EO 2016

Somehow EO is always an event which is sort of extreme. It's either raining cats and dogs or burning hot, the organisation of such a huge event is usually a bit messy and normally someone is complaining about it, there is usually not enough toilets / showers etc. One thing I learnt from my numerous EOs experiences as well as after AWC in Lievin (quite close to the place where EO was held this year) was to expect the worst and then maybe be nicely surprised when it's not as bad as you predicted. 

Ok, maybe one thing I didn't foresee was that the surface in the rings would be so bad that even the judges were falling down (the small final judge was really quick to get up and put his hat back on though) and at least three people were seriously injured on the first day. 

But thankfully some weather gods had mercy and apart from the light drizzle on the first day the weather was actually perfect, which definetely limited the number of injuries - I can't even imagine what would become with the crappy parcours after a bit more rain.

This EO was the first one on which the official measuring procedures were introduced, which I think is awesome - as much as I don't like the current height division, I would like people to stick to the rules - sort of dura lex sed lex thing.

Oh, one little thing though - I asked for Brego to be measured and the official commision that also measures dogs for AWC were the only judges who ever managed to measure Brego medium after he was 12 months old... that was until they realised that he is not on medium list and that would cause a bit of nuisance if they put him in another category that he was entered into. Then he suddenly started being just over 43 cm. The only thing I can write about it is that I know for a fact that Brego is 44 cm at the withers - I measured him myself and several other judges did as well and he can stand really well for the measurement, so there's no doubt about it. 

I was worried that because of horrid camping prices the social aspect of EO would be somehow ruined, as most people chose to stay in hotels instead, but first of all, due to excellent organisation the event lasted from early morning hours till late evening (lots of time for chats with friends) and second most people actually chose the same hotel as we did :). Thirdly, the awesome French people were selling really cheap a decent pink wine which somehow also fostered communication. 

We had a family gathering as four of Brava's puppies were competing and Babou the Father with his owners came to cheer them up. So here's a family photo: Babou the father, Babou Junior (a girl :P), Neo, Zookie the Winner, Brego and Mummy Brava :). 

I was extremely lucky with this litter and can't say how happy I am with them - they are AWESOME dogs and I don't just mean the fact that they compete at EO or actually that one of them won EO (but I'm going to brag about it just a couple of times in this blog post so it really sinks in with my dear readers), but how nice, well-balanced family dogs they are as well. They are everything I had hoped for. 

Speaking about the social aspect of EO, I can give you one advice. If you have any problems with meeting new people or starting up a conversation or you're a socially awkward weirdo as I am, get a working cocker spaniel puppy. It literally took me two hours to walk from one end of the field to another when I had Mojo with me. She's a freaking social magnet - everybody wants to say hi to her, everybody wants to pet her and since in general agility folks are nice people, they actually include the wocker puppy owner in the conversation ;). Among one of the nicest encounters we've had was that with Goia, who is closely related to Mojo (her mother is half sister of Mojo's mother - both out of Wonky). The girls were really quite similar in structure, expression and funny longer hair along the spine (some ridgeback genes :P). 

You might actually wonder why I ponder on social aspects of EO instead of bragging on my runs, well, here's the thing - I had great team runs with Brava and three awesome runs with Brego, who really was fantastic and even qualified for the large final, but in general either I was just a tiny tiny bit too relaxed about everything (maybe the pink wine consumed had something to do with it) or luck wasn't really on our side - with Brava I blew both individual qualifying runs, so I didn't get into the final for the first time ever since she started competitng on EO and with Brego I messed up the final run, which is a pity, since it was an awesome course and really Brego's type of course as well. Still, we had fun and Brego gained some crowd applause with his neverending enthusiasm :).  I love this dog - he always gives his all, he's always ready, always happy, always doing his best :). He's a true joy to run with.

Photo: Jukka Pätynen / Koirakuvat.fi

But it was a real pleasure to watch "my" puppies run - Babou junior and Zookie qualified to the finals, Zookie did it by actually winning the medium agility run <3. Watching medium finals was therefore really exciting and I can't remember ever being so nervous with my own runs :). Babou had a cracking run and then got eliminated on the last jump... but then Zookie ran clean and WON the EO 2016!!!! I was extremely happy and proud and crying out of joy and the Austrian team was so nice as to allow me to go for victory run with Laura :). It was such a moving gesture, thank you :).
Zookie's runs:

Watching the large finals was really exciting - as I said, it was an awesome course from Alex Beitl and we saw many great performances. Svetlana Tumanova's was definetely one to remember, and the Polish crowd I was standing with used all the bad Polish words as it is our way to express amazement, envy and wonder. One word in particular was really popular during those 39-something seconds.This was an example of amazing dog training - the course was like 500 m long (I'm exaggerating, but it felt like it when running it) and this handler WALKED maybe 50 m on it, handling from a distance with great precision. And the dog still had one of the best times!!! It was sort of  "ok, everything I believed in in agility is not necessarily true" and "I'm never gonna be that kind of trainer"moment. Than we watched Tereza Kralova's run, which was sort of opposite - not in terms of dog's training, because obviously Say is an excellently trained dog as well, but in terms of perfect, timely, fast handling - and then it was time for "I can't ever run that well" kind of moment :P. I guess most of people felt like there were stuck somewhere in between those two opposites, feeling lousy and incompetent and sort of "oh, the hell with stupid agility thing". 

Then of course I recovered and decided to come up with a perfect plan to become just as one of them. But since I couldn't really decide which one would be easier, I sort of settled for a perfect plan to become better version of trainer and handler I can be, so hopefully you will witness my transformation into perfect agility machine in next couple of months, starting next Monday. 

Or Monday after that. 

For now, you can enjoy watching my not-yet-perfect self with my awesome dogs:

That actually was an elimination... but looks so smooth, doesn't it? :P

And two of Brego's jumpings with really good times :)

Oh, and have I mentioned that Zookie, puppy of Brava, actually WON EO 2016? ;). 

On fawn and muddy merles in Pyrsheps ;)

I've been thinking about it for a while and struggling to put it in a coherent way. There are some people in Pyrshep world who are very concerned about getting "proper" colours. Such people would comment on puppy pictures: "Oh, very cute, such a shame it's a fawn merle" or "But it's not an accepted colour", or would even say how breeding fawn to merle is irresponsible and in the extreme cases would even say that it's the destroying the breed. 

Now, let me get some facts straight:

1. Fawn merle looks like this as a puppy:

and might look like this as an adult:

2. Brego and his sister looked like this, when they were puppies: 

Both of them look a bit brownish (there is a hypothesis that there is some modyfying gene which causes the fawn to shine through the dominant black), so I read my fair share of comments of breeding " fawn merles and not according to the standard", but the difference with a fawn merle puppy is clearly visible. 

now they look like this:

BTW, Brego was shown and judged even by the president of RACP at the club show, he never got anything less than "excellent". 

3. Fawn merle happens and will happen, since fawn is recessive to black and can go through generations without expressing itself. Yes, you can get fawn merle out of blue merle x black breedings (as in case of Brego's puppies). I've seen litters with fawn merle puppies where the fawn ancestors were like three or four generations away. So it's not just the question of avoiding fawn to blue merle breedings - actually if you wanted to eliminate the risk completely, you would have to genetically test the parents and make sure that at least one of them is homozygotous for black (that is, doesn't carry fawn). Both parents need to pass the fawn gene to the puppy for it to look fawn and in order to be a fawn merle, one of those parents would also have to pass the merle gene. 

4. Fawn merle used to be completely legitimate colour, accepted by the standard not so long ago.

5. Fawn merle in itself is not connected with health issues or at least no more than blue merle (for instance, if the dog has blue eyes, they might be more sensitive to sunshine). 

6. The rationale for excluding fawn merles from breeding was that as you can see on the photos above, the long haired fawn merle dog as an adult looks just like a fawn dog and that in turn might mean that you might not know it's a merle dog and accidentally breed it to another merle dog, which might produce double merle puppies. Now, double merle (or a dog that is homozygotous for dominant merle gene) is indeed connected with risk of getting puppies who are deaf or have eye deformities. So breeding merle to merle dogs should be avoided (the whole matter is a bit more complicated as there seem to be more variations of the M gene that just m (non merle) or M (merle), but for the sake of clarity I won't go into this right now, especially that there is an ongoing research on this topic). 

But does it mean we should eliminate fawn merles from breeding?

I don't think so.

Why?  Because there is a genetic test available and you can always test the dog for merle gene in case of any doubts. You could theoretically mate a fawn merle bitch with a homozygotous black dog and get only black and blue merle puppies if you wanted to. 

Moreover, the gene pool in the breed is limited as it is. Why on Earth exclude any animal just on the basis of colour? There are so many other things to be concerned about - the health tests, the structure, the character, the drive, the type...

Remember, a Pyrenean shepherd is supposed to be a working dog. I haven't heard of a dog being fawn merle  and that stopping him or her from being a good shepherd, good agility dog or fabulous companion dog. 

If something is destroying the breed is neglecting to do proper health tests, it's breeding same combinations over and over again, it's breeding closely related dogs together, it's limiting the already small gene pool even further, it's breeding for colour rather than health, character, type, good structure and working ability.

I'm not saying we should ignore the colour genetics compeletely, I'm saying it should be LAST on the breeder's list of priorities. 

What I think should be done is that the breeders insist that the standard is changed back so it accepts fawn merles again. 

Remember, they are going to be born anyway. Remember, if someone is irresponsible or ignorant, nothing will stop them from breeding merle to merle, same as nothing stops some breeders from using dogs with extreme sound sensivity, fearful, dysplastic, epileptic etc (ALL of which I consider MUCH MORE SERIOUS problems than getting colours which are not according to a current standard). 

If you're interested in dog coat colour genetics, there is an excellent website on this subject.

Thanks to Virginie de Andrea, the translation of the above post into French is available HERE. 

Say yes to cocker! :)

Well, I've been meaning to have a regular blog on Mojo and update regularly, but... well, life. Plus the blog was not working properly. Anyway, Mojo is a totally awesome puppy and I realized that as much as I love Pysheps (and I do and I secretly think I'm a Pyrshep myself... worse still, I'm Vigo), whenever someone says "I want a Pyrshep", my instant reaction is "No, you don't", whereas when someone states "I want a cocker" I'm more like "Hell, yeah, get one, they are awesome". Right now I'm at a stage in my life when I literally think the world would be a better place with more cockers and everybody should have a cocker instead of getting a border collie for sport and ending up being miserable. 

Ok, let me expand a little bit.

I'll be first to admit that my experience with cockers is still a bit limited and no doubts there are cockers who cause lots of problems and are not easy dogs at all. But being lucky to own both cockers as they should be and Pyrsheps as they should be, I can't help but notice some things that differ in them even in the best case scenario. 

Cockers are generally at peace with this world. They are convinced it's a good place and meet all the new things with interest and good will. They think the world loves them and the world obliges (well, who wouldn't love a cocker puppy?). Pyrsheps, the really good ones, are brave. They know deep down the world is a rotten place and people are evil, but they decide to give you a chance in case you are the exception. 

It wouldn't even cross a happy cocker's mind that something might be a problem, so they either don't notice it at all or just accept it as a fact of life. Pyrsheps notice everything and they have to make decision what to do about it - again, the good ones make the decision that it's actually ok, but still the decision-making process is there. 

Cockers think dogs are dogs. Small ones, big ones, furry ones - they are all dogs. Dogs in general are fun, so hey, let's play together. Cockers speak Dog. They communicate perfectly and I'm really amazed with how Mojo for instance can adjust her playing style to just about every dog she's met so far. 

Pyrsheps think Pyrsheps are Pysheps and the rest of dogs are other species to be treated with caution. Again, the good ones are totally fine with them after a while, but upon seeing a dog they won't just immedietely jump into conclusion that it's another friend to play with. I suspect Pysheps speak French rather than Dog and they would assume that it is the best language in the world and everybody should know it. Even if they appear to be speaking Dog for a moment, it's like a French person who answers joyfully "Yes, I do" after you ask them if they speak English and then just continues speaking French for the rest of conversation. 

Cockers are street-smart from the beginning. They actually distinguish between the things that might be a tiny tiny bit risky (like jumping down from a bridge or running under a car) and things which are a bit unpleasant but basically harmless, like a vacuum cleaner. Pyrsheps never grasped the laws of physics fully and they are so used to being brave whenever having to tackle the reality that sometimes they are stupidly brave towards the dangerous things whereas they totally freak out in the face of things that are perhaps weird, but innocent (like opening the jalousies in the windows in the morning). 

Cockers might have some problems, but whenever there is a problem there is a solution as well. For instance Sunday, my first cocker, was a bit resource guarding in the beginning, but all it took was convincing her that it doesn't pay off to guard things from me but it does pay very well to give them to me and the problem was solved. Mojo didn't retrieve in the beginning, but it turned out I just need to find something attractive enough to exchange her toy for (which took me a while) and we're on the best way to solve it. 

At least part of the Pyrsheps' problems either don't have a solution or the solution is so bizarre that you might never stumble across it. After 11 years together Vigo still thinks the cushions on the sofa are there to get him and attacks them whenever they move. It's not as if he fears them - he actually sleeps on the sofa, so he doesn't need any counter conditioning. It's just he doesn't like them to move. They are not supposed to move. They are inanimate objects after all. The fact that they move is just another proof that the world is a dangerous unpredictable place with forces beyond your control working their evil schemes in the dark all the time. 

Whenever you decide to have a dog, you have to meet their needs to make them healthy and happy. So with Cockers you need to:

- feed them,

- exercise them (a lot),

- socialise them,

- train them and provide them with mental stimulation,

- provide appropriate health care as needed.

And you get a happy, healthy, well-adjusted dog.

With Pysheps you need to:

- feed them,

- exercise them (a lot),

- socialise them (a lot),

- train them and provide them with LOTS of mental stimulation,

- provide them with appropriate healh care,

- explain why the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything is 42,

- convince them that you will always, ALWAYS, protect them from vacuum cleaners, cushions on the sofa and various others unforeseen dangers,

- stop them jumping off the cliffs and generally think for them in the instances when they don't think for themselves

And you get a happy, healthy, well-adjusted... no, wait. And you get a Pyrshep. 

New blog

Welcome to our new blog :) Unfortunately,  our website seems not to be able to support the expanding blog any more and it became extremely difficult to navigate it, so here we go.

Witamy na nowym blogu :) Niestety nasza strona internetowa przestała sobie radzić ze starym i coraz trudniej po nim nawigować, więc zaczynamy od nowa.