Greetings fellow Canaan followers. How do I start this… After beginning to recover from Covid my progress slowed to nothing. I was diagnosed with Long Covid, something I was very sceptical about until I found I still could not stay awake for more than a few hours at a time, even unloading the dishwasher was being done from a chair and in two bouts and my breathing and stamina had vanished. I also have an increase in brain-fog than before (and it wasn’t good to start with). So there has been a huge gap in the breed notes. Thankfully there has not been too much going on in the show world here in the UK.
We have the first Champshow on the horizon in Southern Counties at Newbury. The Utility Day is on Saturday 26th, as all the other Utility dogs have breed classes scheduled – the Canaan Dogs have the AVNSC to themselves. Judge Keith Thornton has 6 dogs for 8 entries and we look forward to seeing some of our Canaan friends (at a distance) for the first time since March 2020.
Other shows have cancelled completely such as the Welsh Kennel Club and South Wales Kennel Association, some have rearranged dates so it’s a busy time for showing. I am sure there will also be a number of ‘Lockdown Pups’ in all breeds that have not been able to access the usual training and socialisation that would normally precede a show debut. With the Canaans, as with other primitive breeds, this gap can take a long time to overcome.
Last year we made the decision not to have any litters, partly as training classes and access to the usual events was not easily available, this year we did have plans to mate our youngest girl but hadn’t been able to get health tests done when we usually would have so swapped our plans around. Ruth ‘Riverrock Underway to Nizzana’ produced three lovely puppies on the 13th April. All three (and a few more) had homes before they were born and two have now left to join their new families although we have one for another week or so due to prebooked holidays. It’s been wonderful to have a puppy again, they learn so quickly and soak up all the experiences. We have been fortunate to have a friend who has a lovely paddock and holds small ring craft classes there. Rogue and I had a super afternoon in the sunshine socialising (people at a distance) with friends and their dogs. She was very happy to meet people and quite in love with friends Basenji’s, a little over whelmed by a large bouncing German SHP and had fun playing with an ESS puppy. Great times. I have to thank all of the family for their help with the pups as I have been unable to do what I would normally do. We now await hip and elbow scores before considering a second litter later this year and will also attend eye tests as we feel the continued health of the breed is so important to maintain. With this in mind we do always BAER hearing test all our pups (not just the predominantly white) before they leave. We looked forward to our trips to the Animal Health Trust and chats with Julia who performed the procedures. When searching for another venue for these tests we found that Julia had moved to Davies Veterinary Specialists near Hitchin. So of course, we had to pay them a visit. It was a lovely day, pups behaved beautifully and all three were bi-laterally normal. Meeting Julia was like catching up with an old friend as we have now been BAER testing since 2010 when we were made aware of some deafness in the breed, likely to be related to predominately white dogs. There is a new stirring the canine world with the opening up of shows, so I hope to be able to keep up to date with these from here and abroad. We also look forward to the Canaan Dog breed feature in Ourdogs in July.
Take care all and catch up again soon
Alison Byrne