This Month's Creature Feature!

* Does your pooch have a special skill or accomplishment? We want to hear about it! Send us a little write up and photos and you could be our "Creature Feature" of the Month! We are proud to feature Duke and Ruger, two wonderful Friends of Lucky Fiona. In honor of all they do and for being wonderful ambassadors of the breed we are making a donation in their honor to Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Rescue http://www.gsmdrescue.org/ Check out the website to learn more about rescue efforts for these magnificent dogs! Thanks to Elizabeth for submitting this article and teaching us all a bit about what makes her dogs so special.

Duke and Ruger are Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs also affectionately known as “Swissies”. They are a multi-purpose working breed and back in Switzerland were used on farms from everything to carting milk to the market, herding livestock, and guarding the family farm. In current day there isn’t a need for the dogs to participate in the activities they were bred for, but many of the breed clubs encourage owners to have their Swissies participate in activities to allow the dogs to do what they were bred to do.

Duke, Ruger, and I have participated in various working activities and it is so neat to see the dogs try something new and just take to it because it’s in their genes. Lately Duke has been focusing in Drafting and Ruger has been busy packing. While we became involved in these activities because of the breed of our dogs, they are activities that any breed can participate in. Before participating it is very important to make sure that your dog is in good health and a proper age.

Drafting can be done for fun as well as attending trials for the dog to receive titles. With drafting, it is very important to start slow and get the dog used to the cart and make sure they are completely comfortable and confident around the cart. We start this by throwing treats in the cart and when they are doing great with getting treats out of the cart, we walk the dog next to the cart. When they are comfortable with that, that’s when you can finally hitch the dog to the cart. When the dog is first hitched to the cart it is important to make sure you don’t have the dog do tight turns, just make nice big circles and when they’re doing well you can start to make smaller circles. It’s also very important to make sure the cart and harness are the proper size and fit. Duke’s harness is from Wilczek Woodworks and his cart was made by my husband.

Packing is a great activity to do with dogs and it allows them to carry some of their own necessities. Like drafting, this activity can be done for fun but a dog can also receive titles for meeting certain criteria. We always start off with the dog wearing an empty pack for them to get used to it. Once they are comfortable with the empty pack we add a little weight to each side (and it’s important to keep the weight on each side as even as possible). Ruger absolutely loves packing and it is great exercise for her. Ruger’s pack is from Ruff Wear and it has held up very well.

It’s so wonderful to watch your dogs do something they love doing as well as being a great way to form an amazing bond between you and your dog. There are a lot of great references online and books in regards to both carting and packing.

You should all be happy to know that thanks to Shannon, Ruger has a collar that matches her pack (no more clashing) and Duke has one that matches his drafting harness! Thanks Shannon!