Ch Deja Vu In Like Flynn CD PT HOF ROMPX

Ch Deja Vu In Like Flynn CD PT HOF ROMPX
Ch Deja Vu Up Close & Personal HOF ROMX

this is one of my favorite pictures of Udo

this is one of my favorite pictures of Udo
Udo group 1 judge E Sullivan

Specialty Best In Show shown by friend Pat Murray

Specialty Best In Show shown by friend Pat Murray
Udo- winning his first specialty @ 2 years old shortly after being returned to me

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Udo's story


Udo was out of a litter from Flynn bred to Mona (Ch Mokie Deja Vu Mona Lisa). It was a litter of just two boy puppies. There were two female puppies born-one still born, one faded and died. The other brother is worshipped living with his owner in Miami and is a finished champion-a handsome boy. The other was Udo who was sold to a person in the breed looking for a top show prospect.

I seldom keep males and at the time Flynn was still the man of the house. I had no need or desire for another male so Udo was sold to a woman who co-owned him with friends of hers who were an older couple. From the beginning he was mismanaged, isolated, unappreciated and unsocialized. The older man believed he knew everything and closed his mind to what a developing Briard needs in the way of nutrition and social and mental nurturing. Udo was fed a diet of what we liked to call "nursing home food" which was over cooked rice and chicken and little else.

By 7 months old Udo was a mental and physical mess. He crawled on the ground in terror in new settings and with new people. He had raging chewing and scratching allergies and bad skin. He knew nothing and operated on the lowest function.

I persuaded all the owners to send him out with Regina for a while to try to repair the mess and prevent permanent damage. Because I do so much with my puppies in the way of handling and socialization and stimulation before they depart here, he had a decent foundation to draw on and quickly improved. Once on good food, the mess of his skin became healthy and the coat which had been very damaged began to grow and not be destroyed by his own discomfort.

Udo finished his championship at the Harrisburg Specialty( photo above going Best In Sweeps the same day) with 5 points proudly behaving like a confident show dog. He was 9 months old.

The owners took him home and proceeded to continue to do nothing with him. Udo began to self destruct again retreating in to the mess of his former mind of fears and neurosies and nursing home food.

At that point is where the begging and pressure began to get him back. This above all, was not a good situation for the dog. He was the one who would ultimately pay the price. Finally I was successful and got him back and back on the road to his recovery.

Udo is 6 years old now. He is a pleasant guy to live with, easy and undemanding. The girls push him around mercilessly which he either likes or barely notices. He is a Best In Show dog, a multiple group winner and the top sire in the breed for the last 4 years. He is a good show dog, a great sire and a fantastic house pet(except with cats). I am thrilled to have him and live with him and try not to think what might have been if I had not gotten him out of there.

3 comments:

  1. Terry:

    The food problems you describe Udo had, highlight a dilemma that pet owners face—food safety. We’ve all read the contaminated pet food that triggered recalls of the food in 1995, 1999, 2005 and again in 2007. Perhaps Udo’s owner avoided store-bought pet food because he worried that the food in a bag was possibly tainted. With so many recalls, who could blame him? If your dog gets sick, even once, from tainted dog food, you will probably choose a better source of food. For the past 8 years, I feed my dog only human grade food, with the guidance of the book: Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Dr. Pitcairn D.V.M.

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  2. Udo is 6. The food recall was about 2- 2 1/2 years ago. He was a fed a nursing home diet from about 3 months to around 2 which does not fit the time line of the recalls.
    Nevertheless, it was a closed mind to tried and true techniques and to more experienced people in the concepts of animal husbandry which was Udo's downfall. Luckily it is a moot point now. He is healthy and happy inside and out and eating the food his ancestors have eaten for many generations now- Bil Jac.
    Udo carries a beautiful and massive coat which is shiny and healthy. He has never in 4 years demonstrated any kind of allergy to anything, including fleas.

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  3. There are a great many ingredients allowed in dog food, and all are defined by the AAFCO. The web site: http://www.braypets.com/FRR/aafcodef.htm gives a list. If you are going to feed your dog a commercial dry food, you should read the ingredients on the label to know what you are buying. Listed below are the first five ingredients in two dog foods (I have no affiliation with Bil-Jac or Innova nor do I buy either food).

    Bil-Jac (www.biljac.com)
    Chicken By-Products,
    Chicken,
    Corn,
    Chicken By-Product Meal,
    Dried Beet Pulp
    BHA (a preservative)

    Innova (www.innovapet.com)
    Turkey
    Chicken
    Chicken Meal
    Barley
    Brown Rice

    Innova has no BHA, BHT or Ethoxyquin, but more importantly it has Turkey, Chicken and Chicken meal as the first ingredients--all good clean sources of protein.

    Why buy a food that includes chicken by-products and chicken by-product meal, when you can buy a food that is made from chicken? And I would avoid BHA, BHT and Ethoxyquin (a preservative and pesticide used in some dog food).

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Violet at 8 months specialty weekend