Tag Archives: puppy

06/23/13

Predicting Adults from Puppies – in 15 Minutes!

A typical vet consult is just 15 minutes. Is this long enough for a vet to diagnose future behavioural problems in puppies? Vaccination consults seem to be an ideal time for vets to assess puppies and make recommendations for the future, but is it really enough time for a vet to reach adequate conclusions?  Pageat set out to find out.

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Rottweiler puppy on vet table having a check up.

 

256 puppies were observed during a vaccination appointment at the vet.  The puppy was first allowed to ‘free range’ around the room, and then the puppy was examined. The behaviour of puppies during this consult was noted.  The owner was also asked to answer 8 questions (on fear, sleep, and self control).

Pageat wondered if the behaviours shown by the puppies and the answers given by their owner might have a correlation between the behaviour (including problem behaviour) the puppy may have as an adult.

Telephone consults occurred 1 month after the vaccination consult, then 6 months after, and then another evaluation was done when the dog came in for its vaccination 1 year afterwards.

Pageat found that there was a correlation, and referred to 6 classifications for adult dogs: ‘normal’, deprivation syndrome, hypersensitivity-hyperactivity, disorder of sensory homeostasis, phobia, and separation anxiety.

This preliminary study showed that there was some merit to Pageat’s ideas. Below are the behaviour classifications that Pageat created and how they correlate to the behaviours and questionnaire responses seen in puppyhood.

 

Normal Dogs

Pups that were likely to have a ‘normal development’, unsurprisingly, displayed normal behaviours in the vet clinic, like:

  • sought comfort from their owner,
  • checked out the room while ocassionally checking in with the owner or vet,
  • sought vet’s contact,
  • had submissive posture when vet reached over the puppy, and
  • sometimes cried when restrained, but soon settled.
  • On the questionnaire, owners said there were no fears, no sleep problems, and no excessive biting.

So: Puppies that act normally in the vet seem to act normally as adults.

 

Deprivation Syndrome

‘Deprivation syndrome’ is the term that Pageat used, which means dogs that are under socialised and so fearful of most things, which in turn leads to fear aggression. (source)

In the vet consult, pups were more likely to grow up with deprivation syndrome if they:

  • were stationary (didn’t move around the exam room),
  • reacted fearfully when touched by the vet,
  • remained fearful even when the owner interacted with them,
  • persistantly tried to escape and bite from restraint, and.
  • if they appeared to calm when restrained, they started fighting again when the restraint was lessened.
  • The owner’s responses to the questionnaire described the puppy as ‘fearful’ towards loud noises, moving objects, and people.

That is: puppies that acted fearful during the 15 minute vet consult will probably stay fearful. They should immediately start an intensive socialisation program to try to reduce their fearful reactions.

 

Hypersensitivity-Hyperactivity Syndrome

‘Hypersensitivity-hyperactivity syndrome’ is basically a dog with lack of control, especially bite inhibition. They are often not-aggressive but nonetheless hurt their owners and others because of their lack of bite inhibition in ‘over the top’ play.

In the vet consult, pups were more likely to grow up with this syndrome if they:

  • were active, ran everywhere,
  • repeatedly interacted with ‘every thing’ they could in the exam room,
  • if this interaction included chewing and often destroying items,
  • immediately started to play during the physical exam,
  • growled and bit,
  • tried to escape restraint by biting, urinating, or defecating, and if this fighting may continue for 30 seconds or more,
  • had an owner who’s presence didn’t influence the puppy’s behaviour, and
  • had an owner who was covered in bites themselves.
  • Owners on the questionnaire indicated the puppy didn’t sleep solidly (i.e. made noise at night) and described the puppy as rough or bitey when playing.

That is: Puppies who seemed hyperactive and orally fixated would stay that way into adulthood. Puppies in this category should be put in puppy playgroups and otherwise taught to inhibit their bite.

 

Disorder of Sensory Homeostasis

This was the most confusing classification that Pageat used. Here are a couple of definitions I was able to come up with in regard to ‘sensory homeostasis’:

  • “the ability to react in a suitable manner to sensory stimulations coming from the external environment” (source)
  • “The normal state can be regarded as the normosensoperceptive [normal sensory perceptive] condition to be maintained in the physiological range by means of various cooperative and coordinated mechanisms” (source)

That is, ‘dealing with’ (behaviourally, psychologically, and physically) the environment in a normal way. So, a dog who has ‘sensory homeostasis’ could be described as ‘a dog that reacts suitably to sensory input from its environment’.

The behaviours of puppies in this group were diverse:

  • Puppies were active, running everywhere and chewing everything – or they did the opposite, staying in one place resting and not moving much.
  • Puppies either began to play when you interacted with them, or just stayed still.
  • These puppies bit when they were restrained – sometimes with urinating and defecating as well, but always did not submit.
  • The owners reported these puppies were fearful, that they didn’t sleep well or were active, and they were rough biting and playful.

As you can see, there is a lot of variety in this category, and I’m not sure what conclusions can actually be reached. This is especially true when you compare with the rather logical and conclusive results made under different headings.

 

Phobic Adult Dogs

Dogs were more likely to be fearful adults if they were puppies that:

  • sought comfort from owners in new environments,
  • if the explored, they checked in with the owner or vet as exploring,
  • adopted a submissive posture during handling,
  • cried softly during restraint, or
  • moved legs when restrained, but soon calms down and is submissive.

That is, the pups that overall seemed quite soft and ‘submissive’ and sought reassurance from people were likely to be fearful dogs in adulthood.  These puppies could also have their behaviour remedied by socialisation where they could learn to be more outgoing (as they realise the world is a not-so-scary place).

 

Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety is basically a fear of being alone.  Pups that exhibited the following behaviours were more likely to have separation anxiety as an adult:

  • rests as close as possible to the place it was left,
  • vet has to initate contact, and
  • pup exhibits fearful behaviours like escaping, biting, urinating, defecating or anal sac excretion, but when the owner approaches, these behaviours stops.
  • The owner answered ‘yes’ to fearful behaivours on the questionnaire.

A vet could recommend that puppies displaying these behaviours begin to engage in a separation anxiety program before issues become apparent. Undertaking anti-separation anxiety procedures are good practice, anyway, but could be applied with more emphasis in puppies like this.

 

Implications

Unfortunately, this research is almost 10 years old and hasn’t been as revolutionary as first hoped.  However, it shows there is still promise in the original suggestion:  Vets could have a role in preventing problem behaviours from developing or becoming more pronounced by making recommendations based on behaviours seen in a 15 minute consult.  Vets are a major source of information for dog owners, including new puppy owners, and almost all puppies will visit a vet for at least their first vaccination. Because of this, it’s vital that we make the most of these consults and direct puppy buyers to appropriate resources.

 

Links of Interest

Resources for New Puppy Owners

How to Stop Puppy Biting

 

 

Reference

Pageat, P 2004, ‘Evaluating the quality of behavor development in puppies: preliminary results of a new scale’, Proceedings of the 10th European Congress on Companion Animal Behavioural Medicine.

05/7/13

Breeding and Rearing Code Review in Victoria

It will soon be easier to be a gun dealer in Australia than a registered breeder. (source)

Just one of the comments made regarding the DPI’s current Breeding and Rearing Code Review, currently up for public comment.

Like other codes, this one has a big emphasis on running dogs in kennel environments, puts arbitury numerical values to determine animal welfare, and has elements of mandatory desexing. In other words: Legitimising big breeders at the expense of small breeders.

Screenshot of the DPI Victoria's website.

 

Missing the Problem

Code is for anyone with 3+ fertile bitches or queens if they’re not “registered members of an Applicable Organisation” or reigstered breeders with 10 or more fertile female dogs or cats. As a ‘registered member of an Applicable Organisation’, in some ways, I am grateful for the exemptions, but in other ways, they don’t really go far enough. Greyhound breeders and backyard breeders are exempt and, debatably, these are the breeders with the biggest ethical problems associated with them (read “Incentives to breed more greyhounds?!“).  Thousands of greys are killed each year for not making the grade, and then backyard breeders are untraceable and arguably contribute to the impounds of pounds (considering the abundance of staffy type dogs in pounds).

Further, this is complicated by the lose terminology. What do I have to do to have 3+ or 10 fertile bitches? Do they have to live with me? Or do I just have to own them? How is ‘fertile’ defined? Is it a bitch that is not desexed? Or a bitch who has had at least one heat cycle? Or a bitch that is less than 12 years old?

On one hand, it’s ‘good’ that the code only applies to certain groups.  But that then poses the question: If this code is really in the best interest of animal welfare, why doesn’t it apply to all breeders?

 

Getting Sexy with Vets

I don’t know who wrote this draft, but I’m pretty sure they must have a vested interest in vet profits! Vets need to sign off on everything in this review – from diet, vaccinations, and parasite control, to whether the dog is appropriate to be bred from, to a ‘health management plan’ and a retirement plan for the dog. What the! Surely the best person to make decisions for a dog is the owner of the dog.

Furthermore, for those who choose a more holistic method for raising dogs (raw diet, limited vaccination protocals, etc), then they will have close to no chance to raise dogs through the methods they choose, as close to no vets advocate raw diets or 7 yearly vaccination protocols. (Indeed, the code says dogs cannot be fed offal, fullstop.)

While vets might be initially excited about how this might translate into income, surely they are not the best judge for my dog’s temperament. For example, most vets indicate a dry/kibble diet, but my current litter have soft stools on dry, so they’ve been eating a raw diet with better stools. I had a puppy with a vaccination reaction at 7 weeks so I decided (against vet advice) to only give her one vaccination at 18 weeks instead of a series of puppy shots. Here I am making individual decisions based on my experience, and sometimes against vet advice, for the welfare interests of my dogs.

I spend hours every day with my dogs, so I am going to bet that my evaluations are a little more informed than the 15 minutes that a vet can spend with my animals during a consult.

 

Reeks of Mandatory Desexing

Like other schemes, this one has elements of mandatory desexing, saying things like: “All retired breeding animals must be desexed”. I’ve already talked about the fallacy of mandatory desexing and the fallout of mandatory desexing schemes.

 

You’re Running a Business

This is more a terminology issue, but I very much reject the use of the term ‘business’ to describe all dog breeding.  The term ‘business’ implies profits, and many ethical breeders do not make profits and so are not really a ‘business’.

Furthermore, this code defines ‘large’ or ‘small’ business based on how many ‘fertile’ animals you own. Shouldn’t a business’s size be determined by its profit, not its capital?

 

Restrictions on Breeding Ages

This code puts a limit on the maximum breeding age of a dog, and bitches can only have 5 litters or less in their lifetime. Both these decisions are hugely prohibitive.

Firstly, using old stud dogs is good! We need to breed healthy dogs with longevity, and there’s no better way to know if a dog is healthy and long lived that waiting for him to live a long time. In fact, I deliberately look for old dogs to use at stud for that very reason (read an old puppy announcement).

Additionally, if we have a bitch that is exceptional, particularly in health, then having 5 or more litters may be a good thing. For example, if we had a bitch with 0/0 elbows and 0/0 hips, then I’d love her to produce as many offspring as possible, especially if the breed average is 6/6 or 8/8. However, the maximum breeding ages listed are hugely prohibitive for large breed dogs, with 5 years being the maximum. Large breeds often don’t reach maturity until 3 years, and so, with this code, bitches are limited to only 2 ‘breedable years’, or 2 litters. As I mentioned, for an exceptional bitch, this is not many litters, and doesn’t leave much room for error – if she is mated and she misses, you then have 18 months to get all the puppies you can out of her.

 

Good: Some Interest in Socialisation

One of the good things about this code is that it is trying to mandate some socialisation and habituation with puppies, as seen in “Table 3” and “Table 4” in the document. Of course, it’s close to impossible to enforce this, but it’s nice to think someone is thinking about it.

The only downfalls is that puppies “must remain with mother & other litter mates until 6 weeks of age”. For those of you who read my ‘Puppies 2012 Series‘, you will know that my puppies get out and about (without their mother and litter mates) from 4 weeks of age, as that is when the critical socialisation window starts. Why would you legislate against this? Furthermore, the socialisation table describe doesn’t allow puppies to socialise with other dogs until they are 8 weeks old – again, meaning that a big chunk of their socialisation window is missed.

It’s nice to see some attention given to socialisation in this document, but it is still somewhat misguided, and pretty much impossible to enforce the good bits, even if we wanted to.

 

Lack of Privacy

Like other codes, ‘business’ must be recorded keeping nazis.  The concerning things is, this records must be available to authorised offices upon request, and must be given to council if the ‘business’ ceases.  This means that Joe-Blow the puppy buyer’s details will be available to certain parties on request and when the business ceases.  Where is the privacy in purchasing decisions? Why does the council, or even the authorised officers, need to know this kind of stuff?

 

Dogs in Clean Kennels Again

Okay, so there’s a good thing about the ‘small business’ and ‘large business’ thing: Large business is required to have pens or yards, while small business doesn’t have to. This is good – better than a lot of similiar legislation that requires pens full stop. Another good thing is this code mentions dogs that sleep inside the house, showing that it is possible for dogs to live in ways other than clean and kennelled.

But then there’s all the normal stuff which is keen on disinfectants and hand washing, even with visitors obligated to wash hands. Not too bad in a kennel environment but if my dogs are just hanging out in my yard, it’s not possible for me to disinfect the lawn.

 

Separate the Dogs, Again

At least! This code allows dogs to run together – an important psychological role for dogs, especially living in kennel environments.

And there are some common-sense regulation in this code: You can’t run dogs together that fight, and you can’t run different sexes together in there is a bitch coming in or in season.

Okay, maybe that’s about it. They ask for bitches to be separated from other dogs two weeks prior to whelping. Presumably, the logic is that the bitch may like ‘peace and quiet’ during this time.  In reality, bitches used to running with a group of dogs are likely to be more stressed by their segregation than anything else. Then, once she has puppies, she has to be able to ‘escape’ them if she chooses to. Theoretically, a nice idea, unless you have a bitch disinterested in mothering and her pups perish when she chooses to ‘escape’ them on a permanent basis.

If you are a ‘large business’, you can only exercise up to 4 compatible dogs together, and they must be in single sex groups. I’m not sure who wrote this code, but they obviously have had very little to do with dogs in the real world – mix sexes are generally more compatible, temperament wise, than single sex groups.

 

Policing?

A lot of the standards in this code are very hard to enforce. If you walk into a facility and the puppies aren’t having their socialisation, then they must’ve had their socialisation earlier that day (says the business proprietor). You walk into a facility and see that there is lamb fry in the fridge, and the proprietor says that’s for his dinner. How can you prove otherwise?

You walk into business and see dogs with red irritated paws from walking on a hard disinfected surface. The dog is receiving vet treatment, but can’t be moved to a different surface because of regulations required concrete and disinfectant. So the dog is obligated to spend a life of irritation due to regulation. But ‘the police’ can do nothing because all boxes are being checked.

(And, quietly, I’d say that ANKC registered breeders who have good records in terms of pedigrees, date of births, and so forth, and so are most likely to be ‘caught out’ if they do breedings out of line.)

 

Why Rescue Groups Should Care

When you have fertile animals come into your care, you will become a breeding establishment. You just need three or more fertile animals to become a ‘business’.  This means that rescues would have to have a vet sign off on everything too, you have to be record keeping nazis, dogs have to be kept in concreted kennels, and you can’t run animals of different sexes together (if you have more than 6). Being a rescue is not currently an exemption in this code. While arguing for exemption may be possible, I would still ask:  If this code is really in the best interest of animal welfare, why doesn’t it apply to all breeders?

 

Other Bits

Once I had a dream that I walked into the backyard and my stud dog, Chip, was mating two of my bitches at the same time. A very funny dream, which I thought was quite mythical – until this code came out saying “Male dogs must not mate with more than 1 female dog at a time”. Is there dogs out there that have a magical double-headed penis for performing two matings at the same tie? Is there so many out there that we need to legislate against their impressive copulation style?

The DPI has a pretty nifty idea with their own breeding training being recommended every 3 years. And by ‘nifty’ I mean good for fundraising.

The code requires, “Animals must not be sold before 8 weeks of age”. I’m guessing the code actually wants to say something like, “Animals must not permanently leave their place of whelping and rearing prior to 8 weeks of age”. A bit of an oversight, as many breeders take deposits and so ‘sell animals’ before 8 weeks of age.

The code specifies, “A heat source must be provided for puppies in/over their bedding”. The code doesn’t specify that, if the weather is 40C or higher, that this would be unnecessary.

 

What can you do?

Right now this legislation is only ‘okay’ because registered breeders are exempt (unless they have more than 10 dogs). But this exemption is very easy to remove. Indeed, I would suggest that the ‘animal righters’ are probably putting in proposals as we speak to have the exemptions removed.

I hope to make a more detailed post before the May 13th deadline, but in the meantime, you can click here to submit comments online.

If you need further inspiration when making a submission:

Read this page on Campaspe Working Dogs (for perspectives from working breeders)

Read this thread on DogzOnline (for perspectives from ‘show breeders’)

04/22/13

Clean and Kennelled: The Future of Dog Breeding

Many animal welfare groups call for legislation that defines what ‘best practice’ is for breeders.  They state that their goals are to eradicate any suffering of animals used for breeding. While I, too, am concerned about the wellbeing of animals, this concern extends to all dogs, and not only those used for breeding practices.  Because of this, I advocate for animal welfare legislation to be upheld nation-wide.  While I certainly want to discourage individuals motivated solely by profit and romantic ideals from breeding dogs, I do not want to see committed, knowledgable and ethical breeders removed from their hobby.

However, this is exactly what dog breeding legislation seems to be doing in Australia.

Puppies, on grass, with two adult dogs: Sin! According to Australian breeders legislation.

Puppies, on grass, with two adult dogs: Sin! According to Australian breeders legislation.

Nationally, here are two significant pieces of legislation regarding dog breeding, though both are only applicable to certain areas.  There is the Gold Coast’s “Breeder Code of Practice” which targets anyone with entire dogs, and, in NSW, there is the “Breeding Dogs and Cats – Code of Practice“, which targets anyone breeding animals.  These codes seem to have been developed in consultation with one another, because they are very similar in a lot of ways. Significantly, both codes have ‘standards’, which are enforceable, and ‘guidelines’, which are just recommendations on breeding animal husbandry.

 

Commercial Breeding Establishments Only

Both the Gold Coast and NSW document is written in a way that obligates people to keep their animals in kennels and concrete enclosures. They define breeding establishments as being purpose built (NSW), the floor as being ‘non-porous’ (GC), that needs to be disinfected weekly (NSW & GC), and run off into a sewage system (NSW).

I know what this is trying to do – it’s trying to stop people with a large number of dogs running in muddy and faeces-laden runs. However, this legislation targets anyone who breeds dogs (NSW) and anyone with an entire dog (GC). This means that people who keep and raise dogs and puppies in their home are effectively illegal.

For example, my puppies are raised in the dining room – an excellent place for puppies to socialise to general household ruckus. However, my dining room was not purpose built for puppy rearing, it is not disinfected weekly (though it is cleaned daily when housing puppies), and it doesn’t have a drain, let alone a drain to a sewage system. This means I wouldn’t, legally, be able to raise puppies in a home environment while in NSW or the Gold Coast. To follow legislation, my puppies would have to be raised in a purpose built enclosure outside or in a shed, something I think is hugely undesirable and indeed detrimental to the psychological development of puppies (it would produce what Ian Dunbar calls ‘Lemon Puppies‘).

Effectively, both these pieces of legislation have made-illegal the practice of raising puppies in a home environment. The alternative is raising puppies in a kennel environment, and that just doesn’t make sense considering what we know on the importance of puppy socialisation. However, considering the NSW legislation also says that puppies “must not be separated from their mother until 7 weeks”, it seems that the legislation has zero interest in producing amicable, sociable, independent, and well-rounded puppies.

 

Dogs Can No Longer Be Crated

Both schemes specify minimum sizes for animal enclosures.  The Gold Coast calls for the dog to be able to move away from its bed to urinate and defecate. This legislation pretty much means that crates cannot be used, as they are smaller than the minimum enclosure sizes specified. Considering the benefits of crate training, why would legislation be introduced to delegalise it?

The minimum enclosure sizes increase for the number of puppies, which makes sense, except it doesn’t define an age. This means they require a bitch with puppies to be housed in a minimum area of 3.5 metre square area (NSW). I often lock a bitch in a 1 metre square area with their puppies during the first week or two, because otherwise I find bitches neglectful of their puppies. It, of course, depends on the individual bitch, but with legislation such as this in force, I can’t make decisions based on these individuals. I am serious when I say that not locking Clover in with her puppies would almost undoubtly have resulted in puppy death – but this would be contravening the legislation in NSW that requires bitches to be able to escape their young. How is that in the best interest of animal welfare?

 

Co-Habitation of Animals is Foggy

Both pieces of legislation are a bit unclear, but seem to suggest that animals should be isolated from one another.  The Gold Coast Scheme asks for enclosures to be “disinfected between animals”, which implies that two animals may not share a run.  The NSW legislation requires bitches in season to be “isolated from other animals”, a truly bizarre request. I wonder if the writers of the legislation realise that bitches require an entire and fertile male dog to get pregnant, so can run with any dog that doesn’t fit that description and avoid pregnancy?

In kennel situations, having a dog companion is important to enriching the day-to-day life of that dog. Furthermore, for young puppies, having dog-dog play is important for developing bite inhibition. And, again, for the hobby breeder at home, running dogs together is a natural part of dog ownership. It doesn’t make sense that people with two or more pet dogs can run them together, but having two or more breeding animals means that this is no longer an option.

 

Elements of Mandatory Desexing

I have already discussed the implications of mandatory desexing schemes, and both these schemes stink of mandatory desexing.  The Gold Coast scheme even says “A permit condition may require the holder of the permit to desex an entire female animal which the holder of the animal has retired from breeding”. Yuck! This comes back to considering the well being of individual animals (is desexing really in their best interest?).

 

Arbitrary Limits for Animal Welfare

Both schemes have, with no real basis, decided that numbers determine bitch welfare. For example, in the Gold Coast, a bitch is clearly compromised if she has more than 4 litters, and if she is older than 6 years old.  In NSW, a bitch can’t be mated on their first cycle, regardless of their age.  Of course, I wouldn’t advocate breeding a bitch at 6 months, but many bitches don’t come in until they’re 18 months or older. What hazard does pregnancy in a bitch’s first cycle cause?  While these strange numerical scales are probably good guides in general, they are by no means indicative of animal welfare.

 

Double Standards

I find it ironic that the Gold Coast scheme says that “Euthanasia of cats and dogs is only acceptable for the relief of incurable illness, chronic pain, and suffering”, yet the RSPCA of QLD euthanises 30% of dogs and puppies that come into their care and 44% of cats and kittens (according to their 2011/2012 annual report).  Why are breeders, whose ‘job’ is to breed animals, held to a higher standard than shelters, who’s job it is to shelter and protect them?  Furthermore, the scheme calls for secure enclosures, yet the RSPCA QLD admits to having 15 dogs escape throughout the course of the year (again in the 2011/2012 annual report). Can you say “what the”?

 

Weird Inclusions

Some parts of the scheme are just plain weird. In the Gold Coast you are allowed to tether animals (known to increase aggression in dogs), but you can’t microchip them before 8 weeks of age…

In NSW, breeders need to record keep everything, have emergency procedures for evacuation documented, and have functioning fire righting equipment. All very excessive for a home, hobby breeder.

 

Puppy on grass! Legislation wants this banned!

Puppy on grass! Legislation wants this banned!

 

So what does this mean?

While animal welfare groups who push for breeder standards have good intentions, so far, no legislation has been produced that does anything other than legitimise the practice of kennelling dogs and raising puppies in kennel environments. While I would not argue that all kennel environments are ‘bad’ for dogs, they certainly fall short of socialisation that can be achieved in a home environment, and so fall short of producing the best puppies that they can.

Breeders have a responsibility to care for the wellbeing of their animals – but disinfectant, concrete floors, and isolated animals isn’t necessarily indicative of animal welfare.  Dog welfare is as much as the psychological aspects of keeping and raising good dogs: Selecting appropriate parents with good temperaments, providing enriching environments, socialisation and toilet training of puppies, and monitoring their dogs for life.

If socialisation was mandated, I would be all for it. If breeders were responsible for their animals for life, that would be awesome.

Making breeders keep their animals in kennels instead of houses is just backwards to everything we know about dog welfare.

 

Further Reading:

Can Breeders Breed Better?

The Sin of Breeding Dogs

The Fallacy of Mandatory Desexing

What is the answer (to puppy farms)?

 

 

04/14/13

How to Save a Swimmer Puppy

THERE IS HOPE FOR SWIMMER PUPPIES. THEY DO NOT NEED TO BE EUTHANISED.

Phew. Okay, I just wanted to get that off my chest. For anyone who is googling for help for their swimmer puppy, the search results can be very dis-inspiring. I wanted to explain that it actually only takes a few days to a week to get a swimmer puppy to a mostly normal pup, and then several more weeks until the puppy is unrecognisable as a past swimmer.

 

What is a swimmer puppy?

A swimmer puppy is a very young puppy, normally 4 weeks of age or younger, who has legs that stick out to the side rather than underneath. Their chest is normally flat, and their back legs sometimes drag behind them. This often means that swimmer puppies struggle to walk, as their legs don’t push them off the ground, merely along it (‘swimming’ along the ground). It is important that a swimmer’s puppies legs are righted as soon as possible.

 

This is the swimmer puppy we had in our 2010 litter. He was born with some signs of being a swimmer. You can see that his legs stick out to the side instead of underneath or in front of him. Unfortunately, his condition was not recognised until a week later - but he still was walking normally by 8 weeks, and is not recognisable as a swimmer today.

This is the swimmer puppy we had in our 2010 litter, pictured at 3 weeks. He was born with some signs of being a swimmer. You can see that his legs stick out to the side instead of underneath or in front of him. Unfortunately, his condition was not recognised until a week later – but he still was walking normally by 8 weeks, and is not recognisable as a swimmer today.

 

What causes swimmer puppies?

Some puppies are undeniably born as ‘swimmers’, with legs that stick out to the side. However, whether this is genetic (caused by genes) or merely congenital (caused by in-utero-carriage) is hard to say. Many people report that puppies sometimes develop symptoms after being held in particular ways, as their bones are soft and pliable. From this logic, it’s not unfathomable that difficult birthing could also result in puppies that may be ‘pressed’ into a swimmer body shape.

However, a lot of swimmers are born as normal puppies and then become swimmers through their environment. One of the most significant causes of swimming is when litters are raised on surfaces with poor traction – particularly surfaces like newspaper.  These puppies can’t gain purchase on the floor, and end up ‘swimming’ instead of moving.  As noted above, some claim that puppies can become swimmers through routine poor handling (e.g. applying pressure to the pup’s chest when holding) and even one-off unfortunate incidents (e.g. a bitch laying on a pup).  Puppies in small litters (especially singleton puppies) are at risk of becoming swimmers from being overweight.

 

How do I fix a swimmer puppy?

They can be fixed!  The sooner you begin to implement some of these fixes, listed below, the faster you will begin to see improvements. (And the longer you leave it, the worse the condition can be.)

  • Make sure the bedding in your whelping box is easy for the puppy to grip on! Vet bed is great for this, but you can also use carpet, rubber matting, synthetic grass, etc.
  • Make the surface of the whelping box undulating. You can achieve this by putting egg carton, lumpy foam, or scrunched up newspaper underneath the bedding in the whelping box. This helps to encourage swimmer puppies to use their hind legs.
  • Place the puppy in sleeping positions that are helpful to recovery. Puppies that sleep on their chest will exacerbate the flatness on their chest, so place sleeping swimmer puppies onto their side at every opportunities. Also ‘tuck’ in the legs of these puppies, so they’re underneath the pup’s body and not out to the side. Obviously you can’t do this all the time, but even doing this occasionally will see improvements.
  • Be conscious of the way you hold the swimmer puppy. Don’t hold the puppy in a way that exacerbates the symptoms – so don’t place pressure on their chest, and don’t encourage the legs to stick out sidewards.
  • You can hobble the puppy. Basically, create ‘paw cuffs’ that pull the legs together using tape, a small child’s sock, or whatever may work. Obviously, make sure that the cuffs don’t cut off circulation. Even though this feels barbaric to do, the puppies I have done this to have not really objected to the process. (Click for photos of the puppy handcuff method.)
  • Let the puppy have sleeps in a sling (like an inside out pillow case hanging on a chair) in between feeds. (Ensure puppy is kept at an appropriate temperature.) Make sure the puppy’s legs are in the appropriate position before you leave them hanging – you don’t want to exacerbate their swimmer status! (Click for photos of the puppy sling method.)
  • Apply puppy-physio. Put puppy on your lap on their back, and gently massage their legs and ribs, and move legs in all directions – gently!
  • Encourage the swimmer puppy to move around, even by simply making them ‘walk to the milkbar’.
  • For obese swimmer puppies, restrict feeding times and especially get them to ‘walk to the milkbar’ (work off their meals!)
  • Some anecdotal evidence suggests that an overheated whelping box could aggravate the condition. Depending on your particular context, it may want to reconsider any external heating in the whelping box.

 

The same puppy at 9 months. This puppy had pretty much all the methods outlined applied from 4 weeks old, and was walking normally by 8 weeks.

The same puppy at 9 months. This puppy had pretty much all the methods outlined applied from 4 weeks old, and was walking normally by 8 weeks.

How do I prevent swimmer puppies?

Recognise the symptoms and act immediately! All the advice suggested above won’t hurt a puppy that is ‘normal’. Indeed, it’s just good sense to have a whelping box with good traction and try to manage the weight of young puppies. Starting early in swimmer rehab will see earlier results, and get the puppy normal sooner rather than later.

As there may be a genetic basis to swimmer puppies, seriously consider running on swimmer puppies for breeding purposes. This is particular true if you are consistently getting swimmer puppies in your litters, despite implementing high-traction surfaces and otherwise ‘doing everything right’ in terms of managing your whelping box environment.

 

Please share your successes with swimmer puppies. I would love to hear from you.

 

For more information, see the post Photographic Guide to Saving Swimmer Puppies.

 

This post is created with thanks to the Swimmer Pups thread on Dogz Online, and all the breeders who have contributed.

02/9/13

Can breeders breed better?

In June last year, I attended a webinar run by ASAP Labratory run by Dr Jacqui Ley on breeding better dogs. I was particularly excited that ASAP ran a webinar as I missed out on a live seminar in Adelaide a few weeks prior.

The seminar was called, “Behaviour = Genetics + Learning + Environment – raising even better dogs“.

Jacqui wanted to challenge breeders: Can we make improvements to the way we breed dogs?

Screenshot from Breeding Better Dogs webinar.

Screenshot from Breeding Better Dogs webinar.

Jacqui’s personal experience with two dogs (pictured above) with anxiety and aggression problems has lead to her being passionate about breeders producing ‘good’ dogs. Continue reading →