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!

9th USDAA Trials Program Line-up!

Below are the program line-up;

16 JUL, SAT

Full Performance Titling Programme, Agility, Jumpers, Snooker, Gamblers & Pairs Relay

17 JUL, SUN

Performance Local Qualifiers, (Tournament Events)

Versatile Pairs - Agility, Jumpers, Snooker, Gamblers & Pairs Relay

Of course not forgetting Fun Events for Agility, Jumpers but in Games such as Beat-the-clock, Pacman Manaic etc

Our Judges are Mr. Kenneth Chen (Singapore), Mr. Dexter Sim (Singapore) and Mr. Kenneth Tatsch (USA), wishing them a wonderful assignment!

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!

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!

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.