Pantops Pet Salon & Spa
Charlottesville's Professional Dog Grooming

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #16.

We’ve used this term before–backyard breeders.  It is estimated that 2/3s of the 50 million dogs in the US have come from backyard breeders.  It is a term that is typically derogatory because it denotes careless breeding.  A professional breeder will put quite a bit of money into the prevention and detection of genetic diseases.   Dogs with physical or emotional health issues will not be bred.  A backyard breeder will breed their dog with any other dog of the same breed (or even of different breeds) without researching the health and temperament issues that the breed is susceptible to.

Typically it is recommended that a puppy buyer look for a show dog breeder and buy one of the puppies that isn’t quite show quality.  AKC registration alone does not mean that a breeder is reputable because AKC staff do not visit breeders–the registration is done through mail and all puppies in an AKC litter—regardless of faults—are eligible for AKC registration.  There are certainly some disreputable show and working breeders.  In this case, their breeding focuses on augmenting one aspect of the breed (usually physical) without regard to maintaining temperament.  Careless breeding also involves inbreeding that produces genetically weak animals that may have debilitating physical deformities.

A breeder who breeds massive amounts of dogs, usually in poor health and social conditions, is the owner of a puppy mill (called a puppy farm in the UK).  These commercial operations are typically where pet shops get their puppies.  Aside from poor breeding practices, puppies from puppy mills do not get the individualized social attention that they need.  They also typically live in unhealthy conditions and when they are shipped from the puppy mill to a pet shop, the stress of heavy travel at a young age makes them susceptible to disease, infections, and parasites from other puppies at the pet shop.  Pet shop puppies are particularly prone to distemper and parvovirus.  Parvovirus symptoms may be dormant for several weeks–enough time for a puppy to look healthy and be taken to a new home.  Pet shops do not typically offer the fresh air, exercise, play, and socialization for a puppy to become well-adjusted.

I had a customer pick up his Cocker after we gave him a short hair cut all over. The customer remarked to his dog, “Boy, you really are getting fat, just like the vet said.” He then asked me what I suggested. I asked him what he fed his dog. He said “Iams.” I asked how much – he said he didn’t know, that he just keeps the bowl full and the dog free feeds. No comment.

I don’t imagine when dogs were wild that they were different from any other animal – it’s all about survival and that means food and water 24-7. They gorged themselves not knowing when the next meal would come. My Great Dane, Molly, never stopped eating. I remember that when she was a 9 month old pup I thought I could feed her all she would eat – after all, she was a growing giant breed. Wrong! She ate so much she started to get fat, and there is nothing more pathetic than a fat giant breed dog. I cut back on her groceries quick.

Just because a food is fat free doesn’t mean that it is okay to gorge on it. And it’s not all about carbs either. We need to eat balanced meals and our portions should allow us a trade for the calories which we burn that day. If you have to eat 1800 calories a day based on your activity load and metabolism, then consuming 1900 is 100 too much. It’s that simple and we know it. If you exercise, you burn more calories — you can eat a little more. If you have a big piece of chocolate cake, then you just took a big hunk out of your calories for that day. The same is true for your dog. Calories in, calories out. You need to find out what the recommended portion of food is for your dog’s age and breed and stick to it on top of an exercise schedule. Lizzie is at two cups of Purina One in the morning and 2 cups at night. Period. If you insist on giving your dog treats for training or pleasure, make sure they are healthy and make sure to count the calories and then subtract that from dinner to prevent overfeeding. (One vet I know recommends baby carrots for a dog treat — dogs usually love them. -Loretta)

If your dog is losing or gaining weight over time, adjust your portions accordingly. Obviously age and activity level are a factor. But make no mistake; barring a medical reason, obesity in dogs is a reflection of the owner’s care.

When I first went into business in 1975, Dave Orebaugh, DVM was opening up his practice where Charlottesville Animal Hospital is today. I asked him if he would take me under his wing and treat the dogs in my care as a priority. Outside this business relationship, we became good friends. Knowing that in the boarding and grooming business I would be dealing with the geriatric days of a dog’s life, I wanted to know what his answer was for putting a dog “to sleep.” He said, ‘when they no longer have quality of life, it is time.’ That made sense and I use it as a guideline to this day. No dog of mine would suffer chronic pain or be so incontinent that they would suffer urine stains and constantly dribble. If my dog has been the perfect companion I think he deserves to go with the fondest of memories–suffering from senility or severe arthritis is not part of the deal. Of course, all avenues of medical intervention should be exercised first.

This quality of life and comfort guideline comes into play in my decisions as a groomer as well. I will not put a dog through undue pain in order to groom him. Boarding and grooming lead to stress, discomfort, and anxiety with our older pets so we approach grooming the geriatric with a lot of caution. The onset of arthritis—especially in the back legs can make grooming in the normal fashion (or at all) quite painful. Lifting feet to scissor and clip pads can be too much for a dog to bear. Blindness and senility also lead to stress and fear and the accompanying reactions (biting, jerking, etc) make the process dangerous for both dog and groomer.

While we may not feel it is necessarily time to put your dog to sleep, we certainly don’t want the discomfort of grooming to lead to a heart attack or seizure (both of which I have seen). We will let you know when we are no longer comfortable putting your dog through the grooming process. But then comes the question, “if you’re not going to groom her, what should I do?” The only reasonable solution is to groom your dog every day—spend 15-20 minutes combing, brushing and spot washing with dry shampoo. Frequent, personalized grooming in short sessions will keep your dog comfortable. Keep this in mind as your dog gets older, before we need to say anything. Putting off grooming until your dog matts up just makes the process even more uncomfortable for her.

I know this is a touchy subject and each person faces it in their own way. It takes courage to determine when the quality of life isn’t there anymore and my threshold may not be yours. I respect that. However, our decision to no longer groom an elderly dog is non-negotiable.

I just watched a fascinating program on National Geographic Explorer called “The Science of Dogs.” It covered the evolution of the dog—a “must see” for dog lovers. I can’t do the program justice here, but I will relay some of the highlights.

Dogs originated from the wolf about 15,000 years ago. Archeologists speculate that early hunters were interested in having animals around as company and wolves responded the best.

Studies show that dogs still have 99.8% wolf DNA—that leaves only .2% for all their varied behavior, sizes and shapes! This .2% of genes has a remarkable amount of plasticity unique in the animal kingdom. Cow genes only allow for slight variations—you won’t see a cow the size of a mouse nor one the size of an elephant.  Plasticity means that dog genes are much more flexible thus we are able to breed dogs from one end of the spectrum to another-compare a Newfoundland and a Chihuahua, for example!

The first time a dog was bred for a purpose was 5,000 years ago in Egypt. Today’s Saluki was originally bred to be a sleek, swift hunter. Over the next 4,000+ years, man guided the breeding of a few select mongrels that exhibited qualities he felt would be useful for hunting, herding, and guarding.  The TV program called this selective breeding “eugenics” which means the forced direction of evolution, something that has been heavily debated in regards to human genetics.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, the upper-middle class began to fancy their dogs just as they did their gardens and architecture. The “companion dog” became a status symbol for the well to-do and breeding reflected the dog’s new purpose. Over the past 100 years, 320 of the 400 recognized breeds were created (80%).

Because small dogs can be bred as often as twice a year, a new breed can be developed in less than 20-30 years. Aggressive manipulation of the breeding process to design and shape the perfect pet led to more sizes, shapes, and colors than any other species of animal. That’s what dog shows are all about– a public measuring of the success of breeders. Hunting dogs have their trials, scent dogs theirs, and earth dogs too.  Research has also been conducted to explain a dog’s affection for us—which has been heightened through selective breeding. Dogs look to man for guidance and imitate our behaviors. We have become a team and man serves as pack leader. 

Unfortunately, careless breeding in small gene pools has caused a sharp increase in genetic diseases such as cancer, blindness, hip dysplasia and epilepsy. Most dog books will list the health problems that have a higher incidence in certain breeds like hip dysplasia in German Shepherds and blindness in Dalmatians. There is an ongoing effort by professional breeders to “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.” The best breeders are knowledgeable about the genetic defects that have come up in the breed so they keep thorough health records and refuse to breed any dog with defects.

As we continue to selectively breed dogs to our standards I do not see comparing them to wolves anymore than we compare man to monkeys!  The underlying biology may be similar but the behavior and physical appearance are very different.

National Geographic often repeats its programs—look for this one under the explorer series.

Archived from “The Paw Report:” Issue #14, August

These statistics are valid as of 8/10/07.

We have 1304 active customers.
576 of them live in Charlottesville—we get quite a lot of out-of-towners!

434 of our dogs get the shortest haircut—about a quarter of an inch all over.
39 of them have had a hand-scissored puppy cut—one of our most difficult grooms.
85 of our dogs have gotten a flea bath and 117 need hypoallergenic shampoo.

AKC’s top 10 dog breeds are below.
Compare that to our top 10 breeds to
the right.

1. Labrador Retriever
2. Yorkshire Terrier
3. German Shepherd
4. Golden Retriever
5. Beagle
6. Dachshund
7. Boxer
8. Poodle
9. Shih Tzu
10. Miniature Schnauzer

The chart below compares the most common names of our customers with the most common names from a Pet Tag company which serves thousands of dogs. Casey, Maggie, Charlie, and Lucy tied for our 10th place spot. We have 12 of each.

Our top name and their top name is Max. We have 23 dogs named Max and one named Maxine. Other top names include Bear (we have 7 for Bear and 2 for Bearly) and variations on Sam (5 for Sam, 5 for Samantha, and 9 for Sammy). We also have one Summer, one Sundance, two Sunnys, one Sunshine, and one Soliel!

Click here for a chart of dog names.

In general, dogs are fairly stoic animals when it comes to pain—much like the rest of the animal kingdom.  Human beings are the exception.  For dogs, it is all about survival of the fittest and concealing any signs of weakness.  Nursing mothers will not feed a pup if it can’t make its way to a teat and other pups will push it out of the way.  From the very beginning, dogs must not show signs of weakness or the pack will turn on them—there is no room for stragglers in the hunt. 

This is evident to us in grooming—we see some health situations in our dogs that would drive a human crazy, but the dogs show very few signs of pain.  That survival instinct is still prevalent in many of our breeds and showing pain is just not fashionable!  Think about flea and tick infestation—could you imagine living with 30+ fleas biting all over you?  Some of the chronic ear infections we see surely cause excruciating pain and headaches.  When our older pets become arthritic and lose muscle tone in their back legs that’s got to hurt.  I know at 61, my joints aren’t what they used to be and an occasional Tylenol is helpful.  Keep in mind that when dogs are healing from surgery or a broken bone the use of painkillers may not be wise.  The associated pain will keep your dog inactive while the healing takes place—otherwise he may re-injure himself. 

On the other hand, breeding has certainly minimized this instinct in many of our companion dogs—especially the Toys.  If you heard and saw some of our pups getting their first haircut you would think we were really being mean—their fear of pain certainly isn’t held back.  Once we show them through patience and firmness that we are not trying to hurt them, they generally settle down.  As dogs are bred for companionship more than work, many traits, instincts and sense abilities are being altered like this.

Often we get customers in who ask us to express their dog’s anal glands or sacs.  Many grooming shops perform this service and “The All Breed Grooming Guide” even lists anal expression as one of the steps for each groom.  At the Pet Salon, we do NOT express anal glands—and not just because the task is as gross as it sounds!

Anal glands are two small sacs just inside your pet’s anus.  The strong scent of the glands is used to mark territory and sometimes for self-defense.  A thick, oily, foul-smelling liquid fills these glands and is typically secreted during defecation.  There is some research that indicts that a diet rich in fiber (producing firmer stool) will aid in emptying the sacs. 

Large breeds rarely have a problem voluntarily emptying their anal glands and only about 12% of dogs in general have a problem with them.  However, breeds that are more likely to need their anal glands manually emptied (expressed) are:  Toy and Miniature Poodles, Chihuahuas, Lhasa Apsos, Cocker Spaniels, Basset Hounds, and Beagles.

Several anal gland issues can develop but anal gland expression only benefits dogs whose glands are impacted.  If the glands are not naturally emptied the liquid may thicken to the point of blocking (impacting) the glands.  Impacted glands are uncomfortable for the dog and can become infected.  Dogs with impacted anal glands will scoot their rears across the floor (or lick/bite or chase their tail) in an effort to empty the glands themselves.  If they continue without success to scoot across the floor, they need to be taken to an experienced veterinarian who can empty the glands and check for any infections.  Some dogs may have chronic issues with their anal glands and need them to be emptied frequently.  If so, the anal glands can be permanently removed.

If somewhere around 88% of dogs never have a problem with their anal glands, why is anal glad expression so common at grooming shops?  We don’t know.  Especially since the process of expression—if not done correctly—can damage a very sensitive area of the dog.  We are happy to leave this smelly process to veterinarians who can express the glands carefully and diagnose (as well as treat) any problems that they discover.

There is an on-going debate on whether animals and humans are born with “what you see is what you get” or if they can be developed through environmental factors.  Which is more important?  Let the scientists argue.  I think we can agree that both the nature and nurture sides of the debate play an important role.

Those of us with children know that each is born into the world with a certain personality and it is up to us to shape it.  My son Michel owns the Pet Motel and Salon—an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree.  My daughter Laura is a mother of three and helps in the business—she said she could care less about attending college.  My daughter Rebecca was a gifted swimmer and as parents we encouraged that through college—and it paid off.  Our son Carl on the other hand was born with cerebral palsy and no amount of love or education was going to change that.

When you select a puppy, be aware of the traits that that puppy is born with.  It has been established that selective breeding over generations increases the likelihood of offspring that resemble their parents.  Proven race horses can demand top dollar to become part of a breeding pair because their offspring are likely to have the same racing ability.  The science of animal husbandry is mandatory education for farmers who deal in livestock as well as for breeders of dogs.

While not guaranteed, your chances of getting a dog that closely resembles the traits of the breed are much higher with a conscientious breeder who only breeds the best.  In a litter of 8 pups, a breeder may determine that 1 or 2 have a fault they don’t wish to be passed on.  It may be as minor as some white on a dog that must be totally black to something more serious.  These pups are usually sold as “pet quality” (rather than show quality) for substantially less money than the others.  My second Dane, Belle, was from such a breeder.  Belle was extremely shy.  She was by far show quality in appearance but required special care from me in unfamiliar situations or with strangers.

After selecting your pup, you must rely on nurturing the traits.  What we bring to the table to form, change, and reinforce the behavior, appearance, and health we desire of our dog.  We have several articles that go into detail in these areas.  Where nature claims that “what you see is what you get,” nurture says that with emphasis on the environment, we can shape the behavior and well being of our pet.  I think we have to make a concerted effort in both areas—pay close attention to breeding when selecting a pup but realize that your dog won’t meet its full potential without regard to how we train and care for it.

Our fourth child was born with cerebral palsy and is now 27 years old.  He recently became a resident of the Wiseman house here in Charlottesville which is owned and operated by the ARC of the Piedmont.   We make an effort to visit him at least once a week—I like to leave work in the early afternoon and take him home to play with Lizzie in the backyard.  I don’t have any scientific proof, but I’ve always felt that all of our dogs, past and present, had a particular relationship with Carl.  It’s almost as if they could sense his innocence—they seemed calmer in his presence and formed a unique bond with him.  I know Lizzie is good therapy for me and I can see that same effect in Carl.  He laughs and enjoys hugging her, throwing her sticks and watching her play.  Sometimes, just being in the presence of a good loving dog is all that we need to make this hectic world an OK place.

Jenna adds:
When I worked at The Virginian, a retirement community in Fairfax, there was a regularly scheduled visit from a group of therapy dogs.  That day was always the most cheerful for our residents.  At Cedars-Sinai, a hospital in California, there is a similar program called POOCH.  The creator, licensed social worker Barbara Cowen, notes that after the therapy dog visits, the patients have slower heart rates and require less pain medication.  The July issue of “Journal of Gerontology:  Medical Sciences” describes a recent test using the UCLA Loneliness Scale.  After half an hour a week with a therapy dog for six weeks, 45 patients reported that they were significantly less lonely compared to a control group.  I’m sure that research will continue to prove the benefits of therapy dogs.

Roberta Taylor, LPN compares the use of therapy dogs to the use of medication including recommended dosage and potential side effects!   Click here to read what she has to say.

One of our customers, Karen Waters, owns a Jack Russell/Beagle mix named Mark.  She arranged for her friend Cyndi Richardson, to care for Mark while she was away.  Karen lives close to Martha Jefferson Hospital.  Cyndi lives south of town, close to Tonsler Park.  Mark had never been to Cyndi’s house before.  He rode there in the car and was dropped off at Cyndi’s house as planned.  But once Karen left, Mark escaped out the door.  Cyndi called Karen to report him missing.  Two hours later, Mark showed up at home!  Think you could find your way home from a place you’ve never been before?  We’ve written about each of the senses—what helped Mark find his way home?  Smell, sight?  The mysterious dog radar!