P.O.V. 

Health Testing

This is one topic that makes my blood boil a little. Ever since doodles became a hot thing we witnessed health testing popularity explode. This was an easy way to push that doodles, no matter what kind of poodle mix it is has superior health to a purebred dog, in which giving new puppy owners the false sence of security that their new furry friend would never experience any devastating health issues. This pushed the price of the 'designer dogs' through the roof without having any sort of long term data to pull from because the breed wasn't old enough for controlled observation.

I often get into it online with people bulling breeders for their colors in their breeding programs. These people claim certian colors and coat patterns are not original to the breed yet are big supporters in the genetic and other gambet of health testing, they contridict themselves when they say a formerly proven health tested purebred dog is a mixed breed due to coloring or coat pattern. Yes, this could be due to the fact that genetic testing only goes back so far, but this also proves that people are uneducated to how purebred dogs were created and why they were created (which is part of another topic). In any case if these test were in fact foolproof then there would be no arguement over which dog is purebred. 

So do I health test my dogs? I get this question alot because it has become the status qho to ask a breeder what health testing has been done. The answer is yes, I do pull a wisdom panel on all my breeding stock. This gives me an idea if I have any health markers that would be concerning to have in my lines. Are they flawed? Certianly, no test is 100% for instance Oremus and Star both carry the intense chocolate gene yet I have not gotten my chocolate puppy I have been waiting for. A good breeder will base their breeding off the knowledge of their individual dogs and the vision they have for their breeding program. Do I OFA my dogs? Absolutely not! This screening is more flawed then the genetic tests and it exposes my dogs to the risk of being put under anestheia. This testing is more flawed due to the fact your films are only as good as the tech positioning your dog and taking the films, and just because a dog passes their OFA tests doesnt mean your puppy won't develope the disease the parent doesn't currently have. Yes, I'm aware this is an unpopular opinion in the dog world right now but I'm not here to give you false security, my dogs health is more important to me then that.

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Merles

Here is another hot topic that has people creating social media hate groups towards breeders. Color and coat pattern have always been a big deal in the AKC. Dogs of certian color or coat pattern are not recognized in the AKC but are widely shown and successful in other kennel clubs. One example is parti poodles or poodles with multiple colored coats that are not allowed to show in AKC confirmation but are infact allowed to be part of all the other competitions. They are also recognized in confirmation classes in the CKC and UKC shows. Although AKC seems to be behind the times when it comes to color variations of certian breeds it is lost knowledge as to why these competitions were first created, and maybe a loss of the true intent and the meaning behind them. A basic search will guide you to see that these competitions were avid sportsmens way of stacking up their hunting partner against others hunting partners to crown the dogs with the best overall skill, in this the two dogs would be bred to create the ultimate working dog. If you go back even further in canine breed history you will find that different breeds were crossed to showcause certian attributes in the field and that is how we got our purebreds we have today. So if you sit down and watch a dog breed show and watch the german breeds you will find they closely resemble your tradtional standard poodle. This is due to the fact that different german dog breeds were combined to create the original water retrieving standard poodle in Germany. The fact we have altered the Standard Poodle so much today for look is sickening due to the fact that they are almost unrecognizable to how they were developed . Our poodle today is long and lanky and their prey drive which once made them one of the top water retrievers has been stripped out of them. So to get back to the point of discussion there are many haters out there that believe merles are infact mixed breed poodles. My answer to this is yes, most likely at some point the merle was introduced by another breed to add new attributes but far enough back in the lines that genetic tests don't pick up on the different breed.  People forget that this is how we create a breed and how we keep breeds from becoming bottled necked in their DNA which leads to inbreeding and is the cause of genetic defects. This is not to be confused with what is happening with the "doodle" these days. A doodle refers to anything mixed with a poodle with no set standard. Yes, the doodle could become a breed after enough generations of a breeding standard but what is happening now is anything and everything is being mixed with a poodle without enough generational backing to produce an ethical purebred. These doodles are exhibiting high amounts of anxiety and other genetic red flags. Lets also refer back to the fact that other colors and coat patterns are recognized in other kennel clubs including "phantom or brindle markings". A phantom or brindle poodle is strictly refering to a coat pattern not a color, because a phantom or brindle can be different variations of color in a specific pattern. So to refer to merles as a coat pattern and not a color as an arguement towards it not being a poodle is not a sustainable arguement because phantoms and brindles are infact recognized but specific coat patterns to certian breeds. This is all for the sake of the arguement being that the color was introduced and not orginal passed down through generations, but did you know that it wasn't till recent history that parti poodles were considered purebred poodles. Breeders in the past would destroy any puppies that were produced with markings. In this they kept only the pure poodles and continued the solid colored line. At some point in history it became acceptable for poodle to be parti and the different coloring flourished.

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​Nutrition

So through the years I have done lots of research on this topic and as everything else new information comes out all the time. Vets these days are not educated enough on proper nutrition for our pets and are often pushed to promote foods that are full of fillers and preservatives. For starters anything you can buy at grocery stores or big box stores should be a big NO NO. This would be equivalent to feeding your pet fast food for every meal, resulting in destroying their gut which reeks havock on their ears, skin, coat and teeth. Like I said in the vaccine topic anything you put in your dog's body will reflect on the outside. Even though our furry friends are a far cry from their ancestors the wolf we need to remember that their nutrtional needs mimick those of wild canines, including mostly meat and organs. A dog's diet shouldn't consist of fillers like corn and potato, and definitly not the processed foods we as humans so easliy consume. I do realize raw diet is not attainable for many pet owners but researching the best food in your price range is important, the less fillers you can get the better. My go to kibble right now is Stella and Chewys raw coated kibble ocean recipe, and until our raw food project is up and running completely we feed our dogs this food. Our puppies are fed the puppy formula of the Stella and Chewys as well, I dont find it fair to start puppies on a diet that many people may not be able to maintain. Why do we choose the ocean formula when the chicken is a bit cheaper? This is because each protien carries it's own heat element (you can dive further into this topic with a simple search online). The quick breakdown is chicken and most poultry is warming, beef and pork are neutral, and fish is cooling. This is important in the energy level of your dog along with what your dog was bred to do and the coat they have. For example a high energy double coated dog like a husky that is not getting adequate excersice is going to benefit from being on a cooling protien since their body is already running hot. Feeding a dog like this chicken would only exasperate issues due to already being a high intensity dog, since dogs can't release heat through their skin excess heat creates issues like ear infection and yeast feeding on the skin. 

I will add to this page as time goes on. If there is a certian topic you would like to see on here send me a message.