BOY, IS IT WORK!

People say a first litter is much like a first child: you follow all the old wisdom to the rule. Things change drastically for the second litter or child. It was much the same for me.

Ariosa A--First-timer's experience

Education, and lots of it!

Ariosa B --What a difference!

Ariosa C --This litter has been so incredible, I worry people meeting them might think they are typical of the breed.

Health Issues Begin to Emerge

Progressive Retinal Atrophy

Hypothyroidism

 

ARIOSA A

The Ariosa "A" litter was born in early August 2002. There were seven puppies, five of which were deemed show-potential by Pat Hastings ("The Puppy Puzzle", www.dogfolk.com). 

The pups went to excellent homes, and most of the families continue to keep in touch, sending photos and letters. Diego (Adagio de Ariosa) has done well in the show ring and shown great promise for herding. Ricca (Alegra de Ariosa) trains in Search and Rescue; she can locate a grape within a one square-mile block! Another is a certified therapy dog.

While the pups' conformation and working drive were all good, the temperaments were all shy, and most of the "A" litter are still shy, today. People were kind to me about, it but it was mortifying. Worse yet, when I met other SWDs at shows, the temperaments were very much the same. It was shocking, really.  I had to sit back and think--did I want to devote my life to breeding shy dogs?

EDUCATION, AND LOTS OF IT!

I struggled with what to do next and consulted with my mentors, AKC and UKC judges, and breeders who had introduced rare breeds to the US in the past. The overwhelming advice was, the breeding stock (Tia and Oso) was excellent: try again.

For the next two years, I carefully observed my "A" litter growing up. I investigated related lines to my own dogs. And I searched high and low for another stud dog to broaden my line.

Until this time, health clearances were pretty much unheard of in this breed. Convincing potential stud dog owners to OFA hips took a lot of talking. Of five potential stud dogs whose conformation, temperament and pedigrees interested me, four proved dysplastic. The fifth passed with flying colors, but he could not be successfully collected for a chilled semen breeding. It was the final hour, and my only choice was a repeat breeding--Oso and Tia--and work like hell to improve early socialization. By this time, Oso had moved to the east coast, but I had him "on ice" at ICSB (International Canine Semen Bank)--thank goodness! Frozen semen breedings are far more expensive and less reliable than natural breedings, but the breeding took, and soon Tia was looking as wide as two houses.

(Left, at Bolanio kennel with Tia's grandsire, Alamo de los Caetes, left)

In March of 2004 three other SWDAA members and I traveled to Spain to visit kennels and attend the Monografica. Tia's breeder Sebastian Alonso Jimenez (Benamaina) was kind enough to be our guide and translator. I was able to meet and get my hands on Tia's grandsire Ch. Esp. Alamo de los Caetes, mother Dama del Bolanio, littermate brother (Ch. SE Boqueron de Benamaina) and sister Bohemia, and two generations of Bohemia's progeny. All proved outgoing, social, accepting, well-built, and healthy. It gave me hope for my line.

At the 2004 Monografica, I was given an excellent vantage point and was able to take photos, video and notes on almost every dog in the ring. In all, we probably saw more than two hundred dogs in that short week, and I was heartily impressed (and relieved) by the majority of temperaments I observed.

Again, I read voraciously on different methods of raising puppies. I was determined: this litter would be different! Several ideas were gleaned from the internet, others from Another Piece of the Puzzle: Puppy Development, a compilation of essays on puppy-raising tips by renowned breeders (www.dogfolk.com). But a lot of improvisation took place for this litter.

2004 Vaccination Protocols

ARIOSA B

May 2004: From litter "B"'s first moments, things were different. Tia rejected the whelping box I had struggled to build, so litter "B" was born in a 8'x5' sectioned-off area in the living room bedded heavy moving blankets. 2' ex-pens covered with sheets shielded the area from my other dogs' eyes, but all could hear and smell each other from the onset. I slept in that whelping area, on the floor, for a month.

As the pups grew, the ex-pen sheets were removed, keeping the litter separate and yet making a part of everyday life. Adults and children were invited almost daily to handle and snuggle the pups. Particular attention was given to inducing startle responses before the 5th week (the first fear period). The pups were allowed to explore the large garden early on, and given a wading pool to explore at their own pace. They began immunizations a few days early and ventured down to my training facility to be visited and handled and to experience different sights and sounds. They were also subjected to neighborhood Fourth of July fireworks, through which the pups either played with kids or slept.

The B's did a lot more traveling than their predecessors. Two friends regularly took a couple of pups (different each time) for a night or two. They also took the pups to their beach house, where the pups experienced small planes taking off from the adjacent seaside airport. Judy and Lori adopted Mr. Green (now, Benjamin) a pup born with a heart defect and a tremendous will to live. (Now 2.5 years old, Ben is considered a bit of a miracle. Judy and Lori have done a superb job keeping him healthy, happy, and living a full life. Photo at left is Judy giving Ben an opportunity to herd sheep at the 2006 SWD Jamboree. photo by Lori Cook.)

The raising practices of litters A and B were totally different. The resulting temperaments were also totally different. Where the "A" litter had been primarily shy, the "B" litter proved more outgoing and easy to recover from surprises.

The two raising practices that I credit for the greatest differences in the litters:

I was pretty sure of the immense temperament differences between litter "A" and "B". The identical evaluators were hired to evaluate both litters. The "B" pups passed their temperament tests with flying colors, fetching bird wings, recovering easily from surprising sights and sounds, docily accepting being held in unusual positions. The temperament evaluator remarked, "This is the way puppies should be." And AKC judge Pat Hastings, who marked an amazing six of the eight "B" litter pups' conformation "show potential", declared, "There are no temperament issues here."

As young adults, the "B" pups are proving extremely versatile, and many of the owners are venturing into water, agility, herding, and potential therapy work.

ARIOSA C

The Ariosa C litter was a planned distant-line breeding (almost an outcross) between Tia and the Finnish Ch. and Finnish Monografica BIS Concurrido Recoveco ("Zoco"). This breeding introduced the Concurrido line to the United States and to broaden the US gene pool.

Handsome Zoco was specifically selected because of his outstanding attitude and drive, conformation, excellent and complete family health clearances. Concurrido kennel well understands the value of "breadth" in health clearances--that knowledge of sibling- and other relatives' health can perhaps tell more about a dog's genetics than the direct-line pedigree alone. Their meticulous collection of health data is an enormous undertaking, and I applaud them.

Six healthy and robust pups were born on February 14, 2006, and following suit, I am continuing to break the rules raising them. Born in the living room, the pups were exposed (through an X-pen) to household life as soon as their ears and eyes opened. As their abilities grew, they were allowed access to greater and greater space, and by 7 weeks they discovered how to use the doggie door and the back garden all on their own. The pups were introduced to ducks at a Herding Camp at 6 weeks and brought down to the shop for exposure to stranger daily. They were introduced to game ("dead bird") scent and desensitized to fireworks, gunfire, rowdy children screaming and playing, and loud household appliances.

Temperament testing at 7 weeks was a wonderful reward to me as a breeder. Two litters of very nice Standard Poodle pups were also tested that day. The Poodles went first, and as I'd sat through all of their pups, the Poodle people stuck around to watch the SWDs as a simple courtesy. I'll bet some of them wished they hadn't! From the moment the first SWD pup hit the evaluation floor, it was clear these pups were OUTSTANDING in every way. Social, curious, outgoing, engaging natural retrievers to the one, it was all I could do not to burst with joy in front of the other breeders.

Conformation testing at 8 weeks, again with Pat Hastings, was also very positive. Pat rated five of the six above-average show potential pups, with one being a Best-In-Show prospect. When I was pleased but not overjoyed, Pat gave me a very stern talking to!

HEALTH CONCERNS BEGIN TO EMERGE

Progressive Retinal Atrophy

One of the joys of being "early" in a rare breed are all the unexpected surprises that come down the pike.

After the incredible Ariosa C litter, I have to say I was riding high. So it shouldn't have been a big surprise that Fate was getting ready to throw some mean curve balls.

In 2005, one of the pups from the Ariosa A litter was preliminarily diagnosed and later cleared of having PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy), a genetic disease which causes the rods and cones to atrophy, leading first to night blindness and later to full blindness.  In early autumn 2007, the same pup (now 4.5 years old) was positively diagnosed with PRA through a routine CERF exam. While I had expected PRA to rear its ugly head in our breed, I never expected it would be from one of my own breedings! As a friend joked, it couldn't have happened to a better person....she knew I would never sit on the information or hide it from the Spanish Water Dog community.

The Ariosa A pup was the second SWD in the world to be diagnosed with PRA. The first was a dog in Finland, diagnosed at 8 years of age after he began refusing agility tunnels. He was diagnosed a couple of months before the Ariosa A pup. They were of different generations, from different lines, born in different countries. And they share a disease caused by a simple recessive gene.

After the Finnish dog was diagnosed, a member of the SWD Club Health & Wellness committee privately contacted the owner and asked that a blood sample be submitted to OptiGen, LLC. OptiGen develops and runs DNA tests for specific animal diseases. The Finnish dog's sample was shipped in October 2006. Almost at the same time, the Ariosa A pup's blood sample arrived at OptiGen.  The samples were run days apart and it was confirmed, the SWD population carries the prcd form of PRA, the most common form of PRA and the one carried by Portuguese Water Dogs and Poodles. Additionally, the existing DNA test for the disease, one that took more than decade for OptiGen to produce, would work on the Spanish Water Dog.

So, while my own small breeding program may suffer a serious set-back, the breed now has a genetic test for a disease I knew was going to show up.

Hypothyroidism

PRA is not the only thing to affect my line. An owner of an Ariosa A pup, while testing another household pet with a temperament issue, decided to test her SWD pup at the same time for hypothyroidism. What a surprise...the suspected dog was "normal", and the Ariosa A pup showed early testing symptoms for developing hypothyroidism. That pup has been tested since, and she is still subclinical. But one day, the test will say hypothyroidism has set in.

No one is sure how hypothyroidism is passed, but it almost certainly has a hereditary aspect. When the pup's test results came back, I had already placed Oso (the pup's sire) with my sister's family. I did, however, have Tia (dam) tested, and her results came back as "normal". In early 2006, both Pink and Baxa were tested for hypothyroidism using a full OFA Michigan panel. The results: both would eventually develop the condition.

In the early fall of 2006, I returned to the east coast to visit family and saw Oso once again, and what a shock! He was clearly exhibiting several symptoms for hypothyroidism, including severe coat thinning and patchy loss, lethargy and lack of stamina, acute intolerance of cold, weak stomach, and waking seizures. The symptoms had come on so slowly, the family was concerned but not alarmed by the symptoms, which were attributed to "age" (at this time, Oso was 7.5 years old).

Oso was tested that morning for hypothyroidism. The test results came back (of course) positive; they also showed alarmingly high cholesterol levels, an uncommon but not unheard of side effect of hypothyroidism. Oso was put on medication and very quickly returned to his pre-symptom, clownlike and handsome self.

Once again, Finland comes into the picture. About this time, veterinarian Raimo Tuomela discovered a higher than usual rate of hypothyroidism in SWDs in Finland. Dr. Tuomela sent a letter to all known breeders of SWDs worldwide, requesting that they test their dogs and compile the results in a Finnish database. My own dogs were immediately included in the database. At this time, I cannot say if any other US owners have tested their dogs, but the Finnish list continues to grow.