Pet Punter

Archive for the ‘Pets & Entertainment’ Category

Dogs shows are not reserved for the breeders of top-class pedigree animals. Classes are often available for ordinary household dogs, and if you are keen to enter your pet, all you need to do is find a suitable show.

The Reward Of Showing: Showing your dog can be great fun, but it can also be very demanding, Competitions, even in informal classes for pet dogs, is often intense and can create great rivalry between competing owners. Time as well as money needs to be spent on everyday maintenance, and on the preparation and training needed for the particular show class you are planning to enter. On top of that, you need to consider time spent travelling to and from the venue and entry fees for the show. Even, if your dog proves to be a winter the rewards are far more likely to be a rosette or a silver up than memory. That said, the show scene can become highly addictive. Not only will you be able to gain valuable advice from expert breeders and judges on all aspects of care for your particular breed, but you will also have an opportunity to join in the social circuit that comes with involvement in the breeder’s network. You can gain enormous satisfaction just from taking part and best if all, your dog is likely to enjoy the experience, just as much as you.

What The Judges Look For: The judges check each pedigreed dog not against the other dogs entered for the class on that day, but against the standard for the breed. The breed standard is defined by a list of points that have been set by the kennel club of that particular country. The points describe the perfect dog of each breed. No dog is likely to meet all the points and attain full marks, but the judges will look for the dogs that come as close as possible to the bred standard. A maximum mark will be set for different characteristics of the dog – body shape, general appearance, coat color, temperature and the way it stands and moves in the show ring. Marks are deducted for failing to meet the breed standard.

One of the aspects of showing is its unpredictability. There is no guarantee that just because one gerbil won at its last show that it will do so again at the next event. The gerbil could be moulting, for example, so that its coat is not in top condition. As with other small livestock, the gerbils in a show class are not judged against each other, but rather against an ideal for the particular variety concerned. After the judging has taken place, most judges will be happy to offer advice concerning your gerbils.

Gerbils are often shown individually so you will have to wait until a female has given birth and her litter is independent before showing her again. Gerbils are being judged at a show. It is important that exhibition gerbils are used to being handled from an early age, so that they are not frightened by this experience. In addition to the condition of their gerbil and its tameness, the judges will also look at its surroundings.

The Kennel club was founded in the United Kingdom in the year 1987 to register breed standards and oversee dog shows. It was the first of its kind anywhere in the world, but similar countries. The founders drew up rules to bring order to the early dog shows and these have lasted – with much alteration and expansion – to the modern era. The licensing of judges and the drawing up of breed standards for every recognized breed has become the norm by which these “beauty” competitions are controlled. There were no breed standards for these early shows and resulted in much controversy, with dogs being judged according to different rules at different shows.

Field trial and gundog trials have received the status of competitions in their own right and championships are awarded in both. The essential differences between the two is that field trails are conducted as similarly as possible to an ordinary day’s shooting of live game birds, whereas gundog trials assess the working ability of gundogs without game being shot. Both types of trail vary into heir content, depending on the breed of dog undergoing the trail.

Retrievers are expected to pick up and retrieve game or the dummy, spaniels, whose job on the shooting field are to find and flush out game, are expected to quarter the ground and mark the same. Pointing is considered difficult to assess and trials for that purpose alone are rarely held. The Springer Spaniel, are the general workhorse of the shooting field, performs “hunt, point and retrieve” tests.

Man has always enjoyed providing that his possessions are better than his neighbor’s. Past generations wanted to prove that their dogs could run faster or hunt more effectively than anyone else’s. In time, dog owners wanted to demonstrate that their dogs were more attractive than others. The first organized dog shows developed in the 1830s and 1840s. These tended to be small, local events, often held in the public houses.

Landowners and the gentry would pit their spaniels and pointers against each other, or miners would bring out their favorite whippets; after bull-baiting and dog fighting has been made illegal, bulldogs were bred for display. Each dog will be assessed in turn and awarded points for how close it comes to the fixed standard for the Dalmatian breed. Note that the discipline of the dogs, as they keep their eyes fixed on their owners.

If you place your finger alongside the perch your parrot should soon step on to it. When it comes to teaching a bird to talk, pick a word or short phrase and repeat this regularly. Training sessions should be kept short to maintain your pet’s concentration, although you can reinforce these lessons with the use of a recorded audio cassette tape. One of the first things that a bird needs to learn is its address or telephone number, so that if it does escape and is found, there is at least some chance that you will be traced and reunited with your bird.

In the case of aviary birds that will not talk, then either ringing or microchip unit will be necessary. The micro chip unit about the size of the rice grain is inserted by a vet into the bird’s breast muscle. It can prove vital in cases where birds have been stolen and then recovered.

To watch a cat move and play in a garden is a source of delight, but there are dangers. Cats can swim but are not generally renowned for their ability in this area, and there are cases of accidental drowning each year. The simple solution, in the case of a garden pond, stream or swimming pool is to cover the water with very fine mesh or to erect a barrier to make the area inaccessible to the cat. Cats do have a wonderful righting ability which enables them to almost invariably land on their feet when falling from a height.

However, vets regularly see cats that have been badly injured as a result of falls. If a cat lands on an unyielding surface, it is likely to injure itself if it the fall is more than 4 cm in equivalent in height to the first storey of a house. The same applies if they fall out of trees. The most common problem with cats climbing is that they become absorbed in either hunting or exploring and end up on a branch too small to turn around on and escape.

Cat leads are only necessary if you intend to take your cat for walks or if you are taking it to a strange house and need to keep it under control. Some cats actively enjoy this, particularly Siamese. It is not unusual to see this breed traveling on public transport on a lead. However, most cats are naturally resistant to wearing any such controlling apparatus and will fight against it, especially if they become frightened. To take them on a bus or train on a lead rather than in a carrier is foolhardy under any circumstances. If the cat panics, it could either become tangled and hurt itself, or escape.

If a lead is worn on a more suitable outing, it should be no more than 1 m long, and have a fitted harness rather than a collar for attachment. This not only allows more control and comfort, but is more secure. Cats are great escapologists, however, and even the most carefully fitted harness may prove insecure. Introduce your cat to a harness and lead. Put the harness on first by itself and just for a short time each day. After you have done this for a few days, attach the lead for a short time, several days running, but just leave it trailing. When the cats seems relaxed about the lead, try walking it, first indoors for brief spells, them in the garden, and then in a street where the cat can get used to traffic and people, but do not overdo it!

Rabbit shows at local and regional level are listed in newspapers and specialist publications and, if you are interested in one particular variety of rabbits, there may be a breed club that you can join as well. Rabbits are rung for exhibition purposes at about two months of age, before the ankle joint becomes too big for the ring to pass over it. Rings are produced in various sizes for different breeds and it may be necessary to band the smaller breeds at a slightly younger age. The breeder’s details and the year of the rabbit’s birth are encoded on the ring, which will normally remain in place throughout its life. Check the ring occasionally, however, to check that it moves freely on the leg and is not causing the rabbit any discomfort.

If the ring needs to be removed for any reason, ask your vet to do this for you. Ringing is not the only way to mark rabbits for identification, however. In many countries, tattooing is preferred. At a show, it can appear as if the rabbits are being compared with each other to find the winner. However, in reality, they are being judged against the breed standard. It is vital that show rabbits are used to being handled, so that when being judged, as here, they will not struggle but remain relaxed. Rabbits are kept in pens before and after judging. Vaccination, especially against the rabbit disease VHD, is very important for show rabbits.

Gerbils need very little grooming in order to look immaculate, partly because no long-coated mutation has yet been developed, and their coats are not prone to becoming tangled. In addition, gerbils frequently clean themselves. However, for exhibition purposes, a degree of tidying-up will usually be necessary to ensure that your gerbils are looking their best.

Show Preparation:  The most common problem is that the coat may have become stained by juice from greenstuff, particularly the area around the face. It is a good idea to leave items such as carrot and cabbage out of the gerbil’s diet for a week beforehand as it is not advisable to wash the coat. Aside from the stress involved, there is a risk that the gerbil could develop a chill. Serious exhibitors often resort to using corn flour to mask stained areas, carefully moistening tha are and rubbing in the corn flour. Once it has dried, the area needs to be brushed very gently to remove all trace of the powder. If you place the gerbil in a hay-lined box, it will burrow in and this will have the effect of grooming the coat. Finally, stroking the gerbil with a silk cloth helps to impart a good gloss to its far. It is important that exhibition gerbils are used to being handles from an early age, so that they are not frightened by this experience. Beware of offering too much sunflower seed as this is fattening, and may even shorten the gerbil’s lifespan. Always you should ensure that your gerbil is in perfect condition prior to entering a show. Any loss of hair and damage to the tip of the tail will almost always count against it. You will need to be familiar with the show standard for particular varieties, in term of coloration and patterning.