Meet Show Dog Royalty - Truman and Princeton Hatfield

When Melissa McMath Hatfield decided to get a dog, she knew she wanted a quiet and calm dog. Her research led her to choose a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Further research led her to Monarch Kennels in Kansas City and to a wonderful puppy that was named Truman after President Harry S. Truman.

Melissa knew she had a show quality dog and several friends encouraged her to show Truman. So she jumped in as a novice. “I didn’t have a clue as to what I was getting Truman and myself into but we’re having so much fun. Truman thinks that everyone at the show is there for him and he loves prancing around the ring,” said Melissa.

Truman earned his Champion Title just after 3 shows in December, 2005. According to the AKC, it is virtually unheard of to earn titles as quickly as Truman did. Since then, Truman has been on the show circuit competing against some of the top nationally ranked Cavaliers, even recently beating the #3 nationally ranked Cavalier.

Earlier this year, Melissa and her husband Dick, added Princeton to the family. Princeton is already gaining experience in the show ring and as a 7 month old puppy, is making major progress on gaining his Championship Title. Princeton will be cheering his big brother as he makes his way to both Westminster and Eukanuba Dog Shows in 2007-2008.

Truman and his mom are seriously considering Westminster in February, 2007. He has to be a top 25 ranked show dog to be considered. Will he make it in 2007? We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed. You can follow Truman’s march to Westminster and Eukanuba and Princeton’s march to his Championship title on our website – www.caninecountryclub-ar.com.

So Many Dog Foods Available – What Should I Feed My Dog?

Many of you have asked the staff at Canine Country Club what dog food should you feed your dog. You express confusion because the labels on the food are very confusing. So many dog foods, so many cheap, altered ingredients that your dog does not need but are included in many of the major mass produced dog foods (IAMS, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Nutro, Purina, Beneful). What’s a pet parent to do? Let’s see if we can help unravel some of the confusion:

• Pet Food Market is a $12.4billion industry with many of the mass commercial dog food manufacturers trying to be all things to all consumers;
  
• More Dog Food Manufacturers are trying to “market” top quality ingredients on the label yet still use unnecessary fillers, renderings and meal by-products;

As the saying goes, you really can’t make a silk purse out of a sows’ ear, chicken heads, bovine tumors, restaurant grease, rendered fat from animals that died on the farm and cheap grain by-products left over from the human food manufacturing industry.

Ask yourself – would you eat renderings (includes, dead, diseased pigs, goats, horses, roadkill, rabbits, rats, and yes, even recycled dogs and cats!*) You won’t eat this – why are you feeding it to your dog?
*San Francisco Chronicle, February 19, 1990

What should you look for in a quality dog food? The first two ingredients in a quality dogfood should be clean, straight proteins, i.e., turkey, chicken or chicken, lamb, etc. From there, you should look for a dog food that has NO meat meal or meat and bone meal, soybean meal, chicken by-products, poultry by-products, animal fat, poultry fat, rice flour, corn flower, corn, wheat flour, rice bran, corn bran, peanut hulls, artificial flavors or colors and NO artificial preservatives like BHA, BHT or ethoxyquin (proven to cause cancer).

What dog foods should you consider? At Canine Country Club, we did extensive research on foods and found Natura Pet Products. They manufacture Innova and California Natural foods. The founders of Natura Pets use simple philosophies that include using nutrient rich and unaltered ingredients, use NO artificial preservatives, colors or additives.

Other good quality dog foods include: Canidae, Flint River, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul, Merrick, Natural Choice Ultra, Natural Balance, Newman’s Own, Prairie, Royal Canin, and Wellness to name a few.

Dog Foods that aren’t recommended include: Beneful (contains sugar, and animal digest), Kibbles and Bits (contains animal fat and animal digest from unnamed animal sources). Ol’ Roy (cheap dog food made of cheap ingredients. Corn leads the list of ingredients). Science Diet (first ingredient is chicken followed by grains, by prouct meal and animal fat).

Canine Country Club of Arkansas’ Training Director receives Training Certification

Canine Country Club is pleased to announce that Lisa Mantle, founder of Running Dog Academy and Training Director/Canine Country Club of Arkansas recently received her Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT) Certification at the National Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference in Kansas City, MO. According to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, Lisa is the ONLY Certified Pet Dog Trainer in Central Arkansas.

To get her certification, Lisa had to have a minimum of 300 hours of dog training experience and pass an exam that assesses basic knowledge of canine training. The test ensures appropriate levels of knowledge in critical areas of canine training. The exam covers areas of instruction skills, ethology, learning theory and training equipment.

Congratulations Lisa!!!

Training Tips

By Lisa Mantle, Training Director, Canine Country Club

Catch your dog doing something right and reward him/her. Example: Your dog is lying quietly at your feet while you work at your computer. Reward your dog for calm behavior with a treat, a pat on the head or a ‘good dog”.

For more information on the obedience or agility training program call 501-868-7297 or email train@caninecountryclub-ar.com .

Coupon offer Daycare and Bath, Nails $20 (Regular $30 ….$10 savings) Must redeem the coupon at Canine Country Club. Offer expires 12/15/2006 Not Valid Thanksgiving Week