Brave PUPsterS!

Today we went to our local kennel club show as a bystanders and not a participants. I quite like the feeling, however I will prefer to a participants anytime. We have 3 brave PUPsterS entered this show. They are Gillian and Sky, Nicole and Hope and Anderson and Blossom. Weather is good and all of us enjoyed the shows tremendously.

After a long break, Nicole and Hope are back and this team came back with a bang! Two clean runs in their maxi-novice jumpers class and earned their Jumping Dog Title. Well done Nicole and Hope, great wins with great handling. Anderson is a faithful USDAA scorer and she always have to give up her chances in USDAA Trials as a volunteer so that other participants can enjoy the shows. Thank God for local kennel show, now she can concentrate on her run. Guess what? Anderson and Blossom came in 3rd in the mini-novice jumpers class and this is their first clean run. Well done Ann and Blossom, your hardwork have paid off.

Gillian and Sky also have their good runs, however due to some faults, cause this team their win and placing. Take heart Gillian, continue to work hard, you will see your efforts pays off one day.

This being a great opportunity we brought along Guinness and she has proof her obedience. Guinness is so concentrated on us, she is quick to respond to her recall, distraction and a tempting big field to romp around. She has passed his test with flying color, she socializing well with all dogs and she is ready to enter competition when she is ready to compete.

Thanks to our supporters, Lynn, Yulin, kamal, Alex and Debra. This great support have given our participants strength to do well in the competition.




What a great day today? Once again well done to our brave PUPsterS,

Versatile Pair!!

Versatile Pair are Performing Tournament Event, and we will be organizing as a local qualifier to 2011 CYNOSPORT WORLD GAMES in OCTOBER this year.

Versatile Pair as the name imply will be a team of 2 dogs. Competing in classes such as Standard Agility, Jumpers, Snooker, Gamblers and Relay.

It will a blast!

Great Dogsport Weekend!

Last Saturday was an interesting and frustrating day. The morning heavy showers came when we were conducting our agility training. Force to abandon training, but managed to kick some butt before rain stop. Both Vidya and Hope were having a swell time and since they were already wet, owners don't mind them even wet-tier.

The afternoon training slot were better, no rain but weather were hot! Yoyo was on MC, so we have our veteran Milo, Bloosom, Ashley and Blaze. I must tell you that the small dogs were doing great! Blaze and Bloosom were conquering the courses easily. Even our veteran Milo, who won't even bother to attempt the teeter, just within that hour, Milo attempted the teeter twice. He didn't worry much, but was frighten by his owner Anderson's screaming for him to stop in the middle of the obstacle. This was also Melvin and Ashley first lesson, therefore time is needed to build the bond of this team. But I must say, Ashley is already quite good on basic stuff such as tunnels, jumps etc

Sunday were gloomy, the heavy downpour resulted in massive floods in Singapore, such as in Orchard Road. Our hot shopping belt were disrupted by the floods and even on Monday, people are still dealing with the aftermath of the flood. With such heavy rain, Sunday were largely utilized for sleeping...... I slept through the whole afternoon :)

And in the night, both Debra and me went to Sembawang Park for a very nice dinner. Even-though the ambience wasn't great, the meals were value for money. A nice place to take a stroll after a nice dinner.

Sport Dog Owners Intro to Prescription Medication!

Sport Dog Owners Intro to Prescription Medication

Sports dogs work as hard as their human counterparts. They compete in different events which test a dog’s speed, endurance, strength, and intelligence. Nevertheless just like human athletes, sports dogs are susceptible to injury. The most common forms are muscular trigger points, back and neck problems, and cruciate ligament injury.

Although prevention is always better, by maintaining the dog’s health and fitness, sometimes injuries are just unavoidable. And when they do happen, the injured dog must get the most appropriate treatment. These injuries affect a dog’s mobility and may contribute to the early development of dog arthritis.

To treat muscular trigger points, physical therapy and massage will suffice. Neck and back pain can be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs or painkillers. In some cases, surgery may be needed. However, a cruciate ligament injury will require surgery. There are many procedures available to remedy the injury such as extracapsular suture, tibial plateau leveling osteotomy, or tibial tuberosity advancement. It is important that dog owners discuss all available procedures carefully with their veterinarian as there is no one superior procedure; all have their advantages and their drawbacks.

Prescription Medication

For sport dogs, pain is almost an unavoidable hazard of the job. Prescription medicine is an important aspect in the treatment of injuries and in the rehabilitation process after surgery or injury. There are many anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers available. What is important is choosing the right drug. Efficacy must be balanced with safety. Therefore, a dog’s overall health should always be the top priority.

The following are prescription medications that are commonly used in veterinary medicine:
• NMDA antagonists or neuropathic pain medicines help reduce pain by “calming down” overactive neural pain pathways. Common NMDA antagonists include Gabapentin, Amantadine, Ketamine and Amitryptaline.
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs are drugs which inhibit the pro-inflammatory action of COX-enzymes. Nonetheless, they have side effects such blood thinning, renal failure, and gastro-intestinal damage that can be fatal for some dogs.
• Opioids provide stronger pain relief than other prescription painkillers and have very few side effects. They work by decreasing the brain’s awareness of pain. Examples of opiods are Tramadol, Morphine, Fentanyl, Buprenorphine, and Codeine. Most states and countries consider opioids as restricted substances, which make the sale and purchasing of the drug tricky.
• Cortisone is a more potent anti-inflammatory than NSAIDs. It can help to settle “acute on chronic” pain. However, it should rarely be considered as a first option since it can exacerbate bone degeneration. Also, it should not be used for more than two to three times a year.

To learn more about prescription medication, you can download a free copy of my e-book, The Risks of Prescription Medicines in Dog Arthritis. Just click on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/l/55829fqVuRU8CufxxcDYyVQuZZg/www.dogarthritisplan.com/.

Risks of Prescription Medicines B « Dog Arthritis Plan www.dogarthritisplan.com Prescription medicines on non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Rimadyl, Metacam, Previcox or Deramaxx Article provided by Mr. Christopher Durin, Veterinarian and Author. http://www.facebook.com/christopherdurin

Forward Momentum!

Last weekends beside the skills of rear cross or back switch, we also did some forward motion or momentum training. This skill is good for new dogs and also the advance dogs. Passion, Toby, and Sky all go through this forward momentum training grip.

Forward momentum skills allow your animals to focus on what is ahead and drive towards it and not so handler focus. You are unable to release the velcro dogs if their keen attention is on you and only you. This is a good problem, but you will need to teach your velcro dogs that sometime you need to focus on what's ahead and keep driving at it. In Agility, some trainers teach the ability to teach your dogs to be both handler and obstacle focus.

Happy training and always stay positive!

Haze is back!

The terrible haze is back. Yesterday morning on my drive to work, the haze has blocked my beautiful views of Singapore. Singapore Flyers, Marina Sands, Marina Barrage, Singapore River and Sky line of Singapore Business district all disappeared into the think cloud of haze.

Last night, even with the heavy downpour, the weather was hot, humid and misty. And you can smell the air of the burning haze. I heard from some of friends in KL, the haze is bad and they are experiencing more hazy problem than us in Singapore.


We will need to take special attention during training this weekends. Poor air quality will affect both the health of our dogs and owners.

Have fun and stay positive!

Searing heat is here :(

It's part of the year where searing heat has set in since last Saturday. Incidentally last Saturday was Singapore 2011 General Election. The heat and the GE 2011 have heighten the weekends and rise the temperature beyond average tolerance.

In this heated season, we need to pay special attention during training. Especially if you have full black or black and white dog. Below are what we should take special attention to;

1. Avoid training during hottest period 11am to 3pm,

2. Avoid training more than 5 - 10 mins per session,

3. Allow your dogs to rest twice the training session,

4. Allow plenty of water available for your dog,

5. If possible wet your dog to cool them down,

6. Allow your dog H2O or thirst quenching drink,

7. Allow longer warming up and warming down session.

If you notice your dog is showing signs of exhaustion, excessive panting, restlessness, please immediately stop training and let your dog rest. Please take care, PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE!

Last but not least, have fun in your training and always stay positive!

It's been a long time .....

It’s been a long time since I have time to train Jade. This afternoon training was a beautiful experience. Jade now can move into heel position on my left and on my right. She now automatically move into heel position to get her rewards on motion.

At the same time I worked Jade on Agility as well. The Pause Table was my plan. Now she can jump onto the table and adopt a sit position. Of course, my ultimate aim is to get her to take a down position on the table. Jade don’t seems to like to down position, I will have to work on her separately. Open Tunnel was next. Working with Jade to go into the tunnel on her own. Jade did it brilliantly. Now she dashes out with great intensity.

She is such a darling :0

Preparation is the Name!

With the confirmation of our 9th USDAA Sanctioned Trials in end July, we immediately get into action to prepare for this long awaited event.

Benji, Hershey, Millie are selected to prepare to take this sanctioned trials. Since we are running a full performance titling event, it has provide a wonderful platform for young and trying dogs such as Hershey and Millie to get a go at it.

Videos, training logs will be posted to update you guys on their progress.

9th USDAA Sanctioned Trials on 30, 31 JULY 2011!

Hi All,

We are please to confirm our long awaited 9th USDAA International Dog Agility Sanctioned Trials has been confirmed. Please see below for more details;

Event - 9th USDAA International Dog Agility Sanctioned Trials
Date - 30, 30 July 2011
Time - 9am to 6pm
Venue - TBA
Judges - TBA

Programme Schedule -

30 JUL, SAT - Performance Titling
- Performance 1/2/3 Standard Agility
- Performance 1/2/3 Jumping
- Performance Snooker
- Performance Gamblers
- Performance Pairs Relay

31 JUL, SUN - Tournament Local Qualifier
- Performance Versatile Pairs Championship
- VP Standard Agility
- VP Jumping
- VP Snooker
- VP Gamblers
- VP Pairs Relay

OR
- Performance Grand Prix Championships
- Performance Speed Jumping Championships

Let's all get into actions and prepare for a wonderful USDAA Sanctioned Trials!

Cheers
Dexter Sim
Event Secretary
PUPS LLP
USDAA Affiliated Group

PUPS Dog Sports Demo @ RustiRun!

PUPS Dog Sports Demo at RustiRun Event this morning 24 Jan 2010
I want to thank RustiRun of having us and we are there for a series of Dog Sports Demonstrations to promote Positively Trained Dogs Can Do It All!

We kicked start with our 1st Dog Sport Discipline, some call it K9 Freestyle or Heelwork to Music, but to put it simply it is Doggy Dancing! Mikah and Debra will performed a minutes routine to the song Achy Breaky Heart. A Westurn line dancing song that Mikah enjoys dancing too. Debra and Mikah hopes that this sport will pick up in Singapore!

PUPS 2nd favorite Demo will be demonstrated by our members the CrazyK9s Flyball Team. Flyball is another popular sports that dog lovers do with their dogs. It is fun and energy burning! Both dogs and their owners love this game!

Lets hear it from Team CrazyK9s! Team A - Christine & Micky (BC), Tina & Buddy (BC) & YuLin & Vidya (Cocker Spaniel). Team B - Gloria & Sparky (Corgi), Ken & Bozz (BC) & Evelyn & Billion (BC).

Our 3rd Demo is Dog Frisbee or Canine Freestyle. Benji enjoys a good game of Frisbee and this is one of his favourite rewards after a good training session. Dexter and Benji will show you some of the moves you can do with a Frisbee. Butterfly, multiple, under the legs, over the legs, over your back, the salute, the catch…..

Our final Demo is our Agility Dog Sports. Agility show a dog’s natural athleticism. Athleticism is represented by a dog’s working ability, which is defined by the dynamics of their physical build as well as their willingness to work.

The challenge presented in this demo are weavepole, pin-wheel over 360 degree turns, a fast home stetch of jumps over tunnels jumps combination. Our Agility Demo Team are Christine & Micky (BC), Tina & Buddy (BC), YuLin & Vidya (Cocker Spaniel), Gillian & Sky (BC), Nicole & Hope (Golden-X) & Dexter & Benji (BC).

All demonstration videos are available at PUPS YOUTUBE CHANNEL - http://www.youtube.com/pups.

We want to thank PUPS Demo Team and our volunteers, Gail our Videocam Woman, Dawn and Berny for manning of PUPS booth and answering all dog training questions, Anthony our photographer.

Without you guys and girls, our PUPS Dog Sports Demo will not be a great success! Thanks again, and we hope you all enjoyed yourself at RustiRun Events.

Analogies of Dog Sports......

Analogies of Dog Sports

I have found very interesting and good analogies on how we can express the various discipline of Dog Sports.

Dog Obedience = Champagen and Caviar

Dog Shows = Formal Dinner

Dog Agility = Wine and Crackers

Flyball = Beer Party

More of 6th USDAA Sanctioned Trials Photos......

More of 6th USDAA Sanctioned Trials photos..

I want to thank all professional photographers whom came down to join us for our First Ever Dog Frisbee Competition-cum-6th USDAA Sanctioned Trials. With all your professional help, we are able to enjoy this events from very difficult angles and perspective.

Should you be interested to purchase the photos, please approach the respective persons for details.

1. http://picasaweb.google.com/anthonli.lee/2009DogAgility2#

- pls email anthony @anthonli@yahoo.com.sg

2. http://picasaweb.google.com/handson103

- pls email debra @usdaa.sg@gmail.com

Once again enjoy the photos, thanks to all who make this possible.

Sports of Dog Agility:

Sports of Dog Agility:

The sports of dog agility started in England in the 1970's. It has become a very popular sport all over the world after three decades. Over 80 countries participate in international competition. The Singapore started in this sports over a decade, and so far has joined in the United States Dog Agility Association, Inc and the Cynosport World Games 2009 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA! This sports is getting popular, and these weekends we will see TOP dogs in Singapore joining the competition.

The Judges:

Our Judges for the 6th USDAA International Dog Agility Sanctioned Trials is MR. ROWEL DE GUIA, from the Philippines, MR. DEXTER SIM, from Singapore, MR. JOHN ZHAO, from Guangzhou, China. 

List of Sponsors:

EUKANUBA

RUSTY's favourite

Pet Lovers Centre (Our Official Frisbee for the Longest Catch Competition) 

PUPS

SMARTDOGGY (Our Official Frisbee for the Single Disc Competition)

Agility - Objective of the Game

The handler and his dog have to perform a set of obstacles (14 at the minimum) in the sequence that the Judges has instructed. You will notice the sequence numbers placed near the obstacles. Each course differs every event as the Judge prepares the course usually only a day before the competition. The dog has to follow the instructions of the handler and must perform the obstacles correctly, and at the shortest time. Each error has a corresponding penalty called faults. The dog with the least faults, and with the shortest time will come out as the winner.

Example of faults:

Knocking down hurdle bars - 5 faults
Failing to step on contact zone - 5 faults
For prematurely jumping of seesaw - 5 faults
For not following sequence - 20 faults
For missing an obstacle once - 10 faults
For missing two obstacles - elimination
For urinating in the ring - elimination

6th USDAA Sanctioned Trials, dd 12/13 SEPT 2009!

6th USDAA Sanctioned Trials, dd 12/13 SEPT 2009!

This 6th USDAA International Dog Agility Sanctioned Trials this September is a very unique and exciting event. We are expecting participants from 5 Countries such as Australia, Malaysia, China, Philippines, United States and of course the host country Singapore!

So come and see all these international handlers and dog teams compete and be WOW and entertained by these World Class Teams in an International Recognised Events!

Cheers
DS

Wanted! CLOSET FRISBEE DOG COMPETITIONS!

What is Dog Frisbee?

Disc dog is the more generic name for what is commonly called Frisbee dog. Indisc dog competitions, dogs and their human disc throwers compete in events suchas distance catching and somewhat choreographed freestyle catching. The sportcelebrates the bond between handler and dog, by allowing them to work together.The term "disc" is preferred because "Frisbee" is a trademark (held by Wham-O)for a brand of flying disc.The sport got its start in the early 1970s, paralleling the rise in popularityof Frisbee sport. The definitive moment came on August 4, 1974 when Alex Stein,a 19-year-old college student from Ohio, and his dog, Ashley Whippet, jumped thefence at a nationally broadcast baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgersand the Cincinnati Reds.[1] Stein had with him a couple of flying discs, whichhe threw for the dog. Ashley astonished the crowd with her disc-catching, as heran up to 35 miles per hour and leaped 9 feet in the air to snag theFrisbees.[2] The stunt was so novel that the game was stopped and Joe Garagiolacontinued to announce the flying disc action on the field. Finally, after eightminutes, Stein was escorted off the field and arrested.[1] The nationallytelevised exhibition of Ashley's skill did much to fuel interest in the sport.Stein worked with Irv Lander and Eldon McIntire to create the Frisbee Dog WorldChampionship for people and their dogs. Even today, Stein and McIntire continueto contribute to the sport.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Longest Throw Event - Dog Frisbee Competition 12/13 Sept 2009!

Hi Dog Sport Enthusiasts,

One of the Dog Frisbee Competition is known as THE LONGEST THROW EVENT! All contestants will start throwing the frisbee behind a 14m or 15 yard line. There will be 2 Judges, one will be the Line Judge and the other will be the Field Judge.

Every contestants are given 3 attempts, after 3 tries, the contestant with the longest throw distance recorded will be the winner of the event. A recorded distance will be registered only when a frisbee is successfully captured in the mouth of their K9 partners.

So are you game enough for this challenge! Come join us in this Dog Frisbee Competition.

See you ya!