in bones, teeth, connective tissue, blood corpuscles and gastric juices. It is needed for the structure of the body, and is an essential constituent in every body tissue and fluid, except connective tissue. Calc Phos plays a huge role in the entire nutritional process and is extremely beneficial in times of rapid growth and pregnancy.

Calc Phos assists in the uptake of calcium found naturally in the diet, will help with inefficient food absorption and poor appetite. For earache that occurs after exposure to cold, Calc Phos is great.

An imbalance or deficiency in Calc Phos can lead to impairment of the brain cells, as can be seen if confidence declines and the challenge is too much for the dog, who just gives up. Other signs of Calc Phos deficiency are poor concentration and memory, anxiety and irritability.

Calc Phos is absolutely essential to the proper growth and nutrition of the body. It supplies new blood cells, so is a good remedy for anaemia. Calc Phos is important for the life of the blood, as without it there would be no coagulation. It is of the greatest importance to soft and growing tissues, as it promotes cell growth.

In old age, where the regenerative functions decrease in the nervous tissue, Calc Phos is well indicated. As the bones begin to become soft, thin or brittle, Calc Phos, used as a supportive measure, works to keep the bones and the blood healthy. Calc Phos is also used in bone disease, such as rickets (rarely seen these days), osteoporosis, osteo-arthritis, fractures, growth disorders, and ligaments that have torn away from the bone.

Dogs who chew (and eat) wood and paper may be exhibiting Calc Phos depletion.

Next newsletter I'll talk about our older dogs, how we can keep them pain free and reasonably agile despite the aging process (I think this applies to all of us!!!) Please remember, all Homeopathic medicines are tested on healthy human beings, not animals, and are used universally for both animals and humans alike - drug free, so no side effects.

All the remedies discussed here are generally available from Ross (give him a bit of notice) or myself on Sundays at Nudgee College from 8.30 am - 11.30am, and if you have any questions you'd like to have answered about your dog(s) or yourself to be discussed in this newsletter, or privately, please don't hesitate to call me or email: eholland@powerup.com.au 

'Til then stay happy and healthy - naturally'

Elaine Holland Homeopath 70 Glenora St Wynnum 4178 (07) 3396 2876

Practice doesn't make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect

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